Monday Evening. Oct. 18, 2004

Harry's POV

It was Monday night and Raven and I were arriving at Dumbledore's office door which opened before either of us could knock.

"Harry, Raven. Excellent. Do come in. How are the two of you this evening?"

"Fine, Professor" I replied.

"I am well" answered Raven.

"Very good and how are your classes going this year?"

"Quite well, Headmaster. Challenging as well as instructive. You have assembled an excellent staff" said Raven as I merely nodded.

"They also seem quite pleased with the progress of both of you as well. Prof. Slughorn is particularly pleased with both of you in his Potions class. Well done"

"Thank you, Headmaster" said Raven as I again merely nodded along.

"Well, on to the reason I asked you here tonight then."

"Before we begin, Headmaster, there is something you should know" said Raven.

"You have news, Miss Raven?"

"It's only to tell you that I have told Harry and his friends, Hermoine and Ron, of the reason for me being here which is basically to protect him from Voldemort and his followers. Is that a problem?'

"Ah, I thought you might do so at some point and it is not a problem at all my dear. Just as well, I think, that they hear it from you. Would there be any other news form the wonderful world of academia, then?" Dumbledore asked with a smile

"No, Headmaster" replied Raven. "Unless Harry has some to report."

Both looked at me and I answered that I had none and Dumbledore then asked us to have a seat at his desk so that we might begin viewing the next memory he wanted us to see.

Voldemort's POV

Another meeting with his Death Eaters concluded, Voldemort sat back in his seat to ponder events that could warrant concern. Nearby, Nagini finished up her latest meal consisting of a young boy grabbed from his home in Liverpool. His family was in no state to miss him as they had been killed by the Death Eaters. The boy himself had been tortured briefly before being killed so the snake could feed. All in a day's work ending with a few less muggles occupying the world.

The first concern was that Horace Slughorn had returned to Hogwarts.

'Should I be concerned about that old fool finding out what I did so many years ago? No, how could he? Slughorn won't remember anything. I'm certain the charm I cast worked. He wouldn't have had any reason to protect himself from it or even suspect I enchanted the hourglass would he? Slughorn never even realized the hourglass made him more receptive to answering my questions without remembering them later which then led to the discovery of his fondness for pineapple. Never realized I dosed him with veritaserum while he ate his precious pineapple.'

Deciding that Slughorn had no knowledge that would be of any benefit to Dumbledore, Voldemort moved to the other news of concern.

'Snape is now teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. The curse I placed on anyone holding that position is in effect, they are either killed like Quirrel, lose their memory like that fraud Lockhart, resign or get impersonated by one of my own. Snape's time is coming to an end at Hogwarts now. Both Dumbledore and Snape must have certainly realized it already but neither has been able to break the curse. Clearly, this means I am more powerful than even Dumbledore. Ha, muggle loving fool of an old man. Guess it doesn't matter for Snape. If my plans work out, and when haven't they worked…Right, when I left others, like Lucius, in charge of carrying them out, Snape won't be wanted or needed at Hogwarts much longer'

Voldemort relaxed into his seat and smiled in anticipation of what the future would bring while Nagini simply finished her meal.

Raven's POV

Tonight's memories reintroduced us to Merope Gaunt, who was very pregnant, selling what was a family heirloom for money at a shop called Borgin and Burke's, which was located in a place called Knockturn Alley. The shop owner, Burke, confirmed the heirloom, a locket on a necklace, once belonged to Salazar Slytherin although Merope either didn't know that or did not care. She got a rather measly 10 galleons for it before departing the shop, a fact that seemed to bother Harry although he would deny, perhaps too vehemently, having sympathy for this woman or her still unborn child. She certainly seemed a person worth sympathizing about, considering she now had no family to call upon for help, no money to support herself or her child and would die shortly after giving birth. Her life seemed to be heading from misery to tragedy and she would be all but forgotten. Verbally abused by her family, pregnant and alone, broke in terms of both money and emotionally, maybe her death was actually a blessing if it allowed her to escape all this. Even the unborn child was due some sympathy. It's not like he could have asked to be born into this situation. The teenage Riddle and adult Voldemort were both a different story though. I didn't say this aloud since I doubted either Harry or Dumbledore would agree.

The second memory was that of a teenage Riddle making his way to the Gaunt house and encountering a very unkempt Morfin. They spoke in Parseltongue, so Harry translated which I suspected was for my benefit as I believed Dumbledore understood what was being said even though no one ever said he could speak the language. Riddle finds out that Marvolo is dead and that his father lives on the other side of the village before nothing more is visible and the memory ends.

Dumbledore tells us that he believes that Morfin had memories implanted by Riddle of killing the elder Riddles which included Tom Riddle, Senior and the parents of Riddle, Senior. Morfin would confess to the Ministry before being sentenced to life in Azkaban for the murders. Dumbledore suspected Riddle killed his father and family using Morfin's wand before returning it to an unconscious Morfin and taking the ring that Morfin was wearing in addition to planting false memories. Morfin would die in prison before this could be proven but it seemed a reasonable conclusion given the apparent memory block in place.

After relaying his suspicions to us and receiving no disagreement from either Harry or me, Dumbledore announced that would do for the evening and wished Harry luck in the upcoming Quidditch match and for the season as well. Harry and I also said our goodnights before departing to head back to the Gryffendor dormitory.