The Enemy of my Enemy

The Memory, Part I

"I was under the impression that I was speaking to Mr. Gaunt," said Odgen, looking wary, but standing his ground.

"That's right!" roared Gaunt.

Teddie watched as Gaunt raised his hand, showing an ugly black stone on his middle finger. "See this? See this? Know what it is? Know where it came from? Centuries it's been in our family, that's how far back we go, and pureblood all the way! Know how much I've been offered for this, with the Peverell coat of arms engraved on the stone?"

"I've really no idea," said Odgen, blinking as the ring sailed within an inch of his nose, "and it's quite beside the point, Mr. Gaunt. Your son has committed -"

With a howl of rage, Gaunt ran toward his daughter. Again, Teddie's muscled tightened, and she poised herself ready to lunge forward in defense of Merope.

"See this?" Gaunt bellowed at Odgen, grasping a fine golden necklace around Merope's neck and dragging it, and her, across the room. He shook the heavy gold locket at him, while Merope spluttered and gasped for breath.

"I see it, I see it!" said Odgen hastily

"Slytherins!" yelled Gaunt. "Salazar Slytherin's! We're his last living descendants, what do you say to that, eh?"

"Mr. Gaunt, your daughter!" said Odgen in alarm, but Gaunt had already released Merope; she staggered away from him, back to her corner, massaging her neck and gulping for air.

"So!" said Gaunt triumphantly, as though he had just proved a complicated point beyond all possible disputes. "Don't you go talking to us as if we're dirt on your shoes! Generations of pure-bloods, wizards all-more than you can say, I don't doubt!"

And he spat on the floor at Odgen's feet. Morfin cackled again. Merope, huddled beside the window, her head bowed, and her face hidden by her lank hair, said nothing.

"Mr. Gaunt," said Odgen doggedly, "I am afraid that neither your ancestors nor mine have anything to do with the matter in hand. I am here because of Morfin, Morfin and the Muggle he accosted late last night. Our information" — he glanced down at his scroll of parchment— "is that Morfin performed a jinx or hex on the said Muggle, causing him to erupt in highly painful hives."

Morfin giggled.

"Be quiet, boy," snarled Gaunt in Parseltongue, and Morfin fell silent again.

"And so, what if he did, then?" Gaunt said defiantly to Odgen, "I expect you've wiped the Muggle's filthy face clean for him, and his memory to boot -"

"That's hardly the point, is it, Mr. Gaunt?" said Odgen. "This was an unprovoked attack on a defenceless -"

"Ar, I had you marked out as a Muggle-lover the moment I saw you," sneered Gaunt, and he spat on the floor again.

"This discussion is getting us nowhere," said Odgen firmly. "It is clear from your son's attitude that he feels no remorse for his actions." He glanced down at his scroll of parchment again. "Morfin will attend a hearing on the fourteenth of September to answer the charges of using magic in front of a Muggle and causing harm and distress to that same Mugg -"

Odgen broke off.

Teddie turned toward the open window as the sound of jingling and clopping of horses echoed inside. Laughter followed.

Gaunt froze, listening, his eyes wide. Morfin hissed and turned his face toward the sounds, his expression hungry, while Merope raised her head, eyes wide, and her face chalk white.

"My god, what an eyesore!" said a female voice. "Couldn't your father have that hovel cleared away, Tom?"

Teddie grit her teeth. While she may not have been the Gaunt's biggest fans, especially after everything she had just witnessed, she didn't appreciate the tone of voice coming from the girl outside. It reminded her too much of the rich kids back home, they always liked to taunt Spinner's End kids about having the money to demolish the entire village of Cokesworth, if they so wanted, leaving anyone and everyone who lived there homeless.