A/N: So yeah, as I've said before the first two chapters seem kind of rushed because I wanted to jump right into the main point of the story. Next chapter, which should be out tomorrow night around the same time will be centered on the first day of Fourth Year, complete with Val's second sorting, as well as some taunting from our newly crowned Lady of the Dark, and the announcement of the Triwizard Tournament. Expect some new friends to be made, as well as some enemies. This should be fun.
Chapter 2
The new room they had entered was different from the office, it was entirely made of stone with separate little chambers that held beds and two goblins each within them. Bogrod glanced up at Hermione, "Choose a chamber, remove your clothing down to your underwear, and lay in one of the beds. Lord Malfoy and I will be out here awaiting you," Bogrod stated calmly.
Hermione nodded and walked off, choosing the chamber closest to her. She shut the door and proceeded to strip from her clothing, once she was down to her undergarments. She then laid down on the bed silently. Soon the door to the chamber opened, and in walked a goblin wearing scrubs, "Hello, Miss Riddle, my name is Steeljaw," the goblin introduced himself, "For this to happen, I am going to need you to relax for me, please."
Hermione nodded her head silently before she closed her eyes whilst laying back against the pillow on the bed, trying to relax her mind and her body. Steeljaw mumbled a few words in what Hermione could only assume to be Goblin.
Some of the blocks being removed had caused Hermione a great deal of pain, and shit had to bite down on her lower lip to keep from crying out. It took the entirety of an hour for all of the blocks, spells, and potions to be removed and when they were finally done, Hermione felt 10x lighter. As if a great weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.
"It is done, Miss Riddle," Steeljaw stated calmly, and Hermione let her eyes open slowly. She groaned as she slowly sat up in the bed, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Your appearance seems to have changed, would you like to see?" Steeljaw questioned.
"Yes, please," Hermione said a little too quickly. Steeljaw chuckled before he waved his hand and a mirror appeared in front of Hermione. Her eyes widened as she took in her true appearance.
Her hair was a jet black color, reaching down to the middle of her shoulders, it still held the same bushy look, but this time much more tamed as if it were on purpose and not natural. Her eyes were an even darker shade of brown, appearing almost black with just little specks of red within the irises. Her buck teeth no longer existed, long gone they were and instead replaced with straight pearly whites.
Hermione smiled at her new appearance, touching her hair silently before she looked at Steeljaw, "Thank you so much," Hermione said before she hopped off of the bed, pulling on her clothes once more. She didn't bother with the cloak this time however, instead draping it over her shoulder and exiting the chamber.
Lucius smiled once he had spotted Hermione, offering her a small nod, "Looking radiant, my dear."
"Thank you, Uncle Lucius," Hermione nodded her head once to her godfather before she turned to Bogrod, "And thank you, Bogrod, for your assistance today. Please feel free to take 200 galleons from one of the vaults. I'm sure mother and father won't mind when they return."
"That is most kind of you, Miss Riddle, truly most kind," Bogrod bowed his head, and Hermione waved her hand dismissively.
"Think nothing of it," she said simply before she turned her gaze to Lucius, "Let's return home now."
"As you wish, My Lady," Lucius bowed before offering his arm to Hermione. She took it calmly, and soon they were disapparating from the chamber in Gringotts, apparating into the Malfoy family sitting room.
Sirius jumped to his feet at the sight of Hermione and Lucius, a grin taking over his features, "Well, how did it go, Hermione?"
Hermione lifted her head, gazing at her other father. The slightest upturn of the corner of her lips was present and she hummed softly, "My name is Valentina Riddle, Hermione Granger is no more," she stated confidently.
Smiles appeared on the faces of all of the adults in the room, each one of them bowing their heads in respect to their Lord's heir and their new temporary leader, "Welcome home, Lady Valentina," Lucius spoke for them all.
"Mother, father...what's going on?" came the voice of Draco Malfoy as he stepped from the floo and into the sitting room of his family's manor, his eyes on his family before landing on the girl around his age who looked completely unfamiliar to him.
"Who is this?"
Valentina hadn't expected her first meeting with Draco after punching him in the nose last year to go this way. She thought he would surely throw a fit, or try to hex her. But then she remembered that her appearance had changed drastically and it was safe to assume that he hadn't recognized her at all.
"Draco, dear, come come," Narcissa beckoned Draco closer, making her way over to her son and bringing him towards Valentina, "This is Valentina Riddle," she whispered to her son, whose eyes widened in recognition at the name.
