The Secret Riddle (HBP)
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The Secret Riddle is the thirteenth chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Contents |
Katie
Katie Bell is taken to St. Mungo's after the cursed necklace incident (HBP12). News of what happened quickly spread around Hogwarts, but only Harry, Ron, Hermione and Leanne know that the Gryffindor Chaser was not the intended target. When Harry attempts to point out that Draco certainly knows as well, his two best friends ignore him, as usual.
On Monday night, Harry goes to the Headmaster's office for his lesson. Dumbledore looks tired, and informs the boy that Katie was lucky to have touched the necklace only via a small hole in her glove; had she worn it, she would have died. Snape acted quickly enough to prevent the curse from spreading. Harry questions why Snape did it, and not Madam Pomfrey ("Impertinent," says the painting of Phineas Nigellus Black. "I would not have permitted a student to question the way Hogwarts operated in my day."), and Albus replies that Snape knows much more about the Dark Arts than Poppy Pomfrey.
Harry mentions that he met Mundungus Fletcher in Hogsmeade. Dumbledore already knows this (he was probably informed by Aberforth), and affirms that Dung will nick no more Black heirlooms. The man has, in fact, been hiding from Albus out of fear. Phineas is incensed to hear that the half-blood has been stealing his family possessions, and stalks off to number twelve, Grimmauld Place. The Headmaster reassures Harry that he will look into his suspicions of Draco's involvement in the opal necklace incident.
Merope
Dumbledore last left the tale of Merope and Tom Riddle, Sr. at the point where the Muggle abandoned his witch wife and returned to his parents' house in Little Hangleton (HBP10). Merope, already expecting her child, was left in London. Caractacus Burke, one of the founders of Borgin and Burkes, told Dumbledore that a very pregnant and ragged-looking witch had shown up at his shop shortly before Christmas. She needed gold badly, and offered Salazar Slytherin's locket in exchange; a few simple spells confirmed the veracity of the artefact. The item was priceless, but Merope accepted ten Galleons for it.
Harry wonders why Merope didn't use magic to obtain food, and Albus states that his best guess is that she stopped using magic when her husband left the house. It is also possible that despair caused her to lose her powers. In any case, she did not raise her wand even to save her own life. When Harry notes that she, unlike Lily, had a choice, Dumbledore says, "Your mother had a choice, too. Yes, Merope Riddle chose death in spite of a son who needed her, but do not judge her too harshly, Harry. She was greatly weakened by long suffering and she never had your mother's courage."
Mrs. Cole
The two wizards enter the Pensieve. They are now in an old-fashioned London street. Young Albus, with auburn hair and beard and wearing a plum velvet suit, enters a courtyard and reaches a square building surrounded b high railings. A bewildered-looking girl stares at Dumbledore's appearance and, at his request, calls Mrs. Cole, the matron of the place. The skinny, anxious-looking Muggle is talking to another aproned helper when the Headmaster approaches ("...and take the iodine upstairs to Martha, Billy Stubbs has been picking his scabs and Eric Whalley's oozing all over his sheets — chicken pox on top of everything else.")
Mrs. Cole is stunned by Albus' appearance, and invites him to her room. He announces that he has come to offer young Tom a place in his school. When she starts asking too many questions, Dumbledore performs a charm on a blank piece of paper ("Here, I think this will make everything clear."); her eyes slide out of focus for a moment when she looks at it, and then she is satisfied with the answers he has provided. Meanwhile, Dumbledore conjures a bottle of gin and two glasses, and she offers him a drink.
She happily drinks her first shot, and Albus takes advantage of the situation to ask more about Tom. She reminisces that the boy's mother had staggered to the front steps of the place on New Year's Eve; she had the baby within an hour, and was dead an hour after that. Before dying, Merope said that she hoped her child would resemble his father—she was not beautiful—, and stated that the boy's name would be Tom (after his father) Marvolo (after her father) Riddle. No relatives ever came looking for the kid.
After drinking some more, Mrs. Cole confides that Tom is a "funny boy"—odd, even. As a baby, he hardly ever cried. When she is assured that nothing she says will change Dumbledore's resolution to bring the boy to Hogwarts, she explains that he frightens the other children. There have been incidents, even though no one could ever catch him doing anythng wrong:
- Tom argued with Billy Stubbs; the following day, Billy's rabbit showed up hanging from the rafters;
- On a summer outing to the countryside, Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop entered a cave with Tom (he claims they were just exploring), and were never the same again.
Albus points out that the boy will have to return there every summer. She offers to introduce him to Tom.
Tom
They leave the office. The orphans all wear greyish tunics, and look well-cared-for, but Harry realises that this is a grim place to live. She knocks at the first door in a long corridor, and they all enter a small, bare room with a bed, a wardrobe and an iron bedstead. Tom is inside, looking tall for an eleven-year-old, and very much like his father.
At first, Riddle suspects that Dumbledore is a doctor come to examine him. Tom orders Albus to tell him the truth, in a commanding tone with such force that it shocks Harry. When the Headmaster does nothing but keep on smiling, the boy stops glaring, and looks even warier.
This chapter summary is not done yet. Please be patient.
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