Author's Note:
Dear readers,
this short story popped into my head while I`m battling severe writer`s block and anxiety during this global pandemic. I do not know how many chapters it will have yet, but I´m guessing between 10-15. It will be an AU, with the main pairing Eileen Prince/Tom Riddle Jr. Somehow, I have fallen in love with the idea of them in the last days and wanted to write my own story. Naturally, Severus will play a role in the latter part of this story. Although this story is rated M for it contains scenes of a violent/sexual nature and bad language, it`s going to be a story with a happy end. As always, your reviews with honest critique or praise are deeply appreciated. I love to chat with people about my ideas. I will try to update once every second week.
Enjoy reading this story and stay safe,
Vani12
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters from JKR and make no financial profits with this story.
Sometimes light changes your life!
Prologue – The princess and her beau
Room of Requirement, Hogwarts, February 1945
Tom Riddle stroked his loves beautiful ebony curls. He loved that they emitted a scent of lavender, vanilla, and herbs – Eileen's unique mixed fragrance of her shower gel and obsession for Potions. And he admired the silky feel of her curly-head and could not get enough of it caressing his muscular chest. Sometimes, he could not fathom how he deserved to love and be loved like this. As an angry, lonely boy with strange powers living in the dark, twisted, and cold halls of Wool's Orphanage in the desperate, poor outskirts of Northern London he had laughed bitterly about the concept of love. His parents had not loved him, the women of Wool's Orphanage despised him for his cold aura and punished him for his misadventures with bruises, and his fellow kids feared him for his freakish, devilish powers. Deep inside his soul, he longed to have a real family or someone who understood him. But he had pushed these foolish feelings away, decided to numb himself, and let everyone pay for their wrongs.
Tom had loved to torment his fellow orphans by throwing stones at them via his mindpowers, by bullying them with hushed threats into wetting their pants and by vanishing their beloved toys with a flick of his fingers. He had basked in the feeling of being in power, manipulating his fellow orphans like chess pieces to do his bidding and playing the innocent angle in front of his caretakers. He wanted to rule the world with cruelty and burn everything to the ground, without mercy or empathy. Only the love, brilliance, and courage of his love had cured his empty heart and set his mind straight. Naturally, Tom had not abolished his high ambitions and his hunger for the Dark Arts still rushed deep through his veins. But he had stopped to be dead set on destroying the Wizarding World, killing everyone who stood against him and ruling like some Wizard Adolf Hitler. He still wanted to be someone in the Magical World, change things based on his ideals, and prove to everyone how powerful and genius a lowly Half-Blood orphan could be. He still despised the Ministry for their handling of Wizards-Muggle relationships gone bad and loathed Albus Dumbledore for his wolf personality in sheep's clothing.
Tom tried to control his gloomy thoughts and anger. Although he felt like punching the esteemed Professor Dumbledore straight into his face for trying to get access into his love`s mind via Legilimency or manipulating her into breaking it off with him via a drugged candy – some foolish attempts considering Eileen was a natural Occlumens and could sniff a Mind-Altering Potion in every food – he took a deep breath and took comfort in sensing Eileen's warm breath on his naked chest. Seeing her sleep so peacefully in his embrace, trusting him completely and longing to spend every night near him, warmed his heart and let him feel more powerful than any masterfully executed Dark Spell. Brushing his lips softly on her ivory forehead, he marveled again how much this powerful, sixteen-year-old princess has turned his life upside down. She filled it with love, light, empathy, and dreams. As a boy he had scoffed at the naivety and dreams all girls seemed to chatter about after reading a fairytale. Every girl dreamed about her Prince Charming who rescued her from evil powers and promised to love her forever. Their gushing about their personal Happily Ever After left a bad taste in his mouth and empowered his aim to make them cry. But today, he loved waking up to his beautiful, unique Snow-White and would kill for their Happily Ever After.
The first time he had noticed the little female First-Year walking with a confident step and a small smile upon her cherry lips after the call of "Prince, Eileen Aurelia" to the stool on the podium of the Great Hall, smoothing her shiny black school robes gracefully out and placing the Sorting Hat with a keen look in her dark eyes upon her ebony curls, he was forcefully reminded of the famed Muggle fairytale princess Snow-White. And he loathed it, for he was forcefully reminded that he would forever be an oddity in the Wizarding World. His fellow Pure-blooded Slytherins like Malfoy, Lestrange, or Nott only saw a fellow sheltered Pure-blooded girl with ebony curls and ivory skin who would hopefully end up in Slytherin and make her ancestors proud, but he was reminded of a dumb Muggle character. Sometimes, he loathed how his Muggleness was ingrained into his being. And the little girl looked like a carbon copy of Snow White with her shiny ebony curls, sharp onyx eyes, delicate ivory skin, and cherry cupid lips. It wasn't her fault that his birth mother had been a Muggle-obsessed weak witch who seduced a filthy Muggle with the help of a Love Potion into her bed and died alone while giving birth to him after naming him for her worthless husband. No, she only was a beloved Pure-blooded daughter filled with rosy dreams and limitless hopes. He could only admire her for her graceful posture and positive aura. And he had hoped that the Hat would shout out "SLYTHERIN" soon, for Slytherin could certainly use some grace and intelligence.
