FOURTEENTH
"Corvus, if you could accompany me to my office?" the headmaster asked. The boys were in their Ancient Runes class on Thursday, looking forward to Potions first thing the next day when Karkaroff had interrupted to ask for the raven. Giving Corvus sympathetic looks, the others began to pack up his things as he followed the older man from the classroom. They walked the halls in silence, the preteen nervously wiping his sweaty palms against his school robes. He cast his mind back to the previous weeks, wondering if there was anything he'd unknowingly done that had violated the rules. Not able to come up with anything, he was surprised to find himself standing before a simple oak desk, not even having been aware of the journey they'd taken to arrive at the headmaster's office. Corvus stood straight and tall in front of the desk as he awaited his doom. "Please have a seat, Corvus. This is just a formality."
The raven blew out a relieved breath as he sat, looking attentively at the leader of the school. "Your magical paperwork has finally arrived," he murmured after several moments of contemplative silence. The child's eyebrows rose into his hairline in surprise; he hadn't known that paperwork was even required to go to school in the wizarding world. Karkaroff leaned forward, opening the manila folder placed neatly in the center of his otherwise empty desktop. "Just a few forms for you to sign, and everything will be settled. First, your agreement that you wish to attend Durmstrang." He slid the document forward, and Corvus scanned it quickly with his eyes, hesitating over the name on the document. He looked up at the headmaster for a moment, and at the slight nod, signed his name 'Corvus Seiryu Riddle'. "Very good. Next is verification of your immunizations. I realize that you, being raised by neglectful muggles, probably never received these. Go ahead and sign the form, and I will send you to the infirmary so that they may catch you up." Nodding, the child complied, gaining confidence each time he signed his new name. "Now, please look at these entrance exams; I need you to ensure that they are accurate." Raven brows flew into his hairline again as Corvus scanned the papers.
"Um, this says that I have an IQ of 145. That can't be right. I was never able to go to school regularly, so my education suffered."
"I had spoken to your father at great length during the summer, and he had told me everything I needed to know in order to best aid you while you are here at Durmstrang. The Dark Lord had included runes for health and knowledge in the life for life sacrificial ritual he used to bring you back. The runes, along with his own magic and will, were able to repair the substantial damage your body had suffered. As well, the knowledge you have now was gifted to you by your father. I also know that you'd undergone some intensive tutoring in the few weeks before school started, so that score is honestly yours."
"But if the knowledge wasn't mine to begin with, then how can I be considered intelligent?"
The headmaster smiled at the boy. "That is an excellent question. The only thing your father's contribution did was open up your ability to learn and develop your knowledge base. That's why the tutoring you had was more than adequate, and it caught you up splendidly.
"Now, here is a copy of your birth certificate. Please ensure that all things on the document are correct to the best of your knowledge." He pushed the document toward the child and sat back as the boy perused it carefully.
Name of Child: Corvus Seiryu Riddle
Date of Birth: 31 July, 1980
Place of Birth: Finistére, France
Gender of Child: Boy
Description of Child: Weight: 0.6428571426 st
Height: 73.66 cm
Hair: Black
Eyes: Green
Identifying Marks or Features: Birthmark on right lower buttock area
Ethnicity: Caucasian
This document has been submitted to the Records Division, Births and Deaths, by Thomas Marvolo Riddle on September 5, 1980. It has been adjudged authentic and original, and has passed the magical scans required to ensure that no alteration of the document have taken place. It is a binding, legal magical document, and meets all requirements for identification.
This document is true and accurate. On my magic I so swear.
Thomas Marvolo Riddle, Father
Aurélie Marie Abélard, Mother
Witness: Evan Rosier, Keeper of Records and Archives, Ministry of Magic
"Th-that's correct," Corvus murmured nervously, sliding the document back over to the headmaster. A small smirk graced the older man's face as he took back the birth certificate.
