Heirs of the Founders

Heirs of the Founders 3

Merope's Measure for Happiness

Merope couldn't believe what her brother had just blurted out. Why couldn't he keep his crazy mouth shut? Her father would throw her out for sure. Didn't he realize there was a guest in the house?

"She likes looking at that Muggle," Morfin said, looking at her with that "you're-going-to-get-it," look on his face. "Always in the garden when he passes, peering through the hedge at him, isn't she?"

Merope shook her head and hoped Morfin would shut his mouth. Her father was going to get so angry.

"Hanging out of the window waiting for him to ride home, wasn't she?"

"Hanging out of the window to look at a Muggle?" Marvolo Gaunt demanded.

Mr. Gaunt walked to Merope, looking murderous. "Is it true? My daughter--pure-blooded descendant of Salazar Slytherin--hankering after a filthy, dirt-veined Muggle?"

Merope shook her head again, hoping it would convince her father. She was too afraid say a word in her defense.

"But I got him, Father!" Morfin laughed. "I got him as he went by and he didn't look so pretty with hives all over him did he, Merope?"

"You disgusting little Squib, you filthy little blood traitor!" Mr. Gaunt roared and he began to choke Merope.

"No!" Ogden yelled, raising his wand. "Relashio!"

Thrown backward away from Merope, Gaunt tripped on a chair and fell on his back. Morfin shouted and got up out of his chair. He ran at Ogden, brandishing his bloody knife and firing hexes after Ogden. Ogden ran out of the house and Merope screamed.

With Ogden gone, Morfin turned to his Squib sister. "This is all your fault!"

"No! Morfin, please!"

"You don't even speak it anymore! Stupid worthless Squib!"

Morfin cut Merope's cheek with his already blood-stained knife. She screamed and backed away, searching her dress pocket for her wand.

"Stop! Morfin, stop!"

"I'll teach you some manners!"

Just as Merope seized her wand, Morfin disarmed her. She backed to the wall. "Morfin--don't! I'm sorry!"

"Crucio!"

Merope's screams no doubt could be heard by the whole village. Mr. Gaunt got to his feet and aided Morfin in their idea of punishing Merope for her breaking the family rules.

"I should've given you away the day you were born!" Mr. Gaunt exclaimed. "Worthless Squib! Can't even mend a pot! Can't even transfigure a button!"

"I'm sorry!" Merope wailed. "I'm sorry! Please, no more! It hurts!"

"You deserve it!" Morfin cackled and he hit her with the same Hive Hex he used on Tom Riddle. "Now try looking that Muggle!"

"How dare you embarrass me in front of someone from the ministry?" Gaunt roared.

"I didn't mean to! Please, no more!"

"Crucio!"

After fifteen minutes of hexes and curses, Ogden returned with ten to fifteen Ministry members. "Let her go, Mr. Gaunt!"

"You again!?" Gaunt demanded. "Get out of my house!"

Once Morfin and Gaunt's attention was turned on the Ministry, Merope ran to hide in her room. She heard them fight and struggle and Morfin laugh insanely when Ministry members got hurt. Then finally she couldn't hear the struggle anymore. Morfin and Gaunt must have been stunned.

"You take them to the Ministry," said Ogden, "we'll deal with them later. I'll see if the girl is all right."

"Yes sir!" said an unknown voice.

Hearing footsteps coming to her room, Merope scurried to the far corner of her room. The door opened and she pushed herself against the wall.

"Go away!" she cried.

"It's all right," Ogden said softly. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Merope was too scared to say anything. She wouldn't look at Mr. Ogden.

"We're going to take Morin and Mr. Gaunt away," Ogden explained. "They'll go to Azkaban."

Merope wasn't sure to agree or disagree. She was too shocked to speak.

"We should take you to St. Mungos for treatment," Ogden said kindly. "Come on now, everything will be all right."

He held out his hand and Merope stared at for a moment. She slowly reached out her hand and he helped her to her feet. Mr. Ogden led her out of the house with the other ministry members. They talked to her softly, trying to keep her calm.

"It's all right now. Don't worry. We'll take care of everything."

But Merope had a feeling she couldn't rely on the Ministry too much. They could lock her brother and father up but she didn't know when they would return. She would have to take action.

