Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 453 The Event That Changed the Landscape of the Magical World

Two hundred miles from London, there is a village called Hangleton.

Four or five miles from here, there is a large town called Hangerton.

Because both the town and the village were named Hangleton, people gradually began to call the town Great Hangleton and the village Little Hangleton to make them easier to distinguish.

Big Hangleton is fine; in the Muggle world, it's just a large town, and there are plenty of towns of that size in Britain.

They have absolutely no presence in the magical world.

Of course, wizards often live scattered among Muggles, so there are wizards living here as well, but the Muggles are unaware of it.

But Little Hangleton, being a village, is different.

It might not matter much in the Muggle world, but it holds great significance in the history of modern magic.

Unfortunately, not many people know about this.

In the heart of Little Hangerton stands a very beautiful mansion, the most spacious and imposing building for miles around.

It was called the Riddle Palace.

As its name suggests, its owner is named Riddle.

However, the Riddle family, who own such a mansion, do not have a good reputation in Little Hangleton.

The Riddles were very wealthy, but they were snobbish and rude, so they were not well-liked in the village.

Their grown-up son, Tom Riddle, is even worse than his parents.

In summary, they were rich but heartless, and they bullied the locals.

Ordinary people naturally dared not speak out against this.

Perhaps it was retribution, or perhaps it was for some other reason, but one day, the entire family of three suddenly died at the same time.

On a clear summer dawn, a maid of the Riddle family entered the living room and was shocked to find that all three members of the Riddle family were dead.

The little maid, witnessing this scene, trembled with fear. Despite the sweltering heat, she was covered in cold sweat and her hands and feet were ice-cold. She screamed as she ran down the hillside and into the village, trying to wake up all the villagers of Little Hangleton.

"They're all dead! They're all dead!"
They were still wearing the clothes they wore for dinner!

They were all lying on the ground, their eyes wide open!

When a murder occurs, you naturally need to contact the police.

For a village like Little Hangleton, this is a huge deal.

However, because the Riddle family was rich and heartless, the villagers didn't even bother to pretend to be sad; they were simply curious about who this brave man who had rid the people of this scourge was.

The matter is obvious—it is impossible for three perfectly healthy people to die naturally on the same night.

Ultimately, the police took away a man named Frank Bryce.

He was the gardener for the Riddle family.

Decades ago, after he came down from the battlefield, someone introduced him to Riddle House.

The war had left one of his legs stiff and unresponsive, and he developed an extreme aversion to crowds and noise.

This man was a loner who lived alone in a dilapidated little wooden house in the garden of Riddell House.

There was a reason why the police took him away.

Based on the on-site investigation, the doors and windows were intact, so the crime could only have been committed by someone known to the victim.

Frank had just that opportunity—because there was a spare key to the back door of Riddle House, which was always hanging in the gardener's cabin.

Frank could do whatever he wanted once he sneaked into the Riddle House while everyone else was asleep.

However, when Frank was taken to the police station, he resolutely refused to admit that he had killed someone.

He repeated one fact over and over again—he was innocent.

However, the police officers refused to believe it.

The investigation of the scene led them to believe that, apart from Frank, no one else had the opportunity to commit the crime.

This situation continued until the autopsy reports of the Riddle family of three were released.

The police had never seen such a bizarre autopsy report before.

None of the Riddle family members were harmed by poison, sharp objects, pistols, or other weapons, nor were they suffocated or strangled.

All three deceased individuals were in excellent health—except for the fact that they were already dead.

This is a completely contradictory and absurd conclusion.

Because they couldn't find anything amiss on the body despite their best efforts, the doctors performing the autopsy found only one suspicious point:
Everyone in the Riddle family wore a look of terror on their faces.

However, this is of no use.

What could they have seen that would scare three people to death at the same time?
In any case, since there was no evidence to prove that the Riddle family was murdered, even if Frank was a strong suspect—of course, his suspicion was cleared after the autopsy report came out, so he was released again.

As long as there is no evidence to prove guilt, the suspect is innocent.

