Right. Hi, everyone! *waves* Last update this week, cos I have army training. Gah. Oh, and Lacole never read HP before she died. In fact, HP never existed, or something...you get the idea. Uh, actually, I wouldn't mind a few reviews, you know. Hint hint. If you don't review, Lord Voldemort will come back to life and kill Lacole in a horrible gruesome way...
Muse: But he's going to do that anyway!
Shut up, Muse. Sorry bout that. Read on.
I had greatly misunderstood my mother. I had always seen her as a weak little creature who's only happiness in life was her lord and master. She never spoke to me of the killing and torturing and all that unless my father asked her to join in, and if she spoke to me outside of that, it was only to teach me manners.
After Bellatrix told me, with a terrible expression, that my father was gone (not dead, she wouldn't say dead), she took me away, telling me that it was unsafe, and ignoring my request to go to the library for any more books other than the one in my hand. Being told that my father was perhaps gone forever wasn't exactly unappealing to me. And as Bellatrix vehemently denied that he was dead, I didn't have to worry about the poor people in his next world.
It was the first time I had ever been away from the castle I called home, and I was actually quite cheerful. The castle looked as gloomy from the outside as from within, and I wasn't very sorry to leave it. Bellatrix talked to me very little as we walked away, and then she picked me up, whirled around, and I felt a most unpleasant sensation of being squeezed through a tube. After it was over, I patted my head to check that it was still the shape it was before, and looked around. We were standing on a well-trimmed lane. Bellatrix grabbed my hand impatiently, and tugged me after her.
The lane was wilderness on one side, and a trimmed, high hedge on the other. As we rounded the corner, I saw at the same time, a white peacock trotting along the top of the hedge and a silvery, wire gate. Bellatrix pulled out her wand, and stuck it into a little hole on the gate. I half expected it to beep, but it didn't, just opened silently. Inside was a wide stone path, with a neat lawn on each side and a impressive fountain mounted by a unicorn standing on it's hind legs was in front of us. As I passed it, I saw that it had saphires for eyes, and surely that horn was gold? When we rounded it, I saw the house in the distance, a nineteenth century concept of modern, elegant and refined, more to my taste than the Dracula's Haunt that had been my home.
"Where is this?" I couldn't help ask.
My mother spared me a glance.
"Your aunt's house."
My eyebrows rose. I'd never known I had an aunt. But one question per day was about my mother's limit, and I said no more. I was a bit excited though. This was a nice change, and my aunt might even have a library. When we reached the doors, it opened, and a tiny creature about my height with tennis ball sized eyes bowed hastily.
"You is welcome, Madam Lestrange! Please-Mistress is in the parlour."
Whatever it was, it obviously hadn't learnt grammar. My mother ignored it, so I did too, and ran after her through the unfamiliar house.
'Mistress' was a pretty young woman of twenty four or five with golden hair falling over her shoulders and a pretty, yet slightly disdainful smile. Her icy blue eyes looked over Bellatrix, before falling on me. She raised an eyebrow.
"Sister, whose child is this?"
"Mine," Bellatrix replied. "And I do hope you have rooms for the two of us."
The young woman stirred her tea.
"Rooms, of course, are an abundance, but Lucius is in a very tight spot right now, you know it, Bella. I cannot help but be nervous to admit you."
Bellatrix laughed unpleasantly.
"Narcissa, I know perfect well the tricks your little husband has up his sleeve, and the galleons. And there's that convenient little place under the drawing room, where I'm sure I'll be safe if aurors were to come."
Narcissa smiled, and sipped her tea.
"It is not that I do not wish to be of use to you, dear Bella. But I worry. You have not always been very clear headed, you know, especially when to do with the Dark Lord."
"I will bring you no trouble, I assure you."
"No trouble, no, just a child. And who is her father, might I ask?"
"No, you may not."
"I would be wary of the unknown, sister."
A pause.
"If you worry so, I shall tell Lucius Malfoy. But not you."
Narcissa shrugged elegantly, and stretched out her legs.
"You could ask him, too, then. If he agrees to let you stay here, then I would have no objection."
"Very well. Where is he?"
"Dobby!" Narcissa called. I blinked. What Dobby?
The weird little thing who had greeted us at the door appeared with a snap, pulling at its ears.
"Dobby, take Bella to my husband."
My mother followed the little creature, and I followed her. My Aunt Narcissa, I decided, was a sugar coated knife, those who are so accustomed to deceit that it became a habit. I couldn't fault her, for it was what I, in the end, wanted to become-cover myself with masks and masks, and protect myself from hurt. It meant that I could never be truly free, but freedom itself was such a lie! I might as well live in lies, than die in the pursuit of another. My uncle, Mr. Lucius Malfoy gave my mother pretty much the same arguments Narcissa did, and asked who my father was. My mother hesitated, and I took the chance to make an impute.
