Eliza Potter: Harry Potters Sister 2

Chapter 17: Dumbledores Task

The next morning I saw a lot of sixth years gathered around a board in the common room. I pushed past them and read the board. It said that anyone turning seventeen before August 31 could participate in a 12-week apparation course.

I had the same boring day on Monday as always and double period D.A.T.D.A. With Snape which was awful as per usual. After dinner Harry and I walked to Dumbledores office for our lesson.

"So, what do you usually do at these?" I asked Harry as we walked the deserted halls.

"Well, I'm not allowed to tell you about past meetings-" Harry said.

"Harry-" I said.

"Dumbledore forbade me," he said.

"Fine," I responded. I let my mind wander as we walked up the stairs to his office.

We entered the office quietly and I saw the same office with old portraits of headmasters and head mistresses. Dumbledore gestured for us to sit which I did calmly.

"So, I heard you both met the Minister of Magic over the holiday?" Asked Dumbledore.

"Yes," said Harry and I in unison.

"He's not very happy with us-" Harry said.

"No," sighed Dumbledore. "He is not very happy with me either. We must try not to sink beneath our anguish, but battle on,"

"Scrimgeour wanted to know where you go when you leave Hogwarts," Harry said.

"Yes, he is very nosy about that," said Dumbledore cheerfully.

"So, they don't know where you go?" Asked Harry.

"No, they don't and the time is not quite right for you to know either. No I suggest we dive in-" said Dumbledore. "I have two more memories to show you this evening. Both, obtained with enormous difficulty, and the second of them, I think is, the most important one I have collected," Dumbledore said.

"Memories?" I asked quickly. Panic filled me, I experienced enough of memories that were and weren't mine.

"Ah, don't worry, these memories are very important and you view them from this pensive," he gestured to a stone basin that I recognized from Snape. I nodded still nervous.

"A little summary Elizabeth would be that Tom Riddle was orphan who I collected from his orphanage as a young boy at eleven. He was independent and h as a very bad reputation at the orphanage. Now you are caught up. Well, the start of the school year arrived and with it came Tom Riddle, a quiet boy in his secondhand robes, who lined up with the other first years to be sorted. He was placed in Slytherin House almost the moment that the Sorting Hat touched his head," continued Dumbledore. "How soon Riddle learned that the famous founder of the House could talk to snakes, I do not know — perhaps that very evening. The knowledge can only have excited him and increased his sense of self-importance.
However, if he was frightening or impressing fellow Slytherins with displays of Parseltongue in their common room, no hint of it reached the staff. He showed no sign of outward arrogance or aggression at all. As an unusually talented and very good-looking orphan, he naturally drew attention and sympathy from the staff almost from the moment of his arrival. He seemed polite, quiet, and thirsty for knowledge. Nearly all were most favorably impressed by him-"