Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures - H.P.S.T Chapter 1414: Riddle's Tale

“Sir, have you found the location of the house-elves’ homeland?” Evan asked.

During the past Christmas holidays, he had looked through so much material but still had no clue, but Dumbledore had much more information than he did, so he would definitely find a way.

Since Dumbledore brought it up on his own initiative, there must be a clue.

So, where exactly was the homeland of the house-elves?

“Yes, there are some clues. Coincidentally, due to the lessons, I recently reviewed my memories and found some very interesting information that I had overlooked before,” said Dumbledore. “I believe this information will help us find the former homeland of the house-elves.”

Evan was stunned for a moment. He didn’t expect Dumbledore to mention lessons and memories.

His lessons and memories were all related to Voldemort’s past. Could it be that they contained information about the homeland of the house-elves?

“Evan, your search for the secret treasure keys left behind by the Four Founders of Hogwarts gave me some inspiration, so I carefully reviewed my past memories and actually found something,” Dumbledore continued. “You will understand once you see that memory. But before that, we still have three important memories to watch, which is why I asked you to come early tonight.

“Oh, yes, one of these three memories, you have already seen it, it comes from Tom Riddle’s uncle Morfin, it is about him and Riddle’s tale; the other one comes from me, it is what happened on the night we found the ring not long ago. These memories are very important, I think you, Harry, should take another look at them, it will be very helpful for you to understand Voldemort.”

To truly understand Voldemort, Evan thought, perhaps bringing out the fifteen-year-old Riddle himself would be even more effective.

The next second, as Dumbledore moved, Evan’s gaze landed on his right hand, which was covered in dark spells.

And that black ring seemed to be the center of these deep green magic inscriptions.

“In any case, the four memories we are going to see tonight are all related to Tom Riddle. The last one will bring us an unexpected surprise, but we need to follow Tom Riddle’s tale in chronological order,” said Dumbledore loudly. “We left him, last lesson, poised on the threshold of his years at Hogwarts. You will remember how excited he was to hear that he was a wizard, that he refused my company on a trip to Diagon Alley, and that I, in turn, warned him against continued thievery when he arrived at school.

“Well, the start of the school year arrived and with it came Tom Riddle, a quiet boy in his secondhand robes, who lined up with the other first years to be sorted. He was placed in Slytherin House almost the moment that the Sorting Hat touched his head,” continued Dumbledore, waving his blackened hand toward the shelf over his head where the Sorting Hat sat, ancient and unmoving. “How soon Riddle learned that the famous founder of the House could talk to snakes, I do not know — perhaps that very evening. The knowledge can only have excited him and increased his sense of self-importance.

“However, if he was frightening or impressing fellow Slytherins with displays of Parseltongue in their common room — that particular talent was especially revered within Slytherin — no hint of it reached the staff. He showed no sign of outward arrogance or aggression at all. As an unusually talented and very good-looking orphan, he naturally drew attention and sympathy from the staff almost from the moment of his arrival. He seemed polite, quiet, humble, and thirsty for knowledge. Nearly all were most favorably impressed by him, even some professors who were usually prejudiced against Slytherins found themselves liking him.”

“Didn’t you tell them, sir, what he’d been like when you met him at the orphanage?”

“No, I did not,” said Dumbledore. “Though he had shown no hint of remorse, it was possible that he felt sorry for how he had behaved before and was resolved to turn over a fresh leaf. I chose to give him that chance.”

Dumbledore was always forgiving of others’ mistakes — provided he was willing to believe in them.

In other words, Tom Riddle at that time had temporarily gained Dumbledore’s trust.

Perhaps it was his age that made Dumbledore believe him, as Riddle was only eleven years old at the time.

How bad could an eleven-year-old boy be?!

Surely, no one could have imagined that one day, he would become the Dark Lord…

“When he came to Hogwarts…” Dumbledore paused and looked inquiringly at Harry.

“Well, sorry to interrupt, sir!” Harry faltered, because Dumbledore’s words had just proved once again Dumbledore’s tendency to trust people in spite of overwhelming evidence that they did not deserve it! This reminded Harry again of Snape and…

“But you didn’t really trust him, sir, did you? He told me … the Riddle who came out of that diary said, ‘Dumbledore never seemed to like me as much as the other teachers did.’”

“Let us say that I did not take it for granted that he was trustworthy,” said Dumbledore. “I had, as I have already indicated, resolved to keep a close eye upon him, and so I did. I cannot pretend that I gleaned a great deal from my observations at first. He was very guarded with me; he felt, I am sure, that in the thrill of discovering his true identity he had told me a little too much. He was careful never to reveal as much again, but he could not take back what he had let slip in his excitement, nor what Mrs. Cole had confided in me. However, he had the sense never to try and charm me as he charmed so many of my colleagues.”

Riddle must have sensed the difference between Dumbledore and the other professors and knew he was dangerous.

Forget deception — he didn’t even dare to approach Dumbledore lightly..

“All in all, Riddle thrived at school. He quickly gathered about him a group of dedicated friends; I call them that, for want of a better term, although as I have already indicated, Riddle undoubtedly felt no affection for any of them,” Dumbledore continued. “This group had a kind of dark glamour within the castle. They were a motley collection; a mixture of the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking some shared glory, and the thuggish gravitating toward a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty. In other words, they were the forerunners of the Death Eaters, and indeed some of them became the first Death Eaters after leaving Hogwarts.”

“From the information I learned later, Riddle controlled them rigidly, and they were never detected in open wrongdoing, although their seven years at Hogwarts were marked by a number of nasty incidents to which they were never satisfactorily linked, the most serious of which was, of course, the opening of the Chamber of Secrets, which resulted in the death of a girl. As you know, Hagrid was wrongly accused of that crime…”

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