By the time the Gaunt family reached the generation of Voldemort's mother, only three people remained: Marvolo Gaunt, Morfin Gaunt, and Merope Gaunt, whom Amanda had mentioned back in their Second Year.
Having lost their ancestral wealth, they lived in a dilapidated shack. Among the three, Merope Gaunt—Voldemort's mother—was the one frequently bullied and abused by the other two.
Because she was constantly subjected to various forms of harm, she suffered from emotional trauma, which suppressed her magic and made her appear like a Squib. This, in turn, led to even more abuse from Marvolo Gaunt and Morfin Gaunt.
At this point, Harry paused for a moment. He couldn't help but wonder if Merope Gaunt had never felt love before, which was why she didn't understand what true love was.
Thus, when she was attracted to the Muggle Old Tom Riddle, she used a Love Potion on him and mistakenly believed that the resulting state was true love, losing herself in it.
Of course, this all happened after Marvolo Gaunt and Morfin Gaunt were imprisoned in Azkaban.
"So Voldemort was actually born because Merope Gaunt used a Love Potion to deceive Old Tom Riddle?"
Ron had a look of disgust on his face, vigorously rubbing the goosebumps on his arms.
"Yes," Harry nodded, confirming this.
"Oh, Merlin, to be forced into having a son like Voldemort... it's pitiful just thinking about it..."
"He wasn't entirely pitiful," Harry sighed. "He once mocked and looked down on Merope Gaunt. In the history of the Gaunt family, no one was truly innocent or pitiful."
"Everyone had their own faults; it's just that Marvolo Gaunt and Morfin Gaunt's faults were the most severe."
"And of course, Merope Gaunt's mistakes weren't much better."
Using a Love Potion to bewitch a Muggle for so long and bringing an unwanted child into the world resulted in a Dark Lord like Voldemort, who brought chaos to the British Wizarding World.
"The Gaunt family was rotten to the core," Amanda shook her head. "They had obvious defects caused by inbreeding. Honestly, it's a miracle they lasted this long and that their family fortune supported them until Marvolo Gaunt's generation without them starving to death; they must have had quite a deep treasury."
Amanda's words were met with agreement from the others present, including Harry. Meanwhile, in a place invisible to the seven Young Wizards...
Rowena and Helga were watching a young man in green robes with a dark, brooding expression on his face, looking as if they were enjoying a show.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You woke up at just the right time. If it had been even a day later, you wouldn't have heard this story about your relatives' descendants."
Rowena spoke with a giggle from the side, acting like a complete 'frenemy' as she used her words to poke Salazar Slytherin where it hurt.
"No, no," Helga shook her head while holding Rowena's arm. "Everyone now recognizes them as your descendants, Salazar, so we should say they are your own progeny."
"Hmph, a bunch of fools." Salazar sneered. Descendants? He didn't even want to admit that these people were the descendants of his relatives.
It was too damaging to his reputation—inbreeding, destitution—these people were simply disgracing the name of Slytherin and slapping the face of their ancestor.
Including that Voldemort! How dare he call himself the Heir of Slytherin? Who acknowledged him? Salazar Slytherin was the first to deny it, and he decided right then and there to immediately expel that madman from the Slytherin family, Slytherin House—no, he should just expel him from Hogwarts entirely.
At the same time, he was curious about what those Slytherin students had been doing after his "death." How could they have distorted his original intention into refusing to let anyone of Muggle-born origin learn magic?
Was that what he said? What he clearly said was to be careful of Muggle-borns, to be cautious of whether there were people sent from the Muggle side specifically to harm them.
During the wars of the Middle Ages, it was right to be a little careful, wasn't it? Yet, his students managed to twist his meaning into him not approving of anyone other than pure-blood Wizards learning magic, and that pure-bloods should be superior and rule over Muggles and half-bloods.
Was that ever his words?! And what that Voldemort fellow was doing—was that ruling over Muggles? That was just bullying ordinary Muggle civilians! If he had the guts, he should have fought the regular Muggle armies; then, perhaps his ancestor could have acknowledged him as a descendant of the Slytherin family.
Because at least he would have had some backbone. However, the reality was that Voldemort only dared to bully ordinary Muggle civilians and went to kill a newborn baby just because he heard a prophecy.
Disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful.
If Rowena and Helga hadn't been holding him back, he would have wanted to rush over right now and kill Voldemort himself to clean house.
Seeing Salazar Slytherin fuming with rage, Rowena and Helga were thoroughly amused.
This man had always maintained the air of a true aristocrat since the Middle Ages—elegant and polite, never changing his expression no matter what happened.
Yet now he had completely lost his composure because of Voldemort. Hahaha... While Salazar fumed and the two women watched the fun, Harry continued to recount the last known part of the history between the Gaunt family and Voldemort.
"After Marvolo Gaunt and Morfin Gaunt were imprisoned in Azkaban, Merope Gaunt gradually regained her magical abilities. She used a Love Potion to bewitch Old Tom Riddle and gave birth to Voldemort."
"Strangely enough, after she became pregnant, she stopped using the Love Potion on Old Tom Riddle, and he then left her without hesitation."
"Perhaps she thought that once they had a child, Old Tom Riddle would fall in love with her no matter what." Penelope sighed and shook her head.
"She didn't understand love," Cho Chang evaluated, putting an arm around Marietta Eckmore's waist. "Just like Voldemort doesn't understand love."
"We just can't be sure if she felt any maternal love for her son, Voldemort."
Regarding this point, perhaps only Merope Gaunt herself knew. Unfortunately, according to Harry's next words, Merope Gaunt died on the day Voldemort was born; she passed away after entrusting Voldemort to an Orphanage.
