The Rejected Life of Merope

"Merope loved her husband deeply and could not bear to continue controlling him through magic. She was so infatuated that the long time they spent together made her believe that Riddle also loved her, or perhaps she thought that her husband would stay for the sake of the children."

"So she released Riddle from her control, but Riddle didn't think so. He was terrified, and the first thing Riddle did after regaining his senses was to run back to Little Hangleton."

Dumbledore waved his wand, and the snakes and insects hiding in the courtyard were driven away, swarming out in dense lines to crawl along the wall into the woods outside. Their scales and tentacles rustled as they crunched over the leaves beneath the trees.

Loren crouched behind Dumbledore and followed him into Gaunt's old house.

The house has three rooms in total. The large room in the middle serves as both the Kitchen and living room, while two other doors lead to the other rooms.

The blackened stove was broken and riddled with holes. Beside it, a filthy armchair held the rotten flesh and bones of a snake. The table was covered in dust, a moldy and rusty pot lay on the floor, and a pile of dirty pots and jars sat on a shelf against the wall.

"After being abandoned by old Tom Riddle, the pregnant Merope wandered alone in London. She needed money, warm clothes, and food to support her growing baby, so she had to sell her Slytherin's Locket for 10 Galleons."

Loren looked on incredulously. "Ten Galleon? Even Slytherin toilet would cost more than ten Galleon by now. Wasn't she a wizard? Why didn't she use magic to get food from Muggle?"

"Well," said Dumbledore, "Maybe she can. But I think—and I'm guessing, but I believe I'm right—that Merope stopped using magic after her husband abandoned her. She probably doesn't want to be a Witch anymore."

"Of course, there is another possibility: her unrequited love and the despair it brought greatly weakened her power. In fact, when Merope was in childbirth, she was unwilling to raise her wand to save her own life."

"On December 31, 1926, Merope died on a dark, snowy night before she gave birth to Voldemort in a Muggle orphanage. She named him Tom Marvolo Riddle and hoped that little Tom Riddle would have the same handsome appearance as his father."

Loren raised an eyebrow. "Headmaster Dumbledore, do you perhaps feel sympathy for Voldemort's mother?"

Dumbledore sighed, "In that kind of family, Merope never felt loved, nor did she have the capacity to love someone."

His feelings toward Merope were complicated. He had read Bob Ogden's memories and thought she was different from the other members of the Gaunt family, that she still retained a trace of love in her heart.

After a pause, Dumbledore asked, "What do you think of Merope?"

"Hmm—" Loren thought for a moment, "Pitiful, hateful, and tragic. It was her own choice, and everyone should be responsible for their own choices."

Merope twisted Riddle's will, forcing him to accept her distorted love, which doomed the relationship to a tragic end.

"Everyone should be responsible for their own choices..." Dumbledore repeated, lost in distant memories.

"And then what?"

Hearing the question, Dumbledore snapped out of his reverie, "Later, 17-year-old Voldemort returned here and learned the truth about his origins. He killed the Riddle family and framed the Morfin. He also stole the Gaunt family heirloom ring, which I believe—and this is yet another speculation, but I still believe I am right— Voldemort turned the Gaunt Ring into Horcrux."

His gaze searched the room.

Loren also opened his Magic Sight, sensing the fluctuations of Magic Power.

A thick, deep aura of black Magic Power emanated from a ceramic jar on the shelf, its evil and dangerous presence impossible to ignore.

Dumbledore laughed, "Voldemort was too confident. He thought what he did was foolproof. He was convinced that no one knew he was related to the Gaunt family, and that the investigation into the murder had never led to him, so he confidently hid the ring here."

Although he believed Voldemort had been careless in hiding the ring, Dumbledore remained vigilant, tapping the jar twice with his wand.

The earthenware pot flew smoothly off the shelf and onto the table. Then, it was turned upside down to pour out its contents.

Ding-a-ling!

The Black Gem ring landed on the table with a crisp sound.

The dust clinging to the ring's surface was shaken off by the vibration, revealing its mysterious, ancient true nature. The Black Gem on the ring face reflected a faint light in the gloomy room.

