Prologue:
In a tiny insignificant English town, where not many people harbored, lived an aristocratic family of three. A couple with their handsome, arrogant son. They were known to look down on people for lack of appearance and wealth; so much so, that is was utter shock when their son, who had abruptly disappeared one day and reappeared a few months later just as sudden. Months prior, the couple had suffered through a great scandal, when they heard that their son had been seeing the poor girl that lived deeper within the town, her name, Merope Gaunt.
Wanting to put a stop to the rumors they lied, denying anything that they had seen heard or known. But nothing stopped the rumors. On the day their son disappeared he was last seen heading into town for an evening walk, that would be that last thing that they heard from their son for almost a year.
During that time that of his disappearance they mourned him as if he were dead. The woman felt her face heat up every time she imagined her son lying on the ground lifeless somewhere in England. When he did show up they gladly took him in as if nothing had happened.
Little did they know that their son had left Merope without a second glance back, very pregnant with their unborn son. A son who would grow up alone in an orphanage, feeling nothing but bitterness and anger towards the parents that abandoned him. Not only to those who abandoned him but everyone else too. Striving to get only power and dominance in the world. Or will he?
This is where the story truly begins:
December 21, 1960 London, England
On the small steps of a dingy inn in the small town of Little Hangleton sat a crying woman. To most people, they knew of the scandal, what everyone thought, and intentionally ignored the sobbing woman on the steps. The people already knowing what had happened, hadn't bothered to stop to ask why she sat there alone on the steps sobbing. Suddenly right behind her, just past the shrubbery, there was a bright flash behind the tall greenery that surrounded the Inn's settings.
A woman with a long, thick braid going over her slender shoulders, the only thing concealing her was her long, thick, black cloak, it dragged slightly behind her as she walked slowly. The hood pulled over her face so the only thing that could be seen was the tip her nose and lips. She quietly walked down the row of long, branched out shrubs, only sound of her shoes echoing on the cobble stoned path could be heard.
"Merope Gaunt." She murmured softly, to the sobbing woman.
A sobbing Merope looked up from where she sat on the stone steps, the cloaked woman beckoned her to stand, offering her hand to her. She extended an arm towards the extremely pregnant woman, helping her stand. Once on her feet the raven-haired woman looked towards the cloaked woman, her eyes blinking away the tears that had been left over.
"I need you to follow me, there's only enough time to give you a brief explanation." The woman explained as she leads the raven-haired woman away slowly.
"Where are you leading me to?" She asked, worriedly, slowly following the tiny woman.
The woman lead her through a narrow passage that led to the eerier edge the small township, wordlessly. They walked quietly, the only that they could hear was the sound of the cool breeze as it blew through the trees surrounding the now narrowing road.
When they reached the edge of a narrow, uneven path, the once thinning lively trees slowly began turning into dried out lifeless trees. The cloaked woman quietly made her way towards the trees to continue the path. However, before the woman could take another step Merope, the raven-haired woman stopped her from taking another step. The raven haired woman began to hiss lowly. Suddenly a long, thick serpent slithered towards the pregnant woman, stopping before her feet.
"Leave." The woman ordered in a hiss.
"I was ordered to guard this path by the nasty man living at the shack near the end of the path." It hissed back.
"This is my home, I said leave or you shall suffer a fate worse than death, mark my words." She hissed back at it with narrowed eyes.
The cloaked figure suddenly pulled out a wand, blasting it to pieces, watching as the pieces turned to ash. "Let's go, time is of the essence." She urged the woman, impatiently.
Merope looked at the woman in question, her mouth slightly dropping in shock as she saw the woman blast the serpent to pieces. She smiled at the woman in question before nodding in response and continuing their way down the uneven path. After a few minutes of walking the dead-looking trees began to clear out until they reached a clearing.
Both woman stood before a collapsing cabin-like house. It was run down, the roof looked dilapidated, and the windows were almost turned black with dust and soot. Merope turned towards the woman and looked at her expectantly.
