Merope stood at the corner of the alley trying to warm herself in the darkness. Her clothes were a bit tattered and her coat had some patchwork on it but she looked somewhat presentable, enough to walk around in public.
Her living situation had slowly been declining ever since Tom had left. The deep loneliness she had been feeling had driven her out of the home they had shared and onto the cold streets of London. Over the months she had either been sleeping on park benches or in Muggle homeless shelters. But recently she had resorted to sleeping in alleyways near trash dumpsters to protect herself from the cold. The homeless shelter where she had been staying had begun to get overcrowded, so she had decided to leave. But it wasn’t because of the people; it was more so because of her. It seemed the slightest bit of agitation from her would cause some very odd things to happen.
Merope remembered that before she had left a few nights ago, she’d been trying to get some sleep. There’d been a lot of snoring in the room so she’d been having some trouble getting rest. The next thing she knew she was standing over an old woman with a pillow in hand, ready to snuff her out. If it hadn’t been for the tiny gasp from the little girl who was sleeping next to the old woman, she didn’t know what could have happened. She immediately got herself together and left soon after to keep herself from being exposed. She’d stayed in the streets since then.
Merope caught a glimpse of her disheveled self at a nearby window. Time can be so cruel when you’re down on your luck with nowhere to go. And lately she had been feeling that time had been running her down. She could tell that whatever fat reserves her body had stored had been totally depleted from hunger. She started to pick at her features a little, trying to make herself look less defeated than she felt. A little rat was somehow was stuck in her matted hair. She wasn’t scared of the creature. She actually owed him her gratitude. In times of hunger she would follow the rats to see if they would lead her to some refuse that would have a morsel of food for her to eat. Sometimes she would get lucky with the remains of a bottle of ketchup that she could mix in some hot water to make a cup of tomato soup. But oftentimes she would not be so fortunate and would have to rely on warm water to hold off the hunger. Filling herself up with hot water would often fool her stomach into thinking that she had eaten. It didn’t quite fool the baby, but at least her mind could concentrate enough on how to get herself out of her circumstances, instead of how much she was starving.
She did a sideways glance at her reflection in the window. “It won’t be long now,” she muttered under her cold breath as she eyed her growing belly. She was able to smile some as she thought of her little bundle. She wasn’t sure whether it would be a boy or girl, but she still felt grateful for the child. Somehow she would make a way for them both so they wouldn’t have to keep struggling like this. She had been able to pawn a few possessions that Tom had given her during their marriage. The money had given her a few things and some decent meals to eat. Now she was down to her last valuable item. Hopefully it would give her enough to get by just for a little while longer. And maybe, just maybe, it would be enough time to turn things around again. The baby moved just a little as if it were gesturing her to the door of the building. She’d almost forgotten that she had come here for a reason. She made her way inside the shop.
The dimly lit place was filled with old antiques and some strange oddities. There were some things that she was familiar with, but others she looked at with a sense of fascination. There was an old decrepit hand that sat on the mantel by the fireplace. She was about to reach out and touch it when the baby prodded her in the other direction. She walked up to the large counter and was greeted by the shop owner, Mr. Burke, who looked very busy going over his receipts for the day.
“How can I help you?” he said without a glance in her direction, carefully shuffling around some paper.
“Umm … I was wondering how much I could possibly get for this?” She went to her pocket and pulled out a lovely trinket to place on the counter. Mr. Burke did not see it at first amongst all the paperwork he was riffling through. But as soon as his eyes hit the pretty locket he stopped dead in his tracks. He was careful not to give any reaction. He slowly looked at the girl then looked back at the jewelry, then back at the girl again.
“And WHERE did you get this?” he asked with an air of disbelief.
“It’s mine. It was passed down to me through family,” she said almost defiantly. But she was careful not to offend despite his implication. Mr. Burke looked at her a little more closely.
“I see the Serpent’s mark on the item,” he said.
“Yes. Its genuine,” she replied meekly.
“Hold out your hand,” Mr. Burke told her. She was confused at first but she dared not question him. So she did as she was instructed. He took the item and placed it in her palm. Then he pulled out his wand and did a slight motion over it. The locket glowed green in her hand. Mr. Burke put on some strange-looking spectacles to look at the trinket more closely. There was a little gleam of excitement in his eyes, but he was careful not to show any more enthusiasm than that. He did a few more motions of the wand over the item as if he was trying to check for something. But it seemed like every test he gave it came up with the same positive results. Again Mr. Burke looked back at the girl, and then looked at the locket. He let out a deep breath, almost in disappointment, like he did not want to part with his money.
Merope stood there anxiously waiting for him to say something. She wasn’t sure what all these tests were, but she hoped that the locket would bring her something, anything, to help her get by. Mr. Burke reached under the counter and pulled out a small wooden box.
“I’ll give you ten Galleons for the locket,” he said.
“Ten Galleons?” she replied. She would have been grateful to get anything, but TEN Galleons for an authentic family heirloom?
“Ten Galleons,” he said firmly. “Look, I have no use for lockets around here, Miss. But I’ll make you this offer seeing as though you could use it,” his eyes motioned to the lump under her coat.
Merope felt a little shame come across her face. She almost couldn’t speak. She knew her appearance was substandard, but for him to make reference to her apparent situation was slightly embarrassing. But then she felt a surge of anger come out of nowhere. She could hear strange little hissing noises in her ears, but she didn’t know why and she could not make them out. The anger within grew more and more.
“How dare he!” she thought to herself.
There was a gust of wind that came around them and blew some of Mr. Burke’s receipts to the floor. The lights seemed to flicker as the gust gained force. Mr. Burke was startled to see his carefully organized papers being tossed about all over his shop. Yet the girl stood there calmly as he frantically tried to collect his work from the ground.
The baby moved around, kicking within her. It was almost as if the child was egging her on. She felt her hand wrap tightly around the wand in her pocket. The grip on it was so tight that she thought it might snap under the pressure. But then she was coming to her senses and started to feel scared of the deep-rooted hatred brewing inside her. It wasn’t like her to be like this! She took a deep breath to get ahold of herself. Slowly the wind died down and the lights returned to normal. Mr. Burke was almost out of breath when he finally got his receipts together.
“I’ll take it,” she said. Mr. Burke looked startled. He was trying so hard to get his receipts that he had forgotten the deal he had made. The moment had left him shaken. He hastily reached into his box and pulled out the agreed amount. She took her Galleons and smiled at him gratefully. Mr. Burke gave a nervous smile back.
“It’s a small price that we must pay to get the things we need,” she told him. Then she turned around and walked out of the shop.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” he said as she left.
