Hogwarts: I am Snape

Chapter 49 Orphanage

After assigning the homework, Professor Glapland called Snape over as the students were packing up to leave and handed him a roll of parchment.

As Snape walked out, he unfolded the parchment, on which was written the familiar, thin, crooked handwriting—

"Dear Severus,"

If you have no other plans today, please come to my office at 7 p.m.

Your faithful
Albus Dumbledore

P.S.: I don't like Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

"He doesn't like Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans?" Abbott said, glancing at Dumbledore's text message with a puzzled look on his face.

"It's best if good children don't know the meaning of this sentence."

Ignoring Abbott's protests, Snape put the parchment away.

That evening, he walked along the familiar corridor and arrived at the principal's office once again.

"Haha, of course I know them. The pair of stone beasts at the entrance of the teachers' office are my brothers."

"Yes, yes, we've been forced to separate our bones and stones for hundreds of years."

The stone beast responded to Snape in a deep voice.

After exchanging pleasantries with the stone monster at the door for a while, Snape went up the movable spiral staircase behind it and arrived at the door of Dumbledore's office.

He raised his hand and gently knocked on the door with his knuckles.

"Come in." Dumbledore's cheerful voice immediately came from inside the door, as if he had been waiting for Snape.

"Good evening, Professor," Snape said, pushing open the door to the Headmaster's office. "What can I do for you?"

“Ah, good evening, Severus. Sit down,” Dumbledore said with a gentle smile, gesturing to the chair beside him. “How has your first week of the new term been?”

“Not bad, Professor.” Snape sat down and asked directly, “Shall we depart?”

“Not yet,” Dumbledore said, shaking his head. “I think we need to do some preparations before we set off.”

“Dumbledore, your choice this time was very wise.” An old headmaster in a framed portrait on the wall, who had been sleeping, suddenly yawned and opened his eyes, saying, “Solving problems absolutely cannot be done without the people of Slytherin.”

This was a male wizard with a goatee and an intelligent appearance. He was dressed in silver and green Slytherin attire.

“Phineas,” Dumbledore called out the name of the clever wizard, “Slytherin has always been a part of Hogwarts.”

"Are you the legendary headmaster who won unanimous 'high praise' from all four houses?" Snape looked up at Phineas, his tone curious, and he emphasized the word "high praise".

“Oh, good boy,” Phineas said with a satisfied look, seemingly oblivious to the sarcasm in his words. “Slytherin’s young men are sometimes quite right.”

“You’re right, Phineas.” Dumbledore turned to Snape with a smile and said, “I called you here because you now know that Voldemort is Tom Riddle.”

"Furthermore, he chose Ravenclaw's tiara as his Horcrux, and now you should know more about him."

After Dumbledore finished speaking, he paused for a moment before continuing.

"Last semester, you deduced Tom's identity by researching history. Inspired by you, I realized the importance of understanding Tom's past, so I also conducted some investigations."

“I went to Bogin-Bok and had a friendly conversation with Karaktakus Bok.”

"You kindly let him stay at St. Mungo's?" Snape's lips curled into a slight smile.

“Oh, that was an accident. You know, Burke isn’t exactly cooperative.” Dumbledore said this as he stood up, walked around the table, and passed by Snape.

Snape turned around in his chair and watched Dumbledore walk to the cabinet by the door where the books related to Horcruxes were placed, and then bend down to open the cabinet door.

When Dumbledore straightened up, he was holding a shallow stone basin that Snape had seen with Slughorn the last time, with a strange ring of runes engraved around its rim.

Dumbledore placed the Pensieve on the table in front of Snape.

"Shall we go into Burke's memories, Professor?" Snape asked.

“No,” Dumbledore shook his head, “Now, we need to access my memories. You go first, Severus…”

Snape leaned down toward the Pensieve, his face plunging into the cold memories within, and then he once again fell uncontrollably into the darkness… A few seconds later, his feet touched solid ground.

He opened his eyes and found himself standing with Dumbledore on a busy, old-fashioned street in London.

They followed young Albus Dumbledore, dressed in an elegant crimson velvet suit, across the street to a square building with a plaque that read "Wu's Orphanage" on the wall.

After passing through a large iron gate, they entered a bare courtyard.

Behind the courtyard was a square, gloomy, and old-fashioned building surrounded by high iron railings.

"Is this the orphanage where Tom spent his childhood?" Snape asked.

At that moment, young Dumbledore was talking to a disheveled girl wearing an apron.

“Yes,” Dumbledore nodded, a hint of reminiscence in his eyes, “Let’s follow them.”

Mrs. Cole, looking anxious, led them into a small room that seemed to be half living room and half office.

The interior was as shabby and simple as the entrance hall, with old and mismatched furniture.

"You personally invited Tom to enroll back then?" Snape asked knowingly. "How does that help us in our search for the Horcruxes?"

“Be patient, Severus,” Dumbledore said, pointing to Mrs. Cole.

Mrs. Cole, holding a glass of gin, calmly recounted a story from many years ago:
"I remember that incident very clearly because I had just started working here. It was New Year's Eve, it was snowing outside, and it was freezing cold..."

"That girl, not much older than me at the time, staggered up the front steps... She gave birth less than an hour later. Less than an hour after that, she died..."

Mrs. Cole nodded meaningfully and took another big gulp of gin.

"But no one from the Tom, Marvolo, or Riddle families ever came to see him, nor did he have any relatives..."

Mrs. Cole poured herself another full glass of gin, almost absentmindedly. Two blushes rose on her cheekbones.

"What was Voldemort's mother's name, Professor?" Snape asked.

“Melop Gaunt, or rather, Merippe Riddle,” said Dumbledore. “Come, Severus, let’s go see eleven-year-old Tom.”

　Still no recommendations. I've written 10 words and the data is still insufficient. I'm just too incompetent.

　　I need to reflect on the problems with this book.

　　I won't make any promises to keep writing (those who say that will probably all be cut off eventually?), but at least I still have some stories in my mind that haven't been put on paper, and I'll try my best to write them down for everyone to see (if there are still people willing to read them).

　　I'm so sorry, everyone. Thank you for reading, voting, and tipping. I apologize.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)