The days at Hogwarts

In great fear, he forced himself to calm down and comforted himself by saying, "Dumbledore is still here. The little wizard won't go far. He will come back."

Even at a long distance, Dumbledore could still sense the house-elf's every move.

McIlroy is grateful to Loren and sincerely offers his loyalty to him. This house-elf is afraid of Voldemort and Crabbe.

Comparing the two, Dumbledore sighed quietly: "What makes people impressed is never strength, never fear."

"Yes, Loren Morgan will come back, will come back..." The house-elf kept repeating this sentence, as if grasping at a life-saving straw, making his already shrill voice even shriller in panic.

Sure enough, the little wizard named Loren Morgan soon appeared, holding a white pointed horn or something like that in his hand.

What made him despair was that this time Dumbledore disappeared with Loren.

The house elf screamed and snapped his fingers, teleporting to where Dumbledore and Loren had just been.

He could follow Loren Morgan's magical trail to get here by teleporting from the wilderness outside the castle to the wilderness beside the Thames. But this time it was Dumbledore who teleported Loren Morgan, and he could not catch any magical traces of Apparition.

The house-elf froze. He grabbed a thick branch from a nearby tree and hit himself on the head with it.

He felt a little sad as he punished himself for not being able to complete the task assigned by his master.

If you can smash the head, you don't have to hatch the snake eggs.

Suddenly, he stopped hammering and stared at Windsor Castle with bloodshot eyes. The blood on his forehead blurred his vision. The pain and despair made a glimmer of light suddenly flash through his blurred vision.

"Although I don't know what Loren Morgan took from the castle, nor do I know where they went... But, if it can make the master happy... maybe the master can just chop off my head..."

The house-elf's shrill voice turned sinister and terrifying. He didn't want his head to be riddled with holes by the venomous snake. His frightened expression gradually turned into madness, and a hot red light flashed on his fingertips...

There was a feeling of being squeezed by rubber tubes all over my body, and every part seemed to be reorganized and merged. My brain was stretched into long strips and then pulled back. The dizziness and feeling of falling indicated that the distance of this apparition was very long.

The transfiguration spell on the coat had been lifted, and the unicorn horn was stored in a pocket on the inside of the robe.

Loren took a deep breath to calm the discomfort caused by the teleportation, and opened his eyes. They were standing on a country road, with tall, tangled hedges on both sides, and the sky above their heads was slightly gloomy.

"Principal, your Apparition seems a little different." Loren said.

Dumbledore was reading a wooden signpost that stuck out from the brambles on the left side of the path: "Fawkes's magic. This will help us get rid of the house-elves."

"Oh." Loren looked at the road sign. There were two arrows on it. The arrow pointing behind them read: Big Hangleton, 5 miles. The arrow pointing in front of them read: Little Hangleton, 1 mile.

Dumbledore compared the scenes along the way with Bob Ogden's memories, trying to see what it was like fifty years ago.

"Although you may not be interested, I still want to tell you a story from many years ago." He led Loren along the tall hedges on both sides of the road.

Loren concentrated on the difficult and steep path below him.

The path turned left and the view suddenly opened up. They were standing on a high hillside. Looking down the hill, Loren saw a village. It was undoubtedly Little Hangleton. The village was located between two steep hills. The church and cemetery were clearly visible.

But their destination was not the village. They walked straight down the steep slope. Before entering the village, the path turned right and went through a gap in the fence.

This is an even steeper and narrower dirt road with denser bushes on both sides. The road is winding, bumpy, and covered with rocks. Because no one has walked on it for decades, the grass and trees have grown wildly and there is almost no trace of the road.

"Many years ago, the Gaunt family lived here. Marvolo, his son Morfin, and his daughter Merope were the last descendants of the Gaunt family, a very old wizard family. They lacked rationality and were famous for violence. They claimed to be descendants of Slytherin. In fact, they were. But there was not much left of their ancestors' wealth when it came to them."

