The hollow Riddles
-Dear Tom,
I am not good at all but I hope you are doing well, I am aware that I have kept you in the dark for a long time but I really need you. So again I forward my plea towards you to come back to me and your child, we need you.
-Regards Merope
Fates eyebrows were knitted together, her head was clouded with hasty assumptions of what did merope mean by "keeping him in the dark"?
This was the last letter in the messy stack of old letters which were all sent by Tom's mother.
After reading a few more she realized Merope slowly started giving up her hope because as the letters went on, they kept getting shorter and shorter lacking details and words and thus making the last one just a last plea.
Anger took over the girl, the letter still in her hand. Merope begged him, begged him to come back to her, his son, his family but he never did. He didn't even feel the slightest bit of sympathy.
—how can be so cruel? Just how?!—
she saw all she needed for the night before leaving she took the last letter with her.
Now resting in her bed only one thought stormed her brain.
—what dark was she talking about? Was she talking about her being a witch or was she hiding that she had conceived Tom?—
Both the possibilities seemed just enough for the cause of Tom's abandonment but still, would Tom Riddle Snr have not wanted to see his own child? Or Was the sin of Merope hiding her identity so great that the cruel man never wanted to see his own family ever again?
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
The alarm blared out it's annoying "boom" waking Fate up. What a great disappointment that this isn't all a big bad nightmare, she thought to herself getting out of bed.
Everyone was having their breakfast when grandma riddle piped up "Girl were you in the attic last night"
Fate took a sip of her orange juice "why would I be in the attic? Doesn't that place have demons living in it?" She asked back with a straight face.
Both the children gasped with horrific expressions looking at Fate then at their grandma "i-is that true grams?"
"Don't be silly of course not"
"Of course It is true and I believe they do not always have a scary face, sometimes they live there in the form of old furniture and paper, as someone's past." The girl cut off grams talking sharply yet in her casual calm manner.
"What is that supposed to mean?!" Granma Riddle stomped her fists on the table while grandpa Riddle once again pretended like nothing around him existed.
"We are done! Come on we have to get ready for the day!" William announced.
"Wonderful! Let's go!" She completely ignored the old hag that was sat at the table and left.
The rest of the day wasn't so awful, the kids started getting ready for Halloween while Fate was in her room practicing various spells and writing some tips or important note in her diary.
But her mind kept drawing itself back to the letter.
—would that old stack of bones know anything about Tom Riddle Snrs old life! About Merope?—
She was only here until the night and that might be probably her last time in the Riddle manor she had to get answers and she needed them fast.
"Fate come downstairs and have a look!" William called out excitedly.
She strolled downstairs and saw William was dressed as a vampire "aww you look wonderful and pretty scary, where is the little princess?" Fate inquired looking around.
"Right here!" Maddy called skipping down the stairs.
"Oh my! Look at you, are you dressed as a-"
"A witch!" The enthusiastic girl giggled.
And just as she did grandpa and grandma Riddle walked downstairs, upon hearing the word "witch" both of them had a displeased look on their faces.
Fate as always was quick to notice and got the answer to her question.
"Alright it's time to leave, I just need to get my jacket" She walked upstairs, behind her she could hear both the kids giggling.
Suspiciously she looked around in her room before entering and there on the marble tiles was laying a black snake, more precisely a rubber snake. She smirked, a snake was the last thing to get her scared.
She walked back down wearing her black jacket. "Let's go kids"
Both the children glanced at each other confused because their babysitter was supposed to look terrified but instead she looked like she was in more of a pleasant mood.
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
"Okay this is the last house alright, it's getting late"
"Okay"
Soon all three of them were back home and the kids chomping on their candy after dinner.
"Time for bed little Riddles, you can have the rest of the candy tomorrow"
"But you won't be here tomorrow," Maddy said gloomily.
"Yes I won't but your candy will be" Fate smiled.
"But we actually liked you. You are so brave! You were not even scared of the snake" William said impressed.
"I like you guys too, and I know you will be brave just like me when you grow up" she smiled slightly unhappy, they were kids after all it was not their fault if they were being raised in such a dire manner.
It's never the child's fault for how they grow up, it's their parents. It's not the child's fault it's their parent's fault.
These words rang around Fate's mind, making her uneasy.
—maybe its not entirely Toms fault for him being the way he is—
"We will miss you Fate"
"I'll miss you too little Riddles...Goodbye," she closed the door with a sigh and walked to her room.
The snake was still there, she briefly looked at it then walked to her bag and got out her wand. As long as the muggles could not see her do magic, a small spell won't hurt.
*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
It was midnight and grandma Riddle was awakened by the sound of something dropping in the room right next to her bedroom.
She rapidly got her husband and walked out fuming. "This time I will not let it slide so easily stupid girl!" She pushed open the door.
"W-What are you doing here?" Fate spoke her voice unnerve.
"Girl you are in so much trouble! Get out this instant!" Grandma Riddle demanded but after not getting a response the old couple walked in.
The door was slammed shut making them both jump. The room was dark so they could not locate Fate's whereabouts.
"Show yourself, you thief!" Grandpa Riddle for the first time directly spoke but it was evident in his voice that he was intimidated.
"Oh Of course" the lights were flicked on and Fate was settled on the big bed in front of them.
"What are you doing here-"
"Shut it! I am the one who will be asking questions, now, sit" Fate demanded dangerously.
