Look, I'm not dead! Did it take over a year to get back into writing again, yes. But I think taking the break was worth it in terms of quality. Though it did help that I wrote a couple of scenes separately, ones that are going to come later in the story. As the story gets closer to Christmas of first year I'm debating on whether or not to skip around the timeline. I've been working on finding a way to get all that I want in without spending too much time on each of the more minor years.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Happy reading!

That alcove was where Professor Snape found Willow during his patrol a couple hours later. He had been cursing Dumbledore for pairing him with Trelawney for nightly patrols, the old man was continuously finding and exploiting new ways to aggravate him, and he was on thin ice with the Order as it was, and losing his cool was a surefire way to get the metaphorical boot. Not that he really wanted to be a part of it anyway, it was just a way for him to avenge Lily's death in a way that she would be proud of. He used to be always worried about what she thought of him, even after their falling out during their time at Hogwarts and it certainly didn't stop after she died. She was, after all, the only reason he was playing nice with Dumbledore. However, that was quickly changing the longer he taught Lily's daughter. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was starting to see her as a daughter of sorts. It was like a challenge to him, he was taking someone who looked exactly like James Potter and mold her into someone stronger, smarter, and all around better.

Willow was his redemption arc.

Snape arrived at the first level of Hogwarts castle, near the front doors and rolled his eyes. He found everything about this job absolutely dreadful. Irritated, he began his third walk through of the castle. Snape was walking past the portrait of Anne Boleyn when he heard it. Soft snores so quiet that the sound of his footsteps almost covered it entirely. He smirked, hoping he would catch a poor Gryffindor, or better yet, the Potter boy. Going to investigate he was taken aback by the sight of one of his own students, Willow, or the other Potter as some of the Gryffindor brats had taken to calling her. He looked at her with disdain and disappointment, she seemed to be following in the footsteps of her brother. Out way past curfew. He began to wonder if his soft spot for her was misplaced, if she would cause the same problems as the Harry. Snape made a move to shake her awake, but paused just before he grasped her shoulders. He studied her, curled up in a fetal position, her tiny form shivering, her black hair a curtain for her face.

Why was she even here? He wondered.

It was like a light had switched on in his mind and he backed away, thinking. It would've been one thing to sneak out after hours but to fall asleep here meant something completely different. There was nothing out of the ordinary that he had noticed during his many rounds of the castle. No hidden spells or other signs of any pranks that the Weasley twins were known for. That had to mean that she was preoccupied and had something else on her mind. She looked so small too, so vulnerable. He sighed, running a hand through his greasy hair, something that he could never quite fix, or really cared to. He paced for a while, bouncing ideas on what to do before grabbing his wand from the pocket of his robes. Casting a quick charm, he levitated her sleeping form out of the alcove. The portrait that was settled near them gave Snape a bemused smile.

"Grown soft haven't we Professor?" the portrait spoke up. Snape looked over at the source of the voice and rolled his eyes. She responded by giving the surly teacher a flirtatious wink.

"I don't know what you're talking about Miss Boleyn." His monotone and low response was met with one raised, disbelieving eyebrow.

Snape huffed in annoyance. Out of all of the alcoves to hide in, Willow had to hide in the one next to her. He said a terse goodnight to the portrait and began making his way back to the Slytherin common room, being careful not to jostle Willow too much. It was almost comical to him that this was the girl that the older Slytherins constantly talked about. He knew there were rumors going around about her, the ones that he had heard had a lot of weight to them. The most worrisome one was that She was The Heir. She had to know about them, and those weren't easy rumors for an eleven year old to deal with. Especially since she not only was a halfblood, but also grew up with those horrible Dursleys. She must have no idea how to deal with them.

He made up his mind then, he would help her. Slytherin was the house of the elite and she was rumored to be The Heir. Though the rumor may or may not be true, the other Slytherins believe it and would treat her as such and even expect her to act a certain way. He entered the deserted Slytherin common room. Even if the rumors were false, she wouldn't survive if she didn't learn what it meant to be a Slytherin, or how to act like one.

He failed her mother and, as Snape put Willow into her bed, being careful not to disturb the snake already laying there, he vowed that he wouldn't fail her as well. He shook his head and wrote a note explaining what happened and explaining her "detention" with him on Friday. He was going to start her training then.

