38 years of past events

The midnight chime lingered on the banks of the Thames, and one or two stars in the sky were dotted with faint light, but even so, they were still as dim as if they were about to be hidden under the night.

Then, a beam of dim light shot out from the ground, broke through the night sky, and tore out a huge skeleton under the black curtain. The snake's head emerged from the skeleton, puffing out smoke.

I put away my wand, and quietly paced along the Thames, waiting for the arrival of those old friends. The wand was spinning in my palm, and the cold touch of the tip of the wand across my index finger stimulated my nerves again. These days, it always happens , I seem to have become so sensitive in the repeated reminiscences and memories, it seems that I have really forgotten something, which makes me feel lost.

Of course, I don’t want to think about it any more at this moment, because as my father said, only the weak and failed people will live in the bad past, and those who are determined and tenacious will look forward to the new day.

In a short while, under the call of the Dark Mark, the black mist from all directions surged in the air and landed on the place where I am now, and then began to gather and move closer. Their figures appeared in the mist, wrapped in silver masks under the cloak shining brightly.Then each of them took off their masks, bent slightly and performed a pious and respectful ceremony to me.

"Any news?" I started asking everyone after they arrived.

"There's news that's neither good nor bad."

"Travers, you should know, the last thing I want to hear is this kind of inconclusive words, what I need is certainty and affirmation!" I paused beside him, trying to look into his eyes, he But he dodged in embarrassment. "Tell me, your news is neither good nor bad."

"We found him, in the village of Barberton, Bardleley, in an abandoned Muggle garden house..." Mooresible began.

"So? The bad thing you're going to tell me is that you can't bring him?"

"I'm sorry, but, you know, it's just us, we really can't do that, I mean bring him back in one piece, he's really good at Defense Against the Dark Arts... ah!"

Before Mulciber could finish speaking, I gave him a hard Cruciatus wrist bone, and he lay on the ground, moaning in pain.

"I don't want to listen to this nonsense that has no nutritional value, and this is not a bad excuse to cover up your incompetence."

I continued to pace around each of them, looking at the depressed and tense faces in front of me, "Of course, I can only say that I am really disappointed with your performance. I gave you a whole week, But you only revealed to me an address that I don't even know where I live. Dear friends, do I have reason to believe that you did this on purpose, especially when that person is called——Slughorn, Your former professor, the head of Slytherin." The name wafted from their ears, and I saw the unpredictable expressions of everyone present.

"No, please, please believe in our loyalty, we will never betray our master and the Dark Lord, Slughorn was completely an accident, we..."

"Accident?" I grabbed Travers by the collar and squeezed his eyes. "I don't think you don't know how important Slughorn is to us, and now you tell I let him escape time and time again, is this a complete accident? Travers, I think you are a complete joke!"

"Randolph, please give us a little more time, there will always be a solution." Evira said, trying to get me to let go of Travers.

"Time? My dear friends, haven't I given you enough time?" My wand passed Travers' side and rested on Evra's neck, and he trembled slightly, " Whether it is Harry Potter or Slughorn, I have tolerated your failures again and again, but the rewards you have given me are far from what I expected. It seems that I really should give you Some punishments, or directly hand over to the Dark Lord to deal with you."

Travers immediately raised his head, fear flashed in his eyes: "No, don't do this...don't tell the master, the last time, we swear, we will catch him this time! As long as we find him, we will Immediately inform you, really, please trust us."

"the last time?"

"the last time!"

I looked into his eyes, hesitated and said, "Okay, I'm giving you one more chance at last, but if you can't bring me Slughorn this time, then I think Friends, you will know the ending, and at that time, the Dark Lord will not be happy to see you who are so incompetent." Everyone present shuddered.

Before leaving, Evira turned around suddenly and asked, "By the way, I want to know, if we capture Slughorn, should we tell the master first? Or... what do you think?" Evie La looked at me, his expression was a little unclear, and he seemed to be guessing something.

And the rest of the people also became serious and silent because of this question. I hesitated for a moment, and then immediately knew what these guys were thinking.

