A/N: And here, we go. Confirmation on the identity of the Dark Lady Pendragon. Shocker, I know. *Laughs Evilly* However, she is not completely evil. She is just a dark lady because that is what people label her as. She is no Voldemort, but neither is she as pure light as she is in canon. She grew up completely differently and her mind is different, though she is still very similar.. Enjoy!
Hermione smirked evilly. Oh, that had been way too fun. Snape with a flashback in the middle of potions class, thank goodness Harry only requested to channel her power during paperwork. Who knew taking over only the British wizarding world would take So. Much. Bloody. Parchment work! This was coming along better and better. Who knew that when she entered diagon alley at four years old and her magic unlocked that this was what would have happened. A brother, a mentor, an entire race as allies, and the Major Houses she wasn't the head of, she was the Liege Lady of. Head of Houses Pendragon, Emrys, LeFay, Heiress and Liege Lady of House Peverell, and Liege Lady of Houses Black, Flamel, Scamander, Bones, Shafiq, Guant, Slytherin, and Patil. And above all Lady Magic had blessed her personally. Every single possible family magic unlocked. Metamorph. Parselmouth. Parselmage. Magimagus (A/N: like animagus but of a magical animal. James, Rita and Peter were animagus, but Sirius was a magimagus, the grim.) Seer. Magesight. Beast speaker (A/N: understanding all animals, though speaking English and the smarter ones understand. Like Newt Scamander.) All because of a single mispronounced confundus charm shot at her. (A/N: When magic is messed up, you never know what it does. In this case, it did the opposite and made her think very clearly for a second, making her make the right choices to go on her current path. That single event that led to everything? Her stumbling into Diagon Alley at four years old which she most definitely didn't do in canon.)
Now, next. Ah, it seemed Snape had realized exactly who he would side with. She would have to double check him, but if it worked, and he truly did want to plant himself firmly on her side, he would be a valuable asset. Oooh.. but she had to get on Dumbledoree's nerves first. And Harry had wanted to visit over the weekend. What better way to combine both of them than to bring out her not-so secret weapon. He had been dying to do something, and it was just about time.
He was bored. He had been cooped up in spell research for the past several years, since The Lady had recovered him from the brink of madness on which he had been. He liked research, all right, before his sixth year that had been his ideal career. But he could finally go out. His Lady had not only let him go free, she had given him an assignment, aggravate and annoy Dumbledoer to the ebay of his ability, and the best part was, his only limits were that he could no cross the line of the law, which, admittedly, was stricter than he was used to, but it was a lot better than staying in a single manor with only a few dozen other people. The flannels were wonderful, but they were old, and their mansion was huge.
But now he could go out. He spun on his heel and disapparrated. Ah, Diagon Alley. It had been years. He gave a quick nod to Tom the barman, making sure to tilt his head just right so a glint of purple from behind his left ear caught his eye. He got a miniscule, unnoticeable unless one looked for it, tilted nod back. Both knew which side the other was on. He wrapped his old beloved acromantula silk Slytherin scarf across his neck. It felt like home. He walked into the alley. The same nod towards the Gringotts guard goblins, and one back, although the goblins as a race went unmarked, as they were all allies.
Madam Malkin's was his first stop. She was a gossip, and if she spotted and recognized him, which he didn't doubt in the least, the whole alley, and probably a Daily Prophet reporter or two would know who he was. And he was meeting up with his old friend and unofficial girlfriend Cassie there as well. It had been decades since they had met up. The shop bell rang as he entered.
Madam Malkin was right there to greet an unknown customer. "Hello. Welcome, and who might you be?"
He acted hurt, though it was obviously fake. "I'm shocked you don't remember me Malkin, the amount of detentions I gave you back in Hogwarts. But then again, I haven't been in the country since a few years after graduation."
She gaped. "Riddle? Why are you here?" she asked, rubbing her forehead. The man had given her more detentions as a prefect than anyone else. She deserved them, of course, but he had an uncanny knack to catch her when nobody else could. "Dumbledore said something along the lines of you getting drunk on dark magic and dying."
"Dumbledore has hated me since he found out the little orphan who never worshiped him was also an heir of the founders. I was abroad and have found that I am in need of some of the newer British styles."