And his redemption was going to begin now, whatever that meant for him. She would have his loyalty.

By the time Friday came Willow was at the end of her rope, and her friends could tell. Earlier that week she had woken up in her bed that she didn't remember getting in with a migraine and a letter from her head of house about a detention. Ever since then she could barely stomach her food and had taken to going to the library during meal times. She even avoided her friends whenever possible, choosing instead to sneak Sandor into the Library and read to him or, when she got caught and chased out by Madam Pince, bring her books to the owlery and read there. She lost herself in her books and her homework. In fact she was ahead of everyone else on schoolwork. She had met with Marvolo the day before and he was surprised to hear that she had already read some of the other books that he was going to suggest on top of what he had already handed her during their meeting in Diagon Alley. They had begun working out the theory of earth magic. It consumed her thoughts and her energy during the lesson which is what she had needed. Though Marvolo seemed worried about the amount of energy she was expending, especially since he hadn't really seen her at meal times lately, not that she had made frequent appearances since Halloween.

It was true. She hadn't eaten well since before Halloween and it was starting to show. She had nothing to occupy and distract her mind, so it was working double time, but not in her favor. Her lesson with Marvolo didn't do much except tire her mind out so she could sleep, but once the lesson ended she was back to overthinking. She had wanted to go ahead and start the meeting with the twins but those didn't start until next week, so there wasn't anything for her in that area really either.

Therefore, she was glad when she received her reminder Friday morning about her detention with Snape. It gave her something to think about that day leading up to her detention. The older Slytherins had told her that, aside from Filch, Snape was the toughest when it came to detention. She was expecting to have to wash cauldrons or write pages upon pages of some sort of essay. She secretly hoped it was something else, something that could occupy her thoughts a little more. Essays were easy and scrubbing cauldrons were no different than the dishes that the Dursleys made her wash by hand, though they had a working dishwasher.

She pondered this as she walked to Snape's office. She knocked on the door.

"Come in." his low voice echoed into the hallway.

Willow took a deep breath, slowly opened the door, took a step or two, and paused, confused. All of the furniture in the office was pushed to the walls and Snape was leaning against his desk, watching her. This was not what she was expecting when it came to detention.

Snape raised an eyebrow. Willow had been standing there looking around the room in confusion for a while.

"If you're done gawking, come in so we can start your detention." Willow blushed in embarrassment and hurried into the room.

"Sorry sir" She stopped in the middle of the room and looked at her feet. "What exactly am I doing for detention?"

Snape pushed himself off of the desk and stood up straight. His imposing presence forced Willow to look up at him with bright green eyes that seemed to swim with silver. It made Snape uncomfortable and if he was a lesser man he would've looked away. He cleared his throat and began speaking, with no indication how uncomfortable her stare made him. He was glad that he was a skilled occlumens, if Dumbledore ever witnessed this moment Snape knew that the headmaster would use it against him.

"It has come to my attention," he began his journey back and forth across the floor of his office, his back straight, shoulders slightly hunched and his signature black cloak swirling around his feet, "that there are rumors about you. How you're the next Heir of Slytherin."

Willow winced when he said that. Of course Snape would know. As Head of House, he had a right to. But him knowing only added more pressure on her to act like an Heir and to succeed in whatever they expected her to do, and she didn't even know what that was yet. She felt tears gather in her eyes and she tried to blink them away.

Snape cleared his throat and brought her attention back to him. She apologized for not paying attention. He gave her a disapproving look before continuing.

"Which is why I gave you detention. To train you." Snape stopped his pacing and stood in front of Willow scrutinizing her. "I don't know why they think you are Heir, and you will tell me later, but it must be a big enough deal that even the older purebloods are in agreement."

He paused, hesitating, his black eyes seeming to stare into her soul before he continued.

"They are treating you like royalty which means that they want you to act like pure-blood royalty. You have to act like them and think like them to survive."

Willow sighed and twisted a lock of raven hair around her slender fingers nervously as she looked down at the grey rug beneath her feet. She hated this feeling of nervousness and uncertainty, she didn't know what to do with it and it made her feel weak.