With that, the history of the Gaunt family came to a temporary close. "Headmaster Dumbledore said there is another segment of memory later, but he hasn't obtained a portion of the memories concerning Voldemort's childhood yet."
"Plus, it was already very late yesterday, so he plans to wait until he gets the memories of Voldemort's childhood before letting me see the next part."
"Voldemort's mother was born into an environment without love and with family abuse," Hermione began to count on her fingers to organize the information after Harry finished speaking. "Never understanding or feeling love from a young age, she fell in love with a Muggle, Old Tom Riddle"
"She mistook possession for love. Therefore, after her father and brother were imprisoned in Azkaban, her emotions were released and her magic was restored, so she used a Love Potion to possess Old Tom Riddle"
"Then she gave birth to Voldemort, but because she still didn't understand love, she thought Old Tom Riddle would love her even without the deception of the Love Potion. So she stopped using it, which led to Old Tom Riddle leaving, and she herself died on the day of childbirth."
"And her death was almost her own choice," Amanda added in a calm voice. "Because as a witch, even in her weakest moment like childbirth, she could have used magic to save herself if she had wanted to."
"So at the final moment of her life, she wasn't even willing to use magic to save herself."
After hearing Amanda and Hermione's summary, everyone present fell into deep thought.
"This was a tragedy caused by everyone not understanding love."
Marietta Eckmore hit the nail on the head. Marvolo Gaunt and Morfin Gaunt didn't understand familial love, Merope Gaunt didn't understand romantic love, and Voldemort never felt love from his mother or father from the moment he was born.
None of them understood love, yet they drifted further and further down paths of obsession and stubbornness, which resulted in this series of tragedies.
"Love is the greatest magic," Harry said suddenly. He looked up and pursed his lips. "Headmaster Dumbledore once said that, and now I understand."
"Love is indeed the greatest magic. It can influence what kind of person someone becomes, and it can create all sorts of impossible miracles."
A warm hand reached out to hold hers. Amanda looked sideways to see Hermione smiling tenderly at her.
Love is the greatest magic. Gently squeezing Hermione's hand back, Amanda thought silently to herself that there was no doubt about it.
It was because of Hermione's love, her friends' love, everyone's love at Hogwarts, and the Mothers' love that she had regained her emotions and hadn't turned into a destroyer even more terrifying than Voldemort.
It allowed her to transform from a cold, functioning machine back into a person of flesh, blood, and warmth.
People are always prone to scoffing at something as ethereal as love, yet they often praise its wonder after it creates a miracle.
But how many people know that only by believing in love, and by giving love to others while feeling it oneself, can one experience the wonder and beauty of love at the right time and in the right circumstances?
Just like Harry's mother. Feeling the warmth of Hermione's palm, the shadow of a great woman suddenly appeared in Amanda's mind.
It was precisely by relying on her maternal love for her son that so many miracles could appear on Harry, and more incredible miracles would surely appear in the future; this was already predestined.
With Harry's sharing finished, the seven of them, including Amanda, returned to their respective dormitories. The amount of information they had received today was quite large, and they needed to rest and process it properly.
With her legs stretched out on the bed and her fair, slender feet swinging back and forth, Amanda leaned in Hermione's arms, contemplating her secret plan for the umpteenth time.
This plan could not afford a single mistake or any other possibility. Otherwise, one wrong step or a slight discrepancy would mean eternal damnation. Even if the known outcome was success, Amanda had to do her best to ensure there were no issues in the process.
Only then could she ensure the final result was indeed successful. It was like solving a math problem where you already knew the answer and knew you would write all the steps correctly, but you still had to write them down accurately to get a perfect score.
One of Hermione's hands was around Amanda, gently patting her arm, while her other hand was flipping through letters sent from the Muggle World.
"The USA troops have all withdrawn," Hermione said in a relieved tone. "Finally succeeded. I have to thank my darling's love for me, allowing me to successfully do so many things I wanted to do."
As she spoke, Hermione happily lowered her head and pecked Amanda on the lips, while Amanda raised her eyebrows and looked at Hermione with a sweet smile.
"I'm the one who should thank Hermione's love for allowing me to return to normal, and," Amanda paused slightly, reaching up to caress Hermione's cheek, "even though Hermione had already walked ninety-nine steps, she was still willing to walk the hundredth step for me, to embrace the cold me and wait for the warmed-up me to respond to you." Even if you weren't sure if I would warm up and become your lover of flesh and blood.
"It's nothing," Hermione put down the letters in her hand, hugging Amanda as she lay down to the same level, kissing her ear repeatedly. "For my darling, never mind a hundred steps—I'd walk a hundred and one steps, a thousand and one steps. As long as the final goal is you and the result is you, I'll walk any path, no matter how long."
With gentle kisses, soft lips, and warm breath filling her ear, Amanda's clear eyes gradually became blurred, and her breathing grew slightly hurried.
Hermione looked up with a mischievous grin, staring intently at her lover's dazed expression.
Reaching out to gently pinch Amanda's cheek, Hermione comforted herself in her heart: just wait a little longer, just a little longer. In less than a year, they would both reach the age of adulthood in the Wizarding World.
When the day came that they were both adults, Hermione pursed her lips; she would use the Potion the Weasley Twins had given her. She had to create a lifelong memory for herself and Amanda.
As for the Love Potion Professor Slughorn had given her... Hermione didn't really want such external things interfering with her and Amanda's first "intimate contact," not even as an enhancement or catalyst.
Vaguely sensing that Hermione was plotting something, Amanda didn't point it out. She just reached out and slowly twirled Hermione's soft, brown curls.
Mm, her Hermione's hair always felt so good—soft and fluffy. She could play with it for a lifetime without getting bored.
While Amanda and Hermione snuggled together enjoying each other's warmth, Harry and Ron were intercepted by Ginny in the Gryffindor Common Room.
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