"Yes, I think it's Gaunt's ancestral home, but before that, we have a memory of Merlot, or Voldemort before he entered Hogwarts. ”

"Voldemort before he entered Hogwarts? I remember, he grew up in an orphanage. ”

"Oh yes, the handsome Muggle Tom Riddle abandoned her wizarding wife, Merlot, and returned to little Hangleston's hometown. Melo was left alone in London, pregnant with the child who would become Voldemort. ”

"How do you know she's in London, Professor?"

"According to the evidence provided by Calatacus Burke," said Dumbledore, "he coincidentally helped us find the store that owned the necklace, the one you owned. ”

Dumbledore gestured to the necklace in Van Lin's hand, just as he had at Hogwarts, his hand unconsciously stirring the contents of the meditation basin, like a gold digger sifting out gold.

Out of the silver swirls in the meditation basin emerged a slowly spinning old man, who looked like a ghost in a silvery white color, but more real than a ghost, his thick hair completely covering his eyes.

"yes, we got it in a strange situation. It was brought by a young witch who happened to be Christmas, oh, many years ago, of course. She said she desperately needed gold, well, obviously. Dressed in rags, coming from far away...... I'm going to have a baby. She said the box pendant was a Slytherin thing. Well, we've always heard people say, 'Oh, this is Merlin's thing, this is his favorite teapot,' but when we checked it, we found that it really had a Slytherin mark on it, and it only took a few simple spells to know the truth. Of course, it's almost priceless. She didn't seem to know how much it was worth. Happy to change ten Galleons. It was the best deal we've ever made. ”

Dumbledore shook the meditation basin particularly hard, Karatakus... Burke sank into the vortex of memory.

"He only gave her ten Galleons?" Van Lin said helplessly, which was obviously unfair to Merlot.

"Calatacus Burke was not generous," Dunledo said. "So we know that in the last days of her pregnancy, Merlot was alone in London, and she was in such desperate need of gold that she sold what she had of value, the Slytherin locket, the heirloom that Marvolo treasured. ”

"But she can do magic!" Van Lin hesitated, he saw that Merlot was not a squib, but was too scared by Marvolo to use magic. "She can find food and everything she wants with magic, can't she?"

"Ah," said Dumbledore, "maybe she could." But I believe—it's speculation again, but I'm sure I'm right—that after she was abandoned by her husband, she stopped using magic. I don't think she wants to be a witch anymore. Of course, it could also be that unrequited love and ensuing despair drained her strength; Either way, she was reluctant to raise her wand until she was dying. ”

"Sad, Professor," Van Lin shook his head, "if Mellot hadn't chosen to give up on Tom, I'd ......."

"Everything was unexpected, wasn't it. Dumbledore said, holding his wand against his temple, drawing a strand of silver from it.

"Where are we going next?"

"This time," Dumbledore said, "we're going into my memory. I think you will find a wealth of detail and will be pleased with its accuracy. I'm after you, Van Lin......"

Van Lin bent down towards the meditation basin, his face drenched in cold memories and once more into the darkness...... After a few seconds, his feet hit the solid ground, and he opened his eyes to find him and Dumbledore standing on a bustling old London street, and a few moments later, Rutherford also entered, and Van Lin had almost forgotten about him......

"I'm there," Dumbledore said cheerfully, gesturing to a tall figure in front of him who was crossing the street in front of a horse-drawn milk cart.

The young Albus Dumbledore had long hair and a russet beard. After crossing the street to their side, he began to stride down the pavement, wearing a richly cut dark purple velvet suit that attracted many curious glances.

"Very nice clothes, Professor," Van Lin said without help but giggle as Dumbledore only giggled, and the three of them followed the young Dumbledore not far behind, and finally walked through a set of iron gates into an empty courtyard in front of a gloomy boxy building surrounded on all sides by high railings. He walked up a few steps and knocked on the door. After a while, a girl in an apron and dressed in tatters opened the door.

"Good afternoon. I have a date with Mrs. Cole, and I think she's the houselady. ”

"Oh," the girl stared at Dumbledore's strange appearance, looking confused. "Hmm...... Wait a minute...... Mrs. Cole!"

She turned around and yelled.

Van Lin heard a loud response from far away. The girl turned to Dumbledore again.

"Come in, she'll come here. ”

Dumbledore walked into the hallway paved with black and white tiles, which looked dilapidated but spotless. Van Lin and Dumbledore Sr. followed. Before the door behind them could close, a thin, tired woman hurried towards them.

Her face was angular and looked more anxious than cold, as she walked over to Dumbledore and spoke to another assistant in an apron beside her.

“...... Then he brought the bottle of iodine to Martha upstairs, Billy Stubbs was picking at his scabs, and Eric Willy's sheets were covered in sweat - but chickenpox was a priority," she said to herself, and she froze at the sight of Dumbledore, her expression of surprise as if she had seen a giraffe come in.

"Good afternoon," Dumbledore held out his hand. Mrs. Cole was still in a daze. "My name is Albus Dumbledore. I wrote you an appointment letter, and you kindly invited me to come here today. ”

Mrs. Cole blinked. Apparently making sure Dumbledore wasn't hallucinating, she said, "Oh, yes. Uh-well, then-come to my office. Yes. ”

She let Dumbledore into a small room that was half a living room and half an office. It's as dilapidated as the corridors, and the furniture is old and mismatched. She invited Dumbledore to sit in a rickety chair while she sat behind the messy desk, staring nervously at him.

"I'm here, as I said in my letter, to discuss with you what Tom Riddle has to do for the future," Dumbledore said.

"Are you a family member?" asked Mrs. Cole.

"No, I'm a teacher," Dumbledore said. "I came to pick up Tom and take him to our school. ”

"So, what kind of school is this?"

