Chapter 10: The Hour of Gaunt

As the week progresses, Harry follows the Half-Blood Prince’s annotated Potions instructions and outshines the class, earning Slughorn’s praise. Ron struggles with the handwriting; Hermione pointedly sticks to the textbook and grows irritable. On Saturday night, Harry heads to his first scheduled lesson with Dumbledore, narrowly avoiding Professor Trelawney in the corridor.

In Dumbledore’s office, Dumbledore postpones Harry’s detention and introduces the plan: to study memories concerning Voldemort’s past. He produces the Pensieve with Bob Ogden’s memory and invites Harry to enter with him.

Inside the memory, Ogden arrives at the Gaunt family’s squalid cottage near Little Hangleton. He is attacked by Morfin Gaunt and confronted by Marvolo Gaunt, who proudly displays a black-stoned ring bearing the Peverell coat of arms and forces Merope Gaunt to show a gold locket of Slytherin. Ogden cites Morfin for jinxing a Muggle—Tom Riddle Sr.—when Riddle and his companion ride past. Morfin taunts Merope about her infatuation with the Muggle; Marvolo assaults her, Ogden intervenes, and flees under attack.

Back in the office, Dumbledore identifies the Gaunts: Marvolo (Voldemort’s grandfather), Morfin (uncle), and Merope (mother). He explains Marvolo and Morfin went to Azkaban; Merope, newly free, likely used a love potion to make Tom Riddle Sr. elope with her. When Merope stopped dosing him—hoping for real love or the baby—Riddle abandoned her. She later gave birth to Voldemort and died; Tom Riddle Sr. never returned.

Dumbledore stresses the importance of this history to the prophecy. He permits Harry to tell Ron and Hermione but no one else. As Harry leaves, he notices an ugly gold ring with a cracked black stone; Dumbledore confirms it is Marvolo’s ring, which he recently acquired around the time he injured his hand, but withholds the full story for later.