melamariannie: lycoris black never married in the orignal timeline. Joseph Prince didnt exist :D he is meant to be eileen prince's father and snape's maternal grandfather. thankyou for your support :)

mizzrazz72 and J.F.C: Merope forgetting her children is meant to serve the purpose of showing how much psychologically damaged she is after years of abuse at the hands of her brother and father. her behaviour after remembering is meant to reinforce that. :) but I should have been clearer! my bad :)

awkwardtimeagent: I looked it up. he held the position of chief warlock in the wizengamot for the 20th century except for Harry's fifth year.

booklover19a: thats really nice of you! thankyou :)

Sorry for the delay! the place im at is a hilly area so internet is scarce. and the place im headed to is a valley at quarter the height to mount everest so I'll be moving from scarce internet to no internet this week :'( posting will be slow for this week. I'll be back sunday and will post regularly!

I hope you guys dont abandon this story...

Orphaned No More

Chapter Twelve

Merope was running around the gardens frantically searching for her offspring, she was constantly berating herself for forgetting about them, tears threatening to pour down her cheeks. Raoul hurriedly explained to the Aurors that two possibly magical babies had gone missing, thus earning their professional concern.

Joseph began charming a compass that he produced from his pocket, with the ability to point towards any magical signatures present in the vicinity of the compass except those that had been added into the charm's "known" list so that those already known to the searcher do not interfere with the workings of the compass.

It was not a particularly tricky charm, for Joseph at least, as he was beyond excellent at charms and had designed this charm himself. He however refused to share the blueprints behind this charm out of a sense of self preservation. He did not want anyone else taking the credit for his work.

As soon as the compass was charmed and Joseph had registered Lycoris, Merope and begrudgingly, Raoul's, magical signatures into the compass; it began pointing in the direction of the Manor.

He signaled Lycoris to tell the others, but she had to do nothing less than casting a Petrificus Totalus on Merope because she refused to calm down enough to listen to the female Auror.

Raoul enervated Merope with an angry scowl towards Lycoris and told her as she began focusing on why she was on the ground and being helped up by the half Veela:

"We know where they are, Merope" he gave her a smile as he cupped her cheeks in his hands.

Jenny could feel another bout of jealousy build up but she reminded herself that he was calming her down.

"Though he could have been less physical about it" she mumbled to herself angrily.

Joseph cleared his throat "Anytime this week perhaps?" he asked as a matter of fact.

Lycoris rolled her eyes as she turned to Jenny and said:

"You work in there don't you?" to which Jenny nodded promptly. "Good, we need you to create a distraction while we go and find whoever's responsible. We cannot have anymore Muggles knowing about magic as it is." She ended with a half smile to placate any offence her statement might give the blone who half smiled back at the black haired witch and proceeded towards the Manor. She composed herself and went in the door. She was previously suspicious of the whole magical business but deep inside she knew Merope was suffering right now being separated from her children and she had to help, or she would be going against who she was.

No sooner did she enter did she find Mary Riddle screaming at the top of her lungs and shouting at her husband who seemed to be packing his bags.

"No son of mine is going to house his two illegitimate children in our home while I live" he ranted as he continued packing his bags in his study.

Master Tom was nowhere in sight but the full weight of what Master Thomas had just said unbridled upon Jenny and she realized who Merope was to her Master Tom.

She brought a hand to her mouth to hide a gasp but too late, Mary had already seen her. Mary's expression changed as she pulled Jenny into the study and closed the door behind her.

"You were going to find out eventually. But I know I can trust you" Mary said to Jenny making her feel ever so guilty because at this very moment she was here staging a distraction for some wizards and witches to break into the manor.

She did not reply to Mary but did nod reassuringly, which was enough for the lady who then proceeded to kick and open her husband's poorly packed bags. Meanwhile Jenny took a look outside the door and saw Raoul looking at the door worriedly, she signaled him to go upstairs and closed the door.

"Calm down, Thomas. You are angry right now. I was too. The vile woman somehow managed to ensnare our son long enough to father his sons but the deed is done. They are our blood. We have no choice. We cannot turn them away." She then paused for a sigh and added "Not like before".

