Van Lin followed Dumbledore into the room, and Van 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 it was something that Dumbledore had never been able to let go.

A few people had just entered the room when Mrs. Cole closed the door behind them.

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

In fact, Tom Riddle doesn't have a trace of the Gunter family on his face.

It should be said that Melo's dying wish came true: Tom was a miniature version of his handsome father, tall among eleven-year-olds, 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 reached out and shook his hand as well.

Dumbledore dragged over the hardwood chair next to Tom and sat down, and the two of them looked like a couple of hospital patients and visitors.

"I'm Professor Dumbledore. ”

"'Professor'?" Riddle repeated. He looked wary. "Isn't it like 'Doctor'? What are you doing here? Did she let you in and see me?"

Tom pointed to the door, looking very rude, Mrs. Cole had just left, apparently, Tom did not like Mrs. Cole very much, perhaps it had something to do with his ability, he was different.

In fact, Van Lin has always wondered if there will be a situation where a child with magical abilities has not been discovered by Hogwarts.

However, the establishment of the Ministry of Magic seems to have put an end to such problems, and sooner or later, a child with no magical powers will behave differently than ordinary people.

Even if it was really undiscovered, Van Lin felt that there was a high probability that the ability of magic would disappear, and if he missed the best learning stage, he would naturally disappear from everyone.

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

Van Lin looked around, in fact, the wandering magic would disturb the wizard's vision, or was it that the nascent wizard was very conspicuous in the wizarding world?

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

"No, no," Dumbledore said with a smile.

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

It's a command, and it sounds like Tom often talks like that. His eyes widened at Dumbledore, who only smiled happily and did not answer. After a few seconds, Riddle stopped glaring at him, but was still wary.

"Who are you?"

"I already told you. I'm Professor Dumbledore and I work at a school called Hogwarts. I'm here to pick you up at my school—your new school, if you will. ”

Riddle's reaction was astonishing. He jumped out of bed, dodging Dumbledore far away, looking furious.

"Don't lie to me! You're from a mental hospital, aren't you?" 'Professor', yes, of course - okay, I'm not going, you know? That old cat should be going to a mental hospital. I've never done anything to Amy Benson Jr. and Dennis Bissau, you can ask them and they'll tell you!"

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

"I'm going to see how they force me," Riddle sneered.

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

"I'm not crazy!"

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

There was silence.

Riddle froze, his face expressionless, but his eyes were looking back and forth into Dumbledore's eyes, as if trying to find evidence that they were lying.

In fact, no one's reaction would have been much better than Tom's, and if it weren't for Van Lin's knowledge of his abilities since he was a child, he would have wondered if Dumbledore was an old liar after all.

"Magic?" he whispered.

"That's right," Dumbledore said.

"Yes...... Is it magic, the ones I will be turned out to be magic?"

"What will you do?"

"Anything," Riddle gasped. A flush of excitement appeared on his sunken cheeks; "I can make things move without touching them. I don't need to train to get those animals to listen to me. I can make the people who annoy me suffer. I can make them hurt if I want. ”

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

"I knew I was different," he whispered into his trembling fingers. "I knew I was special. I always knew there had to be some reason. ”

"Well, you're right," Dumbledore stopped smiling, staring intently at Riddle, "you're a wizard. ”

Riddle looked up. His face was deformed: one of happiness, but for some reason it didn't make him pretty, on the contrary, his delicately sculpted countenance somehow became rougher, and his expression bordered on brutality.

Van Lin's heart couldn't help but skip a beat, and he was the same when facing sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle.

"Are you a wizard too?"

"Yes, I'm a wizard. ”

"Prove it to me," Riddle said at once, in the same commanding tone as he had just said 'tell the truth'. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.

"If I confirm that, you're going to come with me to Hogwarts-"

"Of course!"

"Then you're going to call me 'Professor' or 'Sir.'" Riddle's expression froze for a moment before he spoke, and he said in an almost imperceptible tone of politeness, "I'm sorry, sir, I mean—excuse me, Professor, can you show me ——?"

For a while, Van Lin thought that Dumbledore would refuse, and would tell Riddle that he would have more time to prove himself in Hogwarts in the future, but for now he was in a building full of Muggles, so he should be cautious. To his surprise, however, Dumbledore pulled his wand out of the inner pocket of his suit jacket, pointed it at the broken closet in the corner, and waved it casually. The closet suddenly caught fire.

Riddle jumped, no wonder he roared in shock and frenzy, all his possessions must have been in it, but just as Riddle began to scold Dumbledore, the flames were gone, and the wardrobe stood intact.

Riddle stared at the closet and Dumbledore, and then, with a greedy expression, pointed at the wand.

