The Downfall of Gormlaith Gaunt
At 10 o'clock, in the Headmaster's Office on the Seventh Floor Hogwarts, as Dumbledore finished speaking, Tom Riddle revealed his true expression for the first time.
It was an expression of curiosity mixed with a hint of competition.
"Harry Potter? From the Potter family? He's a professor at Hogwarts?" Riddle couldn't help but ask repeatedly.
"Him? He's still recognized by the Wizarding World as the one who defeated your main body."
"After your main body is defeated, only a small number of Death Eaters will continue to follow you."
"But they all ended up in Azkaban, while the rest claimed to have been afflicted by the Imperius Curse," Dumbledore quipped, but Riddle paid no heed to his tone.
"Lucius must be among those who claim to be under the Imperius Curse; he's an opportunist like his father."
"But none of that matters anymore. Is Harry Potter at Hogwarts? I want to see him. Is he James Potter's father?" In Riddle's imagination, Harry Potter's appearance had changed to that of an old man with a white beard, the father of James Potter, the Gryffindor star who was rampaging outside.
"No, he was just a baby. James and Lily were his parents. Your main body killed his parents and then failed to kill him."
"In the end, you left him with only an indelible scar. Then he lost his form, becoming less than the lowest wandering spirit," Dumbledore said with a touch of sadness.
"How could an infant, without any particularly magical powers, defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How could he escape unscathed, bearing only a scar, while Voldemort's power was destroyed?"
"And Lily? Isn't she Severus's lover? How did she end up with James Potter? Did I stand up for my servant and then fail so ridiculously?" Riddle looked incredulous, convinced that Dumbledore was behind it all.
"It is the power of love, the power of contempt that you have never understood." Dumbledore sighed. "It appears when a wizard who would not normally die chooses to die for the sake of the one he loves."
"Lily wouldn't have died. Severus begged you to spare her life, and you obviously agreed. In the end, Lily took the fatal spell for his child, and because of the most ancient magic of love, the spell you cast bounced back on you," Dumbledore said.
He appeared very serious, hoping that Tom Riddle, who still had a conscience, could recognize the magical power of love, and even be inspired by it to walk the right path.
In his vision, Riddle's part of the soul, as the main body, would destroy the other souls.
Ultimately, Harry, as Riddle's Horcrux, and Riddle counterbalance each other, surviving for a long time and preserving a portion of the Britain wizarding world's strength.
The appearance of that mysterious America wizard and the rapid development of Muggle made him deeply wary, which is why he helped the part of Tom still had a conscience to become independent.
"So, I really did die standing up for Snape?" Riddle, ignoring Dumbledore's explanation of the power of love, noticed another piece of information in Dumbledore's words.
"You could say that," Dumbledore. "The power of love is something you should know best. Your middle name is Gaunt of Slytherin."
Riddle still looked disdainful, but he pricked up his ears again.
"Love is the most mysterious and unpredictable branch of all magic, and it is very difficult to understand. The Ministry of Magic also believes that love is the most difficult and powerful magic, so there is a room in the Department of Mysteries that has been studying it."
"The power of love can be traced back to the beginning of Wizarding World history. The earliest written record of it is from the 17th century, in the story of the great Ireland witch Isolt Sayre who was defeated by Gormlaith Gaunt after establishing the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Americas."
"You should know that Gormlaith Gaunt is the strongest Gaunt family in the centuries-long history of the Slytherin line, besides you." Dumbledore was interrupted by Riddle before he could finish his sentence.
"You're wrong. Isolt Sayre is also a descendant of Slytherin, Gormlaith is her aunt."
"Gormlaith isn't exactly powerful. Her so-called power comes from attending Hogwarts, while the other Gaunt are good-for-nothings who don't even go to school."
"She was quite famous at the time because she stole Slytherin's Wand."
"Dumbledore, let me tell you this story."
"Her downfall was more due to family ties; she still loved the descendants of her nephews."
"Isolt's father was William Sayre, an Ireland Pure-blood wizard, a descendant of Animagus Morrigan."
"William Sayre and Gormlaith's sister Leona had a son Isolt. Gormlaith was very unhappy because the two of them were happy to help their Muggle neighbors and use magic to heal them and their livestock."
"In the end Gormlaith set fire to her 'deviant' sister and her sister's husband, 'saved' Isolt, and tried to mold her into a Pure-blood supremacist like herself."
"Later, Isolt ran away from home to the Americas, married a Muggle named James Stuart, and adopted two children with wizarding talents— Chadwick and Webber Boot. She also rescued a Pukwudgie (a distant relative of Europe Goblin, who could use powerful magic, was short, had gray skin, and long ears). Because the Pukwudgie hated wizards and humans and was unwilling to reveal its name, she named it William, after her father."
"After Isolt gave birth to her twin daughters, Gormlaith finally found Isolt Gormlaith prepared to repeat her old tricks, killing her aunt and her aunt's Muggle husband and adopting their twin daughters."
"I must say, Gormlaith is quite capable. She first cast a very powerful curse outside, putting Isolt and James into a deep sleep. She also carefully used Parseltongue to disable Isolt's wand."
"But Chadwick and Webber Boot were not known to Gormlaith, which prevented them from being hypnotized."
"Then Chadwick and Webber Boot also detected the magic cast by the Parseltongue using their Horned Serpent Wand and alerted their masters."
"Because their staff cores are made of the same material (the horn of the same Horned Serpent), their magic power can be increased tenfold when they fight enemies together. In addition, Gormlaith thought they were her nephew's children and thought they were too good to kill them. This allowed them to buy time until Isolt was awakened by the cries of Isolt's twin daughters."
"Even so, Gormlaith still had the upper hand, and in the end, Isolt called out her father's name in despair. The Pukwudgie appeared and shot Gormlaith in the heart with a poisoned arrow."
"Finally, William Puckerch and his family moved into Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, becoming the school's private protectors and maintainers of order."
"That's the truth of the story. There was no love involved; in fact, love was the real reason for Gormlaith's downfall," Riddle said dismissively.