She bristled at the insinuation that she only talked, and didn't work, even if it was true. "Yes, yes. Come right back here to get fitted." One of the shop assistants got him fitted for robes that he did, in fact, need.
Of course, in the meantime, Malkin was busy telling Flourish, Eyelop, and a very unsurprised Ollivander about how Dumbledore was wrong about Riddle, who seemed very much alive and not addicted to Dark Magic. By the time Thomas (no, it was not Tom, the dreadful nickname he had been called at that orphanage, especially before he got beat up) Riddle walked out of the shop, fully adorned in the newest British styles. Neither the Gaunt nor Slytherin vaults in Gringotts were empty, Morfin and Marvolo had just had an overall disdain for anyone who couldn't speak Parseltongue, including goblins, and Merope hadn't known about the money.
Now to make sure it got back to Dumbledore without a doubt, he wandered around Diagon alley for the next few minutes, stopping in to slug and Jiggers' and conversing with the snakes. Missus Jigger was very grateful when he explained what her runspoor wanted.
Ah, there she was. Standing regally, yet slightly impatiently if one looked close enough, in Britain for the first time in two decades was Cassiopeia Clymnestra Black. Thomas excused himself and made his way over to his companion.
"Why, Black, I didn't know I would meet you here of all places. Almost as if we saw each other yesterday."
She gave him a disdainful sniff. Nothing to do with his blood status, just the fact that he was so annoying sometimes. "Riddle, I did see you yesterday. Now, if you will excuse me, it seems some people need a few reminders." Eavesdroppers hurried out of the way. Cassiopeia Black's reminders, also known as BlackMail™. Why else would they be the Black family otherwise if not for the infamous mail they sent?
"Oh, Cassie, why don't I come along? I have a few reminders of my own, all of them currently for you. Don't you remember?" He smirked his best SlytherinSmirk™.
She turned around, noticing her wrist was in his grip. "Thomas Marvolo Riddle, what in Merlin's bloody beard do you want?"
"Why I didn't think a daughter of the high and mighty House Black would use such vulgar language. Your nieces sure don't."
"Andromeda, yes. Bellatrix makes sure to only do so when the right people are not within hearing range."
"Oh my, it seems France's vulgarity has rubbed off on you, Cassie. How about we get a coffee at Florian's instead of a full-blown duel?"
"Tom, shut the bloody hell up."
A dozen curses were out of his wand before he could think. She knew exactly ohwto tick him off. Thank goodness all of them had effects that were easily curable as well as clearly legal. But molding them together still did nothing to lessen the effect. Blending together a dozen everyday spells silently would increase their abilities and versatility.
Cassiopeia sent back much of the same. Olluvander had somehow erected world-class duelling wards around them. People had stopped asking how members of the Ollivander family did what they did centuries ago. Well, except for the Loveegood family. They solved that by intermarrying the two families once in four or five generations, such as the current marriage of Pandora Lovegood born Ollivander to Xenophilius Lovegood.
Nearly everyone in the alley was clustered around the edge of Ollivander's hastily erected but quality wards to watch the on the spot informal duel of two of Hogwarts most powerful graduates of their generation. They continued like that for a good fiveish minutes, conversing all the same as if they were not lobbing extreme amounts of magic at each other in the process. The aurors were too busy gawking to intervene.
"Why, Cassie, I thought I told you about how acceptable such muggle," he spat the word, literally, "nicknames were. Or should I call you 'peia? Or maybe Cassiopeia Clytemnestra Black?"
She hissed and they continued the barrage of spells. Both were soaked, Tom's robe sleeves had a Gryffindor themed border, and Cassiopeia had a badger's snout. And that was only what they couldn't cancel without a specific counterurse. "Thomas, really, you can't even be on time!"
"The runespoor wanted a conversation!" he protested.
"You and your snakes. I'm surprised you haven't bred a basilisk yet!"
"Who told you I haven't?" A sigh from Cassiopeia. "Alright, fine. I haven't bred a basilisk, but only because no country has made it legal yet. But there was this adorable little hydra in Greece, and one of China's dragon reservoirs there was a fireball that was an excellent conversationalist."
