Chapter 1089

Fan Lin followed Dumbledore into the room. Fan Lin was still very curious about the young Voldemort.

It can be said that Voldemort's childhood determined what path he would choose, and Tom's choice was obviously not what Dumbledore wanted, and this is something that Dumbledore has never been able to let go of.

Several people had just entered the room, and Mrs. Cole closed the door behind them.

It was a bare little room, with only an old wardrobe and an iron bed. A boy sat on a gray blanket with his feet stretched out in front of them and a book in his hands.

In fact, there is no trace of the Gaunt family on Tom Riddle's face.

It should be said that Merlo's wish before he died came true: Tom was a mini version of his handsome father. He was tall for an eleven-year-old child, with black hair and a pale face.

He narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw Dumbledore's strange attire. They were silent for a moment.

"Hello, Tom." Dumbledore stepped forward and held out his hand. The boy hesitated for a moment, then stretched out his hand and shook it.

Dumbledore pulled over to the hard wooden chair next to Tom and sat down. The two of them looked like a pair of hospital patients and visitors.

"I am Professor Dumbledore."

"'Professor'?" Riddle repeated. He looked alert. "Is it similar to 'Doctor'? What are you doing here? Did she ask you to come in to see me?"

Tom pointed at the door with his hand, looking very impolite. Mrs. Cole had just left. Obviously, Tom didn't like Mrs. Cole very much. This may also be related to his ability. He was different.

In fact, Fan Lin has always been curious about whether there are children with magical abilities who have not been discovered by Hogwarts.

However, the establishment of the Ministry of Magic seems to have eliminated such problems, and sooner or later, a child with magical powers will behave differently from ordinary people.

Even if it is really not discovered, Fanlin feels that there is a high probability that the magic ability will disappear. If he misses the best learning stage, he will naturally disappear from everyone.

But how did the Ministry of Magic or Hogwarts find out?

Fan Lin has explored the surroundings. In fact, will the free magic power disturb the wizard's sight, or is this kind of nascent wizard very conspicuous in the magic world?

However, Fan Lin prefers the Ministry of Magic's monitoring of urban crowds, which is similar to the traces in the wand, although in Fan Lin's eyes it is a joke.

"No, no," said Dumbledore, smiling.

"I don't believe you," Riddle said. "She likes me to be seen, doesn't she? Tell the truth!" He said the last three words loudly.

It was a command, and it sounded like it was what Tom said all the time. He glared at Dumbledore with wide eyes, but Dumbledore just smiled pleasantly and made no reply. After a few seconds, Riddle stopped staring at him, but he was still wary.

"Who are you?"

"I've told you. I'm Professor Dumbledore, and I work at a school called Hogwarts. I'm here to take you to my school - your new school, if you like."

Riddle's reaction was astonishing. He jumped up from the bed and distanced himself from Dumbledore, looking furious.

"Don't you try to lie to me! You're from a mental hospital, aren't you? 'Professor', yes, of course - well, I'm not going, got it? That old cat should be in a mental hospital Court. I never did anything to little Amy Benson and Dennis Bishaw, you can ask them and they will tell you!”

"I'm not from a mental hospital," Dumbledore said patiently. "I'm a teacher, and if you can sit down quietly, I'll tell you what Hogwarts is. Of course, if you don't want to go there, no one will force you-"

"I want to see how they force me," Riddle sneered.

"Hogwarts," Dumbledore continued, as if he hadn't heard Riddle's last words, "is a school for students with special abilities—"

"I'm not crazy!"

"I know you're not crazy. Hogwarts is not a school for crazy people. It's a school of magic."

There was silence.

Riddle was stunned. His face was expressionless, but his eyes were looking back and forth at Dumbledore's eyes, as if he wanted to find evidence that they were lying.

In fact, no one's reaction would be any better than Tom's. If Fanlin hadn't been aware of his abilities since he was a child, he would have doubted whether Dumbledore was an old liar.

"Magic?" he repeated quietly.

"That's right," said Dumbledore.

"It's...it's magic. What I know are magic?"

"what can you do?"

"Anything," Riddle gasped. A flush of excitement appeared on his sunken cheeks; he looked feverish. "I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals listen to me without training. I can make people who annoy me suffer. I can make them hurt if I want."

Riddle's legs were shaking. He stumbled back onto the bed, staring at his hands and hanging his head as if in prayer.

"I knew I was different," he whispered to his trembling fingers. "I just knew I was special. I always knew there had to be a reason."

"Well, you are very right," Dumbledore stopped smiling and stared at Riddle intently, "you are a wizard."

Riddle raised his head. His face was transfigured: it had an expression of happiness, but for some reason it didn't make him look better; on the contrary, his finely sculpted features seemed somehow rougher, and his expression was almost brutal.

Fan Lin couldn't help but his heart skipped a beat, the same thing happened when he faced sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle.

"Are you a wizard too?"

"Yes, I am a wizard."

"Prove it to me," Riddle said immediately, with the same commanding tone as when he said 'tell the truth' just now. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.

"If I prove this, you will follow me to Hogwarts—"

"of course!"

"Then you have to call me 'Professor' or 'Mr.'" Riddle's expression froze for a moment before he spoke. He said in an almost imperceptible polite tone, "I'm sorry, sir. It means - please, professor, can you show me -?"

For a moment, Fanlin thought that Dumbledore would refuse and tell Riddle that he would have more time to prove it in practice at Hogwarts, but now that he was in a building full of Muggles, he had to be more cautious. But to his surprise, Dumbledore took out his wand from the inner pocket of his suit jacket, pointed at the broken wardrobe in the corner, and waved it casually. The wardrobe suddenly caught fire.

