Harry returns from Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 400 Voldemort, are you really hungry?
Upon hearing Gellert's words, Vivi suddenly looked up.

"What did you say?" she asked, squinting. "The Magical Congress of America cut out your tongue?"

“Oh, you didn’t know about this? It really hurts me.” Gellert covered his face with one hand, looking 'delicate'. “I never imagined that my sister would be so indifferent to her brother…”

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly stopped forward.

"Get to the point!" Vivi said expressionlessly.

“Okay.” Gellert shrugged and began to explain the grudges and feuds from back then.

In 1926, Grindelwald, disguised as High Auror Percival Graves, infiltrated the Magical Congress of the United States and, with the help of a boy of mysterious origin, Credence Byrburne, attempted to find an Obscurial. However, he eventually discovered that Credence was indeed an Obscurial. The Obscurus within Credence erupted, causing widespread destruction in New York before being shattered by the Aurors. Grindelwald's own identity was also exposed by Newt Scamander, and from that moment on, Grindelwald was imprisoned in a wizarding prison in the United States.

Because Grindelwald was so eloquent, he gave countless speeches in the prison, turning almost all the inmates into his followers. So the Magical Congress of America decided to cut out his tongue.

"I think you asked for this?" Sirius muttered, only to be glared at fiercely by Gellert.

“No matter what, that’s no excuse for cutting out my brother’s tongue,” Vivi said coldly. “I’ll have the Magical Congress of America give you an explanation for this, Gale—of course, if you hadn’t been so stupid, you probably wouldn’t have been caught by Newt.”

Gellert kept his head down and didn't say anything; he had achieved his goal anyway.

That afternoon, the German Ministry of Magic formally lodged a note with the Magical Congress of the United States, protesting their expulsion of Gellert Grindelwald.

However, the Magical Congress of the United States insisted that this was a provocation against the United States and reiterated the ban from back then.

They even stated that not arresting Gellert Grindelwald was already a favor to Ms. Grindelwald.

Vivi was thoroughly enraged by the arrogance of the Magical Congress of America. She expressed her regret over the incident and serious concern about the Voldemort attacks that occurred within the United States, stating that she would provide all possible support to the United States, except for assistance.

On July 19th, Voldemort and Lanlock attacked Chicago and released some wizard prisoners held there.

Two days later, Voldemort and Lanlock attacked Gringotts' branch in the United States, looting all its treasures and slaughtering all the wizards, goblins, and magical creatures there.

“I still don’t understand,” Harry said, scratching his head, “why the Magical Congress of America is so arrogant…”

This was something that not only Harry didn't understand, but even Gellert himself didn't understand why the Magical Congress of America would be so stupid and arrogant.

But that's not something he needs to worry about, because Voldemort and Lanlock are causing trouble in America, not Europe.

Voldemort seemed certain that no one would stop him, so he and Lanlock made no attempt to conceal their whereabouts, and they were able to do whatever they wanted in America.

“This can’t go on,” Dumbledore said in a deep voice. “We must go to America and stop Voldemort’s evil deeds—”

“It’s not that we don’t want to go, Al,” Gellert said sarcastically, “but the Americans don’t welcome us. Don’t forget, just a few days ago, I was expelled from the Magical Congress of America. Yes, expelled.”

Dumbledore opened his mouth, but ultimately sighed in dejection.

“Oh, right,” he added, “regarding Voldemort’s Horcruxes, we still have one last one left…”

“Nagini, right?” Harry smiled and said, “Let’s bring her over tomorrow, or…we can use Nagini to do something to Voldemort?”

“I think it’s best not to,” Dumbledore shook his head. “Nagini isn’t an inanimate object like Ravenclaw’s crown. When she was still human, she was my nephew’s wife.”

“Well, there’s nothing I can do about it, Professor,” Harry said with a shrug. “You should know that those Horcruxes were created by Voldemort many years ago, while Nagini was created by him only recently. So, Nagini is definitely more closely related to him.”

“I have reservations,” Dumbledore said.

Since Dumbledore had said so, Harry stopped insisting.

That afternoon, Dumbledore took Nagini to number twelve Grimmauld Place.

Nagini was kept in a specially made iron cage. When it woke up and saw Harry, it pulled its snake head back and hissed at Harry.

I'm deprived of love.

Without saying a word, he pointed his wand at Nagini.

"Legiliments!"

……

When Harry landed, he found himself outside a house.

The door opened, and a house-elf stepped out.

The house-elf walked straight toward Harry, but passed right through him.

Harry turned around and saw a tall young man.

It's Tom Riddle.

He was wearing a black suit, his hair was a bit longer than when he was in school, and his cheeks were sunken, but all of these suited him well, and he looked even more handsome.

The elf spoke a few words to Tom and then led him back to his room.

Harry followed and saw a crowded room he carefully made his way through, a room he looked like he'd been there many times before.

The room was so crowded that it was hard to imagine anyone being able to walk through it without knocking over at least a dozen things.

The cabinets displaying painted boxes, the bookshelves filled with gilded books, the stands with celestial bodies and astrolabes of various sizes, and the many lush plants growing in bronze vessels... this room looks like a combination of a magical antique shop and a greenhouse.

They walked through the house and came to the slightly more spacious living room.

In the living room stood an elderly witch—her face was covered with a thick layer of white powder, like frost on a donkey's dung ball.

But Tom clearly didn't care; he stepped forward and bent down low.

“Ms. Hepzba,” Tom greeted politely, his lips lightly touching Ms. Hepzba’s chubby little hand.

"I brought you flowers," he whispered, producing a bouquet of roses from his hand.

Upon seeing this, Harry couldn't help but gag.