Thomas froze as he recalled what Mary was implying. His fathered had sired another boy long ago when Thomas was much younger, he was never accepted into the manor by his mother and was left at the mercy of nature where he could not survive the storm that hit little Hangleton that unfortunate night.

He had remained quiet back then and had done nothing to defend the boy. But the guilt of the matter had him break down in front of Mary once when they were newlyweds. She knew how guilty he felt about it.

And she was right.

He sat himself at a couch and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Jenny snuck a peak outside the door and saw that the others had managed to get upstairs. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the fact that she was aiding wizards against "her kind" was conflicting her morals.

Mary smiled at Thomas and placed a firm hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

Jenny could not help but blurt out:

"But what are you going to do about Merope?"

Both husband and wife were brought out of their thoughts. The look of shock was apparent on the old man's face while his wife began hand gesturing Jenny to run out of the study.

"Merope? Merope Gaunt?" he asked with a hint of outrage in his voice.

Mary sighed exasperatedly in reply.

"So it was her, and Tom lied to me" Thomas stated rather than asked.

Jenny chose this time to sneak out of the study and avoid embarrassing Lady Mary any further. She made it to the bottom of the stairs just in time to see Raoul and Joseph falling down the stairs as they struggled to strangle each other.

She stepped back as she nearly screeched in shock and attempted to break them apart as Lycoris came walking down the stairs with a swan's grace and asked her to move away with a swish of her hand.

Jenny thought to barricade the study's door with her body to avoid letting anyone in there get a sight of what was happening out here.

Lycoris lazily raised her wand and pointed it at the mess that was two grown men fighting like children on the floor and shouted:

"Levicorpus!" she had her fair share of spells invented for the sake of pranking and would definitely pass it on to children in the Black Family.

Both men were lifted by their feet and hung in mid air upside down.

Their shouts were muffled by a silent "Muffliato" casted by Lycoris.

Their faces began to redden as blood raced to their faces, one could not have seen the redness in Raoul's face that was building up because his eyes just landed on Jenny and the fact that he was currently being humiliated in front of her.

Joseph contemplated meanwhile about how they got into this predicament.

A LITTLE WHILE AGO

As Jenny got pulled into the study by Mary, Raoul got worried and raced in the Manor's door but soon Jenny popped her head out the door and signaled him to go upstairs.

He breathed a sigh of relief and called the others inside and led them upstairs.

Jospeh had his wand raised and so did Lycoris as the formed a defensive formation to head up the stairs.

Merope was slightly less subtle.

She barged through them with her wand raised and ran up the stairs with Raoul following close behind.

Both of them found Tom with the babies in his room. Merope's shoulders sank with an inflow of relief as she steadied herself against the door. Tom shushed at them with his finger as if he had just put them to sleep. He softly pushed them out the door and exited himself as well and closed the door behind him.

"They're okay and they're going to stay here in the manor" Tom concluded with a serious look on his face.

Joseph pointed his compass at Tom as he reached upstairs with Lycoris. It did not recognize him as a wizard.

"Another Muggle who knows too much" He stated loudly and blandly as he pointed his wand and began the wand movements for "Obliviate"

Raoul recognized the movements and raced towards Joseph, sidestepping a gaping Lycoris, as he said "Not happening!" and slammed himself into the other wizard throwing them both down the stairs.

PRESENT

Tom made it to the top of the stairs and saw the two men being levitated. Being awfully familiar with the feeling he requested:

"Please put them down they look like they'll vomit on the floor any second"

Lycoris smirked at the sentence and after a second of thoughtful consideration she let her spell go and down fell both the men, in time for Merope to reach close enough to view the sight and gasp.

What had Raoul smiling like a little boy was that Jenny was by her side the very next second checking him for wounds.

…..

How was it? Levicorpus was the same spell James learnt from Sirius and used on Snape when they were in Hogwarts in their fifth year I think. They however managed to take his pants off and he hung there in his boxers while Lily was present. Lily tried to help him as he fell down but he pushed her away calling her a Mudblood and that's when their friendship ended.