How odd… Orion Riddle seems so… Normally when talking to a half-blood he treats the as inferior but that wasn't what he had done with me… With me he was charming, elegant yet normally he's dark and threatening. Orion Riddle is a riddle. How could someone be so contrasting with their personalities? Admittedly I was but that was because what I show is purely a mask but with Riddle what he says is always spoke with true conviction. "Circe are you ok?" Luna asked concerned. She's one of the few people who seem to actually care.
"Indeed I am fine." I spoke, flinching at the cold tone my voice had taken.
"You're not fine though are you?" Luna whispered. "Your pale, worried like everything is about to fall to fall to pieces."
"Everything is falling to pieces." I muttered darkly.
"It will work out fine Circe, believe me. Orion wishes nothing bad upon you unlike any other half-blood, muggleborn or blood traitor. He has no ill intentions toward you, none at all." Luna murmured. "Trust me, trust your instincts."
"Right now I don't even know what my instincts are anymore. What should I do Luna? Orion is so unbelievably powerful; he knows so much about me. If he has truly been obsessed about me, and hidden it all these years, then why now? Surely a small surge couldn't have done so much Luna. Surely it couldn't have done so much harm to everything!" I exclaimed, panic bleeding through me.
"Calm down Circe, it'll be fine." Luna hushed.
"Luna you can't be certain, whatever this proposition is….I cannot refuse. The dark lord is someone who will never take a no for an answer. If I want to remain alive and well then I have no choice. Whatever this is it will bind me to a life that I will despise and loath. This time Luna there isn't a card I can pull which could save me this time." Fear quaked within me like fire. I wanted to scream; this time there was no way out.
"This time you don't need saving." Luna murmured. "It won't be that bad."
"I've hidden for a reason, my magical signature is unmistakable. Knowing my luck whatever this is will require my true magical signature to be unearthed. My secret shall be unearthed. Do you know how many enemies I've got?" I hissed.
"Exactly!" Luna smirked.
"How is that a good thing?" I glared.
"No one will argue with the dark lord, and I expect your background will be a plus to the Riddle's. After all I doubt the dark lord has anything against dark magic, or death for that matter. You've saved lives as much as you've stolen them away Circe. You control some of the most powerful killers in the world, even if some are muggle. Believe me the dark lord would only be pleased with your background despite your amount of enemies." Luna murmured.
"It's time isn't it?" I muttered.
"Yes…Circe." Cade spoke quite darkly. "I wonder what Riddle wants you anyway; while he's curious about you I have no idea why. For starters I know apart from your one small slip up you haven't revealed anything to Slytherin house. Circe you were careful, very careful. Hell knows you've been creating a façade since you arrived here."
A small smile met my lips. "Indeed but it obviously wasn't enough for Riddle." I sighed softly knowing that this was probably one of the tipping points of my life.
"Maybe we've got a spy." Cade murmured.
"No, you would have heard about from your brother." I shook my head. "I've just got to accept the fact that my act wasn't as perfect as it should have been and I need to step it up."
"What?" Luna hissed.
"This year I think we should rather come out in the open don't you? Hiding in plain sight sounds perfect." I laughed. "If this is my last year of freedom then I'm going to use it Luna. I'd rather die than be a prisoner, serving the man who is responsible for me being raised in a practical hell. Did you know it was the ministry who sent me to that orphanage? I was sent there so I would be powerless and weak, so I wouldn't grow up powerful enough to threaten the dark lord." I spat.
"From what Riddle had said the dark lord hates the very notion of orphanages, if the dark lord had known he would have stopped it Circe!" Luna exclaimed.
"Of course the dark lord would have known, for any child to be sent into the muggle world the minister would have had to have sanctioned it. Don't be so naïve Luna!" I spat. "OF course the dark lord must have known." My eyes narrowed dangerously. "Why are you so certain this is a good thing Luna?"
"Orion is not his father." Luna pointed out.
"What has Orion got to do with this?" Cade asked pointedly, I nodded. What had he got to do with this?
"This is down to Orion this proposition…" Luna murmured.
"How do you know this?" Cade hissed.