Between my father and me, the choice they have to make, if they are loyal to my father, what they will face is a more terrible end than death, and if they choose to be loyal to me, then even if there are mistakes in the plan, I have enough The ability to bear all the faults is undoubtedly a favorable umbrella for them to shield them from the wrath and punishment of the Dark Lord.

It has to be said that the selfishness of pure-blood wizards fully embodies the principle of supremacy of interests here.I told Evra: "Leave it to me first, and I will tell the Dark Lord if necessary."

Evra seemed to know something, and nodded meaningfully.

I laughed sarcastically, those so-called allegiance and oaths were not able to resist the temptation of interests, they were just lies to deceive people, even the strong were no exception.

That night, I don't know if my threats and intimidation really had an effect. Three days later, the village of Badley Barberton launched the first Dark Mark.

When I arrived there, Evra and the others were all wounded. In the middle was Slughorn who was besieged, and there was a piece of waste paper and glass debris on the ground.

"Good afternoon, Professor Slughorn."

"Don't call it that, I don't remember ever teaching you."

"Of course, you didn't teach me, but all the students here today are your students, besides, my father is also, so I should respect you, shouldn't I?"

"That's what you call respect, sir, and I'm disappointed in that."

I made a gesture to Evra and the others, signaling them to put away their wands, "So what about the professor now?"

Although the Death Eaters had put away their wands and each took a step back, Slughorn still held his wand vigilantly, "I would be more satisfied if you could leave my house immediately."

"Come on, Professor, we're all Slytherins, and my father used to say you were the best teacher he ever had."

"Sorry, I don't remember who your father is, although I look familiar to you."

I laughed out loud, "I'm sorry, I almost forgot, I should introduce myself, I'm Randolph Riddle. Mr. Riddle is my father."

"What did you say? Your father was...was..." Slughorn's voice trembled a little, and he looked at me in disbelief.

"Yes, I said earlier that even if you no longer remember his appearance, you will never be unfamiliar with the name Riddle."

Slughorn's expression was a little dazed for a moment, and he murmured, "When...of course...I will never forget that name in my life..."

"So, I don't know about Aphra Sinkenis, does the professor still remember?" I approached him and asked in a low voice.

His eyes widened as if struck by lightning, as if he remembered something.

"Randolph, this is not our main purpose this time. The Dark Lord's explanation is..."

"Evra, have you forgotten that night? Who are you supposed to be loyal to?"

"I..." He paused, and continued: "I'm sorry, I just want to say, if we don't finish what the master told you, you know... I think everyone's ending will be gone even if you are here It will be better."

"Of course, I will not forget our mission, but what to do now is up to me to decide, and I understand very well that I don't need any of you to tell me, you just need to remember the agreement that night. Of course, I have to remind you that if any of you tell the Dark Lord about this, I will know. At the same time, I will guarantee that he will pay the price he deserves."

Evra was silent, and the others did not speak again. After a long time, Evra said: "We understand, do as you said..."

I had the Death Eaters back out the door, and I needed some alone time to talk to the old professor, even though it was somewhat against my father's orders.

Now, let the broken glass return to the window eaves intact, the fallen photo frame also flew from the ground and returned to the white wall that belonged to it, and the books and documents were neatly placed on the table one by one, and everything was in good condition. as if nothing had happened.

"What do you want to know from me?" Slughorn looked at me and asked tentatively.

"Are you asking me so bluntly? Oh, that's really not Slytherin's style."

"At least I'm not too old to think that a Death Eater will come to clean my house specially. I have a hunch that you have a different purpose from those guys outside."

"You are indeed the head of Slytherin, and the thoughts of Slytherin students make you guess the same."

"Stop going around in circles, just say it."

"Actually, there is nothing special, I just want to know—" I deliberately paused.

"What do you want to know?"

"Sinckness, Aphra Thicknesse, do you know?"

