Merope's Death

[bluesqueak]

Eric Oppen wrote:
> Reading about Tom Riddle's background, a question occurred to me.
> 
> Basically, it's like this:  How do we _know_ that Merope Gaunt    
> Riddle wasn't murdered?
 
Pip!Squeak:

Technically, we don't. Currently, we don't know what she died of, 
only that she died within an hour of the birth.

[In a side point, I don't think she'd be called Merope Gaunt Riddle 
in the UK - or in the UK Wizarding World. UK folk use only one 
surname (family name) at a time. If they're well known and female, 
they often keep their maiden name (original family name) for 
professional reasons (J.K. *Rowling*), but normally the family name 
is taken to be the husband's surname. Though in desperation a couple 
might sometimes hypenate the two original family names together to 
make one new surname (Gaunt-Riddle). 

Other countries (including other European countries) are different, 
and it might be possible that the WW has different customs. However, 
Dumbledore refers to Merope as 'Merope Riddle', and Molly Weasley is 
always called Molly Weasley, not Molly Prewett Weasley. So I'd guess 
that the WW sticks to the UK custom, and Merope is called 'Merope 
Riddle' after her marriage to Tom. ]



Eric:
> We know that Muggles can't diagnose the Avada Kedavra curse 
> correctly.  If Merope was already weak and ill (and, probably, 
> suffering from severe post-partum depression and emotional 
> anguish) all it would have taken would be for either Marvolo or 
> Morfin to slip into the room where she was and cast a quick A-K.  
> The Muggle medicos wouldn't know what had gone wrong, but
> would ascribe Merope's death to her illnesses.  There were no 
> wizards nearby who would even have suspected the A-K.

Pip!Squeak
Dumbledore seems to think Merope died because she refused to use 
magic. So he probably doesn't suspect an AK - there's no magical 
defence against it.

And this is the 1930's we're talking about. Women died in 
childbirth, no murder needed. There might have even been no doctor 
in attendance (English law doesn't require a doctor, just a nurse 
qualified in midwifery) - if the Matron, Mrs Cole, was a qualified 
nurse, she'd only *have* to call a doctor when it became clear 
something was going wrong. 

JKR's no doctor, but she's married to one and so presumably has 
basic medical advice on tap. I'm not a doctor either, but dying 
within an hour of birth sounds to me like something got 
ruptured/torn during labour, and Merope died of the resulting 
internal bleeding.

That would fit with Dumbledore thinking Merope died because she 
wouldn't use magic. As we see in HBP, a wizard can *stop* bleeding.

If the Gaunts slipped into the room where she was, Merope would 
really have to be alone in it. If she was suffering from obvious 
post-labour complications, she wouldn't be. Certainly the 
midwife/nurse would have stayed in the room with her - and Mrs Cole 
in her conversation with Dumbledore seems to have been with Merope 
*after* Tom was born. Merope knows the baby is a boy (1930's - no 
pre-birth scans to show a baby's sex). Mrs Cole's told what Tom's 
name should be, she's told Merope hope he looks like his papa. She 
knows Merope didn't say anything else before she died - again, that 
suggests she or someone else stayed with Merope, to know that she 
didn't speak.

That means the Gaunts would have had to slip into a room with a 
muggle in it, Stupefy the muggle (or something), modify her memory, 
AK Merope, not notice the baby (I suspect they would have killed 
this half-blood stain on the family) and leave without doing 
anything to the muggle in the room.

I reckon not. Having Merope murdered makes her an exact copy for 
Lily, yes, but I think Merope is Lily's mirror. Instead of dying to 
save her son, she refused to live to save her son. Mirror image.

> 
> Eric Oppen, longtime HP4GU fixture, newcomer to the_old_crowd.

Hi, Eric! I've seen you around, I think.

Pip!Squeak
"Where do you think I would have been all these years, if I had not 
known how to act?" - Severus Snape