my riddle to solve (tom riddle)

two

As I sat down in between my mother and Sage, I realized that something strange was going on. Mother was looking incredibly pale and tense, which made no sense. She was always so poised and graceful during social events, and I had never once seen her stressed by one. Marvolo had settled into the chair next to my father, and was in the middle of a rant about blood purity.

"I'll tell you William, pretty soon there will be none of us left! Did you hear that the Minister's new assistant is a half-blood? For Merlin's sake, a half-blood! At this point they might as well just let Muggles govern us," he said with a grunt. I bit my lip to stop myself from speaking. I personally thought that there was no reason to think of Muggleborns as any less than us pure-bloods. I had many classmates who had at least one Muggle parent, and all of them were just as capable as the rest of us. In fact, my half-blooded friend Adelaide had gotten five 'Outstandings' on her O.W.L.S, which were much better marks than mine.

The house-elves were now bringing out platters of food, all of them looking quite terrified. I assumed that the news of the assault on Tippy had spread amongst them quickly. Although my parents could be rude and harsh, I had never seen them physically abuse any of the elves. Sage and Aspen were being incredibly quiet, not even whispering to each other. I figured that they had been hoping the Gaunt family had included a child around their age. The twins could be a handful sometimes, but they knew how to behave themselves at galas and important dinners. I kept my mouth shut for the next few minutes as I waited for the French-onion soup to be served. The second man,(who I had heard my father address as Morfin) had already had his wine glass re-filled twice. I thought that was incredibly ill-mannered. I figured that he would most likely be drunk before dessert.

"So you must be in Slytherin as well?" Marvolo barked. It took me a moment to realize that he was talking to me, as I had successfully zoned out of the conversation.

"No. I'm in Ravenclaw house," I replied with a slight smirk. My entire extended family was made up of mostly Slytherins. My cousin Corrina and I were the only ones that hadn't been sorted into the house of Salazar in our generation. Her and I got on fairly well, she was a Gryffindor going into her 7th year. My parents always hated having to tell people I was in Ravenclaw. They thought that my sorting was some sort of an act of rebellion on my part. However, I didn't care about their opinion much. I was happy being an Eagle.

"Well, I suppose that's better than Hufflepuff, innit? That lot's mostly blood-traitors and Mudbloods, or so Tom tells me," Marvolo said as he studied me. I clenched one of my fists under the table, a bit taken back by his use of that word. For the first time since he entered, I glanced in Tom's direction. He had also stayed silent thus far, focusing on his soup. Unlike his family members, his clothing was wrinkle-free and clean. I knew for a fact that he was one of the Slytherin Prefects, as I had almost run into him patrolling late one night last term. Adelaide and I had a tendency to sneak out to go on late night walks, and avoiding Prefects was something that we had gotten good at. I remember she had said she wouldn't mind if Tom had caught us out of bed, as she thought he was incredibly attractive. I had scoffed at her before performing a quick Disillusionment charm and pulling her along the corridor with me. I still had no desire to speak to Tom this evening, so I turned my attention back to my food.

"Yes, it's quite unfortunate that Hogwarts has sunk to such a low standard. Personally, I don't think any of that sort should be allowed in," my father told Marvolo. The old man nodded in agreement. The conversation was steered back to the topic of the Ministry, which I was grateful for. As I let my mind wander to one of the books I had finished earlier today, I felt Sage tug on my dress from under the table.

"Ophelia, why does Mother look sick?" she asked in a whisper. I turned to my left for a brief second to confirm Sage's observation. Our mother looked quite green, and I could see a thin layer of sweat on her forehead. I debated what to say next, as I didn't want to bring attention to this. It was obvious that she was stressed, but I didn't know what about.