Ultimately, this matter became an unsolved mystery.

The police's case report could only conclude that "the three victims died at the same time due to extreme shock."

This result, of course, did not satisfy the residents of Little Hamton.

However, the police said, "Believe it or not, I believe it."

And so, the Riddles were buried in the churchyard in Little Hangleton.

For a long time afterward, their graves remained an object of curiosity and interest for the people of Little Hangleton.

For the others who originally lived in Riddell Palace, it was a case of the tree falling and the monkeys scattering.

With their master gone, the maids and cooks naturally left Riddle House to fend for themselves.

But to everyone's surprise and disbelief, Frank Bryce, the gardener who was initially identified as a criminal suspect, has returned!
He moved back to his cabin in the gardens of Riddle House, all by himself.

Even though everyone in the village believed that he was actually the murderer.

He ignored this.

And so Frank stayed on to tend the garden for the family who would be staying at Riddle House.

Reed House has changed hands several times and had several different owners.

But no matter which owner it was, they never lived there for very long.

According to the new owners, they always felt a sense of gloom and terror in the place once they moved in.

It is said that part of this feeling also comes from Frank—the former criminal suspect.

Over time, the uninhabited Riddle House fell into disrepair and became dilapidated.

And so, more than half a century passed, and it was the summer of 1994.

The wealthy man who now owns Riddle House neither lives here nor uses the house for anything.

According to the villagers, he kept it for "tax reasons".

But nobody knows exactly what happened.

If asked too many times, the person who spread the news will say:

"Everyone who understands this matter understands it, and those who don't understand won't understand even if I explain it, so it's better not to say anything."

Don't ask me what happened. The interests involved are too great, and it won't do you any good to tell me. Just pretend you don't know.

All I can say is that this is a very complicated matter, involving many important figures.

It's very difficult for you to find detailed information on your own; most of it has been deleted.

That's why I can say that those who understand, understand; and there's nothing I can do about those who don't.

Very angry!
Regardless, the wealthy homeowner was still willing to continue paying Frank to be the gardener. After all, it was better to have someone watching over things than to have no one at all—especially since Frank was familiar with the place.

However, Frank himself was not in good condition.

He had reached the critical age of seventy-seven, and not only was his bad leg stiffer than before, but he had also developed hearing loss.

However, when the weather is nice, he will come to the flower garden and work slowly.

Only he himself knew that this was partly due to his sense of responsibility—after all, they had paid him to hire him.

On the other hand, being old and without family, he could only seek a sense of self-existence through this method.

He devoted himself to caring for the house and garden, almost to the point of obsession.

However, this is of no use.

He was so old that his roots couldn't stop the rampant weeds.

Not only that, the village children always liked to throw stones at the windows of Riddle House.

They would also ride their bicycles and carelessly trample on the grass that Frank had painstakingly maintained.

These kids are doing it on purpose; they're just teasing Frank.

They loved seeing the old man limp across the garden, waving his cane and shouting at them in a hoarse voice.

They feel especially happy at times like these.

Frank, however, did not believe that these children were just doing it for fun.

He believed that the other party was torturing him like this because they, like their parents and even grandparents, thought he was a murderer.

Approaching eighty, Frank had seen things very clearly.

The prejudice in people's hearts is like a mountain that can never be moved no matter how hard you try.

If the narrative continues at its normal pace, it will all naturally come to an end when Frank passes away.

Perhaps the wealthy man who owns Riddle House will hire someone else to guard this place.

Perhaps that rich man will simply leave it here.

Perhaps, like its previous owners, it will be transferred to someone else for reasons that "those who know, know".

However, no one could have imagined that something significant would happen here that would change the entire landscape of the magical world.

The only witness to this event was Frank Bryce, a Muggle who knew nothing about magic.

It's late July now, a time when the heat of July is waning and the weather is turning cool.

When Frank woke up at night because of a slight chill, he was shocked to find unusual noises coming from the old house.

He immediately realized that those unruly children had come up with new tricks to tease him.

