Chapter 078: The Gaunt Family
"Because Merope's father and brother were strange-looking, disproportionately built, with too broad shoulders and too long arms, Morfin stared in two directions with his eyes, compared to old Tom. Riddle is like a fairy. â
"But as a handsome man, old Tom. Naturally, Riddle couldn't have looked down on Merope, because her eyes were as strange as her brother's, and she didn't have the slightest vitality in her whole body. â
"But Merope's brother Morfin doesn't think so, and Mofin, who was told by his father that Merop is his future wife since he was a child, allows her to have other men in her heart."
So one night, he found Merope wandering out of the window waiting for old Tom. As Riddle rode by, he gave the Muggle a hard lesson, casting a spell on him that caused him to develop painful hives. â
This caught the attention of the Ministry of Magic, who at the time was the captain of the Ministry's Law Enforcement Team. Ogden himself came to the door and read the Ministry notice to Muffin, summoning him to be interrogated. â
"But Marvolo paid no attention to the Ministry of Magic, he was arrogant and conceited, believing that there was nothing wrong with his son teaching Muggles, and even prepared to strangle his daughter when he found out that she was trying to pursue a Muggle."
"Ogden stopped Marvolo from committing murder on the spot, but was chased and killed by Moffin, so he had to run back to the Ministry of Magic to bring rescuers, Moffin and Marvolo resisted stubbornly, but in the end they were both subdued, and the Wizengamot was approved and sentenced to three years in Azkaban, and Marvolo was also sentenced to six months in prison."
After her father and brother were arrested, Merope breathed the air of freedom for the first time, and she couldn't help herself, so she decided to flee to a place where her father and brother couldn't find it, but she didn't want to leave alone, so she tried to find a way to make the person she liked, old Tom. Riddle left with her. â
So a few months later, a scandal broke out in the village of Little Hangleton. The squire's son eloped with the tramp's daughter. â
"When Mavolo returned from prison, he was shocked to find that what was waiting for him was an empty house and a note saying goodbye to his daughter, and since then he has not mentioned his daughter's name again, as if she did not have zĂ i at all."
"But Marvolo, who had always been cared for by his wife and daughter, did not know how to take care of himself, and the poor environment of Azkaban also broke his body, and he died to save face as a Slytherin descendant, so he died soon after, and did not live to see his son return home."
"Merope and Old Tom. A few months after Riddle's elopement, she became pregnant with his child. Naively thinking that this would keep her husband behind, she stopped casting spells on her husband, but her hopes were disappointed, old Tom. Riddle ran away as soon as he woke up, hid in his home and never saw her again, and didn't bother to ask how his child was doing. â
The abandonment of her husband and the resulting despair caused Merope to lose all faith, and the only thing sustaining her survival was the child in her womb, but this hope was too weak to resist Merope's compromising character because of the torture she had suffered since she was a child. So when she gave birth to a son in an orphanage in the Muggle world with great difficulty, and named him, she left for the West. â
"The Muggle world in Britain in 1926 was facing the effects of great unemployment. Although there was a brief boom in the Muggle world in Britain after the end of World War I, due to long-suppressed consumer demand, in 1920. The beginning of the recession was followed by widespread unemployment. â
"There are a number of reasons for this:
1. The post-war overseas market for the British Muggle world was seized by countries such as the United States, Japan, and the Commonwealth Dominions, and the victory of the October Revolution in Russia. It also caused Britain to lose an important market for manufactured goods;
Second, the British Muggle community cannot keep up with the rest of the world in terms of improving industrial efficiency, because they tend not to replace the machine when it is outdated, but to wait until the machine is out of use;
3. Influenced by the traditional values of society, the most capable graduates of prestigious British universities basically entered the executive branch, rather than engaged in business activities, so when the British Muggle manufacturers faced the predicament at that time, they did not think of an active pioneering policy, but a negative distributionism;
Fourth, the British Muggle working class competes not with manufacturers who refuse to raise wages, but with advanced technologies that may reduce employment. â
"In a vicious circle, the snowball of eventual unemployment is getting bigger and bigger, millions of families are living on 'unemployment benefits', and an entire generation is growing up in an environment without jobs."
"It was a hellish time when not many people could see hope for the future, and those who lived at the bottom of the ladder even had to struggle to survive, and orphanages were clearly in this case."
