Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
on his perch, and there behind the desk was Dumbledore, who looked very
similar to the Dumbledore standing beside Harry, though both hands were
whole and undamaged and his face was, perhaps, a little less lined. The one
difference between the present-day office and this one was that it was
snowing in the past; bluish flecks were drifting past the window in the dark
and building up on the outside ledge.
The younger Dumbledore seemed to be waiting for something, and sure
enough, moments after their arrival, there was a knock on the door and he
said, “Enter.”
Harry let out a hastily stifled gasp. Voldemort had entered the room. His
features were not those Harry had seen emerge from the great stone cauldron
almost two years ago: They were not as snakelike, the eyes were not
yet scarlet, the face not yet masklike, and yet he was no longer handsome
Tom Riddle. It was as though his features had been burned and blurred; they
were waxy and oddly distorted, and the whites of the eyes now had a permanently
bloody look, though the pupils were not yet the slits that Harry
knew they would become. He was wearing a long black cloak, and his face
was as pale as the snow glistening on his shoulders.
The Dumbledore behind the desk showed no sign of surprise. Evidently
this visit had been made by appointment.
“Good evening, Tom,” said Dumbledore easily. “Won’t you sit down?”
“Thank you,” said Voldemort, and he took the seat to which Dumbledore
had gestured — the very seat, by the looks of it, that Harry had just vacated
in the present. “I heard that you had become headmaster,” he said, and his
voice was slightly higher and colder than it had been. “A worthy choice.”
“I am glad you approve,” said Dumbledore, smiling. “May I offer you a
drink?”
“That would be welcome,” said Voldemort. “I have come a long way.”
Dumbledore stood and swept over to the cabinet where he now kept the
Pensieve, but which then was full of bottles. Having handed Voldemort
a goblet of wine and poured one for himself, he returned to the seat behind
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