Hogwarts: Voldemort, don't stop me from studying

"You can rest assured about this. Magic will make wizards more credible," said Dumbledore.

So Wade also took out a handful of coins from his pocket and threw them in. The glittering golden Galleons stood out among the pile of silver Sickles and copper Knuts.

A stream of water spurted out of the ears of the house-elf statue and fell, hitting the water surface in front of Vader, and the splashing water seemed to be reflected in gold.

After a moment of silence, Dumbledore sighed and said, "Wizards, centaurs, goblins, house-elves, we are actually equal in intelligence and magic... just like wizards, Squibs, and Muggles are all human beings."

"All races make up our world and are an integral part of society. However, the prejudice and arrogance of wizards always cause suffering to other races, and wizards always suffer the consequences."

"Isn't it the same even among wizards?"

Wade said: "Pure-bloods despise half-bloods and Muggle-borns, nobles despise commoners, the rich despise the poor, the smart despise the stupid... Even if there is no distinction between races, the chain of contempt is everywhere."

"But some contempt provides us with motivation to make progress; while others, simply because of their birth, suffer for it."

Vader said nothing.

Dumbledore might be alluding to house-elves, or he might be referring to Squibs or Muggles.

He was talking about issues that little kids wouldn't think about, but Wade had no desire to share his inner thoughts with others.

After a moment of silence, Dumbledore said in a relaxed tone: "Let's go."

"Professor, where are we going?" Vader asked, following him.

"You don't know our destination, and you're following me?" Dumbledore asked deliberately.

"You are Dumbledore," Vader said briefly.

Dumbledore smiled again.

His smile looked much more genuine this time, his blue eyes narrowed beneath his half-moon glasses, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes smoothed out.

"I want to take you to meet someone." He said, "An old friend I haven't seen for a long time."

……

As they walked out of the Ministry, Dumbledore asked, "Have you tried Apparating your followers, Vader?"

"No, Professor," Vader shook his head.

"Then I can show you how to try it. You need to hold on to my arm tightly." Dumbledore stretched out his arm and said, "It won't feel good, but don't worry. I will keep you safe."

Vader grabbed Dumbledore's arm.

Dumbledore was very tall, which he thought made him look even more like a child.

"Very good, let's go!"

As soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, Wade felt a strong squeeze, as if the air from all directions was pressing towards him, as if to press his body into a ping-pong ball...

With a "puff", Wade felt as if he was squeezed out of a narrow tube. His body recovered instantly and his hands and feet seemed to have grown out again.

He paused for a moment, then looked up to see Dumbledore waiting patiently for him to recover.

"Are you okay?" Dumbledore asked with concern, "It takes time to get used to this feeling."

"I'm fine." Wade exhaled and said, "I heard that during the war, underage children must learn to follow the appearance."

"Yes, that was true in the past," said Dumbledore.

Wade looked around. They were in an unfamiliar valley. A dark, winding path led into a dense woods.

On a nearby hillside, there is an exquisite but dilapidated old house, and not far away is a cemetery overgrown with weeds.

It doesn't look like anyone lives around here.

Wade had a vague sense of something, but he did not ask any questions and followed Dumbledore silently along the winding path.

Dumbledore did not let him guess the riddle. He waved his wand and a mist came. Then Wade saw two vague figures appearing in front of him.

He couldn't see their faces clearly, but he could tell they were a man and a woman. The man was riding a horse, and looked well-dressed; the woman was hunched over, with a bent back, and wearing ragged clothes.

They looked so mismatched, but the man carried the woman onto his horse and they rode away along the striped path.

"Many years ago, there was a young couple here - Tom Riddle, the handsome son of a Muggle family, eloped with Merope Gaunt, the daughter of a wizard family. This was a shocking scandal at the time."

"In people's eyes, Riddle was the local squire, while the Gaunts were a group of crazy vagabonds. They were two completely mismatched people. So a few months later, when Tom Riddle returned to the village alone, the villagers were not surprised at all."

In the fog, a man stumbled back, and the girl was no longer with him.

Dumbledore held out his arm. "Come, I will take you to see Merope's next fate."

Vader grabbed his arm again.

With a "bang", two people appeared from a narrow alley.

Dumbledore cast an Disillusionment Charm, and they emerged from an alley that Vader recognized as a neighborhood in London.

There were some Muggles on the road, but they couldn't see Vader or Dumbledore at all.

The fog came back again, and a blurry woman with a big belly was walking with difficulty on the street. White snowflakes could be vaguely seen falling on her shoulders.

Wade followed her and heard Dumbledore say, "Merope, who had lost her husband, was pregnant, but lived in poverty. On a snowy night, she gave birth to a child in the orphanage in front."

The blurry figure of the woman fell down. People in the yard next door heard the noise, ran out of the big iron gate, shouted to each other, and then helped the woman into the house together.

