[HP] Riddle's Spirit Behind

An old house near Little Hangleton Church was sold in mid-July.This incident became one of the most popular topics of discussion in the village.

The original owner of the old house was Mr. White, who was over seventy years old. He died of a stroke earlier this year.His two sons sold the old house he left for a low price, divided the money equally, and left.

People in the village are speculating about who bought the old house in disrepair, but no one has ever seen the buyer.

Soon, the old house was repaired by several foreign craftsmen, and the outer wall was painted with a layer of beautiful sky blue.The garden was cleared of weeds and planted with roses and lavender.

Some good-natured villagers poke around the house until they finally spot the mysterious new resident.

"A young girl, very young, maybe 20 years old at most," said Mrs. Vincent, who lived across from the old house.

"Who else but her?" asked a woman of Mrs. Vincent's age.

"I can see clearly that she lives by herself and no one else is with her." Mrs. Vincent said,

"This is really a rare thing. A young girl lives by herself." The tavern owner behind the counter said with a sigh while wiping his goblet.

Mrs. Vincent seemed delighted to have so many people listening to her.

"Isn't it?" She said after taking a swig of sherry, "I guess, she is a rich lady who ran away from home in all likelihood. I saw her order a few men to help her move the furniture the other day. Those furniture They are all brand new, and the price is high just by looking at the wood.”

"If you ask me, she is probably a young lady who escaped marriage." Another woman guessed without any basis.

In the end, none of them could draw a reliable and well-founded conclusion.

But the mystery was soon revealed.The news spread quickly, and almost everyone knew that the new resident was actually a distant relative of Lord White.

Her name is Rita Hamilton, she is 20 years old and unmarried.It is said that she originally lived in London and her parents died.Her father left her a considerable inheritance, enough to allow her to live affluently.

That's good news for bachelors in Little Hangleton.Even if Miss Hamilton was ugly it was enough to tempt some people, not to mention that according to Mrs. Vincent the lady was actually not bad looking.

But it's a pity that Miss Hamilton adhered to the principle of living in seclusion and rarely appeared in public places like the Hanged Ghost Tavern.

When all kinds of rumors about her were flying all over the sky, suddenly one day in August, a new shop opened in the village, specializing in selling some weird gadgets.The owner of the shop is none other than Miss Hamilton.

And this Miss Hamilton is Eleanor Alford back in Little Hangleton.

Using Cloris' hair and Polyjuice Potion, she transformed herself into Cloris's and returned to Little Hangleton.

But after returning here, she never wanted to leave again.Everything around her was so familiar, almost moved her to tears, because she once thought that she would never come back here again.

When she heard that White's old house was looking for a buyer, she immediately made up her mind to buy it, although it cost more than half of her deposit.By the way, her deposit was the money she got from selling the emerald.The gem was much more expensive than she had imagined, and she sold it in a Muggle shop for a fortune.

But after buying the house, she doesn't have much money left.She had to seem to make ends meet, so she opened a small shop selling eccentric knickknacks.She bought a lot of small non-magical things from Diagon Alley, such as rare wizard tobacco and candies.These gadgets are very popular with the locals.

Although Professor Mellors had repeatedly emphasized that she could no longer use a wand, she still kept the habit of keeping her wand with her.Thankfully, you don't need magic to get to Diagon Alley, just a wand.

Of course, she found some excuse to visit Uncle Tim.He was as good-natured as she remembered him, and he was engaged to Riddle's maid.

Unfortunately, she did not see another self.Because at this time, 16-year-old Eleanor was still studying in a church school, she could only go home at Christmas.

Her stock of Polyjuice Potion quickly ran out, so she had to continue to owl mail order the ingredients and then add the hair that Clauris sent her.

To save money, she only uses Polyjuice Potion when the store is open, and the rest of the time she keeps herself as she is.So she minimizes going out as much as possible, and only goes out once when shopping for food.

Such a dull life has passed for several months.

During this time, she had received several letters from Avery and Abraxas, which made her miss her life at Hogwarts.At the beginning, she occasionally took out the textbooks to look at them, but finally put them all in the bottom of the box and locked them up.

Seeing that Christmas is coming.

