Muggle London was busy with its usual hubbub of noises and voices, and Lord Voldemort really appreciated the silence as he approached the British Library in his Lucius Malfoy disguise. However, he thought it was best to show his guest his actual looks so they could form a closer relationship.
The building was empty aside from an elderly lady who was at the counter and she frowned upon noticing his arrival.
"I'm looking for Severus Snape," he began, quickly taking note of her nameplate.
The old lady blinked before raising her eyebrows and asked, "Yer his teacher?"
He only nodded, not daring to speak anything else that would cause suspicion. Not that he wanted to; couldn't she just tell him where the boy was?
"He's at the shack behind this place," she said with a benign smile and the Dark Lord wondered just what Severus did to easily gain her trust. "Would ye want a key?"
"I'm fine on my own, thanks for the offer," Lord Voldemort dismissed her with a wave of his hand and left the library to head toward the aforementioned shack. It was decently cared for and he could feel the faint traces of magic being used. Smiling, he then knocked on the wooden door softly; just enough to alert the person inside of his presence.
"Come in," a voice spoke and the Dark Lord entered the humble cottage with a brief bow of his head upon seeing his guest.
Severus Prince was smiling from his seat at the supposed coffee table, which had a plate of bread and bowl of chicken soup. "Nice of you to come here," he greeted after they shook hands and Lord Voldemort sat beside him.
The man only rolled his eyes in amusement, "You invited me here, Severus."
The boy chuckled as he absent-mindedly tore a piece of bread into bite-sized chunks and put them all in his bowl before eating, the waft of the soup's pleasant smell was drifting along the room. Though as Severus enjoyed the light meal, the Dark Lord couldn't help but to sense there was something else in the air.
It reeked of… Dark Magic, and he wondered what had happened since it felt quite recent.
"Severus, what did you do in here?" he asked.
The young man stopped halfway of eating his soup and smiled weakly as he put down the spoon, "Ah, just being a free man, that's what."
There was a beat of silence.
"Yeah, I suppose that doesn't make any sense without context," Severus laughed and Lord Voldemort watched he summon a piece of parchment from another room. He then listened to the boy regaling the tale of his family's loyalty bond and what had made him to break the connection he had with Lily Evans, who the Dark Lord remembered Lucius had mentioned a few times.
Upon hearing Severus used basilisk venom (taken from the one in the Chamber of Secrets, nonetheless!) to completely destroy his memories, even he couldn't help but to shiver in fright and awe. What else could the boy do with such power of mind?
"So… are you feeling alright?" he asked in utmost concern, subconsciously fiddling with his family ring. He couldn't have an heir who had a few loose screws like his uncle.
Severus blinked in utter puzzlement at his statement. "Just a headache, but hopefully nothing more than that," he said and gently rubbed the back of his head to punctuate what he meant. "It's terrible, I will tell you that much."
"You won't do that again, right? Promise me, Severus!"
"Of course, Marvolo; someone got to be so mad to make it twice. Or more," he shuddered and Lord Voldemort couldn't hide his relieved smile. He was the Dark Lord, yes, and had dabbled with all sorts of Dark Magic he could find and learn, but to willingly banish a collection of memories that spanned for seven years from one's mind… no, he certainly didn't have such persistence and determination. And that made him more intrigued of Severus Prince.
When the Polyjuice Potion's effects faded, the Dark Lord smiled weakly as he revealed his actual appearance to Severus. He really wanted to win over the boy's trust in the right way and decided that being honest was pretty much all he needed to do.
To his surprise, Severus simply returned the kind gesture. "You got quite the looks," the teenager quipped and he laughed earnestly, knowing Severus actually meant the compliment.
"You know, I actually want to ask of your opinion about something," he changed the topic and much to his delight, managed to catch Severus' attention when he showed the boy his obsidian and gold ring. "What do you think of it?"
The Dark Lord quickly noted that Severus was someone who liked to closely observe over an object of his interest and let him inspect the Gaunt family's heirloom, almost smiling in reminiscence of his own childhood. Yes, they certainly bonded quite well at the moment.
"Quite a huge stone to fit on a small ring," Severus commented offhandedly and he barked in genuine laughter; trust him to state such obvious feature.
"I don't suppose you knew about this, then?" the boy suddenly asked.
Stunned, Lord Voldemort leant forward to see what he meant. They both frowned upon noticing one of the prongs that held the black stone was loose, with Severus even wiggled it to exaggerate such fact. But how could he miss that important detail, he had held the ring for three decades already!
Though it was better to know of it later than never, and the man curiously watched when Severus pulled the loose prong backward and the others immediately followed suit, letting the gemstone fall into his hand.
Simply said, Lord Voldemort's visit was certainly fruitful. He contently observed as Severus rolled the obsidian rock in his palm and lightly trace the markings on the mysterious stone, wondering what more they could reveal about it.