"Yes, well snakes are not humans. You cannot just drop off the face of the earth for over two whole merlin-be-damned decades, with no human contact and expect me to just sit down for lunch with you just like that!" she answered, and the consistently growing audience had realized by now that Riddle was, in fact, a parselmouth.
"Well, how was I supposed to know that there was a Dark Lord rampaging around here, and that none of my owls survived the trip! I warned you I was coming to visit, how was I supposed to know that you would freak out when I apparated up to your little French villa?" Their spells were at a standstill.
"Fine," Cassiopeia ground out. "Truce?"
"Deal. Lunch?"
"Deal." They shook hands. "I forgot what having a good duel was like. But don't you dare lose contact with your girlfriend for such a long time, ever again!"
After they were seated at Florian's and eating ice cream, the crowd still failing to inconspicuously listen in, he answered. "Well, I don't think I will have a girlfriend for much longer. Cassiopeia Black, it's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder," He got down onto his knee. "Will you marry me?"
"Yes, of course. But I will have you swear an unbreakable vow never to leave like that." she threatened him, and some spectators could have sworn they saw him gulp in fear.
"Of course, dear."
A/N: I know this one was short, but it was a last minute finish. Plot twist? I know. I'm awesome. Feel free to inform me. Aren't I modest? Please note that was said on a dare. My best friend and I are vicious when coming up with those, so this one was kind. Anyways, happy pi day, as well. March 14th, 3/14, get it? I have a feeling only my fellow Americans will get this, but maybe not.
As for Riddle, I think I need to explain. So yes, he was Voldemort. But this is not Voldemort. His soul is whole again, if necessary I will cover how that happened later. This is adult Tom Riddle. If I'm honest, I love the character of pre-horcrux Tom, and hated how Dumbledore treated him. But after the horcruxes I lost all feelings of pity for him. Like canon Harry mentioned, one could sympathize with young Thomas. I stand by the opinion that it wasn't his full name. His mother gave up on life instead of living on for her son. As canon Harry said in the Half-Blood Prince, she had a choice whether to save her life and live on for her son, instead she chose to succumb to her depression. I'll admit, she was probably depressed and heartbroken, nut she had a frickin son that needed her. Now, As for Thomas and Cassiopeia, canonically they should be around the same age, and could have known each other in the canon universe. She was never a death eater, but he had a lot of unmarked supporters. Here, yes, I know they just dueled, but they are both very powerful, so for them that was playing around, so they had their fun. As for Tom having a girlfriend, I think that Tom being unable to love is pure BS. Just like being saved by the power of love. The power he knew not was either luck, determination, bravery, the horcrux, the deathly hallows, friendship, or a combination of all of them. Many people very high up with important positions have a very limited circle of people they can trust because of the high risk of betrayal, and that is understandable, and applies in any world. Tom was handsome, rich once he bothered to check his Gringotts vaults, which I have no idea when that happened but obviously not too late, he wouldn't tolerate rags or second hand materials for very long before he tried whatever he could to get the best, neither would he depend on charity. Riddle was a very proud person, both in canon and here. His nickname being his trigger, I know. He needed a very obvious weakness not to be too overpowered until we got to know him better as a character. He is human. He can feel emotion, and here he feels genuine emotion for Cassiopeia. He isn't fooling her. At the beginning they might have been using each other mutually, I don't doubt dating the heir of Slytherin is an acceptable reason to hold off marriage to someone else in the Black Family, and he would not mind having to date her for access to resources only the Blacks had. But here, they have mutual and genuine feelings for each other. He was very isolated, but he could have feelings. And that's it for my surprise chapter!
Update Tuesday, March 16 2021: It's linked on my profile , but not everyone saw it. I have a twitter account just for FFN where I post stuff that goes with my stories, For those of you who don't know what the Dragon Mark looks like, it's already there as well. So since FFN doesn't allow images, there it is. The account is slytherinlibra FFN doesn't allow images, but twitter does. I also post when my stories are updated.
I have a small side hobby of graphic design, so if someone would actually loo at it, I might post. I have a few images of the characters that I made in my free time. Not just for this story, I have Lily from Plan Omega, as well as from Dark Marauders. But there's no point in posting stuff if nobody looks at it. So please go check it out and that should be it!