When Darkness Falls >>formerly Pity to Power<<

Chapter Ten: Death?

After she had gone on a shopping spree with her father, and realized her wand didn't work as well as it used to, they went to a special Wand Shop in Knockturn Alley. This person was supposedly very good at choosing powerful wands for dark wizards.

Tom walked in with his normal form, his Hogwarts form. Of course he would be recognized, but then again, Knockturn was filled with death eaters and dark wizards so he was risking nothing. The wandmaker greeted Tom and Hermione with respect and immediately said, "I've been awaiting your visit, Princess." Hermione blushed slightly and looked away. "Well, uhm..I'm here for a new wand. My old one must be defective now that I'm different." The wandmaker nodded and went back into a dark room.

He soon came back out with an odd looking box with special designs that made it different from others. "This wand is several centuries old, perhaps even a millennia. It was made for you when the prophecy was discovered. Give it a go, m'lady." He handed the dark grayish brown wand to her. She felt all its ridges and carvings and the lightness of it. It resembled her old wand slightly, but looked more mysterious and special. She felt a wave of power, her hair curling up a bit more as she seemed to glow ever so slightly. Tom and the wandmaker watched in slight awe.

As the effect died down, Hermione looked to the wandmaker curiously. "I trust that's a good sign?" She asked, containing her excitement and the feeling of adrenaline the power wave had given her. The wandmaker nodded and said, "yes, that wand is most certainly yours. You may take it, free of charge m'lady." Hermione smiled and thanked him softly, putting the wand back in its box and putting it in her bag. She walked out with her father, still smiling. "That was rather fun," she said, watching her father as he gave her a proud smile. "I'm glad, I always knew getting that wand would be exciting." Hermione nodded. "It most certainly was."

She glanced around. "Oh! There's a bookshop, may I go?" She asked, looking up at him hopefully. He chuckled. "Of course, dear. There's no harm in having some more books." She excitedly walked into the shop, quickly picking out some books on dark magic and light magic, some wizarding family history books, and some storybooks before becoming distressed. "Oh, I can't pick between these two. There's The Tale of Two Goblins and Dark Veela. Oh, they both look so good!" Tom bluntly said, "Why not both?"

He then thought more a moment and said, "Oh, that reminds me. We need to go to the bank for a blood test." Hermione looked up at him and said, "Okay, let me buy these books first." She walked up to the cashier of the store, dumping the pile of books on the counter. "237 galleons," the girl said uncertainly. "Take it from the Gaunt Vault," Hermione said nonchalantly, looking out the window. The girl nodded and said, "Here you go princess." Hermione smiled, thanking her and taking the bag of books out of the store.

She eventually said, "I don't think there's anything else we need from here, so the bank it is!" Tom apparated them there, walking up the the head goblin and saying, "My daughter needs a blood test," skipping the greeting and getting straight to the point. He had put a father-like glamour on. The goblin said, "Name." He replied with, "John Granger, and Hermione Granger." He seemed to visibly tense at the name 'Granger', but played along perfectly. "Right this way sir," the goblin grumbled, walking into a room. Tom followed with Hermione, closing the door behind him.

He cast a quick imperious on the Goblin, taking his glamour off and telling Hermione, "It's okay, he won't remember us. Prick your finger and put it into this cauldron." The cauldron seemed to already be filled with the proper potion. She nodded, taking a knife and pressing the tip to her finger, wincing slightly and letting the blood drip into the cauldron. Soon, it fizzled and a scroll flew out at them. Hermione opened it, beginning to read.

Name: Hermione Astraia Riddle
Age: 16
Gender: Witch
Parents: Alecto Carrow, Tom Marvolo Riddle

She paused. "My adoptive mother told me your wife was 'Korey'." She gave him a suspicious look. He shrugged. "Probably couldn't bring herself to tell you your mother is probably as dark as I am. The woman was just used to make an heir though, there was no love between us. I would most likely never love a low ranked death eater like her, and she didn't even look for me after my first downfall." Hermione nodded and continued to read.

Creature Blood
21% Dark Veela
39% Siren
7% Vampire
33% Human

Power level: 300

At this point, Tom interfered. "Y'know Dumbledore's power level is only 200, along with mine. Your power level has never been seen before." Hermione nodded. "That explains quite a bit." She continued.

Families and Their Belongings
Slytherin: 637281084 galleons, 62 books, 3 ancient artifacts, 4 estates
Ravenclaw: 25203678 galleons, 142 books, 4 ancient artifacts, 2 estates
Riddle: 628017 galleons, 27 books, 1 ancient artifact, 2 estates
Gaunt: 739291638290 galleons, 412 books, 5 ancient artifacts, 5 estates
Peverell: 889284716948 galleons, 92 books, 18 ancient artifacts, 6 estates
Mort: 50 galleons, 3 ancient artifacts, 1 letter

Hermione blinked. "Mort? What's that?" Even Tom seemed slightly confused as he said, "That's the vault of...Death."