As it was, his wish was quickly granted when a flash of light appeared out of nowhere and they both jumped out of their seats with Severus dropped the rock in utter surprise, causing the light to vanish as fast as it came.
"W- What… was that?" the Dark Lord asked in bewilderment, "What did you do?"
Severus, for his part, was looking both thoughtful and wonderment at the stone lying on the floor. "Just rolled it over for like… three times?" he said quizzically when they made eye contact.
"Do it again."
With trepidation, they watched as Severus cautiously turned the magical stone over three times in his hand and their eyes went wide upon seeing the spectral form of an elderly couple in front of them.
"Severus?" the woman asked. Lord Voldemort turned to the boy, whose mouth was agape in utter shock.
"Grandmother Lux," Severus finally found his voice after a while and threw a quick glance at him, "Uh, can we talk later? I still have more to discuss with my friend here." When they nodded, Severus bowed his head apologetically and dropped the rock, both men tried to make sense of what they witnessed just then.
The black stone's power was to call upon deceased souls who were close to whoever held the item. Upon realizing the fact, the Dark Lord's face went pale and he immediately flinched in fright when Severus gave the gemstone back, red eyes stared in terror at it.
He knew he could trust the boy, but did he want to reveal such weakness? But then he reminded himself to be honest and as his eyes met Severus' onyx ones, he reluctantly confessed, "I… I- I don't exactly have any loved ones in my life, Severus."
Despite everything he did as Lord Voldemort, he was still Tom Riddle, who wondered just why people detested him over his magic. He had revered his mother after knowing she was his magical parent instead of his father, but did he love her? No, he still thought she was weak to leave him in the horrible orphanage where he grew up.
His Slytherin year-mates had called him names despite ended up knowing him as a direct descendant to Salazar Slytherin, as if mocking how the great Founder of their House's legacy had fallen from its grace by his existence. Again, he had nothing to do with them.
…And that was why he tried to seek companionship with Severus Prince, because the boy knew exactly what he felt, how their efforts to gain their peers' respect were brushed away over and over in favor of the purebloods. His act of releasing the basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets twenty-five years ago was ultimately a childish reason to elevate his status among the Slytherins who preached over the disdain of Mudbloods. That he was no ordinary half-blood wizard.
He really regretted Myrtle Warren's unexpected death, but not to the extend he felt to his Muggle father.
As if knowing what was in his mind, Severus lowered his head and quietly put the stone back in its place on the gold ring.
"Take it, Severus. You certainly will have more use of it than me," Lord Voldemort whispered before breaking into a series of soft laughter, "You know; I actually want to make you as my heir. That's the reason I want to give you the ring in the first place."
With a blink, Severus looked up to him, his mouth fell open in utter disbelief and the Dark Lord grinned weakly. No, he certainly had no regrets over his decision.
"I- Well, I'm honored that you have such high trust in me," Severus said and he found the boy's humility to be endearing unlike most of his Death Eaters, "but surely there are better people than me for that. Lucius had been loyal to you, isn't he? Why didn't you choose him instead?"
"Because he's nothing like us," was all Lord Voldemort could say.
"…Fair enough."
Silence then fell into the room, with Severus awkwardly finished his soup and the Dark Lord watched as the boy put the plate and bowl he used inside what was supposedly a lunch box, blinking curiously when the items disappeared with a flash of light. "House-elf magic," Severus answered his silent question.
"I actually want to give you something too," the boy added and Lord Voldemort found himself feeling giddy out of nowhere; what possibly could top the excitement he had at the moment, that Severus had agreed to be his heir? He remained in his seat while Severus went to the room he previously summoned the Prince family tree's tapestry from.
Severus smiled when he returned and gave him a long, beautiful black… something. There certainly was a faint sense of magic as he caressed the item, but what could it be? Puzzled over the strangeness of the gift, the man asked, "Just what is this?"
The boy quirked his eyebrow in amusement and said, "Basilisk horn."
"…And what am I supposed to do with it?"
"You can be quite dense, Marvolo," Severus laughed softly with a roll of his eyes, "Surely the basilisk in the Chamber had told you about Salazar Slytherin's wand had one of its horns as its core?"
Lord Voldemort blinked. Yes, it certainly did. But what did it have to do with the item in his hand?
He got his answer when Severus waved his wand in front of him, the boy's onyx eyes glinted brightly and he grinned.
A Dark Lord must always be prepared of all possibilities.
The old wandmaker in Knockturn Alley was relaxing in his shop during break, the business certainly was booming with people began getting a second wand for their own safety, especially with the rumors that a war would happen in the nearest future. He was quietly enjoying his mug of rum when the bell hung above his establishment's door rang and almost spat out the drink in surprise upon seeing who his customers were.
"Fancy coming with us to America?" one of them asked.
…He'd be damned if he ever refused such offer.