Chapter 21: Gaunt
This is Healer Greythorn on the weekly radio program, the mother's favorite, the Healer in you! Let's welcome our dearest patients, whose complaints are the day to day evils that the average charm cannot combat. These evils must be fought in the battle between the caduceus and them. Welcome. First, we have the stub on the toe. Oooh. That one hurts, doesn't it, people? Ah. But the greatest mothers know the best solution.
Understanding the problem is the best solution. We, at the Wizarding world, have much more important works than the old muggle in the house, right? Hey there old Muggle! What do you do for that? He leaves it, time heals, but we won't spare that time, eh. That's why we have... the charm for removing pain! It is truly a miraculous- oh, right.
People, there is an important announcement that is brought to you first by the Wizarding Radio. Cornelius Fudge has been selected back again as the minister of Magic, by an almost full court of Wizengamot. The public poll organised by our channel has come on top again. Our head reporter shall discuss this story at the site, people, today, live at the Ministry of Magic, and we shall present a full cover on this issue. Cornelius Oswald Fudge, had been publicly demanded to step out of office, following recent events, culminating on the escape of Peter Pettigrew, on the first of November in the early morning, three days back. Following this recent development, we assure you, Minister Fudge is going to take care of this god-given opportunity to save his seat, don't you think, Madam Weasley? Madam Muriel Weasley is here with us tonight, on The Healer in you! Stay tuned, cause Celestina Warbeck's comin' on the floors. Listen to her song, Kissing under the Mistletoe, while we come back.
"Forensic reports of the two men were submitted in the office sir. It seems only the Killing Curse was cast, but there are signs that point to Corpse 1 killing Corpse 2, before turning the wand on himself. Of the two criminals, only Macnair could have had his wand, but both the dead had their wands with them. Pettigrew would not have taken the wand sir. That I can assure you." Tonks finished her report, as a person wearing the garbs of Maintenence came up.
"Kingsley! I've been looking for you in your room. We have a small problem. The centaur commission had sent a few tribunals to argue for their rights in that blasted trial room. Our men brought them through the Atrium. They saw it."
"What? The statue. Oh. Damnit." Kingsley slapped a hand to his forehead. "We had to remove the bits and pieces, and the head offices said we might use the remnants as such."
"Oh, so they what? Broke it down?" "The three centaurs kicked the statue sir. The entire thing fell back. The janitors are trying to clean all the rubble."
The centaur depicted in the fountain of Magical Brethren had looked too subservient, and so they had taken offence. "Good thing we don't have a house elf commission. Hell, why don't the goblins start protesting? They look like beggars in the fountain..."
"Nah, you haven't seen the one they have at the bank. It's inside, you probably won't have seen it. They have one large painting and statue of the mighty Goblin King, standing on top of Human corpses, with a goblin army. The statue is worse. Humans look upon them like house elves in it. They look at our statue. Think of us in that one. Laugh. Go."
"So, Tonks. Collect all this and submit to Madam Bones. Let her document all that we do. They usually shout at us in the end for everything."
Harry entered the office for the third time this week. Dumbledore had sent for him again, nut this time, with both Hermione and Ron. Luna hadn't been invited, it seemed.
There was a lot of paper cuttings on the table. Harry looked over at one of them, which was surprisingly from the paper of the very day, saying
"-thousands of bats were spotted in the direction from Spain to the northeastern borders. This continuous migration of bats as soon as the sun sets has set birdwatchers in confusion. "More bats seemed to join the stream everywhere. It was like.. a river getting tributaries." Said Mister Timothy Grey, a tourist in Madrid."
"All these paper cuttings are about bats. I wonder what Dumbledore is hinting at?"
"Vampires." Said Hermione, just as Dumbledore entered the room. "Very good, miss Granger. Yes, indeed. Vampires. I'm afraid they have gone for the death of one of their comrades, Baron, or ex-baron, Amadeus. His grave in Germany was stabbed with multiple wooden stakes, by what the public will say zombies. The graveyard was lined with garlic, allowing him no chance of escape."
Hermione had a look which spelled out Aghast. "Inferi?" She mouthed, as Dumbledore nodded. He then explained for the confused looks of the boy's. "Inferi are corpses summoned to animation by a practitioner of the darkest of magic. And with my suspicions about Voldemort not trying to cross the border, with no reports of long distance Apparation recorded in this week, there remains only one possibility."