"Aunt Bella's daughter?" Draco muttered, "Impossible, we all thought you to be dead."
"So I've heard," Valentina resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she eyed Draco silently, "But it appears I am still alive, doesn't it, Malfoy?"
Draco's brows furrowed at the familiar way she had spat his last name, then his eyes widened again, this time in horror, "Granger?"
"In the flesh," Valentina couldn't help the way her lips curled up into a smirk as she watched the flash of emotions crossing Draco's face.
"Bloody hell," Draco mumbled, causing Narcissa to slap her son upside the head, "I mean! Merlin's beard! I've been torturing my cousin for years now! I am so bloody sorry, Valentina, please forgive me! I should not have done this."
"I'll forgive you," Valentina stated calmly, and she could see the hope in Draco's eyes at her words, "If you apologize to Harry as well."
Draco sputtered at her words, "Apologize to Potter?! You're joking!"
"She's not and you will," Narcissa stated firmly, "Harry is not our enemy, Draco. He is simply misguided. His parents were on our side, but Albus had tricked him into believing otherwise."
"Are you serious?"
"No I am," Sirius piped up from where he stood off to the side watching the entire interaction.
Valentina rolled her eyes silently, shooting her godfather a glare before looking at Draco, "It's the truth, Draco. When Albus took me, he took Harry. He planned for all of this. Placing Harry with spiteful and hateful muggles so that he could see Albus as his savior, and he placed me with muggles and blocked my core so that I could never learn who I really was."
"Dumbledore did all of that?!" Draco's eyes widened in horror before he glanced at his parents for confirmation. Lucius and Narcissa both nodded their heads. Draco frowned as he looked at Hermione, "I didn't think...I always assumed Harry's muggle relative showered him in love and spoiled him...I owe Potter an apology."
"You'll have your chance to apologize soon enough," Valentina stated calmly, "I will be writing to Harry as soon as I've settled here to inform him of everything, with Sirius's help of course. Harry needs to learn the truth before he gets hurt, or worse killed."
Draco nodded his head in understanding, "Well, whatever you decide to do, I will help you. As your cousin, it is my job to be at your side. I'm sorry I was not from the beginning, but I will be until the end. Even if that means trying to get along with Potty-I mean Potter."
Valentina smiled softly at Draco, nodding her head once at her cousin, "I hoped I could count on you. Because I'm going to need you and the lot of your Slytherin friends. After talking to Harry, we will be taking down Dumbeldore from the inside."
"What do you have in mind?" Draco questioned.
Valentina's lips curled into a slight smirk as she looked at Draco, "Well, it all starts with gathering my father's forces..."
It's been two weeks since Valentina had discovered her true heritage, and true to her word, she spent the last week with Lucius sending out owls to gather her father's most trusted forces whilst also participating in lessons given to her at the request of Narcissa, who wanted Valentina to return to school completely prepared to take on her role as a new Lady and pureblood.
During her lessons, she also had Draco at her side, which was nice because that meant she never had to be alone. It was also nice because it had helped the two to grow closer. Valentina found that when Draco was harassing her or her friends, that he was pleasant company to keep. Funny, intelligent, and quick-witted. He still apologized, quite often in fact, for the way he had treated her, but as far as she was concerned it was water under the bridge. She had bigger things to worry about, and Draco's bullying was not one of them.
It was at the end of Val's second week at Malfoy Manor, that she had asked Lucius to gather the death eaters and bring them forth for a meeting. Lucius, the ever dutiful follower and godfather he was, had them in the dining hall in less than 2 hours.
Draco and Valentina were standing outside of the doors of the dining hall, with Draco on her left. He glanced over at his cousin curiously before he spoke, "Scared, Riddle?"
"Of course not," Valentina stated calmly, holding her head high, "I was born for this, remember?"
Draco merely grinned before nodding his head silently, "I remember. Just remember, if you get nervous, I'm right here," Draco promised before he nodded at the house elf near the door. The doors were pushed open and Valentina took a deep breath before stepping through the doors, with Draco along behind her.
All eyes were on her as she walked towards the end of the long dining table, taking her seat at the head. Draco sat on her left silently, his eyes glancing down the table at the few death eaters that were allowed to sit. He recognized his parents, Sirius Black, and some others. Gathered around the room were a few other death eaters, that weren't exactly known. Most of their forces were still in Azkaban, but Draco knew Val had a plan for that as he helped her come up with it.
