It was on a Friday, at least Tom believed it to be a Friday, it was fairly hard to tell the time or day when one was locked in a locket, when he finally had enough of Dolores Jane Umbridge. The woman was dreadful. Her mind was so messed up, that there was nothing to corrupt in there and she had the horrible habit of spraying the locket with disgusting, flowery perfumes. He had hoped to scare the pink toad away, so he could be worn by someone, anyone, else, but it did not work. No matter how cold he made the locket, how creepily he whispered and how ominously he made the pink woman feel his heartbeat, she did not get rid of him. It was infuriating!
But today, everything would be different. He would finally stop Umbridge from wearing him like some kind of fashion accesery. He, Tom Marvolo Riddle, Lord Voldemort, bane of all mudbloods, had hatched a plan. He would simply have to escape the locket. That, of course, was not something he, a horcrux should have been able to do, but Tom was smart and after months of suffering he was about ninety percent sure his plan would work. He would open the locket with Parsel, slip out, using a really dark charm, he was now able to perform due to Horcrux magic, possess the least awful of those cat plates, drop himself off the shelf and simply roll out of the office. The plan was pretty flawless.
So, he got to work. It was around noon and Umbridge was stuffing her face with some sticky pastry when Tom Marvolo Riddle ordered his locket to open in the language of Snakes. The pink clad woman with the face of a toad did not even notice. Everything was going according to plan. He was just busy muttering the enchantment he would need to escape his golden prison, when Umbridge suddenly closed her sticky, sugary fingers around the locket. Tom had to stop muttering for a second to gag, then he finished his spell.
Suddenly the room started to spin. Pinks and whites became a swirl of girly nonsense. Umbridge screamed. Tom waited for the opportunity to jump. It never came. Once the room had stopped spinning, he cursed and screamed, banged against the golden wall of Slytherin's locket, but it was no use. He was exhausted and trapped. The next week he was stolen by Harry Potter. At least he was no longer trapped around Umbridge’s neck.
~*~
Dolores Jane Umbridge did not suspect her new fancy locket to be something special, she had it from some weird, smelly criminal after all. Of course, the locket did some weird things, but that was not too concerning. It was probably enchanted in some way that was supposed to freak the wearer out. A scam of some sort. Well, she, Dolores Jane Umbridge, witch with the fastest ascend up the career ladder since Amelia Bones, soon to be minister of magic, would not be scared off so quickly.
That fateful day, she was eating some delicious cinnamon buns in her big, fancy and most tastefully decorated office, when she thought she felt the locket move. Well, there was nothing to worry about. Probably just that scare charm acting up again. Dolores sighed and finished her bun. At least the locked managed to convince people that she was related to the sacred 28. It would have been horrible, if someone was to find out about her dirty muggle relatives! The locket started to hiss now and Dolores got curious after all. Absentmindedly she placed her fingers onto the golden piece of jewelry and gasped. It was open! Whatever she had tried before, she had been never able to open it.
Just as she wanted to take the locket off to get a better look at what was hidden inside, the world stared to spin. Dolores let out a panicked shriek, as she was catapulted from er chair, feeling like being ripped apart. She flew through the air, engulfed in a vortex of pink and green and gold until a light could be seen at the end of the bright hose of swirling colours and she landed on her back. Dolores moaned in pain and blinked into the bright light.
Slowly she looked around. Wherever she had landed, she was far away from London or the ministry of magic. Slowly she got up and brushed the dust off her aching butt. Apparently, the locket, because she was sure this was the lockets doing, had transported her onto a small dirt road near the edge of a forest. Fresh, green grass was growing on both sides of the dusty path and a small muggle village could be seen in the distance. Interesting.
Dolores carefully removed the locket from her neck and examined it. There was nothing inside. Even the weird spell seemed to be gone. Most interesting. At least the old thing should not trouble her anymore now. She grinned smugly and placed it back around her neck. Now she only needed to apperate back to London and continue her work. A long list of dirty mudbloods awaited her. Clearing her throat, Dolores drew her wand and fixed her hair and clothes again magically. She could not send scum to Azkaban, looking like she had fallen onto her butt on a dirt road!
