Riddle's little snake

The art of coming home

Curare was having the time of her life. She spent almost the whole week at Hogwarts with her godfather and it was a blast. Severus found out she indeed a very smart child. Even if she wasn't even a year old, she seemed to understand what he was doing.

He showed her how the potions worked, and she watched him with her big green eyes. Professor McGonagall also whisked her away once so she could get to know the child. She never had children of her own and although she was constantly surrounded by older children, she barely interacted with babies.

At some point Curare didn't want to stay in the room behind the potions classroom so Severus sat her down by his desk and she would stare at the potions in awe. This of course meant that the students were slightly an edge at the start as Nagini was also just chilling beside the young girl.

It wasn't uncommon for a potion to explode and every time it did, Curare clapped and giggled. It was clear she enjoyed these classes. Transfiguration also wasn't bad but not nearly as fun as potions.

Too soon, for the liking of the teachers, the week was over, and Tom returned to Hogwarts to get his daughter back. It hadn't even taken two days before the daily prophet had a whole article about the child that was staying in Hogwarts.

As always, everyone stared at Tom when he walked through the halls of Hogwarts. Some children greeted him, but they were all ignored. He didn't feel like interacting with them and he only wanted his daughter back, she he had missed dearly in the last week.

He arrived at Dumbledore's office and saw Severus sitting there with Curare on his lap. She was hopping up and down while playing with his fingers. She had grown a tiny bit again but as Tom spent a lot of time admiring her, he noticed.

When she saw him, she made a happy noise and stretched out her hands to him. Tom picked her up and gently cradled her against his chest, giving her soft kisses all over her chubby face. She made a sort of hissy noise and he teared up.

"When did she start talking?" he asked. Severus and Dumbledore gave him blank looks, before they understood she had spoken in Paseltongue.

"This is the first time I heard it" the potions master said, eying the baby curiously. Tom hissed something back with a smile.

"Thank you for taking care of her this week. We will head home now." With that he left but not before Dumbledore assured him, they were more than ready to take her in anytime again.

The Riddle mansion looked the same as it did before. The house elves had kept everything clean and tidy. The plants outside where still cut perfectly and no plant had died during the absence of the two Riddle's.

Curare was very happy to be home again. She didn't understand why her father had left her, but she had missed him, and the house also meant that he would be with her again. She had fallen asleep after apparating and was now gripping Tom's suit as if her life depended on it.

"Welcome home Master Riddle. Tobo and the other house elves made sure everything is in order. Tobo is very happy that Master Riddle and his daughter are home. Tobo missed them" The elf said. He wasn't wearing old dirty sacks like other wizard's house elves might. They all had nice clean ones that were washed every week. In the Riddle mansion all house-elves were treated well.

They were given a choice to leave but wanted to stay. They liked working and weren't mistreated. Tom didn't stop them from punishing themselves, but he certainly didn't initiate it. House-elves thought it was insulting if they were forbidden to punish themselves, so he just let them do their thing.

"Tobo have you prepared lunch?"

"Yes, Master Riddle Tobo and Blinky have made lunch, would you like it served now?"

"Serve it in ten minutes in the garden" he said. The elf left with a quick 'Yes Master Riddle'. Tom carried Curare into one of the many sitting areas. He sat down and took off his cloak, which Curare wasn't holding onto.

"Wake up little snake "he said softly, trying to coax his daughter awake. "Come on, wake up for daddy".

A few hours later they were in the library. Tom was reading Curare a story while she was cuddling with Nagini's face. She gave Nagini a small kiss on her nose and giggled when she was licked lovingly.

Tom smiled. He never would have dreamt that he would have a daughter in his life. She was obviously a Paseltongue as she had started to say a few wobbly words since she was home again. Normally it was something like 'Da' but she also managed 'Nagi'.

She hadn't started talking English, but Tom also spoke Pasel first, his aunt just didn't know that it was a that and thought he was a weird child as he kept hissing. His aunt hadn't been a Paseltongue, so she didn't know he had started talking.

"Master Riddle, Canny is sorry to disturb but Lord Black it at the door and wished to speak to Master Riddle" The house elf pulled him out of his thoughts.

Tom nodded and got up. He walked downstairs and saw Sirius standing in the foyer, smiling for no reason at all. The Riddle and the black family were sort of related. A distant cousin was once married to a Black so Sirius was in some way Curare's uncle.

"Hello Riddle, I came with news and I wanted to meet my niece" Sirius said with a huge grin on his face.

"How did the mission go?" Tom asked, hoping to get some information before Sirius went crazy over his daughter. A small group of Death eaters were sent to retrieve a powerful magical gem.

"It's already in the Slytherin vault. Now...where's that niece of mine?"