[HP] Riddle's Spirit Behind

After the summer vacation, Avery never heard from Eleanor again.All the letters he sent to Eleanor were brought back intact by the owl.

"Something must have happened." He expressed his concern to Abraxas. "I asked my dad to visit her apartment on the weekend, but there was no one there. The Muggle who managed the apartment said, eh Lino hasn't been back for two months."

"But where will she go?" Abraxas frowned. "Have you tried the address in Little Hangleton?"

"Of course I tried, but obviously she didn't go back there either." Avery said with a sigh, "I asked my dad to keep an eye on Zongsi's movements, but there is no news of her so far."

"She's not going to just disappear," Abraxas said. "Someone must know where she went."

As he spoke, he involuntarily cast his gaze in Tom's direction.Tom was sitting on the sofa not far away, leaning on his forehead and casually chatting with a few Slytherin boys.

Avery also followed his gaze to see Tom, and he immediately frowned, "Do you think he will know where Eleanor has gone?"

"I don't think so," Abraxas said bluntly, "He has nothing to do with Eleanor, remember?"

As he spoke, he suddenly sighed, "Well, actually, I'm just a little suspicious of what he's doing recently. He's been going to Hogsmeade village every weekend recently, and he's alone. Don't you think it's a little strange? ?”

"It's kind of weird." Avery said, frowning.

"Let's think about this matter carefully." Abraxas whispered, "Besides the two of us and Cloris, who else might Eleanor contact at the moment?"

"Er, the Muggles of Little Hangleton," Avery said.

"Then let's investigate Little Hangleton first."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll send my house-elf there first to see what's going on, maybe the lake will find something." Abraxas said, and then began to write a letter to his family.

The next morning, the Malfoy elf reported to his young master what he had found in Little Hangleton.

"The house-elf told me that all the Muggles are discussing two things that happened recently." He said to Avery, his face full of worry, "you would never think that Little Hangleton died some time ago What's the name of one of the Muggles in town—his name is Tom Riddle, Avery!"

"What?" Avery's eyes widened in surprise.

"It was also published in the Daily Prophet, and none of us noticed at the time—" He said, spreading out a crumpled newspaper, "Read here."

It was a piece of news that was placed in an obscure corner. It said that on August [-], several Muggles in Little Hangleton were killed by a wizard named Morfin Gaunt with the Unforgivable Curse. The wizard has been arrested by the Ministry of Magic and has confessed to his crimes.

"Wait—Morfin Gaunt? Could he be—"

"Yes, he is a descendant of Slytherin, the last known descendant of the Gaunt family." Abraxas replied.

"Tom Riddle... Descendant of Slytherin..." Avery muttered, frowning as he pondered the connection. "Have you thought of anything, Abraxas?"

"I only have a few guesses," said Abraxas. "Let's hear about the second matter first! The second matter is that Eleanor Alford has disappeared."

Avery looked at him in surprise.

"I'm referring to the Eleanor who currently lives in Little Hangleton, not the one we know." Abraxas added.

"Of course I know who you are referring to!" Avery couldn't help but said excitedly, "Do you still remember when Eleanor said she died?"

"I don't remember. She never told me about it."

"Wait, I think she mentioned it before." Avery desperately recalled. was murdered in 17."

"The year you turned 17? That's this year, right?" Abraxas' eyes froze for a moment. "Oh, my God... Avery, you don't think it's going to be..."

"I don't know either." Avery murmured, "Do you think this has anything to do with Eleanor's disappearance?"

"It must have something to do with it," said Abraxas firmly, "and it must have something to do with another person. He must know what's going on here."

They looked at Tom Riddle at the other end of the long table almost simultaneously.

"We need to talk to him and find out what he knows," Abraxas whispered.

"But what if he won't tell us?"

"Then we'll add veritaserum to his pumpkin juice." Abraxas said calmly.

Avery opened his eyes slightly, and soon realized that his friend was not joking.

"But where are you going to get Veritaserum?"