"Hello, thank you all for gathering here with us tonight," Val started off politely, offering a nod of her head at her father's forces, "I'm sure, you all may be wondering who I am, if you don't already know. So let me introduce myself quickly, my name is Valentina Riddle," the entire dining hall was filled with hushed whispers. Val let them go one for a moment before she raised her tiny hand to silence them, once they were quiet she continued, "Thank you. Now as I was saying, I am Valentina Riddle. And yes, I am the long lost daughter of our lord, Tom Riddle and Bellatrix LeStrange. No, you shall not know where I have been, not unless you are a part of the inner circle."
"All that you need to know, are my plans," Valentina leaned back in her seat before glancing over at her cousin, "Draco…"
Draco rose to his feet and cleared his throat, after receiving a nod of encouragement from his mother and father, the boy started to speak, "First, our Lady has a plan to retrieve the Lord. However, it will take a moment, a few months at most as it is dangerous and requires blood from a specific person for it to be so. Second, once we have retrieved our Lord, we will be going to Azkaban and retrieving all of our forces currently locked away. After that, we will be going for Albus Dumbledore himself. And we will take him down to exact our vengeance and assure our place in the world."
It was silent for a moment before cheers and hollars rang out amongst the death eaters. Valentina raised her hand to silence them after a moment while Draco returned to his seat, "No one needs to know the exact plans in detail until it is time to follow through with them. I just wanted to make known my intentions here tonight. I will stop at nothing to save my mother and father and make sure Dumbledore pays for what he has done," Valentina stated firmly, her eyes glancing around to watch everyone in the room, "You may all go about your lives until I have need of you. Until then," she nodded once at them all.
Soon one by one, the death eaters that didn't live at Malfoy Manor began disapparating away. Val let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding as she slumped back in her seat, closing her eyes silently. She reached a hand up to rub at her temples, "That was hard, how did father do it?"
"Years of practice, my dear," Lucius chuckled as he rose to his feet and walked over to his goddaughter, "You did well, Val. I am very proud of you, and I am sure your father and mother will be too."
Valentina beamed at this, proud of herself as well. She hummed softly before she rose to her feet, "I suppose it is time I write to Harry. I'm sure he must be worried. I haven't spoken to him since school had let out."
"Perhaps that is best," Lucius nodded his head, "Go, write to him. We shall clear up here."
Valentina nodded her head and turned to leave the dining room, Draco trailing along after her. She made her way upstairs to her room in the manor, walking towards her desk. Draco sat on her bed, watching her as she pulled out her quill, ink, and parchment, "What are you going to tell him?"
"Not much for now, I will ask for him to meet with me first. Explain that I am safe and all is well, and then bring him here to discuss everything," Valentina said as she started to write on her parchment.
"What if he doesn't believe you?" Draco asked as he laid back on Val's bed, putting his hands under his head and staring up at the ceiling.
"He will. Especially if Sirius is there to help," Val hummed as she wrote her letter to Harry. Once it was finished, she folded the parchment neatly and looked at her new black snowy owl, "Here you are, Indi, take this straight to Harry Potter. Do not stop and don't come back until he's written a response," she said as she placed the letter in Indi's claws. Indi let out a coo before she flew out the window.
Val smiled softly as she watched her owl go before turning to look at Draco. She rolled eyes at the sight of her cousin making himself at home in her bed, "Comfortable?"
"Very much, thank you," Draco turned his head to grin playfully at his cousin. Causing her to sneer as she rose to her feet, she grabbed a pillow from her bed and hit him in the face with it.
"Out!" she ordered once she hit him again.
"Ouch! Okay okay!" Draco huffed as he dodged another hit, scrambling off of the bed and rushing out of her room, shutting the door behind him. Valentina huffed as she sat down on her bed, grabbing her book from her bedside table. She couldn't wait for Harry's letter, she doubted she'd get any sleep at all that night.
She wanted to share her newfound knowledge with her best friend, protect him, and share her new world with him. She couldn't wait until Harry no longer blindly followed the man who had killed his parents and continued to use him as a pawn in a war that no one wanted nor asked for.
She was ending this as soon as she could, and then she and Harry would be able to live free, normal lives. Where they didn't have to watch out for death at every corner. She would be able to spend real time with her own parents. That was the future she wanted, and she would make sure they had it.
Val woke up to Indi in her face that morning, and she smiled brightly as she noticed that her owl had a letter in her claws with the messy scrawl of Harry's handwriting on the envelope, "Thank you, Indi," she praised as she petted her owl before taking the letter from her owl, who had flown off to sit back on her perch.