Dumbledore narrated calmly, without any emotion, as if he was telling an insignificant story. He held Loren's hand and lifted him over a boulder that was blocking the road.

Continuing forward, the dirt road led to a dark forest. On the ground were tangled tree roots, and above the head were dense and lush branches, almost completely blocking the sky, not revealing a single ray of sunlight. There were rustling sounds, and Loren vaguely saw a few fat snakes twisting and turning among the branches.

"Morfin attacked Tom Riddle, the son of a Muggle squire. When summoned by Mr. Bob Ogden, his father Marvolo joined him in rebelling against the Aurors and injuring Ministry officials, and both were imprisoned in Azkaban."

"Freed from the rule of her father and brother, Merope became free to do as she pleased and used some covert means to force Riddle to elope with her."

After passing through the gaps between the tree trunks, I finally saw a strange old house.

The walls were covered with moss, the tiles on the roof were shabby and covered with branches and moss, and dense nettles grew around the house, taller than the windows and almost submerged the house. Every place here revealed a strong sense of weirdness and unspeakable mystery.

As he got closer, Loren saw that in addition to moss, there were also some corroded snake bones on the ground in front of the rotten gate. Pushing the door open, he saw moss growing in the cracks of the stone wall, and the wooden wall had long been eaten away by various insects, covered with various fungi.

Chapter 193: The Life of the Disliked Merope

"Merope loved her husband deeply, and she couldn't bear to continue to control him with magic. She loved him too much, and the long time she spent together made her believe that Riddle also loved her, or perhaps she thought her husband would stay for the sake of the child."

"So she released her control over Riddle, but Riddle didn't think so. He was terrified, and when he came to his senses, he fled back to Little Hangleton as soon as possible."

Dumbledore waved his wand, and the snakes and insects hidden in the house were dispersed, and they lined up densely and crawled along the wall into the woods outside. Their scales and tentacles rolled over the leaves under the trees, making bursts of rustling sounds.

Loren huddled behind Dumbledore and followed him into the Gaunt mansion.

There are three rooms in this house. The large room in the middle serves as both a kitchen and a living room, and there are two doors leading to other rooms.

The stove, blackened by smoke, was broken and full of holes, and next to it, a dirty armchair was hung with the bones of a corroded snake. A moldy, rusty pot lay on the dusty table, and a pile of dirty pots and pans were placed on the shelves against the wall.

"After being abandoned by old Tom Riddle, the pregnant Merope wandered alone in London. She needed money, warm clothes and food for the fetus, so she had to sell Slytherin's locket. The price was 10 gold Galleons."

Loren was incredulous when he heard this: "10 Galleons? Even the toilet used by Slytherin is worth more than 10 Galleons. Isn't she a wizard? Why doesn't she use magic to get food from Muggles?"

"Well," said Dumbledore, "perhaps she could. But I think - and I'm speculating, but I'm sure I'm right - I think that Merope stopped using magic after her husband left her. She probably didn't want to be a witch anymore."

"Of course, there is another possibility. Her unrequited love and the resulting despair greatly weakened her power. Even when Merope was in childbirth, she was unwilling to raise her wand to save her life."

"On December 1926, 12, Merope died on a dark and snowy eve. She gave birth to Voldemort in a Muggle orphanage and named him Tom Marvolo Riddle, hoping that little Tom Riddle would have the same handsome appearance as his father."

Loren raised his eyebrows: "Principal Dumbledore, could it be that you have developed sympathy for Voldemort's mother?"

Dumbledore sighed: "In that kind of family, Merope has never felt loved, nor has she the ability to love someone."

He had mixed feelings about Merope. He had read Bob Ogden's memories and thought that she was different from the other members of the Gaunt family and that there was still a trace of love in her heart.

After a pause, Dumbledore asked, "What do you think of Merope?"

"Hmm..." Loren thought for a moment, "It's pitiful, hateful, and sad. This is her own choice, and everyone should be responsible for their own choices."

Merope twisted Riddle's will and forced him to accept her deformed love, which doomed this relationship to a tragic end.

