Merope's Death

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 138140

Eric Oppen wrote:
"You forgot completely about the events at the Riddle House, seventeen
years later.  That was at least _three_ AKs, performed by an underage
wizard, and probably other magic as well (i.e. an "Alohomora" to get
in, "Petrificus Totalus" to hold his victims in place, and a few well-
placed "Crucios" wouldn't surprise me) and the Ministry never 
twigged.  Dumbledore suspected, but couldn't prove anything. "

Del replies:
Oh no I didn't forget at all :-) When you get your hands on your book,
please turn to page 342-343, UK ed, ch. "A Sluggish Memory", DD speaking:

"'Meanwhile, in the village of Little Hangleton, a maid was running
along the high street, screaming that there were three bodies lying in
the drawing room of the big house: Tom Riddle Senior, and his mother
and father.

'The Muggle authorities were perplexed. As far as I am aware, they do
not know to this day how the Riddles died, for the Avada Kedavra Curse
does not usually leave any sign of damage... the exception sits before
me,' Dumbledore added, with a nod to Harry's scar. 'The Ministry, on
the other hand, knew at once that this was a wizard's murder. They
also knew that a convicted Muggle-hater lived accross the valley from
the Riddle House, a Muggle-hater who had already been imprisoned once
for attacking one of the murdered people.'"

Since Morfin had been implanted with a false memory of having
perpetrated the murders, he proudly confessed on the spot, and the
Ministry never looked any further into the matter. Morfin died in
Azkaban for crimes that he hadn't committed.

Please note that DD says that the Ministry knew *at once* that this
was a wizard's murder...

And on the next page, DD explains that the Ministry can detect when
magic is being performed, but not WHO performs it. Harry is incensed
at that, and agrees with DD that this is rubbish, and that Morfin
didn't deserve to be imprisoned for crimes he didn't commit, no matter
how unpleasant he otherwise was.

Eric Oppen wrote:
"True enough, although having been abandoned by the man she (thought
she) loved, pregnant and penniless, in 1920s London, could account for
that.  I do not see Merope as having anything like enough knowledge of
how the Muggle world worked to be able to get herself help easily, and
she certainly wouldn't have been let off the leash enough to know the
ropes for the Wizard world, either.  "

Del replies:
That's possible. But since she knew how to get into Knocturn Alley,
I'm sure she could have found the way to get to the Ministry, or St
Mungo's. I'm sure she *could* have found people to help her, if she
had *tried*. A young single woman, pregnant up to her eyes, obviously
destitute? I doubt St Mungo's, at the very least, would have refused
her. No, I think she didn't *want* help. Now that could very well come
from her being completely depressed and hopeless, that's true. But it
*could* also come from some kind of curse, or poison, that was
meddling with her mind and body, driving her *away* from the places
and people who could help her (why go to Knockturn Alley, for example,
to sell her locket? I'm sure there are respectable antiquaries in
Diagon Alley or elsewhere who would have paid a decent price for that
locket, and maybe helped her owner on top of it).

There's no way to prove any of it, of course, but I must admit I like
this idea better than just "she let herself die". That one is too
blah! for me, I must admit. A woman who finds it in herself to go to
the end of her pregnancy, to give birth to her baby, but who then
abandons him to people who won't be able to care for *all* his needs
(chances were high that he would be a wizard)? I don't like it. If at
least she hadn't named him after his father and grandfather, I could
imagine that she was trying to keep him hidden from Marvolo, safe from
his possible vengeance. But the fact that she did name him that way
makes me think that she wasn't trying to hide him by giving birth in a
Muggle orphanage. So I like the idea that she was under the effect of
a curse or a poison that meddled with her mind and prevented her from
getting help for herself.

JMO,

Del