Val opened the letter immediately, smiling softly to herself at Harry's familiar handwriting.
Dear Hermione,
Thank you for the letter. I was really starting to get worried, especially when Ron said he hadn't heard from you since summer started either. I was half-tempted to write to Dumbledore to ask him to check on you, but thanks to your letter, I won't have to do that.
I'll gladly meet with you, just tell me where and I'll be there...however, it may have to be at a later date seeing as I'mstill on my aunt and uncle's bad side for blowing up Marge last summer and unless you can find a way to sneak me out of this house undetected, I'm afraid there's no use.
I can't wait to be free of these people completely, but I guess I'll have to settle with the few weeks at the end of the summer where I can spend it with the Weasleys. According to Ron, this summer we'll be going to the Quidditch World Cup. How exciting! Did he tell you?
Probably not, since he says he hasn't heard from you. Stupid question. Anyways, write to me soon, 'Mione. I miss you and I can't wait to hear from you again.
H. P.
Val was growing increasingly more worried at every line that she read. If Harry wasn't able to sneak out before going with the Weasleys to the World Cup, she'd never get the chance to tell him the truth. Quickly, the young 14 year old witch, tossed her blankets off of herself and jumped to her feet. She grabbed her robes and pulled them on before slipping out of her room, and rushing down the stairs to the kitchen where it seemed everyone was already gathered at the breakfast table.
"We have a problem," Valentina said as she took her seat at the head of the table, handing the letter to Sirius who was sitting on her left. Sirius read the contents of the letter silently before humming.
"This is a problem," Sirius frowned as he rubbed his chin in thought, "Perhaps we should get the boy now then."
"How? He's not going to go anywhere with Lucius, and you can't keep going out in the open!"
"It is a risk I am willing to take, aren't you?" Sirius questioned, glancing over at Valentina, lifting a single eyebrow in question.
Val sighed softly as she thought of her options before she nodded her head. She looked over at Lucius, "You and Sirius go and retrieve Harry and bring him straight here, understand?"
"Of course, my Lady," Lucius nodded his head, he glanced at Sirius and held his hand out across the table. Sirius took Lucius's hand and soon the pair disapparated from their spots at the table.
"Breakfast, miss?" the Malfoy new house elf, Winky, questioned as she set a plate down on the table before Valentina.
"Thank you, Winky," Val smiled warmly at the house, who beamed brightly before disappearing with a crack. Val looked down at her breakfast silently, a frown on her features.
"Eat, dear, no sense worrying about the unknown. Your uncles will be back soon with Harry and all will be well," Narcissa spoke calmly as she looked at Val, who frowned again but nodded her head. She ate her breakfast silently, still feeling a sense of anxiety building up inside of her.
But then 10 minutes later, she heard a pop sound from the sitting room and a shout, "Get off of me!" and she instantly jumped to her feet before rushing out of the room and jumping into the unsuspecting arms of her best friend, hugging him tightly.
"Oh, Harry!" She cried as she held onto her best friend tightly, tears filling her eyes. It took a moment for Harry's mind to catch up to what was happening and when he did, his eyes widened.
"H-Hermione?" his stammered out as he gently nudged Valentina away from him, studying her closely, "W-what happened to you? Why are you here? What's going on?"
"Oh, Harry, there is so much we have to tell you," Valentina said as she took Harry's hand in hers.
"We?" Harry frowned before he noticed Narcissa Malfoy and Draco Malfoy enter the room over Valentina's shoulder then he turned to glance back at Lucius and Sirius, the latter was grinning at him brightly as if this was a totally normal predicament, "What the bloody hell is going on?"
"Well, it all started when James met Lily…" Sirius began.
An hour, and 50 "bloody hells" later, and Harry had learned the entire story. To say he was in shock was an understatement. His skin went a deathly pale color, and his green eyes were wide behind his glasses. He leaned back against the sofa Valentina had led him to and ran two hands down the sides of his face, "Bloody hell…" 51.
"I swear, Potter, if you say bloody hell one more time I'm gonna start calling you, Weasel," Draco huffed out a threat from where he sat with his mother on the two seater couch. Val shot her cousin a glare before looking at Harry silently.
"Harry...are you okay?" She asked softly.