He was stunned suddenly, and it took a long time before he seemed to understand something: "So it's like this, so it's like this... Merlin, I should have thought about it earlier, you are Aphra's son... Who else but her."

Slughorn's expression confirmed my guess. He must know about my mother. I pressed forward and asked him, "Do you know her? You know Aphra. Tell me!"

"Didn't he tell you? Didn't the man tell you?"

"He...he...we just don't have time to communicate."

Slughorn looked at me suspiciously, "He didn't want you to know, did he?" After a while, he sighed again: "Of course, it's not a good memory, at least for most people Say, and I'm just a teacher, and even I can't do anything about it."

"Then what happened, what happened in the past, the professor, tell me, I should know, I have the right to know, my mother... what happened to her."

"Aphra Sinkenis, that was really a long time ago." He said faintly with a tone of memory: "Have you heard of Steklando Sinkenis? More than 60 years ago Well, many people know him because the election for Minister of Magic at that time was full of turmoil during various lobbying speeches. He once got 74 votes and was close to the position of Minister, but unfortunately, in the end, Faris Fudge still won him Beat him by one vote, even though many people thought he was better than Faris at the time."

"I heard about it in political history class."

"Aphra Sinkenis is his daughter. Unfortunately, she is not like her father. She doesn't have much attention, and she doesn't have too outstanding grades and studies. If there is anything to say If so, then it may be her little capital as the deputy minister's daughter and the fiancée of the Malfoy family."

"What? Her and the Malfoys?" I'm surprised I've never heard Lucius mention that.

"Yes, she and Abraxas, Lucius' father."

"But, they are not together, why? Abraxas doesn't like her, does he?"

"Suffice to say, at least I've never seen Malfoy ask her to dance at the final ball."

"So What about me, my father? He, what does he think, does he like her? "

Slughorn suddenly laughed, "To be honest, I never thought that person would like her. It may be a little too much to say, but it was true in Slytherin back then, even though I once doubted it... Uh, your father, your father's reason for approaching her."

"What do you mean, didn't she find my father first?" I always thought that considering my father's charm back then, there should be countless admirers.

"No, no, it's the mysterious man, um, Tom, it was Tom who approached her first, and many people knew that at the time."

He told me that, even though he didn't want to admit it, he had to say that the answer is easy to guess, a child born in a political party family, and a wealthy married family, even if she is really not beautiful and outstanding, what does it matter? , as long as she has enough use value, this is undoubtedly the best opportunity for the poor and hard-working father at that time.

I was silent for a moment, and then continued to ask, "What next? Are they really together? So what will the Malfoy family do?"

"I don't know what happened here, but as far as I know, Aphra is still Malfoy's fiancée, and she and Tom are not together. It seems that nothing has changed. In fact, I haven't paid attention to those , until the sixth grade, and I even made jokes about Abraxas."

"And what about after they graduate? I mean, you can always arrange the best job background for most of the students, so, do you know where my father and her went after that?"

"No no, no graduation, something bad happened. At the end of the sixth year, Aphra was expelled from Hogwarts."

"Why?" My intuition told me that something very serious must have happened.

"It's an unbelievable thing, and it's terrible that it happened in Slytherin. Even as Head, I feel helpless."

"Yes, what's the matter?"

"Unbelievable! She's pregnant..."

"What!" The news was as if a thunderbolt exploded in the mind, which was unbelievable, "She is pregnant...?"

"This incident had a very bad impact on the school. Not many people knew about it at the time. Principal Dippette suppressed this incident for the sake of old Thinknes, but Aphra must gotta fire."

Now I seem to be able to guess why I have tried all kinds of methods and searched for various reasons but still can't find a word about her. Everyone is silent about the things that cannot be said, but those unspeakable secrets and obscurities are based on my mother's short life.

When I wanted to continue to ask him about other things, suddenly, I heard a voice from behind. The ruthless tone made Slughorn gasp.

"Horace Slughorn, my dear old friend, has not been seen for many years."

"Soup...Tom..."

Father!

"It's been a long time. Should I be happy that you still remember him, especially when you bring your son to visit the old professor."