"We're going to learn Veritaserum next week." Abraxas opened the Potions book and said, "Although the professor won't teach us how to make Veritaserum, he will definitely bring a bottle for us during the lecture. We'll see. So we'll just have to sneak a few drops out of the bottle at that point, and the professor won't find out."

"You know we'd probably get fired if someone found out, right?" Avery said.

"So we better hope Tom volunteers all he knows," Abraxas said with a shrug.

"This is harder than stealing Veritaserum." Avery snorted coldly.

And in fact, as Avery said, Tom didn't seem to care much about what they said.

"You're done, aren't you?" Tom said with an infuriating smile.

"Yes, now it's your turn." Abraxas frowned and said, "Tell us, how much do you really know about these things?"

"I don't know anything about it." Tom immediately replied casually, "I'm sorry I can't help you."

"Are you listening to us at all?" Avery couldn't resist interjecting. "Eleanor has disappeared, and a Muggle with your name and name has been killed—and the murderer is as old as you." A descendant of Leitlin, don't you wonder if he is your relative?"

"Unfortunately, I'm not at all interested in whether a murderer is my relative." Tom said calmly, "Besides, Tom Riddle is not a rare name, even if a Muggle has the same name as me Strange, isn't it?" He said, holding back his smile and saying coldly: "If there is nothing else, please leave."

After leaving Tom's dormitory, the two friends looked at each other, and finally sighed almost at the same time.

"It seems that we must use that method." Abraxas replied.

"Are you sure you really want to do that?" Avery said, frowning.

"Do you really want to know where Eleanor is?" Abraxas asked, "You don't seem to be worried about her at all."

"Of course I'm concerned," Avery said disapprovingly. "I'm just equally worried that we might get in trouble for—"

Abraxas raised his eyebrows.

Avery hastened to add: "I mean, there must be another way. We don't have to risk getting fired, do we?"

"It doesn't matter if you don't want to help, I can do it myself." Abraxas said coldly.

Avery hesitated for a moment, then said firmly: "Okay, I'll help you. But the most important thing is do you know how to steal Veritaserum?"

"I have a way," said Abraxas, "and it will never be discovered."

A few days later in the evening, Abraxas secretly showed Avery a small bottle.

"I got it," he whispered.

"How on earth did you do it?"

"I added some explosive powder to the potion I was going to make and blew up my own cauldron," said Abraxas. "As a result, the whole classroom was enveloped in acrid green smoke. I took advantage of Professor Slughorn's Poured a few drops of Veritaserum from the podium while yelling for everyone to evacuate. The only price I paid was a class zero."

Over the weekend, their chance finally came.

They followed Tom into the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, and watched each other order a glass of Canyon water.

"What do we do?" Avery asked.

"Try to distract him," Abraxas replied succinctly.

Soon, Avery returned from the counter with a large glass of carrot juice, and when he passed by Tom, he deliberately knocked over the glass.

Almost every drop of the liquid in the glass spilled on Tom's clothes.Tom immediately jumped up from his chair and looked at Avery annoyed.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Avery said quickly, "let me help you."

"No need." Tom said coldly, then raised his wand and began to clean the stains on his body.

Avery returned to his seat, watching Abraxas return to the table with his pockets in his pocket as if nothing had happened.

"Successful?" Avery asked in a low voice.

Abraxas nodded slightly.

Then the two turned their heads to look in Tom's direction together.

They stared at each other unabashedly as he cleaned off the carrot juice and took another sip of the canyon water in front of him.

"Great," Avery whispered, "Let's hurry over there."

Then the two of them sat down at Tom's table with their own glasses, pretending they were just acquaintances they met in the tavern.

Tom looked the same as usual, and he looked at the two of them coldly, with no sign of welcoming them to sit with him.

"Tom, tell us how much do you know about Eleanor's disappearance?" Avery asked in a low voice.

"As I said, I don't know anything," replied Tom mechanically.

"And what about the murder of the Riddles?" Abraxas asked.

