Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 403 Old Tom and the Wizarding World

402 Old Tom and the Wizarding World

Although Merope did not give Old Tom the love potion, Old Tom returned to Gaunt's old house as agreed.

"She first took me to a place called the Leaky Cauldron with Floo powder. It was the first time I saw so many weird guys. To this day, I still remember a very burly weirdo crowded in the corner, holding Eating the contents of a wooden barrel, it smells like raw meat, and the taste is something I will never forget—"

"Speak the key."

"That's the point, I have to mention something I saw at the time - well, you can take the wand away. The point is that Merope set the destination from the beginning, and she took me all the way to Diagon Alley , and then went to a ghostly place called Knockturn Alley, even if I was a Muggle, I could see how dangerous it was. Then Merope took me to a place called Beau or something—"

"Borgin-Bock."

"It should be called this name. She planned to sell the two things she brought from home as soon as she went. Although I don't know much about magic, I can tell that the owner of the store deliberately lowered the price."

Toby gradually regained consciousness after hearing this.

"You mean the Gaunt rings, and the Slytherin locket?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Probably about the same." Old Tom said: "All I saw was a ring and a locket. And I planned to stop it at first, but Merope refused to agree. She later told me that it was What she has wanted to do for a long time, no matter what the price is, she is willing to hand over these two things that make her feel disgusted and feared—if the owner of the shop refuses to accept it, another one will do."

"It seems that this can be regarded as her childhood shadow." Toby curled his lips and said, "I also have childhood shadows, but I didn't do what she did. Instead, I retaliated ten times and a hundred times back. Even if I think about it, it's okay." Even if I commit suicide, I have to pull a few backs, and I can’t let me die alone.”

Old Tom sighed.

"Not everyone is as brave as you, Merope, she... Forget it, you have said that you are not a wild cat, and you won't understand this kind of feeling. In short, after selling those two things, I realized We didn’t have enough money to spend. Fortunately, I brought a lot of property from home, and there is a place called Gringotts that also supports the exchange of Muggle property for wizards’ gold coins, so our first days It's been pretty good."

Old Tom obviously missed those carefree days, and he smiled unconsciously when he said this.

"I don't know what Merope is thinking. She really planned to teach me magic at the beginning, and she would show her hands in front of me every day, and then give her wand to me to try. But of course it didn't happen. The trick worked, and I'm not a wizard, I'm just a Muggle. But I didn't know this, I just thought it was because I didn't try hard enough, so I tried a lot-and Florin Fusco's ice cream shop It tastes good too, plus there are so many magic item shops, it will put my mood back in no time."

At the end, old Tom's voice suddenly became much deeper.

"Until one day, probably when Hogwarts was about to start school, many children suddenly poured into Diagon Alley, including wizards and Muggles. At that time, I began to feel that something was wrong. I never knew There is also a magic school, and I naturally feel that I should try it too-but, I am obviously much older than those children, and I am not sure if this is a good idea, so I plan to find Merope first Discuss and discuss."

"Oh~oh." Toby interrupted with a smack of his mouth: "Stupid mistake, let alone whether you can succeed or not, Merope is definitely not willing to let you go, her reaction after hearing the news Is it big?"

Old Tom nodded silently.

"It was serious indeed, and she burst into tears right in front of me. That's when I realized that her father and brother weren't going to be in prison forever - mainly her father, judging by the letter the Ministry of Magic sent her , her father was only sentenced to six months in prison, far less than her brother's three years."

"That is to say, after I thought about it several times at the time, I found that her father had been released, and he was probably waiting for her in Gaunt's old house—or it was a worse result. After discovering that his daughter is missing, old Worrow will take the initiative to find her, and then bring her back to that... that hell."

Toby yawned suddenly, and he said perfunctorily, "You can guess the next plot just by guessing, and then your heart softened, you stopped talking about Hogwarts, and left with Merope Diagon Alley, from now on, flee everywhere?"

Old Tom looked up at Toby.

"No." There was a trace of austerity in his tone.

"Merope wanted to kill him, and I agreed."

Toby blinked his eyes behind his hair, and he swept away the empty wine bottles and plates, and then made a new table.

"And then?" Toby unscrewed the lid of the wine bottle, and asked with interest: "And what happened?"

"Don't you want to know the reason?" Old Tom couldn't understand Toby's actions.

"Isn't it easy to figure it out?" At this time, Toby almost perfectly repeated what Merope told Old Tom at the time: "As long as you kill her father, you can guarantee that you will have two years Half free time, and let me think about it, the way to kill old Volo must not be magic, but the Muggle way, right? Otherwise, the Ministry of Magic will still be aware of it, which will give You are causing trouble."

"So you killed old Volo yourself?"

Old Tom had a ghostly look on his face.

"You're right, but what are you doing?"

"I've been to many places and met many people." Toby said gently, "Believe me, your case is nothing at all, and there are worse ones. Do you want to hear about it? I What impresses me the most is the story of a witch who killed the whole village. The tricks she used on everyone were very novel, and all this was just because she accidentally dirty her own clothes when passing by the village. Shoes—so, come to think of it, wizards are an abnormal bunch, and I'm no exception."

"That's bad enough." Old Tom said with a look of disgust, "And what happened to that witch?"

