Harry Potter 06 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

they still don’t know where you go?’ asked Harry, hoping for more information on this intriguing subject, but Dumbledore merely smiled over the top of his half-moon spectacles.
    ‘No, they don’t, and the time is not quite right for you to know, either. Now, I suggest we press on, unless there’s anything else –?’
    ‘There is, actually, sir,’ said Harry. ‘It’s about Malfoy and Snape.’
    ‘ Professor Snape, Harry.’
    ‘Yes, sir. I overheard them during Professor Slughorn’s party … well, I followed them, actually …’
    Dumbledore listened to Harry’s story with an impassive face. When Harry had finished he did not speak for a few moments, then said, ‘Thank you for telling me this, Harry, but I suggest that you put it out of your mind. I do not think that it is of great importance.’
    ‘Not of great importance?’ repeated Harry incredulously. ‘Professor, did you understand –?’
    ‘Yes, Harry, blessed as I am with extraordinary brainpower, I understood everything you told me,’ said Dumbledore, a little sharply. ‘I think you might even consider the possibility that I understood more than you did. Again, I am glad that you have confided in me, but let me reassure you that you have not told me anything that causes me disquiet.’
    Harry sat in seething silence, glaring at Dumbledore. What was going on? Did this mean that Dumbledore had indeed ordered Snape to find out what Malfoy was doing, in which case he had already heard everything Harry had just told him from Snape? Or was he really worried by what he had heard, but pretending not to be?
    ‘So, sir,’ said Harry, in what he hoped was a polite, calm voice, ‘you definitely still trust –?’
    ‘I have been tolerant enough to answer that question already,’ said Dumbledore, but he did not sound very tolerant any more. ‘My answer has not changed.’
    ‘I should think not,’ said a snide voice; Phineas Nigellus was evidently only pretending to be asleep. Dumbledore ignored him.
    ‘And now, Harry, I must insist that we press on. I have more important things to discuss with you this evening.’
    Harry sat there feeling mutinous. How would it be if he refused to permit the change of subject, if he insisted upon arguing the case against Malfoy? As though he had read Harry’s mind, Dumbledore shook his head.
    ‘Ah, Harry, how often this happens, even between the best of friends! Each of us believes that what he has to say is much more important than anything the other might have to contribute!’
    ‘I don’t think what you’ve got to say is unimportant, sir,’ said Harry stiffly.
    ‘Well, you are quite right, because it is not,’ said Dumbledore briskly. ‘I have two more memories to show you this evening, both obtained with enormous difficulty, and the second of them is, I think, the most important I have collected.’
    Harry did not say anything to this; he still felt angry at the reception his confidences had received, but could not see what was to be gained by arguing further.
    ‘So,’ said Dumbledore, in a ringing voice, ‘we meet this evening to continue the tale of Tom Riddle, whom we left last lesson poised on the threshold of his years at Hogwarts. You will remember how excited he was to hear that he was a wizard, that he refused my company on a trip to Diagon Alley and that I, in turn, warned him against continued thievery when he arrived at school.
    ‘Well, the start of the school year arrived and with it came Tom Riddle, a quiet boy in his second-hand robes, who lined up with the other first-years to be Sorted. He was placed in Slytherin house almost the moment that the Sorting Hat touched his head,’ continued Dumbledore, waving his blackened hand towards the shelf over his head where the Sorting Hat sat, ancient and unmoving. ‘How soon Riddle learned that the famous founder of the house could talk to snakes, I do not know – perhaps that very evening. The knowledge can only have excited him and increased his sense of self-importance.
    ‘However, if he was frightening or impressing fellow Slytherins with displays of Parseltongue in their common room, no hint of it reached the staff. He showed no sign of outward arrogance or aggression at all. As an unusually talented and very good-looking orphan, he naturally drew attention and sympathy from the staff almost from the moment of his arrival. He seemed polite, quiet and thirsty for knowledge. Nearly all were most favourably impressed by