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

J.K. Rowling
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
ssor Dippet expected... but I have returned, nevertheless, to request again
what he once told me I was too young to have. I have come to you to ask
that you permit me to return to this castle, to teach. I think you must know
that I have seen and done much since I left this place. I could show and tell
your students things they can gain from no other wizard.”
Dumbledore considered Voldemort over the top of his own goblet for a
while before speaking.
“Yes, I certainly do know that you have seen and done much since leaving
us,” he said quietly. “Rumors of your doings have reached your old school,
Tom. I should be sorry to believe half of them.”
Voldemort’s expression remained impassive as he said, “Greatness inspires
envy, envy engenders spite, spite spawns lies. You must know this,
Dumbledore.”
“You call it ‘greatness,’ what you have been doing, do you?” asked Dumbledore
delicately.
“Certainly,” said Voldemort, and his eyes seemed to burn red. “I have
experimented; I have pushed the boundaries of magic further, perhaps, than
they have ever been pushed —”
“Of some kinds of magic,” Dumbledore corrected him quietly. “Of some.
Of others, you remain... forgive me... woefully ignorant.”
For the first time, Voldemort smiled. It was a taut leer, an evil thing, more
threatening than a look of rage.
“The old argument,” he said softly. “But nothing I have seen in the world
has supported your famous pronouncements that love is more powerful than
my kind of magic, Dumbledore.”
“Perhaps you have been looking in the wrong places,” suggested Dumbledore.
“Well, then, what better place to start my fresh researches than here, at
Hogwarts?” said Voldemort. “Will you let me return? Will you let me share
my knowledge with your students? I place myself and my talents at your
disposal. I am yours to command.”
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