The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 543: Death of Hepzibah
In pure-blood wizard families, or people with power, Voldemort's life experience has never been a secret. These people know that Voldemort is a half-blood, and he has acknowledged his Muggle father in front of the Death Eaters.

Voldemort once claimed to be a descendant of Slytherin, which easily reminds people of the Gaunt family that disappeared in history.

Now that Mr. Borgin has learned that the pregnant woman who sold him the locket was from the Gaunt family and was Voldemort's biological mother, this situation has to make Mr. Borgin think more.

I can't bear to think about everything, let alone scare myself.

In a flash, Mr. Borgin had already completed his self-strategy, and there was no need for Ada to waste any more words.

"I sold the locket many years ago to Hepzibah Smith, a foolish, greedy woman," said Mr. Borgin. "She had a collection of rare treasures for her own enjoyment, and the Slytherin locket was very much to her liking."

Hepzibah Smith, Ida had some impression of this name, but she couldn't remember where she saw it or heard it. Compared to this, Zacharias Smith was more memorable.

"My last business with Smith was a suit of goblin armour, which I offered to buy for five hundred galleons," Mr Borgin went on. "Then Hepzibah Smith died, and the deal fell through. She may have hidden the locket, or she may have lost it, but there has been no news of it since."

Ada frowned upon hearing this. According to Borgin, the situation with the locket had become a little complicated.

It is possible that the locket was not a Horcrux and was hidden by Hepzibah Smith, or it could have fallen into Voldemort's hands after Hepzibah's death. Ada did not like this uncertainty and would rather know that Voldemort had the locket.

"Hepzibah Smith died an unnatural death, but I did not kill her," added Mr. Borgin, misinterpreting Ada's expression.

"Of course," Ada came back to her senses, "Mr. Bogin has always been a good citizen who abides by the law." He looked righteous before coming here, but after getting the information he wanted, Ada's face became extremely ugly.

After another round of hypocritical compliments, Ada and Laura left Borgin and Burke.

On the way back, Ada and Laura talked about Mr. Borgin's performance today. They both agreed that Mr. Borgin did not tell the truth, and he concealed a lot of things, especially about the death of Hepzibah Smith.

If we continue to interrogate him, we might be able to find out something, but its authenticity will be questionable.

If Borgin was deliberately doing something bad, it might be a detour that was close to the truth but far from it. Instead of that, it would be better for Ada to investigate the truth of Hepzibah Smith's death herself and find out more things along the way.

After returning to the Ministry of Magic, Ada was busy sorting out the files. The files that she had pushed to the ground before were just asking for trouble.

Although Borgin concealed part of the truth, Hepzibah Smith's name was important enough, and her unnatural death provided Ada with a new direction.

After several days of monotonous life of flipping through the files, Ada finally pieced together the truth about Hepzibah Smith's death before she could no longer recognize the twenty-six letters.

According to internal Ministry of Magic records, Hepzibah Smith died of poisoning by her house-elf, Hokey.

Faced with interrogation from officials from the Ministry of Magic, the house-elf Hokey confessed to his crime, admitting that he had accidentally put poison in his mistress's evening cocoa.

The case of Hepzibah Smith's wrongful death was closed, and the Ministry of Magic tried the house-elf Hokey and ruled that she did not intend to murder, but was blinded by old age. When Hokey was convicted, Hepzibah's family discovered that two of her most valuable treasures were missing. Even so, the Ministry of Magic still did not conduct a further investigation, but hastily closed the case based on the house-elf's confession.

This is outrageous! The Ministry of Magic is not just incompetent, but they are taking human life lightly. No, to the Ministry of Magic, it was just an unimportant house-elf.

After putting down the file, Ada's head was buzzing, with good news and bad news coexisting.

The good news is that Ada knows who Hepzibah Smith is; the bad news is that Hepzibah is a descendant of Helga Hufflepuff, and the whereabouts of the two stolen treasures are unknown.

After confirmation by the Hepzibahs, one of the two lost treasures was the Hufflepuff gold cup, and the other treasure was, if nothing unexpected happened, the Slytherin locket.

It was obvious that Hepzibah's death was the result of a murder attempt to steal her treasure. Although Hokey had a very clear memory of killing her mistress, Ada still felt that the house-elf was just a scapegoat and the real murderer was someone else.

Because this case was so familiar, Ada had seen it before.

Also from internal information of the Ministry of Magic, the deceased were the Muggle Riddle family living in Little Hangleton, and the murderer was Morfin Gaunt.

Like the house-elf Hokey, Morfin confessed to his murder and had a detailed memory of the murder. His wand was also the weapon that killed the Riddle family.

The deceased was Voldemort's Muggle father, and the murderer was Voldemort's uncle by blood. Who would believe you if you said he had nothing to do with this? Moreover, in the graveyard at Little Hangleton, Voldemort himself admitted that he had killed his father.

The similarities between the two murders do not end there, in both cases, relics of the four founders were lost. In Hepzibah's case, it was Slytherin's locket and Hufflepuff's cup that were lost, and in Riddle's case, it was the ring that was lost.

The two cases were so similar that it was hard for Ada not to associate them with Voldemort.

When Borgin talked about Hepzibah Smith and the locket, he kept hiding something. Could the truth hidden by Borgin be related to Voldemort?
If Hepzibah's death was related to Voldemort, it would mean that Slytherin's locket and Hufflepuff's cup also fell into his hands. Dumbledore has proved that the ring was made into a Horcrux by Voldemort, so what about the locket and cup?

In order to find out whether the house-elf Hao Qi was wrongly accused and to further find out the possible whereabouts of the gold cup and the locket, Ada asked someone to go to the house-elf resettlement department to inquire.

That is the department under the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and the affairs of house-elves have always been under their jurisdiction.

Unfortunately, Ada did not get a good response. The house-elf Hokey had died, and the truth about Hepzibah's death was forever sealed with Hokey's death.

The whereabouts of the golden cup and locket remain a mystery, and it is no wonder that Borgin said that Ada could not find it.

If these two treasures were stolen, they should have appeared long ago, or some news should have spread. The fact that there is no clue now can only mean that they were hidden away and kept secret from the world.

Perhaps, Ada should go to Borgin and Burke's again and have a frank talk with Mr. Borgin.

(End of this chapter)