Ever since he was taken in for questioning because of the case from years ago, he has developed a deep distrust of the police.

So he didn't call the police, but simply took his cane, picked up the old spare key to the back door of Riddle House, and went out.

There were no signs of forced entry at the front door of Riddell House, and the windows were intact.

This made Frank give a wry smile.

He thought about that case from half a century ago.

Because there were no signs of forced entry, the police assumed he used a spare key to enter through the back door.

He knew he hadn't done that at the time.

Ironically, many years later, he is doing just that now.

He limped around to the back of the house and stopped by a door that was almost completely covered by ivy.

Then he slowly took out the old key, inserted it into the lock, and silently opened the door.

Because he was so familiar with the place, he still remembered where the door to the corridor was, even though it was pitch black all around.

He groped his way over, and a putrid smell hit him, indicating that no one had been here for a long time.

Fortunately, the thick layer of dust on the stone steps masked his footsteps, so the people inside did not notice his arrival.

He quickly discovered traces of the intruder.

At the end of the corridor on the stair landing, a door was ajar.

A flickering light shone through the crack in the door, casting an orange-yellow shadow on the black floor.

Frank crept closer, his body sideways, clutching his cane tightly as if it would increase his sense of security.

It wasn't until he was a few steps away from the door that he glimpsed the scene inside the room through a narrow crack.

He was surprised to discover that the fire was actually started in the fireplace.

To his surprise, the voices coming from the room were not those of a child.

"If you still feel hungry, you can drink some more."

"Not for now. If possible, I would prefer you to move me to the fireside, Mr. Smith."

“It’s my pleasure to serve you, Mr. Riddle—Jon, didn’t you hear what Mr. Riddle said? Get up and move!”

Immediately afterwards, the room echoed with the harsh scraping sound of a heavy chair being dragged across the floor.

Frank peeked through the crack in the door and saw a person with their back to the door pushing a chair.

He was wearing a long black cloak, but quickly disappeared from his sight.

However, Frank had no time to think about it; his mind was completely occupied by that name.

Riddle!
When Frank heard the name, he was deeply shaken.

Isn't that the name of its first owner?
But... but aren't they dead?
Whether it was the Riddles, whom he employed, or their son, Tom Riddle…

Frank forced himself to suppress his surprise, pressed his good ear against the door, and listened intently.

“No one has called me 'Riddle' for a long time, as you probably know. Now I am called—”

"Voldemort, right?"
Of course I know what you are called, but no matter how your name changes, it doesn't change this fact.

Otherwise you wouldn't have let us bring you here, would you, dear Mr. Tom Riddle?

Tom Riddle, it really is him!

Frank was extremely surprised.

A handsome face and memories associated with that face flashed through his mind.

At that time, Tom Riddle was young, dashing, and full of vigor.

Because at that time, everything on one side of the valley belonged to the Riddle family, except for an unsightly little shack—that's what the villagers all said.

The little cabin belonged to an old tramp named Gaunt and his children—a sister who was often absent and a brother who was always causing trouble.

The son of that family was mentally unstable and seemed to have lost his mind. For some reason, he nailed a dead snake to the door of the cabin.

For a rich kid like Tom Riddle, his privileged family environment fostered his arrogant personality.

Therefore, he never showed the slightest respect to those who worked for his family, such as Frank, the cook, and the maid.

However, Frank was a man who had seen death on the battlefield, and he didn't care at all as long as the Riddle family paid him enough.

Young Tom Riddle also had a lover named Cecilia—also a wealthy young lady, and very beautiful.

Everyone in Little Hangleton at the time thought they would end up together.

But for some reason, Tom Riddle suddenly declared one day that he had fallen deeply in love with the daughter of the old homeless man, Gaunt.

This naturally met with strong opposition from the Riddles.

What a joke! How could the Riddle son associate with a woman like that!
But to everyone's surprise, Tom Riddle seemed to have lost his mind, abandoning the girl he loved and his parents who were determined to stop him, and eloped with the daughter of the old homeless man, the Gaunt family!
(End of this chapter)