"Everyone should be responsible for their own choices..." Dumbledore repeated, falling into distant memories.

"and after?"

Hearing the question, Dumbledore came back to his senses: "Later, the 17-year-old Voldemort returned here and learned the truth about his life. He killed the Riddle family and framed Morfin. He also stole the Gaunt family's ancestral ring. I think - this is another guess, I still think I am right - Voldemort made the Gaunt family ring into a Horcrux."

His eyes searched the room.

Loren also opened his magic vision and felt the fluctuations of magic.

A thick and deep aura of black magic continuously emanated from a clay jar on the shelf. The evil and dangerous feeling was hard to ignore.

Dumbledore smiled. "Voldemort was too confident. He thought what he did was perfect. He was convinced that no one knew that he was related to the Gaunt family, and that there were no clues pointing to him in the investigation of the murder case, so he hid the ring here with confidence."

Although he thought Voldemort was careless about hiding the ring, Dumbledore remained vigilant. He stretched out his wand and tapped the clay pot twice.

The pottery jar flew smoothly off the shelf, landed on top of the table, then turned upside down and poured out its contents.

Ding-ling-dong!

The black gemstone ring fell on the table, making a crisp sound.

The dust on the surface of the ring fell off during the vibration, revealing its mysterious, simple original appearance. The black gemstone on the ring reflected a faint light in the gloomy room.

Putting the pottery jar back on the shelf, Dumbledore and Loren moved closer to observe the ring.

It was a large ring, of crude gold, with a heavy black gemstone set in it.

There was a strange emblem engraved on the black gemstone, a symmetrical triangle containing a circle with a vertical line in the circle. It looked like a triangular eye with a vertical line in the middle of the pupil.

A deep and thick aura of black magic and a feeling of evil and danger emanate from this ring.

"Principal, there is a powerful curse on the ring." Loren said, suddenly remembering the plot about Dumbledore's finger.

The movie did not explain the specific circumstances when Dumbledore destroyed the ring, but when he took out the destroyed ring, he was still cursed without a break.

Loren turned his head and looked at Dumbledore, and found that his condition was very abnormal.

Dumbledore seemed not to hear Loren's voice. He ignored Loren and seemed to be fascinated by the ring, staring at it intently.

His expression was filled with painful compassion, deep sadness and grief filled his eyes, and the calm and wise look of the past was completely gone.

"The symbol of admiration for Lil, the symbol of the Deathly Hallows..." Dumbledore murmured, completely ignoring Loren's existence.

"Resurrection Stone...Ariana..." His eyes lit up with hope, and his fingers trembled slightly, as if he wanted to put on the ring.

"No, no, the boundaries of death are difficult to defy..." Dumbledore's remaining sanity was at work, and a struggle was revealed on his face.

"Principal! Principal Dumbledore!" Loren shouted loudly, trying to wake up Dumbledore, but it was of no use.

He started shaking Dumbledore's body, but Dumbledore had completely lost his reaction to any external stimulation.

There was something wrong with the ring. Loren sensed something was wrong. Even if Dumbledore wanted to use the Resurrection Stone to resurrect his sister, struggling with family affection and the understanding of life and death, it would not be like this now.

If Dumbledore was awake, he would be tempted by the Resurrection Stone, but he would not be completely addicted to the illusory world.

Loren slightly widened his eyes, guiding them to blur their focus and enter the deeper magical vision that Dumbledore had taught him.

All the objects in the room suddenly lost their colors, leaving only the outlines of the shapes drawn by white lines. All the lines twisted and intertwined like water.

He saw a flowing line between Dumbledore's eyes and the ring on the table.

It turns out that the ring is influencing Dumbledore!

Thinking back carefully, the diary can absorb people's emotions, explore their deepest desires, and even control Ginny to release the basilisk. It is not surprising that other Horcruxes have similar effects.

"Principal, wake up!" Loren called out in a shocking voice, picking up the magic wand in his hand and wanting to make some big noise.

