His name was Kronos. The name of a titan. The father of Zeus himself. His name meant power and unbeatable strength, and that was what he felt as he watched his unknowing cousin from just behind a stone pillar. The foolish girl had no idea he was there, but he had made sure of that. He’d be silent in his disillusioned state to get there, and now that it was lifted, he was one with the shadows that concealed him.

How long had he waited for the chance to call someone out on the relation they were to him? How long had he wondered if that fool of a halfblood would have any heirs for him to make a mockery of? Kronos Gaunt had sought a sort of… clarification. He wanted the supposed ‘Dark Lord’ to know that the real purebloods were still alive and procreating. That his little agenda of lies and deceit would never fool them.

Kronos wanted to make that fool of an uncle understand that he was nothing but mud beneath the Gaunt family’s boots. His whole life he had learned how false the ‘Lord’ was, how he had taken away a pureblooded man simply out of his own selfish rage. No more. He wouldn’t see the fool named Tom continue calling himself a lord. He was much more a lord than that man, and he would prove it.

He would take away the only relation the fool had. He’d kill the sole heir of the ‘lord’s throne.

The dark haired boy took a few steps out of his hiding place, making his way easily into the courtyard where the purple-eyed freak sat. Oh yes, he’d heard what Parkinson and the other dogs called her, and he couldn’t agree more. ”Well, well, well… if it isn’t the little freak,” he said in a cruel tone, staring at her through harsh squinted eyes.

He was a mean man. A cruel teasing monster. And it made him immensely happy. ”Do you know who I am, Miss Skyler Riddle? I am so much more than our uncle could ever be. I am your private nightmare, and I’ll make the torture Parkinson put you through seem like a lover’s caress.” His lips pulled up in a cruel smile. Oh yes, his name was Kronos, and he was about to show his cousin the power of a titan.

Since coming to Hogwarts, Skyler had been met with two distinctive reactions: Fear, and open hostility. To be fair, the teen couldn't really blame anyone for it, given her newly found relation to one Tom Riddle. But even so, it never failed to irk her. Like at that moment, when she was suddenly approached by one of the older Slytherins as she sat in the Clock Tower Courtyard, where she was supposed to meet Draco, and who apparently had taken a liking to Parkinson's nickname for her. While on the inside it made her grit her teeth, and want to knock a few of his out while she was at it, the brunette wouldn't give anyone who referred to her as such the satisfaction of knowing how it really affected her.

"Oh wow. Wise guy's got jokes. Just a little helpful tip though. That one's played out. Might want to try something a little more creative...Gaunt, is it?" Her tone was mocking as she spared him a glance to recognize him as a seventh year Slytherin, except the usual playful lilt to it was gone, replaced with boredom as she rolled her eyes at the older snake and his would-be insult. His cruel tone made it clear that he wasn't there for polite conversation, and though Sky supposed she should have left while that was still a possibility, but his next words had Nyx's hackles raised, the threat to her well being and most likely her life coming across clear. And the brunette was done with being the victim of power hungry snakes and their threats against her.

No one would ever know how prepared she was to fight back should it be necessary, especially not if judging by her relaxed state as she rose slowly to a standing position to face the older Slytherin, her stance a casual one as that patented Riddle smirk of hers slowly unfurled on her lips. How her every muscle was coiled tight, ready to spring at a moments notice. How the cunning and calculating minds of both the snake of a girl and the jaguar inside collided, whirring behind violet eyes and already sparking various plans of attack that circled like hawks in her head.

It was this that made her the deadly snake she really was, because so often was she underestimated because of her joking ways. So often was she disregarded as a real threat, or even as someone who might do any kind of real damage because of her small form. So often was she sneered at and insulted because of her blatant disregard for the ways of such Purebloods as the ones that were housed in Slytherin, and for her tendency to not only show her emotions, but be proud of them, as if they were a strength rather than the weakness they all saw them as. So many of them let themselves be blinded by the weaknesses they assumed they saw in her, and that would ultimately always be their downfall when she struck them down. Because so often these days was she only seen for who she was related to, and not for who she was or what she was capable of.

With one dark brow arched upon her face, a brief look of curiosity stole across her face as he mentioned sharing an uncle. Well. This was certainly new. Hardly very exciting, as her first long, lost relative had already brought enough problems and threats of death. Skyler was hardly going to jump for joy or rejoice at the revelation of another one, especially one who thought it wise to threaten her with harm. "I don't care who you are. My name is Skyler. Either use it, or I will personally see to it that it haunts your every waking moment." The teen advised him, her tone eerily calm, like that which comes before a hell of a storm is unleashed. And it might just be.

