Professor of Gemology at Hogwarts

Gray stood under a big tree. The weather was very good today. The sun was not very dazzling, but soft sunlight was falling. The temperature was cool, and the breeze gently brushed his neck like a feather.

He looked down the hillside. A village not far away was Little Hangleton. It was located between two steep hillsides. The church and cemetery were clearly visible. Who could compare such a beautiful village with the tragic people behind it? Bizarre stories tie together.

"Good morning, nice to see you, Gray." Dumbledore suddenly appeared in front of him, "We are both very punctual."

"Good morning, principal."

"As agreed before, I called you and we went there together." Dumbledore looked at the village in the distance. "Originally, I thought Morfin had spent a long time in Azkaban. His fragmentary and vague memory was difficult to understand. There was information worth discovering, but it was actually the opposite of what I thought.”

"It looks like you should have gained something new and not returned empty-handed."

"Yes, that's right," said Dumbledore, "Actually after I got his memory from Morfin, I found Bob Ogden - the former captain of the Magical Law Enforcement Corps, and I tried every means I found him and persuaded him to tell me some memories about the Gaunt family. However, it is not convenient for you to come to me. After all, the professors are still on vacation and are not at Hogwarts, so I gained a lot from these two things. I can only briefly tell you about Feng’s memory.”

In fact, it’s okay not to speak, Gray still has to cooperate with the performance.

"Riddle did come here," Dumbledore said.

"It seems...he is really connected with the Gunter family."

"Yes, when Morfin Gaunt attacked a Muggle, when Bob informed him that he needed to go to the Ministry of Magic to defend his illegal behavior, Marvolo Gaunt, Morfin's father , discovered the fact that his daughter Merope fell in love with a Muggle - yes, the Muggle that Morfin attacked, the old Tom Riddle. He even almost strangled Merope to death, in order to save Merope Lopp, Bob used the extraction spell on Marvolo, so he was attacked by Morfin. Bob apparated back to the Ministry of Magic, then rushed back with reinforcements, subdued the Gaunts and his son, and the Gaunts were imprisoned. Azkaban."

"Riddle must have known his life experience, so he found the Gaunt family. Behind this is Morfin's memory - more than ten years later, Riddle came here, met Morfin, and told Morfin I learned that Morfin’s sister fell in love with Old Tom Riddle, who lived in the big house opposite, and the two eloped, but in the end, Old Tom Riddle abandoned her and returned to live in Riddle Mansion.”

"It was because of Bob's law enforcement actions that Merop was able to break away from the family and eventually elope with Tom Riddle Sr.," Gray added.

"Yes." Dumbledore nodded, "Based on speculation, Merope eloped with Old Tom Riddle and had a child."

"So..." Gray paused, "Voldemort is their...child?"

"We must make some guesses here, but I think it is not difficult to deduce what happened next. Well, a few months after they eloped and got married, old Tom Riddle returned to the big house in Little Hangleton, but He did not have his wife with him. Neighbors spread rumors that he insisted that he had been 'cheated' and 'blinded'. I think he must have meant that he had been under a spell and that the spell had now been lifted. , but I believe he would not dare to use such words, lest others think of him as a madman. However, after listening to his words, the villagers guessed that Merope had lied to Tom Riddle, pretending that she wanted to She gave birth to a child for him, forcing him to marry her.”

"Have you already been to Little Hangleton yourself?" Gray couldn't help but glance at Dumbledore's hand.

"Yes, forgive me, Gray, I didn't explain this clearly. After I got two memories, I came to the village to inquire about it, but I did not go to Riddle House or Gunter's house. inside."

Dumbledore tilted his head, as if to show his willfulness.

Gray was helpless, but fortunately the old man didn't encounter Gunter's ring.

"Old Tom Riddle said he was bewitched? Merope used magic to force him to fall in love with her, and then they eloped? But didn't he come back in the end?"

"This again can only be based on speculation." Dumbledore said. "I think Merope loves her husband deeply, and she cannot bear to continue to control him through magical means. I think she does She made a decision not to give him love potions anymore. Maybe she was so obsessed with love that she believed that her husband would fall in love with her in turn. Maybe she thought her husband would stay for the sake of their children. If that’s true In this way, both of her plans came to nothing. Old Tom Riddle left her and never saw her again, nor did he bother to find out how his son was doing. So later, the newborn Riddle was Placed in the orphanage."