After putting the jar back on the shelf, Dumbledore and Loren moved closer to examine the ring.

The ring was large, seemingly made of gold, and crudely crafted, with a heavy Black Gem set in it.

The Black Gem was engraved with a strange emblem: a symmetrical triangle containing a circle, with a vertical line running through the circle. It looked like a triangular eye with a vertical line running through the center of the pupil.

A deep, heavy aura of black Magic Power, a sense of evil and danger, emanates from this ring.

"Headmaster, there's a very powerful curse on the ring," Loren said, suddenly recalling the plot about Dumbledore's finger.

The movie doesn't show the specific circumstances of Dumbledore destroying the ring, but when he takes out the destroyed ring, he is still under an inescapable curse.

Loren turned to look at Dumbledore and noticed that his condition was very abnormal.

Dumbledore seemed not to hear Loren's voice. He ignored Loren, seemingly mesmerized by the ring, staring intently at it.

His expression was filled with painful pity, his eyes were filled with deep sorrow and grief, and his once calm and wise gaze had completely disappeared.

"Peverell, the mark of the Deathly Hallows ..." Dumbledore murmured, completely ignoring Loren's presence.

"The Resurrection Stone ... Ariana ..." His eyes shone with hope, and his fingers trembled slightly, as if he wanted to put the ring on.

"No, no, the boundaries of death are hard to defy..." Dumbledore's remaining sanity was at work, and a struggle was evident on his face.

"Headmaster! Headmaster Dumbledore!" Loren shouted, trying to wake Dumbledore, but to no avail.

He reached out and shook Dumbledore's body, but Dumbledore was no longer responding to any external stimuli.

There was something wrong with the ring. Loren sensed something was amiss. Even if Dumbledore wanted to use the Resurrection Stone to resurrect his sister, struggling with familial bonds and his understanding of life and death, things wouldn't be like this now.

If Dumbledore were in a conscious state, although he would also be tempted by the Resurrection Stone, he would not be able to completely immerse himself in the illusory world.

Loren slightly widened his eyes, guiding them to blur their focus and enter the deep Magic Sight that Dumbledore had taught him.

Suddenly, everything in the room lost its color, leaving only the outlines of shapes drawn with white lines, like a line drawing. All the lines twisted and intertwined like flowing water.

He saw it; between Dumbledore's eyes and the ring on the table, there was a flowing line.

It was definitely the ring influencing Dumbledore!

Upon reflection, it's clear that the Diary could absorb a person's emotions, explore their deepest desires, and even control Ginny to unleash the Basilisk. It's not surprising that other Horcrux have similar effects.

"Headmaster, wake up!" Loren shouted, grabbing his wand as if to make a big fuss.

"It's no use, he's lost in his own fantasies," a voice said softly.

Loren suddenly noticed a figure beside him, a tall, dark-haired man wearing Slytherin House robes. The figure's outline was indistinct, and he didn't resemble a ghost; he was more transparent than a ghost.

"[Piercing Bolt] "

A blinding red light pierced through the main house, striking the side room through the door and instantly destroying it. Dust that had accumulated for over a decade was blown into the woods by the wind, shattering the long-standing tranquility of the place.

Unperturbed by the curse smearing his face, Riddle gave an elegant and approachable smile, "I don't have a physical body right now, so the curse has no effect on me."

Of course I know it won't work on you, but I won't feel comfortable if I don't try... Loren muttered to himself.

He gripped his wand tightly, fully alert, and turned toward Tom Riddle. Taking advantage of the moment when the phantom opposite him wasn't paying attention, he glanced sideways to observe Dumbledore's condition.

What worried him was that even with such a huge explosion, Dumbledore showed no signs of regaining consciousness.

The trembling in his fingers had spread to his palms, and once the trembling had spread across his entire arm, Dumbledore would put on the ring with the malevolent curse.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Loren asked knowingly, stalling for time while trying to come up with a solution.

As Dumbledore's emotions were absorbed by the ring, Riddle's figure slowly became more solid, and his elegant smile became even brighter, "Perhaps you should call me senior, as I was once a student at Hogwarts as well."

