My classmate at Hogwarts is Voldemort

Chapter 22 Mrs Cole
After dinner, Nelson and Tom were walking down the street, having changed out of their travel attire and into their wardrobe regulars—the same beige cardigan, the same jeans, the same sneakers.The afterglow of the setting sun sprinkled on the two of them, adding a touch of gold to their faces.

The two stopped in front of the alley where their things had been stolen before. Around the winter solstice, when the altitude angle of the sun in London is the smallest, the sun was about to fall and the shadows of the two were drawn very long. Nelson was standing in the middle of the long street, and Tom was standing. Alley - Nelson stood on the empty golden street with a golden shadow, while Tom's shadow disappeared into the deep alley.

"Have we done this move?"

With a stack of photos in his hand, Tom looked down at a piece of paper as he walked, and he pulled one out and handed it to Nelson.

Nelson took the photo. In the black and white photo, he and Tom were sitting on a small sofa in formal suits with their arms around their shoulders. Jonas leaned over the edge of the sofa with both hands, and the three of them grinned at the camera. , a dangling slender palm on the edge of the lens showed a victory gesture, and after a while, Jonas straightened up and walked out of the edge of the photo, Bella ran briskly into the frame and stood in Jonas' original position - This is a photo taken by Bella.In the black and white photo, the hair color of the two of them is not real. Nelson's hair color seems to be darker, Tom's hair color seems to be lighter, and the two look like a pair of real brothers.

They were played with by Bella for a long time, just like a little girl got a new favorite toy. Bella couldn't put it down with the camera that Nelson brought back. Compared with the popular cameras on the market, this magic gadget can shoot instantly. See, it is very convenient to avoid the process of waiting for the film to be turned into a photo, and what is more convenient is that it does not need to replenish the film, as if there is a steady stream of photographic paper in it.But I have to say that although fast and portable are the eternal trends in the development of various products, the experience of walking into the photo studio with your lover and posing for a photo, holding each other's hand in a burst of flash, and then waiting for the film at home is even more A rare romance.

"Probably, my aunt took so many pictures, I can't remember." Nelson had the camera hanging around his neck. Before leaving, Bella asked them to take more pictures with their former good friends... But Nelson only had part of the time. In the orphanage, where's Tom?When did he make any good friends in such a place? "But it's pretty good, go back to Diagon Alley and let me copy a few..."

Seeing Tom ignoring him, he turned his head and saw that Tom was flipping through the pile of photos again, so he had to whistle to catch up, and threw up the cloth bag he was carrying.

"You don't shake!" Tom turned around and raised his eyebrows at Nelson.

"I know I know after all that it contains Tom's brother's chocolate." Nelson didn't give him a chance to interrupt this time, but finished the speech like an underground rapper that would make Tom look ashamed, and Tom's That's exactly what the reaction was - he turned and walked away quickly, without saying a word, his ears and whole neck turning red.

The two of them walked and chased each other, and soon came to the door of this dilapidated orphanage in the West Side of London.

Looking at the peeling paint, revealing the rusted iron door, Nelson and Tom stopped, and through the gap in the iron door, he was the first time to look at the place where he grew up so carefully.Compared with the happy stack that Tom was holding in his hand, the scene in this small courtyard was more like a black and white photo.

Standing alone in the yard was a small gray building. At the inconspicuous entrance of the small building stood two sickly-looking pine trees, with a few faded color strips hanging from the trees. Nelson Been running across them at Christmas for several years now.The yard was bare, only a few swings made of wooden planks squeaked and swayed in the wind under the rusted iron frame. The orphanage had neither enough funds to repair the ground nor enough manpower to What plants are planted and tended here.There were no children in the yard, and it was supposed to be their supper time.Nelson saw a small face in the corner of the window of his room on the third floor, and after meeting his eyes, he quickly retracted.

"Found him." Nelson smiled and nudged Tom in the ribs.

Tom followed his gaze and looked up, his eyes stopped by the window, and the little face stuck out again, this time he was a little more cautious, only revealing the newsboy cap and a pair of black eyes under the brim, "It's actually Your room." Tom said as he raised the corners of his mouth and gave the boy a standard throat cut, he quickly retreated, and then never showed up again.