"Where can I get one?"

"In due course," Dumbledore said. "I think there's something coming out of your closet. ”

Sure enough, there was a faint creaking sound in the closet. For the first time, Riddle looked scared.

"Open the door," Dumbledore said. Riddle hesitated for a moment, then walked over and opened the closet door. On the top floor, a stack of worn clothes sits a cardboard box, which is constantly vibrating and crunching like a few crazy rats inside.

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

Riddle threw a meaningful look at Dumbledore. "Yes, I think so, sir," he said at last dullly. Riddle opened the lid and poured everything on the bed without looking.

Van Lin had expected to see something exciting, but there was only a mess of ordinary knick-knacks, including a yo-yo, a silver-white thimble, and a dull harmonica.

A child in an orphanage, if there is anything else, is it 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, putting his wand back in his jacket. "I'll know what you did or not. I would also like to warn you: Stealing is not allowed at Hogwarts. ”

Riddle didn't look embarrassed at all, he still looked at Dumbledore coldly. Finally he said, in an unsentimental voice, "Yes, sir." ”

"At Hogwarts," Dumbledore continued, "we teach you not only how to use magic, but how to control it. You've always been—inadvertently, I'm sure—using magic in ways that are neither taught in our schools, nor will we tolerate them. You're not the first, and you're not the last, to let magic get out of hand. But you should know that Hogwarts will expel students, and that the Ministry of Magic - yes, there is such a department - will punish those who break the law even more. All new wizards who enter our world must accept this and obey our laws. ”

"Yes, sir," Riddle said again. No one knew what he was thinking, and his face was still blank when he put the stolen items back in the cardboard box.

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

"That's easy to fix," Dumbledore pulled out a leather money pouch from his pocket. "Hogwarts has set up a fund to help needy students who need to buy books and robes. You'll need to buy some second-hand spell books or something, but—"

"Where to buy the spell book?" Riddle interrupted, taking the heavy money bag without thanking Dumbledore, and was now carefully examining a gold Galleon, or arguably a gold coin, at least in the wizarding world, this thing is still hard currency.

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

"You're going with me?" said Riddle, looking up. "Of course, if you-"

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

He added, staring into Dumbledore's eyes. Van Lin frowned, he thought Dumbledore would insist on accompanying Riddle, but he was surprised again.

Dumbledore handed him the envelope with the list, told him exactly how to get from the orphanage to the Cauldron, and said, "You can see it, but the Muggles around you, who don't know magic, can't see it." Go find Tom, the bar's waitress—it's easy to remember, you both have the same name—"

Riddle flickered sensitively, as if trying to chase away a pesky fly.

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

"There are a lot of people named Tom," Riddle muttered. Then, as if unable to suppress the doubt, as if it had come out of nowhere, he asked, "Is my father also a wizard?" and his name is Tom Riddle, they told me. ”

"I don't know. Dumbledore said mildly.

"My mom can't be a wizard, or she wouldn't be dead," Riddle said more to himself. "It had to be him. So—after I've bought everything—when am I going to this Hogwarts?"

"All the details are on the second piece of parchment in the envelope," Dumbledore said. "On September 1 you'll depart from King's Cross Station. 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." What we found on our way to the countryside - they found me, they whispered to me. Is this normal for a wizard?"

Van Lin saw that he had kept this most strange ability at bay, just to impress Dumbledore at the end.

Riddle is very good at this stuff, using his own value to try to trade more things.

"It's unusual," Dumbledore said after a moment's hesitation, "but I've never heard of it. His tone was casual, but his gaze wandered curiously over Riddle's face.

They just stood like this for a moment, man and boy, staring at each other. Then their grip was released, and Dumbledore walked to the door.

"Goodbye, Tom. Goodbye to Hogwarts. ”

"I guess that's the end of it," said the white-haired Dumbledore, who stood beside Van Lin, and a few seconds later they were once again weightless through the darkness, and then directly back into the room.

"Sit down," Dumbledore landed beside Van Lin.

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

"He believed that much faster than I did—I mean, you told him he was a wizard......" Van Lin hesitated.

"But didn't you already know when I went to pick you up?"

"Because I found my mom's stuff. "Actually, it took me a long time to figure this out, but thankfully, it wasn't too hard, and I learned magic ahead of time." ”

"It's a very dangerous thing. Dumbledore said, "It is difficult for a wizard in his infancy to have the spirit to control these nascent agitated magic, and I have to admit that you are very talented. ”

"But sometimes, it's more of a misfortune, Professor Dumbledore," Van Lin said, shaking his head, "and there are a lot of things we can avoid. ”