HORCRUX, THE FOSTERS & THE MARVOLO GAUNT'S RING

Today, The Fosters and The Grandma have announced that they found and destroyed Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, another Horcrux, last week. With this, they have already destroyed four of a total of seven. They continued helping Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley in their search.

Marvolo Gaunt's Ring is a golg ring, an heirloom of the House of Gaunt, descendants of Salazar Slytherin and Cadmus Peverell.

Marvolo Gaunt's Ring is an heirloom of the House of Gaunt, descendants of Salazar Slytherin and Cadmus Peverell.

It is a gold ring inset with a black stone, actually the Resurrection Stone, but neither Marvolo Gaunt nor Lord Voldemort were aware of its existence, engraved with what Marvolo Gaunt called the Peverell coat of arms, having come into the Gaunt line from an heiress of the Peverells, not the Slytherin family, which is actually the symbol of the Deathly Hallows.

The signet ring passed through the male Gaunts, generation to generation, until it was stolen from Morfin Gaunt by Tom Riddle while Riddle framed Morfin for the murders of the Riddle family.

While at Hogwarts, Riddle openly wore the ring. He later made the ring into his second Horcrux. Riddle did not enchant the ring right away, as he was seen wearing it while asking Horace Slughorn about Horcruxes, as seen through Slughorn's memories in a pensieve.

Albus Dumbledore retrieved the ring, eventually destroying it with Godric Gryffindor's Sword.

The ring's story begins and ends with its black stone. The stone happened to be the Resurrection Stone, one of the Deathly Hallows of legend, and had the symbol of the Deathly Hallows engraved on its surface.

According to The Tale of the Three Brothers, Cadmus Peverell, the middle brother, asked Death for the power to return people from the dead. Death supposedly picked up a black stone from the nearby river bank and gave it to Cadmus, promising him that it contained the power he had requested.

Once Cadmus returned to his home, he took out the Resurrection Stone and turned it over in his hand three times. In doing so, he brought back his lover who had suffered an untimely death. While she did return from the dead, she was not truly alive and wished to go back to the world of the dead since she no longer belonged in the living world. For Cadmus, it was like being able to see her but not able to touch her or truly be with her. Seeing the stone's limitations drove Cadmus to madness, and he took his own life to truly join his love in death.

The stone passed down Cadmus' family line. At some point, it was placed into a gold setting and made into a ring. The ring continued to be passed down the family line, eventually ending up in the hands of the Gaunts.

Marvolo Gaunt, the family's patriarch at the time, prized this ring, along with Salazar Slytherin's Locket, more than anything, even his own daughter, Merope.

When the family was visited by Ministry of Magic official Bob Ogden, Marvolo waved the ring in front of his face in an attempt to impress and intimidate Ogden. When Marvolo and his son Morfin Gaunt were arrested and imprisoned for assaulting Muggles and Ministry officials, his daughter Merope Gaunt abandoned the family to escape the mental torture her father continuously employed against her, taking Salazar Slytherin's Locket with her.

When Marvolo returned home, he had foolishly expected to find his daughter dutifully awaiting his return with a hot meal ready for him. What he found however was an abandoned house covered with an inch of dust and a note from Merope explaining what she had done and why. 

More information: Wizarding World

Marvolo died shortly thereafter, either due to his inability to take care of himself or the weakening of his strength from Azkaban. The signet ring passed to Morfin when he was finally released from Azkaban, and he continued to wear it in his delusional state for several years afterward.

Some years later, Tom Marvolo Riddle returned to Little Hangleton to seek out his family. He had been expecting to meet Marvolo, but instead found the half-crazed Morfin in the Gaunt shack.

Morfin remarked how Riddle looked very much like the muggle that had married his sister, Tom Riddle Snr. He told Riddle how Riddle Snr had left Merope and returned to his parents' home, the Riddle House. Upon learning of his father's escape and thus feeling that he had caused Merope's death and him going to an orphanage, Riddle stunned Morfin and took his wand. He then proceeded to the Riddle House to confront his father.

Frank Bryce, the Riddle's gardener, remarked later that he had seen Riddle ascending the hill toward the house. Riddle used a common spell to unlock the door and entered the house.