"She's a seer which comes to another question; why didn't you warn me?" I glared. "Why Orion? Why does he care so very much Luna?"
"I cannot answer…"
"Liar!" Cade hissed. I studied Luna slightly. Luna was my best friend, my only proper friend actually. Cade valued power, loyal to those who have an edge. As every Malfoy, Cade was incredibly cunning but unlike the traditional Malfoys Cade's pride wasn't as strong. Like I, Cade tended to keep to the shadows with his nature. Once you had Cade's loyalty he wouldn't betray you. As a Malfoy his family was probably disappointed that Cade hadn't been sorted into Slytherin but actually there's only a fine line between most of the houses (If you don't include Hufflepuff).
"Luna why can't you tell me?" I asked cautiously, as a seer Luna had certain rules that she had to uphold like for instance she couldn't use her gift for her own gain.
"It's Cade's duty to tell you himself when he is ready." Luna shrugged. My eyes narrowed slightly. So this time she wasn't bound by the rules of her station.
"When shall he tell me?" I asked as calmly as I could.
"I cannot say…" Luna murmured.
"Oh, that I do not believe Luna. You know exactly when he shall tell me this top secret information; you just do not desire to speak of it. This indicates alternate paths and one path which dwell heavily upon the future. I know you Luna and you know me. Keep your secret if you so desire Luna but remember that by trying to prevent something, the chances tend to lean towards it happening. While I am no seer, I refuse to bow to anyone not even fate. Just because you're a seer and my friend does not mean I'll let you push me around like filth." I sneered darkly.
"I'm not!" Luna exclaimed.
"Yes you are Luna and there is only a certain amount of this I can take." I glared darkly in my fury, no longer caring about this battle of wills. "It is time to face my future and I shall choose the path I so desire rather than a path which you have set out for me. There is a reason I am feared in the muggle world and believe me if it comes to it I will reveal that side of me."
Gracefully I rose from the bench as soon as the boring speech had finished, refusing to even glance at Luna. Right now, even if I was going to my doom, I intended to leave a decent impression upon the dark lord. The dark lord was someone I loathed. Even if my parents were part of the resistance it was he who put me in that hell hole, an innocent child. Stupid… While I have nothing to do with the resistance I know why the dark lord had killed my parents that night and had left me to rot in the orphanage. It was a prophecy which said I had the power to defeat him. By chucking me in an orphanage he's only fed the flame. By trying to prevent the future in the wrong way you create the future you're trying to prevent.
A strand of my ebony hair trickled onto my face. I looked nothing like a Potter or even an Evans. My mother had raging red hair with sparkling eyes while my father had messy chestnut brown hair with brown eyes. I inherited raven coloured hair with aqua eyes. None of my qualities are from my parents, none at all. I didn't even gain my father's poor eyesight. Sometimes I hate them for opposing the dark lord, sometimes I blame them for my mess of a life…but I never knew them. Who I am to judge them if I never got the chance to know them?
At the orphanage people were afraid, afraid children lash out. They thought I was a monster, that I wasn't human… Turns out that they were along the right lines though technically witches are human too. Even in deep summers when I was forced to work outside my skin never seemed to change; it always stayed as pale as a corpse. Even here I've always been different from anyone else. Gliding softly across the marble floor I glanced around at the grand magnificence of Hogwarts as I wondered whether or not it would have been like this if the Light Lord had won the war.
"Hello again Circe." I shivered slightly at the dark voice of Orion. His dark blood coloured eyes seemed to shift slightly as he watched me. The ancient mahogany doors creaked and groaned slightly as he spoke, almost as if his magic was in tune with that of the ancient castle.
"Riddle…" I bowed my head in acknowledgement of his higher status.
Orion chuckled slightly. "You don't need to acknowledge my supposed higher status Circe; we both know that your status in Ravenclaw is just as high even when it comes to the purebloods. If it wasn't that way you wouldn't associate with Cade Malfoy. Besides we both know you're just as powerful as me, our cores are identical. Call me Orion please Circe." He added again, my mind was whirling; Orion could see cores? That was rare, very rare indeed the trait indicated that Orion was powerful. While cores could show your magical preference it could show other things as well.