He turned to look at the struggling white-bearded headmaster, his tone unreadable. "It was Professor Dumbledore who personally guided me to the school. Oh, no, judging from what you just said, you should call me Headmaster Dumbledore now."

A bold idea suddenly popped into Loren's mind. "Do you have any way to wake up Headmaster Dumbledore?"

Riddle could no longer maintain his composure and burst into unrestrained laughter. "Hahahaha..."

This seemed like the biggest joke in the world. He laughed for a long time before stopping, "Dumbledore has brought you all the way here. Don't you know who I am? Or are all Gryffindor students so naive and stupid?"

His response was two swift spells, Loren's wand flashing in quick succession: "[Sectumsempra] [Piercing Bolt]".

"Everyone says the spells don't work on me anymore," Riddle laughed.

But the spell wasn't aimed at him; it was aimed at the ring on the table. The transparent blade swiftly sliced through, followed by the red light of the Piercing Charm.

Two spells struck the Resurrection Stone Ring, but had no effect. The ring's surface flashed with a faint light and then disappeared, along with the spells. The Sectumsempra failed to cut through the ring, and the Piercing Charm's explosion did not occur.

Realizing that this young wizard posed no threat to him, Riddle revealed his true colors, watching the scene with a mocking and cold expression. "Give up, Horcrux are indestructible."

Loren remained silent, his mind racing as he considered a solution.

He actually wanted to Apparition away with Dumbledore, but he hadn't mastered Apparition to the point where he could carry people, and he was afraid of leaving the headmaster missing limbs.

Moreover, Riddle was already able to reveal himself, Loren worried that after they left, Voldemort could easily control a few snakes to escape with the ring, which would cause endless trouble.

Never mind, Apparition is the last resort. Losing an arm or a leg is better than being cursed to death.

His eyes were fixed on the connection between Dumbledore and the ring, on the flowing lines of Magic Power. Absorbing Dumbledore's emotions to grow stronger—this sounded somewhat familiar...

It's a bit like Dementor...

"Anyway, ordinary spells don't work on Riddle and Horcrux, so let's give it a try, even if we have no other choice."

Loren raised his wand: "[Patronus Charm]"

In the old house, where the sky was obscured by trees, a bright light, unlike anything ever seen before, suddenly shone forth. A blazing, silvery-white radiance erupted from the tip of the wand, coalescing into the shape of a colossal creature.

The house couldn't possibly contain Loren's Orca Patronus; most of its body was on the roof.

Riddle stared in horror at the scene. Although he himself could not use the Patronus Charm, he knew about the spell and had seen other people's Patronus. Even the legends and stories used to amuse young wizards did not contain such an amazing Patronus.

He suddenly had a bad feeling.

Loren swung his arm, causing his wand to swing downwards.

The Orca Patronus swirls its tail, its magnificent body appearing clumsy in its movements, stirring up turbulent winds in another dimension.

The giant whale charged headlong downwards.

The Patronus's actions Silencio; even the snakes and insects in the woods outside fell silent, and for a moment, all was still. But Loren seemed to hear a roar from the distant deep sea, and invisible ripples spread in another dimension.

The impact area covered Riddle's phantom, the Resurrection Stone Ring, and the white-bearded old wizard.

The silvery-white light of the Patronus obscured my vision, making it impossible to see anything.

"I have never seen such a magnificent Patronus; it is truly awe-inspiring," the old wizard's aged voice echoed through the radiance.

"Headmaster Dumbledore!" Loren exclaimed in surprise. He quickly put away his Patronus and rushed to Dumbledore's side. "Headmaster, you're finally awake!"

My hands stopped shaking, and there were no rings on them, nor any dark curses or runes.

It seems they haven't been infected.

Loren looked to the side, but Riddle's indistinct figure was nowhere to be seen. Gaunt's Ring, however, lay intact on the table, still radiating a dangerous, evil aura.

He sighed in disappointment. He had thought his Orca Patronus was extraordinary, a fatal blow to Voldemort's evil soul hidden in the ring, capable of instantly destroying him.

Looks like you're overthinking it...