Once inside, Riddle found his father, as well as his grandparents, Thomas Riddle and Mary Riddle, in the drawing room. Riddle then used the Killing Curse on his father and Muggle grandparents.

It is unknown if there were any words exchanged between them before the actual murders took place, but what is certain is that the Riddles were found dead in their drawing room, with looks of extreme fear on their faces. Riddle returned to the Gaunt shack and modified Morfin's memory to make him believe that he had killed the Riddles himself.

Riddle replaced Morfin's wand on his person but absconded with the ring. When Morfin was arrested by the Ministry and found guilty of the Riddle murders, he was carted off to Azkaban for good this time. As he was being taken away, he continuously remarked that his father would kill him for losing the ring.

Riddle openly wore the ring at Hogwarts after these events, likely as a trophy, as seen on his hand in a memory provided by Potions Master Horace Slughorn. Riddle then questioned Slughorn about Horcruxes, particularly what would happen to the wizard that created more than one.

By this point, Riddle had already created his first Horcrux, his childhood diary, with the murder of a fellow student named Myrtle Warren. At some point shortly before or after his graduation from Hogwarts, Riddle used the murder of his father, Tom Riddle Snr to turn the ring into a Horcrux.

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After that, he lost interest in wearing it any longer and chose to return it to the very place he had stolen it from: the Gaunt shack. He placed the ring inside a golden box and hid it beneath the shack's rotting floorboards.

He then set up many protective enchantments to deter outsiders from entering the shack and finding the ring. He also placed a powerful curse on the ring as well, one that would quickly lead to the death of the ring's wearer if not stemmed.

The ring was left there in the ruin of the Gaunt shack for many decades to come. In his entire time of possessing the ring, Riddle either never knew its powers or status as the Resurrection Stone, or simply did not have any use for it, as he feared the dead and did not wish to bring back anyone.

Albus Dumbledore continued investigating Riddle's obsession with immortality and suspected correctly that Riddle had created up to six Horcruxes. Dumbledore suspected that a good place to look for one of Riddle's Horcruxes would be the Gaunt shack, considering its importance to Riddle's past. 

 

Dumbledore travelled to Little Hangleton and found the remains of the shack, hidden amongst many weeds and brush. Dumbledore succeeded in passing through the enchantments protecting the shack and discovered the golden box holding the ring beneath the shack's floorboards.

He brought the sword of Godric Gryffindor with him as it now had the power to destroy Horcruxes since Harry Potter had used it to kill the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, which imbued the blade with the Basilisk's venom.

However, Dumbledore recognised the symbol of the Deathly Hallows on the ring's black stone and recognised it as the Resurrection Stone, something for which Dumbledore had searched for the greater part of his life. Hoping to revive his dead family members, particularly his sister Ariana Dumbledore, he disregarded the ring's status as a Horcrux and put it on.

This enacted the ring's deadly curse, and it began to quickly spread through Dumbledore's body, starting with the hand on which he had put the ring. After Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts, he used Godric Gryffindor's Sword to crack the Resurrection Stone so as to destroy it as a Horcrux.

While the act did destroy the ring as one of Riddle's Horcruxes, it did not stop the fatal curse. The curse gave Dumbledore's hand a withered black look, as though it had died. Severus Snape managed to stop the curse in his right hand, but warned him that he had only a year to live.

After the Horcrux was destroyed, Dumbledore continued to wear the ring for several more days. Most notably, he wore it when he picked up Harry Potter from Privet Drive and took him to persuade Horace Slughorn to teach at Hogwarts.

After Lord Voldemort discovered that Harry was hunting his Horcruxes, Lord Voldemort decided to make sure that each of his Horcruxes was still safe and to increase their protection. He decided that the ring was perhaps the least safe, and thus visited the shack first. Upon discovering that the ring had in fact disappeared, Lord Voldemort let out a scream of fury and quickly left to check the security of his other Horcruxes.

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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 pure-blood all the way!

Know how much I've been offered for this,

with the Peverell coat of arms engraved on the stone?

Marvolo Gaunt

HORCRUX, THE FOSTERS & THE S. SLYTHERIN'S LOCKET

Today, The Fosters and The Grandma have searched Slytherin's Locket, another Horcrux. They want to find and destroy them to help Hogwarts to return to normality. The first Horcrux, T. M. Riddle's Diary, was destroyed by Harry Potter and he has explained the family how he could do it.

