A name emerged from the past

Haaaaaa!

Harry woke up in a sweat once again. He hadn't told anyone, but since the other students regularly attacked him in the hallways, he had started having nightmares again. Each time, the pattern was the same. He would relive a bullying incident he had experienced during the day, then something would remind him of what had happened in the scimitar last June.

He took a glass of water and looked at his alarm clock. It was 3 a.m. He congratulated himself on having managed to learn the silence spell. His dorm mates were already not thrilled to be woken up in the middle of the night when he fancied himself a hero. Although, thinking back to the snake episode, his dorm mates were so afraid of him that they probably wouldn't dare say anything to him. Harry found it so stupid. How could they think he would kill them for a wrong word when they had spent several months together?The house of badgers, my eye. More like that of brainless sheep.But he should have warned Cédric anyway. However, he was fed up with the fifth-year student treating him like a baby.

He rested his head against the pillow and thought. This time, it was different. As usual, he had revisited the moment when he was tied to the grave, but this time, his brain recalled a detail. The name on the grave was the same as the one on that medal he had spent hours polishing in the trophy room because of that (For your mental health, the insults that follow have been replaced by bird names) pelican of a seagull, ended up as a pigeon, albatross, egret, communist snipe of Snape.

Almost, but not quite. The name on the trophy was Tom Elvis Riddle while he was practically sure that the name on the grave was Tom Riddle. Voldemort had said it was his father's grave. And the incantation left no doubt that it was true. This Tom Elvis Riddle must have had a connection with Voldemort. He had received his award in 1942, so he was between 11 and 18 years old at that time. Harry calculated that he must be approximately 50-60 years old today. Given his age, he might have been Voldemort's father. No, that wasn't possible since it was Tom Riddle who was his father. Well, whoever he might be, he was family.

Harry was intrigued. He had never imagined that this monster could have a family. Well, yes. Since Dudley had gotten internet access, he had a pretty good idea of how babies were made and he knew well that he wasn't born by the operation of the Holy Spirit. Harry remembered the catechism classes in that strange church, where he had been after Vernon decided that the sermon of their parish priest was too deviant. Maybe Voldemort was that antichrist the priest had told him about and therefore didn't really have a father or family. Harry also wondered what that priest would have thought of the fact that he was a wizard and studied magic. But he dismissed his dark thoughts and returned to Riddle.

To have received such an award and for it to have remained on display for so long, he must have done something exceptional. He must have been a good person. Furthermore, the father's grave was located in a Muggle cemetery, so they were probably not purists. It must have been horrible to be linked to that psychopath.

As he fell asleep, he promised himself to go do some research at the library the next day. He was curious to learn more about Voldemort's family and the reason for this trophy. For all he knew, he might still have living relatives.

oOoOoOo

The next day at the library.

Phew! It's useless. Complained Lucas.

But that's not possible. I agree that all the copies of the wizard's gazette from 1937 to 1944 were burned in a fire, but there must be traces of what was happening during that period. Not all the archives could have disappeared. Harry replied.

Well, yes. There is nothing. And then, it's not that important. Besides, it might not even be Riddle on the grave. Maybe in your dream, your mind mixed up two memories. How about we go to the Quidditch pitch instead? Lucas replied.

You're right. Replied Harry, who could never resist an invitation to fly.

Jenny lifted her head from the big book she was reading and objected:

It seems rather that someone deliberately wanted to prevent us from investigating this period. So there is something interesting to discover.

Or maybe the archives just disappeared for no particular reason. I'm sure there are plenty of years for which we have nothing without there being a reason. I'm sure this Riddle was a super boring guy like Percy and didn't do anything really interesting. Or maybe he's the one who killed Binns and the students insisted he be rewarded.

Wait, the missing period. It's exactly 7 years. And the gap in the gazette copies starts on September 1, 1937, exclaimed Jenny.

And so? said Harry, who was now eager to get on the Quidditch field.

Think. Doesn't it remind you of anything?

No. Replied Harry who did not like riddles.

It's the duration of a schooling at Hogwarts. The gap corresponds to the beginning of the school period and stops exactly at the end. And we know that during this period, something sufficiently exceptional happened at Hogwarts for a student to receive a special award. Moreover, this student is probably from Voldemort's family. It can't be a coincidence! Someone wanted to erase all traces of a person's schooling from the archives. And there aren't a thousand wizards who would have had the power to do that under Dumbledore's nose.

Wait, your theory doesn't hold up. Okay, the Hogwarts archives have disappeared, but there must be plenty of other archives in the country. Destroying the one at Hogwarts was pointless. Objected Harry

Maybe they have been destroyed too. Lucas, would you lend me Heracles? I will write to the gazette to ask them for a copy of an issue from that time.

