Title: Unwanted
Summary: An unwanted girl... an arrogant muggle... a temptation too strong to resist... a love too deep to ignore. Merope/Tom. Contains HBP spoilers.
Pairing: Merope Gaunt/Tom Riddle
Warnings: None that I know of yet
Disclaimer: I do not, of course, own any of these characters, settings, or even the plot, However, the prose in itself is mine, and please ask before you distribute, and remember to credit me.
Genre: Romance/Angst.
Thank you: A Very Very Very humungous thank you to my absolutely fantastic beta Mobilicorpus (Juliet) who I probably would not have the courage to write this without. Also without her help it would probably make no sense due to all my typos and spelling mistakes and grammatical errors! Lol, you rock Ju:D
A/N: Erm…I don't know why but I just felt like having a go at writing something like this. Anyways…I hope you enjoy it. Also I'm wasn't sure what genre this comes under or what rating to use so please help me out with that! And yes I don know that this has probably been done countless times before!
Chapter 1: Wish
She sat in the corner of the room with her arms wrapped tightly around her knees, hot tears trickling down her face, burning against her wounded cheek. She could still hear her father bashing things about in the other room. She could imagine the pots breaking and the chairs being hurled across the room in his anger.
She treasured the few moments when she was alone, because she knew that in a moment her brother would come in and start to torment her. That's all family was to her…people to intimidate and hurt you.
She touched the angry graze on her cheek tentatively. She wasn't even sure why he was angry with her, she hadn't really done anything wrong. But somehow he always managed to find an excuse to remind her what a pathetic piece of garbage she was.
The noise in the other room seemed to have stopped now, so her father must have either gotten bored or fallen asleep- he had been very drunk. Her brother would be coming to sleep soon, and she didn't want him to see her like this. She hastily wiped her eyes on her arm and scrambled into the corner where she slept, on a rotting mattress with nothing but a tattered patchwork quilt to cover her.
She pulled the quilt over her head and wrapped it as tightly as she could around her body- the nights were dreadfully bitter and it wouldn't do to get a cold. It would be another thing for her father to scold her about if she was too ill to do her chores. But it would serve them right, she thought angrily, if she died of illness then they would surely die too. Neither of them knew how to look after themselves properly. They would waste away to nothing without her to prepare their food and keep the house from being infested with cockroaches, doxies or rats. Or maybe they would catch whatever she caught and die.
For a while she lay there, fantasizing about her family dying horrible deaths. She was awoken from her wishful reverie as her brother came staggering through the door, and without a word to her, collapsed onto the bed, either asleep or unconscious. She knew he had been drinking as well.
She lay there in the silence wishing she was someplace else. If she poked her head out of the blanket just a little bit she could look out of the window above her.
The dark night sky was littered with stars and moon hung like a giant pearl, partially covered by a strip of cloud. Occasionally there would be a strong burst of wind that caused a few branches from a tree outside to scrape against the window like a giant claw, casting eerie shadows around her.
She imagined the claw slowly opening the window and reaching in towards her…but slowly, she saw it transform into a hand, a male hand. Strong, with long but elegant fingers reaching out for her. She imagined taking it and letting herself be taken away from the cruelness of her family.
She imagined being pulled by the firm grip into the arms of a handsome man. A handsome man with smooth dark hair and alluring deep blue eyes. He would take her into his embrace and hold her tight, whispering tender comforts into her ear.
This was the man she longed for, the man her heart leapt for. The man she spent every second of the day wishing for- wishing for any flicker of recognition in those gorgeous eyes, wishing he would notice her at all. This man...was Tom Riddle.
But he would never notice her. He never even looked at her, and when he did it would be the kind of look you would give to a slug. I disgust him, she told herself, I'm just the old tramp's daughter in his eyes. The thought stung far more sharply than the graze on her cheek, and she was pulled from her dreams of strong arms and loving eyes, and fell instead into painful, gloomy thought.
I want him to see me for what I really am, she thought. A person, not my father's slave. I don't want him to see the pale, frightened looking girl with straggly black hair and funny looking eyes. I don't want him to see the dark bruises on my face and the dirty rags that hang from my body.
I wish I was more like the beautiful young women he associates himself with. Every time he takes their hand or smiles at them with that charming grin I curse them. I can feel tears of anger and jealousy welling up in my eyes, and I turn away not wanting him to see.
But it's always too late, I can hear them laughing so I pull my scarf across my face and hurry away.
At home my brother teases me. He threatens me with telling father that I am in love with a muggle. I'm scared to think what my father would do if he knew. Maybe he would throw me out on the streets…maybe he would kill me. I don't doubt for a minute that he would be able to do that.
I don't blame Tom for laughing at me…I think I would laugh at me too if I saw such a pathetic sight. I'm not even strong on the inside, otherwise I would have run away long ago. But my cowardice keeps me here, keeps me here spending day after day slaving away for my brute of a father.
He expects too much from me, you see we are the only descendants of Salazar Slytherin. The great, noble Salazar Slytherin…I blame him too, it's stupid but I do. Because of him everything I do must be fit for my heritage, I must marry a pureblood and act like one, and the locket which hangs around my neck will always remind me of it.
So if father were to find out my heart belongs to a muggle, not any muggle but (in his view) a foul, pompous, self-centred muggle, I will surely have dishonoured the family and that would lead to extreme punishment.
Of course my brother noticed me spying on Tom. Hiding behind the bushes in the garden or peering out of the window, waiting until he rides passed. He always goes riding at six o'clock, often accompanied by one of his obnoxious lady friends, laughing and occasionally batting their eyelashes flirtatiously at him. It made my skin crawl.
Sometimes he would ride alone and he would stop to take a rest by the tree stump outside the house. I watch him as he runs his hand through his hair and leans casually against the stump. If I was brave I would do something, somehow go to home and maybe offer him a drink or something to eat. But even if I did, I know he wouldn't accept it.
I am trash to him as I am to my father, and my brother. I mean nothing to no one and I doubt I ever will. I am unwanted.
END OF CHAPTER 1
Wow! That's my first chapter! Well I hope someone out there liked it! If you do please please pleeeeease could you review because it isn't a waste of time at it really would make my day and I'm not going to carry on with this if I feel people don't like it. Well I love all of you who bothered to read this whether you liked it or not… so thanks guys!