[HP] Riddle's Spirit Behind

"...So tomorrow's Quidditch match—" A strange voice suddenly came.

It turned out that three Gryffindor students happened to pass by this corridor. They cast a curious glance at Eleanor, and then walked away quickly.

But when Eleanor turned her head again, she found that the old woman had disappeared.

Eleanor was taken aback, because she was sure that no one had passed her just now, and this fork in the road was a dead end.

Just when she was wondering secretly, a faint shadow slowly emerged from the thin air.

Eleanor was taken aback, exclaimed and took half a step back.

Then she was surprised to see that the figure of the old woman gradually became clear.

"What the hell are you?" Eleanor frowned and asked, "A ghost?"

The old woman did not answer, but turned her gaze to the clock beside her.

At this moment, the vague memory became clear, and Eleanor suddenly remembered where she had seen this old man.

"It's you! I saw you in the Department of Mysteries!" Eleanor said in surprise, "I remember you said that you are a prophet."

"Yes, I did say that." The old woman said in a hoarse voice, and slowly shifted her gaze back to Eleanor's face, "When I was alive, they called me the prophet beyond time .”

"When you were alive? So you are really a ghost?"

"No, I am not a ghost in the true sense." The old woman replied, "I have preserved all the prophecies I made in my life in the form of memory, and kept them in this clock."

As she spoke, she stretched out her withered hand to caress the clock, "I am the last owner of the Kronos clock. After my death, my descendants donated it to the Ministry of Magic."

As she spoke, she suddenly sighed and turned to Eleanor.

"When I was alive, I tried to use it to travel through time countless times. Ordinary time converters can't meet my requirements. Only the clock of Knoros can allow me to go back to a more distant past, or a more distant future."

"But you said that no one can use it to control time." Eleanor recalled with a frown.

"I mean, no one alive has ever used it," said the old woman calmly.

Eleanor instantly understood what she meant.

"You mean, you used it to travel through time and space?"

"Yes." The old woman replied, "Unfortunately, only once."

Eleanor couldn't help being curious about what she said, so she waited quietly for her to continue.

"20 years ago, when I was terminally ill, I finally passed it to the future decades later. Maybe it was because at that time, I was closer to death than anyone else...or maybe it was because fate destined me Seeing those things ... anyway, it gave me a glimpse of what was going to happen in the future."

"What do you see?"

The old woman's bright light blue eyes suddenly dimmed.

"I see death," she said softly.

"Death?" Eleanor opened her eyes wide.

"The world will fall into a long war." The old woman closed her eyes and continued with a slightly trembling hoarse voice, "Wizards will suspect each other and kill each other, and those bloodthirsty aliens will also join... An ambitious conspirator is about to rise, and he will lead those people to subvert the entire wizarding world, and extend his minions to innocent Muggles... In those dark days, no one can tell whether the people around are enemies or not. Friends, all will live in fear. That's all I see."

Eleanor couldn't help shivering secretly because of her words.

At this moment, the old woman suddenly reached out her hand to Eleanor.She put her hand on Eleanor's forehead.

Eleanor was startled, but strangely, she didn't feel any touch on her forehead.

"What you are about to see is my memory." The old woman said softly, "Don't be afraid, it's like a pensieve...it won't hurt..."

The old woman's voice gradually disappeared.

Eleanor felt dizzy for a while, and the scenery in front of her suddenly changed.

She was surprised to find herself standing in a thick and dark wood.In the clearing in the woods ahead, some shadowy figures could be vaguely seen, seven or eight of them were kneeling on the ground.

"Kill them," said a grim voice.

"Avada Kedavra!" a woman's voice shrieked.

A dazzling green light flashed, and one of the kneeling people immediately fell to the ground.

"Oh no! Please, don't kill me!" A figure crawled forward on the ground, begging on the ground.But the tall figure standing in the center was completely indifferent.

"I still have a wife...and a child..." Another person said in a tearful voice, "...please, my master..."

"When you leaked information to the Ministry of Magic, you should have expected such a day, shouldn't you—Rockwell?" The tall figure said coldly, "Do it."

Then, with a few words of "Avada Kedavra", the kneeling people fell to the ground one after another.

Eleanor held her mouth tightly to keep from screaming.At this time, she saw one of them cast a spell into the sky, and a green skull appeared in the dark night sky.

The person standing in the middle of the open space finally turned around, and with the glowing light from the skull, Eleanor saw the person's pale face clearly...

She finally couldn't help but let out a low exclamation.But the scene in front of him changed again.

Professor Dumbledore was standing in front of him, but he looked older than now.The next moment she realized she was standing in an alley in Hogsmeade.And at the other end of the alley is the notorious Pig's Head Pub.

"Tom, we meet again." Dumbledore said quietly, looking at Eleanor with his blue eyes, but the focus was not on her, "I know what you have been doing outside recently. Werewolves and vampires have completely disappeared. I've become your ally, what more do you want?"

"As I said last time, my current name is not 'Tom'." A hoarse voice said coldly.

Eleanor froze, she turned around slowly, and saw a completely unfamiliar, terrifying face.

"Tom?" she whispered in horror.

His face was as pale as death, and the muscles on his face were unnaturally twisted and stiff as if wearing a mask.His eyes were no longer deep and pure black, but faintly glowing red.His eyes penetrated Eleanor's body and looked directly at Dumbledore behind her.

"So you're still not going to hire me?" he said with his customary short sneer.The laughter was harsher and colder than Eleanor remembered.

Dumbledore did not answer, but sighed slightly.

"Then I have nothing to say to you," said Tom coldly, and slowly raised his wand.

"No!" Eleanor screamed.

At this moment, the scenery in front of her changed again.

Panting, she found herself back in the corridor again.The old woman stood in front of her, watching her with a worried face, "I don't think you need to read any more, do you?"