Everything that the teen bottled up inside to deal with at a later time was always just barely locked away, always so close to the surface. All her unshed rage for everything that was continuing to pile on top of her was brewing inside, her magic, so unstable these days as she trained herself to control it, reacting to it as it so often did, and she could feel it stirring in response to her anger at being threatened once again. She wanted to lash out, to show him and everyone else just why it was it was not in their best interests to test her, but Sky held her magic at bay, kept herself in control, though she could feel her claws itching to break free along with her magic and slice at his flesh.

A dark grin settled on her lips as she responded with a deadly soft tone, and gone was the joking, playful teen who so often had amusement dancing in her purple eyes. In her place was the dark devil of a witch she had been forced to become in order to protect herself. "Threatening me is never the wise thing to do, Gaunt, and not because of who my uncle is, but because in the second it takes you to so much as raise your wand, I will already have ripped out your throat."

The purple eyes were hard, and glinted dangerously as she returned the favor he bestowed her with. "What Parkinson did? It's child's play compared to the unlimited amount of creative and painful tortures I will perform on you if you ever so much as think of touching me."

It was wonderfully amusing how the girl stood so proudly before him, shrugging off the insult as if he'd said very little while he knew it bothered her. He'd heard about her exploding on a younger student when they noticed the scar that was now covered with some kind of tattoo. He rolled his eyes. "Oh, I know your name, cousin. Trust me, it haunts me already. The little halfblood child of the halfblooded side of my halfblooded uncle. I know exactly who you are."

The smile on his face was dangerous, but the glint in his eyes was downright deadly as Kronos stared at the girl. So few people had known who she was before the pieces started coming together from rumors and speculations. They were all fools. Kronos knew exactly what the Riddle name meant. He knew how she was related to the would-be-lord, and he knew how much she would be loved and hated all the same. No matter to him. The boy had no use for anyone who was less than pure.

"Oh, Riddle, you are funny. Thinking you can scare me in any way. Much like you, I am impossible to intimidate. I think you like that word, don't you? Impossible? Well, I've been known to do just that." He cocked a brow at her, standing taller and cockier than she could ever be. He rolled his eyes again, looking her up and down and shaking his head, one gruff 'ha' coming from his lips before he started to speak again. "I already thought about it, cousin. I thought again. I don't want you getting your impure filth on me."

He thought about what he wanted, what he might achieve were he to get the one-up on the girl before him. Oh, he would get that one-up at some point, though probably not today. He had to make her acquaintance though, didn't he? It was only polite to say hello to one's relatives, even if one did want them dead.

"I suppose you will have to live for now, but there are certain things you should know about your... relatives. Our uncle is an impostor. He is no Lord, and he should never be worshipped or bowed before. He is slime. Nothing more than dirt beneath my feet. As are you. Pure is greater than everything else. Half is only better than mud in that they can make a lesser pure if they get their bloodline sorted out right. Ancient and noble? That's the only way a Lord can exist."

He looked her coldly in the eyes, gaze hard and judgmental. "I am the true Dark Lord. I am a Gaunt. Heir to Slytherin and the brothers who ruled over Death himself. I am the one true man to worship. You can bow down and kiss my feet whenever you get over the shock, freak."

Skyler knew she had a choice to make as the older snake stood so tall and cockily before her, spouting off about this and that. Truthfully, she had no clue why he was even there. To tell her he knew who she was? Pretty much everyone did these days. She was infamous in the castle. Like her uncle. More like because of her uncle, she should say. So it didn't come as a surprise to her that he knew who she was at all.

Perhaps it was to let her know who he was, and what he was after. But then, that was his first big mistake, wasn't it? As she listened to him speak, looking bored with his words, head cocked to the side as her hand mimed a mouth moving in a mocking way, the teen had to think that he would have been better off with a subtler approach. Or with no approach at all. Now he had given away the element of surprise and everything that worked for him if he truly wanted to kill her, her uncle, and take the supposed throne as the new Dark Lord.

After all, the best snake attack was the one you never saw coming. The most cunning and deadliest snakes didn't give a warning, or let you know they were there. It was the element of surprise that worked best for them in every situation. This boy...well he was either a rattler at best, or a lion pretending to be a snake. Sky, she was like a taipan. There was no warning. And with one, swift bite, the girl could paralyze, incapacitate, and leave one in so much pain they would be thankful they received in the end.

Of course, the sound of the rattler served as a warning to proceed with caution. It gave one a choice. To either choose another route, or to continue on the same path and hope you didn't fall victim to it's fangs. It also inspired fear and panic from the clear threat, which usually worked at having people keeping well enough away. There were three things one needed in order to succeed in killing a snake with a deadly bite. You had to be quicker. You had to be smarter. And you had to know which snake you were dealing with.

