Chap. 12: The meeting and Budleigh Babberton.
"Is that what he really looks like, Harry?" Daphne asked with wide eyes, as she cuddled into a ball beside Harry and stared at the paper.
"Yes, dear," Harry said as he wrapped his arm around her for comfort. "White skin with blue veins everywhere, slits for nostrils like a snake, and slit irises. The eyes are red, though, in real life, which the black and white photo fails to capture. That is Tom Marvolo Riddle in the flesh, in both instances."
"Cor! Blimey, mate, I didn't know you had ta deal with a monster like tha'!" Ron exclaimed as he studied the magical portrait, which had been painted by Daniel Davis, and photographed for the paper.
"Yes, well -" Hermione started.
"Who's the old horrified crone in the photo underneath?" Harry asked. "She looks like she's about to have a coronary while staring up at the two photos." Here, Harry had to fight back a smirk.
Harry was right, as Tonk's alias was an old woman about the age of Muriel, who was dressed in a dress owned by Muriel, and she was wearing one of the old witch's feathered hats as well. She had the same type of frizzy grey hair, but her face was different. This woman had more wrinkles, and she had a large hooked nose like Snape. Resting down on her nose was a pair of reading glasses attached to a black cord around her neck.
The old woman was looking up, and to her left, with a look of abject horror on her face, with her mouth gaping open, and her hand held in front of her mouth as if to stifle a scream.
Here, Hermione brought the paper down, and read the text under the old woman.
"It said she's Mildred Knowes, a Magic Eye international correspondent, but it doesn't say where she's from."
Harry almost snorted at Hermione's scowling look.
"Well," Daphne inquired, "what's the article say?"
Hermione gave Daphne a look as if she had just sucked on a lemon.
"It says," Hermione huffed:
"He Became That!"
"The Real History Of You-Know-Who."
"Yes, dear readers, you read the headline correctly. We have the honor of revealing to you who this so-called British Lord is that many call 'You-Know-Who,' and only the brave or the foolish call 'Lord Voldemort.' However, it is not wise to say aloud the latter moniker, since he jinxed his name the last time that he was back, and if anyone uttered it, even under their breath, the Death Eaters would show up to pay them a visit. It is best, then, dear reader, to not tempt fate!
"This so-called lord is no lord at all, and neither in the British muggle nor magical societies. No, his father, a muggle, once could have held that title, but You-Know-Who never took up his father's seat in the House of Lords. On the magical side, he holds no title whatsoever!
"Yes, dear reader, you may now be dumbfounded by my accusation that You-Know-Who's father was a muggle, but we did our diligent research, and can verify that his father was, in fact, Thomas Riddle Sr., who owned most of the town of Little Hangleton, and lived with his aging father who was the Lord of the Manor there. Little Hangleton is just outside Brighton and Hove, and close to Greater Hangleton on our southern coast in East Sussex. We can unequivocally state that Mr. Riddle had not one ounce of magical blood in him. He was as muggle as they come!
"Now, my dear reader, you may think that there is a scandal here, and you would be correct! The scandal starts with the Gaunt family, who were magical but lived in a dilapidated farm cottage across the valley from the Riddles. It was well known that the Gaunts were completely loopy and insane over their inbreeding, and worse, they were the last of the Parselmouths in Britain. Supposedly, they were also the last of Salazar Slytherin's line, but that may not be quite true since it has been so long ago. The Gaunts were known to marry close cousins, and even sisters, to 'keep it all in the family.' Their line ends with a father and two children, Marvolo Gaunt, his son, Morfin, and his daughter, Merope. However, we can't forget the grandson, who is the son of Merope and Mr. Riddle, Tom Marvolo Riddle, otherwise known as You-Know-Who, who was named after his father and grandfather!
"I Am Lord Voldemort is an anagram, after all, from Tom Marvolo Riddle! Voldemort (French: Vol de mort) also means 'flight of death,' where many believe death is his greatest fear.
"Now, dear reader, you may be asking what is the scandal. Well, supposedly Merope Gaunt had gained an eye for the young, and soon-to-be, Lord Riddle (once his father had died). Her brother, Morfin, who it was said made the family's meager living by plundering muggles, noticed his sister's infatuation with the young aristocratic muggle. Morfin didn't take kindly to this, so, one night, and at a muggle pub in Little Hangleton, Morfin hexed Mr. Riddle with painful hives, which the ministry picked up on and had to reverse. Thus, Morfin broke the law; using magic on a muggle, and breaking the International Statute of Secrecy!
