Goroloth understood people. He could tell when people were sad, scared, happy, infatuated. His keen eyes were able to pick up tiny movements that could detect a lie, a hesitation, a worried answer. He could take a single look at one's hands and see how they were feeling. He could tell from the way that a person's lips moved if they were going to say something positive or not. But most of all he could read eyes. An extra blink, a subtle twitch, how big they were compared to a normal size. So when he had heard what Uther and Igraine were saying about his eyes, he immediately understood what they were saying. Eyes could tell you a lot about a person.

For example, when he and Gorlois were younger, they would always play with the neighboring duke's children Rosalind and Dorian. Rosalind was a cute little girl with chestnut curls and hazel eyes. Dorian had darker hair but lighter eyes. The two children were his first "experiments", his first attempts at understanding the human mind.

The first thing that Goroloth noticed was that Rosalind's eyes would light up every time they saw food. Goroloth found that he could use this knowledge to bribe her into doing things. The first time he had used this knowledge was when Gorlois had tripped him. Goroloth wanted to put a spider down his brother's shirt for revenge, but he didn't want to do the dirty work so he looked for somebody who would.

Another thing that Goroloth had observed about Rosalind was that she was reckless and didn't think of consequences. So he had hatched his first great plan. The next time the children met, Goroloth made sure to corner Rosalind. In his hand was a piece of cherry pie. If Rosalind put a spider down Gorlois' back, then she would get the cake. Goroloth watched the struggle in her eyes. He could tell they as much as she didn't want to touch the spider, she wanted the pie more. So the decision was made and at the end of the day, Gorlois had developed a lifelong fear of spiders, Rosalind had her pie and Goroloth was satisfied with his revenge.

So from that day forth, Goroloth found that he was capable of convincing other people to do what he wanted. However there always were a few exceptions, Dorian being a notable one. When Goroloth was but five years old, Dorian was even younger, four and a half. Goroloth had always felt that he was superior to the younger boy, but Dorian seemed to disagree. It wasn't even the fact that Dorian posed any threat to him. Quite the opposite actually. Dorian was just about the sweetest, most moral person that Goroloth had met.

If it meant hurting anything, whether it be a person, bird or chair, Dorian would refuse to do it. This drove Goroloth so infuriatingly annoyed. Dorian just didn't understand that sometimes the easiest thing wasn't the right thing. At least, that's what Goroloth had tried to convince him. But Dorian proved difficult to crack so Goroloth did something that he was ashamed of doing. He had given up. Dorian had been the first and only person to have beaten Goroloth and he didn't even realize it.

It was these two experiences with Rosalind and Dorian that Goroloth felt defined him. He thought that he had known who he was until Igraine of Heth Woods came into his life. It wasn't even that he was attracted to her, although she was rather pretty. No, Goroloth wanted her because of her personality.

Goroloth was proud to say that he had attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was proud to say that he had a wand, a powerful blackthorn. But most of all, he was proud to say that he was a Slytherin. Goroloth had been taught by Salazar Slytherin. To a pureblood like him, being in the house of Salazar Slytherin was a great honor. The Founder had taught him all that he knew and even a bit more. As you'll soon find out, Goroloth was interested in more powerful magic. He craved magic that wasn't taught at Hogwarts.

But enough about Goroloth and his magic backgrounds. From the age of eleven, he and Igraine were fellow classmates at Hogwarts. Both were in the same year and both were Slytherins. Yet, Igraine had never paid much attention to him. He never understood why she would never look his way during classes, or greet him in the halls. The only time that she would ever initiate conversation would be to ask for a homework assignment. But other than that she never seemed to notice him in the shadows. It had never really made him mad before until fifth year when he realized that she was doing it intentionally. It started as the carriages picked up all of the students from their respective regions. Since Goroloth and Igraine lived in the same general area, they were in the same carriage. And of course Igraine ignored him completely and talked to a certain dark-haired light-eyed boy that he hadn't been able to crack.

And so began his dislike of Igraine. He knew that she had seen him in the carriage because her icy eyes had rested on him for the briefest of moments when he had got on. He knew that she was aware of him sitting across her because her gaze flickered to him sometimes when Dorian talked of his Hufflepuff friends. Dorian was a Hufflepuff. Goroloth fought hard to suppress a snort. Of course the angelic boy would be put into the loser house. Goroloth knew that Helga Hufflepuff valued hard work, patience and kindness. To him, that meant all the traits that none of the other houses wanted. But still, Igraine would rather listen to the babbling Hufflepuff than discuss intellectual issues with him. He was rather insulted by this.

Even at Hogwarts Igraine refused to acknowledge Goroloth's existence. He would follow her in hopes of catching her attention, but the girl just seemed to look right past him. This had made something inside of Goroloth snap with rage. How dare she ignore him so utterly and completely? It wasn't as if he had ever done anything wrong to her, right? Not that he would remember the things that he had done wrong. Goroloth tracked the times that others had wronged him. That way, his revenge would be justified. So he had begun to think about how to take revenge on the Lady Igraine.

Igraine had grown a lot since he had last seen her closely. After their Hogwarts graduation, the next time that Goroloth had seen her was at her wedding between her and his brother. He was in awe at how different she was. She used to be a quick-tongued, witty, independent Slytherin student at Hogwarts, but now she was a soft-spoken lady who would sit by his brother for the rest of their lives. Goroloth had never thought of Igraine as somebody who could be married to somebody. To be honest, other than her attractive features, he never thought that anybody would marry her because of her personality.

But then he saw how she was around Uther Pendragon and he could again see the young, bright, sly woman that she truly was.

