Chapter 674 - The Master’s Return Ⅸ (2/2)

”That Muggle what my sister took a fancy to, that Muggle what lives in the big house over the way,” Said Morfin, and spat unexpectedly upon the floor between them. ”You look right like him. Riddle. But he's older now, in'e? He's older'n you, now I think on it...”

Morfin sways a little clutching the edge of the table for support. ”He come back, see.”

”Riddle came back?” Riddle asked in disbelief. And at that moment, all his dearest hopes and wishes crumbled into ashes. A muggle father, and one who had abandoned him and his mother. A muggle...

”Ar, he left her, and serve her right, marrying filth!” Morfin spitting on the floor again. ”Robbed us, mind, before she ran off!! Where's the locket, eh, where's Slytherins locket?”

Morfin was working himself up into a rage again; he brandished his knife and shouted, ”Dishonored us, she did, that little s.l.u.t! And whore' you, coming here and asking questions about all that? It's over, innit… It's over…”

Voldemort had been unable to bear the foul words of that THING and knocked it unconscious. Rage, old anger, shame, and even pain, yes. Perchance, that was even what humiliated him the most. He had thought himself impervious and having outgrown such weak sentiments, but he had been wrong. He still felt…...

Voldemort's crimson eyes blink rapidly shoving aside the recollection of such weak emotions. Turning his crimson snake-eyes towards the Riddle Manor on the hill, his lips twitch with viciousness and triumph. Oh, yes, but what had followed had brought him the greatest of joys.

Having reclaimed his birthright, the Gaunt ring, Voldemort had merciless marched to Riddle manor. And there he had slain the MUGGLE and the remaining muggle relatives. And oh, how they had pleaded for their lives, but he had no mercy on them. Just as they had no mercy on his mother and his yet unborn self.

Nagini sensing her kin's turbulent emotions rubs her head against his hand. Voldemort's flat, snake-like nostrils flair as he controls himself and pulls his hand away from the serpent. ”Forgive me, Nagini, I lost myself in the past. Come,” he instructed as the two of them descended down below towards the remnants of the Gaunt home.

Down the winding path onto the dirt track and through the copse, Voldemort came to an abrupt halt as he stepped into the clearing. The tall grass had been burnt laid strewn and dried except for patches of grass that still grew upon the outskirts. Trees lay broken and strewn in smithereens from a violent explosion. And where a hovel resided was a large crater with only bits and pieces of foundation that remained standing.

Voldemort stood there in shock unable to compose himself until he heard the serpent words of Nagini. ”Death, it smells of death here,” Nagini whispered as her forked tongue tasted the air. ”Not even mice and other creatures dare come here with such a strong scent.”

”Death?” Voldemort whirled around as his crimson eyes narrowed at the serpent. ”What do you mean by those words, Nagini?”

”It is just as I have said, kin,” Nagini hissed back. ”This place has been touched by death, and no living thing shall easily abide here.”

Voldemort opened his mouth to yell when the words of Runcorn resound clearly in his ears. ”Mm, but not all tales are mere myths and legends. And even the tallest of tales hold a grain of truth to them, Voldemort. You would do well to remember that considering that which you have done. - A life for a life, so to speak, and Death has never failed to claim the outstanding debt.”

Spider-like hands reach into Voldemort's robes and grip Salazar Slytherin's locket as if to comfort himself. And for a very real moment, he felt weaker and very much afraid. Enraged at his own failings and weaknesses, he releases the locket as if his hand was scalded. He was stronger and better than that, and he would live forever!

Though in a whispered corner of his heart, a small voice hissed, ”And what of the ring?” And that was not a question that he was yet prepared to answer despite already knowing the response to that terrible question.

Shoving the ramifications aside, for the time being, Voldemort whirls away closely followed by the darting form of Nagini. However, behind them for the briefest of moments a third shadow intertwined with their shadows and vanished.