Orphaned No More
Chapter Two
The few favs and follows were plenty to keep me going on. Thanks guys :)
Disclaimer: All characters belong to JKR I own nothing, except the white robed creature maybe :3 being a writer rules!
...
31st December 1926
Jenny was more than excited to start off the day at Riddle Manor as a maid, having been proposed to earlier that week by Raoul the gardener boy might have explained the skip in her steps and heartbeat. She was literally skipping all over the frontwalk leading to the main entrance. She almost skipped over the dying woman on the front porch too.
Almost.
She let out a shreik of surprise as she came into full realization about the woman's presence.
"Water.." said the pitiful creature.
All queries of 'Who are you and what are you doing here?' died on her lips as she ran towards the garden shed on the right outer side of the Manor to fetch some water for the woman.
Any bystanders could have sworn Raoul took a double take at her through a dim lit window as he slipped on his shirt after showering to rid himself of the stench of fertilizer.
She was pretty.
He hastily slipped on his pants and opened the door for her before she could knock on the door.
His sly smirk and all other flirtatious gestures dismissed by the rolling of dark brown eyes, Jenny sidestepped him and went into the shed looking for water while panting for breath.
"So what can this humble abode offer this fine young lady this morning?" he asked as he leaned against the opened door with crossed arms.
"Fine young lady?" Jenny scoffed. "Quite the charmer arent you dear Raoul?" she added as she tried hard to fight the blush creeping on her cheeks.
Raoul laughed lightly in reply and then turned his tone slightly questioning and concerned
"Seriously though, are you okay?"
His words warmed her heart as she found the water tumbler and glass and turned to leave the shed, not before walking up to his smug form and saying:
"Come and see for yourself then"
She exited as quickly as she came and he hurried behind her.
Only to find a woman literally going into labor on the front porch.
Jenny struggled to keep the tumbler from dropping out of her hand in shock.
She quickly filled the glass with water and sated the woman's thirst and then helped the woman stand up as she screamed out with labored pain.
Raoul was quick to note that no one had noticed the ordeal yet so he flanked Jenny on the other side of the woman and half carried her to the garden shed.
They quickly closed the door behind them as Jenny gave the woman some clean handekerchief to bite on to muffle the screams.
The malnourished woman gave birth to two healthy baby boys that morning before New Year's.
The woman was sitting gratefully on the bed as Raoul went inside after Jenny opened the door for him.
Holding two babes clothed in his shirts nonetheless. How oversized they may be for them.
Any thoughts about getting angry at that were vanished from his mind as he saw Jenny coo and cuddle the babies as if they were her own. He stared at her quietly, lovestruck.
Merope, as the woman had introduced herself to Jenny earlier, was sweaty and breathing heavily but had a radiant smile firmly placed on her lips.
She looked no older than twenty years of age.
Almost as old as himself, Jenny and young Master Riddle who had come home a few weeks ago after being lost for quite a few months.
Little did he know of the gobsmacking connection his thoughts had just made.
"Thankyou" Merope whispered to Jenny and Raoul. "The both of you saved our lives today" she said as she reached out for her newborns to cuddle them close to her heart.
Raoul nodded in reply while Jenny hugged the woman briefly before asking
"Do you not have a home Merope? Or a husband?"
Guilt struck the young mother's face as she mumbled something about bewitched love. Earning raised eye brows from the young couple.
Merope looked as if contemplating what to say and then spoke:
"I hurt him enough to make him leave me" tears welled up in her eyes.
Raoul could not take more emotion than he could handle so he handed the woman another glass of water and exited the shed to head towards the Manor.
Finding a very curios young Tom Riddle standing there looking almost as if he was waiting for him or Jenny
"Who was that woman Raoul?" he asked curiously.
Raoul realized his master must have seen them help her to the shed.
"She calls herself Merope, sir" the young lord stiffened at the name. "and she gave birth to two baby boys just now in the shed" replied the gardener.
Tom lost his footing and grabbed the porch's railing for balance.
He had thought he would never hear that name again.
The witch had bewitched him into loving her but..
It had turned true soon as she had stopped feeding him that wretched potion.
Being with her everyday had become a cause of joy for him.
If she had not told him about the evil magic she used on him, he would have had the courage to stand by her and accept the strange unexplainable circumstances that lead to him being in love with her.
Raoul was no less intrigued by his Master's reactions.
"Shall I take you to her? He asked, obviously not realizing the magnitude of his words.
Tom's eyes met his in an instant, he turned around quickly and went inside the manor, only to emerge minutes later with a purse full of money.
"Feed and clothe her with this. Her children must get the best Riddle Manor has to offer. And not a word of this must reach my father or even her. Or I swear I will make life miserable for you!"
Tom's desperate attempt at anger was not unseen by Raoul as he hurriedly bowed to his master and sped off to the baker's to fetch bread and broth for the weak young woman.
Tom did not know what changed in him as all his anger at the witch got banished somewhere he could not fathom, but unbeknowest to him, a pointed hat near his bedroom's window morphed into a raven and flew off towards the horizon.
"Ammendment made" mused the ancient being to herself as she enjoyed flight in the raven's body for a while before disappearing into a flash of light into nothing.
...
Meanwhile in Scotland the disappearence and reappearance of the Sorting Hat went completely unnoticed by a certain Headmaster Armando Dippet who did not bat an eyelash as he read the Daily Prophet's article on Muggles and their "World War".
...
how was it? Please R&R :)
