My Daughter - 1989
The corrupt man had left Evelyn pregnant. Tom had left her pregnant with a beautiful baby girl who reflected the physical beauty of her father. Though only small, a mere eight years of age, the girl already emanated the seduction and enticement of her mother. She was the extraordinarily endearing combination of her manipulated alluring young mother and her potent well-preserved father. Her hair was long and dark and her black eyes twinkled charmingly whenever they caught the light.
Evelyn's daughter, Ivy, had been raised in a magical household. Her mother, a modest muggle-born, had brought Ivy up singlehandedly without anything close to a paternal figure beside her. Evelyn feared men for years and never found herself in close proximity to one – she shivered if ever a male smiled in her direction or even simply acknowledged her. Ivy had known and dreamed about Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from the tender age of two, her night-like eyes glistening at the mention of magic. With only three short years ahead of her first step into the castle of supernatural wonders, Ivy would file through her mother's old textbooks and parchment, fascinated by the notion of being superior to others. Superior to muggles.
"Ivy," Evelyn Desiree called from the foot of the staircase. Her daughter bounded across the landing and stumbled down the stairs to Evelyn's side. "Ivy, there's something I should let you know about..." She began as she led the eight-year-old through to the dusty little kitchen, "In fact, give you."
"Presents?" Ivy squealed in delight, trotting behind her mother. "I sure do love presents!"
Ivy shook her thick black hair from her eyes as she heaved herself onto a kitchen stall and stared up at her only parent.
"It's from Daddy," Evelyn said dejectedly, pulling a package wrapped in age-old brown paper and tied up with string from her pocket.
"Daddy? Really? Is he finally coming home?" Ivy breathed, her tiny fingers reaching for the parcel.
"No, Ivy, I've told you before. Daddy doesn't belong with us...but he did leave this in my possession and I really believe it will mean more to you than it does to me."
"But why'd he leave you a present and not me?" Ivy whined gloomily, untying the yarn and dismissively ripping open the paper. "Do you know what it is?"
"No. I've never looked inside. I have no interest in your father's belongings."
"When did you get it?"
"I've had it a long while..." Evelyn paused, sighing with exasperation. "Since me and Tom first met, almost nine years ago."
Ivy blinked up at her mother, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "And you didn't give it to me straight away? Why not, Mummy?"
Evelyn watched her daughter. Ivy was so young and clueless...so naive. While her father, the most feared and despised wizard of modern history, lay either dead in some forests far away in Romania or alive somewhere in hiding, Ivy sat innocently thousands of miles from him with her single mother, desperate to one day meet the man who helped deliver her into the world. It was curious how a girl so pure young and pristine could be the offspring of such a ruthless and sadistic dictator. A dictator impeded only by an infant – The Boy Who Lived. Bless that boy. Bless the name of young Harry Potter.
But Ivy was like her father in more ways than one. Primarily, Ivy was a parselmouth, carrying the chilling ability to communicate with reptiles (namely, snakes) in their language. This was always one of Tom Riddle's dominating characteristics – his obsession with snakes. Ivy also tended to absent-mindedly insult muggles. She'd often view herself as superior to muggles and, sometimes, to muggle-borns as well. Additionally, she was a true Slytherin – ambitious, sly and outstandingly intelligent. Traits that could be accounted for by Tom, indisputably the most quintessential Slytherin known to wizardkind, aside from perhaps Salazar Slytherin himself. Although, with the exception of Ivy's mother, nobody appeared to notice these uncanny similarities. They were, firstly, unaware of Ivy's relations to the Dark Lord and, secondly, so diverted by Ivy's sweetness and beauty that their judgement distinctly blurred.
But Evelyn could see past her daughter's allure and charm.