At this time, another voice answered his father. The owner of this voice was familiar to no one. It was Dumbledore, and he was here too!

"Father..." Merlin, I really can't imagine when he came.

Unexpectedly, he just glanced at me, then walked towards Slughorn, "Old friend, my dear Professor Slughorn, I am very happy, because I did not expect see you again."

"Thank you...thank you...it's nice to meet you too."

"Oh, really? What a pity, I almost thought I'd never see you again, especially since you avoided my invitations to you again and again."

"How...how could it be?"

"Of course, that's what I was thinking too. It must be those useless guys who didn't show enough sincerity. That's why you turned a blind eye to my invitation. Do you think so?"

"I, I... just, I mean, I'm retired, I'm on vacation, uh, yeah, I'm on vacation, all kinds of places, I'm going all kinds of places, maybe it's just a coincidence, your food... Well, an invitation from a friend, I guess it's just a coincidence."

"Slughorn, there's no need to explain so much to him. It's time to stand firm. You have to understand that avoidance will never be the best way to solve the problem!"

"Albus." Slughorn glanced at Dumbledore who appeared behind him.

"Dumbledore, you are still so nosy, this is really a bad habit." There was a slight displeasure in the father's voice.

"I'm very glad that my good habit can bring you some restrictions, otherwise you should be more unscrupulous."

"Constraint? This is really ridiculous, yes, they all say I'm afraid of you, in fact, no no, you are old, I see your life withering like a withered grass root, and I, Feeling the growing power from the infusion of black magic, Dumbledore, don't be too self-righteous, it's you who should say you failed, old fellow."

"Come on, Slughorn, my former friend, the best dean of Slytherin, come here, let us create a brand new magical world together and formulate our own rules!"

His father stretched out his hand, and Slughorn stood there, looking a little perturbed and dazed, his eyes hesitating between his father and Dumbledore repeatedly.

"I believe you will make the right choice." Dumbledore said, looking at him.

For a long time, Slughorn said to his father: "I... I'm sorry!"

He looked at his father with regretful and sad eyes: "Tom, this may be the last time I call you that. You were my most proud and proud student. At that time, I knew that sooner or later you would be better than everyone else." Do better, Malfoy, Black, Lestrange, Thickness... You work harder than them all, but believe me, this is not the ending I want to see, if I Even Merlin couldn't forgive me for choosing you." Slughorn took a step back and stood on the same line as Dumbledore.

The silence on both sides filled the air with a kind of suppressed anger, and the father asked in a sharp voice; "Your choice, are you really sure about your choice?"

"Yes!"

After Slughorn's affirmative answer, I saw cruel killing in my father's scarlet eyes, and the wand was raised in his hand.

"Tom, are you sure you want to do this here?" At the same time, Dumbledore's wand maintained the same defensive posture as Slughorn, "You know I can still deal with you, but I think, Your son may not be so lucky, you should know about Slughorn's defense against the dark arts."

I have known Snape for a while and think I can handle him, but I have no experience in duels with Slughorn, and as an old professor at Hogwarts, I think he can only beat Slughorn in this respect Nep is better.

I thought my father would not be threatened by this, but unexpectedly again, after hesitating for a moment, he sneered and said: "Old guy, you will regret it!" The next moment he took me away from there with apparition.

The blackout curtains block the only ray of light outside the house, making the crystal chandelier on the ceiling even darker and precarious. The ridiculous thing is that I, who was born with black magic, actually began to loathe everything in front of me, loathing this unchanging black.

What that person left me is still the black back, as if I would never be able to guess what he was thinking at the moment.

"Don't you want to say something to me?" I took the lead in breaking the silence. Of course, what made me even more surprised was that he rarely punished me recently. This seemed to happen quietly after waking up that morning. Change.

"What did you say to Slughorn?"

"You already know that, don't you?"

"How much he's worth to us, don't I—"

"I'm very clear! I'm very clear! Father." Although everyone was afraid of the red bloodshot eyes, I still told him firmly, "But I know better what I want to know now. Know what you're doing!"

