The Potions Master's Daughter (Book Five)

Chapter 34

A week later and neither House Elf had any news to offer us. We had another apparition class that Saturday which hardly went any better than the first one had.

Sunday evening I was sitting on the couch playing Wizard's Chess with Neville when harry came through the portal with Ginny, "Jessica, Dumbledore just stopped me in the hallway to tell me that I should come get you and go to his office for another meeting."

I nodded and stood up, "We have to finish this game later Neville, I want to finally beat you."

He laughed and pointed at the oard, "I'm two moves from beating you Jess, I don't think this is your time."

SHaking my head and laughing I followed Harry to Dumbledore's office. Once we came in and I saw the pensieve I tried to not groan. I didn't understand what good any of these memories were going to do for us. I was also confused about why I was taking these lessons with Dumbledore with Harry, Instead of just harry. Harry was, afterall, the one that would need to defeat Voldemort, not me.

"Have you gotten any closer to obtaining that memory?" Dumbledore asked Harry, though I suspected he knew the answer already.

Harry looked down ashamed, "No. I tried to ask him once and he got angry. THen I was going to ask him again and Hermione got poisoned and..."

"I had hoped that since it has been sometime since that happened you would've gotten back to your task at hand. It is of the most importance that you get that memory. After I show you the memories I have tonight, it won't make sense to show you any more until we get that memory from Horace."

DUmbledore was very good at making people feel awful without actually telling or saying he was upset. I could tell by the way Harry was fidgeting with his hands and refused to meet Dumbledore's eyes that he was mad at himself for not being able to get the memory, and focus on the important task Dumbledore had set for him.

"I'll try harder," he mumbled.

"Well then that's enough on that. I hope you remember where we left off last with our trip into the memories about Tom Riddle. Now we enter the world of guesswork and my own personal speculation. It is very hard to see what happened to TOm following his time at Hogwarts. He of course graduated with all the highest marks and honors, and everyone expected him to pursue a field that he would excel in, but instead he went to work at Borgin and Burkes."

"Why would he ever want to do that?" Harry questioned.

"Well this was not his first choice. Although it is not widely known, he first approached the Headmaster of the time, Dippet to see if he could stay here at Hogwarts but there were no positions open."

"Why?" I asked.

"I think part of it is that he thought of Hogwarts as his only home and never wanted to leave it. The orphanage was no home to him, and he had grown attached to this school ar more tha nhe allowed himself to get attached to any student or teacher here. I think the other part of it is that Hogwarts is an immensely old school with powerful magic at its very core. I would assume Tom found out about many of its secrets that other do not know about, and wanted to stay behind and develop them further. Furthermore I believe that he would have a great influence on the young witches and wizards of the future and he could likely gain more of a following."

"What class did he want to teach?" asked Harry.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," replied Dumbledore.

"And he didn't get that. So, what did he do at Borgin and Burkes then?"

"Well at a shop like Borgin and Burkes that specializes in goods like the ones you've seen in the store. Soon Tom was being sent to encourage people to sell their goods. That's where this memory comes in. This is from the House Elf of a very old rich wizard Hephizab Smith."