The moment the Hat voiced "SLYTHERIN", the little girl turned her head with a blinding smile in the direction of the Slytherin table and Tom vowed that her onyx eyes pierced right through his sapphire ones. Suddenly, he tried to erect his Occlumency barriers to shelter his deepest secrets and started to panic. "Hell, it couldn't be that this little Snow-White was a natural Legilimens. If she sees my dark plans, she might run to Dippet and let me be thrown into an Asylum for crazed Dark Wizards. Calm down, Tom. You start to get paranoid. Your gazes only met for seconds. She is an innocent girl who only wants to gain some friends. Is it so wrong of her, to keep eye contact with a handsome older boy for mere seconds? Perhaps, you can use her friendliness to your advantage", his inner voice reasoned with him. But he couldn`t shake the feeling that there was more to Eileen Aurelia Prince than met the eye. And that she could somehow read him like an open book. He was determined to figure out what her deal was. And the best way to do this was to start being her friend. Thus, he stepped up with a charming smile, waved at her slyly, and beckoned her to sit beside him. He ordered Malfoy to make some space with an icy glare and took her delicate hand gently into his slightly rough one to help her gentlemanly to sit down.
When their eyes met again, he had the foreign feeling that Eileen somehow knew him. And that feeling scared him to the bones, hence he pushed it away, plastered on a dazzling smile, and spoke in a velvet voice, "I`m Tom Marvolo Riddle, a fellow Third-Year Slytherin. It`s a pleasure to meet you, Eileen Prince. Slytherin can certainly use a level-headed, confident girl like you. I promise you that my friends and I are going to be your perfect Hogwarts guides. So, tell me more about you." Eileen blushed nicely but kept their eye-contact and answered in a melodic voice, "It`s so nice to meet you, Tom. My dad always gushed about the loyalty and friendliness of all Slytherins, but I always thought that he only wanted to lure me inside the snake pit instead of the eagle tower – the house of my mum. Now I can see that my dad kept true. I would be honored to explore the Hogwarts grounds with you. I sense that we will have so much fun. And what is there to know about me? I`m obsessed with Potions and love to read all about the Hogwarts Founders. Naturally, Rowena is my favorite. Tell me more about you." Tom chuckled darkly - "An intelligent Potions nerd who is in love with the History of Hogwarts. I think Eileen Aurelia Prince will be a great asset for Slytherin indeed." – before he turned up his charm again.
Reminiscing about his first meeting with Eileen more than four years ago, Tom could not believe how right and wrong he has been about his little Snow-White. She clearly could read him like a book, was a mastermind in collecting House Points for Slytherin, and changed him forever. She certainly was not an impressionable little princess who let herself be wooed by his charms and manipulated by his ideas. Instead, she was a badass witch who cured him with her ingenious antidote for victims of Love Potion enchanted relationships, called his crazy ideas of unlimited power in the Wizarding World and a rule of Dark Magic practicing Pure-bloods into question, and supported him in being the best version of himself. Tom tightened his embrace around Eileen's ivory body. He loved her subtle female curves – her wide hips, strong tights, round bottom, and perfectly sculpted B-cup breasts. But the features he loved most on his soulmate were her mystery onyx eyes that could read into his soul, her sensual red lips that could render him speechless with passionate kisses, and her genius mind that astonished him every day with her creativity and drive.
Sometimes, Tom felt like a lech for seducing his perfect princess. She had only been fifteen when they started dating, heated snogging sessions, and warm cuddling sessions in the Room of Requirement making him feel like the happiest wizard in the world. But they could only date in secret, for Tom feared that her father, the mighty Potions Master Augustus Severus Prince, would hex him badly for sullying the reputation of his little princess and darkening her light with his darkness. Eileen assured him that her dad was not so biased against Half-bloods, did not require her beau to have a lot of money, and call a huge manor his home. He only wanted his beloved Lena to be loved and happy. And Tom could certainly score some points with his charming nature, his excellence in Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Ancient Runes, and his status as a promising Slytherin Head-Boy who would leave a mark on the Magical World. Eileen always insisted that Tom would go places. He could be the next Minister of Magic, Head of the Aurors Department, world-renowned researcher, or world-changing lawyer. And Tom knew that he could get there with enough dedication, charm, and level-headedness. But he still feared being labeled as an unworthy suitor in the eyes of Augustus Prince, hence, he vowed to only make their dating official after he had graduated Hogwarts and established himself as a self-made, powerful wizard. His love often argued about this secrecy with him and wanted to let their closest friends know about their romance. But Tom could not take the risk that his mates would out their relationship to her family. Although his jealousy killed him sometimes whenever Orion Black launched himself closely to Eileen on the sofa in the Slytherin Common Room and debated with her about Muggle philosophy or whenever Theodore Nott played a match of Gobstones with her and made her laugh with one of his silly jokes about the antics of mystical creatures. Tom knew how alluring Eileen´s beauty and intelligence were. She was a unique witch at Hogwarts and the fact that she came from an esteemed, wealthy pure bloodline only made her more desirable in the eyes of his fellow Slytherins. But she was his witch. His soulmate and Snow-White. And he would do anything to make her happy and to strengthen their blissful love. Eileen was his Happily Ever After. He only hoped that he would also be hers.