Chapter 1086

"My daughter, Mero," Gaunt could only say reluctantly when Ogden looked at her suspiciously.

"Good morning," Ogden said.

She didn't answer, just gave her father a horrified look, turned her back to the room, and continued to move the jars on the shelf behind her. Contact with other people besides the Gaunt family was simply not possible for Mello. It's something unimaginable.

"Well, Mr. Gaunt," said Ogden, "to get right to the point, we have reason to believe that your son Morfin performed a spell in the presence of a Muggle late last night."

Suddenly there was a deafening clang. A jar fell to the ground in Mello's hand.

"Pick it up!" Gaunt shouted at her. "What's your wand for, picking it off the ground like a filthy Muggle, you worthless piece of trash?"

"Mr. Gaunt, please don't do this!" Ogden said in shock. At this time, Merlo had already picked up the jar, with a little blush on her face. The jar in her hand fell to the ground again, trembling from the She pulled her wand out of her pocket, pointed at the jar and muttered a hasty spell. The jar flew away from her from the ground, hit the opposite wall and broke in half.

Morfin laughed maniacally. Gaunt screamed, "Fix it, you useless fool, fix it!"

Mello stumbled across the room, but before she could raise her wand, Ogden raised his own and said calmly, "Restored."

The jar immediately recovered. Gaunt looked at Ogden for a moment, as if he was about to yell at him, but he seemed to change his focus: instead sarcastically saying to his daughter, "It's 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 dirty squibs..."

Without looking at anyone or thanking Ogden, Merlo picked up the jar and placed it back on the shelf with trembling hands. Then she stood quietly 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. Gaunt," Ogden said again, "as I said just now: the reason I came is-"

"I just heard that!" Gaunt snapped. "So what? Morfin gave a dirty Muggle what he deserved - so what?"

"Morfin has broken wizarding law," Ogden said sternly.

"Morfin broke wizarding law," Gaunt said, imitating Ogden's voice, which sounded both pretentious and monotonous. Morfin chuckled again.

"He taught a dirty Muggle a lesson, which is illegal now, right?"

"Yes," said Ogden, "I'm afraid so."

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

"What is that, his sentence?" Gaunt raised his voice angrily.

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

"Subpoena! Subpoena? Who do you think you are that you can summon my son at will?"

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

"And you think we're scum, don't you?" screamed Gaunt, approaching Ogden and pointing a dirty yellow-nailed finger at his chest. "Scumbags who come running like shit when the Ministry calls them? Who do you think you're talking to, you dirty little Mudblood, don't you?"

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

"That's right!" growled Gaunt.

Fanlin thought at first that Gaunt had made an obscene gesture, but soon realized that he was showing Ogden the ugly ring set with black stones on his middle finger. He dangled the ring in front of Ogden's eyes.

Resurrection stone ring?

Fan Lin narrowed his eyes, as usual Dumbledore had found a way, or...

"See this? See this? Do you know what it is? Do you know where it comes from? This is something that has been in our family for centuries, purebloods for centuries! This ring It has a stone with the Piffry coat of arms on it. Do you know how much it's worth?"

"I really don't know," Ogden blinked, the ring dangling an inch below his nose. "That has nothing to do with our topic, Mr. Gaunt. Your son is guilty of—"

Gaunt roared angrily and ran to his daughter. When his hand reached for her throat, Fanlin thought for a moment that he was going to strangle her; then he grabbed the gold chain around his daughter's neck and dragged her to Ogden.

"See this?" he shouted to Ogden, dangling a heavy gold locket in front of him while Merlot gasped.

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

"Slytherin's!" Gaunt shouted, "Salazar Slytherin's! We are his only remaining descendants. What do you think of this, eh?"

"Mr. Gaunt, your daughter!" Ogden warned, and Gaunt immediately let go of Merlot; she staggered away, back to her corner, rubbing her neck and breathing heavily.

"So!" Gaunt said triumphantly, as if he had just proved a complex argument by eliminating all possible controversies. "Don't talk to us like we're dirt on your shoes! Generations of purebloods, wizards - a lot more than you think, no doubt!"

He spat on Ogden's feet. Morfin chuckled again. Melo huddled by the window, her head lowered, her long hair covering her face, and she said nothing.

"Mr. Gaunt," said Ogden doggedly, "I'm afraid neither your ancestors nor mine have anything to do with the business at hand. I'm here on account of Morfin, who I spoke to late last night. "Our information shows," he glanced at the parchment, "that Morfin cast a curse on the said Muggle, which caused a very severe case of hives on his face."

Morfin chuckled. "Quiet, boy," Gaunt growled in Parseltongue, and Morfin fell silent again.

"So, what would happen if he did?" Gaunt said defiantly to Ogden. "I think you've wiped that Muggle's dirty face clean, and so has his memory - "

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

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

"This discussion is going nowhere," Ogden said firmly. "Your son's attitude clearly shows that he has no remorse for his actions." He glanced at the parchment again.

"Morfin will attend a hearing on September 4th to answer charges that he used magic in the presence of a Muggle and caused harm and misfortune to that Muggle—" Ogden was interrupted.

There was a clanking of horse hooves and loud laughter outside the window. Apparently the horse was standing there among the trees, close to the winding path that led to the village. Gaunt was stunned, and he listened outside with his eyes wide open.

Morfin hissed, turning his head in the direction of the sound, his expression full of desire. Mello raised his head. Fan Lin saw that her face was very pale.

"God, what an ugly thing!" (To be continued)