"That's right, dear readers! Next, Bob Ogden, the head of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad, was sent by the ministry to Little Hangleton to hand-deliver a summons to Morfin, who had been refusing the ministry's owls. Here, things became much worse, as not only did Morfin attack Mr. Ogden, but so did Marvolo, and this led to both being arrested, tried, convicted, and incarcerated at Azkaban!
"During the time of their incarceration, Merope, who probably hadn't much money, and here we can only speculate, may have slipped Mr. Riddle a love potion, and it was even muttered that the Imperius Curse could have been employed. However, Merope, from what we can find, was close to a squib in magical talent, so we believe that she either made or obtained a potion and maybe by using the little remaining family money they had.
"What we know as a fact, which was printed in the muggle news of the time, was that Mr. Riddle dropped the woman he was courting, and run off with Merope Gaunt!"
Photo: Artist rendering of Merope Gaunt
(Cont. Pg. 3, Col. 1)
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"Oh, dear," Hermione gasped.
"What is it?" Ron asked.
"It's Merope Gaunt," Hermione replied, "and they have an artist's drawing of her, and she's pitiful!"
Here, Hermione handed Ron the paper, and he looked at the drawing.
"Merlin's beard!" Ron exclaimed. "The poor witch's left eye is staring straight ahead while her right eye is looking up, and to the right! Worse, her teeth look like the keys on a destroyed piano, which are pointing in every direction with a few missing!
"Look at this, mate," Ron said to Harry; passing him the paper.
Harry took the paper and acted surprised; even giving out a whistle. He then handed the paper to Daphne.
"Oh, my," Daphne said, "that poor witch."
Next, Daphne handed the paper back to Hermione, who opened it to page three. Here, Hermione turned an interesting shade of puce, and she was gaping at what she saw at the top of the column.
"I, I, I, I...," Hermione stuttered, "well, this, this, it's just scandalous! Doesn't this paper know any shame!"
"What is it?" Harry said with fake concern.
"THE AD AT THE TOP!" Hermione shouted, and shoved the paper forward toward Harry.
Harry looked at the ad and snorted. Daphne, however, had a pondering look on her face.
"They look sort of like a muggle fireleg's bullet," Daphne said, "but they claim they're personal massage devices. I don't get it."
Hermione gave a horrible scowl, launched herself up, and snatched the paper away from Harry. Next, she started pacing while shaking the paper in the air.
"They're a bloody vibrator for Merlin's sake; you know, for women! A, a, a, type of, well, a dildo!"
"Huh?" Daphne and Ron said at the same time making Harry chortle.
"IT'S NOT BLOODY FUNNY, HARRY!" Hermione roared and stomped her foot. This only made him laugh more.
"Mate?" Ron asked.
"Well, you see, Ron," Harry said after he collected himself, "they're about six inches long, about an inch in diameter, and run on batteries. They vibrate like a wand does with an alarm spell, and women use them to please themselves."
"Please themselves?" Ron said, noticing Daphne blush and Hermione glare at him as if he was simple.
"They stick them IN - THEIR - TWAT, RON!" Hermione said, ending with a shout, and finally blowing a gasket. However, now she stopped pacing and covered her mouth with her hand; afraid of who might have overheard that slip.
"Oh," Ron said while blushing redder than Harry had ever seen him.
"I put up an anti-eavesdropping spell, Hermione," Harry deadpanned, "when we came in here.
"Maybe, you should get back to the article, yea?"
Hermione gave Harry a scandalized look, huffed, and sat back down to reopen the paper. Daphne raised one manicured eyebrow at Harry about Hermione's actions, wondering if the witch was stable.
Here, Hermione took a few deep breaths and cleared her throat as she began to read.
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"Yes, dear readers, Merope Gaunt and Tom Riddle Sr. ran off and were married. Tom eloped, leaving his poor bride-to-be heartbroken. The scandal was in all the local muggle newspapers from Little Hangleton to Brighton.
"What we could find next, was that something strange happened, where Tom suddenly came to himself about six months into Merope's pregnancy. The papers reported that he had left Merope, claiming that he had been bewitched, and hid behind the doors of Riddle Manor.