Slytherin's Locket was a piece of jewellery originally owned by Salazar Slytherin that became an heirloom of his family.

It was a locket of heavy gold with a serpentine S in glittering green stone inlay on the front. After descending down from Slytherin, it came into the possession of the Gaunt family, and Marvolo Gaunt treasured this heirloom of this pure-blood heritage along with his ring heirloom.

After Marvolo and his son Morfin Gaunt were sent to Azkaban, the locket was stolen by Marvolo's daughter Merope Gaunt, who sold it to Caractacus Burke for ten Galleons, a price far below what the priceless artefact was truly worth.

The locket was bought from Borgin and Burkes shop by a wealthy witch with an affinity for rare or valuable items named Hepzibah Smith. In the mid-20th century, Smith showed it to a young Tom Riddle, who was an employee of Borgin and Burkes at the time. Riddle was interested in the locket, and two days later, Hepzibah was found dead and her house-elf, Hokey, made a full confession.

More information: Wizarding World

Using the murder of a Muggle tramp, Riddle turned the locket into his third Horcrux and hid it in a seaside cave where he had hurt two children when he was in the orphanage. It was taken from the cave, however, by a defected Death Eater named Regulus Black with the attempt of having his house-elf, Kreacher, destroy it, but the elf was unable to destroy the locket.

It was stolen by Mundungus Fletcher from 12 Grimmauld Place, the home of the House of Black. During Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger's attempts to find and destroy Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes, they decided to track down the locket first after retrieving the fake one placed by Regulus from the cave.

They learned from Mundungus that it was taken from him by a Ministry bureaucrat named Dolores Umbridge, and thus the trio infiltrated the Ministry, found Umbridge, and retrieved the locket. Ron and Harry retrieved Godric Gryffindor's Sword from the bottom of a frozen pool and was able to destroy the Horcrux.

The locket was a creation of Salazar Slytherin, the celebrated Founder of Slytherin House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

When Slytherin created the locket, he enchanted it so that only a Parselmouth, like himself, could open it. When Slytherin left Hogwarts, he took the locket with him. After Slytherin's death, the locket was passed down his family line, and eventually came to Marvolo Gaunt, who lived outside the village of Little Hangleton. The locket was one of two remaining Gaunt family heirlooms, the other being a ring inherited down the line of the Peverell family. 

Contradictory to his obsession with the two heirlooms, Marvolo permitted his daughter, Merope, whom he horribly mistreated, to wear the locket around her neck.

After Marvolo and Morfin were imprisoned in Azkaban for assaulting both a Muggle and Ministry of Magic officials, Merope escaped the horrors of her childhood home and fled to London with Tom Riddle Snr Albus Dumbledore theorised that she had used a Love Potion to capture his affections.

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After they had eloped, Merope became pregnant with Riddle's child. During her pregnancy, Merope apparently stopped giving Riddle love potions out of the hope that he would freely choose to stay with her or that he would at least stay for his child. However, after coming to his senses, Riddle fled from Merope, returning to Little Hangleton.

Desperate for money, Merope sold her only valuable possession, the locket, to Caractacus Burke for only ten galleons, either not realising that the locket was a priceless artefact or not caring. Not long afterwards, on New Year's Eve 1926, she came to a Muggle orphanage and gave birth to her son, Tom Marvolo Riddle, naming him after her father and husband. Merope Gaunt died shortly thereafter, leaving her son in the care of the orphanage.

Many years later Tom Riddle graduated from Hogwarts, spurned a wide variety of prestigious offers and took a job at Borgin and Burkes, because of the potential to work with Dark artefacts. In the course of his work, Riddle visited the elderly witch Hepzibah Smith on many occasions and charmed her with flowers and compliments.

After many visits Smith showed Riddle her most prized possessions: Helga Hufflepuff's Cup, an artefacts that she had inherited from her prestigious ancestor and the locket.

She told the young man that she hoped he would appreciate the unique history the objects' possessed. Hepzibah stated that both objects had considerable powers which she had not fully tested, and detailed the locket's historical value. Smith admitted she had paid a heavy price to Caractacus Burke to obtain the locket, and that Burke had previously bought it from a ragged-looking woman, Merope Gaunt, having paid her a mere pittance for it.

