Title: How to Accidentally Seduce the Dark Lord

Pairing: Marvolo Gaunt/Female James Potter


Isla Potter breathed a sigh of relief as she spotted the tall figure in front of her. The wizard's black hair was tied back at his nape—a mark of a pureblood lord. Now she just had to pray to Merlin that he would do his lordly duty and protect her.

Curse her cousin, Sirius Black, for daring her to sneak into Knockturn Alley and buy something. Doubly curse her for being foolish enough to perform such a fool-hearted act.

"Imbecile," Isla hissed at herself as she tightened her grip on her wand. Normally, she knew she could handle most threats. She was vicious with a wand, and she didn't hold with dueling etiquette outside of a formal duel. She was the best duelist at Hogwarts, and that wasn't her ego talking. When the Slytherins traded favors and materials goods for the opportunity to practice with her, she challenged anyone to say she wasn't the best.

However, Isla wasn't prideful enough to think she could defeat seven Death Eaters on her own.

"Almost safe," she whispered as she hurried forward. The bag from Borgin & Burkes knocked against her side. She had won the dare. Too bad for her that seven Death Eaters had come through the Floo as she was leaving the store. Her prize for completing the dare wasn't going to be worth the trouble.

Once the Death Eater garb went on, the gentlemen lost their pureblood manners when it came to Light wizards and witches. On a normal day, she could trust Heir Malfoy or Heir Lestrange or Heir Crouch with anything—no matter how sensitive. As soon as they donned the masks, though, nothing was safe anymore.

Isla had a second to hope that the pureblood lord she had caught up with wasn't bonded—because what she was about to do would be unforgivable in that case—before she looped her arm through his. "Sorry to keep you waiting, darling. Burke's service was especially inferior today," Isla said in her most posh voice. Then she leaned up and kissed the wizard on the lips.

It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, how Isla had imagined her first kiss happening. But some sacrifices were worth her life.

An amused hum echoed against her lips. Isla glanced up into scarlet eyes and froze. Merlin above, she was kissing Lord Slytherin! She had grabbed a hold of and kissed the Dark Lord!

As if her actions had been an invitation, Marvolo Gaunt—the Dark Lord—wrapped his arms around her and kissed her as if she were already his bonded wife. He kissed with passionate intent. Isla trembled in his arms; her knees shook. If he hadn't held her so obscenely tightly to his chest, she would have fallen to the ground.

A series of strangled gasps sounded behind her.

Cheeks hot, Isla tore her lips away. She fisted her hands in Marvolo's robes so that she wouldn't slip boneless from his arms. She didn't need a mirror to know she was blushing as brightly as Evans' hair.

A glance was all it took for her to calm slightly. The Death Eaters were kneeling on the cobblestones, their masks pointed toward the ground. They had no doubt glimpsed the incident, but it didn't seem like they had shamelessly watched the entire encounter.

Thank Morgana for small favors.

"Apologies, my lord." Isla recognized the voice as belonging to Lucius Malfoy. "If we had known she was your lady, we never would've dream—"

"You dare dream of my lady?" Marvolo's tone of voice was such that Isla could only thank Merlin it wasn't aimed at her.

"We're sorry for frightening you, my lady," Rodolphus Lestrange said. "It won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't," Isla bit out, before freezing. Had she really just given a command to a Death Eater as if she expected it to be obeyed? And in the Dark Lord's presence! Was she trying to get herself killed?

"You will protect my lady with your life," Marvolo ordered. Somehow, even though his words didn't contain any s's, it still sounded sibilant. "Leave us."

When they were alone, Marvolo grasped her chin and tilted it up. He moved her face this way and that way, examining every inch of her, as if she were an Abraxan he was looking to buy. "That was your first kiss, Heiress Potter?"

Her cheeks felt even hotter than before. "Yes, Lord Slytherin," Isla whispered. Soon enough, he would grow bored with her bravery and stupidity and let her go. Just like how the Death Eaters changed when they wore their garb, the Dark Lord never harmed an innocent when he was dressed in the robes and rank of Lord Slytherin.

"Oh?" When Marvolo kissed her this time, he licked his way into her mouth. She collapsed against him and wanted to hate the way he smirked against her lips in response. But all she knew was that she needed to get away from him . . . even though all she wanted was to keep kissing him, even if it got her killed. "No one's ever tasted you before?" he purred after pulling back.

"No, my lord," she whispered. Isla was so overcome with uncharacteristic shyness that she could barely speak. She couldn't even meet his eyes with false indignation for his manhandling. She was enjoying every second of it, and he was worldly enough to realize that.

His laughter was just like he was—deceitful. "Your father can expect the contract by owl this evening."

What? Isla barely dared to breathe at the implications. "My lord?"

"If you love your father, you'll convince him to sign it." Marvolo kissed her a final time. It was the softest, gentlest, most tender of all. Somehow, this was the kiss that terrified her. "I do not share—ever. I will not start with my lady."

Marvolo stroked her hair and walked off before she could gather enough mental power to offer even a token response. Isla lifted a shaking hand to her chest and watched his robes disappear around the corner of a shop.

Isla didn't know how long she stood in the middle of the alley in shock, but it was long enough for Lucius to appear beside her. He placed her arm atop his and said, "It will be my honor to escort you safely home, Heiress Potter."

"Thank you," Isla replied, barely aware of her surroundings. She followed his lead wherever he led, mind abuzz with her shifting reality.

Her heart stuttered in her chest as she acknowledged what had to be done. Isla had to return home to Potter Manor and inform her father—who had forbidden her from participating in courtship dates until she was seventeen—that while escaping from seven Death Eaters she had accidentally seduced the Dark Lord.

And after the rage dimmed, Isla knew exactly what Lord Charlus Potter would say. "The Dark Lord? Perfect." A smile would split his face that no Slytherin would ever believe a Gryffindor capable of making. "Well done, Isla. It seems we'll live, after all."