"I don't want to become them, professor. I want to be myself and I don't want to lose that." Her voice was small, vulnerable and full of uncertainty. She was no stranger to the reputation of the Slytherins, and her housemates in turn acted accordingly. It was as if the whole Slytherin house heard these whispers and decided that, since the rumors were there might as well make sure they had some truth in them.

It was Snape's turn to sigh. He accioed two of the black chairs that had been pushed against the wall for them to sit in, sat down in one and gestured for her to sit in the other.

"Here is what you're missing. To act and think like a pureblood is to act and think like Slytherin Royalty. A pureblood is, essentially royalty in the eyes of a Slytherin. Your opinions, your morals, the essentials of what makes you, will still be intact. Being in Slytherin does not mean that you change your opinion, or become mean, or even 'become like them'." Snape leaned forward and put his forearms on his knees to emphasize his point. Her eyes widened as he gave her the "Slytherin 101" speech as she would later call it.

"It means that you voice your opinions in a way that people will agree with, you become intolerant, not mean, and you behave in a way that demands respect. And whether you are or are not The Heir, from now on you will need to demand respect."

"But I'm eleven, and I don't know the first thing about being an heir. How am I supposed to demand respect? I don't even know what The Heir is supposed to do, or what it means."

For what felt like the millionth time in the past couple of days, Willow felt like crying. Green eyes hastily blinked back tears for a second time since the beginning of her detention as Snape looked on in disdain.

"That's why we are here. Although I am not going to train a crying girl." He paused as she turned around and not so discreetly wiped away any tears that threatened to fall. She turned back around to face him. She was no longer on the verge of tears but her eyes and nose were still red.

"We'll build up to the respect. Right now is all about acting like pure-blood royalty."

The rest of detention consisted of Snape teaching Willow how to stand, walk, and generally hold herself.

"Remember: Shoulders back, stomach in and a lifted chin. And how are you supposed to step?" Snape asked her as they continued to practice standing and walking across his office.

"Lightly." Willow tried to remind herself that this was just a more graceful version of sneaking around at the Dursleys. She felt Snape put something flat against her head and watched as a book slid off almost immediately. He picked it up off the floor and placed it back on her head.

"Try not to let this fall," he lifted his hand from the book and it fell again as he spoke the words. She looked at the book for a second in dismay, Willow picked it up and placed the book on her head though she had an equally hard time getting it to stay. It was wash, rinse, and repeat with this book until finally Snape called for her to stop.

"Clearly this isn't working." Tears pricked at the corners of Willow's eyes for the third time but she refused to let them fall.

Snape sighed and ran a hand through his black hair, which had become greasy due to decades of running his hands through it as a habit before coming up with an idea. Clearly another halfblood, especially one such as himself, would not be the best choice to teach her. But he knew who would.

"I know of someone who'll be… better suited to teach you than I am. I will introduce you to them on Saturday, 10 o'clock sharp. We will see if you fare better under her guidance. Now go, and at least think about what we discussed." With a flick of his wand Snape's office rearranged itself back into its order. Sitting down at his desk, Snape pulled out a bottle of red ink and a stack of essays and began to grade them.

Willow hurried out of the room at the clear dismissal. She slowly walked trying to practice walking 'with grace' as Snape put it, but one look from one of the portraits told her that she wasn't doing a very good job at it. Willow sighed, slouching back to her normal posture. Hopefully whoever this new teacher is, they were going to be able to teach her what she needed to know.

To say that Narcissa Malfoy was surprised that she had received a letter, and from Severus Snape no less, would be an understatement. She expected a letter from her son. She'd received a few recently, he always had been a momma's boy and she was always excited to receive a letter from him. He told her about one of the first year Slytherin girls, asked about the myth of The Heir, and had even asked about the headmaster. But a letter from Snape was new, the last time he heard from him was right before Draco went to Hogwarts, and before that he hadn't sent a letter since the fall of the Dark Lord. She sat in the library of Malfoy Manor warily reading the letter by candlelight, her eyes widening as it detailed the fact that the girl that Draco wrote to her about was considered the Heir of Slytherin. She placed the letter down on the end table next to her and attempted to gather her thoughts.

There was no possible way that there was another Heir of Slytherin. There could only be one, and he died trying to kill Harry Potter.

But even still, if most of the Slytherin House believes that this girl, she scoffed at her own train of thought, is the heir, then I'll hear Severus out.