--

Merope had never experience such kindness during her two week stay at St. Mungos. The Healers cleaned her boils and ailments she received from Morfin and Gaunt. They kept her comfortable. They made sure she didn't go hungry. She didn't get yelled at when she dropped something and made a mess.

The Ministry came to see her once they reached the sentence for Morfin and Mr. Gaunt. This news did help her feel relieved but she was still unsettled. It would be six months until her father returned. The ministry might have believed he'd be a changed man but they didn't know him like Merope did. He'd be even more furious. As soon as she was released from the hospital she would have to come up with a plan to escape her sad, tortured life. But how? Where would she go? She couldn't find a job. Who would hire her? She didn't even go to Hogwarts. Her magical powers didn't surface until she was fourteen. She had to take Kwikspell to learn magic and she still felt useless.

"Ah, you're looking much better now, dear," said Healer Fawcett as she brought in her lunch for the day. "We might be able to send you home tomorrow morning."

"Thank you," Merope whispered.

"What do you want to do when you return home?" Healer Fawcett asked conversationally.

Merope paused and then looked up at the Healer. "I--I want to know what happiness feels like."

The Healer looked stunned. After a moment she smiled.

"Well, I hope you do have a happy and quiet life once you return home."

"Thank you," Merope said and the healer left.

All Merope wanted to know was what happiness felt like. She never felt it before in her days at her father's cottage. All she knew was pain and grief and guilt. There wasn't a happy day ever in that awful house. Gaunt had always favored Morfin over Merope. His powers were stronger. He didn't care about scaring Muggles and attacking them. If her father really liked Morfin more, then they could stay at the cottage by themselves. She didn't want to be with them anymore. She had to do something--but what?

--

After being sent home, all Merope could think about was how to leave her house. She watched Tom Riddle the muggle ride by her house with his muggle lover. Merope was really angry with her brother Morfin for hurting the muggle she loved. She didn't care he was a Muggle. She wasn't the witch her father expected to be anyway. What wizard would want her? She was ugly and her skills were below average.

Then while watching the man she loved ride by again, she realized it. Yes, it was risky and desperate but desperate times called for desperate actions. She had to give him a love potion and cause him to fall in love with her. She knew he wouldn't love her on his own accord, but maybe she could get him to really love her. Time was running out and she had to act fast. Though Merope was never really gifted with spoken spells, she could make potions. It was perhaps another thing she inherited from Salazar Slytherin besides the ability to speak to snakes.

The Gaunts had a variety of pet snakes, Ashwinders being among them. She ran off to the pen to search for Ashwinder eggs. They were an important ingredient in love potions. Moaning happily, she picked out the eggs and brought them inside to freeze them. She opened up a potions book and picked up a cauldron. She hoped that she had all the ingredients. They had barely enough money to live on. She found that she lacked a few items and muttering to herself, she looked around the house, wondering what on earth she could sell.

Her family had a few heirlooms and old books on dark magic. She never expected to use them. She ought to get enough galleons to buy what she needed for the potion. If she got lucky, she could continue brewing the potion for Tom.

Merope laid a few shrunken heads, books and things into a basket and set off to the Wizarding Alleys. After getting the money she made from them, she bought more ingredients for her love potion.

The people she spoke to didn't know who she was and she didn't' care. In her mind, she was leaving he wizarding world. She never got to learn what Muggles were really like. This could be her only chance.

Merope cleaned her dirty cottage, made the potion and allowed it to brew. The potion ready, Merope had to find a way to get Tom to drink it. She looked at herself in the mirror. Of course once he drank the potion he'd fall in love with her, but how would she know he wouldn't run away at the sight of her? Feeling that her efforts were useless, Merope began to cry.

"I'm too ugly and he'll recognize me from the start," she said bitterly. "What if he remembers what Morfin did to him?"

She thought of the Imperious Curse but she had never used an Unforgivable Curse on someone before. She'd hate to think she'd have to use it on him. She knew that she had to mean Unforgivable Curses to make them actually work and she didn't want to really force him to anything--she just wanted to know what it was like to feel loved.

She thought hard. He usually came by on his horse. Maybe she could find a way to get him from his horse, or for him to loose the horse. Horses. Horses were afraid of snakes. And Merope was a Parselmouth. She could tell a snake to scare Tom's horse.

Merope ran out to the back of the house where they kept their snakes. She reached in and pulled out a snake.

