Sweet Revenge

Hearts of Lords

It had taken him a while, he had to admit. Longer than he would have prided himself on. 

Tom had been born in Wool's Orphanage on December 31, 1926. When he was old enough, he had hated New Year's Eve with a burning passion. 

His years at the orphanage had been miserable. His accidental magic was mistaken for signs of the Devil in him, so the orphanage Matron had sent him to be exorcized multiple times a month. She and the other children at the orphanage had treated him like he was below them. They bullied him. Beat him up. One day, seeking revenge against Billy Stubbs (who had killed his pet snake -she had been his first friend), he had hung said bully's pet rabbit by its feet from the rafters of Billy's room. Billy had become terrified of Tom and the feeling gave him some empowerment. He vowed that day never to let someone push him down. 

When he turned eleven, a man named Albus Dumbledore came and told him he was a wizard. The man became his sworn enemy. In his first year at Hogwarts, despite hoping for it to be a better opportunity for him, he was bullied because of his status as a supposed muggleborn student. His housemates bowed down to him after it was revealed that Salazar Slytherin's blood ran in his veins. He became the House's undisputed King. He assembled a group of elite he called the Knights of Walpurgis. 

At Hogwarts, he was also the school's resident heartthrob. He witnessed his many followers falling victim to girls (Lucius in particular) and allowing the girls to have power over them. 

Tom vowed never to fall in love.

And yet here he was. 

He set down his book and let his head fall into his hands.

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Fingers curled viciously over his perfect hair, his favorite black swan feather quill dipped into the ink jar and began to leisurely move across the parchment. 

Elegant letters savagely clashed into each other in the quill's wake as stony red eyes followed its every movement. 

And yet, the words that flowed from his quill were sweet as honey and dark as the sky when the moon hides its face. 

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Anxiously awaiting the response, he tossed and turned that night. He thought of all the outrageous possibilities and hoped to Merlin his plan worked.

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It did not. 

They hired Umbridge instead. 

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Harry had detested her on first sight, with her too-pink clothes and her terrible updo, sickly sweet voice, and beady eyes at the Feast. 

Pink heels clipped against the stone floor as she walked through the school like she owned it (She did not. Tom did). It infuriated him, but he had nevertheless been dragged to see her by Draco, whose father knew and despised her but covered it with politeness. 

Harry had joined her Inquisitorial Squad, from which the only pleasure he derived was taking points from Gryffindor (Specifically, Alex). He wore her badge, but did not flaunt it, and he held his head high, but not so much that his nose was permanently stuck to the ceiling. 

In the dead of night, he would write long letters to Tom, complaining about Umbridge and all her atrocious rules and how today she was dressed in a particularly obnoxious shade of neon pink today. 

In the secluded enclosure that was his office, Tom responded first before his paperwork, his smile pained but happy. 

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Draco Malfoy, the Great And Wonderful And Rich Draco Lucius Malfoy, had just come up with the BEST idea in the whole entire universe to court Astoria Greengrass. 

He was currently in the middle of explaining his amazing plan to his very best friend and co-conspirator Harry James Potter (soon-to-be Riddle, he thought. He wasn't that much of an idiot and his father was around the Lord 24/7 and liked to complain loudly at home). 

Anyway, he had more urgent matters to get to. 

          "So??! Will you do it??? Pleeeeease?" he subserviently asked (because Malfoys never begged).

His terrible best friend put on an overly pensive look and scratched his chin exaggeratedly. 

          "Let's see.... So, you want to anonymously send Astoria Greengrass an excessively lavish jumbo-sized stuffed snake complete with gold ribbons and a nest made of pure silver strands so that she won't know who sent it with a newly-bought wedge-tailed eagle which is very rare and very expensive which is also for her use without a note so that she will not know what to do with said eagle? On top of that, you want me to find the eagle and the giant stuffed snake and tote it back to the Slytherin Common Room through the hallways where anyone could see me and I could lose my dignity?????"

          "Yes?"

          "...Fine."

Draco Lucius Malfoy Moste Extraordinarily Exquisite Plan-Maker in the Whole Wizarding World and Beyond was absolutely delighted with the turnout of his Moste Wonderful Plan.  

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Draco's dear aunt Bellatrix would be helping with the confetti and trumpets and green silver snakey banners in the Great Hall that he may have failed to mention to Harry.