“Hey, you! Woman! Where did you get our locket from!”, a voice suddenly yelled. Dolores froze, just as she had wanted to apperate. A tall man with crazy, dark eyes marched out of the forest. His bottle green robes were dirty and ripped in some places, his dark hair long and uncombed. “That’s none of your business.”, Dolores answered sweetly, “As this locket is mine!” The dark-haired man started to laugh, showing Dolores his crooked teeth with several big gaps in between. “No, it’s not!”, the man growled, “It belonged to my whore of a sister and before that it belonged to our family. It was passed down the Gaunt line for a longer than they probably have recorded your family's history. It used to belong to Slytherin himself! Give it back or I’ll slit your throat!”
The man pulled a massive, rusty knife from one of his pockets. Dolores raised her hands and slowly took the locket off again. “So... so you are a Gaunt, huh? You see, I bought this locket from a criminal of the street. You see, I am related to the Selwyn family and I thought it would fit me quite well.”, Dolores explained in her sweetest voice. “Selwyn, huh? Good. Of course I’m a Gaunt.”, Gaunt mumbled, looking quite impressed, then he ripped the locket from her hands and marched back into the forest on his crooked legs.
This was a dream come true! She had always hoped to marry a pureblood from the sacred 28. With a last name like Gaunt nobody would ever be able to stop her on her way to the post of minister of magic. And this man really did not look like he had many social contacts or even a wife or girlfriend. Dolores gathered up her pink skirts and rushed after him. She could look past his weird teeth, his crossed eyes and the fact that he hissed while talking. He could be her gate to true power!
~*~
Morfin Gaunt had been sitting in the garden of the Gaunt hut, when the pink woman landed. She was a witch for sure, he did not need to see her wand for that. She wore a dress and a robe, both in pink and his sister's locket. Her mouth was wide like a snake’s, and her hair silky and styled artfully. She was beautiful. Much more beautiful than Merope had been. Merope, who he had planned to marry one day, after his father had declared the other branch of the Gaunt family dirty.
Before he went to her to demand his property back, he put on his best robes on. He had the strange urge to impress the pink princess in front of his house. She was polite and sweet, but it was hard talking to her. Morfin had not used English in years. It was almost painful to talk like that. Quickly he left.
But she followed him. Morfin could hear her following him. He grinned, as he opened the door. Several snakes were nailed to the door by now. They had annoyed them with their constant questions about when Merope would come back. “Do... do you live here, Mr. Gaunt?”, the woman asked. He just nodded. He did not want to talk again. “How... interesting you have it here!”, she piped. Morfin chuckled and waved her into the hut.
The woman began to look around the house, while Morfin watched with hungry eyes. He could not believe she was really here, in his house. Meanwhile the woman strode over to the gigantic family tree, that had been carved over the wall of the shack. She looked at it really carefully. “Is this you?”, she asked while pointing at his name. Morfin nodded again. “Morfin. What a wonderful name. I myself am called Dolores.”, she said sweetly while smiling at him. Morfin felt his hunger grow. She should really stop smiling like that...
“Dolores”, Morfin whispered. The name did not hurt to pronounce. He could hiss it. He liked it. Slowly his lips twisted upwards. Again, he nodded. “You see, I am a bit lost. Can I maybe stay here for now? I might even be able to clean this... mess... a bit.”, Dolores asked. “Well of course!”, Morfin hissed and nodded. Dolores tilted her head to the side. Only now did he realize he had used Parsel. He nodded again. Dolores smiled. Oh, that smile!
Morfin took a step forward and... stopped. He did not really know what to do. He had never actually done anything before. He had seen mother and father kiss, when he had been young, but father had always said that that was for after marriage. And Merope had just gone and kissed that muggle...
“Thank you.”, Dolores said and petted his arm. He felt like he was burning. Then she walked away waving her wand and vanishing the dust on the way. Oh, this was about to be good!