Riddle And Grindelwald

28. Home Sweet Home

After spending most of the day trapped inside a small taxi, Genevieve couldn't wait to get out.
But she wasn't overly thrilled by the place she now found herself in.
The village her and Tom had arrived in was small, and full of Muggles, and she couldn't imagine that the descendants of the mighty Salazar Slytherin, had settled in that area.
"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Quizzed Genevieve.
"Yes. The Gaunt's live in a small house outside of the village, away from all this Muggle filth" answered Tom.
The pair of them began making their way out of the village and towards a small hut in the distance.
Tom had picked up a lamp on the way, to light up the path, so that they didn't have to use their wands and risk getting seen using magic by Muggles.

When they reached the stone hut, Genevieve took hold of Tom's free hand and squeezed it tight.
"Ready?" She whispered.
Tom nodded, and removed his hand from Genevieve's grip, so that he could knock on the door.
No one answered, so Tom pushed open the door, which had been left unlocked.
Tom and Genevieve then stepped inside the hovel, and found it covered in dust and cobwebs.
The floor was also littered in empty beer bottles, making the place look like a right dump.
But what concerned Genevieve most, was the man standing in front of them, who had a wand in one hand and a knife in the other.
The man had long shaggy hair and a murderous look in his eye.

"You! YOU!" He shouted, pointing his knife and wand at Tom, for whom he seemed to recognise.
"Stop" hissed Tom in Parseltongue.
The drunk man staggered to a stop and stared at Tom.
"You speak it?" Frowned the man.
"Yes I speak it" answered Tom.
Genevieve had to really concentrate to understand what the boys were saying, as Parseltongue didn't come naturally to her, for she was not born with the gift.

Tom shut the door behind them, trapping them inside the disgusting hovel.
Genevieve found the drunk man rather unnerving, so she inched herself closer to Tom.
"Where is Marvolo?" Asked Tom, after several awkward moments.
He knew that Marvolo was his maternal grandfather, so it was him Tom was after.
"Dead. He died years ago" the man responded.
"Who are you then?" Questioned Tom.
"I'm Morfin, ain't I"
"Marvolo's son?"
"Course I am".
Genevieve put the pieces together, and realised that the man in front of her was Tom's mother's brother, making Morfin Tom's uncle.

The man named Morfin pushed his dirty hair out of his face, to get a better look at Tom and Genevieve.
As he did, Genevieve noticed a black stoned ring on his finger.
Engraved on the stone was a symbol that Genevieve would recognise anywhere, for Gellert used it all the time.
It was the symbol of the Deathly Hallows.
"Where did you get that ring?" Questioned Genevieve, allowing her curiosity to overcome her fear.
"It's been in my family for yesrs. It bares the Peverell coat of arms. It belonged to my father, and now it is mine. Why do you want to know?" Demanded Morfin.
"I thought I recognised it" mumbled Genevieve.

"Who are you two anyway?" Questioned Morfin.
"That's not important" Tom said quickly.
"I thought you was that Muggle" admitted Morfin.
"What Muggle?"
"The Muggle that my sister took a fancy to. The Muggle that lives over there, in the big house".
Morfin pointed out the window to the large manor on the hill.
"You look like him, like Riddle. But he's older now. Older than you" continued Morfin.

Tom and Genevieve looked at each other, both thinking the same thing.
They had come looking for the Gaunt's, they hadn't expected to be told the location of Tom's Muggle father as well.
The pair kept quiet and looked back to Morfin, hoping he would reveal more of the story.
"He came back you see. Riddle came back. He left her, and it serves her right for marrying that Muggle filth. Robbed us before she run off though. She took Slytherin's locket from us, before disappearing. She dishonoured us, the little slut!" Revealed Morfin.

Genevieve took a step back from the man, who seemed to be working himself into a rage.
"Who are you anyway? Coming over here and asking all these questions! It's over innit. It's all over" Shouted Morfin.
The drunk man staggered backwards, and Tom advanced on him raising his wand.
"Stupefy!" Said Tom, as he flicked his wand at Morfin, rendering him unconscious.
Genevieve gasped, "What did you do that for?".
"He was getting too nosey. We can't have him knowing anything about us" answered Tom calmly.

"But he was your uncle. You just attacked your own uncle" informed Genevieve.
"I know that. And I hardly attacked him, I just Stunned him, he'll be fine. Besides, I didn't like how he was talking about my mother, he called her a slut" replied Tom.
"I'm sorry Vee, it can't have been easy hearing all that about your family" Genevieve said softly.
"It doesn't matter. What is important is that I know who my father is. Tom Riddle senior lives over in that house, so I think it's time we paid him a visit"
"Do you really think that's a good idea?".

Tom ignored Genevieve, instead he bent down and picked up Morfin's wand.
"What do you want with that?" Asked Genevieve.
"I don't want to risk doing too much magic with my own wand. It will be safer to use someone elses" answered Tom.
"But that wand didn't choose you, so it won't work as well for you" reminded Genevieve.
"A wizard can use any wand. Besides, I'm powerful enough to use any wand, even if I'm not its master"
"I suppose you are".

Tom removed the black stoned ring from Morfin's finger and placed it on his own.
"Why did you recognise this?" Asked Tom, as he stood to his feet.
"I just recognised the Peverell coat of arms, because I saw it in a book while we were researching your family, back at Hogwarts, that's all" lied Genevieve.
"Strange that I didn't. Nevermind, let's go and pay my dear old father a visit" replied Tom as he began to head towards the door.

Genevieve was glad that Tom was so focused on meeting his father, because it meant that he hadn't bothered to question her further about the ring.
Unlike Gellert's followers, Genevieve knew what the symbol on the ring really stood for.
She alone knew of her Uncle's quest to find all of the Deathly Hallows. And she also knew that he had stolen the Elder wand from Gregorovitch the wand maker, which was one of the Hallows.
Gellert's quest for the Deathly Hallows was one secret Genevieve had sworn never to tell another living soul. And she intended on keeping her promise.