"Do not worry, Master Riddle," the man intoned gravely. "You are, for all intents and purposes, the son of our Lord. The document was imbued with your blood, as well as your father's, before it was submitted to the Ministry. Certain of your father's 'associates' work at the Ministry, in key positions, which enabled him to submit your 'birth certificate' for 'authentication'. It has been recorded in their magical archives as having been present since September 5, 1980. Your safety is guaranteed, young Lord. Just know that, from this day forward, you are the son of Lord Voldemort."
"What was that all about?" Theo asked worriedly. In spite of the casual air that the other boys had adopted when Corvus was taken to the headmaster's office, they were all slightly panicked, thinking that, somehow, his true identity was discovered and he was about to be turned over to the Ministry, or, worse yet, Dumbledore.
"You're never going to believe it, but my father submitted paperwork to the Ministry in Great Britain, stating that I am his son. He is my father, and a woman named Aurélie Marie Abélard is my mother. He even has my birthplace as Finistére, France. It was witnessed by a man named Evan Rosier, and is legal and everything. It even has a description of my birthmark." He flushed with embarrassment. I'm going to have a talk with dad about that birthmark. I want to know exactly when he saw it. "I thought that this wouldn't actually happen until I was sixteen."
"Evan Rosier is one of your father's minions," Draco said matter-of-factly. "He has loads of them in the Ministry, and there are lots more in Diagon Alley. They're 'shopkeepers', subtly pushing your father's agenda when they can. It's brilliant, actually."
"Your father had talked to my dad about it," Theo chimed in with a beaming smile. "Your dad wanted to make it as legal as possible, as quickly as possible. He really loves you, Corvus."
"Yeah, I…I guess so," the raven replied quietly.
"Why do you seem surprised? I thought you knew that your father loved you," asked Draco, confused.
"I…I did. But I didn't expect that he'd want to claim me so soon. I'm just…overwhelmed right now."
"Yeah," Greg said into the silence, "I get that. You went from having no one to having family in a very short amount of time. It's going to take some getting used to. That's okay. That's what we're here for."
"Right," Blaise added. "We're your Inner Circle. We're here to support you, to bolster you, to lift you up. You are to be the Alpha one day, and you'll need us to help you navigate those waters."
Moaning in the middle of the night had both Draco and Theo out of bed in a flash and over to Corvus, who was thrashing in his own bed. "Corvus," Draco murmured, shaking the preteen lightly. When that didn't wake him, Draco shook him a little harder. "Corvus!" Emerald eyes opened, glassy with pain.
"Merlin, Corvus," Theo gasped, sitting down on the edge of the raven's bed. "Are you all right? You look a fright."
"My stomach," the child hissed out, curling up into a ball and moaning again. "The headmaster sent me to the infirmary to get all of my inoculations, all at once. I feel sick." Theo crawled into Corvus' bed, curling up against his back. Not to be left out, Draco climbed in and plastered himself against the raven's front. Both boys caressed and soothed the ill child back to sleep, but stayed awake for a while longer, making sure that their friend was sleeping soundly before they finally succumbed to sleep. Twice more, the raven woke his friends up, the final time instigating a house elf visit with some stomach soothing potion. After that, Corvus curled around Draco, while Theo curled around Corvus, and they slept peacefully the rest of the night.
"Everybody have their ingredients boxes?" Corvus asked as the group trooped to their potions class.
"Yes, Corvus," they all chorused, smirking as the raven blushed and glared at them.
"Right, then. Let's see how many of these ingredients professor Dragomirov will try and steal from us," Riddle murmured as they entered the classroom.
"Stealing is forbidden at Durmstrang," a dark voice spoke from behind the group, startling the hell out of the five children. As one, they eeped and jumped a foot in the air, spinning around to stare wide-eyed at the professor.
"I apologize, professor Dragomirov," Corvus said, shamefaced. "I only meant it as a joke."
A smirk graced the potions professor's face as he looked at the group of first years with amusement. "I do understand, Mr. Riddle. No harm done. I have it on good authority that you five were able to visit the Terra Botanica in Paris. Were you able to bring back some suitable specimens to share with the rest of the class?"
"N-no sir," Draco murmured, blushing. "We were able to procure a variety of cuttings, and we brought enough so that we could start our own ingredients garden here, in the classroom."