Sky wouldn't do herself the disservice of automatically assuming herself the smarter of them two, even if his approach made it seem that way. For all she knew, that could be exactly what he wanted. For her to underestimate him. She would only be doing him a favor, and she wasn't about to make that mistake. The brunette was confident she was definitely the quicker one, but she would admit that she had no clue just which snake she was dealing with.

"I suppose you will too." The Slytherin witch replied with a dark grin curling her lips in regards to his comment about her 'having to live for now'. "But we're family aren't we?" The teen asked rhetorically, shifting closer to him so that personal space was nearly nonexistent and running a hand slowly down his body, starting at his chest as she gazed up at him with gleaming violet eyes. "So I suppose it's normal for relatives to bestow gifts onto each other."

Oh her tone was silky soft, and the teen let her claws extend as her hand made it to his stomach, and with one, swift blow, sunk the sharp talons straight into him as far as they could go, curling her fingers for maximum pain. All the while, that grin continued to curl her lips, and the fact they were so close meant that the action was well hidden from the other's in the courtyard. With her free hand, the teen grabbed a fistful of his shirt to pull him down to her level, letting the claw on her pointer finger extend and poke into his jugular as she hissed at him.

"Listen well, cousin, and don't cause a scene, unless you want everyone to know how a filthy halfblood like myself got the best of you. Somehow, I don't think you can handle that kind of embarrassment, and I rather doubt you want me to rip your guts out. Consider it a gift I give you a choice in the matter. " Skyler twisted her hand, and by extension, her claws that were inside him, delighting in the pull she felt of his insides twisting with them.

"You may know my name, and my heritage, but you have no clue who you're dealing with. Because if you did, you would know I bow to no one. Not our uncle. Not you. No one." The teen's eyes glittered with a darkness no one knew she had. Oh, Skyler had had a choice alright. It was between being just talk, or backing that talk up with actions. Princess of Slytherin? Please. Try Queen. And it looked like the hostile takeover was just commencing.

"Now, this is my school. Slytherin is my house. I suggest you learn your place Gaunt, because if you don't, I will ruin you. Until the name Gaunt will stand for nothing more than the abominable disgrace your legacy will be, and then I will paint pictures on the walls with your pure blood. Oh, and by the way. Call me freak again, and I will rip your balls off and shove them so far down your throat you won't have any choice by to choke on them until you die. Got it?" With a final harsh twist of her claws, Sky roughly pulled her hand back, nicking his jugular with the single talon of her other hand while swiping his glistening blood from her claws onto his white shirt before shoving him away from her, claws detracting. She gave him another dark grin, purple eyes cold and calculating as she looked at him haughtily.

"Heed my warning cousin, because next time, it won't be your stomach I rip apart. But if this is the game you want to play, I suppose it is your funeral."

There was no reason for Kronos to make a scene, despite the pain he felt in his abdomen as his stomach was practically torn from his body. He hunched slightly, clenching his teeth, but he did not make a fuss. He didn't yell and he didn't react otherwise. Dark eyes glared cruelly at the girl who had the audacity to hurt him like this.

Her words were clear, especially since she nicked his neck as she made her point. It stung, but at the same time, it made him happy. She was giving away more details than she seemed to know, and that was only going to help Kronos gain the upper hand. Of course, she could think she was winning all she wanted. In fact, he encouraged her to keep thinking herself invincible. It would blind her to the threat that he presented until it was too late.

"Of course, dear cousin. I'll remember the name. It isn't as though Riddle is easy for me to forget." He sneered at her, holding his stomach so that his blood didn't spill too obviously. Of course, his shirt was coated in it anyway, so it wasn't doing much good. He needed to stop by the infirmary... unless he could patch it up himself. He was decent at quite a bit of healing spells.

Determined to try whatever he could to avoid anyone knowing of this little... altercation, Kronos nodded at the younger snake and began to walk off a bit gingerly, trying not to stretch the wounds. "Don't worry, Riddle. It won't be my funeral next time. You just keep telling yourself that you have everyone wrapped around that little clawed finger. I find working with the delusional quite entertaining."

With that, he spat at her and stalked off toward the dungeons. There would be another time for him to lecture her about how wrong she was. Right now, he needed to heal himself and do a bit of research regarding the girl. Most likely there was something somewhere that would give away just what animal might give her those claws. Oh, yes. He knew what she had to be, and he was going to use it against her if it was the last thing he did.