"No! I'm not okay!" Harry jumped to his feet, placing the room in clear agitation, "I've been lied to this whole time! You've been lied to! Dumbledore is the reason your father is gone and your mother is in prison! And he's the reason my parents are bloody dead! And then he has the gall to sit here and smile in our faces and pretend to be on our side when it's his fault I'm an orphan!" Harry had tears in his eyes now, tears that were threatening to fall at any time, "A-and he expects me to die for him?! All of this! He's been grooming me since birth! Since birth! Just to play a martyr who'll die for his cause! I don't want to die, Hermione!" By the end of his rant, Harry had stopped pacing and he was now looking at Valentina, the tears falling freely down his face.
Val frowned softly as she rose to her feet, wrapping her arms around her best friend slowly. Harry sniffled and wrapped his arms around Hermione, burying his face into her hair, "I-I don't want to die, 'Mione…" he whispered weakly, causing Valentina's heart to break at her friend's words.
"I won't let you die, Harry," Valentina whispered softly, "I promise I won't. None of us will. We are all on the same side," Val said as she slowly pulled away to look at her best friend, lifting her hand to wipe away a stray tear, "Dumbledore will pay for what he's done, I promise."
"He's the Chief Warlock, what can we even do?" Harry frowned deeply.
"We can scare the bloody hell out of him," Val said softly, "Starting with Hogwarts, us going in as spies for the dark. We can play the game, we can fool him, and we can show him that we are smarter than he thinks we are. We are stronger."
"You really think we can do this?" Harry asked, lifting an eyebrow in question as he studied his best friend's features.
"I know we can," Val nodded her head once in confirmation. Harry was silent for a moment as he thought on his best friend's words before he nodded his head.
"I won't hurt anyone innocent. I can't. I just want to take down Dumbledore" Harry said. Valentina knew where her friend was coming from. Not too long ago, they were on the supposed side of the light. She wanted to tell her friend that in a war like this, it was hard to tell who was innocent and who was not, but she couldn't. Not when Harry needed to hold onto something good. To hold onto his innocence. She would do all she could to keep Harry from having to hurt anyone.
"That can be arranged," Val promised her best friend, "I never intended for anyone innocent to be hurt anyways. I just want to rescue my parents and take Dumbledore down, if I can avoid taking innocent lives. I will, we will. Dumbledore is our top priority."
Harry took in Valentina's words before he slowly nodded his head, "Then...I'm in. Whatever else you need me to do to help, then I'll do it."
"Yes! Welcome to the team, Potter," Draco cheered as he rose to his feet and walked over to Harry and Valentina, extending his hand out towards Harry. Harry glanced over at Valentina silently, and Val offered an encouraging nod of her head.
"Draco may be a prat, but he's loyal and a good friend. He was merely keeping up appearances. We can trust him," Val assured Harry. Harry, never questioning Valentina's judgement, reached out and took Draco's hand, shaking it silently.
"Where do we start?" Harry asked Val after releasing Draco's hand, turning his gaze to Valentina.
"We start with getting Lucius as your magical guardian," Valentina smirked silently, her eyes turning darker and taking on a mischievous glint. Harry glanced over at Draco, and Draco shrugged casually.
"You get used to it," Draco stated simply.
True to her word, Lucius was now the magical guardian of one Harry James Potter. It was hardly a fight because after reporting the Dursleys for years of mental, emotional, and damn near physical abuse of Harry, Amelia Bones Head of the DMLE, saw that Albus Dumbledore did not take his job as Harry's magical guardian seriously enough and instead transferred guardianship over to Lucius.
Valentina's plans were already set in motion. She knew that once Dumbledore found out of the transfer of guardianship, he would slowly lose his mind trying to figure out ways to get Harry back under his thumb. Little did he know that Harry was no longer going to play his puppet. Not after seeing the list of blocks, spells, and charms placed him. If possible, Harry's list had been longer than Val's and it also included copious amounts of money being taken from Harry's vault not only from Dumbledore, but also from the Weasley family. Who Harry found out were being paid to be his friends. All of them except for Charlie, Fred, and George of course.
Val thought that was the final straw for Harry. Knowing that not only did Dumbledore, the man he saw as a father figured lied to him, but so did his so called friends and surrogate family. Val assured Harry that Malfoys weren't like that, and that they were on their side, willing to do whatever it took to guarantee both of their safeties.
And, the Malfoys showed that just as much. Narcissa went out and brought a fresh new wardrobe for Harry, gifting him his own room in the manor. Lucius spent quite a lot of time teaching Harry the government of the Wizarding World, while Sirius spent his time telling Harry stories of his parents and their lives together.
