The Enemy of my Enemy

The Memory, Part I

While she had reassured him that she was okay, Harry still held firmly onto Teddie and helped her back to Dumbledore's desk. He only released her once she was sitting comfortably in one of the high back chairs.

"What happened to the girl in the cottage?" said Harry at once, as Dumbledore lit extra lamps with a flick of his wand. "Merope, or whatever her name was?"

"Oh, she survived," said Dumbledore, reseating himself behind his desk. "Odgen Apparated back to the Ministry and returned with reinforcements within fifteen minutes. Morfin and his father attempted to fight, but both were overpowered, removed from the cottage, and subsequently convicted by the Wizengamot. Morfin, who already had a record of Muggle attacks, was sentenced to three years in Azkaban. Marvolo, who had injured several Ministry employees in addition to Odgen, received six months."

Harry glanced at Teddie. "How did you know his name was Marvolo?" he asked. "You also recognised them fairly early one. How?"

"Marvolo Gaunt," said Teddie. "He was Voldemort's grandfather on his mother's side. My great-grandfather." She turned to Dumbledore. "That woman - Merope - that was my grandmother, wasn't it? And Morfin, my great-uncle."

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, my dear, do you understand now why I wish for you to sit in on these lessons?" he asked.

"Caroline intends to tell me about Avery," said Teddie, "and you intend to tell me about Voldemort."

"I'm glad to see you're keeping up, Teddie," said Dumbledore, smiling. "Marvolo, his son, Morfin, and his daughter, Merope, were the last of the Gaunts, a very ancient Wizarding family noted for a vein of instability and violence that flourished through the generations due to their habit of marrying their own cousins. Lack of sense coupled with a great liking for grandeur meant that the family gold was squandered several generations before Marvolo was born. He, as you saw, was left in squalor and poverty, with a very nasty temper, a fantastic amount of arrogance and pride, and a couple of family heirlooms that he treasured just as much as his son, and rather more than his daughter."

"The man on the horse," said Teddie. "Was that -?"

"Tom Riddle Snr," said Dumbledore, nodding. "Yes, Teddie, that was your grandfather."

Teddie shivered. "I hate him already," she said. "Him and the woman he was with. They remind me of the spoilt rich kids I grew up with. They only cared about their money and what it could bring them and tormented those of us who didn't have any."

"Merope and Tom Riddle Snr ended up married?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"I think you are forgetting," said Dumbledore, "that Merope was a witch. I do not believe that her magical powers appeared to their best advantage when she was being terrorized by her father. Once Marvolo and Morfin were safely in Azkaban, once she was alone and free for the first time in her life, then, I am sure, she was able to give full rein to her abilities and to plot her escape from the desperate life she had led for eighteen years. Can you not think of any measure Merope could have taken to make Tom Riddle forget his Muggle companion, and fall in love with her instead?"

"The Imperius Curse?" Harry suggested. "Or a love potion?"

"Personally, I am inclined to think that she used a love potion," said Teddie. "It would be much more romantic for her."

"Indeed," said Dumbledore, nodding.

"It also would not have been very difficult to get him to take it, either," said Teddie. "She could've persuaded him with a glass of water one hot day, when he was riding along. He wouldn't know that it was laced with a love potion."

Dumbledore nodded. "In any case, within a few months of the scene we have just witnessed, the village of Little Hangleton enjoyed a tremendous scandal. You can imagine the gossip it caused when the squire's son ran off with the tramp's daughter, Merope. But the villagers' shock was nothing to Marvolo's. He returned from Azkaban, expecting to find his daughter dutifully awaiting his return with a hot meal ready on his table. Instead, he found a clear inch of dust and her note of farewell, explaining what she had done."