"I need your help," she said softly. "There is a man that comes by here on a horse every day. I need you to scare the horse but do not bite him. If you do I will nail--I will not be your friend anymore."

The snake hissed its agreement and she placed it in back in the box. The potion was ready. Her house was clean and her snake knew what it had to do. Now all she had to do was wait for Tom.

That evening, Merope heard Tom riding horse to town. Merope bounded to her feet, grabbed her snake and went to the front of the house.

"Here he comes, the dark haired man. Remember, don't bite him."

She set the snake down on the grass and it slithered, hissing away from the house and onto the road. Merope poured a few drops into a glass of water, watching from her window. She hoped that nothing went wrong. This had to work. It was her only way of escaping this sad, tortured life.

The moment Tom's horse saw the long snake slithering on the road, it reared up and neighed. Tom Riddle cried out in shock and pulled on the reigns.

"Whoa boy, steady, steady!"

Merope put her hand to her mouth. Perhaps getting the snake to scare the horse wasn't such a good idea. What if Tom fell and got hurt?

The snake hissed and Tom made his horse back up. He hung on for dear life. The snake slithered away but the horse was still spooked. Then Merope's fear was realized. He was thrown off his horse and landed in the grass. Merope made a silent scream and bustled out of her cottage.

"Come back, you stupid horse!" Tom called after his galloping horse.

"Sir!" Merope exclaimed, coming down to him. "Are you hurt?"

Tom looked a bit revolted of her appearance but didn't shout at her to leave him alone. "I'm fine," he grumbled.

"It is such a hot day," Merope said, "please, drink this." She handed him the love potion spiked water. Please, please drink it!

"Well, thank you," Tom muttered and he took the glass from her. He took a swig and brought it down. Merope bit her lip. Had she done something wrong?

Tom cocked his head, looking at Merope and then he finished drinking the water. Once finished, he stared at her for a long moment.

"Is there something wrong, sir?" Merope asked.

"No," he said breathlessly. "I--I--what is your name?"

"Merope," she answered trying to sound charming. She wished she had a more beautiful name. Why did her parents call her Merope?

"Merope," Tom Riddle moaned, reaching his hand to her face. "That's such a pretty name. Merope."

For perhaps the very first time in her life, Merope Gaunt smiled. It was a real happy smile. So this must be what happiness feels like.

He sat there for a while, looking Merope over. He smiled. "Y-you're beautiful."

"Thank you, sir," she said, "here, let me help you inside." She put her arm around him and helped him to his feet.. She saw the snake she sent off to scare the horse watching next to a tree. Merope smiled again.

"Thank you, my friend," she whispered in Parseltongue.

"What?" Tom Riddle asked.

"Oh, nothing," Merope said quickly. "Come, sir, you look tired."

"Do I really? I've never felt more alive." He looked admiringly down at her. "I--I think I'm in love with you."

"Are you, sir?" Merope asked, a tear forming in her eye. "Are you really?"

"Yes--yes I'm sure of it," Tom said firmly. "You're so beautiful. I've never felt like this before in my life."

Then as they stepped inside the cottage, Tom pulled Merope in her arms and kissed her. Merope's heart filled with joy. She knew it was just the potion that made him feel this way but it was enough to make her happy. If this was the result of a love potion, she could only imagine what real love must be like.

--

Two days later, Tom and Merope eloped. She never felt so happy in her life. They lied in a cabin away from the world. It was just them. There was no one to come and bother them. Merope continued to give him love potion in his meals and Tom just became more and more loving. He told her nearly fifteen times a day that he loved her and thought she was beautiful. He told her she was kind and sweet and a good cook, a good wife and he couldn't imagine having anyone better.

Merope could not believe how far she got. She was married to the muggle boy she secretly adored. Making love with him was like a dream. She never expected it could feel so good. Then she got pregnant and he was overjoyed when he told her the news.

"A baby?" Tom gasped. "Merope, really?"

"Yes," Merope answered, "a baby."

"That's wonderful!" Tom exclaimed and he embraced her. "Then this means--I'm going to be a father! I can't wait until it's born. What is it, a boy or a girl?"

"I--I don't know yet," Merope said.

"When did you find out?" he asked excitedly, putting his hand on her belly.

"Yesterday," she said. "I assume I'm a month along."

"Oh--dear!" he frowned. "I can't wait until it's born. I want to see it!"