"Merope, I am going to give you a potion, I need you to drink it. It is a simple potion that'll give you strength for your child birth. This is the only way you'll survive. I realize that you are heartbroken over what that squib has done to you, but if you perish, you doom not only your son but the entire wizarding world itself." She explained, quickly as she pulled out the phial filled with clear dark blue liquid.
"I was ordered by someone to come back here and give you this." She said, pulling out the other glass phial and showing her the dark magenta liquid. "But I made something else and will be giving you that." She explained.
"Wha-what was the other thing that you were supposed to give me? Why should I even take your word for it and drink said potion?" Merope asked, in a warily yet guarded tone.
"This is a potion meant to kill your son before he was born, changing everything that happens in the future." The woman explained, showing her the magenta liquid in the other phial.
"How do you know all of this? How do I know you aren't just trying to kill me and my unborn baby boy?" Merope asked, scared, clutching at her protruding stomach as her son began to kick her erratically.
"I can assure you I am not lying. I can show you, if only you'll allow me." The woman said, extending only of her hands towards the wary woman, wiggling her fingers in the air slowly.
"I want a name first. Then you show me what you are talking about." Merope demanded, putting her hand protectively in front of her protruding stomach.
"Name? My name is Lucia Marie Riel." The woman answer said, sighing as Merope grabbed the correct phial and downed the potion in one gulp.
The potion itself not only did gave her enough strength to let her live after she bore childbirth but it also fixed her wondering eyes, and features unsymmetrical features. It gave her raven hair a different shine as opposed to the dull, lankiness it previously held. Her once overly pallid skin now held a faint rosy under glow to it.
"Show me what you meant, now." Merope ordered, just as Lucy snatched her hand into her own.
Images flashed in Merope's mind, some horrid, others mildly horrid but horrid just the same. She flinched back in surprise, her hand automatically wrapping protectively around her protruding torso. Her stomach began to churn as she felt bile begin to rise in her throat, burning it as it made its way up. A faint thud was heard as she fell on her knees and began heaving violently. It was minutes before her body could stop.
"Do you feel any better?" The woman asked her as she sat back breathing heavily, heaving every now and then.
"I do. My strength has recovered. Lucia, is it?" Merope asked, after
she recovered.
Lucy nodded, smiling waiting for the question she was waiting for, slowly helping the woman to her feet.
"It's Lucy. Call me Lucy." The woman said, smiling halfheartedly.
"Lucy, it is then. Why is it you wish to help my child and me?" Merope asked, holding her midsection protectively.
"Because your child's future has been entwined with my own child's. I am here to make sure your child grows up and takes a different path. One that he changes who he is going to be into something else. But first we must do something more." She explained walking towards the dilapidated shack that laid a few feet away from them.
With a wave of the woman's hand the shack's foundation began to expand and change into that of a small home or cottage. It began to clear of all the dirty that stuck to it. The broken roof began to be mended, and the dark-with-grime windows almost looked new and shiny. It expanded into two floors, the stoned chimney expanding upward. She suddenly, waved her hand again, and the door slammed open. There behind the door stood Morfin Gaunt, a fierce expression on his horrid face.
"What in the devil's tarps are you doing here, blood traitor? Oh, look you brought a little friend with you." He sneered at them, crossing his arms over his chest, attempting to look more menacing.
"Morfin Gaunt. Last known descendent of Slytherin and last known living male in the Slytherin bloodline, until now." Lucia said, a smirk on her face.
"Who the bloody hell are you and what are you doing with my dimwitted mute sister ?" He demanded, the sneer on his putrid face deepening.
"I-I am not m-mute." Merope mutter shakenly.
Lucy wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders, before turning back to the putrid smelling man, who sneered at them, occasionally hissing under his breath.
"I don't have time for this." Lucia scoffed, as she flicked her wrist. Suddenly he was on his back, his limbs contorting.
"I will make this clear for you, Mr. Gaunt. You will learn to respect a lady properly or I shall see to it that you suffer a fate worse than death. Actually, you just go back to Azkaban. I hope you enjoyed your freedom while it lasted." Lucy sneered at him, her eyes beginning to flash with a hidden gleam.
