Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 403 Old Tom and the Magical World

402 Old Tom and the Magical World

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

"She first used Floo powder to take me to a place called the Leaky Cauldron. It was also the first time I saw so many weird guys. To this day, I still remember that there was a very burly weirdo crowded in the corner, holding hands.

Eating the contents of a wooden barrel smells like raw meat. I will never forget that taste—"

"Tell the important point."

"That's the point. I have to mention some of what I saw at the time - okay, you can put the wand away. The point is that Merope had set a destination from the beginning, and she took me all the way to Diagon Alley.

, and then went to a ghost place called Knockturn Alley. Even if I am a Muggle, I can see how dangerous it is. Later, Merop took me to a place called Bo-"

"Borgin-Bock."

"That's probably her name. She planned to sell the two things she brought from home as soon as she arrived. Although I don't know much about magic, I can tell that the owner of that store deliberately lowered the price."

Toby gradually cheered up after hearing this.

"You mean the Gaunt family's ring and Slytherin's locket?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Absolutely." Old Tom said: "All I saw was a ring and a locket. And at first I planned to stop it, 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 to hand over these two things that disgust and scare her - if the owner of that store refuses to accept it, she can go to another store."

"It seems that this can be regarded as her childhood shadow." Toby curled his lips and said: "I also have childhood shadow, but I didn't do what she did, but I went back with ten times a hundred times revenge. Even I thought about it, even if it's not okay

Even if I want to commit suicide, I have to find some people to support me, I can’t let me die alone.”

Old Tom sighed.

"Not everyone is as brave as you, Merope. Forget it, you have already said that you are no longer a wild cat and will not understand this kind of mood. In short, after selling those two things, I realized

We didn't have enough money to spend. But fortunately, I brought a lot of belongings from home, and there is a place called Gringotts that supports exchanging Muggle belongings for wizarding gold coins, so we started with

It’s been pretty good.”

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

"I don't know what Merope was thinking. She really planned to teach me magic at first. She would show her hands in front of me every day, and then give me her wand to try. But of course it didn't happen.

The method was successful. I am not a wizard, just a Muggle. But I didn’t know this. I just thought it was because I didn’t work hard enough, so I tried many times - and the Florin Fusco Ice Cream Shop

It tastes good too, plus there are so many magic item shops, it will quickly make me feel better again."

At the end of the sentence, Old Tom's voice suddenly became much deeper.

"Until one day, probably the day 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, so I naturally thought that I should give it a try - however, I am obviously much older than those children, and I am not sure whether this is a good idea, so I plan to find Merope first.

Discuss and discuss.”

"Oh~oh." Toby interrupted, smacking his lips: "Stupid mistake, let's not say whether you can succeed or not. Merope is definitely not willing to let you leave. Her reaction after hearing the news

Is it big?"

Old Tom nodded silently.

"It was really serious. She cried directly in front of me. Only then did I know that her father and brother would not be imprisoned forever - mainly her father, according to the letter sent to her by the Ministry of Magic.

, her father was only sentenced to six months in prison, which was far less than her brother’s three years.”

"That is to say, after thinking over and over again at that time, I discovered that her father had been released and was probably waiting for her in Gaunt's old house - or it might be a worse outcome.

After discovering that his daughter is missing, Old Volo will take the initiative to find her and take her back to that hell."

Toby suddenly yawned, and he said perfunctorily: "You can guess the next plot just by guessing, and then you relented, stopped mentioning Hogwarts, and left with Merope.

Diagon Alley, start running away from now on?"

Old Tom raised his eyelids and stared at Toby.

"No." There was a hint of solemnity in his tone.

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

Toby's eyes blinked behind his hair. He swept away the empty wine bottles and plates, and then brought out a new table.

"What happened next?" Toby unscrewed the cap of the wine bottle and asked with interest, "What happened next?"

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

"Isn't it easy to figure it out?" This time, Toby perfectly repeated what Merope told Old Tom at that time: "As long as you kill her father, you will be guaranteed to have two years.

Half of the free time, and let me think about it, the way to kill old Volo must not be magic, but must be Muggle way, right? Otherwise, it will still be noticed by the Ministry of Magic, which will cause great harm to

You are causing trouble."

"So it was you who killed old Volo with your own hands?"

Old Tom's face looked like he had seen a ghost.

"You are right, but what did you do?"

"I have been to many places and met many people." Toby said gently: "Believe me, your case is nothing at all. There are worse ones. Do you want to hear about it? I

What impressed me the most was the story of a witch who killed an entire village. The methods she used on everyone were very novel, and all this was just because she accidentally soiled her own blood while passing by the village.

