[HPforGrownups] Re: Why Tom left Merope /Draco and Harry

[Andrea Grevera]

No: HPFGUIDX 146996


  wrote:
  SNIPPED ALL! 
  > 
  > Carol, wondering what would have happened if Tom Sr. had sought out
  > his newborn son and raised him as a wealthy Muggle rather than 
  letting
  > him grow up unacknowledged in an orphanage

  Carol, 
  You touched on something either I don't understand, forgot or never 
  connected. Did Tom Sr. even know about his child? I can't imagine a 
  rich man of that time allowing a child to exist with his name (plenty 
  of rich men fathered children anonymously, no doubt) without 
  acknowledging said child. I will go back and read but I can't remember 
  this point coming up.
  Jen D.


  Andie:

  Great minds must think alike - I just posted this same question.

  Quick question - Did Tom know that Merope was pregnant before he left her?

  Did Merope tell him?

  Pg 214 HBP US version:  Tom Riddle reappeared at the manor house in Little Hangleton
  without his wife.  The rumor flew around the neighborhood that he was talking of being 'hoodwinked' & 'taken in.'
  ...the villagers guessed that Merope had lied to Tom Riddle, pretending that she was going to have his baby, &
  that he had married her for this reason."
  "But she did have his baby."
  "But not until a year after they were married.  Tom Riddle left her while she was still pregnant."

  We don't know if Merope ever told Riddle that she was pregnant.  LV could have killed his father & grandparents
  without them knowing that he had ever been born.








[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]