By this time, Riddle knew of his family lineage and knew the ragged-looking woman Smith referred to was his own mother. Riddle returned the cup without incident, but when the time came to replace the locket, Riddle briefly hesitated and a look of intense hunger washed across his face, before he let the locket slip through his fingers.

According to Dumbledore, Riddle saw the locket as rightfully his due to its past connections, and is one of the reasons why he would covet it more.

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Two days later Smith was found dead and her elderly house-elf, Hokey, admitted to accidentally poisoning her mistress' cocoa, mistaking a little known, highly lethal poison for sugar. It was later believed by Albus Dumbledore, however, that Riddle had murdered Smith himself and embedded a false memory in the house-elf to escape detection, not unlike his murder of the Riddles in Little Hangleton a few years earlier.

As Smith had quite a collection and many hiding places, it was assumed that the priceless artefacts were simply hidden in her house. Later, Smith's family discovered the cup and the locket were both missing, but by then Riddle had already quit his job and disappeared, not to be seen or heard from again for a decade.

Riddle murdered a Muggle tramp and used that murder to make the locket into a Horcrux. This was a marked departure from his other Horcrux murders, as he tended to choose deaths significant to him in the creation of Horcruxes.

Many years later, the locket was hidden by Riddle, now styling himself Lord Voldemort, in a seaside cave he had visited as a child. It was in this cave that he committed an act so horrifying that he shocked fellow orphans Dennis Bishop and Amy Benson into muteness.

In addition to the natural barriers, Lord Voldemort hid the locket in this cave with several magical enchantments to guard it.

First, the cave could not be Apparated into or Disapparated out from; second, an unmarked door that could only be opened with the payment of blood wiped upon the cave walls; third, an Inferi-infested lake; fourth, an invisible rowboat that would transport only one wizard at a time safely across the lake; fifth, a stone basin filled with a green potion that could not be parted, vanished, transfigured, or otherwise made to change its properties.

The only way to remove the potion from the basin, thereby exposing the locket at the bottom, was to drink it. The potion caused unbearable pain to the drinker and forced them to relive their worst memories and face their worst fears, as though in a nightmare.

If the drinker had any strength left, in their desperate thirst they would be forced to drink water from the lake, as any water magicked on the island would disappear. The drinker would therefore be unable to imbibe anything but the lake's water, which would awaken the army of Inferi.

Before becoming a Horcrux, the locket was described by Hepzibah Smith as having all kinds of powers, though she failed to elaborate, and the only way to open the locket was to speak to it in Parseltongue.

After it was turned into a Horcrux, the locket had many additional powers. Most noticeably, the soul shard within seemed to willingly exert a negative influence on those in its proximity. When worn by Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley in late 1997, it made them all irritable, suspicious, and unable to summon enough happiness to use a Patronus.

More information: Screen Rant

However, someone as malicious as Dolores Umbridge would have an affinity rather than an aversion to it, and not be hindered by it. The locket also had magic in place to protect itself; when Ron attempted to destroy it, it created a vision to show him his worst fears and deepest insecurities.

At times, it also burned very hot, such as when Harry wore it in proximity to Nagini, another Horcrux, and when he tried to pick it up while its continued existence was being threatened. It even attempted to strangle Harry to prevent him from retrieving Gryffindor's sword, knowing that he would use it to destroy the locket.

It seems the glass of the locket allowed the piece of Tom Riddle to have a visible, although immaterial presence; when the locket's doors were open, Riddle's eye could be seen watching from inside.

On a similar note, the locket may also have had the potential to possess individuals, in a manner similar to another Horcrux (Tom Riddle's Diary), as Harry saw a trace of scarlet in Ron's eyes at one point during the locket's attempt to prevent him from destroying it.

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She slid back the fine filigree 

clasp and flipped open the box.

There upon the smooth crimson velvet 

lay a heavy golden locket.

 Hepzibah Smith showing Tom Riddle the locket for the first time

GRYFFINDOR, HUFFLEPUFF, RAVENCLAW & SLYTHERIN

Today, The Fosters and The Grandma have visited Hogwarts guided by Professor Albus Dumbledore, its Headmaster and Professor Rubeus Hagrid, its Guard. 

