Mercy's Story

Mercy's story pt 3

Mercy had received an owl this morning that had her smiling and frowning by turns, completely unsure of how she felt. She had read the acceptance letters three times and the letter from the man she called Uncle Albus four times. Mercy thought about the letter from Professor Dumbledore again.

Dear Mercy,

Enclosed in my letter you will find your acceptance to the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will also find a letter of acceptance from the North American School of Wizardry. You may attend either school. It is your choice, and you are smart enough to understand why I am offering you this choice. I leave the final decision up to you however. Whichever you choose, I am sure you will be a credit to that school and to the parents who raised you. Note also, that the letters do not mention your last name. I have another offer for you. If you wish, you can attend either school as Mercy Redstone. I trust you understand the implications of this as well. As always, you may owl me to discuss any of this.

Whichever choice you make Mercy, I want you to know that you have been like a daughter to me these last eleven years, and that I would be proud to call you my child.

Uncle Albus

Mercy Marie Riddle knew exactly what would happen if she attended a wizard school as herself. Being the only child of Tom Riddle doesn't sound that bad, but the offspring of Lord Voldemort did. Mercy was both, and since Hermoine Granger-Weasley had published "Dark Wizards of the Twentieth Century" a few years back, everyone knew that Tom Riddle and Lord Voldemort was the same person. Hermoine also knew about Mercy, as she had found the records of the trial of Arial Redstone during her research. Albus had talked Hermoine into leaving the fact that Tom had a child out of her books, and Mercy was very grateful.

She sighed as she went back to staring at the two acceptance letters. She frowned at the thought of using her mother's name. Too many places in the wizard world had honesty spells around them for her to be comfortable with lying. She smiled to herself ironically. The truth was, Mercy couldn't lie at all. Every time she tried, she was caught. Something in her face or eyes always gave her away, even to children. That made the whole idea of trying to use a name she didn't think of as hers impossible.

The North American School of Wizardry was an excellent school with a good reputation. Its only real problem as far as Mercy knew was that it was in America and full of Americans. Mercy flushed a deep red at the mildly biased thought, but she had met a few Muggle tourists in London, and they had been loud, pushy and asked the most appallingly nosy questions. On the other hand, the Voldemort War had been confined to the European wizards, and there might not be as much problem with prejudices and hatred over there. Mercy rubbed her eyes as she felt a headache coming on. She had a week to decide, and she decided to talk to Uncle Albus before she made any decisions.

Dear Uncle Albus,

I have been thinking about my options all morning and I can't really decide what to do. I have already ruled out using my Mother's name. First, as you know I can't lie, and I don't really think of that as my name. To try to hide behind it for seven years would be impossible for that reason alone, but I have another thought as well. How many Redstones are there? How many of those know what happen to Ariel Redstone? Of those, how many blame me for what happened to her, or would treat me worse for using their name? No, I don't think that path is for me.

The bigger problem to me is the choice of schools. I have to weigh the lack of American involvement in the War against the brashness and generally rude behaviors they exhibit. Do you know anything that might sway that decision one way or the other?

Love,

Mercy

Albus Dumbledore considered the letter from Mercy very carefully before replying. His heart told him to send her to the Americas. She would be safer there. His biggest problem with that was that he had grown very fond of her, and he wanted her somewhere he could protect her and help her along. That would not be possible if she was in the North American School of Wizardry. On the other hand, Mercy had already decided against using her mother's name for reasons that Albus thought were quite reasonable.

Dear Mercy,

I fully understand your concerns about using your mother's name, although I think you might be overstating the dangers a bit. That only leaves your choice of schools to be considered, and with that decision, I will try to be helpful. Both schools have roughly equal means of teaching you what you need to know, although Hogwarts does have the older reputation, and greater prestige. On the other hand, the N.A.S.W. enjoys a greater number of styles to train in. North American Shamanism, Wizardry, and something known as Holistic magic, which I don't know that much about. They also have classes in several other types of magic. You could get a broader education in America, even if you have to put up with the Americans to do it.

On the other hand, I might have a compelling reason for you to attend Hogwarts. You must know that nothing I am about to tell you is to be told to anybody else. There is another war coming, and you can find the Prophecy that covers it in 'Soulbonds through History' and 'Prophecies in history'. It will be going on while you are at school, and centered on Hogwarts. If you were to attend Hogwarts, you might be able to get started on your desire to fix all the things your father did. I understand your need to make up for what he did as best you can, but I would feel better if you were somewhere I could keep an eye on you.

In the end, Mercy, the entire thing is up to you. Whatever you want to do, I will support you.

Love,

Uncle Albus.

Dear Uncle Albus,

I have decided to attend Hogwarts. Mostly because I think I can help with the prophecy, although I am not sure how yet.

