The days of hanging out at Hogwarts

"Bring the iodine upstairs to Martha. Billy Stubbs has scratched his scabs..."

"Eric Wallace's chickenpox must be treated on time. The child's scratches caused bleeding and soiled the sheets..."

"Be careful not to let other children sneak in, chickenpox protection is the most important thing right now!"

Mrs. Cole is not an easy lady to get along with, and it can be seen from the way she orders her assistants with a straight face that the director of the orphanage is a hard-liner.

Mrs. Cole walked quickly through the black-and-white tiled foyer, her eyes roaming the shabby and narrow room, making sure that every corner was neat and spotless, and then she looked at Dumbledore who was waiting in the room.

She wore an apron like the other caregivers, but it couldn't hide her fierce aura at all. He is skinny, his cheeks are clear-cut because of the lack of flesh, his cheekbones are slightly raised, and his eyes are so sharp that it is difficult to look directly at him.

The three of them, immersed in distant memories, stood silently in the corner. Harry unconsciously looked away from Mrs. Cole, even though he knew that the other party could not see him.

"Can such a... supervisor really take care of those children?" He muttered softly.

"The orphanage's finances are very tight. The funds distributed by the Muggle government, donations from churches and charity funds, combined, can barely maintain their food and clothing..." Loren explained in a calm voice: "As a supervisor, I only have attitude. Only by being ruthless and ruthless can the orphanage continue to operate.”

"..."

Harry fell silent.

Dumbledore put his arm around Loren's shoulders and patted her gently, saying nothing.

Loren looked at Mrs. Cole and felt that her sternness was different from that of Professor McGonagall or Professor Snape. She looked tired, more anxious than ferocious.

The heavy and tedious tasks made her breathless.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Cole, my name is Albus Dumbledore." The young Dumbledore said softly, with a gentle smile that was hard not to like, "I wrote you a letter. , I beg you to make an appointment with me, you have very kindly invited me to come over today.”

Mrs. Cole squinted her eyes and looked him up and down. After a few seconds, she steeled herself and said, "Oh, by the way, I remember this... let's go to the room to talk."

"Okay, Mrs. Cole."

"..."

The two left one after another.

The old principal's eyes fell on the back, and he said with some nostalgia: "At that time, I was still the professor of Transfiguration at the school. Like Minerva now, I would visit freshmen who had difficulty in enrolling every summer. It was really a very meaningful job. …”

Loren and Harry didn't speak. They turned towards the wall on the right and went straight into another cabin.

Mrs. Cole just happened to lead this strangely dressed guest in. It was a room that was half living room and half office. The furnishings and decoration were as simple and shabby as the entrance hall. The furniture was very old and did not match the matching ones. It must have been collected from donations from various places. of.

She motioned for Dumbledore to sit on a rickety chair, and she sat behind a cluttered table, looking at him slightly nervously.

"I have stated my purpose in the letter. I am here to discuss Tom Riddle's affairs with you and arrange a future for him."

"Are you his relative?"

"No, I'm a teacher, and I'm here to invite Tom to study in our school."

"So, what kind of school is this?"

"The school's name is Hogwarts."

"Why are you interested in Tom?"

"We think he has some of the qualities we're looking for."

"You mean he won a scholarship? How could that be? He never signed up for it?"

"..."

As the director of the orphanage, Mrs. Cole has a shrewd mind and sharp eyesight, and can always see through the flaws in the story.

A school she had never heard of, an eccentric professor... She sincerely hoped that this Dumbledore could bring good news to the children in the courtyard, but she could not trust him, so she tried her best to ask questions clearly. The whole story is a headache.

Watching the young Dumbledore take out his wand and wave it at a Muggle lady when he couldn't answer, Loren and Harry silently looked at the old headmaster beside them.

Although they are not as familiar with the legal provisions as Hermione, the two of them can be sure that this operation is absolutely against the rules!

The old principal blinked and chuckled: "A little trick for parents, a confusion spell and a little gin..."

"Tsk..."

This technique was very effective. The blank paper turned into a document that complied with the procedures under the influence of the confusion spell. After two glasses of gin, Mrs. Cole completely relaxed her vigilance and had no memory of the bottle of wine appearing out of thin air a few minutes ago. of.

"I wonder if you could tell me about Tom Riddle's life experience? He seems to have been born in this orphanage?"

The visiting professor at Hogwarts and the new guardian of the orphanage began to open up and chat without any inhibitions.

"It was New Year's Eve, a bad night, it was snowing outside and freezing cold. The girl, not much older than I was at the time, when I first came to work here, staggered up the front steps... Well, we have experienced this kind of thing a lot. We brought her in and she gave birth within an hour.

"She told me that the boy's surname was Riddle, and he inherited his grandfather Marvolo's name as his middle name. He was named Tom after his father. She hoped that the boy would look like his father...

"Then she said nothing more and died soon after."

"The poor girl seemed to take it very seriously, but no one from Tom, Marvolo or the Riddle family ever came to see her, and she didn't see any relatives, so she stayed in the orphanage until today..."

Gin and the Confusion Charm completely removed Mrs. Cole's defenses. She drank one glass after another, with two blushes on her cheekbones. Her consciousness gradually blurred, but she was still thinking about Tom Riddle.

Faced with Dumbledore's inquiries, he repeatedly confirmed that Hogwarts would definitely accept him, and then he felt relieved and began to introduce Riddle's situation.

"He's a weird kid."

"He was weird when he was a baby, and he almost never cried. Then, when he grew up, he became very... weird."

"He likes to bully people, but it's hard to catch him in the act. There have been some accidents, or rather, some vicious incidents..."

"Billy Stubbs's rabbit was hung on the beam. Tom said it wasn't him, and I don't think he could have done it. But even so, the rabbit wouldn't have hung itself on the beam, right?"

"Last time we came back from the beach, Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop had been acting strange. When we asked them, they only said that they had entered a cave with Tom Riddle..."