Hogwarts: Tom is not the Dark Lord

"Mr. Bock wants to come up with a higher price, five hundred galleons... As you know, this is already very fair..."

Hepzibah pretended to be sad and hummed softly, pouting in frustration, "I thought you wanted to come see me, but I didn't expect it was for such a thing..."

"..." After a few seconds of silence, Tom shrugged helplessly, lowered his eyes and spoke softly, "I'm just a little clerk..."

"Madam... I can only obey Mr. Bock's instructions. If Mr. Bock hadn't sent me here, I would have no reason to enter here, right?"

Hepzibah waved his hands angrily, "Bah! That stingy Caractacus! Tom~ I'll show you something that even he has never seen!"

"But you have to keep this a secret. Can you promise me that you won't tell him? Tom, if he knows that I have this thing, I will never live in peace in my life!"

"I won't sell it to him or anyone else, but you are different ~ Tom... Like me, you will appreciate its history... not care about how many Galleons you can earn..."

Tom's heart skipped a beat, then he smiled softly and made a very serious promise, "Of course...I'm happy to watch whatever Miss Hepzibah...shows me...anything." thing...."

Holding her warm face, Hepziba smiled like an innocent little girl, "Heqi~ Go get my most precious thing..."

"Hmm~ Bring both of them. I want our Mr. Riddle to take a look at our best treasure. Be careful..."

Not long after, the elf carefully held the two leather boxes above his head and said, "Madam, they have been brought."

Hepzibah put the box on his knees and winked at Tom happily, "Tom~ I think you will like it~"

"If my relatives knew about it, they would definitely come and steal it..."

Tom agreed dryly, his attention already falling on the small gold cup with two delicate ear handles in the box...

"Do you know what this is~ Tom... do you want to take a closer look?"

Tom's eyelids twitched, he took a deep breath, stood up and walked over to Hepzibah, kneeling on one knee beside the other's leg.

His slender fingers pinched the handle of one ear, completely ignoring the greedy eyes that fell on him...

"This is...the badger...Hufflepuff's golden cup..."

Hepzibah nodded in admiration, "Yes, smart little guy~ Helga Hufflepuff... I am a distant descendant of Hufflepuff, and this thing has been passed down in my family for a long time~"

Hepzibah was very satisfied when he saw Tom put the gold cup back. He closed the lid and handed it to the elf, then opened another box on his lap.

"I guess you will be more sentimental about this... Honey~ I bought this from Caractacus... I swear, when I die, he will take this thing back... "

Tom's eyes kept falling on the delicate gold buckle, as if he couldn't hear the sound in his ears. The lid of the box slowly opened, revealing a golden locket lying on the crimson velvet cushion...

Reaching out to pick up the locket, Tom took a few breaths and then took a closer look, sliding his fingers over the glittering ornate snake-shaped 'S'.

"The symbol of Slytherin..."

"That's right~" Hepzibah smiled happily and rolled her eyes. She knew Tom would like it~ "I paid a high price for this..."

"But I can't miss this collection..."