The Fearsome Name of Riddle

Bad Dog

Tom Riddle had been officially missing for the last two years. After the murder of Hepzibah Smith by her senile house elf feeding her poison soup, the promising young wizard had mysteriously disappeared. Though seemingly unrelated according to any kind of authority, the coincidence did spark some interest with the media. Particularly his connection to his supposed wife. With Victoria Malfoy keeping her name, the Daily Prophet seemed to circulate different opinions on who Riddle had left behind. A wife. A wife and son. No one at all. Sometimes Lucius was written to be Victoria's son, sometimes they seemed to think he was Abraxas's child and she remained unmarried. Victoria never bothered to correct them and eventually journalists stopped trying to contact her on the subject. Tom was missing and that was that. 

The truth, however, was that Victoria Malfoy knew exactly where her husband, Tom Riddle, was. He was not missing, but in the entrance hall to Malfoy Manor accompanied by four Death Eaters. The reclusive Dark Lord lived on. 

"This is Father," Lucius nodded, a look of intense concentration on his face. "Obsidian is a secret." 

"Yes, you mustn't say anything about that," Victoria said, straightening out his tie as her chest tightened. "This is your father, call him as such. Or I'm sure he'll accept my Lord but you don't have to call him that." 

"Right." Lucius stood as straight as he could, his heart pounding as they stood outside of the large doors that connected the hall to the rest of the house. "Hello, Father." 

"Very good darling." Victoria stood sharply and took his hand. 

The large doors screamed as they opened, she'd have to tell Dobby to grease the hinges. The Dark Lord's head turned to greet her and revealed a face that was not quite his own. His skin looked waxy, pale, and distorted with a large cracked crease across his left cheek. His eyes were bloodshot and red, his smile curled into something malicious. 

"What have you done to your face?" Victoria grimaced with disgust at the sight of it, her vanity not even sparing him. Her frown laxed and her hand hung limp at her side as Lucius hid behind the skirt of her dress. 

"My darling wife and her need for beautiful things," Voldemort sighed with a slight chuckle. "Sacrifices have to be made for greatness. Vanity isn't important where power is concerned." 

Victoria's frown deepened, her hand finding Lucius's again as he tried to conceal himself from his father and those with him. “You'll find there is beauty in power and power in beauty. Fear is all you'll ever have with a face like that.”

Voldemort's jaw clenched slightly as the men beside him shuffled and whispered amongst themselves. 

"Bit old for you, isn't he?" One of the Death Eaters with a scarred eye snickered, elbowing another in the side. 

The other craned his wolf-like face around to try and get a look at the little boy hiding behind his mother. Victoria's glare snapped to him, if she was honest, he looked more like a dog than a person. His greasy hair slicked back on his head, large bushy eyebrows sat just on top of his beady black eyes and a snarling grin showed a row of sharp teeth. 

"Victoria, I can change it if it means that much to you but I really don't understand the fuss." Voldemort rolled his eyes as his wife honed in on his Death Eater. "We'll be needing the table set. Where is that elf of yours? Victoria? Victoria." 

Her stare broke and he realised what she had done. Tom felt his body tense as she snapped. 

Wand drawn like a pistol, Victoria shot scarlet lightning straight for the wolf. After what she had seen in her infiltration into his head, seen what he had done to children younger than her boy, she couldn't just stand there and do nothing. The man writhed on the ground, whimpering and screaming in pain as the dark curse coursed through his muscle fibres. Every inch of himself in agony.