 

They have been talking about its four Houses, their history, members, values and rooms. It has been an amazing interesting day.

 

Before, the family has been preparing their Cambridge Exam studying some vocabulary about  Inside the House and Food and Drink.

 

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Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was divided into four houses: Gryffindor, founded by Godric Gryffindor; Hufflepuff, founded by Helga Hufflepuff; Ravenclaw, founded by Rowena Ravenclaw; and Slytherin, founded by Salazar Slytherin.

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Gryffindor is one of the four Houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was founded by Godric Gryffindor.

Gryffindor instructed the Sorting Hat to choose students possessing characteristics he most valued, such as courage, chivalry, and determination, to be sorted into his house. Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, also known as Nearly Headless Nick is the House ghost.

Gryffindor corresponds roughly to the element of fire, and it is for this reason that the colours scarlet and gold were chosen to represent the house. The colour of fire corresponds to that of a lion as well, with scarlet representing the mane and tail and gold representing the coat.

The emblematic animal is a lion, and its colours are scarlet and gold.

 

More information: Wizarding World

Gryffindors and Slytherins have shared a fierce house rivalry since their founders, Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin, respectively, had a severe falling out over Slytherin's emphasis on blood purity. There might also be an element of feeling wronged, as Harry and his fellow Gryffindors tend to win in a lot of circumstances which, when viewed from a neutral point of view, may be considered unfair.

The Gryffindor Common Room is located in one of the castle's towers (Gryffindor Tower), the entrance to which is located on the seventh floor and is guarded by an oil painting of the Fat Lady, who is garbed in a pink silk dress. She permits entry only after being given the correct (regularly changing) password. Behind her painting is a large common room, with a fireplace, and two staircases leading up to the girls' and boys' dormitories. There is a spell on the girls' staircase that prevents boys from using it; however, there is no such enchantment on the staircase to the boys' dormitory, allowing girls to use it whenever they wish, due to the founders' belief that girls were more trustworthy. The common room is very comfortable, and members of the Gryffindor house meet there for study groups, celebrations, or relaxation. The walls are lined with portraits, each one depicting a previous or current Head of Gryffindor.

The head of house before and during Harry Potter's time was Minerva McGonagall. Minerva became the head of house possibly in 1956, when she was appointed Transfiguration professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, taking over Albus Dumbledore's previous teaching position when he became Headmaster. It is unknown who later became the head of house when she was made Headmistress in 1998 following the end of the Second Wizarding War.

More information: Wizarding World

You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry,
Set Gryffindors apart...
 

Hufflepuff is one of the four Houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Its founder was the medieval witch Helga Hufflepuff.

Hufflepuff is the most inclusive among the four houses; valuing hard work, dedication, patience, loyalty, and fair play rather than a particular aptitude in its members. Students in Hufflepuff are known to value everyone and treat them as equal.

Hufflepuff corresponds roughly to the element of earth, and it is for that reason that the House colours were chosen: yellow represented wheat, while black was emblematic of soil. The Hufflepuff point hourglass contains yellow diamonds. Students sorted into Hufflepuff often demonstrate exceptional abilities in Herbology, owing to their correspondence to earth.

The emblematic animal is a badger, and yellow and black are its colours.

Hufflepuff appears to have the least rivalry with the other houses, except in Quidditch, although the Triwizard Tournament did temporarily put a great deal of strain on the relationship between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, due to unusual circumstances of the selection of both Gryffindor student Harry Potter and Hufflepuff student Cedric Diggory as Champions. This was mended by 1998, where a majority of Hufflepuffs rose to defend Harry from Pansy Parkinson and later helped to defend Hogwarts.

Hufflepuff is the house that produced the fewest dark wizards through out its history. Their cheerful and friendly demeanor can probably account for this property of the House. Hufflepuff firmly demonstrated its loyalty during the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998, when they were second only to Harry Potter's own house of Gryffindor in the number of students willing to stay and fight against Voldemort and his forces in the defence of their school. The Hufflepuff dormitories and common room have never been seen by outsiders and is the only house with repelling devices in case of intruders. They are accessed through a pile of large barrels, found stacked in a shadowy stone recess on a right-hand side corridor near the kitchens. The barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, will open if tapped in the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff.
 

