MUST READ AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hello again, I haven't been active for a few months due to real life getting in the way. Anyhow, now I'm hopefully back for the foreseeable future, and while I was away, completely revamped this story and rewrote all of the previously posted chapter as well as additional ones. Before I go on to explain what changes have been made, I must make clear this fic has been heavily inspired by and based on the amazing tale that is Pygmalion by Colubrina, a fabulous writer whom I recommend everyone check out. Pygmalion is my favourite fic by her, but I must warn it is not for the weak-hearted, she has a large range that tailors to many different tastes, so again, please give some of her stuff a read!

Pre-2017, this fic was going to be told in a series of flashbacks by Adrienne Riddle, detailing how she and Tom Riddle met, fell in love, took over or tried to take over the Ministry etc. however, upon revision, there were certain kinks in the story I wasn't happy with. Then, after reading the finale of Pygmalion, I changed my mind about the kind of story I wanted to tell. This will still be a Tom/OC fic, however elements from Pygmalion will be pretty obvious. Now, onto the changes made:

-There is a completely different plot now.

-Most of the characters are the same, but I have added a few more to the main cast.

-Adrienne is in her sixth year at Hogwarts, but due to her talent, was put ahead a year to her N.E. early.

-This is not told in flashback form.

-She is not related to Dumbledore, he is simply her guardian.

-Adrienne has already been at Hogwarts for a full year, and that year will be referenced to in the fic.

-It will be much darker.

DISCLAIMER:

All characters, settings and recognisable HP items and names are property of JKR.

Any familiar plots and character traits may also be borrowed from Colubrina.

Before I end, I would like to give an overall warning about this story:

It does start of light-hearted and mildly devious, but will descend into murder, dark magic, kidnappings, immoral and amoral people, as well as the victories of what some might consider the 'bad guys'. I don't believe any non-con or dub-con will be written, but if I do decide to, I will give a chapter warning. Please read this knowing it isn't fluffy or happy.

Now, on with the story!

CHAPTER ONE

Monday 1st September 1997

Adrienne watched curiously as Ron and his sister Ginny kissed their parents on the cheek, laughing and joking, with the infamous Harry Potter not too far behind, his own parents laughing along with the Weasley's and their friend, Sirius Black – as always. What had intrigued Adrienne was not the banalities of the Weasley clan, but the lack of Hermione Granger, who stood not too far away, chatting with Alice and Frank Longbottom, discussing something that made Neville blush profusely. Idly, Adrienne wondered what had happened between Hermione and the Weasley's – perhaps she and Ron had finally ended that doomed relationship.

She couldn't deny that she was happy and more than a little smug. Dumbledore's carefully constructed Golden Trio was slowly, inevitably falling apart. She recalled how terribly they'd treated her the previous school year – Adrienne's first official year at Hogwarts after being tutored privately by Nicholas Flamel and his wife since age 5. She'd been so eager – so excited to finally be around her patron, her adopted mentor, Albus Dumbledore, for an entire year. So happy to be around the friends she'd thought she'd made on her infrequent visits to Hogwarts over the years. And then she'd arrived, and been Sorted into Slytherin – and everyone had turned against her. Liar, they called her, for pretending to be Gryffindor. Snake they'd whispered when she outshone all her compatriots and was put forward a year. Teacher's pet they all accused – even though Cassiopeia Black had been put forward a year too.

So now, rather than enjoying a relaxed sixth year, Adrienne would go to classes with Seventh Years and sit her N.E.W.T's at the end of of it.

And her beloved Dumbledore had done nothing to save her from the crippling loneliness, had neither reacted or sought to change her Sorting, despite her embarrassment and shame over it. Hadn't done a single thing to make his favourites treat her with even detached politeness. Several times over the year Adrienne had considered returning to Dumbledore's dusty old manor where she'd lived her whole life, learning comfortably in the warm, cosy library with friendly Nicholas Flamel and his kind wife, Perenelle. Exploring through hidden nooks and crannies when they left her to her own devices, reading things she was sure would be in the Restricted Section in Hogwarts, brushing up on her Occlumency, the electrifying secret skill she'd nurtured since she was old enough to have secrets.

But she stayed. Perhaps more out of spite than a genuine desire to. The likes of Ron and Harry would not make her run back home, tail between her legs. She was Adrienne, taken in by Albus Dumbledore as a young child, tutored privately by the best minds in the Wizarding World, not some flouncy chit who Ronald Weasley could intimidate. So now, here she was again, ready to go through another year.

"Adrienne?" The black-haired witch looked up at the sound of her name.

"Hermione?" Adrienne replied, at sight of the brown, bushy-haired girl.

"Hi," she seemed sheepish, and Adrienne resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Hermione had never acted shy around Adrienne before, so why she was suddenly tongue-tied, the tall witch had no idea. She wasn't sure what game Hermione was playing, but she willed it to be over soon.

"Adrienne – I just – I'd like to apologise for last year, I really don't know—" Adrienne tuned out at this point, not too interested in what the apology contained – probably some drivel about peer pressure and not knowing me all that well – but more in why she was apologising now.

