Chapter Three

Dolores slept awfully that night. Evil Muggles and mud-bloods took her away from her house and a beautiful young wizard saved her from certain death in their hands. When she reveled him she was a Selwyn though, he called her a liar and hit her. She woke with a start.

The room was dreary and dark, no other furniture but a bed that filled most of the floor space. Her mother was sleeping beside her, her black, thin hair sprawled out on the yellowy pillow. She looked so common, ordinary.

They could only afford one bedroom and one bed, which they shared. Now that she knew who she really was she could not accept living like this. Poverty did not suit a Selwyn. Dolores wouldn't suffer for her mother's choices, that was sure.

From outside, the moonlight came into the room, and Dolores had just enough light to see all her poor possessions in the corner of the room. Folded over a chair, her only closet, a few skirts and shirts too big for her, only one dress she wore for special occasions like birthdays and Christmas. Her only pair of shoes is lying against the wall, still dirty from last night walk in the woods. if there hadn't been all other kind of troubles, her mother would have yelled at her for not cleaning them before bringing them in.

What a day it had been. The conversation from last night and the realization she was a proven witch hit her hard. No chances she could sleep again now, restless as she was.

She shoved her feet in the shoes and took a blanket from the pile on the floor. She dragged it outside and stood in the garden, the blanket wrapped around her.

She was a pureblood. That life wasn't suit for her, or for her mother. Why did she choose it? How could she abandon her family, step over the values she had been taught, and ran away to live among the Muggles? It made no sense to her. Dolores used to have a whole different idea of her mother. She thought of her as a woman a bit too humble maybe, but never as a blood-traitor, the fierceness she occasionally showed was enough to make her a pureblood, but the choice she'd made…

Now she could not think of her without an expression of disgust forming on her face. Her mother, who was supposed to raise her in the best environment possible, to teach her what was good and wrong, and how to survive in this world, chose to exile herself and her daughter into a half-blood family servants society. That family was not even rich enough to get a house elf to present at their door, and they, pureblood Selwyns, should serve them? No, that was not going to last.

Dolores was determined to change the situation. She would turn eleven in a few months, and when she had a wand and an access to a library at school, she could find a way to prove she was a Selwyn, and look at the whole family-tree. Her eyes shone at the thought of all those powerful witches and wizards she came from. All of them, were a child with her same blood once, and became respected and feared. She aimed to that.

She always wanted to go to Hogwarts, but now she was so eager she couldn't stand the wait, it would all start there.

As determined as she was, she had no means of doing anything for now. Her life went on like usual, only her attitude towards it changed. When she met Mr. Laurchin she was not shy anymore. She felt superior and looked at him in the eyes, the man seem surprised and even offended by his servant's pride. Ramona on the other hand, looked away ashamed of what her daughter thought she was entitled to do now.

While she was at the local market with her mother, they met Mrs. Selwyn with a couple of her children, Marcus and Deus. Marcus was the eldest one, the one who laughed at her that day on the tree. She felt better now, knowing she was actually one of them. But she couldn't just go and tell him, it would look stupid and pretentious, with no proof supporting her. They would just laugh harder.

When they passed smirking at her though, she held their gaze and kept her head high, walking with dignity down the alley, not giving them the satisfaction of drawing embarrassment out of her.

For Dolores, a new life started. Even though she could do nothing to change things, she felt different towards things, and this alone sufficed, for the moment.

Before she knew, months had passed. The cold English spring was over and her birthday was in a matter of days.

Usually her birthday was just a day off work for both her and her mother, a small homemade cake and a sweet day spent together. But this was her eleventh birthday, a very special one, and even if the relationship with her mother was as cold as ice, she intended to ask for a wand.

"Mother" In front of the small fireplace in their little house, her mother was knitting.

"Yes Dolores?" She kept her head down, untouched by the child's cold tone. Or at least it seemed.

"Next week is my birthday."

"I know dear." A small smile sprung on her lips.