As the weather turned colder, Eleanor stopped making Polyjuice Potion because she felt the end of her life was drawing to a close.

It is impossible for her to live in someone else's appearance for the rest of her life.She knew it was time to leave Little Hangleton.

So in the second week after Halloween, she sold White's old house and store and got a lot of money, plus what she had saved during this period, it was enough for her for a long time.

Before leaving Little Hangleton, she did what she had always wanted to do, and that was to visit the Riddle House on the hillside.

She had always wanted to meet the family, to see old Tom Riddle for herself.

But when she saw that slightly old but handsome face appearing at the door, she flinched a little.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Riddle." Eleanor said hoarsely, with a smile on her face.

Old Tom Riddle looked at her with a frown, with a slightly arrogant expression on his face, and he looked exactly like someone.

Then the other party less enthusiastically invited her to stay for dinner.She politely declined, then turned to leave the mansion.

When she reached the door, Eleanor stopped suddenly.

"August next summer, you should go on vacation," she said, turning. "To Denver, or Scotland or something—just don't stay home, okay?"

Old Tom Riddle's eyes widened in surprise.

"You will appreciate my advice. Remember, don't stay at home in August." Eleanor said with a serious expression, to prove that she was not joking.

After saying this, she turned around and left in a hurry.

Eleanor then returned to London.She still clearly remembers the scene when she first came to this city.She still loves the place very much.Whether it's the bustling shopping street or the cars coming and going on the street, these make her very excited.

She found a cheap rental apartment to live in, and began planning to reopen a store.

The day after Christmas, she sent Avery, who lived in London, a letter inviting him to come and visit.At last she was pleasantly surprised to see that Cloris had come too.

Cloris hung the gorgeous purple woolen cloak in his hand on an old hanger, and then said a bit too exaggeratedly that Eleanor's room was too narrow and smelled like cats.

Eleanor happily hugged her tightly, "Great, I'm so glad you can come. I haven't had a good conversation with anyone in almost a month."

"I told Cloures because she lives in London." Avery whispered to Eleanor. "I didn't expect her to come with me. I hope you don't mind."

Eleanor shook her head with a smile.She looked at Avery and realized that he was much taller than he was half a year ago and looked more mature.

In addition, she also found some details.When Avery helped Cloures remove the leaves from the top of his head, a faint blush appeared on Cloures' cheeks.

"Oh, thanks," Cloures muttered, looking away.

Alas, Avery didn't notice any unnaturalness at all.

It seems that the two of them still have a long way to go, Eleanor thought to herself with a chuckle.

"It's a pity that Abraxas won't be here," Avery said over dinner. "He has to spend Christmas with his parents."

"It's a pity he can't eat such a delicious turkey." Eleanor said with a smile.

The three young men then ate almost all of the Christmas pudding.Avery listened to her with a silent smile as Cloures complained incessantly about her weight.Finally, Eleanor poured them a last Butterbeer - which Avery bought on purpose from The Three Broomsticks - and the three raised their glasses and wished each other a Merry Christmas with a smile before ending the meal with laughter .

After dinner, Cloris and Avery decided to leave.

Avery was the first to leave.Cloris waited for the carriage to meet her to appear at the door of the apartment.

Eleanor stood in the doorway, watching Cloris descend the steps.At the last moment, she finally couldn't help calling out to stop him.

"Clauris?"

Cloris turned his head and looked at Eleanor suspiciously.

Eleanor looked at her hesitantly, not understanding why she stopped her.

"Is everything still the same as before? I mean Hogwarts." Eleanor asked in a low voice.

"Of course it's still the same." Cloris replied, "But the fifth grade is about to prepare for the OWLs exam, so Avery and the others are very busy."

Eleanor said "Oh".

She was silent for a few seconds, then asked with mock indifference: "And Tom? Tom Riddle—is he still the same?"

Cloris opened his eyes slightly, "Yes, of course. He became a prefect, busier than before. And..."

Having said that, Cloris suddenly stopped talking.

"And what?"

"Nothing." Cloris replied.But Elinor felt that she must be lying.

Cloris stared into Eleanor's eyes for a while, then suddenly sighed.

"Good-bye, Eleanor," she said, and turned and got into the carriage.

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