Hell, even Draco and Harry seemed to have gotten on a lot better. Without the potion keyed to hating Malfoy, Harry found that he liked the guy. They often rode around the gardens on their brooms while Valentina read in the shade, or played exploding snaps and Wizard's chess. Sometimes, they would even sit with Val in the library and listen to her read one of her books. Listening to Val read, was one of both of their favorite pastimes. More often than not, you never saw one of the newly formed trio without the other, always at one another's sides or around the other.
Harry and Draco followed Val loyally, and Val in turn loved both her cousin and her best friend dearly. Since it was nearing the end of summer, lessons with the Malfoys and Sirius continued but this time even more intensely. Neither Malfoys nor Sirius wanted their children to return to Hogwarts unprepared for the worst.
Without all of the blocks, Harry found that he excelled in almost all of his lessons. Draco and Val did as well, of course. They had 2-3 days a week devoted to their lessons, sometimes 4, depending on the particular lesson. They had Potions and Spell Work 3 times a week, Dark Arts and Torture lessons 4 times a week. Then Ward/Curse Breaking lessons and Politics and Etiquettes lessons 2 times a week. Val took extra lessons in charms in Curses, Charms, and Hexes, while Harry took extra Potion lessons, and Draco took extra lessons in Herbology.
All of the young teens excelled in spellwork, they were able to learn all about a spell in two days and perform the spell on the third day with no problems. It always received them praises from Lucius.
Val enjoyed learning about Hexes, Jinxes, Curses, and Charms, and she took those lessons with Narcissa. She found all of the spells to be very useful, especially when she grew annoyed with her cousin and best friend. She was always able to threaten them with a hex whenever they grew to get on her nerves.
They did well in all of their other lessons, Harry excelling in Potions was a surprise, but they all figured out that after lifting the blocks put on him, he had an affinity for potions, and it was almost always put to good use.
All of the teens agreed that Politics and Etiquettes was their least favorite lesson. It was a rather boring lesson, but they all knew that it would grow useful in the near future, and so they tried their hardest to focus on those lessons.
Speaking of lessons, it was almost time for Hogwarts letters to arrive, and Valentina wondered nightly what hers would say. Did those at Hogwarts know that she had discovered her true heritage? Would her letter read her true name or the name given to her by her muggle parents? Would Albus Dumbledore shit his pants if he saw her true name on the Hogwarts registry? So many questions left to be answered.
Valentina couldn't wait to play Dumbledore for the fool that he was.
Currently, Valentina had gathered with her best friend and cousin in the breakfast hall, sitting at the breakfast table with the rest of their family. Val had her nose stuck in a book,while Draco and Harry discussed Quidditch amongst themselves, Narcissa was eating happily, and Lucius and Sirius were discussing the next steps for Val's plans for the near future. Seeing as she was still quite young, Lucius saw fit to take over the everyday affairs of her father's death eaters, with Sirius at his side of course.
Val didn't mind that much, it gave her more time to focus on her studies as well as her plans to free her mother and rescue her father from whatever limbo he had found himself in. She had questions for the both of them, and the sooner they were answered the better in her opinion.
It was when the new house elf, Erabella had finished cleansing the table that the Hogwarts Owl had flown through the open backdoor. Dropping three letters onto the center of the table.
"Ah, it seems Hogwarts letters have arrived," Lucius said as he reached forward to pick up the letters, glancing at them silently, "Here is one for Harry," Harry reached for his letter as Lucius handed it to him, "Draco," Lucius called as he passed his son his letter silently. Valentina watched Lucius curiously, noting the tug of the corner of his lips as he read the name on the envelope. When his eyes met hers, they held a mischievous twinkle within them, "And one for our lady," he spoke calmly, handing Val her letter.
Once her letter was in her hands, Valentina quickly let her eyes rake over the name on the envelope. In the clear scrawl of Professor McGonagall, was her name. Her true name. Valentina M. Riddle. The
"What is it, Val?" Harry asked curiously, glancing over at his best friend. He had noticed the tiny quirk of the corner of Valentina's lips, the slight curl as if she were smirking. He was curious as to what caused it.
"It seems the Ministry has finally done something right after all," Val stated simply as she showed Harry her letter, "Glad they do have a tendency to listen to reason and rushed the change of my name. Now, Dumbledore knows I am coming."
"Bloody hell, I bet you a galleon he's shaking in his those old boots of his," Draco laughed as he shook his head, "Wonder what he'll think after you've been resorted. There are only two houses you'll surely end up in, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Either way, you won't be his faithful Gryffindor Golden Girl anymore."
"I can't wait to toy with him this semester," Val grinned at her cousin, "This year may just be rather interesting after all."