"What does mine look like?" I asked softly, almost in awe.
"You don't know how to use your gift? You can do it too, you have the ability Circe." I blinked, how did he know that one day I could do it? Why was he so certain? "Your core is pretty much identical to mine Circe; ebony with strands of silver weaved through it like a quilt. It reminds me of the night sky… It also has threads of green and blue, like the ocean." He sounded almost wishful in his words.
"Our cores are the same? I thought cores tended to be completely unique to the witch or wizard and was never identical to another's." I spoke with curiosity; maybe this was why Riddle seemed so intrigued by me.
"It is not always unique, it's rare certainly to have the same core to another but it is possible. My father and mother's cores are identical as well." Orion smiled softly, almost pleased by my interest with this.
"Why are some cores identical when others are not?" I asked.
"This may seem an odd question but when did you know you could use magic? When did you start to control it Circe? As a child did you ever use it to lash out, cause others pain?" Orion asked softly, staring at me intently. For once I seemed compelled to tell the truth around him. It seemed that this information was somehow important with this. I shifted uncomfortably. "You don't need to worry you know."
"I didn't know it was magic completely at the time, but I realised that certain things happened around me. I started trying to tame it, well if tame is even the right word, but I tried to well…use it for my wishes and intents. Let's just say that in the muggle world I most certainly wasn't someone to mess with. If you're talking about pain then yes I caused it so very easily." I replied.
"My father trained me to be able to fight, as his son I got attacked a lot. Not only did the resistance still desire my death but the Death Eaters were jealous over the wealth I had. No matter what my father did the death eaters were always there and would stop at nothing to gain power. In the end I taught them a lesion they couldn't forget in a hurry, which was when I began to gain their respects." I blinked; why did he reveal his secrets to me as if they were nothing?
"Why tell me your secrets?" I asked softly.
"Let's just say I trust you Circe, there is something about you that makes me want to trust you." Orion smiled softly. "Any way cores which are identical are because when they train their magic they train them in the same way and for similar reasons. The base colour of your core represents your magical preference and the way it is weaved represents different things. Well when the cores form in similar ways at the same time…. Well it's more complicated than that but it creates a bond between the two. For one it means they would be excellent fighting partners."
"Does the core give away a person's personality?" I asked softly.
"Yes, the colours are also related to the way you're sorted in a sense. Yellow means you have more of a Hufflepuff personality and so on. That's how the colours had been chosen with the houses. The type of thread also indicates a lot as well as does the way it's been weaved…" Orion trailed off.
"It does sound fascinating." I offered a small smile to Orion, which he returned more boldly.
"It is… I could teach you if you would like." Orion grinned; for once happiness seemed to shine within his eyes like he really wanted to. "My Mother taught me when I was little, but my father never really had the patience for such a thing. My father had more patience when it comes to magic then my mother though."
"I'd love too." I grinned. "How do you know I had the ability?" I asked.
"The silver thread running through indicates the gift and seeing as it is so prominent it indicates you'll probably have a strong talent for it." Orion smiled. "We'd better hurry to see my father, he's probably getting impatient."
I nodded and allowed Orion to lead me through the winding corridors of the school. Certain areas were restricted ether because of blood status or your house. The temperature seemed to get colder as we headed further down the spiralling steps of the dungeons. This area restricted to pureblood Slytherins only. The dungeons, while dark, were laden with the finest rugs and portraits. Candles floated delicately.
"Lady Ada…" A portrait smiled darkly, my blood ran cold.
"Lady Ravenclaw." I murmured, Lady Ravenclaw knew who I was in the muggleworld…she'd just revealed it in front of the dark lord's son. My heart raced slightly. Maybe Orion hadn't heard of the allusive Lady Ada… Knowing my luck he probably had. Ada was my name in the muggle world I guess you could say, plus was the name of the dark squib family that I am descended from.
"What are you doing down here? While you most certainly deserve to be sorted into that noble house, we both know for a fact you were sorted into my house. You are one of my prize pupils; don't tell me you have been resorted." I couldn't help but smile slightly; Lady Ravenclaw was almost like a mother to those Ravenclaws that she believed was worthy to have been sorted in her house.
