𝐵𝑒̂𝑡𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑖𝑟𝑒 ; ᴛᴏᴍ ᴍᴀʀᴠᴏʟᴏ ʀɪᴅᴅʟᴇ

14

(TW: Serious topics such as assault, child predatory behavior, stalking, etc.)

Dumbledore sat in the headmasters office while Dippet was in Romania for an emergency. Slughorn was there as well.

"Lilith is an excellent student as well as Tom. They're the top of my class and I couldn't ask for more smarter students." Slughorn took a sip from his cup of tea.

"I want you to get to know Lilith in order to get to know Tom. They're alike but way more different than it appears." Dumbledore said calmly as he walked up to the podium of silvery liquid and golden vials.

Slughorn scoffed.

"I somewhat agree with you but I sense we are thinking completely opposite things, Professor. I prefer separating my students private life from what I know about them." Slughorn leaned back on his chair with furrowed eyebrows.

"Lilith is what books would describe the perfect human being. No flaws whatsoever and she never seems to be morally wrong." Dumbledore seemed to be pondering deeply.

"Go on." Slughorn was getting more and more confused.

"Let me start at the beginning and shall I also say, the end." Dumbledore took a vial of silver liquid and poured it into the podium of memories.

-

A painting hung on top of a fireplace of a large mansion.

It was a family portrait of the Rosenyx family.

Genevieve Rosenyx stood beside Adonis Rosenyx, both standing tall and noble. Their beautiful daughter sitting on a throne in front of them with a straight, menacing look on her face. Like she was stone cold.

Of course, this was before the painting had been vandalized. Now at present day, Genevieve and Adonis' faces were crossed out and Lilith's still remained clean.

Lilith was all over newspapers. The next heiress of the multi-billion galleon inheritance. The picture perfect daughter of the most powerful and richest wizard in the world. Those were the typical headlines.

Her name on the headlines grew more and more dark as she grew up.

"A group of wizards broke into the Rosenyx mansion, wanting to 'claim' Lilith Genevieve Rosenyx."

"Lilith Rosenyx seen being followed by a suspicious group of men."

"Lilith Rosenyx put under Wizarding Protection Contract after a man broke into her room, attempting to violate her."

It only got worse.

To the point where she was locked away from the public, only to be driven mad.

Even though she was locked away from the child predators that fantasized her daily, the matter was worse in her own home.

An object.

A toy.

Abuse.

Affairs.

It all drove her mad.

She wanted her parents dead for what they did to her.

And then it happened one night.

Her parents and everyone at her house was slaughtered in the dead of the night.

Lilith remembered waking up, fresh and clean, walking to her parents bedroom to see them on the floor, blood coming out of their mouth and open wounds with wide eyes staring at her.

She didn't remember hearing any of this. She would've heard screams. But she didn't. She couldn't remember anything.

She knew she wanted this to happen but now that it did, she was silenced.

After the court trial, she was sent to a new foreign school, Beauxbatons, for people to think she disappeared.

"Her looks were a mechanism of attraction that could draw someone into her trap and make them love her romantically and platonically so that they'd get attached." It was how she lived in life.

Constantly being mistreated by the public, the Ministry of Magic shut down these newspapers and information about the teenage murderer from the public eye. Every trace of it was gone and no one knew what happened.

She came to Hogwarts after being at Beauxbatons for years for a new start after suffering a tragic loss. There, she met Tom Riddle who she was drawn to immediately and it was the same for Tom.

It was like Tom had wrapped an unbreakable string around her, pulling her back to him every time she tried to run away.

He had her wrapped around his finger exactly like he planned.

-

Dumbledore and Slughorn returned back to their consciousness.

"Merlin's beard. Why did you want me to know this?" Slughorn stuttered and looked at Professor Dumbledore who just folded his arms.

"I want you to know this so that you let Lilith get closer to Tom. Their budding relationship is the best for the both of them with their similar backstories yet contrasting personalities. I need you to understand her." Dumbledore paced around the office.

"The antichrists of the wizarding world are known as bête noires. They could end the wizarding world or put it under their control. And they always come in pairs just like Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin. We all thought that the end of the wizarding world was when Gryffindor and Slytherin had their battle which is why we recognize them as the bête noire's. But strangely enough, it has occurred again. I can feel it and I know that Lilith and Tom are the smartest ones to figure out what the fate of our wizarding world is." Dumbledore explained.

"It is not our duty to place bets on students for the future of our wizarding world." Professor Slughorn returned to a couch and continued on with his unfinished cup of tea.

"It is a risk that I'm willing to take. So please, understand what Lilith will and can be."

Dumbledore, of course, hadn't shown Professor Slughorn the truth. He just had to get him to not suspect their new behavior. It was the only way progress would be made.