"You will, Tom," Merope smiled. "Soon."

She placed her hands over his and he kissed her lips softly.

From the day Merope told Tom about being pregnant, he doted on her like any loving husband would. He made sure she was comfortable and brought her breakfast in bed. He listened to her stomach, talked to the baby inside and waiting to feel it move. He already picked out a name for it. He believed it was a boy and kept saying, "hello Tom Jr." to her stomach. He said if it was going to be a boy he wanted it to be named after him.

Being pregnant made it difficult to keep giving Tom the Love Potion. Now that she was married to Tom and was expecting his child, she thought it would be time to tell him who she really was. It would be hard and she didn't know how he would act to the news but she couldn't keep slipping love potion into his dinner every day. She stopped giving him the love potion and waited for it to wear off. It was time to tell him the truth.

"Tom," she began nervously, "there is something I need to tell you."

"What is it, dear?" he asked. "Is it the baby? Is it all right?"

"No, the baby is fine," Merope insisted. "This is about me. Tom--I'm not what you think I am."

"What do you mean?" he asked firmly. The love potion started to lose its effect. "What are you?"

"I've always loved you, Tom," Merope said shakily, "ever since I first saw you ride by our house. My brother and father were cruel to me. They don't like--like people like you."

"I don't understand."

"When my brother--Morfin did what he did to you, I was so angry with him," Merope muttered.

"What did he do to me?" Tom asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Tom, I--I can do magic."

"Magic?" he raised an eyebrow. "Magic?"

"I'm not that good at, really," Merope said quickly. "I'm not like other witches."

"Witches?" Tom got to his feet. "So you're a witch then?"

"Yes, in a way," Merope said, "I'm what my people call a Squib. My father and brother are wizards. My cousins and grandparents--they were good at magic but I lacked in what they could do. My only skill was in potion making."

"Potion making?" Tom demanded. "Potion making? You make potions?"

"Yes--and that's how we met. That snake that scared your horse--it belonged to me. I told it to--,"

"You can speak to snakes too? I suppose you nail them on doors!"

"No, that was my brother Morfin!" Merope said desperately. "He was the strange one. He liked hurting people! I just wanted to catch you off guard, so I can give you a drink of water. It--it had a love potion in it."

"So--you tried to kill me just so you can play with my mind. Trick me into falling in love with you!"

"No, I didn't want you to get hurt!" Merope cried. "I really do love you, Tom! I didn't want to have to give you a love potion but I really had no choice."

"Oh?"

"Yes. You see, my father and brother went to prison. My father should be back by now and I had to leave. My father and brother tried to kill me. I had to escape and so I did what I did."

"Then, I suppose I had better escape too," Tom muttered.

"What?"

"You don't expect me to stay with you, do you?" Tom demanded. "It was your brother that attacked me. Had my family owned the land where your damn run down cottage was we would've brought it down ages ago!"

"Please, Tom," Merope begged, "I'm so sorry! But I really do love you. I've been happier with you than I ever have. I'm having your baby and--,"

"Oh, I expect this baby will be magical too, won't it?" Tom snarled.

"It--it is possible," Merope mumbled. "We'll find out for sure when it is born."

"No, you will," Tom sneered. "I will not have a witch for a wife and a--a freak for a child!"

"Please don't say that!" Merope cried, grabbing his arm. "If it is magical, we won't teach it magic. I don't even want to do magic any more! I want to live as a non magical person! Please!"

"I am leaving you," Tom grabbed her arms and pushed her away from him. Merope sank against the wall. "I don't ever want to see you again."

"Please! Tom!"

Tom Riddle didn't say anything more. He turned his back on his wife and walked out of their home. He could still hear Merope call for him when he reached the end of the street.

--

Merope grew weak when Tom Riddle left her. The baby would be coming soon. Merope sold Slytherins' locket for a potion to keep her strength up. She knew she was going to die but she had to survive long enough to give birth to her child. It was all she had left of Tom Riddle now.

Then on a cold New Years Eve day, she felt the pains of labor. The baby was coming and she had to find shelter. She wasn't going to give birth to her baby in the cold. She could've gone to St. Mungos but she turned her back completely on the magic world. She was ashamed of what she was. It was the very reason Tom left her.

