Tom opened his eyes again, smelling a faint herbal scent, and found himself lying on a clean white bed.
He slowly sat up from the bed in a daze and looked around, only to see a familiar elder with long silver hair and beard sitting beside the bed.
"Tom, you're awake." Gentle concern came from the elder's mouth.
"Professor Dumbledore?"
Tom felt like he was still dreaming and could not help blinking. At the same time, he secretly pinched his thigh. The pain woke him up all of a sudden.
"It's me. How come you don't recognize me in such a short time?" Dumbledore teased Tom and handed him a cup of potion. "Madam Pomfrey asked me to make sure you drink this potion after you wake up, otherwise she will kick you out."
Tom took the potion and took a sip. The bitter taste made him frown. He endured the discomfort and drank the potion. Tom stroked the cup and asked Dumbledore: "Professor, why are you here? How long have I been unconscious? And where is Cassandra?"
"You have been in a coma for a day and a night. Miss Wally had been with you the whole time, but I asked her to go back and rest first." Dumbledore patiently answered Tom's questions with a gentle smile.
Looking at Dumbledore's look, Tom knew that he would come to see him for no reason. But it was too difficult for an 11-year-old wizard like him to play tricks on a hundred-year-old wise man. Moreover, Tom did not think that his recent actions could be hidden from the headmaster who had spies everywhere in the castle.
So Tom decided not to beat around the bush with Dumbledore and went straight to the point: "Professor, you must have something to come to see me. Rumors about Professor Snape? About the Defense Against the Dark Arts class? Or the dark arts? Or even the Unforgivable Curses?"
Apart from the matter of Voldemort's Horcrux, Tom told Dumbledore everything he had done in the first week of school, leaving it to Dumbledore to decide how to deal with it.
As the saying goes, sincerity is always the best skill. Dumbledore was used to the intrigues with a certain noseless Tom, but the straightforward and undisguised admission of this little Tom made him stunned, and he didn't say a word for a while.
My thoughts drifted back to a few hours ago.
Dumbledore sat in his office with a serious expression on his face. The portraits of past headmasters around him were doing their own things, but their eyes were secretly watching him.
During the long silence, Phineas Black, the most unpopular headmaster in history, lost his patience first and broke the silence by speaking: "Dumbledore, how are you going to deal with this matter? Students from four colleges have joined forces to dismiss a professor. There has never been such a bad incident in the history of Hogwarts. I heard that the initiator is a first-year student from Slytherin. What a great job... ahem... so cruel."
Armando Dippet interrupted Phineas Black's rambling and asked Dumbledore: "The first-year Slytherin wizard has this kind of organizational ability, which reminds me of that person in the past. Dumbledore, what is the name of that little wizard?"
Dumbledore rubbed his brow and said tiredly: "Tom Riddle."
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear it clearly. What's his name?" Armando Dippet felt like he was hallucinating and couldn't help asking again.
"Tom Riddle," Dumbledore had to raise his voice and repeat himself.
"Ahem…"
"Ahem…"
"Ahem…"
Bursts of violent coughing came from the portrait. The headmasters of all generations seemed to have heard some horror story. They stopped their work and stared at Dumbledore with wide eyes.
"Is this the Tom Riddle I know?" It was Armando Dippet, the headmaster during Voldemort's time at school, who asked the question.
"Perhaps when you see him, you will feel like you have used a time-turner." Dumbledore did not answer directly, but everyone understood the subtext of his words and took a breath.
At this time, there was a "clicking" sound from the spiral staircase, and Snape pushed the door and walked in with a gloomy face.
"What's the matter? If nothing else, I'll go back first."
"Severus, you seem to be in a bad mood. Is it because of the rumor? Come, eat some cockroaches to relieve your mood." Dumbledore smiled and promoted his favorite sweets to Snape.
Snape pushed it away mercilessly: "So you knew, as the headmaster, you actually let the rumors spread. Listen to what those little bastards are spreading now. If I find out who started it, I will make him pay."
At this point, Snape gritted his teeth.
Just as Snape was complaining, Dexter Fusco in the portrait quietly asked: "Rumors about Snape? Do you know what it is?"
When Dexter Fusco asked, Delys Devonte explained the story to the curious principals: "It's the story of Snape and Potter. But I heard that the latest version is that Snape and Potter were deeply in love, and Black intervened and stole their love, while Evans watched the show."
Delys Devonte's voice was neither too loud nor too soft, so Snape could hear it clearly. Just like the first time he heard this version, Snape felt his stomach acid churning again and almost couldn't help but retching.
Dumbledore stopped the headmasters' gossiping hearts in time: "Okay, stop talking. I can't stand seeing Severus. But, you really can't guess who did it?"
Snape hesitated for a moment, then uttered a name uncertainly: "Tom Riddle?"
Dumbledore nodded: "Just as I guessed. Come on, tell me about this child."
Snape thought about it and concealed the deal between him and Tom, and briefly told Dumbledore about the duel in the Slytherin common room.
Before Dumbledore could say anything, Armando Dippet jumped out again: "Killing Curse? Fiendfyre? A young wizard who just entered the first grade? This is more dangerous than Voldemort back then. Dumbledore, you can't make the same mistake I made back then. Regardless of whether he is related to Voldemort or not, there must not be another Dark Lord."
Dumbledore felt even more exhausted, and patiently comforted Armando Dippet: "That child may be related to Tom, but it cannot be Tom, because he has love in him."
Snape raised his eyebrows and said sarcastically, "You really are promoting that theory about love all the time."
Dumbledore chuckled and didn't explain further.
Snape seemed to remember something at this time, and said to Dumbledore: "Riddle is now lying in the school hospital. Miss Wallace sent him there. I don't know what happened exactly."
Dumbledore's eyes flickered: "It seems that I need to have a good talk with Tom."