Of course. Replied Lucas, who was delighted to lend the bird his parents had given him in the hope that he would write to them more often.

Why would he have done that? Persisted Harry

You said his father was buried in a Muggle cemetery? Didn't it occur to you that it might be because he was a Muggle?

What? But that wouldn't make any sense he (..). Oh! He wanted to hide that he was a half-blood. Maybe even a Muggle-born! And if it didn't bother him to promote the extermination of Muggles when his father was one, it means he hated him. In your opinion, what could his father have done to make him hate him so much? Harry began to think quickly.

I don't know. But can you imagine what people would say if it got out? I'm sure Malfoy would have a fit. Dreamed Jenny.

Don't you think you're both getting carried away a little too quickly? All we have is a dream of Harry's and a gap in the archives. Maybe the Hogwarts librarian at the time filed the documents by year and it's the section containing his 7 years that caught fire. And then, there must have been plenty of people who investigated Voldemort's origins. Even if he tried to hide them, they must now be ultra well-known.

We can check that quickly. Said Jenny, while going to get a huge grimoire on the history of dark mages.

But hey. I'm fed up with the library. Wouldn't you like to go out? For once, the weather is nice. Complained Lucas.

Harry looked out the window and saw through the frost a gray sky with light rain.

It's true that the weather is nicer than usual (Harry hated the climate of northern Scotland). We could do that later.

Jenny sighed.

It's okay, boys, you can go play outside. I'll stay here.

Yes, mom. Replied the two rascals before running off under the angry gaze of Madam Pince.

oOoOoOo

A few hours later in the great hall.

Well, what's with the funeral faces, boys? said Jenny, finding her friends who were eating silently at the end of the Slytherin table. Since the incident, Jenny had integrated much better into Slytherin, while Harry was rejected by most of the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors. As a result, the trio had gotten into the habit of eating with Jenny, and despite the house rivalry, Harry and Lucas had ended up getting along with the other first-year Slytherins. Well, thosewho agreed to speak to a mudblood and the outcast of the school.

It's nothing. Lucas replied. Is your research progressing?

Yes, they are moving forward. Said Jenny, her eyes full of excitement. But I won't say anything until you tell me what's wrong. She tempered.

How can you tell that something is wrong? Asked Lucas

I know you, Lucas. I always know when something is bothering you. She replied spontaneously.

This reply caused a moment of awkwardness between them. Despite all their efforts, the many students who regularly chanted "Oh! The lovers" when they saw them had ended up creating a feeling of discomfort. Harry cleared his throat to end this awkward moment and explained:

When we were on the Quidditch field, some Gryffindors arrived and wanted to hassle me. When Lucas intervened, they asked him how he could associate with me after what I had done to Colin.

What a bunch of idiots. But oh well, it's not the first time. Said Jenny

Yes, but among them, there was Jackson. Lucas replied weakly.

Jenny said nothing. Jackson was one of the Gryffindors he was closest to and one of the few who supported Lucas's choice to remain friends with Harry. But as time went on, Lucas found himself increasingly isolated within his house. This saddened Lucas, but it weighed especially on Harry's morale, who couldn't help but think that his friend was suffering because of him. Yet at the same time, he didn't want to end up alone and felt guilty for his selfishness.

Lucas was aware that Harry felt guilty. In fact, he had come to understand that Harry tended to believe that everything that went wrong around him was his fault. And no matter what anyone told him.

He therefore preferred to avoid discussing his problems with the other Gryffindors in front of Harry and chose to change the subject:

Otherwise, what did you find?

Absolutely nothing.

But you said you found something

Precisely, I found nothing about the origin of Voldemort. Everyone at the table shuddered, especially the Death Eater sons.

Oh, it's okay, it's just a name. Jenny exasperated. So I was saying that all the authors start Voldemort's story in the late 70s where he appears out of nowhere as the leader of a new conservative party. The only one who mentions his origin says that some rumors claim he is the last descendant of Slytherin, but that seems unlikely to him, because the last descendants of Slytherin were the Gaunts, whose last representative died in Azkaban in 1943 for the murder of several Muggles.

The descendant of Slytherin. Like the heir of Slytherin. Harry then thought back to Dobby's wink and continued. You think that whatWhat Dobby meant is that the heir of Slytherin is a member of Voldemort's family.

That, I don't know, but I went to find out about the Gaunts in 'The Rise and Fall of the Great Pure-Blood Families.' And guess what?

All the pages concerning the Gaunts have been torn out?

Bingo. After hours of research, the only thing I could find on the Gaunts is this.