"The orphanage was a charity for the help of disadvantaged children, it had no financial resources of its own, and at that time a quarter of the labor force in the whole society depended on the Muggle government, and how many people would have spare money to sponsor orphans!"
"So life in the orphanage was not comfortable, especially the orphanage was built in a very strange way, like a madhouse, boxy, gloomy and old-fashioned buildings, surrounded by high railings, the yard was bare and there was nothing left, the orphans had to wear gray tunics, even if they could barely fill their stomachs, the atmosphere was undoubtedly gloomy and depressing."
"Tom. Riddle has been in this strange place since he was born, and he himself is very eccentric, he barely cries as a baby, and as he grows up, others think he is more and more weird. â
"Because he has been aware since he was a child that he has a strange power, that he can make things move without touching his hands, and that he can make animals obey without training. Riddle used his powers well to fight for more survival for himself. â
"For example, hanging a rabbit from an orphan who bullied him from a beam, and deliberately letting two disobedient guys try the taste of jumping off a cliff, etc., things that cannot be understood are always easy to frighten Muggles, and Riddle soon becomes the eldest of the orphans."
"But the adult Muggles who ran the orphanage didn't like Riddle because he was disobedient and always did things that scared other children, they thought he was a madman, and they often went to doctors to check him on him, trying to get him out of the orphanage and put him in an insane asylum."
This continued until Riddle was 11 years old, and Hogwarts sent a professor to guide him into the wizarding world. Dumbledore! â
"Ahh The members of the hunting club who were fascinated by the hearing couldn't help but let out an exclamation, because no one expected that Voldemort's guide into the wizarding world would actually be his future worst enemy, Albus. Dumbledore!
"The details of Dumbledore's first meeting with Riddle are unknown, but they don't seem to be getting along well."
"After all, for an underage wizard who grew up in the Muggle world, the guide is the first window through their familiarity with the strange society of the wizarding world, and at the same time, the guide also has the responsibility and obligation to alert the new students to the dangers and protect their safety."
"But instead of leaving the orphanage with Dumbledore, Riddle went to Diagon Alley alone, alone to find a way to get the items on his shopping list."
"As an orphan, especially an orphan who has been ostracized and not looked down upon, he has a basic skill, that is, how to show himself, so that he can be recognized by others in the shortest possible time, so as to get what he needs."
"And it's clear that Riddle's proficiency in this skill is unusually high, otherwise he would never dare to go to a strange place alone, which shows that he is very confident, and this is the basis for his success many years later."
"But self-confidence alone is not enough, you must also have enough knowledge and ability, and Riddle knows this very well, so when he enters Hogwarts, when he enters Slytherin, he honestly reins in his edges."
"He was polite, quiet and urbane, hungry for knowledge, and as a gifted and handsome orphan, Riddle attracted the attention and sympathy of the faculty almost as soon as he arrived at the school, and won the favor of almost everyone, except for his guide, Albus. Dumbledore. â
"Dumbledore didn't say what he learned in the orphanage, but he had been watching Riddle's every move, so Riddle didn't dare to try to confuse Dumbledore like the other professors, he just carefully hid himself."
"During his time at school, Riddle's strength grew rapidly, and he quickly gathered a group of die-hard friends around him, and he began to slowly reveal his true nature, but as he did in the orphanage, there is no evidence that he and his friends were connected to the many vicious times that took place at Hogwarts in those seven years, or rather, no one suspected that he was behind it, except for Dumbledore."
"And the strictest of them all, of course, is the opening of the secret room, which caused the death of Myrtle, and the people of Hogwarts are panicked, and the Ministry of Magic even ordered the school to be temporarily closed until the real murderer is found."
"At that time, the Muggle world was in the shadow of World War II, and the Muggle world in London was attacked by German air raids every day, and an orphan could not survive in such a chaotic situation, even if he was a wizard with great strength."
"So in order to stay in the safe place of Hogwarts, Riddle caught Hagrid, who was secretly raising the eight-eyed giant spider in the castle, and framed him as a murderer."
"Merlin!" There was another uproar in the room.
Although only a few academics were involved in last year's Chamber of Secrets and the "Cleanup" operation, there were still many rumors circulating in the castle, and the Myrtle affair was revealed, but it was clear that there were very few cases involving Voldemort. (To be continued......)