Wizard School ...... Fan Lin couldn't help muttering in his heart, although it looked a little pitted now......

"It's called Hogwarts," Dumbledore said.

"How can you be interested in Tom?"

"We believe he has the qualities we are looking for. ”

"You're saying he won a scholarship? How could he be? He never signed up for any exams. ”

"Well, he was on the school's list when he was born—"

"Who registered him for him?" and his parents?" There is no doubt that this is a shrewd woman who is not easy to deal with.

Apparently Dumbledore thought so too, and Van Lin saw him quietly pull his wand from his velvet suit, while picking up a completely blank piece of paper on the table.

"Look at this," Dumbledore waved his wand as he handed her the piece of paper, "I think this makes it all clear." ”

Mrs. Cole's eyes were suddenly confused, then regained their reins as she stared intently at the blank sheet of paper for a moment.

"It looks exactly as planned," she said calmly, handing the piece of paper back again. Then her gaze fell on a bottle of gin and two glasses, which had certainly been nothing just a few seconds ago.

"Uh—a gin?" she said politely.

"Thank you very much," Dumbledore said with a smile. It was clear that Mrs. Cole was a veteran of gin. She poured them both of them wine, and drank her cup in one gulp. She smiled at Dumbledore for the first time, smacking her lips unabashedly, and Dumbledore seized the moment.

"I was thinking if you could tell me a little bit about Tom Riddle's past? I think he was born in this orphanage, right?"

"That's right," said Mrs. Cole, who poured some more gin. "I remember it very well because I had just come here. It was Chinese New Year's Eve, it was freezing and it was snowing, you know. Bad night. And then the girl, who was a little older than me at the time, stumbled up the steps of the gate. Well, she's not the first like this. We brought her in, and an hour later she gave birth. Another hour later she was dead. ”

Mrs. Cole nodded emotionally and swallowed another gulp of gin.

"Did she say anything before she died?" Dumbledore asked. "Like the father of the child?"

"As it happens, she said this," said a glass of gin in her hand, and in front of an enthusiastic listener, whom Mrs. Cole now seemed to enjoy very much.

"I remember she saying to me, 'I want him to look like his dad,' and honestly, she was right to think so, because she wasn't good-looking at all — and then she told me to name him Tom in honor of his father, and his middle name was Marvolo, in honor of her own father — yes, I know, weird name, right? We were still wondering if she was from the circus — and she said the boy's last name was Riddle. After saying that, he died. ”

"Well, we named the child as she said, and the poor girl seemed to take it very seriously, but no Tom or Marvolo, nor any man with the surname Riddle, nor any relative, so we left him behind, and remained in the orphanage until now. Mrs. Cole poured another glass of wine, almost in a trance.

Two blushes appeared on her cheekbones. Then she said, "He's a weird boy." ”

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "I think it might. ”

"It was strange when he was a baby. Almost never crying. Then, as he grew up a little bit, he became ...... It's weird. ”

"Weird, what's weird?" Dumbledore asked gently.

"Well, he-" Mrs. Cole stopped abruptly, glancing inquiringly at Dumbledore from the top of her glass, her eyes less vacant.

"He's going to your school, you're going to do that, you're saying?"

"Definitely," Dumbledore said.

"What I'm talking about won't change that, will it?"

"No," Dumbledore said.

"You're going to take him away anyway?"

"Anyway," Dumbledore repeated solemnly. She narrowed her eyes at him, as if considering whether she should trust Dumbledore. Apparently in the end she decided to believe him, because she suddenly said, "He scared the other children." ”

"You mean he's a little bully?"

"I think so," Mrs. Cole frowned slightly, "but it's hard to catch him. It's always messy...... Tricky stuff......"

Dumbledore didn't rush her, but Van Lin could see that he was interested, was this the professor's bad taste?

She took another sip of gin, and her rosy face turned redder. "Billy Stubbs' Rabbit...... Well, Tom said he didn't do it, and I don't know how he could do it, but the rabbit couldn't have hanged himself on the rafters, could he?"

"I think so, too, impossible," Dumbledore said calmly. "But, I don't really know how he climbed up and did it. All I know is that he and Billy had just quarreled the day before. And then—"

Mrs. Cole took another sip, this time spilling a little to her chin, "We go hiking in the summer — you know, we take them out once a year, to the country or to the beach — well, Amy Benson and Dennis Bissau didn't get normal afterwards, and we interrogated and cross-examined, and they both said they had gone to a cave with Tom Riddle. Tom swore to us that he was just going on an expedition, but something must have happened there, I'm sure. And, well, a lot of things, strange things......"

She looked at Dumbledore again, her cheeks bright red, but her gaze was determined.

"I don't think too many people will be sad about his departure. ”

"You'll understand that we're not going to keep him there forever. Dumbledore said. "He'll come back here, at least, every summer. ”

"Oh, well, that's better than him hitting someone else's nose here with a rusty flotting stick," Mrs. Cole burped softly. She stood up, and Van Lin noticed that she was holding sound, even though she had drunk two-thirds of the gin in the bottle.

"I guess you'd like to meet him?"

"I really want to," Dumbledore stood up. She led her out of the office and up the stone staircase, giving instructions to the passing assistants and yelling at the children.

Van Lin saw that the orphans were all dressed in uniform gray kaftans. It can be seen that they are all well taken care of, but it is undeniable that this place for them to grow up is also too harsh and unforgiving.

"This is it," said Mrs. Cole, as they turned the second landing to the door of the first room in a long corridor. She knocked twice on the door and walked inside.

"Tom, someone has come to see you. This is Mr. Dumbledon—sorry, it's Dundolpo. He's here to tell you - forget it, let him tell. ”