The news that Crabbe had been sentenced to death and executed did not stir up much discussion at Hogwarts.
The Young Wizards at Hogwarts were basically unfazed by this news; after all, they were Death Eaters, so it was no surprise how they were dealt with.
Meanwhile, three days after the first Hogsmeade trip of the school year, Harry was summoned to the Headmasters Office by Headmaster Dumbledore again.
This time, he saw what happened after Voldemort was born.
"Some of these memories are mine," Headmaster Dumbledore said while pouring white mist into the pensieve, "and some belong to the head of a Muggle orphanage."
"They record some things about Voldemort as a child, up until he was accepted into Hogwarts."
Harry stood opposite him and nodded, watching the white mist gradually spreading in the pensieve with some nervousness.
Some things about Voldemort as a child... what would the most terrifying Dark Lord in the modern British Wizarding World look like as a child?
Harry couldn't help but start imagining, conjuring up an image with fangs, pale skin, just like a Vampire.
Voldemort looking like a Vampire—Harry couldn't help but be amused by his own imagination.
Headmaster Dumbledore looked up at Harry in confusion. His gaze held no condemnation for Harry's sudden laughter, but was instead filled with curiosity.
"Sorry, Professor," Harry said, trying to hold back his laughter, "I was just thinking... pfft... what Voldemort looked like as a child, whether he was pale, with snake-like eyes and fangs, just like a Vampire."
Listening to Harry's description, Headmaster Dumbledore blinked, "The image you described is closer to what he is like now, Harry."
"You must know that his current appearance is the result of many dangerous Dark Arts transformations and his resurrection."
"If we are talking about Voldemort as a child," Headmaster Dumbledore seemed to be recalling something, stroking his white beard, "truth be told, he was a very cute and somewhat handsome child."
"Sorry, Professor, cute? Handsome?" Harry paused, repeating Headmaster Dumbledore's assessment of Voldemort's childhood appearance.
He had never seen Voldemort as a child or in his youth.
All he had ever seen was Voldemort on the back of Quirrell's head, and Voldemort after his resurrection, so it was really hard to imagine that Voldemort, who grew up to look like that, could ever have been cute or handsome.
"Yes, it is hard to imagine," Headmaster Dumbledore shrugged, "but I think this also tells us to never judge a book by its cover."
"Alright, enough small talk," Headmaster Dumbledore said, rising cheerfully after pouring all the white mist into the pensieve, "let us begin tonight's journey through memory."
With that, he and Harry entered the pensieve together.
Nearly an hour later, back in the Headmasters Office, Harry felt as if his worldview had been reconstructed.
It wasn't because he was shocked that Voldemort had been insidious and vicious from a young age—he had expected that—he was shocked that Voldemort had actually been, really, cute?!
This was just too incredible! Perhaps his surprise was too obvious; Headmaster Dumbledore watched this scene with a chuckle, saying kindly, "Don't pay too much attention to these aspects, Harry. No matter how Voldemort's appearance changes, his rotten, dark interior is obvious and unchanging."
"I understand, Professor," Harry swallowed, his face twisting for a moment, "I just don't understand, why did Voldemort, why..."
"Why did he turn himself into that?" Headmaster Dumbledore clasped his hands, twiddling his thumbs, not minding chatting with his student a bit longer.
"Yes." Harry nodded. Didn't people usually want to be more handsome or beautiful? Why did it change when it came to Voldemort?
"Perhaps it is because, compared to being good-looking and liked by the world, Voldemort preferred to have his appearance match his name—to make others feel afraid just by appearing before them."
"Heh," Harry sneered, "I don't think his name or appearance is scary, I just think his appearance is ridiculous."
Just think about it: a big white face with no nose and no hair, plus a pair of small, red snake eyes. What a niche aesthetic. I wonder what his ancestor, Mr. Salazar Slytherin, would think if he saw it.
After politely saying goodnight to Headmaster Dumbledore, Harry turned and walked out of the Headmasters Office. After class the next day, the seven of them, including Amanda, gathered in the Room of Requirement once again.
