The woman awakened as the sun crept above the horizon. She looked down at the man peacefully sleeping in their small, old bed. Oh, how she loved that man. If only things had been different, but if things had been different, the woman might be without her other love. Her other love was her child, who had not yet entered the world.
She slid her feet into her worn, grey slippers and slowly walked into the kitchen, where she began to make her husband’s favorite tea. Everything had to go perfect this morning. Today was the morning she was going to do it.
She took a bottle from the cabinet to the left of the sink, and she removed a bottle that had been cleverly disguised to appear to be women’s vitamins. She pulled a rather short wand out of her pocket and tapped the bottle, muttering an incantation. On her second try, the contents of the bottle disappeared.
She walked away from the sink, anxious about what was going to happen later that day. She assured herself that she did not have a reason to be worry. He would still love her, and even if he didn’t, he would grow to love her.
The woman jumped in surprise when her husband snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. She turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck as he gave her a quick kiss on her lips. He leaned down and pressed his lips to the steadily growing bump on his wife’s abdomen. They stood in each others arms for a few moments, until the woman pulled away to pour tea for her husband.
“I think I’m going to go into town today. Will you be okay here alone?” the man asked.
The woman nodded. She had a distant look in her eyes. She watched her husband eat his breakfast of toast and tea. She sat in the same spot the whole time, not moving. She was still sitting there when he left to go into town, with a confused look on his face. She knew it was wearing off. She could tell her was skeptical about the fact that he loved her. She was sure he would realize it wasn’t just a potion that was making him love her.
The woman went to her room and opened the drawer of her nightstand. She took a handful of powder from the small pot in the drawer. She scuttled over to the fireplace and threw the dust into the flames. She knelt on the floor and stuck her head into the flames and shouted, “Number twenty-three, Twitterbind Road!”
Her head began to spin. She closed her eyes and waited for the intense spinning to stop. When it did she heard the excited scream of a young woman.
“What are you doing here? I haven’t seen you in so long! Oh, dear, is everything alright?” The woman’s hazel eyes were filled with concern when she saw a severe look of worry on her visitor’s face.
“Everything’s alright, but I stopped giving him the potion today. Beth, what if he doesn’t love me anymore?”
Even through the flames, Beth could see tears in her friend’s eyes. She threw her sand-colored hair over her shoulder and sat down in a chair in front of the fire before she said, “He will still love you. I’ve known you since our very first day at Hogwarts, so trust me, he will love you.”
“But what if he doesn’t? I knew I shouldn’t have let you make me that potion. He’s going to be mad when he finds out. I’ll have to tell him I’m a witch! And if he doesn’t already hate me, he will then! I can't go back home. When my father and brother get out of jail they will know, and they’ll kill me! He’s not going to love me, and then my life will just be hell. Beth, this isn’t going to be worth it. I was meant to be alone. We shouldn’t have done this,” said the woman in the fire. Her voice showed signs of her struggles to appear strong, but her eyes showed obvious fear.
“Of course it will be worth it! You’re in love, and you have your own family now. Plus, if your husband is like you say he is, he will not leave his pregnant wife just because she is a witch!” Beth convinced the woman.
“He’s going to be mad that I made him love me! I told you, I was meant to be miserable. I shouldn’t even try to get him to love me. I should just give up. I’ll run away and go live on the streets. Then I can get married to some man I meet there. Maybe I will be good enough for him.”
“Dear, I will only let you live on the streets if you give up. You are a Slytherin. You won’t let him see your weaknesses. Don’t back down. Make him love you.”
“That might work for you, Beth. I couldn’t do that. If he doesn’t love me, I must not really love him. I wouldn’t love him if he hated me. Well, thank you for listening.”
The two friends said goodbye, and the woman in the fire went back to her house, and waited for her husband to come home.
Meanwhile, her husband was fighting his own battle at the town’s tavern. He vaguely remembered loving that woman, but he couldn’t remember why. He knew she was his wife, but he couldn’t remember getting married to her.
“Can I help you with something?” the bartender asked the man.
“Have you ever felt like part of your memory is missing?” the man asked with frustration clearly in his voice.
“No, I can’t say I have.” The bartender appeared puzzled.
“Well, there’s this woman, I think she’s my wife, but I don’t remember anything about our relationship. I remember loving her, but if I really concentrate I remember thinking her whole family was weird, including her. My first instinct says never to go back to the house where she was, but part of me knows I should.”
“Well, do you love her now?” The bartender wiped the counter with an old, wet, white rag.
“I don’t know. She was pregnant, so I don’t want to leave her alone like that, but I don’t remember falling in love with her. It was like one day I hated her but the next we were in love. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. If I talk to her, she might get mad at me for doubting that I love her, but that might be a good thing because I might not want to be with her. It could be bad because what if I really do love her, and we were meant to be together.” The man ran his hands through his dark hair in confusion.
“Does the girl love you?”
“I don’t remember! I think she does, but the problem is that I don’t remember anything! I don’t know what I should do. I could go home, where I could find a new wife, or I could stay here with the woman I remember nothing about. I know I should go back. There must have been a reason why I loved her. I just can't recall why.”
A group of men walked through the door and occupied a table by a small and dirty window.
“Good luck with your problem. I would try to help you, but a man’s got to make a living,” said the bartender.
The puzzled man left the tavern with no idea where to go. His feet somehow led him in the right direction. He was back at the house, his house. He cautiously pushed open the door and stepped inside, unsure of what awaited him.
“You're home,” stated his wife in a nervous tone. “I need to talk to you.”
She guided him into a big, wooden chair and nervously paced in front of him.
“Let me explain everything before you do anything. Well, you’re probably wondering what has happened and why you ever loved me. You never honestly loved me. I made you love me. I know, you think you can't make someone someone else. Most people can't. You couldn’t. I can because I am a witch. I may not be a very good one, but I am a witch nonetheless. I was miserable without you. I thought that it would be okay to do this because we could both be happily in love. I was wrong. I should not have given you that love potion, but I only did it because I love you. And I hope you still love me,” explained the woman with tears rolling down her cheeks like balls tumbling down a hill.
“You mean the love I felt for you was artificial?” The man’s face was emotionless.
“I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have done it. I still love you, isn’t that enough?” The woman cried.
“I was going to give you a chance because I knew there had to be a reason I fell in love with you. Now that I know we weren’t really in love, I have no reason to stay. I always knew you weren’t normal. Everyone in town knew to watch out for your family. I never loved you, so now I don’t have any reason to stay!” The man exclaimed.
The woman stood in shock, silently sobbing, as her husband moved towards the door.
“But I love you. Isn’t that a good enough reason?” she whispered.
Merope Gaunt loved Tom Riddle, but that was not good enough. Merope Gaunt was meant to be alone.