The golden trio had officially broken up, she surmised. Her biggest tormentors were no longer together. Patience was a value Adrienne treasured and applauded herself on her own. Last year had been long and arduous, but well worth it to listen to Hermione spew out meaningless excuses as an apology and eye Ron and his sister glower at her from where they stood.

"And I'd really like if you shared a compartment with Neville and I," Hermione finished, smiling weakly.

Though Adrienne remembered vividly how small and how alone Hermione had made her feel last year, knowingly or not; Adrienne did sense honesty and nervousness radiating off the girl in waves. In spite of common opinion, Adrienne was not one to hold grudges for very long – who had the time for hate and anger when there was so much to learn? So much to try and create – and did not fancy spending another year utterly alone again. She may as well be back home and home-schooled again. So she accepted the witch's proposition. And smiled warmly as Hermione took one of her bags for her; thanked Neville happily when he took the rest of them; and blew kisses and friendly waves to Alice and Frank as they winked and smirked at the young, pretty girl, Dumbledore's very own protégée, who was making their boy blush. And purposely ignored Ron and Ginny's matching looks of irritation and dislike.

/

The train ride was quiet.

Though Hermione seemed very apologetic, Neville too, though he hadn't done much to Adrienne last year, neither offered to keep any conversation going. Hermione pulled out several of her favourite books that she shared around – which were, Adrienne had to admit, rather interesting. Neville seemed embarrassed when he asked Hermione about a specific Runic principle mentioned in the book he'd taken. Doubly so, when he asked the two witches he believed to be much smarter than he, if by combining Runic patterns into certain plants, he could solve some issue that had plagued Herbologists for centuries. Hermione and he discussed it at length for some time, before coming to the conclusion that Adrienne had come to ten minutes after Neville first proposed his question – that it most certainly would. Adrienne was very much impressed by Neville's thinking, and wondered, not for the first time, why on Earth the boy was so shy and socially awkward when he was a far more thoughtful and interesting person that both Ron and Harry combined. If they were closer, Adrienne would have made it her priority to fix that.

Even though resentment still boiled deep in her gut over the events of last year, Adrienne had to admit she quite liked the quiet company of Neville and Hermione. Had she known the two could be to tolerable and, dare she say it, fun, she wouldn't have bothered making friends with Harry, Ron and all that. She believed in quality over quantity, and would have much preferred two good people around her than a cluster of boring, loud, and frankly irritating ones. But she had been a child, a solitary one who'd spent her entire life in the company of either books, or very aged wizards. The prospect of friends had excited her. Even ones that chewed with their mouth open and made fun of your hair. As Neville told Hermione about his holiday to Cornwall, Adrienne's mind drifted to her own, eye-opening two-month break.

Over the summer, Adrienne had worked tirelessly on her Legilimency. Numerous books had revealed to her that it was not a task of simply entering someone's mind and prodding around. The mind simply didn't work that way. Manoeuvring through thoughts, emotions, and memories was a tremulous and difficult task, something she found hard to do without essentially torturing her victim in the process. Those victims being the House Elves, who were more than happy to aid their Mistress Adrienne even though it felt as if their brains were being shredded. She desperately wanted to try her new skill on a human, to see whether it simply hurt Elves to have their minds invaded or whether it was her technique causing the problems. But she held back. Barely. She couldn't stand the thought of harming poor, sweet Neville, and felt certain she didn't want to know what it was Hermione thought about.

Though she wouldn't mind finding out what had caused the Golden Trio to dissolve.

Another time, Adrienne told herself, gazing out the rain-soaked window, wondering whether the train ran on some magical fuel or simply diesel.

/

When it was time to leave, Hermione packed her books back carefully, Neville thanked Adrienne for forgiving them, and Adrienne assured them it was okay. She was sure that in time, it would be. As Adrienne was about to leave and join her fellow Housemates, Hermione it seemed, couldn't help herself.

"Adrienne," she called.

"Yeah, Hermione?" Adrienne turned around, her heavy book bag weighing on her shoulder.

"Just – just don't let what happened last year get to you, okay?" Hermione looked as if she was very concerned about Adrienne doing this.

"What do you mean?" Adrienne feigned confusion, but she was rather sure she knew what the Gryffindor was getting at.

"There's no shame in being a Slytherin," she sighed. "We made you feel like that last year, but we were in shock. Or at least, I was. But being ambitious and clever and Slytherin is nothing to be ashamed of. So don't be. Embrace who you are, Adrienne."

No words left Adrienne's lips, and before she knew it, Daphne Greengrass was tugging at her arm, telling her the feast was about to begin and if she didn't hurry she'd be stuck with the new First Years. The two were by no means friends, but like Adrienne, Daphne was not cruel and had shown Adrienne civility and politeness since her first day last year. So she left with Daphne Greengrass and pondered Hermione's words.