"It's my eleventh. Do I get a wand?"

"A wand? You don't know any spells! And you can't practice magic outside Hogwarts anyway." Ramona shrugged.

"I know. But I want one." She needed one, for Hogwarts.

"A wand is expensive dear."

"We should be able to afford one, if we were still inside the Selwyn family."

"Let's not get started on this again Dolores. I made my choice." Her tone was cold now. There was no going back to the family, she made sure of it. "My father made it very clear to me I would not be allowed near them ever again. We are on our own."

"But I still need a wand."

"I know, sooner or later, we will have to get you one for school. Maybe you could have mine, I don't use it much anyway…"

"I will not have another person's wand! I am pureblood witch, I need my own, not a stolen one!" Her face expressed very well her disgust, her repulsion towards that horrible thought.

"Mind your tone young lady!" Her mother's eyes became hard as stone, while she got up from the chair and discarded the knit work. But when she turned to Dolores, the child's expression was so similar to the ones she often saw on her relatives when she was young. And Ramona was almost scared of her own daughter. "I will find a way Dolores. You are my daughter, despite what you think of me, I want the best for you."

"I just want my wand." Dolores felt nothing but disgust for the woman who condemned them both to a life of poverty and humiliation. She shrugged and left the room, feeling the mother's eyes on her back.

The day after, Dolores realized that, fair or not, they had no money. If she wanted a wand she had to find a way to get some money. The idea of having to beg for money was hideous. She came from a powerful family, one that had all the money they needed and much more. They should have the money. They were Selwyns. But it was no time to complain. And anyways it wasn't money she really missed, but power. Money came with it, and it was a necessary mean to get to it too, apparently.

The fair thing to do would have been to get money from the Selwyns, as a revenge, kind of, but how? She was just a ten year old girl with no wand and no knowledge what so ever of any kind of magic.

But she remembered someone who could help her. There was this assistant at Borgin & Burkes, a young man no one had ever expected to see in such a dark place. Dolores had heard he was a genius in Hogwarts, and was offered many prestigious positions in the Ministry. Still, he worked there.

She couldn't remember his name, but she remembered he was very found in the dark arts, and not of rules. Dolores met him a couple of times with her mother, and he seemed very charming and lovely. They had bought a few herbs in the shop he worked for once, and Dolores remembered shreds of a conversation he was having with the shop's owner, about some forbidden item they held in there.

Once, in Diagon Alley, she recognized his face and pointed him to her mother. They exchanged formalities and went on their ways, but as soon as her mother turned, and she was still looking she saw him stealing a book from a nearby shop with a very clever spell. He noticed her stare, and winked at her happily. She smiled and kept walking.

He was perfect. He would help her.

It was three days before her birthday. Her mother had to go to Diagon Alley to buy some ingredients for cleaning potions. Dolores offered to go with her. Normally she wouldn't agree, but now that they were slowly drifting apart, she took every chance to be closer to her daughter.

Once in the Alley, Dolores found a way to get away.

"Mother I'm going to wait for you in front of the wands shop."

"Dolores…"

"I will just look at them, I just want to look."

"Okay. See me there in an hour."

As soon as she was out of her sight she ran to Knockturn Alley, to Borgin & Burkes. Sure enough she drew lots of stares on her person. A small little girl running in Knockturn Alley is a curious thing. She slowed down, pulled herself together, put on a serious face and walked steadily to the shop.

When she walked in, the bell on the door dinged cheerfully, in contrast with the dark atmosphere of the shop. Behind the desk, the young man Dolores was looking for smiled at the last costumer leaving.

Looking at her he smiled and leaned on the desk.

"Oh hello little one. Need help finding mummy?" He smirked.

Dolores's eyes were cold when she stared back at him. Hard as a stone, she spoke, controlling herself.

"I am not a little one. I am a pureblood witch. Please, treat me as one."

He smiled, but stood straight up and talked again, in a different tone. "I am truly sorry. May I help you? My name is Tom Riddle, at your service."