Dumbledore stood there in a daze for quite a while before finally saying, "Oh, that must be Gemini. He's an idiot, but he doesn't like admitting it. He writes back to every wizard who submits a paper just to insult them..."
"Unless the paper was written by a famous wizard—or, at least, recommended by one..."
"Heh." Murphy sneered. That really did fit wizarding tradition.
"Don't worry, I'll write you a letter of recommendation," Dumbledore said. "Wisdom like this shouldn't be buried."
"Thank you, Professor," Murphy said.
The two of them walked a little farther and arrived beside a reef near the outer wall of the castle.
Murphy was still wondering how to ask Dumbledore to lend him the Philosopher's Stone when Dumbledore suddenly stopped.
Murphy saw his gaze fixed on a stretch of cliff near the castle, as if he had fallen into thought. "Professor? What's wrong?"
"I remember there being a Crying-Face Tree here, but it's gone," Dumbledore said.
"A Crying-Face Tree?"
"It was an apple tree, growing right in these cracks in the cliff. There were several knots on its trunk that grew in a very strange way, making it look like a grieving old man. And it was said to have been enchanted—every year, among the fruit it bore, there would always be one green apple that was highly poisonous."
"There was once a fellow who wanted to stop me from taking my exams and put a green apple on my plate. Unfortunately for him, it was only an ordinary unripe fruit. I still remember the taste of that apple. It was terribly sour and astringent. How strange—when did it disappear?"
Murphy was stunned. "You wouldn't be talking about when you were at school, would you? How long has it been since you came here?"
Dumbledore fell