Tom turned to him, calm. "That's none of my business. I still don't know anything."

Avery and Abraxas exchanged a quick glance.Their expressions all express a meaning. Could it be that Tom really has nothing to do with these things?

After a few minutes, they returned to their positions with their glasses in hand.

They got no word from Tom.This frustrates the two boys.

Abraxas sighed, "It seems that Tom may really be ignorant of this matter." He took a sip from his cup, then frowned and said, "Did you order canyon water for me?"

"It's soda," Avery replied. "What's wrong?"

Abraxas knocked the cup over violently, and shouted in shock: "Damn it, he changed the cup!"

Avery understood what was going on right away, "That's impossible! We were both looking at him just now, there's no way he had a chance—"

"Maybe a Confusion Charm or something. Damn it, we..." Abraxas mumbled, and his eyes began to wander.The veritaserum was working.

Avery looked over Abraxas' shoulder and saw Tom looking his way.

"Let's go, let's get out of here quickly." Avery said as he helped him up.

Abraxas nodded obediently, and obediently followed him out of the three brooms.

They walked into a deserted alley nearby.Avery made Abraxas stand against the wall, and then wondered whether to wait until the effects of the medicine wore off before leaving.

At this moment, a voice suddenly came from the other end of the alley.

"Tell me how much do you really know?"

Avery turned sharply to see Tom walking slowly towards them.

"What do you know about Eleanor?" He said in a commanding tone with a deadpan expression.

"We know that Eleanor is missing, both Eleanors." Abraxas replied bluntly, "Elinor was murdered this year, so we suspect that the Muggle Eleanor in Little Hangleton Lino has been killed. But we don't—"

"Stop it, Abu." Avery hurriedly covered his mouth, and Abraxas whined in protest immediately, and stretched out his hand to tear Avery's palm away.

Tom raised his wand. "Get away from him, Avery."

He sneered, "Veritaserum. I think you stole it from Professor Slughorn? But I guess you don't know that Slughorn weighs his potion after every class. Well. He complained to us at the party the other day that maybe a fifth grader stole his veritaserum. With your strange behavior today, it's not hard for me to guess who stole the potion."

Abraxas finally pulled Avery's hand away, and Tom asked at the same time, "You stole it, didn't you, Abraxas?"

"Yes, it's me." Abraxas admitted hastily.

"Damn it," Avery cursed, even going to cast a Stunning Curse on Abraxas.

"Tell me everything you know," Tom said softly. "And you, Avery, if you don't want me to tell the professor about Veritaserum, get away from him."

Then Abraxas told Tom everything they knew.

"Is there nothing else?" Tom frowned.

"No more." Abraxas replied dryly.

A smile suddenly appeared on Tom's face, "Thank you for your honesty, Mr. Malfoy. But I really didn't expect you to do this for her. I think it's not just because she saved your life. "

"It's not because she saved me." Abraxas continued to answer hoarsely, "It's because I love her, since a long time ago."

Avery immediately looked at Abraxas in shock.

Tom stared at Abraxas and sneered mockingly, "See you later." He put away his wand, turned and strode away.

By the time Avery and Abraxas returned to Hogwarts, the effects of Veritaserum had completely worn off.

"Why you never told me." Avery whispered.

"What?" Abraxas closed his eyes, sinking himself into the soft sofa with a tired expression.

"Say you like Eleanor."

Abraxas snapped his eyes open.

"You told Tom you loved her, remember?" Avery asked, frowning.

"Oh." Abraxas was silent for a few seconds, with a relaxed smile on his face, "That's the love for a friend, if he asked me if I loved you, I would have answered yes. Real Elixir has allowed me to express my feelings more directly.”

Avery looked at him suspiciously.Abraxas turned his head away calmly.

"Do you know what I'm thinking?" Avery said softly, "I'm thinking, maybe you have always cared more about Eleanor than me... I used to think I was in love with her, but now I think about it." It just seemed like I never had a real friend, so I couldn't tell the difference between friendship and love... It wasn't until I kissed her that I really realized I didn't have that special feeling for her."