/

As if she were a nervous First Year, Adrienne paid very close attention to Dumbledore's annual mess of a speech. She watched as his lips moved, ever so graceful, every few moments or so, breaking into a cheery, friendly smile; the infamous sparkle ever present in his baby blue eyes. She remembered how excited she used to get when that cheery smile was directed at her, how hard she used to try to gain his approval. To gain more than a pat on the head, more than a 'well done, Adrienne', to gain parental approval. To be thrown in the air and caught by a laughing father, for simply being five years old and adorable. But alas, Adrienne had only seen her adopted father over the summers growing up, and he had never once held her after she grew out of infancy. And for him to pay any special attention to her, she'd had to memorise numerous spells, laugh at his abstract not-funny jokes, display that she was inherently good, just as he was.

But now, as she watched the withered old liar deliver his few words, she wanted none of his approval, none of his common smiles - she wanted to squash the twinkle right out of his eye.

She wanted him to tell her who her family was.

"Why not?" She'd asked him last summer, taken aback by his firm denial. "If they gave me up, as you say, I want to know why. Even if they're dead, I want to know who they are – who I am!"

Dumbledore merely smiled his patronising grin at her. "I doubt that will do you any good, Adrienne. Some things are better left alone. You are much better without any influence from them."

"But they're my parents," she protested weakly.

"Being a parent is more than simply conceiving a child," Dumbledore informed her. "It is raising them, offering unconditional love, support and respect."

For the first time in her life, Adrienne had wanted to roll her eyes at something Dumbledore said. She'd wanted to hurt him at the moment; the anger had surged around her body lighting her skin on fire. Multiple arguments rested on the edge of her lips: shouldn't he respect her enough to tell her who'd given birth to her, so much of who she was lay with these strangers. Was she pureblooded, half-blood, or even a Muggle-born? Shouldn't he support her endeavour to discover her heritage, even if he thought it was a tremendous mistake.

Adrienne said none of them. She snapped her lips shut and nodded along, as if in agreement with Dumbledore, and silently mused on whether he had hidden things from her before, whether he'd lied to her before, whether he'd manipulated her before, making sure to properly occlude her mind from his prying. Afterwards, she apparated out of his study and ignored him for the rest of her eight week summer.

To her left, sat Daphne Greengrass. Not a particularly rich family, but influential enough. Slytherin enough to grind Dumbledore's gears should he see her arm in arm with Adrienne. Finally coming to a decision on Hermione's rather choice advice, Adrienne leaned over and whispered, making sure to inject teenage mocking in her voice:

"You'd think he'd have figured out how to engage students after fifty years of this."

Daphne levelled her Housemate with a calculating stare before responding. "As if he cares about engaging us," she scoffed. "This is just a power trip. I'll stand here and spout nonsense and you'll listen and feign interest and marvel at my oh-so-wise words."

Adrienne let out a low chuckle. "I've read more interesting stuff on the back of food packaging."

Daphne laughed, and Adrienne felt this was enough socialising for today. She didn't want to lay it on too thick. She had plenty of time to bring this plan of hers into fruition.

She only hoped that her years of watching people would serve her well in befriending them.

/

Nighttime had always been Adrienne's favourite time. When the manor had been asleep, Adrienne roamed the halls, searching for secrets and knowledge, reading books far too mature for her sensitive age, and of course eating forbidden food. That hadn't changed one bit since she arrived at Hogwarts – while her roommates slept and snored, Adrienne crept down to the library where she read until the late hours. Mostly informative books, from the Restricted Section of course – because really, those so-called wards were pathetic and an insult to her skill as a witch – but sometimes she treated herself to fiction. Muggle fiction; because no wizard or witch had ever compared to the works of Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, or J.R.R. Tolkein.

But rather than sneak out to get up to no good, Adrienne tucked herself snugly into her warm bed, and observed her roommates. Because she was taking her N.E.W.T's early, she'd also been placed in the Seventh Year room. Around her were the sleeping forms of Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis, Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode. She contemplated which she should use to anger her oh-so-brilliant Headmaster. Daphne Greengrass she'd already decided on, more so because she could actually tolerate the girl than any other malevolent reason. She recognised Pansy would also be a good choice, but the girl had a tendency to be tedious, rude and bitchy. I'll give that some more thought, Adrienne decided. Millicent was a definite no-no. The girl's obsession with cats was well-known and frankly disturbing, and she had been taking remedial classes in most subjects since Second Year. Tracey Davis was harmless enough: half-blood, so she wouldn't get under Dumbledore's skin as much as Adrienne wanted, but she was Slytherin and had facial features that made it seem as if she was constantly sniffing a horrid smell.

Adrienne then turned her mind to the Seventh Year boys. She would certainly have to cultivate Draco Malfoy. Not only would that give good old Albus a stroke, but it would most certainly irritate Harry and Ron. She grinned in the dark. Perhaps Theodore Nott? One of the Twenty-Eight families, a last name that was nearly synonymous with Dark Magic, and intellectually her equal. Yes, I'll have Theo too, she decided.

That night, Adrienne slept like a baby, her long dark hair fanned beautifully around her face.