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Harry arrives at [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Albus Dumbledore|Professor Dumbledore's]] office for his first lesson, after dodging a tipsy [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Sybill Trelawney|Professor Trelawney]] in the hallway. Dumbledore explains that they will try to determine [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Lord Voldemort|Voldemort]]'s intentions, based on Dumbledore's previous investigation. Dumbledore has shared all he knows with Harry; now they are embarking on guesswork and supposition. Dumbledore produces a vial containing memories from [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Bob Ogden|Bob Ogden]], who worked in Magical Law Enforcement. Dumbledore pours the contents into his [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Pensieve|Pensieve]], and he and Harry enter.
Bob Ogden arrives nearNear [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Places/Little Hangleton|Little Hangleton]] village, andBob turns down a path. As heOgden approaches a ramshackle cottage,. aA young wizard with several missing teeth and small, dark eyes staring in opposite directions appears and challenges Ogden, speaking in [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Parseltongue|Parseltongue]]. TheOgden wizardis jinxes Ogdenjinxed before he can state his business. An older wizard appears and addresses the younger one as [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Morfin Gaunt|Morfin]]. He identifies himself as [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Marvolo Gaunt|Mr. Gaunt]], and says Ogden should have announced himself. Ogden replies that a message was sent by owl post; Gaunt responds that he does not read letters. When Ogden saysstates he is there about Morfin, Gaunt invites him in. Inside, [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Merope Gaunt|Merope]], Gaunt's teen-aged daughter, is in the kitchen. She has a plain, heavy face, and, like Morfin, her eyes stare in opposite directions.
Ogden says Morfin jinxed a [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Muggle|Muggle]], whereupon Merope drops a pot. She fumbles a spell to pick it up and slams the pot into the wall. Ogden repairs it for her. Gaunt taunts Merope, causing her to blush fiercely. Ogden, sayssaying Morfin has broken Wizarding law, and produces a summons. Gaunt demands to know if Ogden realizes just who he is talking to and shows him a ring he says bears the Peverell coat of arms. Heand also shows Ogden Merope's locket, claiming it is Salazar Slytherin's, andsaying they are his descendants. Ogden retortsdismisses thatthis, their heritage has no bearing on Morfin having JinxedJinxing a Muggle. Ogden reads the summons, breaking off when horsesHorses are heard approaching outside. In Parseltongue, Morfin says it is the Muggle that Merope fancies and the one he Jinxed. Gaunt demands to know if Merope is chasing a Muggle. When she does not answer, he attacks her; Ogden defends her and is attacked in turn by Morfin., but Ogden escapes, crashing into the two riders on horseback as he runs for the road. Harry and Dumbledore exit the memory.
Dumbledore says Ogden quickly returned with [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Ministry of Magic|Ministry]] reinforcements, but Morfin and Gaunt fought them; Morfin was sentenced to [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Places/Azkaban|Azkaban]] for three years while Marvolo Gaunt received six months. Harry instantly recognizes the name: Marvolo was [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Lord Voldemort|Voldemort]]'s grandfather. Dumbledore says that Merope was to be Voldemort's mother, and his father was the elegant Muggle on horseback that Morfin attacked. Harry wonders how the handsome [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Tom Riddle Sr.|Tom Riddle]] could possibly have married the unattractive Merope; Dumbledore sayssuspects she likely used a love potion. The two ran away together, causing a scandal; Marvolo never forgave her and died shortly after his release from Azkaban.
A few months later, Riddle returned to his manor house alone, saying he had been hoodwinked. Dumbledore suggests that either Merope believed bearing Tom's child would bind him to her and stopped using the love potion or else she lost her ability to perform magic. Harry recalls that Voldemort was raised in an orphanage and correctly surmises thatafter Merope died soon after giving birth.
Dumbledore agrees that Harry wants to share this with Ron and Hermione; Dumbledore agrees, but warns against spreading it any further. As he leaves, Harry notices a cracked ring sitting on a spindly table, the same ring Dumbledore wore when they visited [[Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Horace Slughorn|Slughorn]], and the same ring Marvolo Gaunt was wearing in the memory. He asks if Dumbledore has had it long; Dumbledore says he acquired it recently, near the time he injured his hand. But hebut turns aside further questions, and sends Harry to bed.
== Analysis ==
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