Yew
Words: 384
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. This was written for the HPFC Life Challenge by mustardgirl1128.
Warnings: It's all Riddly and EVOL
X.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.X
Chapter 1: Birth
"We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle, our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming force on the other." General George Catlett Marshall
It was not a happy occasion, the birth of this child. His mother was thin for a birthing woman, her cheeks gaunt and her belly fat. The name she gave the nuns was Merope Gaunt-Riddle. She asked that her son be named Tom Marvolo for his father and grandfather respectively. Not Thomas, but Tom.
But the nuns were hardly concerned with the boy at all, more with the mother. They tried feeding her while she was in labor, but she wouldn't eat. When offered water, she refused, stating that she would die when her son was born regardless of anything they gave her. "The power of a broken heart," the ugly woman said, "is far more potent than any magicks I have ever seen." She was hallucinating obviously, but the nuns halted their attempts. They hadn't the heart to go against her.
The labor was short, but the birthing was bloody. Tom Marvolo Riddle was born ten minutes to midnight on New Year's Eve – that is to say, December 31st – in 1925. His mother died ten minutes later, at the stroke of twelve as everyone celebrated the New Year.
No one was celebrating that a baby boy had just been born (though a few nuns were hoping he got his looks from his father, as the mother was so disfigured; then they amended the wish, because they had to keep in mind what sort of man a woman like that could actually net). He was placed in the nursery, cleaned and wrapped in a slightly threadbare blanket.
X.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.X
A/n: Just having fun. Expect the second part sometimes soon, maybe today. I intend to finish this by Friday (July 25), if possible.