"Sir," seeing the two of them, a dry old man ran out of the concierge and looked at the small door that was open on the big iron gate, "the door is unlocked, what are you--"

He looked at the faces of Nelson and Tom, and the words suddenly stopped, "Who are you? Nelson?" He looked at Nelson with some doubts, then moved his eyes to Tom's face, and asked in an uncertain tone, " Tom?"

"Yes, Mr. Barton." Nelson raised his hand, and Tom nodded beside him.

The old man's face instantly burst into complex emotions including but not limited to surprise, joy, disbelief, relief, etc. "Come in! Come in!" He pushed open the small iron door, grabbed the hands of the two and pushed them inside Pulling, when they faced the iron gate, they let go of their hands again and trotted towards the small building, turning back and shouting at them, "Come in! Come in!"

Mr. Patton is a respectable old man. He lives alone in an old tube building in the block next to the orphanage. It is said that he was originally an officer of the Allied Powers, and his son who had just married in the First World War was with him. There was a stray bullet in front of my eyes, and my pregnant daughter-in-law couldn't bear the blow. There was no sound on a foggy night...

After the war, he donated all his property to the orphanage next to his home, and he came here to work as a concierge.Although he is short-tempered and full of foul-mouthed words, he treats every child like his own grandson, and he spends almost all his money to help these lost children as much as he can.Sometimes the busy Mrs. Cole would entrust him to take care of the children, but he never told everyone about the war. If anyone pressed him, he would say, "You have to be good people, and don't be interested in a butcher like me. "

This is a poor old man who has been devastated by war, but as he said, every stray bullet on the battlefield may create a broken family, why didn't Lee Enfield, who once accompanied him, take other people's lives?The soul who died under the bullet without long eyes may be a father, son or husband.

"There may be right and wrong in war, and soldiers may also commit crimes, but children are innocent." One day Nelson was sitting on the roof reading a book about World War I in the moonlight, and Mr. Smoking next to him, he rubbed Nelson's hair with a smile, "Before I was an officer, I was a sharpshooter. Later, I thought it would be better to be a doctor than being a soldier."

Looking at his back while limping and shouting Mrs Cole's name, Nelson patted Tom's back with red eyes. Tom was looking up at the sky with his eyes closed. The old man who grew up with them really old.

Patton took the two to Mrs. Cole's office, where she poured hot tea, declined the invitation of the three, and returned to his post.

"What are you doing back here?" Mrs. Cole frowned and looked at the two of them. She stirred the teacup with a spoon. The old tea leaves, which were full of broken leaves, were mixed into pieces by her. You guys, it's not for you to come back."

Tom and Nelson had grown accustomed to Mrs. Cole's sternness, and they listened quietly to her admonitions, looking at this thin woman who had black hair a few months ago, and who had not seen her for three months, she was even more emaciated, with grey hair beneath her. On her pale face, with unusually prominent cheekbones, she stopped stirring the tea and stared at them seriously.

Suddenly she stretched her brows and smiled at them, "Tom, Nall, you guys have grown a lot taller."

"Mrs Cole, how are you and the orphanage during this time?" Nelson relaxed and said hello with his teacup.

"I'm still the same," Mrs Cole laughed at herself, "The orphanage has been busier than the first half of the year, and there have been more and more homeless children in the past two years... As soon as you leave, the police station will send you A group of children came, and your room was vacant for two days before someone lived in, and there were even older children who needed two people to squeeze into one room. It is really possible to have vacant rooms anywhere, only the orphanage is impossible. empty room."

"So nervous?" Tom asked.

"Well, the situation in other orphanages in London will not be much better than ours. You are older children, and you should understand that although the newspapers are full of music and dance, but..." Mrs. Cole shook her head helplessly, and turned to Tom again. Laughing, "By the way, Tom, your chocolate kids love it, and many of them never eat chocolate when they grow up..."

She choked up suddenly, lowered her head, took out a handkerchief from her skirt, and wiped her eyes.

"Sorry, I just...".

"I understand, Mrs. Cole." Tom rarely remained cold, nor blushed because of the chocolate, but stood up and patted Mrs. Cole's shoulder, comforting softly.

"You are all good children," Mrs. Cole calmed down and raised her teacup with red eyes, "Although I love every child here like my own, I hope they can be like you. Get out of here and never come back."

(End of this chapter)