Chapter 749 Wall Orphanage

( ) "The answer lies here." Dumbledore stood up, walked around the table, walked past Harry, and came to a three-story metal storage cabinet that was set up alone in the room and was as bright as a gorgeous castle. It was filled with transparent candle-shaped crystal bottles. Inside the transparent crystal bottles was a rotating and floating silver-white thing.

"What you see are memories," Dumbledore said, pointing to a crystal bottle inside the storage cabinet. "Contained in this vial is the memory of Tom Riddle."

After hearing this, Harry walked forward and saw the label of the bottle pointed by Dumbledore saying "Tom Riddle".

The gray stone pensieve flew out of the locker and landed on the headmaster's desk. Dumbledore shared this memory about Tom Riddle's family with Harry.

Coming out of the pensieve, Harry stood at the table digesting what he had just seen and heard.

What made Harry even more disgusted was that Dumbledore also told Harry that the Gaunt family was a very old wizarding family, known for its restlessness and violence. Because they were used to allowing members of the family to intermarry with each other, this behavior As a result, the characteristics of their family have become more prominent from generation to generation. They were irrational and particularly fond of luxurious ostentation. Therefore, several generations before Marvolo's family, the family's wealth had been squandered. He was surprised to find that Voldemort's grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt, had a terrifying bad temper, but was also unreasonably arrogant and arrogant. He regarded his ancestral relics as much more precious than his son Morfin and daughter Merop.

Thinking of Voldemort's life experience, Harry felt that compared to him, he seemed to be much luckier. Although he was also an orphan, he did not attack Muggles or even Ministry of Magic officials. His grandfather and uncle Petunia's family, who was eventually imprisoned in Azkaban, were like angels compared to Voldemort's relatives.

She is the child of her parents' love, and although Voldemort's mother was lucky enough to escape the sad fate caused by family tradition after her father and brother were imprisoned in Azkaban, she used a love potion to confuse the handsome man she had long admired. Muggle old Tom Riddle, after becoming pregnant with little Tom Riddle, Dumbledore speculated that Merope mistakenly thought that the other party would really love her and did not let Voldemort's Muggle father continue to take the love potion, and was abandoned as a result. In the third trimester of her pregnancy, Merope was left alone in London.

Lacking the skills to make a living, she was in urgent need of money and had to sell the only valuable thing she had on her, an heirloom locket that her father Marvolo cherished very much. The ignorant and desperate Merope only sold this heirloom for ten dollars. A gold galleon. Compared with her mother, Merope obviously lacked courage. After she was abandoned by her husband, she stopped using magic and even refused to raise her magic wand to save her life before she died. Fortunately, Merope was desperate. I remember taking Voldemort to the orphanage before he died.

"Don't tell me that you have sympathy for Voldemort?" Dumbledore's voice interrupted Harry's thoughts.

"No...no, but Merope has a choice, doesn't she? Unlike my mother..." Harry looked up with some anxiety and found Dumbledore raising his eyebrows.

"Your mother also has a choice..." Dumbledore did not pursue the question. He turned the tray in the storage cabinet and took out another bottle of memory. He pinched the oval base at the bottom of the crystal bottle and said, "This is my first bottle of memory." It's not too late now, if you want, I hope you can see the scene when I first met Tom."

Dumbledore handed the crystal bottle to Harry. Harry looked at Dumbledore's injured hand, took the crystal bottle, unplugged the crystal bottle stopper that looked like a candle flame at the top, and walked to the principal's desk. in front of the pensieve. Dumbledore waved his arm gently in a semi-circle above his head, and the pensieve gave off a faint glow, neither liquid nor gas.

Harry poured the silver substance in the bottle into the pensieve. They slowly rotated and spread out in the basin, turning into a black catkin-like substance. Harry leaned forward, took a deep breath, and dove into the basin. He felt his feet leave the office floor. He passed through the constantly rotating darkness and fell downwards. As he fell, the black catkin-like substances also fell, and then turned into the cities and streets in Dumbledore's memory.

Dumbledore, who was probably only in his fifties or sixties, had no gray hair at this time. He was wearing a purple-red suit that attracted the attention of many Muggles. With his long auburn hair and beard, he held a black umbrella and walked along the The sidewalk strode forward.

Harry roughly judged from several landmark buildings that this was in the South Lambeth district of London. Then Dumbledore opened a large iron door marked "Wall Orphanage". This orphanage looked a bit eerie. A dense iron fence is installed on the high wall of the courtyard to prevent climbing spikes.

"I have to admit that I was a little confused when I received your letter, Mr. Dumbledore." A tired-looking woman with short blond hair stared suspiciously at Dumbledore's suit and even more sultry chrysanthemum-spotted scarf. Then he led him through the cold and narrow stairs, "In all these years, no relatives have ever come to see Tom."