"Lady Ravenclaw may I enquire to why you called her Lady Ada?" Orion asked puzzlement clear in his voice.
"Why Circe is a descendent of the Ada line like you are of the Slytherin one young man." Lady Ravenclaw tutted. "Surly you've heard how prominent the line was before they almost died out, Circe here is the sole surviving heir of the family."
"Forgive me but the most famous Ada is lose in the muggle world, there is another heir." Orion denied sounding puzzled. Oh…that's why. "Lady Ada is famous for killing muggles, almost like a black widow in some respects. She charms then she kills. She is famous for using a dagger and plunging it into her victim's heart." He sounded almost wistful at the idea.
Lady Ravenclaw winked at me. "I have heard of this other descendent but believe me when I say that Circe here is the sole surviving descendent."
"We need to hurry don't we?" I murmured softly to Orion.
"You are right Circe." Orion continued to lead me through the dungeons. As soon as we were out of ear shot Orion whispered to me. "Why not reveal the fact you're the Ada heir? You would probably have more respect from the Slytherin if you revealed your heritage."
"I don't want respect for my heritage but my own merit." I lied, whether or not he noticed my lie or not I wasn't sure.
"I don't blame you…" Orion muttered. "I wish my father wasn't so important because people tend to see me as a young version of him and not myself." He appeared to 'empathise' but it could just be fake. Most things in my life seemed to be fake. We came to a huge grand door, far grander and intricate than the one to the great hall… "We're here…" Casually Orion knocked the door. "Father it's Circe and I." Orion called.
"Come in." How strange…. I had thought this would be a lot more formal whether Orion was here or not.
Orion pushed the magnificent doors open. You could tell this area was reserved for the Slytherin family; even the fireplace had been decorated with serpents. Most of the wood was mahogany and the fabrics were of good quality. Velvet emerald furniture seemed to be favoured... Luminous green light seemed to trickle from the ceiling… That's because the dungeons are under the black lake. "Father this is Circe." The dark lord turned to face me, I shivered unsure of how to act. In the end I kneelt bowing my head.
"No need to kneel Miss Potter." The dark lord chuckled. He looked so very similar to Orion, the resemblance was uncanny unlike the resemblance I had to my parents.
"Father Circe is the Ada heir…" Orion murmured I grimaced slightly as I stood.
"I'd thought the line had died out two or so generations ago." The dark lord muttered. "Where did you find this out? Admittedly, no offence to Miss Potter, she resembles the Ada line greatly and not that of her parents but I am certain no Ada ever married into the Potter line. Where did you gain this information?" Wait; I look like an Ada? So is that where I inherited my traits? How strange that not only did I inherit their dark magic trait but their looks and appearances….
"Lady Ravenclaw father, her portrait revealed that on the way here." Orion replied. "You know that the Ada's were her descendants so of course she of all people would be correct with this…" My eyes widened slightly; Ravenclaw? I was a descendant of Lady Ravenclaw?
"Indeed she would know…" The dark lord muttered. "Why hide your heritage? Do not lie girl, I will be able to tell. While my son may not be equip to sense lies I most certainly am." My heart pounded. "Why not reveal you're a descendant of Ravenclaw?" Internally I sighed, thank goodness! Well this one I can answer without revealing anything.
"I never knew I was Lady Ravenclaw's descendant." I answered honestly.
"Has Orion told you about the proposition Miss Ada?" The dark lord asked with a cool smirk.
"No my lord." I murmured, figuring that it's better to show too much respect than too little when it came to the dark lord.
"Well Miss Ada have you heard of the Death Eaters?" The Death Eaters were pretty much the law enforcers though most (including me) would say they're brutes who love torturing innocents.
"Indeed I have my lord." I nodded, wondering where this was going… The dark lord wouldn't risk someone like me joining them. After all my parents are parts of the resistance and are still alive and fighting. Family loyalty matters to most people, not me, but most people. If my treacherous family contacted me then it was plausible I would reveal all their secrets.