Shoes - So, think about it, wizards are a bunch of abnormal people, and I am no exception."

"It's really bad." Old Tom said with a look of disgust: "And what happened to the witch?"

"Killed by a group of drunk guys." Toby said perfunctorily: "I was also there at the time. I guess she had been hiding this secret for a long time, but she accidentally revealed it when she was drunk, and then there was an alcoholic.

I looked at her shoes and found that they had some vomit on them at some point - I couldn't help it, the other people in the bar didn't want to die - don't look at me like this, the vomit is not mine, I

I didn't do anything. At that time, I was busy asking the bartender to find out who knew the secret of the snow-capped mountains. Then the bartender pointed to the pile of mud at me. She was already dead, and I was delayed a lot just because of this matter.

time."

"well."

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

Old Tom said blankly: "It sounds quite difficult. Well, it's better to go back to Gunter's old house."

He was a little unsure whether Toby's story was true, but it did bring him a strong intimidation, which made his subsequent tone a bit... Should I say ashamed?

There is always a feeling of not being able to get it.

"I was shocked when I heard Merope's words at first, especially when I heard her idea of ​​killing old Volo with my own hands. I was even more frightened. Before that, I had never

You don’t need to slaughter the livestock yourself, naturally there will be servants at home to do it, and I don’t like hunting very much. But Merope said that she planned to do it even without me, probably because of Hogwart

Ci’s words must have irritated her, making her feel that she must reduce the factors that would cause me to leave.”

"Anyway, I didn't know magic at the time, so I couldn't stop her from leaving, but...well, maybe I already liked her at that time, I don't know. It might have been sudden, but she was quite cool after dressing up.

She is beautiful, can do magic, and treats me sincerely. I have never seen such a nice girl before. So I was very worried about letting her go back alone, so I could only pretend to agree to her and let her take me with her.

.”

"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 think. After Merop opened the door, he found that Old Volo was very hungry. He couldn't cook and had never thought of going out to search.

He was lying on the ground at the time when the food was being eaten, perhaps it had been going on for several days, and there were also signs of someone crawling on the ground."

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

"After Merope opened the door, Old Volo discovered his daughter - his first reaction was really not very good. Although I didn't hear it clearly, he was probably asking where the locket and ring were.

.”

"Merope acted very calmly." Old Tom whispered: "I thought she would get angry, or cry loudly and complain to Old Volo. But she didn't."

"I watched helplessly as she took away the last bit of water from the house and poured 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 huge

Low prices.”

"Oh!" Toby tutted and said, "Great job."

Old Tom just sighed.

"That's the thing. I guess if we come back later, we can see old Volo's body with our own eyes, and we don't even have to worry about clear water. Merop cried a lot after taking me away, and then

He told me that he wanted to go to a farther place, as far away from here as possible, and he wanted to ask me what I thought."

"What can I say? I rummaged through my empty pockets, told her we had no money and had to go home to get some, and then asked her to 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 the temper and asked: "What then?"

Old Tom looked at Toby.

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

He suddenly said: "As a doctor, sitting in the living room of my house - Haierbo, he has been eyeing us since then, but I didn't notice it at all."

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

Old Tom almost said this through gritted teeth.

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

.

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

".How could we miss him?"

——

Black lake, big boat.

"Gilderoy, wake up."

Lockhart, who was falling asleep, subconsciously straightened up from the bed. He was in a daze 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 become accustomed to Grindelwald's unusual schedule: "What's wrong? If it's news about Severus Snape and the mysterious man, it may take me more

It will take some time to inquire. As you know, that is Toby Highmore. He is keeping an eye on me very closely now. He has never liked me from the beginning. We have already formed a bond since the signing.

Already."

"No."

Grindelwald said: "I have another thing to tell you - help me contact Albus, go now."

Lockhart paused and raised his head in disbelief.

"what did you say?"

"Get the paper and ink ready."

Grindelwald continued to instruct: "Write whatever I say, and then send this letter to Dumbledore immediately - but do not write my signature on the envelope. When he opens it, he will naturally know that it is

Who is contacting him?"

"Oh, I. Okay, I'll get ready now."

Lockhart got up from the bed in a panic. He quickly prepared the paper, ink, and quill. In the process, he accidentally spilled the 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 some things that happened at Hogwarts. I think you should be able to guess it. This was also told to me by my good student. Now we know

Whose vision is worse, right?]

[Of course, the sarcasm is just to reminisce. This is not the purpose of my contacting you this time - if you are willing, maybe I can help you. It is inconvenient to communicate too much in the letter, but this is inseparable from the following sentence.

No contact——】

【I have found Haierbo's hiding place.】