She took out a book titled 'History of Parseltongue' and read:

— ‘Since the disappearance of Guy the Savage, the only family still speaking Parseltongue in England are the Peverells and a little-influential pure-blood family living in Little Hangleton named the Gaunts. However, it should be noted that the only Peverell with descendants is part of a branch of the family that has never shown the Parseltongue gift and that she married the heir of the Potter family, famous for its closeness to what remains of the Gryffindor house. It is therefore feared that this wonderful gift may completely disappear from Great Britain and that India will forever remain the only country where a majority of wizards possess this power.Harry, that's why you are a Parselmouth. It's because one of your distant ancestors was one.

But Harry noticed another detail:

Little Hangleton. That was where the cemetery was located.

His friends took a few seconds to assimilate the information. Lucas continued.

Okay, this time, I admit it, that's way too much of a coincidence. Something happened in 1943 that you-know-who wants to hide and that concerns the Gaunts and the Riddles. However, don't you think that this last descendant of the Gaunts makes a much better candidate to be Voldy's daddy? I mean, he was a pureblood who spoke Parseltongue and killed Muggles.

Yes, but it can't be him. It was indeed Riddle the name on the tomb. I'm sure of it.

And if the bones in the grave were not those of a Riddle, but those of a Gaunt? And if someone had marked a false name on the grave?

And I'm the one who gets carried away quickly? Commented Jenny

While his friends began to argue, Harry thought and tried to remember Voldemort's words. But at the time, he had only listened with a distracted ear to the psychopath's speech. With intense concentration, a memory came back to him, and he felt like vomiting.

That bastard said I should thank him for killing Dudley. He said he helped me purify my lineage like he did with his own. Or something like that. At the time, I didn't pay attention, but it probably means he had Muggle origins and that he killed them. For me, there's little chance that this Gaunt is Voldemort's father.

When Harry had once again uttered the cursed name, the whole tablestopped eating and Malfoy came to meet them escorted by his two gorillas:

What are you three plotting?

Nothing that concerns you, Malfoy. Spat Jenny, giving him a look of pure hatred.

Already you allow yourself to invite to our table blood of (…). Well, already we tolerate the presence of a Gryffindor, you could make an effort and not invoke the name of the Dark Lord in vain.

I prefer to associate with mudbloods than with vermin like you. Malfoy grimaced when she said the word mudblood. What? What's this new shyness? We all understood what you really meant.

It's okay, Jenny, let it go. It's not worth it, Lucas tried to calm the tensions.

At least your dog knows its place. If you really want it to eat with us, teach it some manners, replied Malfoy in a drawling voice that Harry found extremely annoying.

For your information, I'm the one who said Voldemort. And I find it ridiculous that you're afraid of the name of that lunatic. It's just a name, damn it.

Malfoy and his two gorillas paled upon hearing that.

I see that your bad associations have rubbed off on you. Names have power, Potter, and if you want to survive, you should show a little more respect towards the Dark Lord. I could teach you, Potter. You have enormous potential. Don't waste it out of loyalty to people who don't deserve it. Malfoy declared solemnly, extending his hand towards Harry.

It's up to me to decide who deserves my loyalty. And I will never show respect towards the murderer of my parents. Or towards his accomplices. Harry added with a pointed look at Malfoy.

Don't give me the poor orphan act. Do you think you're the only one who has lost loved ones? How many people do you think your parents killed during this war? How many children became orphans because of them?

Harry wanted to respond, but he didn't know what to say. Petunia and consequently Harry knew nothing about what had happened during the war and the role his parents had played in it. Was it possible that Malfoy was telling the truth and that his parents had also massacred families from the opposing side? But Jenny answered for him.

Poor Death Eater dead while trying to assassinate other people. The Aurors are really monsters for having tried to stop them. Oh, that's right, for the Death Eater only the life of purebloods matters.

What's going on here? Causing trouble again, Mr. Potter? Boomed Snape's voice, which had slipped in unnoticed behind the trio.

Not at all sir, it's them (...) Tried Jenny

In any case, you had better all go to class, all three of you?

Come on, let's go. Said Lucas, dragging Jenny by force.

Harry, for his part, was more than delighted to get away from the Slytherins. He had no desire to face them. But once out of the great hall, Jenny freed herself from Lucas's grip and attacked him:

Why didn't you say anything? That guy insults you and you don't reply.

He replied calmly.

He held back at the last moment. And then I don't care what that jerk thinks. All I want is for him to leave you alone.

I don't need your protection. She said sulkily, but in a much less angry tone.

Nor am I yours, but whatever I say, I would still have it. He said in a more annoyed tone. But he added in a softer tone: thank you for defending me.