After climbing several floors in succession, she stopped, approached Dumbledore at the stairs on the third floor, and whispered: "Some accidents have happened to other children, terrible accidents."

Then she took Dumbledore a few steps forward, stopped at the first door of this long corridor, knocked and opened the door: "Tom, someone is here to visit you."

"How are you doing, Tom?" Dumbledore's cloak was already hanging on his arms. He passed the wife of the orphanage who brought him here and walked into the door.

This is an empty cabin without any decoration, only an old wardrobe and an iron bed. A boy who looks like a miniature version of the handsome old Tom Riddle is sitting on the gray blanket. The man with black hair and pale face looked at Dumbledore who walked in without saying a word.

Dumbledore reached out to the old wardrobe, and Tom Riddle immediately stopped him coldly: "Don't touch it."

Dumbledore retracted his hand and glanced over the seven stones lined up on the window sill. There was a photo clipped on the handle of the pipe on the wall beside the window. It was an island being beaten by the waves, or it could only be regarded as a large piece. Reef place.

"Are you a doctor?" Tom Riddle asked alertly, "Did she call the doctor to check me again?"

"No, I am Professor Dumbledore, Albus Dumbledore." Dumbledore sat down and met Tom Riddle's eyes without any evasion.

"I don't believe it. They want me to see a doctor. They think I'm different from others." Tom Riddle's voice was filled with anger.

"Well, then they might be right," Dumbledore said patiently.

"She wants someone to come and see me, right? Tell the truth!" Tom Riddle emphasized. He said the last three words fiercely and loudly. Although he was only a child, his momentum was scary. This was an order. It seemed that he This order had been given many times before.

The boy's eyes suddenly widened and he stared fiercely at the red-haired wizard in front of him. Dumbledore did not answer, but continued to smile kindly. After a few seconds, Riddle's eyes relaxed with some annoyance, but he He seemed more alert.

Dumbledore still had a friendly smile: "Hogwarts is not a madhouse, Hogwarts is a school, a school that teaches magic."

"I'm not crazy." Tom Riddle looked at Dumbledore, trying to determine whether he was lying. "I didn't think anything of little Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop. You and the old witch can ask for yourselves. them."

"You can do something, can't you Tom? Something that other children can't do," Dumbledore asked.

"I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals listen to me without teaching them. If anyone treats me badly, I can make him suffer." The corners of Riddle's mouth turned up, and the flush of excitement began. His equally pale neck spread quickly towards his sunken cheeks, "I can hurt them if I want. Who are you?"

"I'm just like you, Tom." Dumbledore looked at Riddle intently, "I'm different."

"Prove it to me." Riddle narrowed his eyes.

The corners of Dumbledore's lips raised without making any move. The shabby wardrobe in the corner immediately caught fire, and the firelight illuminated Tom Riddle's face.

In the firelight, the wardrobe made a rattling sound.

"There seems to be something trying to get out of your wardrobe, Tom." Dumbledore's facial expression became serious.

Riddle walked to the flaming cabinet, opened the door, and took out a box from inside. The firelight disappeared, and the old wardrobe stood intact. Riddle nonchalantly placed all the contents of the box on the bed. There was nothing unusual inside, just a bunch of ordinary things that were considered treasures by children in orphanages, including a game cable reel, A silver thimble and a tarnished harmonica lay motionless on the bed.

"Theft is not tolerated in Hogwarts." Dumbledore looked at the little boy in front of him calmly, "You have to return these things to their owners and apologize to them. I promise I will know whether you have done this. "

"I knew I was different...I am special. There is something in it..." Riddle looked at his trembling hands and did not respond to Dumbledore's warning about his theft. This was also Dumbledore stopped his smile and stared at Riddle more intently.

Suddenly, the boy raised his head. His face was different from before, revealing a kind of fanatical emotion. This kind of ecstasy did not make his expression look more beautiful, but made his originally delicate facial features become distorted. It's like turning into a monster.

"At Hogwarts, you not only have to learn how to use magic, but also how to control magic." Dumbledore leaned forward and asked, "Do you understand what I mean?"

"Yes, sir... I will return them." Riddle's eyes narrowed slightly, as if he was weighing Dumbledore, and then he obediently put the pile of stolen goods back into the box, and then he said to Dumbledore unceremoniously. "I don't have any money," Bullido said.

"This is not a problem." Dumbledore said as he took out an equally purple leather wallet from his purple suit. "Hogwarts has a fund specifically provided to those who need funding to purchase textbooks. and a little wizard in school robes. But...I'm afraid some of your magic books can only be bought second-hand..."

