The first feeling he felt after he was reborn was triumph.

He had conquered death and his prophesied nemesis was there ready, tied safety to the tombstone, unable to slip from his fate.

The second feeling he felt was anger.

His servants, his one true family had returned. But there was punishment to give out. They had not searched for him after his fall, cowardly vermin aside, and this was an issue. Nothing a few moments under his wand couldn't solve but it was the principle of the matter. There were some that were missing yes but their faith and loyalty would be rewarded once he dealt with the boy and broke into Azkaban. His spy in Hogwarts and the Slavic traitor were also to be considered at a later time.

The third feeling he felt was resolve.

Ordering the rat to untie the boy and give him back his wand was necessary. He was an honourable man, no more than just a man, an honourable lord and his enemy should have a fighting chance. Well not much of a chance as he was far better than any common wizard or witch and certainly better than the boy. Twirling the yew wand through his fingers felt good. The cruciatus that the boy failed to dodge felt even better. A crucio for every year he lived as less than a ghost. That would be the boy's punishment before death.

The fourth feeling he felt was confusion.

The boy was not scared. He could not detect any fear in him at all. Maybe the curse had broken his feeble mind, the vacant look around the graveyard certainly indicated so. The absentminded glance at him and his followers. What was the boy doing? Lifting up his sleeve for what purpose? Another wand? Certainly not a portkey. No portkey could breach the wards that were around this cursed graveyard. No a mark, a brand, a tattoo. A wand pressed into the mark in the shape of a snake coiled around a lightning bolt. A summons? For whom? Dumbledore would not brand his followers and the boy had no other significant supporters. The dog of a Black would not consent to such an image as his summons.

Then the girl appeared at his side. A carbon copy of a younger Bellatrix Black but with a few features he couldn't recognise. The boy smiled happily at the new arrival and a hand was against his cheek tenderly. Words murmured between them and his cloudy gaze sharpened.

The girl turns towards him and the last feeling he felt after he was reborn was fear mixed with pain.

"You dare raise your wand at what is mine father?"

"CRUCIO"

He had first met her in the schools Library. Pale skinned, slightly taller then him with black long curly hair and eyes that were silvery grey.

He was searching for information about his family and why he could speak to snakes after the disaster in the duelling club. His friends had left him alone as the rest of the school whispered about him being the heir and next dark lord. Well he couldn't blame them, what sort of normal 12-year-old could hold up against the scorn of all their peers? Himself, after years at the Dursleys was made of stronger stuff, so he searched for answers under his fathers cloak after curfew.

It was the moment he carefully lifted the book he wanted from the shelf revealing his hand from the cocoon of invisibility she had noticed him. She was looking for the same book. And so, she had removed the cloak from on top of his head. He had not even known she was there.

But he was intrigued and so was she. The pale skinned girl in the house of green and the lion without a pack. They had talked. She revealing that she could talk to snakes too, that she was an orphan as well and for the first time he felt kinship. His first friends couldn't never provide that, having families that loved them and cared for them. His first friends never woke up in the middle of the night to flashes of green light in their dreams. She understood what having the scorn of their peers felt, having a name like Riddle in the house of green and the cry of the Augurey in her dreams.

So, they met again and again slowly binding themselves to each other with their thoughts, hopes and fears. Their missing parents and lack of love from their appointed guardians.

When he found the diary that bore her last name he bought it to her. They had thought perhaps her father had lost it during his tenure at the school. But the book was stolen from them by the red haired first year.

When the chamber was opened for the last time he told his secret friend and she followed in his cloak behind his first friend and the useless teacher.

Meeting the sixteen year old version of her father and hearing the truth was hard on the girl. She had to choose between her first real friend and the not remotely paternal shade of the dark lord. So, the fang was ripped from her friends arm and stabbed into the book. She had never had real parents and probably didn't need them now at the cost of the only person that understood her.

And happily, her friend didn't hold her parentage against her.

During the summer holidays she was the first person he had written to. He had asked her to come stay with him at the alley as he had blown up his filthy aunt. She left her caretakers and stayed with her friend. Annoyed she couldn't pay for anything outside of the necessities she had dragged him to the bank to find out who her mother was. She couldn't see a dark lord obsessed with purity and linage laying with someone of not high breeding.

The reveal of both his family vaults which could be opened when he was 15 and her Black heritage was a shock to both. But the discovery that they both had means and one day would be free to do whatever they pleased was a relief. Both he and she wanted nothing more than to explore the world and now they could. The whispered plans late at night in hidden rooms that had seemed like childish dreams could be a reality in a short few years.

