Saturday, November 28, 1994 – Morning
The morning mists covered the valley that Little Hangleton sat in. The November nights were starting to freeze in high places. The old Riddle House showed no signs of life.
Curse-breaker Zhang had circled the house looking for wards, alarms, and traps. There were a few signs of recently removed wards, mainly Not-Notice-Me charms, and Muggle Repelling wards. There were no active wards and no signs of magical or muggle inhabitants in the house.
Zhang gave the sign to Captain Zhou. The survey of the Gaunt shack could proceed.
The shack was nearly hidden by the thick growth of weedy trees. It stank of old dark magic. The wards were ancient, powerful, and dangerous.
The ward detection spells were cast. One object outside the wards around the shack glowed bright white. Zhang had never seen something like this in twenty years of curse breaking. He had heard about it. It was a thing from outside the realms of magic created by the Gods. There were no danger signs, Zhang approached the object which on closer inspection proved to be an ordinary flat rock sitting on a pile of rocks. Under the rock was a parchment scroll. It may have been there for years, yet it was perfectly preserved.
The scroll was copied, the covering rock was replaced, and the copy was opened.
This is the message on the parchment.
The shack was the last home of the Gaunt family, the last remaining Gaunt has passed away. The family was wizarding nobility, respected and wealthy in the past. Generations of poor decisions had whittled away the wealth while inbreeding destroyed the family’s health and future. Obsessed by pureblood teachings, the Gaunt family only married close cousins for generations. They doomed themselves to extinction.
Merope Gaunt, the last female of the line married Tom Riddle after dosing him with controlling potions. Tom was the only son of the Riddle family who were local gentry. The Riddle Mansion was their home. They were entirely muggle. Merope was obsessed with Tom and kept him enthralled by potions until she was pregnant by him. Merope stopped the potions in the hope that Tom would stay with her and care for his child. She was mistaken. Tom Riddle abandoned her and returned to the Riddle Mansion in Little Hangleton.
Merope gave birth to her son in a single mother’s shelter in London. She died soon after and her son was placed in an orphanage. The name Merope gave him was Tom Marvolo Riddle, Tom from his father, and Marvolo from her father. Tom grew up to become Lord Voldemort, creator of the soul anchors.
Hermes
Herald of the Gods of Olympus
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Curse-breaker Zhang made tunnel after tunnel through the barrier wards and then the killing wards on the remains of the door to the front room. The roof had caved in in places, the floor was almost rotted away. One piece of flooring remained. The ward revealing charms showing dark killing curses fixed to an object under the preserved floor.
The flooring was broken away to reveal a rusty metal box.
A copy of the box and its contents were made. The copy had no enchantments, it was purely a visual replica of the cursed original.
The curses on the original were broken one by one. It was too dangerous to touch or move the box with any of the curses in place.
The locking charms on the box were removed. The lid and sides of the box disintegrated in a cloud of corrosion. The only thing left was a ring with a large green gem, possibly agate. The stone had the mark of the Deathly Hallows engraved on it. The overlapping circle, triangle, and vertical line representing the stone, the cloak, and the elder wand.
The ring had a powerful compulsion charm on it. Anyone touching the ring who was being tempted to test its necromancy powers would be compelled to put it on. The second curse on the ring would then activate, releasing a slow acting, deadly poison into the wearer.
The curses were broken before anyone could touch the ring. It was then placed in a new charm proof box for transport to the Department of Mysteries.
Curse-breaker Zhang was approaching magical exhaustion. The Li army soldiers under Captain Zhou were also exhausted. The ward tunnels and protective charms had to be held in place by the squad members for six hours while the box was opened, and the ring defanged.
The shack was restored to its broken-down natural state. The only difference was that the copy of the ring in its hiding place was harmless.
The last magical strong box was taken into the Chamber of Secrets. There was one each for the Ring, the Locket, The Cup and the Diadem. The Li soldiers had delivered the Ring to Unspeakable Davis, he in turn sent his house-elf to the Chamber of Secrets to place the ring in its own strong box.
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