Gray pretended to be thoughtful, and they walked down the hillside. The weak sunlight cast a layer of light and shadow on the village not far away.

"Then what?" Gray asked, "What happened after Voldemort and Morfin?"

"Then Morfin's memory ended. He couldn't remember what happened after that. When he woke up the next morning, he was lying on the ground alone. Marvolo's ring was missing. At the same time, in the small In Hangleton, a maid ran screaming through the streets, saying there were three bodies in the living room of the big house: old Tom Riddle and his parents."

Gray followed Dumbledore to a narrow path. The hedges on both sides were taller and denser than those they had passed just now.

"The Ministry of Magic immediately knew that a wizard was responsible for the murder, and quickly came to find Morfin. Without any interrogation, no veritaserum or Legilimency, he immediately confessed, providing details that only the murderer would know. He also said that he was proud of killing those Muggles and that he had been waiting for this opportunity for many years. The wand he handed over was immediately proved to be the murder weapon that killed the Riddle family. He did not resist and was taken into the Ark. Zkaban. The only thing that bothered him was that his father's ring was missing. 'He's going to kill me.' He repeatedly told his captor, 'I lost his ring and he was going to kill me.' 'That seemed to be all he said afterwards."

"Morfin lost a memory without any warning...could it be that his memory was modified?"

"Yes, we can only speculate that Riddle took Morfin's wand and used it to kill those people, erasing the unlucky Riddle family and taking revenge on his biological father who never wanted him," Dumbledore said. , "But it doesn't stop there, we have additional gains, which is why I want to go to Gunter's house to take a look."

Gray looked at Dumbledore, wanting to hear him continue.

"The ring that Morfin lost caught my attention." Dumbledore said. "Why did Morfin find that the ring was missing when he woke up? It may be that Morfin lost his mind and left it at home, but it is more likely that Riddle Taken it away.”

"What did Voldemort do with the ring?"

Dumbledore looked at him with a calm and calm tone.

"Making Horcruxes. Making Horcruxes requires killing people, and Riddle most likely took this opportunity to create a Horcrux."

"So Gaunt's ring is most likely a Horcrux? Now we know that he made two Horcruxes."

"Yes, but knowing these is not enough. We cannot let go of any known clues." Dumbledore said, "We must find ways to understand Voldemort's past life and search for his traces, so that we can slowly investigate clearly. Just like the address at the bottom of the previous diary, these breakthrough information are often hidden in very conspicuous but easily overlooked places, so I decided to come and have a look in person, and called you as promised."

Gray stepped into the dark and dense shadow cast by a big tree. The two of them had reached the door of Gunter's old house. There was a dead snake nailed on the door - he could only barely tell that this thing should have been a snake. .It was dry and hard, with white bones exposed on its mutilated body. It almost grew together with the wooden door. The wrinkled and white snake skin made Gray feel sick.

Dampness, mold, and an unknown fishy smell came from nowhere. There was no light at all in the room, only a glimmer of brightness came from the crack of the door that had just been opened behind them, and the ceiling was covered with thick cobwebs. , the ground was dark, the house was dilapidated, there was nothing, only a pile of rusty iron pots on the table, which were broken into pieces because they were too old.

While Dumbledore was observing his surroundings, Gray had already started looking around for the ring.

Finally, under a rotten table that was about to collapse, in the pile of fallen sawdust and dirt, and in the cracked cracks of the wooden floor covered by dirt, Gray found the ring.

He lifted it carefully with his wand. The ring was large, seemingly made of gold, crudely crafted, and set with a heavy black stone engraved with the Peverell Crest.

"Well done, Gray, oh, I didn't expect the ring to be here..." Dumbledore said, "It seems that Morfin may have lost it himself..."

ps: In fact, Voldemort took it away at the time and wore the ring to ask Professor Slughorn about Horcrux knowledge.

Dumbledore looked at the ring, his eyes lingering on it for a moment. He must have recognized the black gemstone on it as the Resurrection Stone.