Riddle looked at his 'home'...and felt an overwhelming pang of homesickness. Not for this house, but for the presence of Iris. Iris, who had swiftly become a pillar of strength and a steady rock that he hadn't known he had desperately needed.
Staring at the woman who had given birth to him, Riddle's instincts shied away from the term mother.
She had lost that chance a long time ago. He just hadn't wanted to admit this.
He had only come to this...place...under extreme reluctance.
You could imagine how he felt being introduced to an appropriate Alpha by his birth mother.
Worse, having to put up with said obnoxious Alpha during a fancy party he honestly wanted nothing to do with.
If Riddle were to cast a glance to the side, he would have seen some very familiar faces.
At another table...
"Yikes, and I thought Riddle looked pissed whenever one of the freshmen screwed up or blatantly disregarded the Queen's rules," said Cater.
"This is going to end poorly," said Vil, amused. He had spotted Cater early on and the red head had happily accepted the invitation. The two of them had come to an understanding after he was formally adopted by Iris.
"Yeah, this is a total train wreck about to happen," said Cater.
"Does Iris..." started Vil.
"I started live-streaming her the second I realized what was going on," said Cater without hesitation. "She's got popcorn and everything, waiting to cheer him on."
Vil looked at the screen and saw Iris, Luna and Grim on the other side. Well, at least she would get real-time updates. After a moment, he pulled out his own phone.
From the looks of things, the Alpha (and Riddle's birth mother) had about pushed the tiny Omega to the limits of his patience. He was about to snap, violently.
"Oof...that had to hurt," said Cater, though it was clear he felt zero sympathy for the Alpha. He looked to Vil, who gave a slight nod as he had caught the entire scene on video.
"Good to see Riddle is putting those self-defense lessons to use," said Vil. Cater snorted at that.
Seeing Riddle's red face, Cater let out a sharp whistle to get his attention. Riddle turned to see his friend and dormmate, as well as Vil.
"Oi, Potter! We saved a seat for you!" Cater called out.
Riddle didn't even hesitate.
"Riddle! How dare you embarrass me!" said his 'mother' shrilly. "Get back here this instant."
Riddle didn't even cast a backwards glance. He started walking away.
"Riddle Rosehearts, come back here this instant!"
"My name," he said calmly, glaring at her. "Is Riddle Potter."
He walked away without another word. He knew damn well he was almost certain to be disinherited over this, or some other 'punishment' for defying her so brazenly, but he couldn't find it in himself to give a damn. He knew where home was, and it most certainly wasn't with her.
Riddle felt utterly drained as he sat down with the other two.
"Do you think Iris was serious about that adoption?" he asked.
"Ask her yourself," said Cater cheerfully.
Riddle found a phone put in his hands, with Iris cheering him loudly from the screen. Something inside him settled and relaxed.
"Next full moon, we'll conduct the ritual," said Iris cheerfully.
"What about the one for the..." started Vil.
"Still getting the ingredients for that, but it'll happen soon. Before the VDC at any rate," said Iris. "Before then, the pendants will suffice to serve as proof."
As expected, Riddle found most of his 'things' thrown out on the street by morning. Fortunately he had predicted this, and had already hidden most of the items he felt worth keeping somewhere safe. Trey handed him the satchel when he came with Cater back from the event.
"So...that bad huh?" he asked.
"Yes, that bad," said Cater. "But Iris had everything ready for the adoption ritual before this even happened, so he won't be Nameless for long. Hell, he's getting a major upgrade."
Vil didn't hesitate to let Riddle crash with him, mostly because he knew Iris would appreciate it. Besides, Riddle was rather tolerable to be around and knew better than to try and enforce the Queen of Heart's many, many rules on his fellow housewarden.
His father took one look at the younger Omega, and said nothing.
Riddle was clearly out of his depth, as he hadn't expected to confront his mother so early, but at the same time he was glad he finally did.
He was sick of the pressure she had put him under, and when he compared it to the love and unconditional support from Iris he found his birth giver wanting.
The first thing Vil did, once Riddle had mostly settled in for the remainder of winter break, was take him clothes shopping.
He had always wondered why he had never seen Riddle wear anything close to casual clothing during their tea chats. After seeing the few items of clothing Riddle had managed to save after his mother threw him out, he understood. That horrid woman truly was a total Gothel, and Riddle was better off without her.
The morning after he told Iris this plan, Cater came to visit.
"Boss Lady said you were doing an overdue shopping trip, and that she'd pay for it," he said with a wink.
"Did she set any limits?"
"She just said don't go too overboard, but otherwise have fun," said Cater. "She also sent a bit extra for 'fun money', so Riddle can pick up a few hobbies to try out."
"Are you coming with us?" he asked.
"Only if you're okay with it. Otherwise I'll head back to Trey's place," said Cater.
Vil's opinion of Cater had changed since Iris came to the school. Upon learning the full circumstances of his home life, he had quit snubbing the ginger.