The Hufflepuff's head of house before and during Harry Potter's time was Pomona Sprout. She was the Herbology professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

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You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true,
And unafraid of toil...
 

Ravenclaw is one of the four Houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Its founder was the medieval witch Rowena Ravenclaw.

Members of this house are characterised by their wit, learning, and wisdom. Ravenclaw House prizes learning, wisdom, wit, and intellect in its members. Thus, many Ravenclaws tend to be academically motivated and talented students. They also pride themselves on being original in their ideas, and methods. It's not unusual to find Ravenclaw students practising especially different types of magic that other houses might shun. Ravenclaws tend to be curious about the world and pay attention to the world around them. Ravenclaws are known to be logical and rational.

Ravenclaw corresponds roughly to the element of air, and it is for that reason that the House colours were chosen; blue and bronze represent the sky and eagle feathers respectively, both having much to do with air. The Ravenclaw points hourglass contains blue sapphires.

The emblematic animal symbol is an eagle, and blue and bronze are its colours.

Ravenclaw House appears to have little rivalry with the other houses, except in Quidditch. Harry Potter believed that they tended to side with Gryffindor in its rivalry with Slytherin, as did Hufflepuff house.

The Ravenclaw common room is in one of the castle's towers and is wide and circular. You have to climb a tight spiral staircase to get there. It has graceful arched windows, and the walls are hung with blue and bronze silks. The domed ceiling is painted with stars, which are echoed in the midnight-blue carpet. Tables, chairs, and bookcases cover the expanse of the floor, and a white marble statue of Rowena Ravenclaw sits next to the door that leads to the dormitories above. Harry Potter entered the common room in 1998 while searching for clues to the location of one of Voldemort's Horcruxes. Unlike the other common rooms in the school, a logical riddle given by a bronze eagle-shaped knocker must be answered to enter.

The Head of Ravenclaw is Filius Flitwick and the house ghost is the Grey Lady, otherwise known as the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw, Helena Ravenclaw.

More information: Wizarding World

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind...
 

Slytherin is one of the four Houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, founded by Salazar Slytherin.

In establishing the house, Salazar instructed the Sorting Hat to pick students who had a few particular characteristics he most valued. Slytherins tend to be ambitious, shrewd, cunning, strong leaders, and achievement-oriented. They also have highly developed senses of self-preservation. This means that Slytherins tend to hesitate before acting, so as to weigh all possible outcomes before deciding exactly what should be done.

Slytherin corresponds roughly with the element of water due to serpents being commonly associated with the sea and lochs in western European mythology, as well as serpents being physically fluid and flexible animals. Similarly, in Celtic mythology, water is seen as a portal to another world, leading some to speculate that the element was chosen to symbolise many Slytherins' hope for a pure-blood only community. The colours also correspond with waters around lakes and lochs often being green, and silver being often associated with grey rainwater.

The emblematic animal of the house is a snake and its colours are green and silver.

Slytherin and Gryffindor are generally rivals in Quidditch and for the House Cup, of which the former had won seven years in a row prior to Harry Potter's arrival at Hogwarts in 1991. It is also rare for Slytherin and Gryffindor students to be friendly with one another, and is also quite common for them to share animosity. There are exceptions, such as Slytherin Merlin who had a friendship with Gryffindor Sir Cadogan and Slytherin Severus Snape and Gryffindor Lily Evans, who were best friends until Snape's use of the slur Mudblood as well as his aspirations to be a Death Eater caused Lily to sever their ties. 

The Slytherin common room is in the dungeons of Hogwarts Castle and underneath the Black Lake. Because of this, the light in the common room is green. Harry Potter along with Ron Weasley entered the common room in his second year to find out if Draco Malfoy was the one opening the Chamber of Secrets. To enter the Slytherin common room one must merely speak aloud the current password in front of a stretch of a damp stone wall; once the word is uttered a concealed stone door will slide aside leaving a rectangular hole in the wall leading to the Slytherin common room.

Slytherin's head of house for Harry's first six years of school was Severus Snape; however, as he fled with the Death Eaters at the end of Harry's sixth year, Potions Master Horace Slughorn became the head of Slytherin House.