She picked the letter back up and continued to read, pushing her blonde and black hair out of her face.

I request your presence to help train her, for clearly I am inadequate for certain lessons that she will require. Please arrive by floo to my office no later than 9:30 Saturday morning

-Severus Snape

Her eyebrows shot up. If he was asking her to train this girl, then he must be failing miserably. Even though Narcissa was extremely hesitant and highly dubious about the actual status of this girl, she would go.

Because really, what else was she to do on a Saturday. This was something new, and she really wanted to do something. Her husband thought it was just a form of empty nest syndrome, and he could be right.

The only reason that she agreed to go was because she desperately wanted to teach someone what her mother had taught her.

Willow was so nervous that Saturday morning that she could hardly eat her breakfast. She nibbled on a piece of toast while she quietly listened to Blaise and Malfoy argue about which world quidditch team was best, it was easy to focus on them because they didn't push her to be super involved in the conversation. She had no real interest in quidditch and only really went to the games because Flint and Bletchley played on the team. Only Theodore Nott seemed to notice her anxiety.

"You need to calm down." His words were sharp and almost harsh, but that's what she liked about Nott. He was blunt, but knew exactly what to say to people in almost every situation.

"Is it that noticeable?" She asked, between bites of her breakfast.

He refrained from answering, choosing instead to ask, "Do you know who Professor Snape is bringing in?"

"Do you think he told me? This is Snape we're talking about." Willow took another bite of her toast, as Nott laughed. They continued to joke with one another. It eased her nerves some thankfully and she found that her appetite was not happy with the little bit of toast. Willow scooped some fruit onto her plate. She speared a couple pieces of pineapple with her fork and popped them in her mouth. She checked the time and stood from her spot between Nott and Daphne Greengrass. Nott muttered a 'good luck' to her and she nodded at him in thanks as she moved past him. Willow left the Great Hall unaware of a pair of red eyes following her as she exited.

The portrait of Anne Boleyn helped shake off the last of her nervousness as Willow paused to have a short conversation with her. The portrait was sarcastic and unapologetically honest, a trait that Willow had come to love in people. Willow smiled and waved goodbye as she continued to move through the hallway towards the dungeon. Her nerves, unfortunately returned full force as she began to wonder who was going to be her new tutor. Willow felt her anxiety grow as she descended. This uncertainty was messing with her head. At least with Snape she knew what to expect, but this stranger? They could have Voldemort on the back of their head for all she knew. She laughed to herself, that would be ridiculous. Entertaining the idea of Voldemort on the back of someone's head alleviated some of her worries about her new tutor and so she pressed on. She felt the cool dungeon air caress her skin as she laid out what might be required of the person hosting Voldemort. There'd be a lot of stipulations to having him there. Willow nodded at a portrait of Salazar Slytherin as she mapped everything out in her head, not noticing when he nodded and smiled back at her.

If you had another person attached to you, wouldn't you have multiple personalities? And how would you hide the other head? A simple hat wouldn't do it.

She reached Snape's door as she went through the possibilities of how one could hide a face on their head.

Nothing would work, unless… She thought of Professor Quirrell and Marvolo, and the same turban that they wear everyday. Willow inhaled sharply, eyes wide. She gave the door a blank stare, her hand froze mid-way to a knock, at the revelation that she just came to. What was supposed to be a fun little way to release some of her stress just turned into something more sinister. She made a promise to herself to figure out just who Marvolo was, a feeling in her gut told her that if she didn't… well she didn't want to think about that.

Willow shook her head, shaking off the sinister thoughts and forced herself to knock on the door.

"Enter," came Snape's command.

She took a deep breath and put her hand on the door knob, hesitating for a second before chastising herself and opening the door. She made sure to walk in with at least some semblance of a smile on her face. Willow looked around and was grateful that Snape's office looked the same as it normally did, the only difference was the woman sitting next to an empty chair enjoying some tea. She looked vaguely familiar to Willow but couldn't quite place where she'd seen her before.

At Willow's entrance the woman set her tea down and stood up, a polite smile on her face which did not reach her blue eyes.

Willow noticed that the woman's smile matched the one that she was wearing. Polite but guarded. Most of her blonde hair had been gathered up under a hat that was adorned with feathers. She held out her hand for Willow to shake.

