Harry Potter 06 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Riddles died, for the Avada Kedavra Curse does not usually leave any sign of damage … the exception sits before me,’ Dumbledore added, with a nod to Harry’s scar. ‘The Ministry, on the other hand, knew at once that this was a wizard’s murder. They also knew that a convicted Muggle-hater lived across the valley from the Riddle house, a Muggle-hater who had already been imprisoned once for attacking one of the murdered people.
    ‘So the Ministry called upon Morfin. They did not need to question him, to use Veritaserum or Legilimency. He admitted to the murder on the spot, giving details only the murderer could know. He was proud, he said, to have killed the Muggles, had been awaiting his chance all these years. He handed over his wand, which was proved at once to have been used to kill the Riddles. And he permitted himself to be led off to Azkaban without a fight. All that disturbed him was the fact that his father’s ring had disappeared. “He’ll kill me for losing it,” he told his captors, over and over again. “He’ll kill me for losing his ring.” And that, apparently, was all he ever said again. He lived out the remainder of his life in Azkaban, lamenting the loss of Marvolo’s last heirloom, and is buried beside the prison alongside the other poor souls who have expired within its walls.’
    ‘So Voldemort stole Morfin’s wand and used it?’ said Harry, sitting up straight.
    ‘That’s right,’ said Dumbledore. ‘We have no memories to show us this, but I think we can be fairly sure what happened. Voldemort Stupefied his uncle, took his wand, and proceeded across the valley to “the big house over the way”. There he murdered the Muggle man who had abandoned his witch mother, and, for good measure, his Muggle grandparents, thus obliterating the last of the unworthy Riddle line and revenging himself upon the father who never wanted him. Then he returned to the Gaunt hovel, performed the complex bit of magic that would implant a false memory in his uncle’s mind, laid Morfin’s wand beside its unconscious owner, pocketed the ancient ring he wore and departed.’
    ‘And Morfin never realised he hadn’t done it?’
    ‘Never,’ said Dumbledore. ‘He gave, as I say, a full and boastful confession.’
    ‘But he had this real memory in him all the time!’
    ‘Yes, but it took a great deal of skilled Legilimency to coax it out of him,’ said Dumbledore, ‘and why should anybody delve further into Morfin’s mind when he had already confessed to the crime? However, I was able to secure a visit to Morfin in the last weeks of his life, by which time I was attempting to discover as much as I could about Voldemort’s past. I extracted this memory with difficulty. When I saw what it contained, I attempted to use it to secure Morfin’s release from Azkaban. Before the Ministry reached their decision, however, Morfin had died.’
    ‘But how come the Ministry didn’t realise that Voldemort had done all that to Morfin?’ Harry asked angrily. ‘He was under age at the time, wasn’t he? I thought they could detect under-age magic!’
    ‘You are quite right – they can detect magic, but not the perpetrator: you will remember that you were blamed by the Ministry for the Hover Charm that was, in fact, cast by –’
    ‘Dobby,’ growled Harry; this injustice still rankled. ‘So if you’re under age and you do magic inside an adult witch or wizard’s house, the Ministry won’t know?’
    ‘They will certainly be unable to tell who performed the magic,’ said Dumbledore, smiling slightly at the look of great indignation on Harry’s face. ‘They rely on witch and wizard parents to enforce their offspring’s obedience while within their walls.’
    ‘Well, that’s rubbish,’ snapped Harry. ‘Look what happened here, look what happened to Morfin!’
    ‘I agree,’ said Dumbledore. ‘Whatever Morfin was, he did not deserve to die as he did, blamed for murders he had not committed. But it is getting late, and I want you to see this other memory before we part …’
    Dumbledore took from an inside pocket another crystal phial and Harry fell silent at once, remembering that Dumbledore had said it was the most important one he had collected. Harry noticed that the contents proved difficult to empty into the Pensieve, as though they had congealed slightly; did memories go off?
    ‘This will not take long,’ said Dumbledore, when he had finally emptied the phial. ‘We shall be back