The picture flashes and a baby is born.

A woman in an apron holding the baby leaned over to let his mother see him. The woman struggled to say something, then became motionless, her arms drooping limply.

"After giving birth to this child, Merope died. Before she died, she named the child after his father - Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Chapter 164 Tom Riddle

Vader looked inside the yard.

This former orphanage is now deserted. The entire yard is overgrown with weeds and exudes an old, corrupt atmosphere. A notice of government demolition is posted on the wall outside.

"As you can probably guess, Merope used a love potion to capture old Tom Riddle. When she stopped using the potion, the man left her and her unborn child without hesitation."

Dumbledore waved his wand gently and said, "So, here grew up the boy called Tom Riddle."

In the illusion, the baby grew up quickly and became a little boy. The other children stayed away from him, and the boy often talked to the snake in the corner.

Then the kid ran into the house, and Vader and the other guy followed him in.

The boy stretched out his hand and made a rabbit float up out of thin air, hanging on the beam.

Sometimes he would run into a room, rummage through the bed and closet, and then secretly put something in his pocket.

Dumbledore said: "I don't know if this child would be better if he was in a normal family, but the orphanage is definitely not a very good environment for growth. Little Tom Riddle quickly learned some bad habits, such as stealing or intimidating others."

"He has some innate abilities that allow him to easily hurt kids who are older and stronger than him."

At one point, the boy's behavior seemed to be exposed. A skinny woman grabbed his arm, pushed him into a room and locked him up.

The woman's actions looked ferocious, but also revealed a hint of vigilance.

The boy is sitting on the bed, seemingly reading. Soon after, the screen flickers and a tall, bearded man walks in.

Although the image formed by the fog was not very clear, Wade recognized it at a glance. The wizard was standing next to him.

"Oh, this is me," said Dumbledore. "The child is a wizard. His name was registered on the Hogwarts register when he was born. When he is eleven years old, I will take him to school."

Young Dumbledore didn't communicate with the boy for long. He suddenly raised his wand and lit the illusory wardrobe next to him, and the boy jumped up.

The flames died down, and Tom Riddle took out a cardboard box from the closet, and what came out of the box were exactly what he had stolen before.

The two exchanged a few more words, and young Dumbledore handed a money bag to Tom Riddle, and their meeting ended quickly.

"Let's go." Dumbledore stretched out his arm again and said, "The rest of the story takes place at Hogwarts."

Dumbledore Apparated directly to the school, but did not remove the Disillusionment Charm.

The effect of Vader's Disillusionment Charm is the same as that of a chameleon, and people who are very sensitive to colors may be able to notice the difference. But the effect of Dumbledore's Disillusionment Charm is like wearing an invisibility cloak, which will not be noticed at all.

Students were coming and going in the school, and no one noticed that there were two more people in the corridor.

Soon, the bell rang for class, and the students hurried into the classroom, and the corridor became empty.

Dumbledore took Wade with him, and a figure formed by the mist walked with them.

The little boy was wearing a Hogwarts uniform and walking in the corridor with a book in his arms. There were always some people following him. And as he grew older, the number of people seemed to increase.

The professors all smiled at the boy, except Dumbledore, who always looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Riddle is an orphan with extraordinary talent and intelligence. As soon as he entered school, he attracted the attention and sympathy of the teachers, and almost everyone liked him," said Dumbledore.

"Soon, he had a group of loyal friends around him...or subordinates."

"They are complex and well-organized. Many vicious incidents have occurred in Hogwarts during their years at school, but there is no conclusive evidence linking them to anything."

"The most serious incident resulted in the death of a female student."

On the floor, a pale, bespectacled corpse lay, eyes wide open, body rigid.

At this time, they happened to walk to the bathroom on the second floor, and the sound of a girl sobbing came from the toilet.

"Moaning Myrtle, she was once a student of Ravenclaw. She died suddenly while hiding in the toilet crying because she was laughed at and bullied by her classmates."

Dumbledore said: "We still don't know what caused her death. I can only guess that it may be related to Riddle."

"After the death, Hogwarts was at risk of closing. But then Riddle caught the 'murderer' - he reported another boy in the school, saying that he secretly kept a murderous pet."

Screen changes.

Tom Riddle was struggling with a large boy, while a huge spider with many eyes fled across the corridor.

Riddle seemed to be shouting loudly, and soon many people came running over.

"Is that Hagrid?" said Weed.

"Yes," Dumbledore replied. "After that, Hagrid was expelled from school, banned from magic by the Ministry, and had his wand broken."

"But I believed he was innocent, and I convinced Principal Dippet to keep him and train him as a gamekeeper."

"Because Hagrid's father had died by then, and he had nowhere to go after leaving Hogwarts."

The scene changes again, Tom Riddle has grown tall and handsome. He became the president of the boy's union, won the school medal, and then graduated from school.