分节阅读149
ore than fair —”
”now, now, not fast, or i’ll thk you39re only here for y trkets!” pouted hepzibah
”i a ordered here becae of the,” said voldeort ietly ”i a only a poor assistant, ada, who t do as he is told r burke wishes to ire —”
”oh, r burke, phooey!” said hepzibah, wavg a little hand ”i39ve thg to show you that i39ve never shown r burke! can you keep a secret, to? will you proise you won39t tell r burke i39ve got it? he39d never let rest if he knew i39d shown it to you, and i39 not sellg, not to burke, not to anyone! but you, to, you39ll appreciate it for its history, not how any galleons you can t for it”
”i39d be gd to see anythg iss hepzibah shows ,” said voldeort ietly, and hepzibah gave another girlish le
”i had hokey
g it out for hokey, where are you? i want to show r riddle our fest treasure fact,
g both, while you39re at it ”
”here, ada,” seaked the hoe-elf, and harry saw o leather boxes, one on of the other, ovg across the roo as if of their own volition, though he knew the ty elf was holdg the over her head as she wended her way beeen tables, pouffes, and footstools
”now,” said hepzibah happily, takg the boxes fro the elf, yg the her p, and preparg to open the ost one, ”i thk you39ll like this, to oh, if y faily knew i was shog you they can39t wait to t their hands on this!”
she opened the lid harry edd forward a little to t a better view and saw what looked like a sall golden cup with o fely wrought handles
”i wonder whether you know what it is, to? pick it up, have a good look!” whispered hepzibah, and voldeort stretched out a long-fred hand and lifted the cup by one handle out of its snug silken wrappgs harry thought he saw a red glea his dark eyes his greedy expression was curioly irrored on hepzibah’s face, except that her ty eyes were fixed upon voldeort39s hand features
”a badr,” urured voldeort, exag the engravg upon the cup ”then this was ?”
”helga hufflepuff 39s, as you very well know, you clever boy!” said hepzibah, leang forward with a loud creakg of rsets and actually pchg his hollow cheek ”didn39t i tell you i was distantly descended? this has been handed down the faily for years and years lovely, isn39t it? and all rts of powers it39s supposed to possess too, but i haven39t tested the thoroughly, i jt keep it nice and safe here ”
she hooked the cup back off voldeort39s long forefr and restored it ntly to its box, too tent upon settlg it carefully back to position to notice the shadow that crossed voldeort39s face as the cup was taken away
”now then,” said hepzibah happily, ”where’s hokey? oh yes, there you are — take that away now, hokey”
the elf obediently took the boxed cup, and hepzibah turned her attention to the uch ftter box her p
”i thk you39ll like this even ore, to,” she whispered ”lean a little, dear boy, you can see of urse, burke knows i39ve got this one, i bought it fro hi, and i daresay he39d love to t it back when i39 gone ”
she slid back the fe filigree csp and flipped open the box there upon the sooth crin velvet y a heavy golden locket
voldeort reached out his hand, without vitation this ti, and held it up to the light, starg at it
”slyther39s ark,” he said ietly, as the light pyed upon an ornate, serpente s
”that39s right!” said hepzibah, delighted, apparently, at the sight of voldeort gazg at her locket, transfixed ”i had to pay an ar and a leg for it, but i uldn39t let it pass, not a real treasure like that, had to have it for y llection burke bought it, apparently, fro a ed-lookg woan who seed to have stolen it, but had no idea of its true vae —”
there was no istakg it this ti: voldeort39s eyes fshed scarlet at the words, and harry saw his knuckles whiten on the locket39s cha
”— i daresay burke paid her a pittance but there you are pretty, isn39t it? and aga, all kds of powers attributed to it, though i jt keep it nice and safe ”
she reached out to take the locket back for a ont, harry thought voldeort was no