"Well some are partaking in an important project which could help protect the security at the ministry. While that is happening we are short of competent people within the ministry. We both know you are incredibly powerful and definitely competent. We both know your magic is so potent that when you release it, it suffocates the core of anyone or anything you focus on. It is more effective than using crucio for certain." The dark lord smirked, I shivered.
He knew… He knew what I could do… so what did he want me to do? "I told you our cores are identical…" Orion smiled. "I have the same effect." Oh so that's how the dark lord knew…I guess it makes some sort of twisted sense.
"Seeing as some of my most deadly Death Eaters are working on this project I would like to ask you if you and Orion could assist me with certain things… The resistance is strengthening and right now the Death Eaters are working on trying to bring them down, when they catch wind of their bases they raid them. However because of lack of available Death Eaters right now that has proven problematic. Here is my proposition; if you are willing to participate during these raids my wife will give you private tutoring in using Necromancy." My eyes widened; Necromancy was one of the rarest braches of magic! It's practically impossible to get a tutor or even find a book to teach you!
"It will however mean that you will need to spend your holidays in Slytherin manner due to the fact if there is an unplanned raid we will need to be able to get you immediately. You will of course be well accommodated and looked after, we will have to take you in as our ward." A soft voice murmured I turned to see an elegant women standing in the doorway. Like the other two Riddle's her skin was pale but her hair was blond.
"Mother this is Circe…." Orion murmured.
"That I had guessed." The women let out a melodious laugh, I felt somewhat uncomfortable around the happy family.
"Sadly you won't be able to stay with the pureblood family you currently live with." The Dark lord murmured apologetically.
"Father Circe doesn't live with a pureblood family." Orion seemed confused.
"What? Where are you living?" The dark lord seemed slightly angry.
"St Coles Orphanage my lord." Didn't he know? Surely he of all people should know. My blue iris's widened slightly, maybe the dark lord knew- of course he knew! He must have known its law. The ministry of magic put me in that living hell and for that they must have had permission from the minster but what if it was done behind his back? No that just sounds stupid, why go to so much trouble to assure the Potter's child was placed in a filthy orphanage?
At the name the dark lord almost seemed to have a double take. "How did you end up in a muggle orphanage?" His voice seemed almost like he pitied me. "How did you end up in that orphanage? I thought it would have shut down by now…" He trailed off.
"My lord it was cleared with the ministry of magic when they found out that was the place my parents had originally dumped me when they fled." Venom showed clearly through my voice when I spoke of my parents. I hated them.
"The ministry? For that they would have had to have had my permission … Estelle please contact the ministry and launch an investigation as to who suggested it and if my signature had been faked." The dark lord sounded angry but not at me.
"Of course." Estelle nodded as she stepped into the fireplace taking a handful of dust. "Ministry of magic." She twirled disappearing in emerald flames. Her hair seemed to gleam with the ambers of the fire.
"How did you find out about the wizarding world?" Voldermort asked, well more like demanded.
"The letter." I half-lied. Actually I'd found out earlier, a whole lot earlier but that's another can of worms. Technically I never stepped foot into the wizarding world until the letter.
"You're lying." Voldermort hissed. "Tell me the truth Miss Ada, how did you find out?"
"A diary…" I stepped back nervous.
"What do you mean?" Voldermort asked.
"Another boy who had lived in the orphanage before me left a nameless diary behind." I answered. I didn't mention the fact that the boy gave me certain ideas about power and proved things I'd been thinking for a while. I didn't mention the fact that from the Diary I began to control my own powers and became a killer in the muggle world. That would be too much information. "He was a wizard, found out when an Albus Dumbledore came into the orphanage a long time before the war had begun. I checked the dates."
It was then I remembered Orion had told me that his father had been raised in an orphanage… What if he had been the mysterious boy? "Well Miss Ada do you agree to the proposition?" The dark lord asked.
"Yes…" I knew then that that the mere word would seal my fate…
A.N: how was this chapter? I hope it was ok and wasn't much of a let-down! PLEASE review, I love any feedback whether it is critical or not. Please review!