Two weeks into the summer, a letter arrives from Ron with an attached copy of The Daily Prophet. Apparently, his family won the newspaper's grand prize draw, and went on a trip to Egypt to visit Bill, Ron's eldest brother. The attached copy of the newspaper has a picture of his family as they receive their winnings, for which Ron brought along Scabbers. I have no idea why he is so fond of that rat, really…

My attention is not held by that article, though. My attention is on the front page article, showing several aurors around the corpse of an enormous snake. The headline reads

Aurors Kill Millenium-old Basilisk in Hidden Hogwarts Chamber!

I find myself feeling surprisingly morose at this, and it takes me a while to realise that the emotion I'm feeling isn't my own.

'I assume you're sad about your pet killer snake dying?'

So what if I am? You had as much claim to that snake as I did, being a fellow heir. Shouldn't you be sorrowful at the potential loss of such a powerful symbol of your heritage?

'I'm not really attached to the fact that my mum was descended from a man who hated muggleborns, you know, nor am I sad to see the death of something used to "defend the school from their influence".'

Slytherin didn't hate muggleborns any more than I did. That's just a slanderous rumour.

'If you don't hate muggleborns, then why were you petrifying them all year?'

I was trying to kill them, technically. Ginny began to suspect that she was causing the petrifications, and if she thought she was responsible for someone's death, then her grief would have made it easier for me to absorb her soul to resurrect myself. Pureblood students would have been poor targets because their parents would have made a ruckus if any of their precious heirs died. Muggle parents have almost no say in what goes on at Hogwarts and no power for restitution. The muggleborns were simply convenient targets.

'I don't know if I should be more disturbed by the lack of power muggle parents have over their magical children, or your cavalier attitude for murder.'

I would really rather not kill any magicals, but I was short on options at the time. It all worked out in the end, though, right?

A long silence draws out between us.

I hope Tessie's okay…

'What part of "dead" wasn't clear to you?'

Listen, Potter, I love that snake, and I was inside your head when Dumbledore told you what the plan to kill her was. Did you really think I'd let her stay there unguarded with no plan?

I feel my gut twist at the realisation that the act of simply hearing information gave Tamelyn the means to protect what could easily be her most dangerous weapon.

Oh, please. As if I wouldn't go out of my way to make sure she's safe. She's the only one I've ever been able to call a friend. She listened to all of my issues back in Hogwarts when my pompous pureblood classmates were being arseholes to me. Wouldn't you do the same to protect your owl?

'My owl can't kill people with a look!'

And that's why a basilisk is a much better familiar. They can protect themselves far better.

'So what did you do to ensure her safety?'

I possessed you one night while you slept and snuck down there using your cloak. Then, I used her shed skin and some blood, tooth, and bone from her to make a basilisk construct duplicate. I'm not sure if it worked though. The construct may not be good enough to fool aurors, and if they used a rooster crow to kill the construct, then the chamber's inner sanctum may not have been well-protected enough to keep her safe… I would have preferred to just tell her to flee, but without a body, they probably wouldn't have closed down Hogwarts, and I couldn't do that to the first place I considered a home.

'What's the inner sanctum?'

It's the innermost and most guarded area of the chamber, and it's protected by blood wards. Only someone with the blood of Slytherin can open them. The fact that your blood could open them is how I knew you were one of his descendants. The sanctum itself is a well-furnished living space that holds several artefacts of historical importance, such as several of Salzazar's personal journals. If we can manage to sneak down there, then you should give them a read.

Tamelyn stops talking then, but her feelings of worry and sadness continue to bleed through to me. It's bizarre to think of someone who is by all accounts a ruthless tyrant feeling so morose.

Wait a minute…

'How did you know about my cloak?'

Oh, I can peruse your memories at my leisure. Your lack of occlumency barriers make it very easy.

I make a mental note to have Hermione look up "occlumency" for me at the earliest opportunity.

A week after that, another letter arrives, this one from Hogwarts..

'That's weird. I thought these things came two weeks before the semester started?'

If that was your actual Hogwarts letter, then yes, you'd be right. However, since you're starting your third year, that envelope contains an elective selection form and a Hogsmeade permission slip.

I open the envelope, confirming that she is indeed correct. As I mull over the options for electives, Tamelyn makes her thoughts known.

Take Divination and Care of Magical Creatures.

'Why?'

Because I took Runes and Arithmancy classes in school. I am already going to be forced to sit through the third year curriculum again. It would be foolish of me to not take the chance to learn something new. Also, it would stop the whole year from being a complete repeat for me. I'd rather not be bored out of your skull the whole year.

'If it was possible to bore you out of my skull, then maybe I could be rid of you.'

Oh, ha ha.