Wincing and grunting with pain, Merope staggered up the steps of a Muggle orphanage. She hated that her baby was going to be raised by strangers, by Muggles she didn't know. She had no real choice. She knocked on the door.

"Hello? Anyone here? Please, open up!"

After banging on the door for a while, a skinny young woman with sharp features opened the door. Merope nearly collapsed into the woman's arms. "Help me--I'm about to have a baby."

Merope was pulled into the orphanage and to a small delivery room. A midwife was summoned and they prepared Merope for the birth. The pain was excruciating but she knew it wouldn't be long now. Al she hoped was that her baby, which she was nearly certain now that would be a boy, would have a much happier life than she did.

"I hope he looks like his papa," Merope said weakly.

"Yes," said the woman wiping her forehead. "That--that would be nice, wouldn't it?"

She really didn't know what to say. Merope wasn't a really pretty girl.

"Yes...he was so handsome..."

The pain increased. The baby was coming. Merope gathered every ounce she had. She had to deliver this baby. She had to live it through. She had to see her son's face. She had to tell the others what to call him.

About an hour later, the baby was born and indeed it was a son. Its cries were minimal. Merope asked to see it and once it was placed in her arms, the baby stopped crying.

"He's to be named after his papa, Tom and from my father, Marvolo."

"Marvolo?" the girl next to her asked. What kind of name was that?

"His surname...Riddle. Yes...Tom...Marvolo Riddle."

She kissed her son on the head and died right then. The baby started crying again.

"Oh, don't cry, Tom," said the midwife, taking the boy from his dead mother. "We'll take care of you until you find a good home."

--

Nearly two years later, Morfin Gaunt was released from Azkaban. John Potter read the news from the Daily Prophet outside with his wife and baby girl, Raye.

"Well, I be," John muttered, "has it been three years already?"

"What are you talking about?" his wife asked, trying to sound interested while watching their daughter chase the billywigs. "Raye, be careful with those! Don't get stung!"

"Morfin Gaunt was released yesterday," John explained.

"Him?" his wife turned to him, looking shocked. "Didn't have a record of attacking Muggles?"

"That's the one," John nodded. "I was there when we took him, and his father. Marvolo wouldn't let Bob Ogden take him. Then Morfin and Marvolo were yelling about something in Parseltongue. Bob didn't know what he was talking about. Marvolo lost his temper and just started choking his daughter."

"Why?" she said, aghast.

"Marvolo was saying she was always looking at the Muggle Morfin attacked," he replied. "That may explain why Morfin attacked him."

"Oh, bless."

"She was really scared but she let us take her to St. Mungos," John recalled. "Poor thing--I've never seen someone so frightened in my life."

"Well, she'd have reason to, if her brother and father tried killing her!" Mrs. Potter frowned. "Where is she now, I wonder?"

"Merope Gaunt?" John asked, picking up his tea. "Couldn't tell you. Gaunt never spoke about her again. I assume she ran away with that Muggle."

"Well, good for her," Mrs. Potter smiled, "I wouldn't want to live in that place.. I hope she's happy with her own family. If she had a child with the man, I imagine it must be about the same age as Raye?"

Mr. Potter looked at his dark haired daughter chasing the electric blue insects. "Yes, perhaps. Maybe they'll be in Hogwarts together."

"Bugs! Funny bugs!" Raye cried and she grabbed one of them.

"Raye!" Mrs. Potter shouted, getting to her feet. "Let that thing go before it stings you!"

"Relax, dear," Mr. Potter muttered, "it's just a billywig. I used to sting myself with those things all the time. Make you levitate and feel giddy."

"Well, no wonder where she gets it!" Mrs. Potter exclaimed.

"Ouch!" Raye cried and the bug stung her arm, followed by a couple more. Mrs. Potter shrieked and ran after her daughter.. "Raye!"

Raye started laughing. "I feel funny!"

The two year old girl started floating and Mrs. Potter jumped to grab her leg to keep her from floating away. "Come here, young lady!"

Mrs. Potter pulled her daughter down and held her by her waist as if she were a basketball. Raye laughed and kicked her legs.

"Mummy, I flew!"

"Don't your start flying until we get you a broom!" Mrs. Potter muttered and brought her into the house.

Mr. Potter took another swig of tea, gazing at his paper. "I wonder where Merope Gaunt is and if she does have a child. It would be the latest heir to Salazar Slytherin."

TO BE CONTINUED