"Is it Grindelwald?" Asked Harry. "Yes, that is what I suspect."
"Come over here, children. For now, we ought to be focussing on Voldemort first. See this memory, which I acquired from Bob Ogden, uncle of my dear friend Tiberius Ogden. It shows the behaviour of the Gaunt family, the maternal side of Lord Voldemort. As you would probably know from the history of Hogwarts and wizarding culture, Madam Gormlaith Gaunt had already upheld her theories of Pure blood supremacy when she stalked James Steward and Isolt to the school of Ilvermorny, but the line still succeeded after she died in the hands of William. Many more Gaunt descendants survived, mostly due to the family's succession in the male line, and they always attended Hogwarts. With the information on Voldemort from Bertha Jorkins, I have confirmation that Voldemort shared a special connection with his wizarding ancestry. For now, we will limit ourselves to studying Tom Riddle's past, and recognize every possible weakness."
"The Gaunt household, as we will see, hosted the three people when our dear Mr Ogden visited them the event which can be placed well before the Second World War, around the autumn of the year 1925. Marvolo, the father, and his son and daughter. His son, Morfin Gaunt, was a student of mine, in Hogwarts, Slytherin, of course, being direct descendants of the line of Great Salazar himself, while his daughter, interestingly, never attended Hogwarts. Homeschooled, mostly because the father did not believe in free women, she taught herself magic, and had basic potioneering techniques taught to her by portraits of ancestors. The home was rugged, and Marvolo had very low sources of income, and thus, we can put those factors to blame when it comes to him requiring a servant, a slave, for working around his home. Merope Gaunt knew basic magic, potion making, and cooking. The visit of Bob Ogden was in lieu of Morfin, who, soon after failing his NEWTs, had gone to such extents as to use the Unforgivables on unsuspecting muggles. Although records don't specify the curses used, we can assume these were the Imperius, and the Cruciatus, because no deaths were reported in the village of Little Hangleton."
"Well, Mr Ogden then approached the Gaunts, and we'll see what gaunt experience he had with them. I would want you to notice intently, and Harry, you must translate Parceltongue to your friends wherever required."
"You know Parseltongue, don't you, Professor? Otherwise, how..." "Yes, Miss Granger, an astute observation. Now let's see the memory."
They went in.
"Did that hissing come with any wording, Harry?" "He said you are not welcome. Pretty useless, saying that to a person who doesn't know parceltongue, though..."
"This old man must be Marvolo. That means that one, the one with the hair..."
"He sings to the snake. I think this one is Morfin."
"He looks a bit cranky."
"She is.. Merope? I see no resemblance..."
"Oh, so Merope is YKW's mother? Whoa. I didn't realise... he said maternal, but... so that's Voldemort's mother." "Ron said the name. Didn't he?" "What name? Yeah, I guess I did."
"Why the heck do they speak in snakey tongue?"
"I guess they didn't want Ogden to know whatever they say. They are just arguing and scolding Merope now."
"I know that they want to avoid Ogden, I just wanted to complain about it all out loud."
"Shhh. Is that? Whoa. That must be Voldemort's father. He looks just like him. Ginny would have had a blackout."
The room was now full of hisses. Before Ron could ask, Harry held out a palm, telling him to wait. After a minute, when Ogden started running, with Morfin trailing, Harry told the conversation, pointing at Marvolo and the crying Merope for emphasis then and there. After that, he turned to Dumbledore, who had remained silent since they had come in.
"So, I guess Morfin got arrested for messing with the muggles, but still Marvolo would have been here. How would Merope and the count get together? Marvolo doesn't look like the allowing father.."
"Actually, he got pretty easy off the muggles. It was his attack on Bob that got him stuck. Marvolo resisted when Bob brought in several Ministry officials, and Marvolo attacked them for his son. They both got locked up safe in Azkaban, after which Merope Gaunt was free to do whatever she pleased. She cherished a passion for the handsome young man, who had long remained an unreachable grape in her eyes. Now, we would have to postulate and assume many instances, because there are not many sources that give us evidence of the old misery tramp that lived in isolation outside the village."
"But along with the multiple events that link out Voldemort's life, we have to identify certain artefacts that we come across. For instance, did you notice the ring that Marvell brandished?"