He looked at me for a long time without speaking, and then he chose to turn around, leaving me with a back hidden in the darkness again.

"Tell me, Father," I said almost beggingly.

For a long time, the time passed in the waiting time, so long that I almost thought he would not speak again, the somewhat indifferent tone finally came with You Ran's voice, "Say it, what do you want? what do you know?"

"Is my mother Aphra Thicknesse?"

"Yes."

"Why? Why did you choose her?"

"She was worth enough, at least at the time." He replied without hesitation and without emotion.

"So, did you have anything to do with her dropping out at the end of sixth year? Slughorn said she was pregnant."

"It was actually an accident. It wasn't in my plan at the time. I mean it would have added more value to me if she had stayed in school, but obviously, that stupid woman messed up my plan."

"Then what happened afterwards? You have been together before."

"Of course, after graduation, we kept in touch. At that time, I needed the support of Thickness, but Steklando was very wary of me, and he wanted me to stay away from his daughter." When he said this, he Laughed out loud, "Unfortunately, her daughter doesn't seem to have his backbone, in her words, she loves me very much, so I can still use her to get a lot of things I need, so to speak, Some of the Death Eaters were part of the party that supported the Thicknesses."

"But then she was expelled from the family."

"Yes, that guy Steklando didn't like me, he even prevented me from entering the Ministry of Magic, so that I had to go to work in the Bokin Bok shop, and that stupid woman actually turned her back on Mal and Mal The Fu family's engagement, she came to find me. Oh, it's unbelievable, Stricklando must be very angry."

"That's because she loves you, she came to you desperately, she must love you."

"Love? Yes, I always have a way to make the person I need fall in love with me, at least her love brought me a lot of value during that time."

"Value?" All the emotional sacrifices of my mother's life are only worth two words to my father, which suddenly made me feel unprecedentedly sad.

"Then have you ever loved her? I mean nostalgia, even if it's just for your so-called value, for a moment, have you ever?"

He froze for a moment, like he was really thinking something, and then he said, "Love? No! Why should I love her? No! No! Voldemort doesn't need that, no need!"

All of a sudden, I feel depressed and frustrated. It's like a joke. I know that if I pursue it seriously, I will only get ridiculous results in the end, but I still insist on listening to it as a serious matter.

love?This is really a sad word, my mother, she used to have an incomparably brilliant family, superior living conditions, and a matching marriage, but she lost her entire life with just this one thing.

One last question: "She... how did she die?"

"I won't answer your question."

"why?"

"Well, I've told you enough for today, but there are some things you'd better never know, it's not a pleasant experience, and I have to tell you again that only cowards submit to death, Randolph, I hope you won't disappoint me." He walked beside me, and there was something warning in his tone, which also meant he was tired of the subject, about my mother, but I had I have a hunch, there seems to be something in it that he can escape from, but unfortunately, I have no way of knowing.

"I understand."

"Very well, I hope you really understand." Then he seemed to suddenly remember something, "By the way, I recently gave Draco a task. If necessary, I need you to keep an eye on him for me at all times." on."

"Draco?" I seem to have not seen him for a long time, and in my perception he is far less tenacious than the man named Harry Potter, "What can he accomplish?"

"You will know." The meaning of the father's smile is unclear.

Coincidentally, I ran into Narcissa just after I got out of my father's place. Since Lucius was arrested, she has been doing badly, with deep sadness on her face.

She seemed to be waiting for me deliberately, but after seeing me, she hesitated to speak repeatedly, but she still didn't say anything.Finally, before she left, she finally decided to slip me an invisible note, "Please, for Daisy's sake."

At that time, the chest seemed to be hit instantly, and there was a little pain in that place.

Merlin, what's wrong with me?

The author has something to say:

From here, the basket will continue to walk in the dark, and he will lose those youthful agitation. Although Lao Fuyong has forgotten all about it, Daisy will always be the warm sunshine in the basket's heart.