The Day it all changed.

"Get Out!" Tom Riddle screamed at the young woman standing before him. His wife Merope Riddle stood with tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Tom... Please....I love you" she pleaded, why oh why did she lift the enchantment, had she honestly believed that he could love her. Her, the daughter of a mad tramp chasing his family's former glory for which he now rotted in Azkaban.

"You don't love me; your kind could never love anyone... you WITCH." Merope was stung at those words, she couldn't help what she was, she was born that way. "Get out of my house, never return less I tell everyone what you are." How could his feelings for her just change so quickly, hadn't she been a devoted wife? In her heart she knew the answer, she had lied and deceived him, believing that over time he would truly love and care for her.

"Tom, I'm pregnant... Where will I go?" It was true, just days before she had done the test. They had been so happy, that she hadn't thought about giving him the potion. Foolish, Stupid. She fell to her knees before him, begging, pleading that he wouldn't throw her out, he wouldn't listen. "Tom please, I love you, where will I go, you can't just chuck me out, please." She kissed his knuckles but he merely pulled his hand back quickly, as though she was a bug that he didn't want to touch.

"Stay away from me... Witch. Get out of my house; if you're not out of her in one hour, I'm calling the police."

The adults were so engrossed in their row; they failed to notice how the one year old girl had sat up in her crib. Her eyes wide with shock. Her parents never rowed, never even raised their voices. Her father sat down in the chair by the fire staring into the flames. Where was her mother, why was she crying? What was going on?

"Dadda? ... Dadda!" She called reaching her surprisingly slim arms over the bars of her crib. "Dadda!"

He ignored her, just staring into the fire. A tear had rolled down his cheek; he wiped it away angrily, and stood up. Merope chose this moment to reappear, her eyes red and sore from the tears that still cascaded down her cheeks. A single bag was in her hand, and her pendant was round her neck.

"Mamma, Mamma?" Anya cried, reaching out for her mother, why did she have a bag, where they going on a trip? Merope walked over to the infant, picking her up and hugging her tightly. "Be good, my little Anyana... Be good." Anya cried out again "Mamma?" Merope placed her back in the cot, and turned away.

Tom who was standing in the corner, watching the scene with a raised eyebrow. "What do you expect to do with her?" He asked coldly, but his eyes burned with curiosity and a hint of loss. "Do you expect to leave her here?"

"Tom, please... I can't take her with me, she'd starve. Please just let her stay, she is your daughter too, just let her stay here, and live." Merope begged, looking him straight in the eye. "Please, just do this one thing for me... please" her eyes were brimming with more tears, the last request she would ever make to him. "Please..."

Tom looked at his broken wife, then to his infant daughter. What if this little child was a witch too, what if she was like her mother? Yet her little eyes looked at him with a child's innocence. "Dadda" she called again, her arms still reaching to him, desperate for reassurance.

"Fine she can stay... but know this she'll never know of you, or your nonsense." He stated coldly, watching her eyes fill with tears again. "Goodbye, Miss Gaunt." The gentleman in him won through in the end.

Merope Gaunt, took one last look at her baby girl. Grabbed her bag and made for the door. Turning back she did a makeshift bow and said "Goodbye Mr Riddle".

He heard the door shut softly behind her and he turned back to the crying infant in the cot. He picked up his daughter and went to sit in the chair by the fire, rocking her slowly back and forth.