"It's useless, he is indulging in his own fantasy." A voice said softly.

Loren suddenly noticed a figure beside him, a tall black-haired man wearing a magic robe belonging to Slytherin College. The figure's outline was blurry, and he didn't look like a ghost, but more transparent than a ghost.

"[Thunderbolt Piercing]"

A blazing red light pierced through, passing through the door of the main house and hitting the side house. The explosion destroyed the entire side house in an instant. Dust that had been deposited for more than ten years was blown into the woods by the wind and waves, breaking the long-standing desolation here.

Riddle was not annoyed by the curse on his face. He showed an elegant and friendly smile: "I don't have a physical body now. The curse has no effect on me."

Of course I know it won't work on you, but I'll feel uncomfortable if I don't try... Loren complained quietly in his heart.

He gripped his wand tightly, and looked towards Tom Riddle with full vigilance. While the shadow opposite was not paying attention, he glanced sideways to observe Dumbledore's condition.

What made him a little anxious was that even with such a huge explosion, Dumbledore still showed no signs of waking up.

The trembling in his fingers had spread to his palms, and when it spread throughout his arms, Dumbledore would put on the ring with the vicious curse.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Loren asked knowingly, stalling for time while thinking of a solution.

As Dumbledore's emotions were absorbed by the ring, Riddle's figure gradually became more solid, and the elegant smile on his face became brighter: "Perhaps you should call me senior. I was also a student of Hogwarts."

He turned his head to look at the struggling white-bearded headmaster, and said in an unpredictable tone: "It was Professor Dumbledore who personally admitted me to school. Oh, no, from what you said just now, I should call you Headmaster Dumbledore now."

Loren suddenly had a bold idea in his mind: "Do you have any way to wake up Headmaster Dumbledore?"

Riddle could no longer maintain his politeness and laughed out loud: "Hahahahahaha..."

This seemed like a huge joke. He laughed for a long time before stopping. "Dumbledore has brought you here. Don't you know my identity? Or are all Gryffindor students so naive and stupid?"

In response, he cast two swift spells. Loren waved his wand continuously: "【God's Sharpness】【Thunderbolt Piercing】"

"They say the spell doesn't work on me," Riddle laughed.

But the spell was not directed at him, but at the ring on the table. The transparent blade quickly passed by, followed by the red light of the piercing spell.

Two spells hit the resurrection stone ring, but they had no effect. The surface of the ring flashed and disappeared, and the spell disappeared with it. The sharp edge spell did not cut the ring, and the explosion of the piercing spell did not sound.

Realizing that this little wizard could not pose a threat to him, Riddle revealed his true attitude and looked at the scene with sarcasm and coldness: "Give up, the Horcrux is indestructible."

Loren remained silent, thinking quickly about countermeasures in his mind.

He actually wanted to Apparate away with Dumbledore, but his Apparition skill was not yet practiced to the point where he could carry others with him, and he was afraid that the headmaster would lose some limbs.

Moreover, Riddle was already able to reveal his true form. Loren was worried that after they left, Voldemort would simply control a few snakes and escape with the ring, which would cause endless trouble.

No matter what, Apparition is the last resort. Losing limbs is better than being cursed to death.

His eyes were fixed on the connection between Dumbledore and the ring, on the flowing lines of magic. Sucking on Dumbledore's emotions to grow stronger, this kind of thing sounded a little familiar...

A bit like Dementors...

"Anyway, normal spells don't work on Riddle and the Horcruxes, so let's give it a try."

Loren raised his wand: "[Expecto Patronus]"

In the old house where the sky was blocked by trees, a brighter light than ever before suddenly lit up. The blazing silver-white light burst out from the tip of the magic wand and gathered into the shape of a giant.

The room was too small to contain Loren's killer whale patronus, with most of its body on the roof.

Riddle looked at this scene in horror. Although he himself could not use the Patronus Charm, he knew about this spell and had seen other people's Patronuses. Even the legends told to little wizards did not have such an amazing Patronus.

He suddenly had a bad feeling.