The young Dumbledore crossed the street, and the three of them followed him from a distance.
Finally, they passed through a large iron gate and entered a bare yard.
Behind the yard was a square, gloomy, old-fashioned building surrounded by high railings.
Was this the place?
Elwyn looked around curiously. This should be the orphanage where Lord Voldemort grew up.
It was a famous place, the beginning of evil, and it looked unpleasant.
As Elwyn looked around, the young Dumbledore walked up the steps leading to the front door and knocked.
After a while, a scruffy girl wearing an apron opened the door.
"Good afternoon, I have an appointment with a Mrs. Cole. I think she's the housekeeper here?"
"Oh!" The girl said with a puzzled look, looking at Dumbledore's overly extravagant outfit in amazement. "Well, wait a minute, Mrs. Cole!"
She turned her head and shouted. A voice in the distance answered her, and the girl turned to Dumbledore.
"Come in, sir, she'll be right with you."
Elwyn, Harry, and Dumbledore followed the young Dumbledore into a black-and-white tiled foyer. The whole room looked shabby, but it was very clean and spotless. Before the door closed behind them, a bony, tired-looking woman walked quickly toward them.
Her face was chiseled, and she looked more anxious than fierce.
As she walked toward Dumbledore, she turned her head and ordered another helper wearing an apron.
"Take the iodine up to Martha. Billy Stubbs has scratched his scabs, and Eric Wallace's blood has stained the bedsheets. What bad luck, to have contracted chicken pox! " She seemed to be talking to the air, and then her eyes fell on Dumbledore, and she stopped abruptly.
She looked shocked, as if she had seen a giraffe cross her threshold.
"Good afternoon, madam!" Dumbledore said as he extended his hand.
Mrs. Cole gaped at him and did not respond for a long time.
"My name is Albus Dumbledore. I wrote you a letter asking for an appointment. You were kind enough to invite me here today."
Mrs. Cole blinked. She seemed to be convinced that Dumbledore was not hallucinating. She forced herself to say, "Oh, yes, a letter from Mr. Dumbledore. Yes, that's right! Well, well, you'd better come to my room, yes... "
She led Dumbledore into a small room that seemed to be half living room and half office. It was as shabby as the hall, and the furniture was old and did not match. She invited Dumbledore to sit in a rickety chair, while she sat behind a messy table and looked at him nervously.
"As I told you in my letter, I am here to consult with you about Tom Riddle, and to arrange a future for him," said Dumbledore.
"Are you his relative?" Mrs. Cole asked suspiciously.
"No, I'm a teacher," Dumbledore said. "I'm here to invite Tom to study at our school."
"What kind of school is this, then?"
"It's called Hogwarts," Dumbledore said.
Mrs. Cole had obviously never heard of such a place, and the suspicion on her face deepened.
Scammers used such excuses to get children to go out and do anything, and such sensational reports were always in the newspapers.
Mrs. Cole did not necessarily like Riddle very much, but she had to be responsible for the safety of the children there.
"Why are you interested in Tom?"
"We think he has some of the qualities we're looking for."
"Did you say he won a scholarship? How can that be? He didn't even apply for it. "
"Oh, our school recorded his name as soon as he was born."
"Who registered him? His parents? "
There was no doubt that Mrs. Cole was a very shrewd woman who gave people headaches.
Dumbledore obviously thought so too, for he did not continue to answer her question. Instead, he drew his wand from the pocket of his velvet suit, and at the same time, picked up a completely blank piece of paper from Mrs Cole's desk.
"Here." He handed the paper to her and waved his wand. "I think you'll understand everything when you look at this."
Mrs. Cole's eyes wandered for a moment, then focused again.
She looked at the blank piece of paper carefully for a moment. It was a beautiful, perfect mind inducement spell.
Elwyn felt that Katie might have been under this spell yesterday. Something in the women's toilet in the Three Broomsticks Pub was enchanted, probably the brown paper package itself, and Kate was induced as soon as she touched it.
One thing was certain, this was definitely not a spell that the Ministry of Magic allowed wizards to use.
Elwyn looked up at Dumbledore. Dumbledore seemed to know what Elwyn was thinking and smiled at him.
"It seems to be completely in line," Mrs. Cole said calmly and returned the paper to Dumbledore.
Then, her eyes fell on a bottle of gin and two glasses, which were definitely not there a few seconds ago.
"Well, can I buy you a glass of gin?" She said in a particularly cultured voice.
"Thank you very much," Dumbledore said with a smile.
It was obvious that Mrs. Cole was no novice when it came to gin.
She filled both glasses to the brim and drank her own in one gulp.
She smacked her lips unabashedly and smiled at Dumbledore for the first time. Dumbledore immediately struck while the iron was hot.
"I wonder if you can tell me about Tom Riddle's background? I think he was born in this orphanage? "
Obviously, from how familiar Dumbledore was with it, he was not a novice either …
Enticement Magic, combined with relaxing gin, and a Mind Capture spell that had almost no traces of spellcasting.
Good heavens, not to mention that Dumbledore only wanted to know about Riddle, he could now easily get anything he was interested in from Mrs. Cole's mouth. Anything, and in such a gentle way.
If it were any other wizard here, they might just use force!
Truth Serum or Heart Drilling and Bone Gouging were the preferred methods of dark Magi.
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