Hello one and all :) This is my second story, and it's very AU. This is the story of Harry Potter if Merope Riddle hadn't died, if she had brought up Tom. He still wouldn't have been a particularly nice character, but the fact that she could raise him stopped him from becoming Lord Voldemort, and this is Harry's life because of this.
Prologue – The Riddles
She just sat there, in the corner of the room. A tiny woman, withered by age, heartbreak and illness. Her son detested her. He detested her weakness, her lack of real magical ability, the fact that she allowed herself to become so… pathetic because of love. Because his father died ten years ago. He didn't even love his mother, or Tom; he was under the spell of a love potion. He gave them a roof over their heads, and that's about all he did. And yet Merope Riddle was still alive, and her son, as bitter as he might have been about life, was still Tom Riddle.
'Mother, dinner's almost ready,' he said in a flat, bored voice. 'You actually have to eat today.'
Merope Riddle continued to sit there, ignoring her son. Tom exchanged a look with his wife, Zinnia. A Black by birth. He wasn't sure what he felt for her – it wasn't love, any rate, but then he had never loved anyone. He found it a waste of time. But his mother wanted him to get married, and Zinnia Black seemed perfect. A pureblood, a Slytherin, and relatively good looking. The closest he could get to love.
But then there was their daughter, Poppy Riddle, a big disappointment in Tom's eyes. She was sorted into Ravenclaw at Hogwarts, which Tom should have taken as the first hint that she wasn't up to scratch. How was a descendant of Slytherin lounging in the Ravenclaw Tower?
Still, she got good grades, and that way, as Zinnia said, Tom couldn't really complain. Until Poppy brought home her best friend the summer before her fifth year: a Muggle-born by the name of Lily Evans. Though she had neglected to tell her parents this.
'So, Lily, who are your parents?' Zinnia asked when she first arrived. 'What do they do for a living?'
'Well, my Dad, Oliver Evans, is a Doctor,' Lily replied, 'you know, a Muggle Healer. And my Mum, Heather Evans, is a receptionist at the Doctors' Surgery.'
'You're parents are Muggles?' said Tom sharply.
'Yes,' said Lily, and she definitely sounded defensive. 'And there's nothing wrong with that. I'm one of the top students in the year, if I say so myself.'
'What House are you in?' Tom added.
'Gryffindor.'
Zinnia and Poppy looked over at Tom, and found that he looked like he was about to faint.
'Oh,' was all he said. Until Lily went home, and he rounded on Poppy.
'Poppy Merope Riddle, what were you thinking?' he thundered. 'Bringing home a Gryffindor and a Muggle-born! Please tell me some of your friends are Purebloods.'
'Dad, who I'm friends with is my choice, not yours,' Poppy snapped. 'And, anyway, you can't really talk; you're a Half-blood.'
Poppy and Tom said nothing more on the subject. The Ravenclaw got ten OWLs, seven NEWTs, and at eighteen got a job at the Ministry. Tom and Zinnia were, relatively, proud of their daughter. Lily Evans never visited again. Poppy, now nineteen, got a flat in London, but that night she was visiting her parents. So were a few members of the Black family, namely Zinnia's brother, his wife and their daughters – Bellatrix and Narcissa. They had another daughter, Andromeda, but they hadn't been on speaking terms for six years – ever since she announced she was getting married to a Muggle-born, Ted Tonks.
'Merope, please come to the table,' Zinnia added. 'Poppy will be here soon. Won't you be happy to see her?'
Merope said nothing. At that moment, there was a knock on the door. Zinnia left the kitchen, returning a minute later with her brother and his family in tow. Bellatrix and Narcissa were a few years older than Poppy, and both were engaged to be married. However, their husbands-to-be weren't with them that night.
'Ah, my favourite nieces! Hello!' Tom exclaimed while Zinnia showed her brother's family into the dining room. Their house was quite big, since Tom and Zinnia both had highly paid jobs, but it wasn't as big as the home of Zinnia's other brother, his wife and their two sons, Sirius and Regulus.
'Hello, Uncle Tom,' said both the girls as they all took their seats. Tom glanced over at Zinnia.
'Dinner will be ready in five minutes,' she said, and she disappeared back off to the kitchen.
Tom addressed his nieces first.
'So, how are plans for the wedding going?'
'Alright,' Narcissa replied, 'although I didn't want a double wedding…'
'It's going very smoothly,' Bellatrix cut in. 'I'm sure you'll be pleased with the overall theme of the wedding. Especially the colour scheme.'
Tom smiled at her. 'Could it, by any chance, be green and silver?'
Bellatrix smirked, 'Of course, Uncle.'
There came another knock at the door. Zinnia came hurrying out of the kitchen, muttering, 'That will be Poppy.'
Dinner was served, and nearly everyone chattered away merrily. They had a bit of a rant about Andromeda, who now not only was married to Ted Tonks but also had a child with him. Poppy, who normally came to Andromeda's defence, was strangely quiet that evening. It wasn't until the Blacks had gone home, however, that Tom and Zinnia found out why.
'I guess I better head back home too,' she said, yawning as she stood up from the sofa.
'What's up, Poppy?' asked Zinnia. 'You've been ever so quiet tonight. Something wrong?'
Poppy hesitated as she pulled a cloak over her robes. 'Well, in a way, yes…'
'What is it, Poppy?' said Tom.
'I – I'm pregnant,' she replied quickly. 'And it was an accident. I don't even have a boyfriend at the minute. And the father's a Muggle-born who was in the year below at my school. He was in Hufflepuff.'
She didn't pause for breath as she said this. Tom just gaped at her.
'Well, I'll talk to you soon,' she said.
'Wait, Poppy,' said her mother. 'Don't you want to talk about it? Don't you want us to help you?'
Poppy shook her head. 'My friends will help me. Lily Evans is being really good to me. You remember her, don't you Dad?'
And that was that. Poppy had a son in October 1979. Tom and Zinnia were the first people to visit her, though Tom didn't really want to. He refused to speak to Poppy after she told him she was making Lily Evans the baby's Godmother. The baby was called Samuel Tom Riddle, which didn't do anything to make Tom feel better. He often wondered why he bothered getting married and having a child. He worked better alone, anyway. Other people were just always big disappointments. Especially Poppy. Especially his mother. Least of all Zinnia. After so many years of marriage, she was the only person who could tolerate him.
But this is not Tom Riddle's story. This is the story of Poppy, and Sam, and Sam's Godmother. Lily Evans. Who, soon after Sam's birth, became Lily Potter, and announced that she was pregnant.
If you've read my other story, Only, I am writing a sequel, and that will be up soon ^.^ Please review and tell me what you think :)