"And when you kissed Cloris?" Abraxas said coldly, "Did you feel it then?"

Avery blushed suddenly, and stammered, "What are you talking about?"

"I saw it," said Abraxas. "You and Cloris were kissing behind the greenhouse that day."

"She took the initiative." Avery muttered.

"So you like her?"

Avery coughed lightly, his ears turned redder, "Maybe."

"Congratulations. You are a good match for her, in many ways." Abraxas said dryly, "Your father will love this marriage." After he finished speaking, he stood up and strode towards the boys' dormitory go.

Tom didn't go back to the Three Broomsticks just after the two of them had left the alley.He came to a secluded corner, and after confirming that no one noticed him, Tom picked up a dirty empty wine bottle on the ground.No one knew that the wine bottle was actually a portkey.

The moment he touched the bottle, he disappeared.

In order not to draw unwanted attention, he used the Portkey instead of Apparating each time.And the place where the Portkey finally arrived was not where he was going, but in an abandoned apartment building in London.

Immediately afterwards, he Apparated to where he really was going.

An old gray house appeared in front of him, the garden at the door was full of weeds, and it seemed that no one had lived in it for a long time.He went up the steps and opened the door, and saw a girl in her pajamas standing in front of the porch with bare feet.

"Eleanor, I've told you many times, don't come out of the room after I leave." Tom said softly to the girl.

The girl looked at him blankly without saying a word.There is no emotion in the green eyes, like a pool of stagnant water.

Tom walked over and put a kiss on the girl's forehead, so to speak, very tenderly, and then he took her hand, "Come on, let's go back upstairs."

There was still no expression on the girl's pretty face. She was like a delicate puppet that could be manipulated. She followed Tom up the stairs with dull eyes.

Tom made the girl sit down on the bed, and then he looked carefully at the ring she wore on her breast.

The black gemstone on the ring was full of cracks, it looked like it had been broken once and was mended with reluctance.

Tom stroked the ring lightly, feeling its warmth.

After a few seconds, he let go of the ring with a sigh.

"Let's try again," he put his lips on the girl's smooth black hair, and said softly, "As long as your soul and body are still connected, we may extradite your soul back. So don't worry, I will bring you back to normal..."

The girl sat there unresponsive.

At this time, she was just an empty shell. Although her heart was still beating, the loss of her soul turned her into a walking dead.

Her soul was separated from her body by Tom using a complex and difficult black magic.This is also thanks to the precious information that Travis sorted out.It took Tom a lot of work to do this, and he kept the girl's soul in the ring he got from Morfin.

—Yes, unexpectedly that ring is also real.Tom uses it to successfully conjure an apparition of Eleanor.Now her phantom is beside him, smiling and asking him if he looks pretty in this dress.

But Tom never spoke to Phantom.He knew it was just an illusion, and it wasn't what he really wanted.

"Please, talk to me, Tom!" Phantom Eleanor waved her hand in front of him.

Tom stood up expressionlessly, fed the potion from the bedside table to Eleanor's body, and then observed her situation.

"What did you drink for me?" Phantom Eleanor said with a smile, while hugging him from behind, "You bastard, hurry up and tell me what you did to my body?"

Although he didn't feel anything, Tom still couldn't help frowning slightly.

"Come on, stop looking at that empty shell." Phantom Eleanor spared no effort to attract his attention, "Come and chat with me. By the way, I baked a lot of small cakes today, do you want to try them? "

Tom still didn't speak, but turned and walked out the door.

But Phantom Eleanor blocked his way.

She smiled at him and reached out to him with a hand to touch his cheek.

"Oh, Tom, you'll never know how much I love you," said Phantom, with a soft smile on her face.She is so vivid that she is not like a phantom at all, even more real than the empty shell lying on the bed.

"Go away," said Tom coldly, completely unaware that he had begun talking to the Phantom.