An- lots of important stuff in this chapter. Some dialouge you will recognise from the Half Blood Prince, i dont own any of it, i have altered some to fit my story. please review and tell me faults and positives!

Truth hurts

The usual excitement of school coming to a close, had once more taken over the school now the "culprit" had been caught and the attacks had stopped. Exams were a thing of the past and now classes were relaxed and merely used to pass time. The library that had been full to the brim the last few weeks was now pretty much empty, save for the few students who popped in now and again.

Although Anya spent as much time with Zarian in the grounds of Hogwarts as she could, she still came to the library hopeful to find anything that could help her with her search for her family. She still had found nothing, and had concluded that the library couldn't have anything about the long missing family.

The school year was over, it was strange to think that she would be in her last year, and that Zarian the first person she had met would no longer be coming back to the glory that was Hogwarts. Goodbyes for the summer had been hard but she knew she would be seeing him again soon. So Anya wasn't as sad as she thought she would be as she made the familiar journey once again to Riddle Manor. Jones of course was driving her back, having met her at London station, and had been making polite conversation along the way, asking only certain questions about school. Anya suddenly had a thought, her mind was dragged back to the old shack that they had seen, and no one had said a name for the man who lived there.

"Mr Jones...do you per chance happen to know name of the family who lives in that old gardeners shack do you?" she asked this whilst looking out the window but her eyes shot back to the man in the front seat.

"Um...I'm not sure miss, I believe it would be something like Graunt or something like that...Gaunt maybe" he paused as if remembering something "why would you be asking Miss Riddle?".

"Oh no reason really, just mild curiosity." She answered simply looking at her nails. Inside she was practically singing, she knew it, there was something about that place that had caught her eye. The rest of the drive was silent mostly and the cool summer breeze was welcoming as they neared the Manor, first thing she would owl her brother about this, maybe it was time they visited the Gaunt shack. After seeing her father and "mother" in the sitting room as always and receiving the same warning she always got when she came back from Hogwarts, she quickly went to her room where she quickly got a piece of paper and wrote to her brother.

"Tom

I think I have found them, and to think right under my nose the whole time, in a small shack on the outskirts of the village, lives a family named Gaunt. If you could please meet me a little way from the Manor as soon as you can, I think we should do this together. I await you responding letter.

Anya"

Tom met his sister a little way from the manor house, he wasn't surprised at the grandeur of the place to which he should've been born, and it meant little to him anyway what good was muggle power anyway.

Anya walked towards him wearing a long coat with a hood, she didn't want people recognising her less they inform her father about what she was doing. "Ready?" she asked him, Tom nodded and they walked down to the shack together. The place looked as run down as ever and weeds had obviously decided to claim the land back again, Tall trees overlapped everywhere so even though the day was sunny the place was completely in the shade. Anya was once again unsure about this, how could a family that was descended from Slytherin have sunk so low, surly it couldn't be possible. she paused as a strange echo of what Mrs Walker had said to her came back to her "maybe you shouldn't do so much digging into the past, sometimes things can be painful to remember…" would this give her answers, what could there be that would be painful for her to know?

"Anya, are you coming?" Tom hissed already stepping through the broken gate. Anya sighed shaking her head, "don't be so silly" she told herself she had been waiting for this for years. Anya couldn't believe that anyone was living in this place; it looked like it was going to fall down at any minute. The walls were covered by moss and the scantly tiled roof allowed some of the rafters, the impossibly tiny windows, either had boards on them or else the glass was so blackened seeing inside was impossible. The door was ajar but the effect was not welcoming more alarming as if the person living in the "house" knew they were coming and was daring them to come any further.

Tom led his way into the house, but not Anya noticed before he had paused slightly. Not even the outside of the building had prepared Anya for what lay inside, the smell itself was nauseating and Anya did not believe she had ever seen a place like it. The ceiling itself was completely covered in cobwebs, the floor coated with grime. Mouldy and rotting food lay on the table amidst a huge pile of filthy and crusted pots. Both she and Toms gaze where drawn to the only light in the room, a small candle that was set at the feet of what may have been a corpse. The man had a beard and hair that was so mattered and long that Anya couldn't even see his eyes or mouth, he was slumped in an armchair, with many bottles that were scattered around his feet. As though sensing their presence her jerked awake and with surprising speed stood up with his wand in one hand and a short knife in his other.

Anya merely stared at the pitiful excuse of a human being before her, not bothered at all about his threatening attitude. As if he recognised Tom the man suddenly roared "YOU? YOU!" he made to come towards them, with his weapons raised. Anya made to move but Tom merely hissed "Stop".

Shock streaked across the man's face, or what she could see of it, he even skidded into the table the pots hitting the ground making a loud crash that echoed throughout the room before being eaten by the darkness. "You speak it?"the man demanded.

"Yes I speak it." Tom hissed back, moving forward into the room. Anya couldn't keep the disgust from her face at their surroundings.

"And her?" the man gestured at Anya with the knife, turning to face her. "Of course....where is Marvolo?" Anya asked eager to get to the point and leave this place as fast as she could.

"Dead... he died years ago didn't he?" both Anya and Tom frowned at this.

"Who are you then?"

"I'm Morfin ain't I? I'm his son." Morfin pushed his hair back of his face so that he could see the two people before him. A small black ring was on his right hand. "I thought you were that muggle, you look mighty like that muggle."

Anya knew who he meant, her father...but how did this man know her father. "What muggle" Tom demanded however.

"Well that muggle my sister took a fancy to, that muggle what lives in the big house over the way. " he spat on the floor " you look right like him. Riddle. But he's older now of course, a lot older than you know I think about it. He swayed slightly clinging to a table. "he came back of course."

Anya moved forward this time, her curiosity peaked and alarm bells ringing in her mind. "Riddle came back? Why?"

Morfin grinned slightly "Ar, he left her, and serve her right it did, marrying filth such as him; even had a child didn't take that with her though. He was putting himself into a rage and Anya was clinging to his every word. Her mother? "She robbed us mind, before she ran off. Where's the locket, eh, where's Slytherin's locket?" he was waving his knife. "Dishonoured us she did, the little slut, spawning with him! Who are you anyway, coming over here and asking questions about all that? Not your business I'm sure...besides It's over innit...it's over!"

Anya moved forward. "Yes... it is". Raising her wand she stunned Morfin, the man fell forward with a thud. Tom looked at her questioningly but he had to admit that he was slightly alarmed by her expression, Anya eyes were cold her pupils were almost slit like and she was visibly shaking with shock and anger.

"Sister?" he asked, touching her shoulder. Anya turned to him, glanced back at Morfin and then back, before walking out the door leaving it swinging. "Anyana, where are you going?" Tom demanded, catching up with her and taking hold of her arm.

"Home...I need to know!" she paused and Tom saw that her eyes were wide and slightly wet, she was still trembling. "Are you coming with me?"...