"Why Borgin and Burkes?"
Sean asked, following along.
"Oh—didn't you know that?
Well, I think once we enter Hokey's memory, you'll see what that place held for him. But it wasn't Tom Riddle's first choice. At the time, almost no one knew it—I'm one of the few who heard it from the former Headmaster.
Tom Riddle first approached Professor Dippet and asked whether he might remain at Hogwarts as a teacher."
Dumbledore seemed to be waiting for something, but Sean didn't speak.
"Do you know what he wanted to teach?" Dumbledore took a sip of tea.
"Probably not Defence Against the Dark Arts," Sean said after a moment, offering a timely little joke.
Dumbledore laughed.
"I'm sure he had several reasons, though he told Dippet none of them," Dumbledore said.
"First—and this is important—Tom Riddle felt more for this school than he ever did for any person. Hogwarts was the happiest place he had ever known: the first place that felt like home to him, and the only one."
Sean blinked but didn't speak.
"Of course, if it were you, my boy, I'd be delighted to let you inherit Minerva's position.
Though if you mean to replace me, you'll have to find an old wizard a proper place to be first."
Dumbledore blinked too.
"Second: this castle is a stronghold of ancient magic. Tom Riddle undoubtedly uncovered more of its secrets than most students ever did, but he likely believed there were still mysteries unsolved—still treasures of magic to be unearthed.
Yet reality played him a small joke: the ones who truly possess treasure are always those who don't care about it."
Dumbledore shook his head.
"Third: as a teacher, he could exert enormous influence over young witches and wizards.
That idea may have come from Professor Slughorn—his favorite teacher, and the one he was closest to. Slughorn showed him just how much influence a teacher could wield.
I never believed Tom Riddle meant to spend his life at Hogwarts. I think he saw it as fertile ground for recruiting—he could raise himself an army, a following."
Sean could already guess where Dumbledore was going.
He found himself thinking of the largest club Hogwarts had ever seen.
His thoughts drifted into an odd picture—
Dumbledore standing in the Headmaster's office, facing him: "All right, Headmaster Green—when are you planning to overthrow me?"
Sean shook his head quickly and saw Dumbledore smiling in that peculiarly knowing way.
"An interesting thought…
After that, I felt deeply uneasy about Tom Riddle's choice.
I advised Armando not to hire him—I did not present the reasons I've just given you, because Professor Dippet liked Tom Riddle very much and believed wholeheartedly in his honesty—but I did not want Tom Riddle returning to this school, least of all in a position of authority.
Fortunately, Professor Dippet said that Riddle was only eighteen—too young—but that he would welcome an application in a few years, if Riddle still wished to teach by then."
Dumbledore went on.
"So he went to Borgin and Burkes," Sean said, always knowing how to carry a thread forward at just the right moment.
"Exactly. Tom Riddle went to Borgin and Burkes.
All the teachers who admired him said it was a pity—such a brilliant young wizard, reduced to a shop assistant.
But Tom Riddle was not merely an assistant. Polite, handsome, clever—he was soon entrusted with the sort of work only a shop like Borgin and Burkes could offer.
You know, Sean, they specialize in objects with… unusual properties. Tom Riddle was sent to persuade people to part with their treasures and sell them to the shop. And by all accounts, he was exceptionally good at it."
Dumbledore continued.
"Yes," Sean murmured.
Sean knew, of course: though Tom's soul-splitting would eventually hollow out his mind, at that point Tom was not yet Voldemort.
"Yes," Dumbledore said with a tired little smile.
"And now we ought to hear the memory of the house-elf Hokey. Her mistress was an elderly and very wealthy witch named Hepzibah Smith."
Dumbledore tapped a small vial with his wand; the stopper spun free. He poured the swirling memory into the Pensieve and said,
"Together, Sean?"
…
They spent a long time in Hokey's memory and learned that Tom Riddle murdered Hepzibah Smith—
and stole two of her most important possessions: a cup and a locket.
In the end, he pinned the entire crime on the house-elf Hokey.
"Hepzibah Smith is dead," Dumbledore said as he rose; Sean rose as well.
"The Ministry concluded that Hokey had accidentally put poison in her mistress's evening cocoa.
When Hokey was convicted, Hepzibah's family discovered that her two most precious treasures were missing."
There was a note of melancholy in Dumbledore's voice.
"It took the Ministry some time to be certain, because she had many secret hiding places and guarded her collection jealously.
And before they accepted that the cup and the locket were truly gone, that clerk from Borgin and Burkes—the young man who visited Hepzibah so often and knew exactly how to flatter her—had resigned and vanished.
Even his employer didn't know where he'd gone. Like everyone else, they were surprised. Tom Riddle disappeared for a long while."
"But you found something," Sean said with quiet certainty.
"Of course," Dumbledore smiled.
"You likely noticed: this time it was not revenge, but profit. He wanted those two remarkable objects the poor old woman showed him.
Just as he took possessions from other children in the orphanage—just as he stole his uncle's ring—this time he stole Hepzibah's cup and locket…
Shall we go for a walk?"
They left the castle and followed a path under gathering dusk.
Rain came as swiftly as their footsteps, and by the time they reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest it was falling steadily.
Hogwarts' windows glowed with lamplight as they walked.
When Hogwarts slept, there were always some who had to remain awake.
"I can't be certain which cave he used—but I believe it lies on a distant coast, in a cave I searched for for a very long time.
Do you remember that cave from the earlier memory—when Tom Riddle, during the orphanage's annual outing, frightened two of the boys there?"
Dumbledore stepped through the wet grass as he spoke.
Sean knew the information he'd been waiting for had finally arrived.
~~~
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