"Where can I buy a magic book?" Riddle interrupted Dumbledore, took the money bag without even a word of thanks, then lowered his head and began to carefully examine a thick gold galleons.

"In a place called Diagon Alley." Dumbledore didn't pay attention to the other party's rudeness. "I brought your books and a list of school supplies. I can help you buy everything..."

"You want to accompany me?" Riddle raised his head and asked.

"Of course, if you..."

"I don't think you are needed...I'm sorry, I mean, Professor," Riddle met Dumbledore's inquiring gaze, suddenly seemed to remember something, and then said in a very polite tone that was completely different from the other two. , "Professor, I'm used to completing my own things by myself. I always run around London alone. So I think I can do it without delaying you. So, how should I walk through Diagon Alley... Professor ?”

Harry had thought that Dumbledore would insist on accompanying Riddle just like he did with other young wizards who didn't know about Diagon Alley, but things went beyond his expectation again.

Dumbledore handed the envelope containing the list directly to Riddle, and told Riddle the specific route from the orphanage to the Leaky Cauldron, and then said: "You can definitely see it, even though the Muggles around you... that is People who don't understand magic... won't notice it when they see it. Ask the bar owner how to enter Diagon Alley... The owner's name is Tom, just like you... It's easy to remember."

Riddle, who had maintained a friendly attitude at first, twitched in annoyance, as if trying to shoo away a nasty fly.

"You don't like the name 'Tom'?"

"Sorry, Professor, but there are too many people named 'Tom,'" Riddle muttered. Then he seemed to have something stuck in his throat, he couldn't spit it out quickly, and then he seemed to blurt out: "Is my father a wizard? They told me his name is also Tom Riddle."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," Dumbledore said, his voice gentle.

"My mother obviously can't be magic, otherwise she wouldn't die...it must be my father." Riddle didn't seem to be talking to the professor at Hogwarts, but more like he was convincing himself, and then he woke up, " Sorry Professor, after I have bought everything, when and how should I arrive at Hogwarts School?"

"All the details are written on the second piece of parchment in the envelope. You will depart from King's Cross Station on September 1st. There is also a train ticket in the envelope." After that, Dumbledore stood up and said goodbye to the boy and prepared to leave.

Riddle stared at Dumbledore in silence, and when Dumbledore was about to walk out of his room, he suddenly said: "Professor, I can still talk to snakes."

Dumbledore was startled and stood still.

"They found me and whispered to me. Is this normal for someone like me?" Although Riddle was asking, his tone contained unmistakable pride. He deliberately waited until the end to say it. This is my most special ability.

Dumbledore turned sideways and hesitated, and the man and boy stared at each other.

The memory once again turned into a chaotic black catkin-like substance, and Harry was separated from Dumbledore's memory. He stood in front of the table and gasped, still thinking about everything he had just seen, "Did you know at that time, Professor? "

"Do you know that you have met the most evil dark wizard in history? Of course you don't." Dumbledore said, "Even if I knew, I..." Dumbledore was silent for a while and continued, "He was at Hogwarts. Over the years, Tom Riddle has become particularly close to one teacher, guess who that teacher is?"

Harry thought of what Dumbledore had asked him to do before school started. He raised his eyes and looked directly at Dumbledore: "You persuaded Professor Slughorn to come back and not just teach Potions, right?"

"More than that." Dumbledore slowed down, "Professor Slughorn has something that I urgently need, and naturally he will not hand it over easily."

Hearing this, Harry seemed to understand something, and he continued to ask: "You said he would want to recruit me."

"Yes." Dumbledore replied without hesitation. UU Reading www.uukａnshu.netｔ

"Do you want me to agree?" Harry turned his head.

Dumbledore turned his eyes to meet Harry's and nodded again: "Yes."

Seeing Harry's face become serious, his eyes firm and his lips pursed, Dumbledore knew Harry's choice.

"Besides, I need you to bring your trusted friends, such as Ginny and Ron. You will go to the Whomping Willow every day in your spare time. I arranged for Sirius to teach you how to change in the way passed down by their family. Become an Animagus. If you transform into the right kind of animal, it will be very helpful when you need to hide yourself. I know that the invisibility cloak can no longer cover all of you." Dumbledore replied When he got to his principal's seat, the fingertips of his hands met.

Looking at Harry who suddenly showed an expression of joy, what he didn't say was that he hoped that this would allow Harry and the others to focus on the Animagus, which requires a lot of time and energy to acquire, and Instead of letting Harry, who has developed a liking for ancient magic, focus all his attention on learning dangerous knowledge, Dumbledore needs Harry's character not to be affected by black magic in any way, so that when the time is right, Harry can He won't become more selfish so that he can't die willingly...