The old lady was taken aback but still, her stubborn self could not help it and she went on again "who do you think you are?!"
"You just won't listen now would you?" The short-haired girl scoffed. "I said sit"
The old couple was pushed down on the sofa behind them with an unseen force, their eyes were wide open. "Oh, lord! You are one of them! Albert! Help us!"
"It's no use you see, this room has been hexed. Anyone outside of this room won't hear a thing, no one is going to hear you cry for help." A smirk was placed on Fate's lips.
"W-what do y-you want with us?!"
"Finally, you got some sense inside that thick skull of yours...so you said "you are one of the" what does that mean? Who else did you know of who was is me?"
"Why would I tell you that?!" The old lady yelled.
"I won't. ask. again," Fate gritted her teeth, she did not have time for all this whining and with each second passing, she was losing her patience.
"Fine fine! I will tell you! Just please do not hurt us!" Grandpa's riddle spoke up with his shaky voice.
"Speak and make me change my mind" though it was clear she was not going to hurt the old muggles but they didn't know that, so she used that to her advantage.
"F-fine, we knew this hag, she-she stole our son from us! She had some sort of spell on him or a potion of some sort. We thought we lost our Tom but somehow he managed to escape and he came back to us!" The old couple had a look of disgust on their faces.
—spell? Potion? She had him hexed?—
"What do you mean stole my son? What did she do exactly?" Fate felt like she already knew the answer to her question but she just had to be sure.
"It was like she made him worship her! As if he was madly in love with her! But he was not it was all a hoax"
—Amortentia, it was Amortentia. She made Tom Riddle Snr fall in love with her, that's what she meant by "keeping him in the dark"—
Fates heart sunk low, she did not know how to react to the information she was given, was she supposed to feel empathy? Angry? Perhaps both?
"Now let us go!"
"I don't think you are in any position to make demands you sac of shit" She growled towards the old woman.
"Why did he leave her?" She calmed herself down, asking a new question.
"Why do you mean?! She was a filthy witch! She had no place in our house not after what she did!"
Fate remained quiet but her eyes dangerously bored into the old lady's, she drew in a breath. "You see I am very good at talking to snakes, figuratively and literally, so if you do not give me a clear answer I have other ways of getting what I want"
"W-What is that supposed to mean?!" The old couple looked horrified at Fate's words.
She rolled her eyes at the old stacks of bones sitting in front of her, amazed at how sometimes arrogant and ignorant these powerless muggles could be.
"figuratively I mean you, literally I mean the one near your feet"
"Oh my- ahhhh!" Grandma who once was being very tough was screaming bloody murder.
"SILENCE!" The furniture around them trembled momentarily as the girl screamed at the top of her lungs.
"I want an answer! As long as you speak, it will not hurt you but make me repeat myself one. More. Time and you know what follows"
"He left her because she was a witch and also because she had kept him with her against his will"
"Despite knowing she was carrying his child?" She raised her eyebrow and nodded at the snake, it slithered up grandma riddles knee.
"Ahh- i-it did not matter! He was not ready for a child, besides he didn't need something that was born on the fundamental of lies." Grandma riddle almost cried with fear.
"Something?! It was a baby! YOUR GRANDCHILD YOU GIT!" She stomped off the bed. "Higher" she looked at the snake and it did just as she instructed.
"I saw Meropes letters in the attic, why do u still have them? Half of them were not even opened"
"You really think Tom would have time to go through them? They were in the attic because no one had the time to throw them away"
The answer once again boiled Fate's blood. "Are you even aware of the consequences we all have to go through because of your pride and ego! You ruined a child's life! He deserved a better life! A family! But instead, he grew in an orphanage! Why did you not take the baby with your son? Why did you have to abandon your grandchild?! what was his fault?! Tom could have left Merope and taken his son!" Fate let out all of her wrath at once.
"I am sorry" the old man spoke up.
"No... you are not, you are only sorry because I found out..." her voice was faded with pity as she stared at at the old man.
"..You didn't even care to ask how your grandchild is? What is his name? How old is he now? I'll tell you, his name is Tom Marvolo Riddle and he is 16 and very much dead on the inside! So cold and brutal! He is only 16 and the a lot of you did this to him! And now we all have to pay for it!" She gawked at them with repugnance.
Both of them were holding onto each other for dear life, their heads were hung low with fake shame.
"Nothing, you still say nothing. Ask nothing, you are not sorry, you have no remorse and one day you are going to pay for it" she spoke truly hurt, all Toms family was so messed up, she didn't even know who she could entirely blame.
"Necks" the snake reached up to grandma riddles neck and hissed making tears run down her cheeks.
"Speak of our little to chat to anyone and...you will regret it..." she directed her wand at them and flicked it.
"Speak about me, or my identity and your body shall immediately paralyze, and before it does I will come by myself and invert your ribcage..." She bent down towards their faces and slowly spoke.
"...Do you u n d e r s t a n d?"
"Y-yes we d-do"
"Excellent then, I'll be leaving now. It was very unpleasant meeting you"
She grabbed the snake and left the room. Answers were found and the arrogant Riddle had ravaged everything.
—I'm coming, Tom—
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Guys I really liked today's chapter so I hope u like it too :D also ignore the typos I wanna sleep-
Also, don't forget to vote and comment.
Anyways enjoy (:
-Lots love Ebee♥️