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“Why shouldn’t I be cruel? They are!” Tom spat at the green eyed teacher who had pulled him aside after another altercation with Billy “The Bully” Stubbs. “Mr. Gaunt, I am more than aware that the world is filled with cruel and stupid people. Do you really wish to be one of them?”
Tom was taken aback, nobody had ever put it that way before and the expression on the teacher’s face hinted at more than a passing acquaintance with cruel and stupid people. Instead he answered sullenly “My name is Riddle” even though he hated the name.
The teacher sighed. “I believe you have been misinformed. Your true name is Didymos Marvolo Gaunt. Thomas is an English form of Didymos hence ‘Tom’ and Gaunt…” the teacher appeared indecisive for a moment, “Gaunt was your mother’s family name”
“How do you know” the seven year old demanded knowing that people kept things from him because he was “too young to understand”. The teacher seemed to be listening to something and then nodded. He mumbled something and a piece of paper appeared in his hand. Tom was a bit startled by the Léger-de-main but the teacher simply handed it to him. It was a birth certificate, his birth certificate. “What does it say?” the teacher asked calmly.
“I… I’m not sure” Tom hedged. The teacher raised an eyebrow. “You can read quite well, far better than most your age” he replied evenly. Tom really wasn’t sure what he was reading. According to the certificate his name was indeed Didymos Marvolo Gaunt with “Tom Riddle, Jr.” penciled in next to his legal birth name. His mother was Merope Gaunt Riddle and his father… his father was listed as Tom Riddle (?).
At first he thought the document was a fake but for some reason he couldn’t pinpoint, he knew it was real. “I don’t understand” Tom said hesitantly, admitting weakness was not something he did but he truly did not understand what he was seeing. Besides, this teacher was different. He didn’t treat Tom like some vapid, brainless child.
“The truth?” the teacher asked. “Yes, I need to know the truth. It… I… I feel it’s important for some reason” Tom answered uncertainly. He couldn’t identify why it was important however something inside of him was restless. He needed to know.
“Your mother was from an old family that used to be quite wealthy and prominent. Unfortunately the family fortune was gone a very long time ago and they took their status too seriously, intermarrying for generations to keep the ‘blood pure’. A side effect is mental instability”
“Instability?”
“Yes, not to sugar coat it they were insane for generations” the teacher saw Tom begin to fold into himself, “Your mother wasn’t insane although she was abused by her family from a young age. She was so fragile…”
“You knew her?”
“Not really, I met her once though”
“What was she like?”
“I don’t really know but she looked fragile and defeated. She never said very much either”
“Then how do you know she was abused?”
The teacher’s expression flickered for a moment. If Tom hadn’t been studying his face, looking for condescension, he would have missed it. “I’m quite familiar with the aftereffects of abuse and recognized it” the teacher stated.
The way he said it and that flicker of something led Tom to believe, to know with certainty, that his teacher had experienced abuse even though it wasn’t mentioned. Perhaps that’s why he’d taken Tom under his wing.
“What about my father?”
“He was the son of a wealthy landowner, you strongly resemble him. Before you get too angry, he didn’t know your mother was pregnant because she never told him”
“Did he abuse her” seven year old Tom growled dangerously.
“No, in a manner of speaking it was she that abused him. She was so desperate to get away from her family that she tricked him into marrying, promising a better life away from both of their families. His father was very controlling, treating his wife and son like possessions so running away with your mother was a way to flout that control”
“The marriage was annulled after you were born and they have no idea that you exist. You are not illegitimate, rather unacknowledged. While your father’s family has more money, your mother’s has far more prestige and social standing, even penniless and suffering the effects of inbreeding. Ordinarily it would have been quite a coup for your father to marry into such an illustrious family. As it was though… very few even knew that the Gaunts still existed and continue to exist through you"
“But… doesn’t the title have to go through the male line?” Tom asked remembering some of the books he had read concerning primogeniture. Heady reading for a seven year old orphan, the librarian who helped him find the books had thought. He had smiled charmingly and said he was trying to understand King Arthur.
“The rules are different for the Gaunts and families like them. The line is yours if you claim it”
This would be a lot for an ordinary seven year old but Tom was far from ordinary. He thought about it for just a few moments before asking “How do I claim it?”