OK, I think I was supposed to do this in the first chapter, but... Anyhoo
DISCLAIMER - Only the plot belongs to me, everything else belongs to JKR
Chapter 2
Time passes, but they are still the Slytherin and the Gryffindor. They still attract stares as they walk through the hallways together.
They both have their own facades.
They are the only ones who see beneath them.
To the school, Tom is an overconfident charmer, Slughorn's favourite, the treasure of Slug Club.
To Minerva, Tom is a boy who is the only one who could understand her, although she does not let him, because if he understands her, she will be vulnerable.
To the school, Minerva is an ice queen, the smartest witch of their year, who refuses each and every invitation to Slug Club.
To Tom, Minerva is a dangerous mystery, one that he truly wants to solve, she is the only one who understands him, although there are some things that she still only guesses at.
In third year, they both decide that the world needs to be changed.
Tom's vision is of a pureblood ideal. They will rule supreme over the pure aristocracy, as the mudbloods and muggles toil to do their work.
Minerva's vision is of a utopia. Those with the most magical ability will thrive, be given the power they work for.
After all, she tells him, there is no such thing as evil. There is only power and those too weak to seize it. But, for now, she lets Tom believe that their ideals are one and the same.
They know that Dumbledore is their greatest threat. He has never trusted Tom, but Minerva is one of his noble Gryffindors. She throws herself into his subject, Transfiguration, and asks him for help in gaining the Animagus transformation that she has already managed. Her true subject, Potions, she deliberately flunks. Whilst her marks in Potions lessons flag, she experiments with Dark, illegal or dangerous potions, hidden away in various corners of the school, developing her own potions. Poisons are her speciality, and some of her discoveries she keeps even from Tom.
Tom, on the other hand throws himself into researching his lineage. They discover he is the heir of Slytherin, and it doesn't take them too long to find the Chamber of Secrets. He spends hours training the Basilisk, just as Minerva spends hours creating poisons. They are a perfect team, the Heirs of Slytherin and Gryffindor.
Minerva anagrams his full name into Lord Voldemort.
Tom has already christened her his Red Queen.
For now, they work in the shadows. Tom plays his part by recruiting his fellow Slytherins to their cause. He tells them that they have another leader, their Red Queen, but they never find out who she is.
Minerva plays her part by becoming Dumbledore's apprentice, his best friend. He comes to trust her, more than anyone else. He tells her about how their side is slowly losing against Grindelwald, how he intends to go and fight. She updates him on the latest Gryffindor common room gossip. They play chess, both literally and figuratively.
" Red Queen to G7. Checkmate."
Minerva always wins.
When they are in fifth year, he kisses her on the cheek before his Transfiguration exam, because he says he needs her talent.
When they are in the sixth year, she kisses him fleetingly on the lips before her Defense exam, because she says she needs his luck.
Just as they begin their seventh, and final, year, they kiss properly. They will never agree on who started it, but from that moment on, the Head Boy and Girl, the Heirs of Slytherin and the Gryffindor, Tom and Minerva, are more than friends. They are more than just an ordinary couple. For the first time, they truly become Lord Voldemort, and his Red Queen.
Dumbledore worries about her, and he tells her so. She brushes it off, acting the overconfident, trusting Gryffindor he thinks she is.
That Christmas, she attends Slug Club for the first time.
Tom announced to his Death Eaters a few weeks before, that they will finally see their Red Queen at Slughorn's Christmas Masquerade. They all scramble for invitations, and those who don't get them volunteer to serve drinks, supposedly for the extra credit.
Tom is easily recognisable. He wears a set of immaculate black dress robes, hemmed with emerald, and a silver mask decorated like a snake's face with slitted eyes covers his face.
Minerva is completely unrecognizable. Her floor-length crimson dress hugs her figure like nothing she would ever wear, and a matching mask shields her face from view. Her black hair tumbles down her back, and a delicate tiara, set with dazzling rubies, sits atop her head.
Every eye in the room follows the mysterious couple, because, well, isn't Tom Riddle with Minerva Mcgonagall? But then, he is a Slytherin. It wouldn't surprise them if he was cheating. Wait, couldn't she actually be Minerva Mcgonagall? No, don't be ridiculous, she doesn't go to Slug Club, and she was heard complaining about feeling sick earlier.
They dance together.
Tom sees the gaping Death Eaters, in awe of his Red Queen, and smirks.
Minerva sees a concerned Dumbledore, who clearly thinks that Tom is cheating her, and smirks.
It doesn't take long after for Dumbledore to tell Minerva, in a sorrowful tone, that he thinks that Tom has not been faithful.
It doesn't take long to convince Dumbledore that Tom has broken Minerva's heart. He tells her the story of his dead sister, Ariana, and of his former friend, Gellert Grindelwald. Minerva pretends to be consoled. Really, she is thinking of how she can use this weakness.
To the world, Minerva and Tom are something that might have been.
To each other, Minerva and Tom are a refuge. A refuge from students and staff who glare disapprovingly, and say that they thought he was better than that, and a refuge from the pitying glances of other students, the quiet offers from staff to talk it over.
It takes all of their Slytherin ambition to stay strong.
"But after all," says Minerva, capturing Tom's rook, " Only the best Slytherins can pretend to be Gryffindors."
Read and Review please!