And Goroloth hated himself for it.

Because ever since he had seen her since the wedding, he had felt himself more drawn to the lady. Goroloth would never use the word "love", he didn't believe in love, but he was interested and completely intrigued by Igraine. And so that Slytherin brain of his began to turn and form a plan to get Lady Igraine of Heth Woods all to himself. The day that she was his would be the day that idiot of a brother would rue.


"Gorlois, my dear brother!" Goroloth greeted his brother warmly. He had went to his brother's estate, the land that both boys had grown up on, to discuss important issues.

"Goroloth, how are you doing?" Gorlois opened the grand door and invited his brother in. Goroloth walked the familiar halls to his favorite room, a room overlooking the woods behind the estate.

"I am fine," Goroloth answered, seating himself on a large armchair.

"Wine?" Gorlois asked, pouring himself a glass.

"No thank you," Goroloth refused the alcohol as politely as he could. He hated drinks with alcohol in them, they upset his stomach.

"So, what are you here for?" Gorlois frowned.

"I am here to discuss Igraine with you."

"Igraine? What about her? She's my wife, not yours."

"Yes," Goroloth muttered irritably. "However, as your brother, I must tell you of some...interesting developments."

"What sort of developments?" Gorlois asked, setting down his wine glass. "Is she alright?"

"Oh yes, she's perfectly fine," Goroloth waved his hand dismissively. "It's just that, she is a beautiful young lady."

"I know, I'm lucky, aren't I?" Gorlois boasted.

"Yes, very lucky," Goroloth snapped, starting to lose patience. Fortunately Gorlois didn't notice his change in demeanor as he was pouring more wine.

"So, what about her?" Gorlois asked, sipping his wine.

"Well, you are very lucky indeed brother," Goroloth smiled again. "The Lady Igraine is certainly very beautiful. However, perhaps other men have also realized this and desire her as well."

"What do you mean?" Gorlois narrowed his beady eyes. The searched his brother's face for any sign of what he meant by "other men", but his brother's face was as smooth as stone.

"I mean that other men have most certainly noticed her beauty and that they might be interested in her. She is young and quite brilliant if I may-"

"What do you mean 'brilliant?'" Gorlois asked stupidly. "She doesn't seem very bright to me."

"Ah, well around other men-"

"Have you been talking to her?" Gorlois snapped, immediately suspicious of his brother.

Goroloth feigned a look of surprise. "Me? No, of course not, brother. I've only seen her pass by when she leaves the house-"

"She leaves the house?"

"Why, you haven't noticed?" Goroloth's eyebrows rose. Partly because he was acting, and partly because his brother really was that thick to not notice that Igraine went out regularly. But he had to keep that look of pity and brotherly love, so Goroloth continues and said, "I would've thought that you were aware of her relationships with other males."

"Which males?" Gorlois demanded from his brother. "Goroloth, if you truly do consider yourself a brother of my, then I plead with you to tell me about my wife. Has she always been dishonest?"

"Gorlois, my brother," Goroloth leaned back in his armchair. "I will tell you all about your wife's connections with other men. But, I must get something in return."

"Well, what do you want?" Gorlois asked, eyes wide with worry.

Goroloth only smiled wickedly.


By the end of discussing Lady Igraine, Goroloth had his brother in the palm of his hand. Of course he never revealed any specific names regarding Igraine, saying that he "could never quite make out the face", but he got a general message across. Igraine was seeing other men frequently and she was enjoying it. Of course this was a little white lie, but Goroloth knew that for his plan to work, he had to make the situation seem more dire than it really was.

First, he had to gain his brother's trust. This was of utmost importance because the two siblings were never close and any relationship between them was tense and strained. However, Goroloth needed his brother to trust him so that he could spy on Igraine without worrying what people would say. And Gorlois was rather malleable and so his mind could be easily twisted and bent into believing whatever Goroloth told me. And Goroloth knew that once the seeds of suspicion were planted in his brother's head, there was no way that anything could stop it from growing. For while Gorlois was not very bright, he was nosy and curious about other people's affairs.

The next step in Goroloth's plan was to convince Gorlois to let him spend time with Igraine. For this to happen, he had to get the trust of his brother. So everything really went back to repairing the bond between the two brothers. They used to be quite close until Goroloth went off to Hogwarts and Gorlois stayed at home. Gorlois never found out what his brother truly was, but that had created a wedge between the two. When they used to trust each other with every little detail, Goroloth was hiding a huge secret that Gorlois wasn't to know about. Of course to mend that relationship, Goroloth would eventually have to tell his brother about magic, otherwise the other parts of the plan wouldn't work.

After getting his brother on his side, Goroloth needed stronger, more powerful allies if he were to get Igraine to himself. That meant getting witches and wizards on his side. Goroloth definitely needed to find out the extent of Igraine's magical prowess, but he knew that she would most likely prove to be a formidable foe since she was taught by none other than Salazar Slytherin himself. He had heard of her incredible healing spells and her ability to speak with birds. He knew that her wand was a very powerful indeed with a core of a dark phoenix. But that was all. So he needed to get to know her better.

This plan was only just hatching, but there was already a problem with it: Uther Pendragon. Goroloth knew that Uther was a wizard, and a half-decent one at that. But he didn't know anything else about the rider of dragons. Oh, and he and Igraine were clearly close if she would tell him so many personal things. To get to Igraine, Goroloth would have to get rid of Pendragon.

So with this beginning of plan in his head, Goroloth fell into a blissful sleep, dreaming of a dead Gorlois, a dead Pendragon, and Igraine sleeping next to him.