The boy who would be king

Chapter 9.

The next day Milo was more than a little nervous as the announcement approached, actually he could be seen pacing furiously in front of the fire muttering to Nex who was wrapped around his arm, Bella withheld a grin at how much he looked like his father doing that.

"My Prince, my Lord wants you to begin getting ready." Milo span to look at her a little panicked,

"Already?" He would deny it, but he did actually squeak.

"It is 4;30 and you need to eat, shower, change and run through tonight. It will be fine, you are the Prince, remember that." Milo took a deep breath and followed her to the dining room robotically eating his food allowing Nex to slither away, his thoughts were having a furious battle in his head and soon he would need a calming draught. Milo stumbled up to his room and began pacing again, what if he screwed everything up? Would his dad hate him and get rid of him? Harry was working himself in to hysterics when his father walked in and stopped his pacing by lifting him up.

"You need to calm down and stop worrying. You are my son and heir, you will be fine." He told him and Milo nodded talking many deep breaths.

"What if I mess up?" Milo asked quietly.

"You have never failed to impress me since the day you arrived, I have no doubt that you will perform this perfectly also." Tom said surely.

"Now are you able to shower or do I need to dose you with a calming draught?"

"I think I'm ok." Milo said and he was placed back on his feet, he went to the shower which made him relax even more, his father believed he was ready so Milo would prove he was the perfect heir. He pulled on the black dress trousers and black shirt that was folded up for him in the bathroom, when he stepped out his father had changed in to black sweeping robes that made him look foreboding and dangerous. Milo pulled on socks and shoes before he was handed his own robes, they were the same as his fathers only they had green stitching, he put them on carefully making sure they fell right and didn't crease, he looked at his dad.

"You look perfect my son, now when you walk in how should you look." Milo blanked his face and drew himself up tall, his father nodded once.

"Good," Milo took a deep breath and pulled on the dark green almost black cloak hung for him.

"Come, it's almost time." He followed his father silently, neither of their footsteps making a sound on the marble floors, Milo was led in to the side where Nagini and Nex were curled up in front of the fire.

'You are worried youngling' Nagini commented looking up and Milo nodded.

'I am being introduced to the death eaters tonight' He told her.

'About time, you are ready' Milo nodded and stepped closer to the door he would leave from taking deep breaths and keeping himself calm. His father was sat on his throne coolly watching his forces enter the room, his elite were at the front eagerly awaiting the news, they had all met Milo except Snape and Nott, so they knew what to expect. The rest of them had never set eyes on his son but they had all heard that the Prince had been returned to his rightful place as heir to they Slytherin line and to the Dark Sec, his son had impressed him bar far outstripping his expectations of him and that is why he was introducing him now. Milo could at least distract anyone who dared confront him long enough for word to reach him, the person responsible would never breath again that was certain. When the final outer circle stepped in the doors slammed closed easily silencing the large crowd, there were well over 500 death eaters there today and those were just the English; he rose and they dropped to their knees.

"Rise my faithful followers for today is a good day," his voice was cool and smooth and held no emotion.

"You all know of the crime Dumbledore committed against me 5 years ago when he took my son." The mention of it brought angry whispers and hisses through the crowed and he allowed them to vent before silencing them with a raised hand.

"I called you all here 3 months ago to tell you that your Prince had been returned to his rightful place, now you get to meet him." The silence was thick with excitement as they began to look around, each wanting to look at the Prince who could one day take over and rule them; be just like his father.

"Meet your Prince," no footsteps were heard as a cloaked figure all but glided in to the room from the side, he had a commanding air around him that made all eyes snap to him as he walked confidently up to his father's side and pulled back his hood, he stood proud next to the Dark Lord, his eyes glowing AK green in the dark room and his face void of all emotion. As one the death eaters dropped to their knees and 'my Prince' was murmured with reverence throughout the entire room, Milo held back his smirk; he could get used to this.

"Rise," His voice was cool and clear heard by everyone, Tom Riddle looked at his son proudly, the boy had really come in to the role as Prince exceptionally well. As the Dark Lord sat so did his son both with grace and elegance one could only hope to one day achieve, Voldemort conducted the meeting and Milo got to see how everything worked, he watched his father collect information and dish out orders, he even saw one person cursed for allowing something to slip under the radar, he watched fascinated as the man withed and screamed on the floor under his father's wand; he wanted to learn that. When the ranks were dismissed the elite remained removing their chrome masks when the door was shut, Bella beamed at him and Milo grinned back.

"You did well Milo, I am proud." Milo beamed.

"Lucius, I want your influence at the ministry to make sure my or my son's return is kept quiet at all costs. Severus, I want you to make sure the old fool is ignorant, I don't want him to know his schemes were lost until Milo goes to Hogwarts in 5 years time." They both nodded.

"You are dismissed," They left and Milo followed his father to his study where he sat down relaxing in the familiar comfortable room.

"You have a lot of minions." Milo said with a grin, the Dark Lord rolled his eyes.

"Followers,"

"Followers, minions, they're the same," Milo waved him off.

"You did well, you didn't even react to the cruciatus curse."

"I wanna learn how to do that." Milo stated tucking his legs under himself, he often sat like that which drove his father mad.

"Want to," He corrected, "When you are older you will,"

"The death eaters were masks to hide their identity?" Voldemort nodded.

"How does that work out for peroxide?" Milo asked so genuinely serious that the Dark Lord laughed.

"Charmed hoods, Lucius had to work on that."

"I would think, his hair was practically glowing." Milo pointed out.

"It is rather distinguishable," Milo snorted.

"Understatement," Milo yawned and his father smiled slightly.

"Bed time, Milo," Milo opened his mouth to protest but then thought better of it, he trudged upstairs and pulled of his robes, where Tilly popped in to collect them, and threw on pyjamas, climbing in to bed the only thought on Milos mind was he was going to be as powerful as his dad when he grew up.