"My father's name is Lord Voldemort," I said.
Lucius started, looked me up and down and then to Bellatrix for confirmance. She gave it.
"And Lucius, what do you think our lord would do if he returned and was told that his child was refused sanctuary?"
"He would do nothing at all, because it would be a lie," Lucius said coldly.
Bellatrix looked pleased. That settled, she started asking Lucius about how he was going to get out of being convicted. Lucius told her very little other than the fact that he was likely to succeed, but it would be a long and tedious business. Bellatrix sneered at him for his efforts, and accused him of disloyalty. He glared at her.
"To your brain, Bella, it is perhaps not very clear, but I could do a great deal more towards helping our lord return if I am proved to be quite innocent. And since you see reason to doubt me, you will kindly remove yourself from my sight."
"I'm sure our lord's return is at the forefront of your mind," Bella shot back sourly, before pulling me to leave.
"Leave the child," Lucius added without looking up.
Bellatrix gave an incredulous huff, and let go of me to exit with a bang.
I looked at Lucius for a while, wondering what he wanted with me, but he seemed to be engrossed in whatever he was reading on his desk, and feeling stupid, I wandered over to a bookshelf. Much to my delight, it wasn't all about the Dark Arts, but had quite a number of books on Transfiguration and Potions. All my father had ever had was a huge library of Dark Arts, coupled with a few books on languages, which was needed since a lot of the books weren't written in English. I picked a book on Transfiguration that looked very interesting, and sat down by the bookshelf to read it, like I always did. It was confusing and I only understood about half of what it said, but I was fascinated with the fact that you could kill people by turning them into inanimate objects, and excited by the concept of Animagi.
"You can read?" Lucius sounded surprised.
"Mmm," I replied, forgoing politeness for the book.
He quite gently took the book from my hands and checked what it was. He raised an eyebrow.
"You understand this?"
"Not really. I only get about half, and I don't understand a bit about Elemental Transfiguration."
He gave me a look. One of those strange looks that I had been given a lot in my previous life. It looked haughty on his face. It was a good looking face, like those portraits of this lord or that which you see when you visit old houses, with a good amount of arrogance to highlight the effect. He didn't scare me, with a father like mine, it was quite hard to be scared, but he seemed to demand respect. Unfortunately, when people demand of me, I'm in the habit of not giving.
"How old are you, child?"
"Eighteen."
"You can't be more than five."
"I was four in June."
"You are very gifted, then. Did your father teach you to read?"
"My father taught me to be quiet."
"…I'm sure he would."
Lucius looked very bemused, and I seized the opportunity, and the book.
"I can borrow this, right?"
"Certainly. I have a more extensive library, with books more suited to your understanding."
"Which is very good."
"I'm sure it is."
I then continued to read, while Lucius looked at me. It reminded me of my father's favourite pastime.
"Your mother didn't tell me your name."
"It's Lacole."
I continued reading.
"You know, I have a son, Draco, he was one in June. You could play together."
Play? With a one year old? No thanks.
"Thank you, but I don't play with babies."
"Who do you play with, then?"
"You know, you have this habit of interrupting my reading, which is funny, because my father enjoyed the same thing."
"Well. Don't let me interrupt you then."
So from the first encounter, the balance of power was made. Lucius would always thwart Bellatrix, and I would always thwart him. He was used to his own happy, normal infant son, and was at a loss to how to deal with me, the little child prodigy. My mother soon got herself captured, to everyone's expectation and no one's regret, and I took up residence at Malfoy Manor on a permanent basis-they were given my guardianship on account of being my closest relatives, and I finally got a file in the Ministry of Magic with the name of father blank.
Things were a lot easier without parents, and with an aunt and uncle who didn't quite know what to make of me. I never bothered to hide that I was too clever for my age, which meant Narcissa dared treat me as her personal Barbie doll a lot less than she would have liked. Draco was told by his father to play nice with me, which he did by ignoring me a lot. And by the age of three, he was so much of a little brat that I was quite glad he stayed out of my way. Narcissa spoilt him outrageously, and Lucius was very strict with him as a result. This meant that he grew up with a huge amount of respect for his father, and none for anyone else.
I, on the other hand, didn't really enjoy my childhood the way everyone else did, because I wasn't exactly like everyone else. I wasn't even a child, really. I devoted my time to studying, for enjoyment, and because I didn't really have that much else to do. This world might have superior beings, but they were superior only in strength of body and not of mind. The pettiness and injustice, all those human defects I had despaired of in my first world were here. And here, I had even less reason for happiness, I barely belonged here. Fantastic as magic was, I still thought like a muggle. And I would still, occasionally, dream of my father, and his threats, and his cruelty, and then I would pray to that god who seemed to favour me so, to let him never come back.
Days passed, and I grew to the ripe old age of ten going on twenty four. Flying over the grounds of Malfoy Manor, Draco suddenly rose up behind me.