No, Tom?
You little brat, you dressed up as a girl and used your looks to seduce me when I was in first grade, so it seems you have a criminal record! You also used your looks to seduce an old witch, didn't you?
You are really...

You are really hungry!

“You naughty child, you shouldn’t do that!” Old Mrs. Hepzba shrieked, but Harry noticed she had already placed an empty vase on a small table nearby. “You’ve spoiled this old lady, Tom… Sit down, sit down… Where’s Hodge?”

The house-elf rushed into the house carrying a plate of pastries and placed it on the lady of the house's elbow.

“Help yourself, Tom,” said Mrs. Hepzba. “I know you love my pastries… How are you? You look a little pale. The shop is working you too hard, I’ve told you a hundred times…”

At this point, Hepzba chuckled, and Tom mechanically smiled in response.

Harry didn't quite understand why Hepzba was laughing, but seeing such a radiant old woman with wrinkles big enough to trap mosquitoes as she smiled at the young heartthrob, Harry just felt a bit fucking creeped out.

Voldemort, you're really hungry!

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

"Mr. Burke offered a higher price for the goblin armor, five hundred galleons, which he felt was fair enough—"

"Oh dear, oh dear, don't be in such a hurry, or I'll think you only came here for my stuff!" Hepzba said, scratching his mouth.

“I was sent here because of them,” Voldemort said softly. “I’m just a lowly shopkeeper, madam, only able to take orders. Mr. Burke wants me to ask…”

“Oh, Mr. Burke, bah!” said Hepziba, waving his chubby hand. “I’m going to show you something Mr. Burke has never seen before! Can you keep it a secret, Tom? Can you promise not to tell Mr. Burke I have this? If he finds out I’ve shown it to you, he’ll never let me live in peace. I won’t sell it, not to Burke, not to anyone! But you, Tom, will appreciate its history, not just think about how many gallons you can make—”

Harry felt that the old witch was completely hopeless; she had fallen in love and was hopelessly addicted to the romantic fantasy that Tom had created for her.

Doesn't she ever look in the mirror and think about it? Is it really possible for such a young and handsome guy like Tom to fall in love with her?

Even a fool could see that Tom was approaching her for some ulterior motive...

“I’d love to see anything Miss Hepzba shows me,” Tom said softly, and Hepzba giggled like a little girl again.

Harry gasped for breath; he almost threw up.

Holy crap, Voldemort!

Otherwise, how could you achieve great things?

Look at him, with that unwavering composure as he addresses a wrinkled old lady as "Miss Hepzba," Harry thinks he's definitely someone who's going to achieve great things.

He really wanted to bring that memory out and show it to Gellert—look at how shameless Gellert is, and then look at you, kicked out of America and too afraid to go back in? Pathetic! Both are dark wizards, how come there's such a huge difference in their shamelessness?

Hepzba stared intently at Tom's handsome face: "I had Hodge bring them out... Hodge, where are you? I want Mr. Riddle to see our best treasures... Let's just bring both..."

“Here it is, madam,” the house-elf shrieked. Harry saw two leather boxes stacked together, as if they had floated over on their own.

Oh, he knew, because the little elf was so small that it looked like it was floating when it held them up.

“Good,” Hepzba said cheerfully, taking the box from the elf and placing it on his lap, preparing to open the top one. “I think you’ll like it, Tom… Oh, if my relatives knew I let you see it… they’d come and snatch it away right away!”

She opened the lid.

Harry leaned forward; it was Hufflepuff's golden cup.

Oh, so after all that, what Voldemort wanted to get from Hepzba was Hufflepuff's cup, right?

“Do you know what this is, Tom? Pick it up and take a good look!” Hepzba said in a showy whisper.

Tom stretched out his slender fingers, pinched one of the handles, and lifted the cup off the soft satin cushion.

Harry saw what appeared to be a red glint in his dark eyes.

His greedy expression was strangely reflected on Hepzba's face, yet Hepzba's small eyes were fixed on Tom's handsome face.

“A badger,” Tom murmured, examining the carving on the cup. “This is…”

“Helga Hufflepuff, you’re quite the expert, clever boy!” Hepzba said, leaning over to pinch his sunken cheek, his bra making a loud creak. “Didn’t I tell you I’m a distant descendant of the Hufflepuffs? It’s been passed down in my family for many, many years.”

Hepzba was still muttering to herself when she picked up another crystal from a short distance away and handed it to Tom.

“And this too,” she said. “Legend has it that this is a relic of a legendary wizard from sixty years ago—the legendary wizard!”

Harry suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Harry Potter?" Tom's eyes lit up.

Harry closed his eyes and looked to the side with a pained expression.

Is there... something to do with me in this?
No, whose relative is this old woman? How the hell did she manage to collect my things?

“Yes, Harry Potter was my classmate at Hogwarts,” Hepzba said softly. “Back then, I was just a carefree little girl…”

“My dear lady, you are now too,” Tom said, his face neither flushed nor pale.

"Oh dear, you child..." Hepzba scolded like a little girl, and even hit Voldemort on the shoulder, making Harry gag again.

So disgusting.

“I never imagined you would be that legendary wizard’s classmate.” Tom became interested, and Harry could tell that this time his smile wasn’t fake.

But Harry wanted to force a smile.

“Let me continue,” Hepzibah rolled his eyes at Tom. “Harry Potter is three years older than me, but that doesn’t matter. We all know he’s a legendary wizard… but he disappeared during his final battle with Lanlock.”

"Disappeared?" Tom was stunned, and asked again, "Who is Lanlock?"

“Yes, yes,” Hepzba said with a smile. “It seems that you young people have indeed forgotten who Lanlock is… Of course, it’s not your fault. The Ministry of Magic has blocked information about Lanlock, so it’s normal that you don’t know.”

(End of this chapter)