Chapter 183: Gaunt Manor

Chapter 183: Gaunt Manor

Disclaimer:

Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

“Dialogue”

‘Thoughts’

-Author notes-

Chapter 183: Gaunt Manor

“What a mess,” Harry observed the remains of what was once the Gaunt Manor.

Most of the property had completely collapsed, with only a small part still standing.NewW novels updates at novelhall.com

A police perimeter had been set around the area, warning onlookers against approaching, for fear of the house collapsing.

“I don’t think this was done by a few children,” Dumbledore commented.

This was the story the caretaker told them. Two years ago, some rascals from the nearby town came to the house to have some fun and accidentally set it ablaze.

“Of course not. Even in its abandoned state, this was a pureblood wizard manor. It must still have some protections remaining. The idea of some Muggle kids going inside and starting a fire is ridiculous. This was done with magic.”

“I agree... we should proceed with caution. From what I know of the Gaunts, they were a very dark family. Some old traps may remain in place.”

Harry tapped the entrance door with his wand, and it fell backward with a loud ‘thud’.

“Lumos.” Multiple spheres of light came out of his wand and spread over the house, illuminating its interior completely.

Dumbledore continued to cast detection spells as they moved.

“The part remaining is like what... twenty percent of the house? We will be lucky if anything useful remains here,” Harry commented.

“I don’t think this part of the house survived the fire by luck alone, Harry. ” Dumbledore pointed at the walls.

Harry looked more closely until he found what he had missed.

The room was not burned equally. While the entrance was almost turned into charcoal, some of the walls and furniture inside were in much better shape.

“I believe that something in here had protected this part of the house,” Dumbledore said.

Harry noticed a pattern then. He followed the path that was least burned.

The more he followed it, the fewer burns he found. Finally, they came across a corner of the house that was completely intact.

“I assume most traps were destroyed in the fire. But we are not done yet."

The golem was damaged but could still move. Harry had it pull the entire drawer out and empty its contents on the ground.

“Let’s see...” He moved the golem and used it to better examine the contents while Dumbledore watched with rapt attention.

“Jewels... paper... oh? look at that box.”

The golem picked up a small metallic box. It had a velvet cushion inside and a melted hole on the side.

“That thing came out of this box,” Harry said.

“It’s a box meant for a ring.” Dumbledore pointed out.

“There is a symbol at the top,” Harry observed.

“That is the Gaunt Emblem,” Dumbledore added.

“The Gaunt family ring was in there... He must have recalled it somehow. And in doing so, it started a fire... damn... the stone we were looking for was on that ring.”

“The Resurrection Stone was part of the Gaunt family ring?” Dumbledore was surprised to hear this.

“Yes, but I doubt Voldemort knew that he had one of the Hallows in his power. He would not have used it to make one of his Horcruxes.”

Dumbledore appeared to be thinking something. “Did he actually turn the Resurrection Stone into a Horcrux or just the ring part?”

“Huh?... I didn’t think about that.” Harry tried to recall the events of his past. Dumbledore found the ring and was cursed when he put it on, and then, after destroying the Horcrux, they were still left with the intact stone.

“There is a good chance he only managed to use the ring and not the stone...”

“That would make more sense... turning a Hallow into a Horcrux should not be possible. Those are not artifacts that a mere mortal wizard could meddle with and alter in any way.” Dumbledore pointed at the bottom of the drawer that the golem took out.

“And look at that...”

Harry followed his finger and saw it too.

There was a second burned hole at the bottom of the drawer.

His eyes moved back to the cabinet. “There is something still in there.”

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