YOUNG DAYS OF TOM.
CHAPTER 1- FAMILY HISTORY & BIRTH
The Gaunts were the last known descendents of Salazar Slytherin. The last-known head of the Gaunt family was Marvolo Gaunt. They were pure-bloods and wanted to keep up the tradition. He had two children, Merope and Morfin Gaunt and lived in a valley called Little Hangleton. They owned a large house here and were rather unpopular as they behaved like snobs.
Around the area in which the Gaunts stayed, there lived a well-to-do Muggle family called the Riddles. They owned half of the valley of Little Hangleton. Thomas and Mary Riddle owned it and it would be passed down to their son, Tom Riddle Sr.
Young Merope Gaunt fell for Tom. She hid in the bushes of his house just to get glimpses of her sweetheart.
Marvolo found out about Merope's infatuation for Tom. He didn't like this idea. So he and Morfin confronted Tom when he was alone and hexed him. Soon Tom was covered in deadly hives. This was a violation of a law set by the Ministry of Magic so Marvolo and Morfin were sent to Azkaban for a short period. The Accidental (or in this case deliberate) Magic Reversal Squad was sent to Little Hangleton and Tom was relieved of his hives and his memory too was modified so that he remembered nothing related to Marvolo and hives.
Unfortunately for poor Merope Tom loved another. Merope got so sick and jealous, that when Tom's lover wasn't around, she gave him Amortententia, the most powerful love potion in the world. Tom fell unconditionally in love with Merope.
They ran away and held a marriage that was secret. No one was invited, nor was anyone invited.
Merope kept giving Tom Amortentia even after their marriage. They went to live in a little house in a rather remote area. Within three months of a happily wedded life, Merope started expecting a child. She thought that it was high time she stopped giving Tom the love potion. Either he might have fallen for during this period, or he would at least stay with her until her child was born.
But neither of this happened. As soon as she stopped giving him the potion, he said that he had been tricked into marrying Merope and left the poor girl crying at the doorstep of a small house in an unknown area, far away from any sort of civilization.
Merope went about roaming the land, carrying an unborn child inside her. For 9 months she roamed here and there. At the end of the ninth month, she felt a pain in her womb. The baby was about to be born. Luckily for Merope, she was near a Muggle settlement. She went to the place and knocked on the door of the nearest house as loudly as she could and fainted due to the excruciating pain.
She woke up after two hours. She was still faint and the family that brought her in was standing around her. She took one glimpse of the baby, happily lying in the arms of the mistress's and told them in a weak voice "Name him Tom Marvolo Riddle, after his father and grand-father." These were the last words spoken by Merope Riddle and she was no more.
The host who brought Merope in, took the child to the orphanage of the settlement. They gave Tom the head of the orphanage and told them what had happened. They also said that they would have brought him up, but they were financially low, so had no other choice than to give the young baby Tom to the orphanage.