The year that followed was spent huddling away from others in rooms under blankets due to the cold of the demons outside the walls of the school. He had learnt the repealing charm from the worn looking teacher and taught her as well. Neither wanted to hear the cries of the Augurey or the see the flash of green when the beings got too close. His friendships with his first friends felt hollow and superficial in comparison to the bond with her but the three had remained together unspoken for appearances sake. The discovery of another Black and his godfather as well was a shock, as was the prophesised return of her father. The tearful recount that both their chances for family had been dashed by the potion master and not killing the rat there and then had cemented their outlooks. Only themselves and the other could only be relied on.

During the summer break they had met in the park near his house continuously spending lazy days in the sun. They made lists of places they wanted to see and go to in the future. They talked about different spells and curses they would need to know if they wanted to survive.

The night his name came out of the goblet they had met in their chamber of secrets and had there first disagreement. Both thought that this event was linked to the divination teacher's ramblings last year but neither understood how. He had suffered his first cruciatus curse after the anger of both a Riddle and a Black ran true and she had been banished across the room in response, slammed into the dead serpent's corpse. They then both calmed down and agreed to look for a way to protect themselves and the other.

When he had found out what the first task was it was she that found the spell to grow and control the huge stone chains which would form out of the ground to bind the dragon. Their chamber of secrets was a trove of lost books and knowledge only available to them.

It was there they found the spell which would bind them together with a single mark on their skin, the spell that would call the other to their location if they ever needed them. Like the dark mark her father had burnt into his followers it would always be with them and could be activated with a touch of a wand. A snake coiling around a lightning bolt.

After the ball, which she didn't attend and he went with a badger that for the life of him he couldn't remember the name of, they had their second argument. How to deal with the dark lord.

She didn't want what was hers to be taken away from her. She also didn't want the father she never knew to be killed either. He wanted revenge for his parents but didn't want to hurt the most important person in his life. So, they came to a decision. When they all met face to face they would announce they intended to enter into marriage discussions to bind their houses together. The details of his revenge were murky at this point but they thought being forced into never killing your nemesis would be painful enough for such a prideful being, all because said nemesis was bound to his daughter. And maybe a few cruciatus curses to seal the deal. She potentially got to keep both her father and her beloved. He got his undefined revenge and didn't need to hurt the first person to ever care for him in a meaningful way. They would then travel the world as they had always wanted to, together.

That year passed quickly with them practising in their chamber. He passed the trials of the goblet with the school scorning him, his first friends fading into the background never knowing another had replaced them.

When the filthy rat removed the rag from his mouth and untied him he was annoyed by his presence and itching to flay him alive. Watching the supposed betters of wizard society bow and kiss the robes of that they called inferior had him laughing on the inside. The speech ranting about his muggle father was a bore, as they had already researched her family tree.

With his wand back in his hand he accessed the situation whilst gathering the needed power to summon his other. It was quite a distance and the school's wards were nothing to sneeze at either. A glazed look crossed his eyes as his own power flushed through him.

After shaking off the effects of the torture curse he slowly pulled up his sleeve. His wand pressed the mark that he had hidden on his wrist and his power flew from him to her.

She appeared and looked directly at him with a smile, not yet facing the dark lord touching his cheek gently.

"I don't think we can begin marriage talks just yet Delphi, he doesn't seem too keen on listening"

"Really? I am sure he will be reasonable Harry. You probably have not used the right method of negotiations!"

"Well he opened with a cruciatus so I think you might need to take over. He might listen to his darling daughter?"

The gentle smile and look of love and adoration left her eyes and was replaced with fury. His eyes sharpened with anticipation. With a flourish she turned.

"You dare raise your wand at what is mine father?"

"CRUCIO"

End

This oneshot draws inspiration from a few different stories. I always felt that Rago Dragovian's story "The Selfless Gryffindor and the Slytherin Ubermensch" had a lot of potential as a longer story so I thought this is one direction that story could have gone. The co-dependency of the duo was inspired by "A Deadly Love" by a TheGirlWithFarTooManyIdeas as I thought their relationship was a bit charming. Their lust for freedom and travel also comes from TheGirlWithFarTooManyIdeas's story "Finding a place to call home".

I found the idea that they were so wrapped up in each other and their ideas without any outside influences amusing, like their idea that they could arrange a future marriage during the graveyard scene and then leave for their overseas adventures. Hubris is a Riddle trait as is possessiveness.