"Narcissa Malfoy." Willow shook her hand and introduced herself as well, and it hit her as to where she knew her from.

"You're the nice woman that gave me directions to Madame Malkins!" Narcissa looked surprised for a moment.

"Yes, I suppose I did. You remember that?" They each took their seats, and when Willow saw the difference in their posture she was quick to try to fix her own. That didn't escape Narcissa's notice and she paid much closer attention to how exactly Willow behaved. The girl's posture was now almost perfect as she emulated the way that Narcissa was sitting. There might be hope for her after all.

"Yes ma'am, I remember everything about that day. It was my first day doing anything really magical." Narcissa hummed and gave Willow a more sincere smile at the enthusiasm in Willow's face and voice. Narcissa picked up her teacup again and took a sip before responding.

"Interesting, and why-" their conversation was cut short by a throat being cleared. The noise belonged only to Snape.

"I believe I didn't call either of you here for idle gossip." At his blunt words Narcissa nodded in agreement and met Willow's eyes.

"I suppose we should begin our lesson then, shouldn't we Willow?" The Malfoy heiress finished her tea before standing up and holding her hand out for Willow to take.

She took the hand that was held out for her and stood up as well, much less nervous in the face of someone who seemed nice. Narcissa stepped back and looked her up and down, as if appraising her.

"Alright dear, the first thing we'll work on is your posture. Right now it's abysmal."

Willow collapsed in the library, at one of the tables after dinner with her pile of books. Narcissa Malfoy was a tough teacher. Strict, sarcastic, and very witty though they hardly saw eye to eye on anything. Narcissa insisted even then that it would change with time. Willow loved working with her, and Narcissa had taken a liking to Willow as well, though she wouldn't admit it. In fact Narcissa was slightly worried about how easily Willow won people over, her son and Snape being some of them. It was a dangerous thing. They had skipped lunch to argue about the use of actually learning how to behave like an heir and, even though Mrs. Malfoy won in the end, like she knew she would, Willow's arguments impressed her.

Willow had spent hours just going over her presence: how to sit, how to walk, and even how to eat. It was drilled into her head on how to walk into a room while commanding attention. By the end of her first lesson with Narcissa Malfoy, Willow was pretty sure that she couldn't go to sleep without doing so regally. What she didn't expect, though, was how tired it was going to make her.

Who knew that sitting and walking would be so exhausting.

Willow groaned at the thought and pulled the nearest book towards her. On top of practically depleting her of all of her energy, Narcissa had given Willow some research to do on the Sacred 28. She had gathered the books that Snape had recommended to her to help with the work, mainly history or genealogy books. Narcissa wanted descriptions about each family in the Sacred 28 and wanted Willow to memorize the current living members. She already knew a fair few of the families already, Malfoy, Nott and Flint being the more glaring examples. Willow dug through her bag for some parchment, a quill and some ink. She put those on the table when she found them and blindly grabbed the first book she touched and pulled it closer. She closed her eyes, mentally preparing herself for hours of righting. She opened the book that she had pulled closer, Genealogy of the Sacred Twenty Eight, and started going down the list in alphabetical order.

Willow yawned before she even finished with the Bs. There was just so much information to sift through and digest, especially when she had to decide what to include in her short description. By the time she got to the Gaunt family her eyes were drooping. She quickly wrote down the last couple of members of that family.

Merope Gaunt…. Tom Riddle

Willow forced herself awake, blinking her eyes and she stood up and backed away from her workspace, staring at the name. She had heard the name Tom Riddle before. She kept reading, searching through the descriptions of the people, maybe they had a child that she recognized.

She had just turned the page when she saw it. The child of Merope Gaunt and Tom Riddle. Tom Marvolo Riddle. Next to his name was a picture of a young boy in a Hogwarts uniform, looking eerily like the younger version of the face that she saw on Professor Quirrell's body. She felt a rush of excitement at this revelation, as she looked at the page. It all made sense to her now.

That is until she read his description. It was only five words really. Nothing too extravagant. But the implications…

Excitement turned to horror and then to a macabre curiosity. Her hands shook as she gripped the table while she processed this new information.

Marvolo was Tom Marvolo Riddle

And the book followed that up with five words.

Also known as Lord Voldemort.