Unlike last time, after hearing from Harry that he had seen Voldemort as a child this time, everyone unanimously agreed to go to the Headmasters Office to borrow the pensieve from Headmaster Dumbledore to watch it.
Voldemort as a child, the Dark Lord as a child—who wouldn't be curious?
However, just as they finished speaking, a pensieve appeared out of thin air on the coffee table in the middle of the sofas where they were sitting.
"It seems the Room of Requirement even has a pensieve." Amanda stepped forward to carefully examine the pensieve, and after confirming it could be used normally, she nodded to the others present.
"Um, how do I extract the memory?" Harry looked at Amanda hesitantly, "I don't know how."
"Let me do it," Hermione said, drawing her wand and walking over to Harry, "Recall what you saw last night in your mind."
"Okay." Harry replied, closing his eyes to recall everything he had seen last night in his mind.
Hermione pressed the tip of her wand against Harry's temple, then slowly pulled her wand back, and a silver-white thread-like substance was pulled out.
"That's it."
Only after extracting the entire silver-white thread did Hermione remind Harry, while placing the silver-white thread into the pensieve.
The pensieve was instantly filled with silver-white mist.
"Hermione is amazing." Amanda reached out to hug Hermione and said softly, giving Hermione plenty of emotional validation.
"That goes without saying. How could I be with my darling if I weren't amazing?"
Hermione laughed happily and turned to kiss Amanda's lips.
The two boys present averted their eyes with practiced ease, while the three upperclassmen exchanged glances and shook their heads with a mix of gratification and helplessness.
"Come on, everyone," Amanda drew her wand and waved it gently at the pensieve, making it larger so it was convenient for all seven of them to use at once, "let's go see things about Voldemort as a child."
The seven of them entered the pensieve simultaneously. Amanda looked up at the scene before her: Wool's Orphanage, which was the place she had previously discovered where Voldemort grew up.
Unfortunately, when she tried to dig deeper, she discovered that this orphanage had already been closed down due to reasons such as illegal operations.
And now, before them, Headmaster Dumbledore, looking slightly younger than he was now, was walking slowly into Wool's Orphanage.
They hadn't seen Voldemort as a child yet, but they had seen a younger Headmaster Dumbledore. Amanda blinked; Headmaster Dumbledore at this time should be... in his fifties or sixties?
His entire state and demeanor were indeed very different from now; he was more assertive and more imposing.
Holding Hermione's hand, Amanda turned to smile at her, and then the two walked into Wool's Orphanage together.
Scanning the interior of Wool's Orphanage, Amanda almost immediately noticed the faint bloodstains at the base of the wall and the oddity in the body language of the children around.
There was extremely serious fighting, or rather, bullying, in this orphanage. In just a single moment, Amanda reached this conclusion.
Such an environment for growing up was indeed terrible, but this was not a reason for Voldemort to transform into the ruthless, extremely tyrannical Dark Lord he was today. Amanda felt she was qualified to say this, and likewise, so was Harry.
"The children here feel weird to me." Marietta Eckmore looked at the girl who had just brushed past Headmaster Dumbledore and couldn't help but raise her hand to rub her arm.
Merlin above, the other person was clearly just a little girl who looked no more than twelve or thirteen, so why did she feel creeped out? It must be because this was the orphanage where Voldemort grew up, and she had been scared by him. Yes, that must be it.
"The children here are basically not innocent," Amanda sighed, pointing to the corner and the little girl who had just walked by, "The bloodstains in the corner prove that fighting and such things happen frequently in this orphanage. The little girl who just walked by had an unnatural walking posture; you can tell she has an injury on her leg."
"The funding for this orphanage was not sufficient when it was still in operation, and combined with some management issues, the children here," Amanda paused slightly, "if they were as innocent as normal children, they probably wouldn't survive."
"Of course, this is not a legitimate reason for Voldemort to become the Dark Lord and treat others cruelly."
"Don't worry, Amanda," Penelope looked at the others present and shrugged, "I don't think anyone among the seven of us will sympathize with Voldemort."
"I agree, and I don't think Voldemort needs anyone's sympathy either."
Harry added silently from the side. The seven Young Wizards followed Headmaster Dumbledore into the orphanage director's office, and the director's subsequent words effectively proved Harry's point.