More information: Wizarding World

 

Or perhaps in Slytherin,
You'll make your real friends,
These cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends.

J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

HORCRUX, THE WEASLEYS & MARVOLO GAUNT'S RING

Today, The Weasleys and The Grandma have announced that they found and destroyed Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, another Horcrux, last week. With this, they have already destroyed four of a total of seven. They continued helping Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley in their search.

Marvolo Gaunt's Ring is a golg ring, an heirloom of the House of Gaunt, descendants of Salazar Slytherin and Cadmus Peverell.

Before starting the search of this new Horcrux, The Grandma has offered a new Cambridge Key English Test A2 Example to her family.

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Marvolo Gaunt's Ring is an heirloom of the House of Gaunt, descendants of Salazar Slytherin and Cadmus Peverell.

It is a gold ring inset with a black stone, actually the Resurrection Stone, but neither Marvolo Gaunt nor Lord Voldemort were aware of its existence, engraved with what Marvolo Gaunt called the Peverell coat of arms, having come into the Gaunt line from an heiress of the Peverells, not the Slytherin family, which is actually the symbol of the Deathly Hallows.

The signet ring passed through the male Gaunts, generation to generation, until it was stolen from Morfin Gaunt by Tom Riddle while Riddle framed Morfin for the murders of the Riddle family.

While at Hogwarts, Riddle openly wore the ring. He later made the ring into his second Horcrux. Riddle did not enchant the ring right away, as he was seen wearing it while asking Horace Slughorn about Horcruxes, as seen through Slughorn's memories in a pensieve.

Albus Dumbledore retrieved the ring, eventually destroying it with Godric Gryffindor's Sword.

The ring's story begins and ends with its black stone. The stone happened to be the Resurrection Stone, one of the Deathly Hallows of legend, and had the symbol of the Deathly Hallows engraved on its surface.

According to The Tale of the Three Brothers, Cadmus Peverell, the middle brother, asked Death for the power to return people from the dead. Death supposedly picked up a black stone from the nearby river bank and gave it to Cadmus, promising him that it contained the power he had requested.

Once Cadmus returned to his home, he took out the Resurrection Stone and turned it over in his hand three times. In doing so, he brought back his lover who had suffered an untimely death.

While she did return from the dead, she was not truly alive and wished to go back to the world of the dead since she no longer belonged in the living world. For Cadmus, it was like being able to see her but not able to touch her or truly be with her. Seeing the stone's limitations drove Cadmus to madness, and he took his own life to truly join his love in death.

The stone passed down Cadmus' family line. At some point, it was placed into a gold setting and made into a ring. The ring continued to be passed down the family line, eventually ending up in the hands of the Gaunts.

Marvolo Gaunt, the family's patriarch at the time, prized this ring, along with Salazar Slytherin's Locket, more than anything, even his own daughter, Merope.

When the family was visited by Ministry of Magic official Bob Ogden, Marvolo waved the ring in front of his face in an attempt to impress and intimidate Ogden. When Marvolo and his son Morfin Gaunt were arrested and imprisoned for assaulting Muggles and Ministry officials, his daughter Merope Gaunt abandoned the family to escape the mental torture her father continuously employed against her, taking Salazar Slytherin's Locket with her.

When Marvolo returned home, he had foolishly expected to find his daughter dutifully awaiting his return with a hot meal ready for him. What he found however was an abandoned house covered with an inch of dust and a note from Merope explaining what she had done and why. 

More information: Wizarding World

Marvolo died shortly thereafter, either due to his inability to take care of himself or the weakening of his strength from Azkaban. The signet ring passed to Morfin when he was finally released from Azkaban, and he continued to wear it in his delusional state for several years afterward.

Some years later, Tom Marvolo Riddle returned to Little Hangleton to seek out his family. He had been expecting to meet Marvolo, but instead found the half-crazed Morfin in the Gaunt shack.

Morfin remarked how Riddle looked very much like the muggle that had married his sister, Tom Riddle Snr. He told Riddle how Riddle Snr had left Merope and returned to his parents' home, the Riddle House. Upon learning of his father's escape and thus feeling that he had caused Merope's death and him going to an orphanage, Riddle stunned Morfin and took his wand. He then proceeded to the Riddle House to confront his father.