"Next, rumors started circulating in Diagon Alley that witches and wizards had noticed that Merope was broke and downtrodden; begging for food. Everyone noticed that she was with child that October and November. Also, everyone that we spoke to said that she seemed to disappear at the end of December.
"Here, dear readers, we did our research and found that she had turned up at Wool's Orphanage in South London, begging for help and that she was in labor!
"The muggle orphanage did try to help the poor witch, but records show that she died not long after giving birth, and just after naming her son Tom Marvolo Riddle after his father and grandfather. Tom was born just after the clock struck twelve on the new year.
"Of course, the orphanage reared the tot, and when he came of age, none other than Albus Dumbledore appeared to hand young Tom, now eleven, his Hogwarts letter.
"It gets worse, dear reader, as it was said that Dumbledore spoke to Mrs. Cole, who had just started working at the orphanage before Tom was born. Here, she informed the headmaster that Tom was a problem child, was a thief, and that he had been accused of doing horrible things to the other children, including killing a pet rabbit that belonged to one of them. Albus, though, gave young Tom his letter and left.
"Tom showed up at Hogwarts under Headmaster Armando Dippet, where he proved to be a bright child who wanted to learn magic. Learn, he did, dear readers, and it was some of the worst magic imaginable.
"Worse, bad things started happening at Hogwarts, not only over Gellert Grindelwald and the Nazis but over Tom and a group of student followers. During 1943-1944, a young witch, Myrtle Warren, was found dead in a second-floor loo, and it was said that it was due to the "Heir of Slytherin," which many have now heard of over Harry Potter, who went into the chamber and slew an ancient basilisk. This occurred in Lord Potter's second year. Rubeus Hagrid was blamed for the death by Mr. Riddle and was expelled. Mr. Potter, however, gave a statement saying that Tom framed Hagrid and that he was innocent. This paper wonders if the ministry will rectify this miscarriage of justice? Rubeus is a fellow wizard, dear readers, who has been denied a wand since that time!
"During those same years, Tom's father and grandparents were murdered, and Morfin Gaunt was re-arrested for the crime. This occurred during Tom's vacation from Hogwarts when he was in his mid-teens. One has to ask the question, did Tom leave the orphanage during his school vacation, and during the time of those murders?
"Tom became head boy, but surprised everyone after graduation, by taking up a job at Borgin and Burkes. With his excellent NEWT scores, everyone expected him to land a good job in the ministry.
"Here, dear reader, things become murky. Tom had visited Hepzibah Smith to persuade her to sell some magical artifacts to the shop. Mrs. Smith ended up dead; Tom left for the continent and wasn't seen again for several years, where he later showed up at Hogwarts with the members of the Knights of Walpurgis to ask Headmaster Dumbledore for a job. Of course, Dumbledore turned him down. It was said that the headmaster already knew that Tom had taken up the name of Voldemort, and knew of his crime spree.
"From there, the Knights of Walpurgis became the Death Eaters, and Tom's tyrannical crime spree hit wizarding Britain with full force. That was until he faced off with the infant, Harry Potter, who was just one year and three months old. Many have speculated on what occurred that Halloween night, but You-Know-Who was destroyed, it was thought since no body was found. However, now, dear reader, we can honestly say that Tom is back, which is just as Lord Potter and Black, along with Headmaster Dumbledore, have been stating all along!
"We will try to bring you, the wizarding public, more when we have it.
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"That's it," Hermione said, "besides a small article about Umbridge that states her crimes, and that they will report about her trial. The rest, by the looks of it," and here she turned the page only to gasp and clamp her lips shut for a moment, "is all about scandal throughout wizarding Britain."
"Uh huh," Ron said. "What's on the last page, Hermione?"
Here, Hermione looked as if she would pop, but eventually, she opened it and held the paper up for them to see. It was a half-page ad for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The ad proudly promoted U-No-Poo, Reusable Hangmen, Skiving Snackboxes, Portable Swamps, the Weasley's Brand of Wet-Start Fireworks, and their WonderWitch products, such as Love Potions, Ten-Second Pimple Vanishers, and Pygmy Puffs.
Here, Harry and Ron bellowed out in loud guffaws, and Hermione did not look pleased, at all, especially when she noticed Daphne smirk at her.
When the two stifled their laughing, Hermione studied Harry.
"You're sure," Hermione asked Harry, "that you know nothing about this?"
"Me?" Harry said, feigning surprise. "Of course not! Whoever owns that paper, though, I'll give them credit for what they've done, as that needed to come out."
