This locket was now around Elwyn's neck. Compared to the one around Merope's neck, it was a little less gold.
Of course, this did not affect its value. Its true value lay in its ability to absorb excess magic and return it.
This thing wasn't as simple as an ornament to prove one's identity. Slythrin had left an unimaginable magic on it back then.
Unfortunately, his descendants didn't realize this, and it was impossible for them to realize this.
"Mr Gunter, your daughter!" Ogden said in a panic, but Gunter had already let go of Merope.
She stumbled away from him and returned to her original corner, rubbing her neck and gasping for air.
"Well!" Gunter said proudly, as if he had just proven a complicated problem so clearly that there was no longer any room for debate. "So don't talk to us like that, don't treat us like mud on the soles of your shoes! Don't think of summoning us to the Ministry of Magic like those mud people and scum. Our ancestors are all pure-blooded wizards, the noblest of wizards! I believe you have nothing to show off! "
He spat at Ogden's feet, and Morfin cackled again.
Merope curled up by the window, her head bowed and silent, her straight hair covering her face.
"Mr Gunter!" Ogden said stubbornly, trying not to meet Gunter's eyes. "I'm afraid neither your ancestors nor mine have anything to do with this matter. I'm here for Morfin, and the Muggle he provoked last night. We received information that Morfin chanted a curse or cast a spell on the Muggle, causing him to break out in excruciating hives all over his body."
Morfin chuckled, very proud of what she had done.
It was a miracle that this family had survived until now. It could only be said that the Ministry of Magic had been too lenient with them at the time.
"Shut up, boy!" Gunter shouted in a snake-like tone. Morfin immediately fell silent.
"Even if he did, so what?" Gunter said provocatively to Ogden. "I think you must have wiped that Muggle's dirty face clean, and his memory …"
'That's not the point, Mr Gunter! 'said Ogden.' It was an unprovoked attack on a defence- '
"Ha, I knew you were a Muggle man the moment I saw you," Gunter sneered, spitting on the ground again.
"Nothing will come of this conversation." "From your son's manner, it is evident that he has not the slightest regret for what he has done. So be it, I formally inform you that Morfin will be tried on the 14th of September to answer the charges of using magic in front of a Muggle and causing harm and pain to the Muggle … "
Ogden stopped abruptly. The tinkling of bells, the clopping of hooves, and loud laughter drifted in through the open window.
It was evident that the winding track which led to the village lay very close to the copse in which the house stood.
Gunter froze. He cocked his head to listen, and his eyes widened in disbelief!
Mo Fen hissed. He turned to look at the source of the sound with a greedy expression.
Merope looked up, her face frighteningly white.
"Good heavens, what a spoilsport!" A girl's clear voice drifted in through the open window. They heard it as clearly as if she were standing in the house, beside them. "Tom, can't your father just pull down that little hovel? Leaving it here would really spoil the scenery! "
"That's not ours," said a young voice. "Everything on the other side of the valley belongs to our family, but that cabin belongs to an old tramp named Gunter and his children. It's been passed down from their ancestors. That son is crazy. You should hear what the people in the village say about him …"
The girl laughed. The clopping of hooves grew louder, and Morfin tried to leap from his armchair.
"Sit still!" his father warned him in a snake-like tone.
"Tom!" The girl's voice came again, nearer now. They were obviously near the house. "Am I not deceiving myself? Has someone nailed a snake to that door?"
"Yes, you can't be mistaken!" said the man's voice. "It must be the son of the Gunters. I told you he wasn't in his right mind. Don't look at it, Cecilia, darling. "
The tinkling of bells and hooves faded away again.
"Darling!" Morfin whispered in a snake-like tone, looking at his sister. "You heard him, he called her darling. Looks like he doesn't want you anymore. That dirty Muggle has thrown you away!"
Merope's face was white, and she swayed, as if she might faint at any moment.
"What's the matter?" Gunter asked sharply, also in a snake-like tone. He looked at his son, and then at his daughter. "What did you say, Morfin?"
"She likes to look at the Muggle." Morfin stared at his sister with a venomous look on her face. Merope looked terrified. "Every time the Muggle passes, she watches him over the fence in the garden, doesn't she? Last night... "
Merope shook his head vehemently, imploringly, but Morfin went on relentlessly.
"She lingered outside the window, waiting to see the Muggle ride home, didn't she?"
"Lingering outside the window, waiting to see the Muggle?" Gunter asked in a low voice, his eyes widening a little more.
The three Gunters seemed to have forgotten Ogden's existence, and were engrossed in their discussion.
Ogden was puzzled and irritated by this new burst of incomprehensible hissing and growling. Elwyn was equally puzzled.
But he could guess what they were talking about. It must have something to do with the parents of the Lord Voldemort. Merope's affection for Riddle had been discovered!
"Is this true?" Gunter asked in a gloomy voice, taking a step or two closer to the terrified Merope. "My daughter, the pure-blooded descendant of Salazar Slytherin, is actually pursuing a filthy, lowly Muggle?"
Merope shook her head pleadingly, shrinking into the corner of the wall.
"You wretched little squib, you filthy little scum!" Gunter roared.
He lost control, his hands clutching his daughter's throat.
Merope shook her head frantically, squeezing herself into the corner with all her might. It was clear that she could not say a word.
She was going to be strangled to death. She was going to die here, by her father.
"No!" Ogden shouted, raising his wand and shouting, "Slacken, slacken!"
Gunter was pushed back, leaving his daughter behind.
He tripped over a chair and fell to the ground on his back.
Morfin roared angrily, leaping up from the chair and rushing towards Ogden.
He waved the bloody knife and shot out a bunch of messy curses from his wand, all of them black magic.
Merope's screams echoed in his ears, and Ogden ran for his life.
Dumbledore motioned for them to follow, and Elwyn followed.
Shielding his head with his arms, Ogden dashed up the dirt road, turned quickly back onto the main road, and collided with the sleek chestnut horse, ridden by a very handsome, dark-haired young man. Both he and the pretty girl on a gray horse beside him laughed heartily at Ogden's appearance, thinking him comical.
Ogden bounced off the purplish-red horse's body and immediately broke into a run.
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