'Besides, what about the classes I want to take? I was really interested in taking Ancient Runes…'

If you want credit for Ancient Runes, just take the O.W.L. for it in your fifth year. I know the subject well enough, so I can easily feed you the answers. Either way, you're taking Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. I refuse to be any more bored than I have to be.

'If you want to take new classes, why not Muggle Studies?'

I'm going to pretend you never said that. I learned plenty about the muggle world firsthand, and none of it is good.

'You were raised in the muggle world, weren't you? Why do you hate them so much?'

Because I lived with them, I was forced to see all of their worst traits. They are foul creatures that care only for themselves and their petty desires. They would destroy anything and everything to get what they want. They fear anything different from themselves.

'Your experiences with muggles are not universal.'

No. But they're quite similar to yours, aren't they, Harry?

…Fine. So, moving on, what about the permission slip? I doubt Vernon would do anything that might result in me being happy.'

Oh, that one's easy. Hang on, I'm going to take control for a bit.

'Wait, what?'

My body begins moving on its own. Tamelyn grabs my wand from my nightstand and walks downstairs to where Vernon is watching TV.

Good, he's alone. That will make this easier.

My wand points towards him as Tamelyn casts a spell.

"Imperio."

Vernon's eyes glaze over for a second as the curse hits. An unfamiliar euphoric rush runs through my body.

'What the hell was that?'

Dark magic euphoria. The stuff's addictive for a reason.

"Sign this." Tamelyn speaks out through my voice.

Vernon grabs a pen from his pocket, signs the form, hands it back, and goes back to watching the telly. Once his back is turned, Tamelyn casts again.

"Obliviate."

'Was the memory wipe really necessary?'

Absolutely. The use of the imperius curse carries a life sentence in Azkaban. As I said before, I don't like leaving witnesses.

'…I can't believe that you used a dark curse to get my uncle to sign a form.'

The easiest answer to a problem is usually the simplest. The imperius curse is extremely strong, and as a muggle, he has no internal magic to even attempt to fight against it. Same thing with a memory wipe. As a muggle, a well-performed obliviation can't even be detected, let alone reversed. Repeated obliviations can cause brain damage, but from what I've seen of your uncle, that would probably be an improvement.

I know that she's not at all joking, and that I should be admonishing her for making such remarks, but I can't help but laugh. I suppose having a Dark Lady in one's head would naturally lead to a more morbid sense of humour.

Wait, go back, I need to hear that again.

I'm surprised Tamelyn wants me to go back into the room where Vernon's watching TV, given her vehement attitude towards the admittedly despicable man.

'Um, sure, I guess.'

The newcaster's voice comes back into focus as I sneak back into the room, careful to avoid Vernon's attention.

"Once again, Sirius Black, mass murderer, has escaped from prison. He is to be considered armed and dangerous, and authorities are urging anyone who sees him to not engage and contact them immediately."

The newscaster continues talking, but I can't make him out over Tamelyn's thoughts echoing in my head.

Huh. Looks like a wizard broke out of Azkaban and the Ministry is desperate enough to look to the muggles for help.

'This Sirius Black guy is a wizard?'

His last name is "Black" and his first name is astrological. If that's not a clear sign of being a member of the Black family, I don't know what is.

'Sirius is the name of a constellation, then?'

A star, actually. Don't you pay attention in Astronomy class?

'Uh… Kind of?'

…Okay, that's being fixed this year. I refuse to have bad grades, even if it's only by proxy through you. You are going to apply yourself this year, and if you get anything less than straight O's, I will have a lot of fun trying to find a way to torture you without harming myself in the process.

'Great, thanks. Glad to know that I'm getting academic help under the threat of torture.'

You're welcome. Now, I wonder if there's a way to contact Mister Black… The Black family were notorious blood purists, so he's probably a follower of mine who escaped from Azkaban. If we can contact him, he may be able to use him to get a message to Core-me, who should hopefully back off from her crusade against you once she knows I'm involved.

'Wait, you don't even know if he's a follower of yours?'

I was in a book for five decades! Of course I don't know what's going on! My knowledge of current events is limited to what I was able to glean from Ginny last year!

'What about the piece of your soul what was in my scar? That was part of Core-you for much longer, so shouldn't you have memories from up until you tried to kill me?'

…No. That is not at all how this works. Soul shards don't implicitly have memories. They don't have memories, intelligence, or anything beyond basic awareness and self-preservation unless otherwise modified. It makes sense when your think about it, really. Souls aren't fractal. A part of the soul does not contain a representation of the complete soul, so any memories that the soul shard contains are memories that the core self would be lacking. So if the shard in your scar had memories up until Core-me killed you, then Core-me would be an amnesiac. I've seen your memory of the end of your first year, so I know for a fact that Core-me is not an amnesiac.