When Headmaster Dumbledore proposed taking Voldemort, who was then still called Tom Riddle, to Hogwarts for school, the orphanage director showed a troubled expression.
Of course, Amanda also saw a hint of relief on the face of this half-drunk woman at finally being able to get rid of trouble. It seemed Voldemort had indeed done many things in this orphanage that were more serious than fighting.
In the director's subsequent account, Amanda's speculation was confirmed. According to the director, Voldemort had once tortured and killed another child's pet, a little rabbit, which had caused that child considerable shock and sadness.
Listening to the director, the Young Wizards, including Amanda, couldn't help but frown. Even though Harry had already seen it once, he couldn't help but do the same.
Based on his age, when he was not yet eleven, Voldemort had already learned to wield a knife against those weaker than himself and had developed a cruel personality.
This could no longer be explained by the poor environment of the orphanage; this was definitely because Voldemort himself had a predisposition in this regard. This was his own choice.
Of course, the things Voldemort had done went far beyond this. He had once lured two children away to who knows where and did something to them; after they returned, the two children were so terrified that they had almost lost their sanity.
"He really is..." Ron muttered, his face looking unpleasant, "he had the shadow of the Dark Lord from a young age."
"It's quite obvious that the Dark Lord isn't made in a day, is he?" Harry replied gloomily.
After a brief stay and watching Headmaster Dumbledore cast a Confundo on the director, and being led by her to Voldemort's room, the six Young Wizards other than Harry finally saw Voldemort as a child for the first time.
"On the surface, he is indeed quite cute," Amanda evaluated fairly, "but from his facial micro-expressions and eyes, it can be seen that Voldemort already possesses a certain degree of tyrannical personality and antisocial personality disorder. The danger level is relatively high. If it were me, I would suggest sending him to a special school for appropriate discipline."
Voldemort's current situation was obviously no longer suitable for staying in the orphanage, nor was it suitable for entering a general school, even if that school was Hogwarts.
Unfortunately, while Amanda could easily analyze this now, back in that era, no one could notice, or rather, care about this point.
Next, the director left the room, leaving only Headmaster Dumbledore and the young Voldemort in the room together.
When Headmaster Dumbledore introduced himself and briefly explained things about magic, Amanda clearly saw Voldemort's expression loosen. The coldness on his face decreased, replaced by a faint excitement—an excitement of having found his own kind.
However, it was clear that even the young Voldemort was not that easy to persuade. He stared intently at Headmaster Dumbledore, seemingly judging whether the person was really a Wizard or someone from a mental hospital coming to take him away.
"You say you are a Wizard, prove it to me."
Headmaster Dumbledore nodded slightly and waved his wand gently. Voldemort's wardrobe instantly burst into flames, and at the same time, the wardrobe door kept making thumping sounds.
"There are things in here that do not belong to you."
"There are things in here that do not belong to Voldemort." Amanda and Headmaster Dumbledore's words sounded at the same time. Meeting the gazes of the other six people, Amanda pointed to the burning wardrobe.
"A harmless but scary flame spell, plus a clever spell that can return items to their owners, can create this effect."
"And the thumping sound coming from the wardrobe door just proves that there are things in this cabinet that do not belong to Voldemort."
"Stop! I told you to stop!" Voldemort said anxiously to Headmaster Dumbledore. Everything in there was something he had collected; it belonged to him!
"There are things in here that do not belong to you, Mr. Riddle. Hogwarts does not allow thieving students to enroll, so you had better return them."
Headmaster Dumbledore said, his sharp blue eyes staring intently at Voldemort.
"I will, Professor Dumbledore," Voldemort lowered his head and replied, appearing obedient, "I'm sorry, I know I was wrong."
Hearing Voldemort apologize, the seven Young Wizards present were all disgusted.
Amanda rubbed her chest, and after suppressing that feeling of nausea, she couldn't help but sigh silently. Voldemort really knew how to disguise himself from a young age. This acting... if she hadn't been able to analyze his actual thoughts from his body's micro-movements, she would have believed he was admitting his mistake.
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