"The one he said had the Peverell coat-of-arms?" Asked Ron.
"Very good, Ronald. That ring, contained this very stone, whose story is a very different session." He held up a stone, on which Harry could recognize a triangular shape. "But also important, is the locket, the one on Merope's neck. It was a great family heirloom of Salazar Slytherin, and it is a key point to notice along the trail of clues. As you will see, in further classes, Voldemort relied on such great artefacts to raise himself to a greater level, while stooping further into a unforgiving mixture of Dark Arts and cruelty."
"I give you homework. Of a sort. Find out more about such heirlooms and artefacts, in wizarding history and mythology. If it has been lost for centuries, look into it more deeply. Preferably related to the castle and the Founders of Hogwarts, because Voldemort... no. First attempt on this assignment. I shall tell you more when you have done. The blindfolded man feels for more precise details than the one with eyes wide open. Go on. I shall tell you the date for the next class."
They left the room.
It was Friday now, and Ron had taken up to scribbling Harry's and his names each day, and asked the twins to put it inside. They had good sportsmanship. They did the same with their name, dropping it twice per day. Today, as Ron was writing, they came by Anand plucked off the notes from Ron to put it in. "I haven't completed writing that one yet!" They didn't care. They just put in the names for fun, and fun they did have. Harry smirked at Ron, as he whispered. "Mate, it was your name. I completed writing mine. The paper only had your name with Hogwa. H-O-G-W-A." He spelled it out. "I didn't have time to write the full name."
An age line had indeed been drawn around the Goblet, and moreover, Mrs Norris had stationed herself near a working alarm clock placed near the entrance (It used batteries. Even Dumbledore wasn't sure how it worked in such an area with magical interference).
Krum, and most of the Durmstrang students had come on the second day, and dropped their names into the Goblet, in an extremely orderly fashion. Another talk was about their Headmaster, who had stayed during their activity, and had clapped loudly with shouts of "Bravo, Victor, Bravo!" The twins had taken to screaming "Bravo" for the days after, especially for the Slytherins, and it was quite disconcerting to have Bravo screamed in your ears too. Warrington had aimed for a punch to Fred's jaw, but had missed, hitting the Goblet instead. Flitwick gave three weeks of detention, along with a well received deduction of a hundred points from Slytherin. The twins enjoyed that moment, sharing their enthusiasm with shouts of "Bravo! Filius! Bravo!". Flitwick actually smiled for that.
"How will the selection be done, Professor?" It was the random class for Saturday, during which most students showed very little enthusiasm for classes. McGonagall was conducting a small test for the class, and while most of the students had completed their demonstration part of their long questionnaire, Hermione asked this question. The class fell to the quietness that was previously seen in Binn's class when he had discussed the Chamber of Secrets.
"Yes, Miss Granger?"
"How will the selection be done, Professor?"
"I won't normally do this, but, seeing as we have five more minutes till the day's classes end, let me see. You all know the development of the Sorting hat? It originally belonged to Godric Gryffindor. There is a complex charm for influencing an item to gain a consciousness. This would be a transitional state, between a total animated vegetable and a truly sentient being. There is a long calculated series of progressive functions, which you may get to study if you took NEWT level Arithmancy, and there is a set of inscribed runes to counter as a failsafe. Anyhow, the final structure is enabled to make important decisions, analysing worth, faith, and other qualities. The Goblet of Fire is designed pretty much in the same way, but it recognises schools and pupil experience. It is usually tuned to the names of the schools, while there is no regulation on the number of participating schools. That was because the schools in Asia once attempted a selection for their own tournaments, and there were eight schools authorised."
"So, point one. Each school gets one champion. Two. The champion would be the best student of that all possible candidates. Three. It loses its light after each selection, and requires a time to reenergise. And now, the bell rings. Go off. I am leaving you all without any homework, because I know none of you will complete it. Enjoy the weekend and Monday is double Charms, isn't it?" As Hermione nodded and left, McGonagall collected their answer sheets for the theoretical part of their questionnaire.
I am not going to type out the entire memories shown by Dumbledore, but only the gist and the reactions of Ron and Hermione. JKR has already described the memories in full detail, and read Chapter 10, The House of Gaunt, of HBP, if you are the one to check if I am giving their expressions correctly.
Please Review!