"That is an excellent idea, Mr. Malfoy," the professor praised, making the blond blush with pleasure. "For the next three Fridays," he said to the rest of the class as he moved to the front of the room, allowing Corvus and his friends to reach their stations, "we will design our own potions ingredient garden, with the cuttings generously provided by Corvus Riddle and his friends. You will all break up into groups of five, and each group will research a specific part of the project. I will assign the work to each group myself. For today, you will all find your groups and do some research into what it takes to make a proper potions ingredient garden; I want lists of tools, fertilizers, containers, lighting, watering schedules; the whole thing. I will take the best-researched papers and consolidate them into instruction manuals for each phase of the project. Begin."
The boys tumbled out of the floo that Friday afternoon, after their last class, and were shocked to see Pansy, Daphne, Tracey, Millicent and Vince standing in the receiving room. Instantly, the group of kids merged, hugging and kissing and congratulating each other on their various accomplishments. Once the fervor died down, all the kids went to Corvus' room, to hang out and play games and reconnect. Their fathers were ensconced in the study, discussing the Ministry and Dumbledore.
"Lucius. What news have you about the esteemed headmaster?" Tom asked, a smug grin on his lipless mouth.
"The Weasley twins have been in communication with Hogwarts," the blond replied, noting the looks of shock on the other fathers' faces. "I know; it came as a bit of a shock to me, as well. It seems that the demon twins of Gryffindor have earned the favor of the spirit of Hogwarts, and she has introduced them to a great many of her secrets. One such secret is her ability to communicate and, when necessary, enact justice against a guilty party for grievances against some of her chosen.
"From what they have told me, it seems that Lady Hogwarts was a little…disenchanted with the headmaster. He was in the Room of Requirement, venting his spleen, and had apparently paid the great Lady a grievous insult. Her retribution was to shrink him down to the size of a mouse."
"Rumor has it that Minerva McGonagall is now the acting Headmistress," Ehno Zabini remarked mildly.
"Rumor would be correct," Lucius concurred. "However, I don't believe rumor has gotten this far. She is no longer in the old man's pocket. She was horribly disappointed at the information that had come out about the headmaster, and has become rather disgusted with him. She has him locked up in a Victorian style dollhouse, and she refuses to let him out of it. She is completely on board with all the changes that we'd like to make to the school, and she even supports your agenda, my Lord, after a fashion."
"That is good news," Tom crowed, pleased. "With the changes to the curriculum, we should start turning out more Neutral-Dark students. I would like our corner of the wizarding world to reflect more of a balance to our approach to magic. No longer will the education and usage of magic be one-sided. I would like to change everyone's views of what actually constitutes Dark magic, and I would also like to destroy the belief that Dark equals evil. People need to go back to basics; they need to realize that it's not the type of magic that determines the objective, but the intent of the wizard. We will also need to make sure that there are places for the halfbloods and muggleborns. They need to be integrated more fully into our society; we need to create an atmosphere of acceptance."
"Why, my Lord?" Lucius questioned with a moue of disgust on his face. "We really don't need the mudbloods, do we?" Crimson eyes glared balefully at the Malfoy patriarch, making him pale drastically.
"Please remember, Lucius, that my protégé and son had a muggleborn mother. By all accounts, she was a brilliant, kind, loving, and gracious lady. I hear that she was also very gifted magically."
"She was," Severus intoned, glaring at his friend angrily. "Just because she didn't come from a family with a pureblood name, doesn't mean she was worth less than a house elf. Besides, I am sure that she has a magical ancestor somewhere in her line. I would not be surprised to find that there are witches and wizards in the cousins, nieces, and nephews of the Evans line."
"Truly, Lucius," Buster Crabbe chimed in, "do you really wish to see the magical world die?" When the blond looked at the man as if he were daft, he continued. "We need fresh blood; fresh magic if we wish to grow stronger and survive. All of your father's outdated ideals need to be abolished. We've had far too much inbreeding over the last several generations, and we're birthing substandard magical children. It's only when the Blacks stopped marrying cousins that they had powerful children. Draco is only powerful because of your magic melding successfully with your wife's.