With a blink of an eye he was suddenly gone. Then with another flick of her wrist and entire house expanded some more. The molded pots of food were now gone replaced with new ones, the spider webs that hung in the wooden rafters and beams began to disperse into thin air. The beaten-down, old furniture was now replaced with new comfortable looking one. The soot-covered stone fireplace was now, in fact, soot free. Merope watched in fascination as everything happened before her eyes.
Finally, as Lucy turned back towards Merope said, "Merope, I am to stay with you here... until you are strong enough to be alone with your child. I won't say we shall not see each other again because we definitely will." She said cryptically, before she walked into the rooms to continue her work on the house.
December 31, 1960
A couple of days after Christmas, the first that Merope had ever celebrated, she sat before the warm fire of the hearth. Drinking some water when she suddenly felt a sharp pain on her lower abdominal region. She had been feeling the pain come and go all of the previous night and all day that day. She was about to call for Lucia, when she felt as if the water in her cup had spilled and wet her dress, warm and sticky. Lucia ran into the room her eyes wide, and looked over at Merope.
She quickly lifted the woman with a spell and levitated her into the closest room they had prepared for her to give birth in; with the water heated and the rags ready, Lucia checked to see Merope's progress, causing the already sobbing woman to let out a screech of pain.
"Merope, I'm going to need you to begin to push now. Take deep breathes now and when I tell you to push. Push the hardest you can." She ordered, sternly.
Merope nodded feebly, disoriented from the pain she felt, sweat matting her dark ebony hair to her forehead and chemise to her body. She felt as she was being ripped from the inside out, her nether regions burned as if it was begin slowly pulled apart.
"Pl-please make it stop. It h-hurts so much. I can't take the pain." She cried, breathing raggedly.
"Focus Merope. Focus. Do this for the baby. Do it for him please don't give up. Not now." Lucia spoke as she waited for the time to near. Finally, it did.
"Push! Come on, you can do this." She commanded as the woman gasped in pain.
Merope pushed and pushed for what seemed like hours, finally after pushing for so long a small shriek was heard in the room.
It was then Tom Marvolo Riddle was born; born with the black hair of his mother and the eyes of his father, he was the spitting image of his father even as a newborn the resemblance was uncanny.
Merope smiled down as she held her baby boy, smiling down at him as he slept soundlessly. Her pointer finger grasped by the newborns tiny fingers.
"Lucy." She whispered, her eyes widening as the other woman began to sterilize everything.
"oh...I still feel the pain." She groaned, clutching the sheets.
"Oh, oh. Calm down, Merope. " Lucy said, as she pulled Tom into her arms and placed him in the bassinet.
"Push again Merope." She gently instructed, looking at the tired woman.
Twenty minutes later, another squeal was heard. Both woman seemed shocked at the occurrence.
"Leilah Morgan Riddle." Merope whispered, as she looked up at the woman, her heart beating rapidly.
Steps could be heard climbing up the stairs rapidly, as Merope's eyes suddenly rolled to the back of her head, as she began convulsing violently. Lucy quickly laid the little bundle in the bassinet before quickly turning towards the woman.
"Lucy, don't." The blonde man said as he walked into the room.
"I have to." She whispered as she walked over to Merope on the bed, placing her hand on the woman's chest as she closed her eyes in concentration, slowly beginning to chant something.
A white light as seen before the woman collapsed too. The man rushing to the woman's side as the other woman gasped in surprise, as her eyes popped open wide.
"What happened? Who are you?" Merope asked, surprised at seeing the man holding up, a dazed Lucy.
"My name is John, Lucy's husband. She just saved your life." He muttered, as he pulled Lucy into his arms bridal style.
"Oh, thank you. For everything, really." Merope said, giving them a watery smile.
"It was nothing, really." The Lucy replied weakly, as she lifted up her head tired as she began smiling at the sight before her before John carried her out of the room, leaving the three to rest.
A week exactly later was the birth of Sophia Annamarie Riel. Born to Lucia Marie Riel and Johnathon James Riel. The same woman who saved Merope Riddle almost a week prior.