"Killed by a group of drunk guys." Toby said perfunctorily: "I was there at the time, I guess she had hidden this secret for a long time, but she accidentally revealed it after being drunk, and then there was a drunkard I looked at her shoes and found that some vomit was stained on them at some point - no way, other people in the bar don't want to die - don't look at me like this, the vomit is not mine, I At that time, I was busy looking for the bartender to find out who knew the secret of the snow mountain. Then the bartender pointed at me to the pile of mud. She was dead, and I was delayed a lot because of this matter. time."

"Ugh."

Toby finally concluded: "Archaeology has never been an easy task, and there are always unexpected troubles."

Old Tom said blankly: "It sounds difficult. Well, let's go back to Gaunt's old house."

He was a little unsure whether Toby's story was true, but it did intimidate him very strongly, which made his subsequent tone a bit... Shame?

There is always a feeling of being out of hand.

"I was shocked when I heard Merope's words at first, especially after hearing her idea of ​​asking me to kill old Worrow with my own hands, I was even more frightened. Before that, I had never There is no need to butcher livestock by hand, there will naturally be servants at home to do it, and I don’t like hunting very much. But Merope said that she would do it even without me, probably because Hogwarts Ci's words stimulated her, and made her feel that the factors that would cause me to leave must be reduced."

"Anyway, I didn't have magic at the time, and I couldn't stop her from leaving, but... well, maybe I liked her at the time, I don't know, it may be sudden, but she is pretty good after dressing up. She is beautiful, she knows magic, and treats me very sincerely. I have never seen such a nice girl before. So I am very worried about letting her go back alone, so I can only pretend to agree to her and let her take me with me. .”

"Then we went back to Gaunt's old house together."

Old Tom's tone suddenly paused, and Toby stared at him curiously.

"I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you."

Old Tom shook his head and said: "The truth of the matter is far less thrilling than you imagined. After Merope opened the door, he found that Old Worrow was starving. He couldn't cook, and he never thought of going out to find He was lying on the ground at the time of the food, and it may have been going on for several days, and there were traces of people crawling on the ground."

"He wanted to drink a sip of water, but he was too hungry to walk."

"After Merope opened the door, Old Worrow found his daughter—his first reaction was really bad. Although I didn't hear it clearly, he probably asked where the locket and ring were. .”

"Merope was very calm," said old Tom in a low voice. "I thought she was going to get angry, or cry and complain to old Worrow. But she didn't."

"I just watched her take away the last bit of clean water in the house, dumped it in the garden outside the house in front of old Volo, and then told him that she had sold those two things in exchange for a very Low price."

"Oh hoo!" Toby said, "Nice job."

Old Tom just sighed.

"That's the way it is. I guess we can see old Worrow's body with our own eyes if we come back a little later. We don't even need to worry about clean water. Merope cried a lot after taking me away, and then Tell me that you want to go to a farther place, the farther away from here the better, and you want to ask me what I think."

"What can I say? I rummaged through my empty pockets and told her we were out of money and had to go home to get some, and then let her wait for me here."

"She said yes, just like the first time."

After saying this, Old Tom's tone suddenly changed a lot.

Toby waited silently for a while, but still couldn't bear to ask: "And then?"

Old Tom looked at Toby.

"This is the first time I've seen him."

He said suddenly: "As a doctor, he is sitting in the living room of my house—Helbo, he has been following us since then, but I didn't realize it at all."

"It was only when I greeted him that he said a word to me - after I get married, I will definitely give birth to a child that everyone will envy."

Old Tom said this almost through gritted teeth.

"If it came from Hai Erbo's mouth, it must not be a good thing." Toby shook his head and said, he poured himself another glass of wine, and then shifted his gaze to the armor on the other side like Old Tom .

"I think there must be a mysterious person in the next story, right?"

"...How could he be missing?"
-
Black Lake, Big Ship.

"Gidero, wake up."

Lockhart, who was falling asleep, straightened up subconsciously from the bed. He was in a trance for a few seconds, and then immediately looked at the wooden wall on the other side of the cabin.

Grindelwald's face was watching him from above.

"Professor?" Lockhart rubbed his eyes, seeming to have gotten used to Grindelwald's extraordinary routine: "What's the matter? If it's news from Severus Snape and the mysterious man, it may take me a long time Just ask for a while. You know, that's Toby Highmore, and he's got me on my radar right now. Well, he's never liked me since the signing. gone."

"Do not."

Grindelwald said, "I have another thing for you—help me contact Albus, go now."

Lockhart paused, and he raised his head in disbelief.

"what did you say?"

"Get the manuscript paper and ink ready."

Grindelwald continued to order: "You write what I say, and then send this letter to Dumbledore immediately-but don't write my signature on the envelope, he will naturally know it is when he opens it. Someone is contacting him."

"Oh my. Okay, I'm ready now."

Lockhart got up from the bed in a panic. He quickly prepared the manuscript paper, ink, and quill. During the process, he accidentally spilled ink on his pajamas, but he obviously didn't care about it now.

Grindelwald began to speak slowly.

[Long time no see, my dear old friend.I heard something happened at Hogwarts, I think you should be able to guess it, it was also told to me by my good student.Now we know who has the worse vision, right? 】

[Of course, the sarcasm is just for reminiscing about the old days, this is not the purpose of my contacting you this time - if you want, maybe I can help you.It is inconvenient to communicate too much in the letter, but it is inseparable from the following sentence——]

【I have found Hai Erbo's hiding place. 】

(End of this chapter)