"My daughter, Merlot," said Gonte reluctantly, seeing Ogden looking at her suspiciously.

"Good morning," Ogden said.

She didn't answer, just looked at her father in horror, turned her back to the room, and continued to move the jars on the shelves behind her, touching everyone but the Gaunt family, something that Merlot couldn't have imagined at all.

"All right, Mr. Gonter," said Ogden, "to cut to the chase, we have reason to believe that your son, Morfin, had cast a spell in front of a Muggle late last night. ”

Suddenly, there was a deafening thud. A jar in Merlot's hand fell to the ground.

"Pick it up!" Gonte yelled at her. "Just pick it up from the ground like a dirty Muggle, what is your wand for, you useless garbage?"

"Mr. Gonter, please don't do this!" said Ogden, who had already picked up the jar by this time, her face flushed a little, and the jar she held in her hand fell to the ground again, and with a shudder, she drew her wand from her pocket, pointed at it and hurriedly muttered a spell, and the jar flew away from the ground and slammed into the opposite wall and split in half.

Morfen let out a maniacian laugh. Gangt screamed, "Fix it, you useless idiot, fix it!"

Merlot stumbled across the room, but before she could raise her wand, Ogden raised his own wand and said calmly, "Restore as before." ”

The jar was immediately restored. Gonter looked at Ogden for a moment, as if he was about to yell at him, but he seemed to change his attention: he turned to his daughter sarcastically, "I'm lucky to have a nice guy from the Ministry of Magic here, isn't it? Maybe he'll take you away from me, maybe he doesn't mind the filthy Squib......"

Without looking at anyone and not thanking Ogden, Merlot picked up the jar and put it back on the shelf with trembling hands. Then, she stood silently with her back to the wall between the stove and the window, as if she wished she could sink into the stone and disappear.

"Mr. Gonter," Ogden said again, "as I have said: I have come because—"

"I just heard!" Gonte snapped, "so what? Morfen gave a filthy Muggle what he deserved—so what?"

"Morfins have violated the laws of wizards. Ogden said sternly.

"Morfins have violated the laws of wizards. Gaunt mimicked Ogden's voice, sounding both pretentious and blunt. Morfen giggled again.

"He taught a dirty Muggle, and now it's against the law, right?"

"Yes," said Ogden, "I'm afraid." ”

He pulled out a small roll of parchment from his inner pocket and unfolded it.

"And what, his verdict?" Gonte raised his voice angrily.

"This is a subpoena for the Ministry of Magic to hold a hearing—"

"Subpoena, subpoena, who do you think you can summon my son at will?"

"I'm the captain of the Magical Law Enforcement Team," Ogden said.

"And you think we're scum, don't you?" Gonter screamed as he approached Ogden and pointed a dirty finger with yellow nails at his chest. "Who do you think you're talking to, you filthy little mudblood, don't you?"

"I remember I was talking to Mr. Gonter," Ogden said cautiously, but still holding his ground.

"That's right!" Gonte snarled.

At first, Van Lin thought that Gott was making a lewd gesture, but immediately realized that he was showing Ogden the ugly ring set with black stone on his middle finger, and he dangled the ring in front of Ogden's eyes.

Resurrection Stone Ring?

Van Lin's eyes narrowed, as Dumbledore had found a way, or rather......

"See this, see this, know what it is, know where it came from? It's something we've been in our family for centuries, and we've been pure-bloods for centuries! This ring has a stone engraved with the coat of arms of Pifrey, do you know how much it's worth?"

"I really don't know," Ogden blinked, the ring dangling an inch below his nose, "it's not about our topic, Mr. Gonter. Your son has committed—"

Gaunt yelled angrily and ran towards his daughter. When his hand reached for her throat, Van Lin thought he was going to strangle her, and then he dragged his daughter to Ogden by the gold necklace around her neck.

"See that?" he yelled at Ogden, dangling a heavy gold box pendant in front of him, while Merlot gasped for breath.

"I saw it, I saw it!" Ogden said hurriedly.

"Slytherin's!" Gont cried, "Salazar Slytherin's! we're his last descendants, what do you think about that, eh?"

"Monsieur Gonter, your daughter!" Ogden warned, and Gonte immediately let go of Merlot, and she staggered away, returning to her corner, rubbing her neck and gulping for air.

"So!" said Gonter triumphantly, as if he had just ruled out all possible controversies, proving a complex argument. "Don't talk to us like mud on your shoes! Generations of purebloods, all wizards—much more than you think, no doubt!"

He spat on Ogden's feet. Morfen giggled again. Merlot curled up by the window, her head down, her slender hair covering her face, she said nothing.

"Mr. Gonter," said Ogden tenaciously, "I am afraid that neither your ancestors nor mine have anything to do with the matter at hand. I'm here for Morfin, Morfen and the Muggle he spoke to late last night. According to our information," he said, glancing at the parchment, "Morfen had cast a vicious spell on the said Muggle, causing him to develop very severe measles on his face. ”

Morfen laughed heartily. "Quiet, kid," Gonter snarled in a parseltongue voice, and Morfen fell silent again.

"So, what if he did?" said Gonter defiantly to Ogden, "I think you've wiped that Muggle's dirty face clean, and his memories are the same—"

"That's not the problem, is it, Mr. Gonter?" said Ogden. "This is an unjustified attack, against an unarmed person—"

"Ah, the first time I saw you, I classified you as a Muggle lover," Gonte sneered and spat on the floor.

"There was no progress in this discussion. Ogden said firmly. "Your son's attitude is a clear indication that he has not shown a trace of remorse for his actions. He glanced at the parchment again.

"Morphy will attend a hearing on September 4 to answer the accusation that he used magic in front of a Muggle and caused harm and misfortune to that Muggle—" Ogden was interrupted.

Outside the window there was the sound of clanging horses' hooves and loud laughter. Apparently the horse was standing in the bushes, close to the winding path leading to the village. Gangte was stunned, his eyes wide open as he listened outside.

Morfen hissed and turned her head in the direction from which the voice had come from, her expression full of longing. Merlot looked up. Van Lin saw that her face was very pale.

"God, what an ugly thing!"