In the Shadow of Azkaban

Volume II: Alternate Ending VI

Marvolo's Point-of-View
The Gaunt Manor
September 1896

Orion was testing my patience with his incessant stupidity.

I questioned him once more, "Where's Mother Xilia? And Morganna?"

"Marvolo. You needn't familiarize yourself with such matters." Orion dismissed my concerns.

Mother Xilia was my teacher when my father decided to flounce around with his whore.

I needed her expertise. And I desperately needed my older sister.

My feet echoed off the wood while I stomped behind him. My fingers wrapped halfway around his thick wrist, and his eyes were petrified when they stared back into mine.

"I'm sorry, Orion. Kassia and the other lass disapparated. I have no clue of their whereabouts. You'll have to keep an eye on little Marvolo until he's of age to attend Hogwarts." A decrepit, hunched woman stood in our foyer. Her grave voice shook when she delivered the news.

Orion as my guardian? Preposterous.

She handed him what appeared to be wands and a small ring. They clinked in Orion's grasp.

"Dinah. Can't you take him? You're motherly. I can't relive what happened with my own daughter. What if the Ashwinders return?" His voice seemed frantic as he pleaded with the woman named Dinah.

She spoke so quickly she had almost cut off his question. "No! That's my final word, Orion. No. Please, take the belongings of your deceased and tend to your renounced fatherly duties."

Deceased? But who?

I somehow managed to pull away from his gaze and screamed at him, "Where are they?! Who's dead? Answer me you buffoon!"

He bellowed back, his voice growing with each word, "Your father, sister, and grandmother were all murdered. Is that what you wanted to hear so badly, boy?"

His face reddened, and he appeared to resemble a large tomato. For good reason. He had lost his family twice, now. What an unlucky lad.

"Come on, Marvolo. We're going to take a little trip." He pulled me up in the air by the back of my shirt collar. I twisted into a small ball when we apparated somewhere relatively familiar.

"Here. This was your father's ring." Orion slipped a heavy piece of jewelry into my palms. In the moonlight, the golden edges and black diamond reminded me of a bad omen.

The surroundings he chose caught me off guard. Uncle Caractacus was rarely regarded. His family, The Burkes, always held more status than the Gaunts. It infuriated me that they were treated better.

However, Orion brought me here, to the Burke Estate. Nightfall ensured the scene felt even creepier than normal.

"Go on. Go knock on the door." Orion gestured, and as soon as I approached it, he vanished.

My knocking failed in comparison to the massive door. Knock, knock, knock. They sounded like the pitter-pattering of a Kneazle.

But the door creaked open at my introduction. And before me stood Caractacus.

His constant grimace disappeared for a moment when he saw me; then, it returned.

"My so-called sister is dead, isn't she?" Caractacus growled into the warm, summer air.

I hadn't the courage to speak, so I just nodded instead.

"Use your words with me, or you'll get the hand, young man." The icy tone matched the sinister look in his eyes.

"Yes, sir." I squeaked. Caractacus made me feel powerless. Uneasy.

"Good manners." He clicked his tongue and turned on his heel, expecting me to follow him. I chose the only option.

"You'll stay with the house elves in the attic. Do not speak unless spoken to, and do not commit anything I would consider a crime against my family or the Purebloods." The words flew out of him, most likely the only warning I would receive.

I objected, "I am a Pureblood. I would never disrespect—"

Caractacus looked me up and down, disappointment clouding his vision, "You may have magic, but you're a muggle in my eyes."

A muggle. Me? A damned muggle?

I would always be a Pureblood, and if I had to murder every muggle to show him that, then so be it.