Cater's personality had subtly shifted as well since coming into contact with the younger Omega. His devil-may-care attitude had softened and he no longer felt quite as 'flighty' as before. He felt...grounded.
"I don't mind, since you already know proper boundaries for a shopping trip," said Vil.
Seeing Cater send Iris a text promising pictures, Vil got one of his own.
'See to it that Cater gets some new things as well!' -Iris
Vil hid a smirk.
'Absolutely.'
Later
Iris was watching the Magicam feeds as well as the pictures Cater was sending from the trip.
The beta had been very surprised when Vil dragged them to a store Cater had shown moderate interest in and encouraged him to get something he wanted, not because it was bought for him.
Getting a text from Iris that encouraged him to go ahead and use the money she had set aside from the shopping trip for himself had shocked him.
Vil could care less about the way Magicam pretty much exploded, as he had done very little to hide his identity. He did, however, wear the pendant around his neck identifying himself as part of the Sisterhood with pride. A fact that didn't go unnoticed by the eagle-eyed ones among his fan base.
Cater and Riddle were sporting similar pendants, identifying them as part of the same clan in the Sisterhood as Vil.
What Vil didn't tell the other two was that part of the reason he wore the pendant openly was to gain access to some very exclusive stores. Stores that had a long wait list and catered only to the upper crust that had some very strict standards.
Small children and animals were explicitly banned. Service animals were permitted, but only after the owner and staff vetted them as properly trained and presentable in polite society.
The pendant got them in the door, and their behavior allowed them to shop normally.
Cater had already blocked his mother and two older sisters before even entering the store, because he knew they'd have something to say about the pendant and where he was.
Vil was rather pleased with the purchases they made as Riddle looked a lot more relaxed, Cater looked to be having entirely too much fun, and Iris was sending text about how good they looked.
When they returned to the house, Riddle felt overwhelmed by the whole thing and took a nap.
He checked his Magicam and found it full of people asking questions about the whole excursion. The main one being about the matching pendants and their meaning.
Vil couldn't describe the vindictive delight at the fact his follower count had almost tripled in number once people identified the markings and what it meant.
He went over to Cater's public account, and found it had almost imploded in mere hours. Riddle didn't really have an account, mostly because he was too busy.
A few hours later...
"How did Cater get here all the way from Trey's place?" asked Riddle.
"Portkey," said Vil. "Being a Steward with a healthy budget has it's perks. How are you feeling?"
Riddle looked much better than before, at least. He had looked like a doll with it's strings cut, but had found some stability during the shopping trip.
"Better. Still dealing with the fact I've cut contact with...her."
"We'll be back at Night Raven soon," said Vil gently. Riddle really was like a baby bird just learning how to fly after being caged his entire life.
A few days later, the gateway back to the school opened. Vil said nothing when Riddle was the first through. He was equally unsurprised to see Iris hugging him tightly when he went through the mirror.
"So how was your break?" he asked.
"Rather boring, save for one minor issue."
Vil raised an eyebrow. He had become well acquainted with Iris' luck.
"Do I dare ask?"
"I just had to knock some sense into someone and put two idiots into overdue couples counseling. No biggie," said Iris cheerfully.
Judging by the way Jamil couldn't look at Iris directly and how close she had become with Kalim, he had a pretty good idea who the 'two idiots' were. Kalim hadn't been part of her growing social circle before save for the interactions instigated by Cater.
Not his problem.
(What Happened Over Break...)
When Kalim had invited the two girls to his dorm to enjoy the break, as most of their friends had gone back home, Iris hadn't thought twice about accepting.
And then Jamil made the horrible, horrible mistake of using his signature spell on Iris. Twice.
Iris was not amused that Jamil's signature spell was a much less taxing, far more obvious version of the Imperius curse.
Iris would have kept her retaliation quiet...had Jamil not attempted to forcibly keep them in the Scarabia dorms by having the others lock them in.
He really, really should have taken the hint not to piss off someone who had lived through a magical civil war.
Vil listened horrified and slightly bemused as Luna recounted the tale of how Iris, thoroughly pissed off at Jamil's antics had essentially knocked out any student stupid enough to try and block her path to Jamil and Kalim and then proceeded to put the fear of the Seven into Jamil who hadn't expected her to be immune to his signature spell.
Jamil had a very...unhappy...meeting with Midnight who gave him the same treatment she had Leona, with Luna explaining things to a very confused Kalim.
"So let me get this straight... Jamil thought it was a brilliant idea to try and hold you three hostage, despite the fact it was common knowledge you were part of the civil war in Lost Avalon?" said Rook in disbelief, shaking his head.
"He was very surprised when I sat on him," said Iris smirking.
"Is that why I saw Jamil having a...chat...with Leona earlier?" asked Vil.
"Possibly," said Iris.
Vil made a note to create a list of people who had to be...disciplined...via being sat on by a massive dragon who was less than amused with their behavior. It seemed to be oddly effective at disciplining Alphas who needed their ego checked.