Possibly, I could train as a Mediwitch for them. I doubt they will need me for that because of the healer line, but it is one possibility. Will you be coming to help me get my books?

Love,

Mercy

Dear Mercy,

I regret to inform you that due to circumstances out of my control, I will not be able to make the shopping trip this year. I hope you are not too disappointed, and I will try to make it up to you later. Don't forget to get those things we talked about while you're in Diagon Alley.

Love,

Uncle Albus

Dear diary,

I couldn't do it last night. I tried but the thought of having Professor McGonagall announce my name in front of the entire school chilled my blood, so I made sure I missed the whole thing. That was not easy, but with Uncle Albus busy at the Ceremony, I managed it. Uncle Albus has placed me in Slytherin. I met the other first years this morning, and I am not impressed. They can be even ruder than the Americans, just in other ways. Somebody has already taken my best quill, and during potions, somebody added powered Bat Fur to my potion causing it to solidify and causing me to get a zero for the day. I also had to spend nearly an hour getting my cauldron clean again. I am not sure this is going to work here.

Mercy

Dear Diary,

I am in Slytherin House. Uncle Dumbledore put me here after I missed the Sorting Ceremony. He says that I should be safer here because many of these people are related to Death-Eaters. We'll just have to wait and see. Inside the House, small cliques are forming, mostly based on families and reputations. I am beginning to have some problems. The house knows my name now, and while some of them completely ignore me, some of the other people are being verbally abusive. I can deal with that. I do feel sorry for Sonya and those other three though. They aren't from families that allow them to get in a clique and they were not expecting the time they're having. I hope they can get away from that.

Dear Diary,

It continues to get worse. It's been a week since the sorting ceremony, and some of the other Slytherins continue to torment me. I have been tripped, pinched, threatened and otherwise harassed since that first day. The Goyles and Crabbe are the worst, but since I cannot join any of the little cliques that form in this house for protection, I am fair game for everybody. As far as I can tell, only a few students don't join in tormenting me. I am so thankful for those students.

Mercy.

Dear Diary,

I can't stand this place, but how can I tell Uncle Albus that I hate his school? He would be so disappointed. However, I have to do something, a group of Slytherins broke into my things while I was out today and destroyed everything in there. I will have to make without the things I couldn't repair. I will have to stay in my room as much as possible to protect my things. Not that I could do anything, as I am still holding to my oath of non-violence, despite everything going on.

Mercy.

Diary.

I hate this place, the people here and everything to do with Hogwarts. I wish I'd never heard of Hogwarts or the Riddles. I can't take much more. That Goyle has started touching me when nobody can see. He says he isn't and I don't know how to prove he is. I know he is though, he's touched my breasts 5 times today, telling me that I should be glad that anyone is willing to come within arm's length of a freak like me. What am I going to do?

Diary,

To hell with it. I'm going to ask Uncle Albus to send me away. I can't hide from Goyle anymore, and he's really beginning to scare me. Today he spent ten minutes holding me down in a closet while he took my knickers. He says he's going to show them to everyone and tell them that I took them off and asked him to have sex with me. On top of that, two of the girls came in my room and dumped a big tub of cold water over me every time I fell asleep. I am beginning to wonder how dying would feel, and if anything could be worse than the Hell I'm in now.

Mercy.

Dear Diary,

The most scarywonderfulbadgood thing happened today. I was down walking by the lake, and Crabbe and Dunsutter attacked me again. Before they could do anything, James Evans and Tiffany Potter arrived. I have to say, that I am ashamed of how glad I was at first that James hurt him. (Diary, what Tiffany did to Dunsutter shouldn't happen to anyone.) Anyway, to make a long story short, James and all his friends treat me like a person and even offered to back me up against the whole school. The Hat finally sorted me, and it put me in Ravenclaw. Tomorrow morning I have to go to my new house. I hope it is better than Slytherin because I don't want James hurting anybody else like he hurt Crabbe, not on my account anyway. James has the most amazing set of links. One of course is the Soulbond with Tiffany, but his twinbond with his twin is nearly as good. I know he's Soulbonded, but after he rescued me like that, and accepted me for who I am without a qualm, I think I have a crush on him. He's in my thoughts all the time, and I want to spend more time with him.

Mercy

Dear Diary,

It's been a month since I needed to write in you. Since you were there for me when I needed you, I thought I would tell you why I have left you alone so long. After what James did, nobody is trying to do more than insult me, and even then, they look around for James first. I love Ravenclaw. Everybody here is so smart, and they only care that I am too. We have puzzle games and word games in the common room at night, and sometimes we'll ever use a Muggle game called Scrabble, which is simply the greatest game. (Can you tell I won that game?) I have to go Diary, we're debating the conservation of mass law, or where does the weight go when a 150 pound woman becomes a ten pound cat? Of course, my side is going to win. Bye for now.

Thanks Diary.

Mercy