"Draco, I'm not playing tag with you again. If you crash into another tree, I think Lucius might just strangle me."
Draco scowled, trying and failing to imitate his father.
"I don't want to play tag. Actually, I came to tell you something, that is if you want to hear."
"When do you say anything worth hearing? Go tell Dobby you fancy Pansy Parkinson."
"I don't fancy her! And it is too worth hearing! It's something Father and Mother said together!"
"Were you eavesdropping, you little spy?"
"I have perfect right to hear about my own birthday party. But they weren't actually talking about that. They were talking about you, you know."
That caught my attention. Surely Lucius hadn't told Narcissa about my father?
"I'm sure they do have to take a break from talking about you sometimes."
"It's something important. You are getting really old, you know."
"Draco, I'm not even three years older than you."
"Oh, come on, Lacole! You're going to be eleven soon! Surely you have two brain cells to rub together! School!"
"Oh, school. What about it?"
"Well. They were talking about whether or not to send you to Hogwarts."
"And what did they decide?"
"They hadn't."
I rolled my eyes. I really do have faith that Draco isn't stupid. He's just…slow. Someday he'll make use of his intelligence. After he realises that the world doesn't revolve around him.
"That's not much fun."
Draco was very grumpy at the way I received his information, and swore he'd never tell me anything again. He always did, though, because it was a choice between me, Dobby, and Pansy Parkinson, which really wasn't much of a choice. I landed by the front door, and went to find Lucius. He was, as usual, in his study.
"Lucius, are you busy?"
He put down a book.
"I'm always busy, but you might as well tell me what you want."
I sat down by him and crossed my ankles.
"Well, I'll be eleven soon. What are you going to do about my schooling?"
Lucius looked at me carefully.
"What do you think I should do?"
"I think you should send me to the school of my ancestor, the school of my father," I said. I'd noticed that Lucius was always more succeptable to suggestion when I mentioned that good gentleman.
"But it would be a danger, you know," Lucius murmured.
"No one else knows who my father is, right?" I shrugged.
"No, but they don't know that any man is your father. It is not right to call you Lestrange, when you are so obviously not the daughter of that man."
"Riddle. My name is Lacole Natasha Riddle."
Lucius raised his eyebrows.
"Bellatrix told me once. And I'm sure no one knows my father's surname is Riddle."
"But I am not sure Hogwarts is advanced enough for you. Surely you greatly exceed all your classmates."
"Perhaps I've read more, yes, but I've never touched a wand. And I should learn to get along with people-I can count the people I've known so far in my life with one hand."
I could see Lucius counting.
"What about Pansy Parkinson?"
"I prefer to think that I don't know her. But even if I did, that would still be a very poor amount."
"You insist upon going then?"
"Quite."
"Well then." Lucius stood and walked over to his desk. "I have a letter to write to the headmaster of Hogwarts."
And so it was settled that I would attend Hogwarts in September. After being informed, Draco decided it was greatly unfair that I got to go to Hogwarts before he did, and wouldn't speak to me any more. With nothing better to do, I told him that he was too much of a midget and teased him so much that he actually burst into tears and ran to his daddy. While I was still laughing in shock, Lucius appeared and threatened not to send me to Hogwarts if I was going to bully Draco.
That I didn't like. Although he was technically my foster father, he'd never treated me like a child because he never needed to, and when he did need to, didn't dare. So I quietly threw a paddy, ignored Draco as much as he ignored me, and refused to let anyone go with me when I went to Diagon Alley for my supplies.
That, by the way, went off without a hitch. I bought all the necessary supplies, including my wand (cherrywood, thirteen and a quarter inches, core of unicorn hair), an owl (a lovely black one with bright eyes whom I named Illusion), and a load of robes. I was also tempted into a joke shop, which was rather crowded, very noisy, and made worse because someone was testing their jokes on the spot. I found the culprits by accident-something exploded in my hair, and they laughed way too hard. I gave them a death glare.
"You," I snapped, "are not going to move. Not until I buy something to get revenge."
"Well, George?" Said the red-haired, freckled boy on the left.
"Well, Fred!" Replied the red-haired, freckled boy on the right.
"Gryffindor's honour!" They promised together.
I raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, Gryffindors, are you? Then your over-exploited sense of honour will surely keep you here till I've gotten my payback."
"Sounds like a Slytherin to me, Fred!" I heard one say as I pushed further into the shop.
I didn't mind, really. I and everyone else I knew expected me to be a Slytherin, what with me being his heir and everything. I had no idea if I could speak parstletongue, because I'd never seen a snake. And I did get the two of them back. I found the exact same thing that they had used on me, and got them when they weren't looking. I went back to Malfoy Manor very pleased with myself.
And then all that remained was September the first, and Hogwarts.
You know, what I said about the reviews...