"Is that Tom?" Panting heavily, Eleanor muttered in disbelief, "No, I don't believe it...it can't be him."

"That's just the future that the clock of Cronus showed me...and I believe it's just a possible future, not a predestined future, because I have seen other things." The old woman said quietly , staring at Eleanor penetratingly with light blue eyes, "I saw an ordinary girl from Little Hangleton, her choice will soon be the key to everything. In other words, that person and Meeting her will change the future I see—”

"You mean me?" Eleanor asked in surprise.

"Of course you, child," said the old woman quietly.

"I don't know……"

"What you need to know is that things that are prophesied sometimes don't happen." The old woman continued, "That's because the future is full of uncertain factors, and it often changes because people make different choices. .And the past is not unchangeable. People often think that even if they go back to the past, they can’t change the established facts, but I don’t think that’s the truth.”

"You mean the past can be changed?"

The old woman shook her head, "It's not entirely accurate. Once the things that have happened are changed, the whole world will undergo a complete change, and no one will remember what it was like before the change. But it is not so easy. Something that can be done. I have always believed that only those chosen by fate can do it.”

Eleanor blinked in confusion, "...To be honest, I didn't understand what you meant."

The old woman sighed, "You don't need to understand. You just need to know that you are about to face an important decision...and it will affect the whole world."

"what does that mean?"

The old woman suddenly pointed to Eleanor's hand, "I saw you wearing that ring."

Eleanor raised her hand, revealing the resurrection stone ring, "You mean it?"

"Yes, you need to take it back," replied the old woman.

Eleanor frowned, feeling like she had heard this sentence somewhere before.

"Where are you taking it?"

"Take it back to the past—bring it back to that critical point in time. I once predicted its fate...it will exist as a witness of reincarnation, and it will eventually be broken due to excessive consumption."

As the old woman spoke, she suddenly revealed a faint smile.

"And you, Eleanor Alford, you were once closer to death than anyone else. You have been in the gap between life and death, peeped into the world behind the black curtain, and then you defeated death, Returned to the world... People who have experienced the same experience as you... There are very few people in thousands of years. You are the one chosen by fate, so I believe you can use the clock of Kronos without any damage. You need to consume all the remaining vitality after using it once like me..."

The old woman's body suddenly became blurred, as if looking at her through fog.

"... take the ring back, so it will guide your soul..."

"What if I don't do that?" Eleanor couldn't help asking.

"Then everything in the past will be changed." The old woman's voice seemed to come from far away, and her figure became thinner like smoke.

"What do you mean everything in the past will change?" Eleanor asked.

The old woman sighed faintly again, "I thought you would understand... smart girl. If you don't send the ring back to that point in time, then your soul can't be guided...you can't come to that person's around, then none of this will happen.”

"You mean... that way I won't come to Tom as a ghost?"

"Yes." The old woman replied.

Eleanor murmured, "Then what will happen to me? I will live peacefully in Little Hangleton like an ordinary Muggle girl and know nothing about wizards and magic...that's it ?"

The old woman nodded slightly, her body was almost in a state of light smoke.

"...I don't have much time," she said, "my task has been completed, and it's up to you to choose. Remember, I will help you activate Knoros at midnight The clock...you only have one chance, it will guide you in the direction you should go..."

"So did you predict it?" Eleanor couldn't help blurting out, "Did you predict what I would do?"

"Yes," the old woman said, and the voice came into Eleanor's ears intermittently, "I see that the world will collapse because of your choice...so...those tragic things happen...that is Incorrect……"

"Wait—tell me, what is the right choice for me?"

But the old woman had completely disappeared.The hallway was empty, as if she had never been there.

Eleanor didn't quite understand what the old woman was saying, but she understood one thing.

That is, if she didn't take the ring back in time at midnight tonight, she could live on as a normal girl.She would never know Hogwarts, and she would never know Tom Riddle.

If so, what would become of her?

She closed her eyes and could almost foresee that she would marry an ordinary person with Uncle Tim's blessing.If there are no accidents, they will have many children and finally live a stable life for a lifetime.

Finally, she returned to Tom's office with a tired face.

Tom was standing at the window with his back to her.After feeling her approach, he turned around and a slight smile appeared on his face against the light.

"You're back." He said in a hoarse voice, then reached out to her.

Eleanor didn't walk over immediately, but stood there and stared blankly at him.

The face just now appeared in her mind.Suddenly that horrible face merged with Tom's.

"No." She shook her head violently, driving that face out of her mind.

"What's the matter with you?" Tom asked, frowning slightly.

"It's nothing." Eleanor said with a weary smile, and with a restrained smile, she walked slowly towards Tom.

Tom looked at her suspiciously, "What's the matter? You look terrible."

Eleanor didn't speak, but stretched out her arms and hugged him gently.

The familiar warm breath clearly reminded her that this person was Tom Riddle, the one she loved.Her restless mood gradually calmed down.

"Tell me, Tom..." she muffled, "you really have nothing to hide from me?"

"I don't know which one you mean," said Tom with a chuckle.

Eleanor looked up at him with some surprise.

"I was only joking," said Tom quietly. "You know I have nothing to hide from you."

—he was lying.

Eleanor read it clearly this time from his subtle expression.

She began to suspect that maybe love temporarily blinded her eyes before.Anyway, she was once again able to read his expressions like she had been years ago.

"I'm sorry, Tom," she whispered, eyes downcast, and she rested her forehead on his shoulder.

Tom let her lean on him without moving, and whispered softly, "It's all right, Eleanor. Don't worry, there have never been any secrets between us, and there never will be. I promise you."

But Eleanor heard another meaning from it.

That is, Tom would never tell her the truth—he would always have some secrets he couldn't share with her.