"Sure, when the wizards first began it was more acceptable to keep the lines pure. After all, there were a great many more pureblood wizarding families then. It was when the inbreeding became too extreme that the pureblood families started dying off. Losing their magic because of the defects of the other pureblood families, who kept breeding with each other, thereby keeping the defects within the family. It's all about genetics."
"How do you know all this, Buster?" Riddle questioned, unaccountably proud of the fact that this man was a part of his organization.
"I've done a lot of research in my spare time," the man answered, blushing at the pride in his Lord's eyes.
"He's helped me a great deal, my Lord," Arthur murmured. "He's made me realize that my wife had inherited her family's personality disorders, made more vicious by the inbreeding they'd done in the past. It's my wife that has made my son feel like he's a walking advert for abortion. Because the marriage contract is ironclad and unbreakable, I have no choice but to tolerate her. I do what I can to mitigate the damage she's done to him, but I'm afraid it won't be enough."
"Thank you, sir," came a voice from the doorway. All heads turned, startled, to see Corvus standing there, staring at Arthur Goyle, and they all saw death in those emerald eyes. "I now know who it was to convince Greg that he's an idiot. Just so you know, we take very good care of Greg. We've helped and encouraged him, and he's grown so much since starting Durmstrang. He, along with the rest of us, are at the top of our classes consistently. I made a promise to myself, that when I found out who it was to hurt Greg like that, I would take care of it." Turning, he left the study, leaving behind a group of very puzzled, shocked men.
"I think someone is in for a rude awakening," Severus murmured into the silence.
OCTOBER 11, 1991
THE DAILY PROPHET
THE DEATH OF AN INNOCENT
Dumbledore's confession
Betty Braithwaite, reporter
Here it is once again, good readers. Time to reveal some more of the headmaster's dirty little secrets. Over the past three weeks, we've revealed diary entries that spoke of Dumbledore's love affair; the rekindling of youthful passions and the quest for world domination. Here, today, we reveal the thought processes behind the murder of Ariana Dumbledore, by her older brother Albus.
August 17, 1899
Dear Diary,
I've done it! I've finally killed her! It was so easy! Gellert and I had been discussing the ways in which we would dominate the wizarding and muggle worlds, when Aberforth came up and angrily accosted us. I understand his anger; after all, I've felt the same rage at having to take care of that useless halfblood, so I could see why he was in such a snit. However, to call me a worthless slacker… Well, that was crossing a line. I pulled my wand and engaged him in a duel. I was going to show that upstart just who was truly worthless. To my surprise, he started to get the best of me! Gellart, my one true love, jumped in to help, and we had Aberforth on the ropes. I don't know if it was fate, or if someone had listened to my prayers, but Ariana decided to jump into the fray, to protect Aberforth of course. She turned her wand to Gellert, and I saw red! I slit her throat with a cutting curse, and watched gleefully as she bled to death in the dust and dirt where she belonged. The fight instantly went out of Aberforth, and Gellert used the distraction of my sister's death to obliviate my involvement with the 'accident'. He then disappeared, but not before promising that he would return in a month, to spirit me away from here for good. I can't wait to finally be shut of this place once and for all!
September 23, 1899
Dear Diary,
He didn't come. He promised me and he didn't come. All I got was an owl, telling me that he'd found someone else that would be able to help him accomplish his goals better than I. He abandoned me for someone else! How dare he treat me like that! Like I'm some lowly mudblood. He had told me that my muggle taint didn't matter; that he loved me anyway. Yet the first chance he gets, he finds a pureblood to rut with. I will get even with him, if it's the last thing I do. No one treats the greatest wizard alive like that! No one.
"How the mighty have fallen," Tom murmured happily as he cut the article from the paper. He opened the scrapbook, which was filling up quite nicely, to an empty page, centering the article and selecting a suitable paper frame for it. "Now the wizarding world will know that it wasn't for their sake that Dumbledore 'defeated' Grindelwald; it was because he was a scorned lover. It's priceless. Simply priceless."