Frank Bryce, the Riddle's gardener, remarked later that he had seen Riddle ascending the hill toward the house. Riddle used a common spell to unlock the door and entered the house.

Once inside, Riddle found his father, as well as his grandparents, Thomas Riddle and Mary Riddle, in the drawing room. Riddle then used the Killing Curse on his father and Muggle grandparents.

It is unknown if there were any words exchanged between them before the actual murders took place, but what is certain is that the Riddles were found dead in their drawing room, with looks of extreme fear on their faces. Riddle returned to the Gaunt shack and modified Morfin's memory to make him believe that he had killed the Riddles himself.

Riddle replaced Morfin's wand on his person but absconded with the ring. When Morfin was arrested by the Ministry and found guilty of the Riddle murders, he was carted off to Azkaban for good this time. As he was being taken away, he continuously remarked that his father would kill him for losing the ring.

Riddle openly wore the ring at Hogwarts after these events, likely as a trophy, as seen on his hand in a memory provided by Potions Master Horace Slughorn. Riddle then questioned Slughorn about Horcruxes, particularly what would happen to the wizard that created more than one.

By this point, Riddle had already created his first Horcrux, his childhood diary, with the murder of a fellow student named Myrtle Warren. At some point shortly before or after his graduation from Hogwarts, Riddle used the murder of his father, Tom Riddle Snr to turn the ring into a Horcrux.

More information: Screen Rant

After that, he lost interest in wearing it any longer and chose to return it to the very place he had stolen it from: the Gaunt shack. He placed the ring inside a golden box and hid it beneath the shack's rotting floorboards.

He then set up many protective enchantments to deter outsiders from entering the shack and finding the ring. He also placed a powerful curse on the ring as well, one that would quickly lead to the death of the ring's wearer if not stemmed.

The ring was left there in the ruin of the Gaunt shack for many decades to come. In his entire time of possessing the ring, Riddle either never knew its powers or status as the Resurrection Stone, or simply did not have any use for it, as he feared the dead and did not wish to bring back anyone.

Albus Dumbledore continued investigating Riddle's obsession with immortality and suspected correctly that Riddle had created up to six Horcruxes. Dumbledore suspected that a good place to look for one of Riddle's Horcruxes would be the Gaunt shack, considering its importance to Riddle's past. 

 

Dumbledore travelled to Little Hangleton and found the remains of the shack, hidden amongst many weeds and brush. Dumbledore succeeded in passing through the enchantments protecting the shack and discovered the golden box holding the ring beneath the shack's floorboards.

He brought the sword of Godric Gryffindor with him as it now had the power to destroy Horcruxes since Harry Potter had used it to kill the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, which imbued the blade with the Basilisk's venom.

However, Dumbledore recognised the symbol of the Deathly Hallows on the ring's black stone and recognised it as the Resurrection Stone, something for which Dumbledore had searched for the greater part of his life. Hoping to revive his dead family members, particularly his sister Ariana Dumbledore, he disregarded the ring's status as a Horcrux and put it on.

This enacted the ring's deadly curse, and it began to quickly spread through Dumbledore's body, starting with the hand on which he had put the ring. After Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts, he used Godric Gryffindor's Sword to crack the Resurrection Stone so as to destroy it as a Horcrux.

While the act did destroy the ring as one of Riddle's Horcruxes, it did not stop the fatal curse. The curse gave Dumbledore's hand a withered black look, as though it had died. Severus Snape managed to stop the curse in his right hand, but warned him that he had only a year to live.

After the Horcrux was destroyed, Dumbledore continued to wear the ring for several more days. Most notably, he wore it when he picked up Harry Potter from Privet Drive and took him to persuade Horace Slughorn to teach at Hogwarts.

After Lord Voldemort discovered that Harry was hunting his Horcruxes, Lord Voldemort decided to make sure that each of his Horcruxes was still safe and to increase their protection. He decided that the ring was perhaps the least safe, and thus visited the shack first. Upon discovering that the ring had in fact disappeared, Lord Voldemort let out a scream of fury and quickly left to check the security of his other Horcruxes.

More information: Reddit

 

 

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 pure-blood all the way!

Know how much I've been offered for this,

with the Peverell coat of arms engraved on the stone?

Marvolo Gaunt