House of snakes

Chapter 9

"So what do you think of this Marvolo fellow?" Sirius asked, pointing to the paper. The first article on Marvolo Riddle had come out a week ago, but there'd been a continuing mini-series about him just as there had been about Hadrian all those months ago when he'd returned to Britain.

Hadrian looked from Sirius to Remus. Harry stared down at his plate. He'd already asked Hadrian if Marvolo was Tom Riddle and Hadrian hadn't lied.

Hadrian considered his options. Sirius and Remus had been living in Naga Manor for a little more than a month and neither of them had said anything about moving out. By now, they were both used to Hadrian and Harry speaking parseltongue and neither of them had made any comments about how Hadrian was obviously teaching Harry to be as grey as he was, policy and magic-wise.

"You're hiding something," Remus said. "Both of you."

Harry looked at Hadrian. ::Don't worry,:: Hadrian told the boy. ::Go start on today's book. We'll join you when this is all settled.::

Harry frowned, but nodded. He jumped down from the table and headed up to the library.

The adults watched him go. When he was out of sight, the two Mauraders turned back to Hadrian. "Should we get out our wands?" Sirius asked.

"Hopefully not," Hadrian murmured. "How much do you two know about Voldemort?"

Both man flinched only a small amount, much better than the normal wizarding public. Hadrian smiled at that. In his old life, he and Dumbledore had basically trained the entire Order to not flinch at all at the mention of the name.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked. "What about him?"

"I mean... do you know who he was before he was Voldemort?" Hadrian asked.

Both men shook their heads.

"He went to Hogwarts in late thirties and early forties. His mother was Merope Gaunt and his father was a muggle named Tom Riddle. He was named the same, Tom Riddle Jr., a halfblood who was sorted into Slytherin."

"The father of this Marvolo bloke," Sirius said. "Wait, you're saying You-Know-Who sired a kid?"

"Tom Riddle Jr. was a charmer and a political genius. He became Head Boy and went on to gain a position at the Ministry. Then, for some reason, he vanished and when he returned he was the Dark Lord Voldemort." Hadrian shrugged. "Who knows what caused him to snap. Anyway, he's dead now because of Lily."

"Because of Lily?" Remus asked. "Not Harry?"

"Harry was a year old," Hadrian stated. "What sort of inherent magic of a one-year-old would be able to kill one of the most powerful dark wizards of the age? No, Harry and I talked about it and we think it must have been someone his mother did. Some light ritual she set up which caused Voldemort's curse to backfire and kill him."

Sirius nodded. "Lily was always very strong. And now we know she has Naga blood... Slytherin blood... I bet she found some way to use You-Know-Who's Slytherin blood against him."

Hadrian blinked. He hadn't thought of that. "You might be right."

"We'll never know for sure. The question is, what about this son of his. You think he might become another dark lord?" Remus asked.

Hadrian shook his head. "Marvolo Riddle is not his father, just as I am not my father and Harry is not his father."

"We know that," Remus said. "Harry's more like you then like James."

"Not that that's a bad thing," Sirius reassured quickly. "You're a good man."

"Thanks," Hadrian murmured. "I have a feeling Marvolo is going to make a lot of changes in the Ministry. His heritage, though it doesn't seem too impressive to those who don't know who his father was, will bring him a lot of influence in the darker pureblood circles. He's also related to me and Harry, albeit distantly, because he's another Slytherin heir."