Author's Notes: I came up with this as a mix of my theory that I concocted while reading the sixth book and an odd dream I had about Harry Potter and related stuff. I'm going to try and keep it J.K. Rowling style, but I am going to skip what would be the first half or so of the book, since nothing really ever happens there, but if there's anything that would have happened earlier, I'll clear it up in the passage. Hope you enjoy this!
Harry Potter and the Last Riddle
Chapter 15
Christmas Trees and Family Trees
Harry couldn't think straight; he put his quill to his mouth, trying to come up with anything to write about for his Transfiguration essay "Describe the side effects of the wrong wand movement in the skin switching incantation". He smirked, thinking about the incident earlier that week in which he and Neville had been partnered for practicing this spell. Neville had gone the wrong direction with his wand and accidentally switched Trevor the toad's skin with his own, instead of the tree frog they were supposed to be using.
"Oy, Harry!" Ron called across the common room. "Quidditch?" His broom was slung across his broad shoulders; the training over the past year had really begun to show.
"Nah, maybe later," Harry mumbled. "McGonagall's essay."
"Oh, right," Ron replied, crestfallen. "Bad luck, mate. Well, if you finish up early, Ginny, Dean, and I were planning an impromptu game against Ernie, Hannah, and Justin."
"Sure, ok," Harry said in what he hoped would be an encouraging voice. He really didn't feel like playing Quidditch right now, and he also didn't particularly want to write his essay.
"Right then." Ron strode out the portrait hole, leaving Harry alone with his parchment.
It wasn't that Harry was having problems with his paper; it was that he was having problems sorting out his thoughts. The seventeen year old was completely overwhelmed with his long term assignment given to him by his previous headmaster. Dumbledore had started Harry on the hunt for seven Horcruxes, or pieces of Lord Voldemort's soul. So far, the pair had determined that a locket of Slytherin's, a ring belonging to Voldemort's grandfather, the young Voldemort's diary, a chalice once belonging to Helga Hufflepuff, Voldemort's snake Nagini, and Voldemort himself were horcruxes. The diary and the ring had been destroyed by Harry and Dumbledore, respectively. The locket had been secured by the two at the end of the previous year, just before Dumbledore's untimely murder by Voldemort's most trusted servant, Severus Snape. Only afterwards had Harry discovered that the locket was fake. It contained a note to the Dark Lord informing him that the locket had been destroyed, signed by a mysterious R.A.B. The goblet was yet to be found, and the remaining three horcruxes to be determined. Harry had spent much of his time thinking about what they could possibly be, assuming that one was something of Gryffindor's or Ravenclaw's. But Dumbledore was sure that there were no relics of Ravenclaw to be found, and the only thing left of Gryffindor was his sword, which had hung in Dumbledore's office. So there had to be another Horcrux
He'd been searching for an idea since he'd been back at Hogwarts, but to no prevail. The past three and a half months had so far been a waste. He'd read nearly half the library on the dark arts and histories since the time that Voldemort had been born to get an idea of what he could be looking for.
The last week of classes before holiday break passed quickly, and Harry found himself once again at number 12 Grimmauld Place. The house had been his for a year and a half, after his godfather died, and it remained headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny dragged their trunks up the stairs after being greeted by the shrieks of Sirius's mother's portrait. "Blood Traitors! Filth! Disgrace on my house!"
"I wish that old git would just shut up," Ginny said, bouncing on her bed. They could still hear her, even with the door shut.
"You lot! Get down here now!" shouted Bill's voice up the stairs. Ron groaned as they stood up and ran down the steps. "List of chores!" Bill said a little too cheerfully as he handed a list to each of them. Harry looked down at his; polish picture frames, dust wall hangings, rid both of any critters that may be hiding within.
"What've you got to do?" Harry asked Ron. He looked over the list. "Excellent, you can help me." Ron had to clean the rugs in the rooms that Harry was assigned to. Harry was relieved to not have to work with Ginny, especially after he was forced to end their relationship the previous summer. He still loved her, so any time they spent together was incredibly painful for him.
Ginny and Hermione trekked back up the stairs, and Harry could have sworn that Ginny cast a mournful glance back at him. He and Ron sojourned down the hall to what used to be the sitting room before it was torn apart by infestations.
After two hours, the sitting room was in an inhabitable state, but Harry and Ron were exhausted. Harry still had all the tapestries in the hallway to take care of, and Ron had to clean the candle holders.
Harry started with the tapestry of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. He was always fascinated by this one, with an entire family tree of the pureblood line. He searched down and found the scorch mark that had once been Sirius. He had to smile at this; his godfather was not one that would have fallen in with the rest of his family. He looked also at Sirius's younger brother, Regulus. Sirius had said that he had been more akin to the rest of the family, and that he was a Death Eater, though not very close to Voldemort. He traced up to the higher levels where there were slightly more families. He found the branch where the Gaunts were; Voldemort's family. He found Marvolo, and then his children, Morfin and Merope. He knew Merope had married a muggle, had a son, and then died an hour later. There was obviously no line indicating her marriage, because her husband, Tom Riddle, was a muggle, but curiously enough, there was a line showing a child. Harry didn't have to look at the name to know who it was.
His eyes flitted down and he was shocked to see that there was a line tying him to a woman. A woman named Wardina Aplin. Even more shocking was the perpendicular line down, pointing to a name. A boy, Enos Melvin Riddle.