"Hurry up, Hao Qi!" Hepziba said imperiously, "He said it was four o'clock, it was only two minutes, and he was never late......"

She put away the puff. The house-elf straightened up, her head reaching Hepziba's cushion, her paper-like skin hanging from her skeleton like the fine linen robe she wore over her.

Of course, Harry didn't know the old woman, but he always felt that the old woman's eyebrows and eyes were very familiar, as if he had seen them somewhere—Harry subconsciously hated the old woman.

"How am I?" Hepziba asked, turning her head to admire the face in her mirror from all angles.

"It's beautiful, ma'am." Hao Qi screamed.

Harry could only speculate that Hawki's contract required her to grit her teeth and lie when answering this question, because in his opinion, Hepziba. Smith is nowhere near beautiful.

Wait, Smith?

Harry looked at Dumbledore suspiciously.

Dumbledore guessed what he was thinking. "Do you think Hepziba looks familiar? I think you know Zacharis for sure. Smith, they are related by blood......"

The doorbell rang on the spot, and the old woman and the house-elf jumped to their feet.

"Quick, quick, he's coming, Hao Qi!" Hepziba shouted, and the elf ran out of the house. The room was so crowded that it was hard to imagine anyone who could walk through the room without knocking over at least a dozen things. Cabinets with lacquered lockets, bookshelves lined with gilded books, shelves with large and small stars and astrographs, and many lush plants growing in bronze vessels. The room looks like a patchwork of a magic antique shop and a greenhouse.

The elf returned a moment later, followed by a tall young man whom Harry recognized as Lord Voldemort. He wears a black suit, and he looks more handsome than his father did when he was younger. He cautiously walked through the crowded room, as if he had been there many times, and then bent down lowly, his lips lightly touching Hepziba's chubby hand.

"I brought you flowers." He whispered, conjuring a bouquet of roses in his hand.

"You naughty boy, you shouldn't be!" Old Hepzibah screamed, but Harry noticed that she had prepared an empty vase on a small table next to her, "You're spoiling me as an old lady, Tom...... Sit down, sit down...... Where is Hao Qi...... Ah......h

The house-elf rushed into the house with a plate of small pastries and laid the plate beside the hostess's elbow.

"Eat whatever you want, Tom," said Hepziba, "I know you love my pastries. How are you? The face is a little pale. Bock uses you too hard, I've said it a hundred times. ”

Hepziba chuckled, "If you want me to say, Richard, that guy really doesn't know what to think, that a brilliant young man like you would actually beat you up in Bock's money-grubbing shop, you should go somewhere more to do and not work for that black-hearted merchant like you do now." ”

Voldemort smiled mechanically, "Madam, I think Mr. Richard's arrangement is very much to my liking, Mr. Bock is a well-informed man, I can learn a lot by working for him, and I can meet many people, such as the beautiful lady." ”

The old woman almost burst into laughter, "Tom, you're so good at talking, I'm already an old lady." ”

"Time only increases your intellectual beauty."

Harry felt sick to his stomach, he couldn't say such a disobedient compliment to an old woman with a wrinkled face and heavy makeup.

"Hey, what's the excuse for coming to see me this time?" She asked, blinking her eyelashes.

"That goblin armor, Mr. Bock wanted to pay a higher price, five hundred Galleons, he thinks it's fair enough-"

"Oh, yes, don't be in such a hurry, or I'll think you're just here for my stuff!" Hepziba pouted.

"I was sent for them." Voldemort whispered, "I'm just a little clerk, ma'am, and I can only do what people tell me." And Mr. Richard asked me to ask—"

"Mr. Bock, phew! Mr. Richard, phew! Hepziba said, waving his hand, "I'm going to show you something that Mr. Bock has never seen before!" If he had seen it, he would have buzzed around my ears like a fly. Richard just cares about the locket, and I'll show it to you, but you have to make sure you can't sue them, these two guys want to keep an eye on other people's treasures. Tom, do you want to see it? ”

"I'd love to see whatever Miss Hepziba shows me." Voldemort whispered, and Hepzibah giggled like a little girl again.

"It's time to go, Harry." Dumbledore whispered, grabbing Harry's arm and walking through the void to the Headmaster's office.

"Headmaster, I haven't finished reading this yet." Harry said.

"The next thing is gone, and the next memory of the house-elf is blurry, and he can't see anything at all, and he was manipulated by magic.

"What?"

"Because except for a vicious homicide, Hepziba died." (To be continued......)

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