'Wait, if souls don't have memories, then what about you?'

I'm special.

'How so?'

That Diary was more than just a vessel to store me in. It was a modified pensieve filled with copies of all of my memories up to its creation, and a smattering of memories extending from then to the summer after my graduation. I was given fifty years to soak them into myself and become a duplicate of what I was like as a teenager.

'What's a pensieve?'

A magical artifact used to store and view memories. My diary was an improved model of my own creation that was designed to be able to hold much more than the average stone basin design. It was originally going to be my NEWT project for Ancient Runes before I decided it would be better used to house a portion of my soul. It was also the only artifact I had on me at the time of Myrtle's death, and it would have been a shame to waste a perfectly good killing.

I let that last comment slide. I don't know if her nonchalance about killing is wearing off on me, or if I just don't feel like wasting energy on being indignant at her anymore.

Tamelyn's constant banter becomes a comfortable presence in my life as my birthday arrives. Growing used to her is probably bad, but given a choice between getting used to her and going insane, I'll readily pick the former.

"Boy." Vernon's gruff voice speaks.

I turn to face him. He's been ignoring me most of the summer, much to my gratitude. Most likely because Tamelyn's anger keeps making me give him death glares, and because she keeps obliviating him if he demands too much of me. Probably mostly the latter, come to think of it.

"Marge is coming over tomorrow. She'll be staying for a week. We expect you to be on your best behaviour or there will be consequences. Am I clear?"

I do my best to clamp down the rage Tamelyn feels at being spoken down to by a filthy muggle.

"Crystal, uncle."

Vernon seems suitably off-put by the coldness of my response, so I consider this interaction a success.

I still say you should kill him.

'Shut up.'

Kill her.

'No.'

"This one's got a mean, runty look about him." Marge gestures in my direction. "You get that with dogs."

She is awful. The world would be better without her. Kill her.

'No!'

"It all comes down to blood, you know. Bad blood just isn't something someone like him can escape from."

She is a foul being with no magic! She has the gall to insult a heritage that is far grander than hers! She will not recognise your superiority unless it is shown to her through force! Kill her!

'NO!'

"Are you even listening, boy?"

KILL HER!

"NO!" I shout out, my attempts to hold our combined rage in failing.

Marge begins speaking to Vernon and Petunia once more. "See what I mean? He's rude and disrespectful, and has no sense of who his betters are."

If you won't kill her, THEN I WILL!

'What!? No!'

I'm shoved out of control of my body before I have a chance to do anything.

"I'll show you 'betters'." My voice speaks out as Tamelyn pulls my wand from my pocket.

"You can't-" Petunia starts to shriek before Tamelyn stops them all.

"Immobulus Maxima." A large, blue wave erupts from my wand, freezing everyone in the room, myself excluded.

"You," Tamelyn points my wand at Marge's terrified eyes, "are a foul and miserable excuse for a human being. I'm not giving you the good grace of a second chance. Farewell, and know the world is better for your absence. Finite Incantatem. Arresto Cardia."

Just after the immobilisation is cancelled, Marge begins clutching at her heart and pounding at her chest, her face growing blue as the oxygen fades from her blood. Once her struggling stops and her body stills, Tamelyn turns my body to face the Dursleys.

"I can't have you tattling on me, now can I? Finite Incantatem. Magna Stupefy. Obliviate."

The Dursleys slump to the ground as Tamelyn starts walking upstairs.

'I think I'm going to be sick.'

Oh, don't you dare. I refuse to have to taste your dinner coming back up just because you're too weak to relish in the sensation of watching your foes die at your feet. Besides, I can feel that deep down, you enjoyed it.

'I am not weak.'

Yes you are. But you don't have to be. I used to be weak, you know, but I grew past it, just as you can. You let people push you around because your pitiful relatives would punish you if you pushed back. Let me tell you this, since no one else has: you're better than them.

'I refuse to believe that I am better than muggles just because I have magic.'

Keep telling yourself that lie. See if you continue to believe it.

'…There was no rush when you killed her.'

Of course there wasn't. Cardiac arrest is a medical spell, not a dark curse. It's used in precision healing procedures, though it, like many other "mundane spells", can kill if used properly. Getting a taste for dark magic after only a single use, Potter?

I don't reply. I don't trust myself to.

A/N: I did say this fic was going to be dark. Just barely thirteen, and he's already committed his first murder, even if it's only by proxy.

Tamelyn is both an enthralling and challenging character to write. It's difficult to strike the balance between making her a terrible person yet still engaging.

The Magna Stupefy, or "Area Stunner", was borrowed from DP&SW