"That, it did," Ron said.
"Maybe," Daphne opined, "last year's graduates, and those from this year, will think twice about following a lying common half-blood criminal!"
Here, Harry hugged Daphne over to him and kissed her temple. "You're certainly correct, dear!"
Hermione looked as if she wanted to gag at the sweetness oozing from Harry.
"Listen," Harry said after quickly looking at his watch, "Daphne and I have to go."
"What! Why?" Ron asked.
"We're going with Dumbledore, and he only gave us fifteen minutes. He wants our help in recruiting a new professor. Slughorn, wasn't it, Daphne?"
"That's him," Daphne said as she stood, and took Harry's hand. "He taught Mum and Da'."
"I think he taught my Mum and Da', too," Ron said as he also stood.
"But we've not finished talking!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Sorry, Hermione," Harry said, "not tonight; we have to leave for now. I need to have Daphne back at a respectable hour as well, or Cyrus and Helen will kill me."
As they made their way toward the kitchen, Hermione asked, "So, you call Greengrass' parents by their given names, now?"
Harry looked at Hermione oddly over that. "Well, of course, I do! They will be my mother and father-in-law, you know?"
When they walked into the kitchen, nothing else was said, as everyone had moved from the backyard and had taken a seat around the large kitchen table. Here, Dumbledore stood from his chair and was ready to go.
Albus smiled at Harry and Daphne, and asked, "Ready for our adventure?"
A pop of apparation was heard through the night as Albus Dumbledore appeared along with two of his students by side-along apparation. Both had noticed the headmaster's right hand, but Harry whispered to Daphne that he would tell her about that when they arrived back at Greenhill Manor.
"Keep your wands at the ready, Harry and Daphne," he said brightly.
"But I thought," Daphne said, "that I'm not allowed to use magic outside school, sir?'
"If there is an attack," said Dumbledore, "I give you permission to use any counter-jinx or curse that might occur to you. However, I do not think that neither of you need worry about being attacked tonight, and Harry is now a full-fledged wizard."
Here, Daphne thought of the two new spells that Harry had told her about, such as the Vaginae Putisco and Torquent Testiculis, but her favorite, which she already knew, was Congelo Testiculis. These were known as the Twat Rot, Bollocks Twister, and Bollocks Freezer spells. Twat Rot, though, was permanent, with no known counter, and it was eventually, deadly. It ate a witch's female organs up like a very fast cancer, rotting them away, and they died, usually, of sepsis.
The Torquent Testiculis literally twisted a wizard's bollocks up in knots, and it could cause them to lose them if not treated quickly. It was also very painful, and something akin to a torture curse. Harry had said that it was for those who might lay hands on Daphne without her permission.
"Why not, sir?" Daphne wondered.
"You are with me," said Dumbledore simply.
Daphne almost snorted at this.
As the couple followed the old headmaster up a street, Dumbledore spoke up as if discussing the weather.
"So tell me, Harry," said Dumbledore. "Your scar… has it been hurting at all?"
Harry raised a hand unconsciously to his forehead and rubbed the lightning-shaped mark, while Daphne raised an eyebrow up at the question.
"No," Harry said, "and I've been wondering about that. I thought it would be burning all the time now You-Know-Who's getting so powerful again."
He glanced up at Dumbledore and saw that he was wearing a satisfied expression.
"I, on the other hand, thought otherwise," said Dumbledore. "Lord Voldemort has finally realized the dangerous access to his thoughts and feelings you have been enjoying. It appears that he is now employing Occlumency against you."
"Well, I'm not complaining," said Harry, who missed neither the disturbing dreams nor the startling flashes of insight into Voldemort's mind. "Come November, I'll be rid of this blasted scar forever."
They turned a corner, passing a telephone box and a bus shelter. Harry looked sideways at Dumbledore again.
"Professor?"
"Harry?"
"Where are we, Headmaster?" Harry asked as he and Daphne were looking around at the small village they were now walking through.
"This, Harry, is the charming village of Budleigh Babberton." (Partly from Chap. 4, HBP)
TBC Next Chapter
A/N: I had fun writing Hermione in this chapter! As always, I appreciate the reviews!
A note to other authors. I use Text Aloud to read back what I've written. It allows you to hear how it sounds, and you can edit it within the app until you have it correct. Once the chapter is posted, I run it through Grammarly via my browser.