He almost couldn't believe how quickly things had spiraled out of his control.
And that wasn't even referring to the... Abomination that had repelled his attack.
If he'd known what to prepare for, he would've been able to vanquish that 'little' vermin- Alas, the methods, the sheer unpredictable course of events had... Well.
Led to him practically limping back to his hideout.
Leave it to Albus bloody Dumbledore to somehow luck onto a last-minute defender from Orion's Unspeakables.
Missing his wand no less. A wand he was having trouble replacing, both mentally given his... Fondness for his first wand, and physically given Diagon Alley was currently swarming with Aurors from the ministry, the Minister somehow having the bloody sense of mind to actually expect him to go there searching for another.
Knockturn Alley, as a result, had been utterly cleansed of its... Well, everything. From the dark artifact that lined near every shop to the shady traveling salesman- All of them, scoured and sent running. The side effect of said result evidently making the current Minister more popular than ever-
Popular enough that he might actuallykeep his seat without Orion, the fucking piece of shit, Black's help.
That alone would've been salvageable enough, in a way. A few words in the right place and he could've turned said Minister against Black, or vice versa- that particular pureblood family certainly liked their assurances.
Alas, it hadn't stopped there for every part of Britain now seemed to somehow sprout Aurors out of the woodworks, all of them keeping a tight eye across the country, searching for him.
Aurors currently enlisted, those retired, hell even those that hadn't made the cut for the bloody job itself- There were literally thousands of wizards and witches out, looking for any sign of his head.
The attack on Godric's Hollow had effectively crippled his movement's ability to go about its tasks- Which would've been a problem alone, if not for the fact everyone he'd spent years convincing to follow him had abandoned him the moment that fight had gone public.
Truthfully, he'd only set about such a drastic course of action- That been setting off what amounted to the biggest terrorist attack in the past century, solely on the fact that had he gotten Hogwarts, and all of its students, under his wand, no one would've been able to do a damn thing to him.
Now? Without them? And having given his followers the barest hint of an idea he wasn't as powerful as he'd laid out?
Losing to a 'child,' with six dragons under his control, was bound to certainly do that- Even if the circumstances were entirely out of his control. The form of magic used so unexpected, so... Surreal, it had literally caused hundreds of papers to come spiraling out- The aforementioned child's name, for whatever reason never gracing the papers themselves- Yet the results of them were certainly been felt, even now.
Dragon Guilds, retired and frankly older than Dumbledore wizards and witches, researches and scholars- Nearly every facet of Magical Britain that surrounded dragons and their uses, that surrounded new realms of learning, that surrounded magical lore and research- All of them had jumped out of their holes, intent on being part of the foundations of what was no doubt going to change the future of Runic magic.
Of what has effectively been termed seals, magical runes with what is considered to be a limitless variety of effects, all written using ones and zeroes- Effectively cutting the previous forms obscenely difficult to learn foundations, what most knew as Ancient Runes, what with the literal thousands of differing letters, to naught.
In essence, what had once been a form of magic that was simply either too difficult to create or to draining to maintain... Was now seen as the second coming of magical wands.
And it. Pissed. Him. Off.
It rankled him knowing that a 'child,' even if the majority, including himself, believed it was one of Black's Unspeakables having simply transformed themselves and used the opportunity he'd provided to help push Black's grant system further out into the public- At least without pissing off the powerful, the well-learned and respected. Showcasing that kind of magic out to the world, would've under any other circumstances had it either put under lock and key or simply caused a riot- Yet the crisis he'd caused had made it out to be closer to a literal lifesaver.
Every single one of them, every single witch or wizard he would've literally done anything to have under his command, all of them were practically in the palm of that fucking Black's hand.
It was certainly in line with what he knew of Orion Black to have seen him coming. To use the crisis to not only bolster his reputation but further extend his reach to those even the Minister himself couldn't convince to come out for a chat.
Unfortunately, any more information he could've gotten out of it had been practically stamped out given his own movements, his own goals personal crisis.
The fact there was a manhunt out for him notwithstanding.
Which was why he'd been forced to try and learn more, the old-fashioned way.
A disgruntled informant, one who'd been part of the Unspeakable grant system until weeks ago.
He would've enjoyed the irony for what it was, that one of Black's own former employees we're going to be used against- If not for the fact that he himself, one who was supposed to be on the cusp of becoming a Dark Lord, had been forced to meet the man in question.
It physically hurt his ripped soul to admit that he'd fallen to such mundane matters-
He stopped on his feet, his peripheral having caught the sign of the latest daily prophet, currently stuck to the window of the bar he'd intended to go into.
On the front page of the paper... The identity of the 'child' he'd had the misfortune of coming across was staring back at him, a grin on his face as he waved towards the cameras. The words 'Hero' and 'Gryffindor' were ignored in favor of the child's name.
In the end, it hadn't been one of that fucker's Unspeakables...
No... It was his goddamn son!
Sirius Black.
As if the goddamn pureblood pieces of shit needed any more of a reason to dismiss his blood!
The anger he felt at that moment, was incomparable to anything he'd ever experienced.
For the first time in decades, Tom Riddle's accidental magic reared its ugly head and the heart of Hogsmeade promptly found itself engulfed in an explosion so mighty even Gellert bloody Grindelwald would've called it going too far.
Amidst the cause of his own magic, amidst the sudden carnage he'd set about, even as he cursed his luck on having lost the closest avenue he had to Orion Black's secret forces- Even as he suddenly found himself on the run again, the burning wreckage behind, beside and practically in front of him, ignored...
Tom Riddle vowed to rip the fucking Black family to pieces, even if it was the last damned thing he'd do!