Riddle jumped to his feet, and no wonder he roared with shock and frenzy; all his possessions must have been inside; but just as Riddle began to scold Dumbledore, the flames disappeared, and the wardrobe stood intact. .

Riddle stared at the wardrobe and Dumbledore, then pointed at the wand with a greedy look on his face.

"Where can I get one?"

"In due time," said Dumbledore. "I think something is coming out of your closet."

Sure enough, there was a faint crunching sound coming from the closet. Riddle looked frightened for the first time.

"Open the door," said Dumbledore. Riddle hesitated for a moment, then walked over and opened the closet door. On the top floor, atop a pile of shabby clothes, sat a cardboard box that was vibrating and making that crunching sound, as if there were a few crazy mice inside.

"Take it out," said Dumbledore. Riddle took the shaking box off, looking panicked. "Is there anything in the box that you shouldn't have?" Dumbledore asked.

Riddle gave Dumbledore a meaningful look. "Yes, I suppose so, sir," he said at last dully. Riddle opened the lid and dumped the contents onto the bed without looking at it.

Fan Lin expected to see something exciting, but there was only a mess of ordinary gadgets; among them was a yo-yo, a silver-white thimble, and a tarnished harmonica.

If there is really something else about a child in an orphanage, there would be something a little abnormal, right?

After the box was emptied, they stopped shaking and lay quietly on the thin blanket.

"You return them to their respective owners and apologize," Dumbledore said calmly, returning the wand to his jacket. "I will know what you have done. I also want to warn you: stealing is not tolerated at Hogwarts."

Riddle didn't look at all embarrassed; he continued to regard Dumbledore coldly. Finally he said in a unemotional voice, "Yes, sir."

"At Hogwarts," Dumbledore went on, "we teach you not only how to use magic, but how to control it. You have been - unintentionally, I'm sure - using magic in a way that is neither ours nor ours. We won't tolerate the kind of stuff we teach. You're not the first, and you won't be the last, to let magic get out of hand. But you should know that students are expelled from Hogwarts, and the Ministry of Magic— -Yes, there is such a department - that will punish those who break the law more seriously. All new wizards who enter our world must accept this and abide by our laws."

"Yes, sir," Riddle said again. No one knew what he was thinking at this moment; when he put the stolen things back into the cardboard box, his face was still blank.

When he was finished, he turned to Dumbledore and said frankly, "I don't have any money."

"That's an easy fix," Dumbledore pulled a leather purse from his pocket. "Hogwarts has set up a fund to help needy students who need to buy books and robes. You need to buy some second-hand spell books and the like, but-"

"Where can I buy a spell book?" Riddle interrupted him, took the heavy money bag without thanking Dumbledore, and was now carefully examining a gold galleons, or, in other words, gold coins? At least in the wizarding world, this stuff is still hard currency.

"In Diagon Alley," said Dumbledore. "I brought your textbooks and a list of instruments. I can help you find every one—"

"You want to go with me?" Riddle raised his head and said. "Of course, if you-"

"I don't need you," Riddle said. "I'm used to doing things alone. I've always walked around London alone. How do I get to Diagon Alley - sir?"

He added, looking Dumbledore in the eye. Vanlin frowned, thinking Dumbledore would insist on accompanying Riddle, but he was surprised again.

Dumbledore handed him the envelope with the list, telling him exactly how to get from the orphanage to the Leaky Cauldron, and then he said, "You can see it, but the Muggles around you - that is, non-magical people - can't see it. Go to the bartender Tom - it's easy to remember, you both have the same name -"

Riddle nodded sensitively, as if trying to shoo away a nasty fly.

"Don't you like the name 'Tom'?"

"There are many people called Tom," Riddle muttered. Then, as if unable to suppress the doubt in his heart, as if this doubt came up involuntarily, he asked, "Is my father also a wizard? He is also called Tom Riddle. They told me."

"I don't know." Dumbledore said gently.

"My mother can't be a wizard, otherwise she wouldn't have died," Riddle said more like a soliloquy. "It must be him. So - once I've bought everything - when do I go to this Hogwarts?"

"All the details are on the second parchment in the envelope," said Dumbledore. "You'll leave from King's Cross on September 1st. There's also a ticket in there."

Riddle nodded. Dumbledore stood up and held out his hand again. Riddle took his hand and said, "I can talk to snakes. Found them on our way to the countryside - they found me, they whispered to me. Is this normal for a wizard?"

Fan Lin saw that he had been suppressing this most strange ability, just to impress Dumbledore at the end.

Riddle was very good at this, using his own value to try to exchange for more things.

"It's not unusual," Dumbledore said after a moment's hesitation, "but it's not unheard of." His tone was casual, but his eyes wandered curiously over Riddle's face.

They stood like this for a while, man and boy, staring at each other. Then their handshake loosened; Dumbledore walked to the door.

"Goodbye, Tom. See you at Hogwarts."

"I think that's it," said the white-haired Dumbledore standing beside Vanlin. A few seconds later, they passed through the darkness again without weight, and then returned directly to the current house.

"Sit down," Dumbledore landed beside Vanlin.

Vanlin did so, his mind still full of what he had just seen.

"He believed it faster than I did - I mean, you told him that he was a wizard..." Vanlin hesitated.

"But, when I went to pick you up, weren't you clear about it?"

"Because I found my mother's things." Vanlin said, "In fact, it took me a long time to figure it out. Fortunately, those are not too difficult. I learned magic in advance."

"This is a very dangerous thing." Dumbledore said, "It is difficult for young wizards to have the spirit to control these nascent and restless magic. I have to admit that you are very talented."

"But sometimes, this is more like a misfortune, Professor Dumbledore," Vanlin shook his head and said, "Many things we can actually avoid." (To be continued)