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

say can change that?’
    ‘Nothing,’ said Dumbledore.
    ‘You’ll be taking him away, whatever?’
    ‘Whatever,’ repeated Dumbledore gravely.
    She squinted at him as though deciding whether or not to trust him. Apparently she decided she could, because she said in a sudden rush, ‘He scares the other children.’
    ‘You mean he is a bully?’ asked Dumbledore.
    ‘I think he must be,’ said Mrs Cole, frowning slightly, ‘but it’s very hard to catch him at it. There have been incidents … nasty things …’
    Dumbledore did not press her, though Harry could tell that he was interested. She took yet another gulp of gin and her rosy cheeks grew rosier still.
    ‘Billy Stubbs’s rabbit … well, Tom said he didn’t do it and I don’t see how he could have done, but even so, it didn’t hang itself from the rafters, did it?’
    ‘I shouldn’t think so, no,’ said Dumbledore quietly.
    ‘But I’m jiggered if I know how he got up there to do it. All I know is he and Billy had argued the day before. And then –’ Mrs Cole took another swig of gin, slopping a little over her chin this time, ‘on the summer outing – we take them out, you know, once a year, to the countryside or to the seaside – well, Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop were never quite right afterwards, and all we ever got out of them was that they’d gone into a cave with Tom Riddle. He swore they’d just gone exploring, but something happened in there, I’m sure of it. And, well, there have been a lot of things, funny things …’
    She looked at Dumbledore again, and though her cheeks were flushed, her gaze was steady.
    ‘I don’t think many people will be sorry to see the back of him.’
    ‘You understand, I’m sure, that we will not be keeping him permanently?’ said Dumbledore. ‘He will have to return here, at the very least, every summer.’
    ‘Oh, well, that’s better than a whack on the nose with a rusty poker,’ said Mrs Cole with a slight hiccough. She got to her feet and Harry was impressed to see that she was quite steady, even though two-thirds of the gin was now gone. ‘I suppose you’d like to see him?’
    ‘Very much,’ said Dumbledore, rising too.
    She led him out of her office and up the stone stairs, calling out instructions and admonitions to helpers and children as she passed. The orphans, Harry saw, were all wearing the same kind of greyish tunic. They looked reasonably well-cared-for, but there was no denying that this was a grim place in which to grow up.
    ‘Here we are,’ said Mrs Cole, as they turned off the second landing and stopped outside the first door in a long corridor. She knocked twice and entered.
    ‘Tom? You’ve got a visitor. This is Mr Dumberton – sorry, Dunderbore. He’s come to tell you – well, I’ll let him do it.’
    Harry and the two Dumbledores entered the room and Mrs Cole closed the door on them. It was a small bare room with nothing in it except an old wardrobe, a wooden chair and an iron bedstead. A boy was sitting on top of the grey blankets, his legs stretched out in front of him, holding a book.
    There was no trace of the Gaunts in Tom Riddle’s face. Merope had got her dying wish: he was his handsome father in miniature, tall for eleven years old, dark-haired and pale. His eyes narrowed slightly as he took in Dumbledore’s eccentric appearance. There was a moment’s silence.
    ‘How do you do, Tom?’ said Dumbledore, walking forwards and holding out his hand.
    The boy hesitated, then took it, and they shook hands. Dumbledore drew up the hard wooden chair beside Riddle, so that the pair of them looked rather like a hospital patient and visitor.
    ‘I am Professor Dumbledore.’
    ‘“Professor”?’ repeated Riddle. He looked wary. ‘Is that like “doctor”? What are you here for? Did she get you in to have a look at me?’
    He was pointing at the door through which Mrs Cole had just left.
    ‘No, no,’ said Dumbledore, smiling.
    ‘I don’t believe you,’ said Riddle. ‘She wants me looked at, doesn’t she? Tell the truth!’
    He spoke the last three words with a ringing force that was almost shocking. It was a command, and it sounded as though he had given it many times before. His eyes had widened and he was glaring at Dumbledore, who made no response except to continue smiling pleasantly. After a few seconds Riddle stopped glaring, though he looked, if anything, warier still.
    ‘Who are you?’
    ‘I have told you. My name is Professor