8. Allisandra

Tom Marvolo Riddle breezed down the hallway to what had been designated as the throne room. It had once been an antechamber, but he had gotten tired of all the standing around and had a chair brought in. All of his deatheaters had assumed it was a throne so, he thought, so be it, and now it was. He even asked one of his deatheaters to kiss his robes once just to see if they would do it. He really regretted that now because he was always nearly tripping over the deatheaters who threw themselves at his feet to kiss the hem of his robe in adoration.

He grimaced to himself and threw open the door to reveal the throne room, empty of all except one. A true smile entered onto his face.

"Allisandra," he said in greeting as the woman turned to meet him. She was ninety-three, but still as independent as if she was thirty. She had luminescent jade green eyes that were focused but at the same time not quite, as if she was seeing two things at once. Her grey curly hair was pulled back in a French twist and she wore simple but elegant sky blue robes.

"Tom," she said in kind, nodding her head to him. Tom never asked her to bow to him, she was a very valued ally and he knew that even though they had never met before, her allegiance lied with Persephone.

"Have you seen something?" he asked as he moved to sit in his chair dubbed throne.

"In a way," Allisandra admitted. "I saw your Lady coming to live here."

"She is," replied Tom, wondering where this was going.

"Then it is almost time," whispered Allisandra. "Soon we will have our Dark Lady."

"When?" demanded Tom, and she shot him a look to remind him that she did not answer to him before answering none the less.

"You will claim her on the Summer Solstice."

"December 21st?" reiterated Tom. Allisandra shrugged.

"I don't make the dates. You probably choose to claim her on that day for some dramatic reason. Though December is going to be a busy month for you now, Yule is just a few days after that. I'd decide what to buy for her now if I was you; get it out of the way early."

"Thanks for the advice," said Tom drily. Allisandra glared at him before grinning.

"She's very annoyed at you at the moment," she said gleefully. "I also saw her turning your snake against you."

Tom scoffed. "She can't do that, she's not a Parselmouth."

Allisandra gave him a look that suggested he was slow. "She is your other half and equal," she said with exaggerated carefulness with each individual sound.

Tom considered this with slightly widening eyes. "And when did you see this happening, exactly?"

Allisandra furrowed her shapely eyebrows in over the top concentration.

"What is the date, again?" she said innocently.

"August 23rd," Tom replied, eye twitching in irritation.

"And what time would you say it was?"

"Quarter past noon," he replied.

Allisandra reached into her pocket and withdrew a silver pocket watch, popping open the lid. She studied the surface carefully as if validating what he said. She tapped the glass just to make sure the ornate hands weren't stuck before checking again, taking her time. Tom ground his teeth together in frustration. He was trying very hard not to lose his temper. He had done it once and had discovered the hard way why it was never a good idea to be at odd ends with a seer. Allisandra suddenly snapped the watch closed before placing it back in her pocket and smiled at him.

"Sorry," she said brightly. "My eyes aren't what they used to be, you know."

Tom, who knew that there was absolutely nothing wrong with her eyes, spoke with a careful calmness he was definitely not feeling.

"When will she meet Nagini, Allisandra?"

"Who?"

"Persephone, Allisandra!"

"Oh, her!" Allisandra said with a dawning look on her face. "They started talking about five minutes ago."

Tom froze for a second and blinked twice, before launching to his feet and all but running to the door.

Allisandra watched him go, chuckling under her breath. "I love being a seer," she declared, strolling out of the throne room to find her usual bedroom.

…

Persephone was reading one of the books from Riddle's library and she had to admit her had good taste in books.

Granted, he had a whole section dedicated to torture but what were you to expect from a Dark Lord?

It was then she realised that the pillow next to her was moving.

What in Morgana's name?

The pillow fell off the chair and Persephone let out a small and very squeal, jumping back.

"Did you have to yelp so high?" a voice demanded.

Persephone finally studied what had made the pillow move. It was the head of a long Brazilian Constrictor with pure black eyes.

"You're beautiful," Persephone breathed, falling into Parseltongue without realising. The snake preened.

"Thank you, I think so," she replied. "What is your name, human?"

"Persephone," she replied. "May I have the honour of knowing your name, noble creature?"

"I am Nagini," said the snake, obviously pleased. Persephone's eyes widened.

"You belong to Riddle?" she asked. "You poor creature," she said sympathetically.

"Yes, he is rather moody, isn't he? He just can't be reasoned with, sometimes."

Persephone moved forward and Nagini curled up in her lap, allowing her to stroke her head.

"Not to mention he is smug and insufferable with a superiority complex!"

"He really does, has he not?" Nagini replied amusedly.

"You can spend time with me, whenever it gets too much for you," Persephone said kindly.

"I think I will," Nagini agreed.

Before they could say anything else, the door burst open revealing Riddle. His hair was slightly mussed up as if he had been running. When he saw Nagini curled up in Persephone's lap, his eye began to twitch minutely. Persephone raised an eyebrow.

"I see you two have… met," he said stiffly.

"I like the girl, Master," Nagini told him.

"That's lovely Nagini," he said as if it was anything but.

"This is what I'm talking about," Nagini said to Persephone confidingly. "He's awfully moody."

Tom groaned. "This is what I was afraid of," he muttered in Parseltongue.

"What was that?" asked Persephone.

"Nothing," he said quickly.

Persephone giggled. He looked adorable like this. Wide eyes, messy hair, lips parted ever so slightly.

Wait.

No, he definitely wasn't adorable. Dark Lord, bastard and she be old and grey, yes; adorable, definitely not.

Riddle looked at her, his eyes started at the bottom of her feet before inching painstakingly slowly up, lingering on the way before landing on the blush in her cheeks and smirking.

The bastard.

Nagini did the snake version of a harrumph.

"Mates," she said fondly, slithering off Persephone's lap, wrapping around Riddle's legs and torso until she came to rest on his shoulders.

"We are not!" exclaimed Persephone and Riddle's smirk returned full blast.

"Oh, we most definitely are. Until a later time, Persephone," he said, turning and leaving the room, shutting the door behind him while Persephone fumed.

The bastard.

…

And all the girls gang up on Tom, but he got the last laugh over Persephone.

I love Allisandra. She's like this kickass grandmother who doesn't even need to get up to fight because she knows she's already won.

You may have noticed the dates: 1) term starts very soon and 2) Tom and Persephone will be fully together on December 21st which I take to mean as married. I chose this date because of the Summer Solstice and because it is a few months before the Battle of the DoM which I have a scene in my head for which inspired this whole story.

Thanks all so much for F/F and R'ing! It really does mean a lot to me : )

Electra2Pandora