Professor Dumbledore pulled out a small crystal bottle. "I was very lucky to collect this," he said, getting the pensive ready.
They ended up at the Gaunt's house again, and it was even more filthy than before. The only light came from a candle, placed by the feet of a sleeping man with an overgrown beard and hair. A knock came from the door, and the man jerked awake, holding a wand in one hand and a knife in the other.
The door creaked open, revealing teenage Voldemort Holding out an old-fashioned lamp, Voldemort looked around until his eyes found the man.
The man got up. "You!" he yelled, "you!" He hurried toward Voldemort.
"Stop," Voldemort commanded.
The man skidded into a table. He then stared at Voldemort, before finally speaking. "You speak it?"
"Yes, I speak it," he said. He moved forward, into the room, allowing the door to shut. "Are you Marvolo?"
"Died years ago, didn't he?"
"Are you Morfin?"
"Yes. I thought you was that muggle," Morfin whispered. "You look mighty like that muggle."
"What muggle?"
"That muggle what my sister took a fancy to, that muggle what lives in the big house over the way," said Morfin, who then spat on the floor. "You look right like him. Riddle. But he's older now, in 'e. He's older'n you, now I think on it… He come back, see."
Voldemort moved closer. "Riddle came back?" he said.
"Ar, he left her, and serve her right, marrying filth!" He spat on the floor again. Robbed us, mind, before she ran off! Where the locket, eh, where's Slytherin's locket." He brandished his knife. "Dishonour us, she did, that little slut! And who're you, coming here and asking questions about all that. It's over, innit… It's over."
Voldemort moved forward, and everything went dark.
"And now we have to go back," said Professor Dumbledore.
"Why did it go dark?" Neville asked, once they were back.
"Because Morfin could not remember anything from that point onward. When he awoke the next morning, he was lying on the floor. Marvolo's ring had gone."
Professor Dumbledore continued explaining. The Riddle's maid found Tom Riddle, and both of his parents dead. The muggle authorities couldn't figure out how they died, but the Ministry knew at once that it was done by a wizard. They also knew that a muggle-hater, who had once been imprisoned for attacking one of the murder victims, lived nearby.
Neville had been watching Jane, who had just started trembling and rocking back and forth. Neville carefully took her hand in his, and then she leaned into him. She had remained relatively calm until now. Maybe this meant that she believed that it didn't matter who she was related to.
Professor Dumbledore continued explaining. The Ministry called upon Morfin, and he admitted to the murder, giving details only the murderer could have known. He handed over his wand, which was proved at once to have been used to kill the Riddles. He then permitted himself to be brought to Azkaban.
"All that disturbed him was the fact that his father's ring had disappeared. 'He'll kill me for losing it,' he told his captors, over and over again. 'He'll kill me for losing his ring.' And that was all he ever said again."
It was unclear what exactly happened, but it seemed most likely that Voldemort stupefied Morfin, took his wand, and used it to go and murder the Riddle's. He then came back, implanted the memory into Morfin's head, laid the wand beside him, stole the ring, and left.
"But, how did you get that real memory, sir?" Neville asked.
Professor Dumbledore went on to explain how he had visited Morfin in Azkaban, while trying to find out information about Voldemort, and had managed to extract the memory. He had tried to have him cleared, but he died shortly after.
"What about the trance?" Jane asked. "Even if they didn't know who it was, they would know that somebody underage was at least there."
Neville's grandmother had taught him and Jane that they could only do magic in her house, because of the trace. The only other places where they had been allowed to do magic were Hogwarts, the Hogwarts Express, and Sirius's house.
"I think, once Morfin confessed, they were quick to point the finger and forget about it."