"Hmm.. hm.. hmm. Hmm.. hm, hmm~~~"
Wade was dressed in travel clothes, carrying his suitcase as he quickly came down the stairs.
He took the hat from Toby's hands and put it on, then rested his hand on the table, letting Nagini slither up onto his arm.
"Toby, I'll be away from home for a while. I'm leaving the house in your care," Wade instructed.
"Young Master Wade, don't worry about a thing. You can travel at ease; I'll take good care of the house!" Toby squeaked.
"Good... Tomcat, while I'm gone, don't cause trouble, alright? Be good and listen to Toby," Wade said, turning toward the fireplace.
But just as he picked up a handful of Floo Powder, he suddenly paused and added, "Also... you can read any book in my study. I know you're literate."
Maybe it was because some remnants of the senior's consciousness lingered when she possessed Tomcat, but it really could read.
"Meow~!! Sob.." Tomcat nodded repeatedly, waving a white handkerchief in the air as if dramatically bidding farewell.
Then it pretended to wipe away tears.
Wade shook his head. This guy was probably eager for him to leave so he could go back and sleep all day.
Still, he didn't push it. No matter how smart Tomcat was, it was still a cat. Just because it behaved like a human didn't mean it should be held to human standards.
"Hiss hiss hiss..." Nagini, coiled around Wade's wrist, lifted her head and asked a question.
"Oh, we'll stop by to see Tom the human first… then go visit Mr. Scamander. I've always wanted to see those magical creatures he raises… and you'd like to see some old friends too, wouldn't you?" Wade said as he stepped into the fireplace…
…
Late at night.
In the woods behind Riddle Manor.
"Sectumsempra!"
Swoosh!
A smooth slash appeared on the wooden post.
Under the moonlight, Tom looked at the cut with some disappointment…
Too shallow.
Wade, in the end, hadn't used a Memory Charm to keep him from tattling. Instead, he taught Tom this spell as a trade.
Tom still couldn't figure out why Wade did it, but without a doubt, it was a powerful spell.
It struck silently, leaving no trace, and unless a specific counter-curse was used, wounds caused by it wouldn't stop bleeding.
He had been practicing it for quite a while since learning it from Wade.
However, no matter how much he practiced, his casting still didn't match the power Wade had displayed.
Back then, Wade's Sectumsempra had silently sliced off a troll's head.
Tom knew well from the books how tough troll skin was—definitely far tougher than this ordinary wooden post.
He just couldn't figure it out. Wade was the same age as him, so why was his magic so much stronger?
How did he do it? Or rather, what had his ancient family done to him?
To figure that out, Tom had spent quite some time sneaking into the Restricted Section at Hogwarts.
There were actually plenty of ways to become stronger, but—how much legitimate knowledge could there be in the Restricted Section?
Those methods… just reading about them gave him chills.
Aside from being unpleasant in process and leaving some serious aftereffects, all of them came with huge risks.
One wrong move, and that was the end.
Tom was still young. He didn't want to die just yet. It wasn't worth gambling his life for just a slight increase in strength.
"Magic is all about willpower… That bastard makes it sound so easy," Tom muttered.
Wade often said that the greater one's mind, the greater the power of one's magic—but Tom never quite agreed with that.
He was certain that when he cast spells, he was more focused and more attentive than anyone else.
So why was it that his magic just wouldn't increase in power?
Well, it wasn't that it didn't improve at all. It's just… it felt like there was a ceiling he couldn't break through. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't surpass it.
Tom sighed, reset the wooden post, and got ready to continue his practice.
This was the Riddle estate.
Unlike the safehouse, no one would disturb him here.
He finally had a place where he could study and practice in peace. Tom believed that if he kept working at it, one day, he'd figure out the trick.
Bang!
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out in the distance.
Tom only turned his head briefly before returning to his training, paying it no mind.
Grandpa Mr. Riddle had already told him that the guards they employed sometimes spent time practicing their shooting.
Wealthy families always needed some kind of defensive force.
However, constant gunfire was rather annoying. Tom decided he'd set up a soundproofing charm later.
As for which spell to use? Tom thought for a while and realized—he didn't actually know any spells that could block out sound on a wide scale.
Urh..
Maybe… he should write a letter and ask Wade?
"Sectumsempra!"
"Hmm… imagining the tree trunk as Wade's neck made the cut deeper? Damn… let me try again!"
Just as Tom was preparing for another enthusiastic round of testing, a white blur swooped down from the treetops—it was the snowy owl he had given to Mr. Riddle.
But the owl looked flustered and panicked.
Hmm..?
Tom frowned and removed a small note from its beak.
The note was scrawled in a hasty, unfamiliar hand.
Tom was certain he had never seen this handwriting before.
Moreover, the words were spelled imperfectly, as if written in great haste.
It seemed to say—
[Be careful… Get out quickly…]
Tom's heart instantly jumped. Thinking back to the gunshots earlier, he now realized something was wrong—who practices shooting this late at night?
Maybe… Something had happened outside!
Could it be that Grindelwald had come?
His first instinct was to pull out the Portkey made from phoenix feather that Dumbledore had given him and return to the safe house.
But just as he was about to do that, another thought suddenly surfaced—
What if he stayed and went out to investigate? If something had happened… maybe he could do something about it.
Even Tom himself was surprised by this idea—it completely went against his usual way of doing things.
But if he didn't… he felt an intense discomfort inside.
After a long moment of internal struggle, Tom finally gritted his teeth and chose to stay.
He definitely wasn't doing it out of some sentimental notion like "family"... He just didn't want to lose the Riddle family's financial backing!
Once he made up his mind, Tom quickly ran back to the cottage and retrieved a brand-new Invisibility Cloak from his suitcase.
He had bought it for a hefty price in Diagon Alley before returning to the Riddle estate.
Since he hadn't yet mastered the Disillusionment Charm, he figured getting an Invisibility Cloak would be a good idea.
It might just save his life at a critical moment.
He hadn't expected he'd need to use it so soon!
Tom threw the cloak over himself, and his body instantly vanished into the air.
The cloak's quality was excellent, and since it was new, the concealment effect was flawless.
Wearing it, Tom quietly slipped out of the woods...
It had only been a little over ten minutes, yet the gunfire from earlier had already completely died down.
Normally, the guards practiced their shooting every other day, and each session lasted at least an hour.
But now that he thought about it, the gunfire had only lasted a few minutes just now—and it was the middle of the night...
So something had happened…
Tom gripped his wand in his right hand, held his Invisibility Cloak with his left, and pinched the phoenix feather Portkey between two fingers.
He was ready—if anything felt even slightly off, he'd activate the Portkey and vanish on the spot!
________
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