Tom doesn't have any special tricks, but perhaps because he has lived two lives, his memory, although not quite photographic, is much better than that of ordinary people. He also has a strong learning ability.
Don't think that competitions only happen among students in Eastern countries; the same is true in British schools.
Tom managed to save a certain amount of money by relying on the prize money he won from various competitions, grants from the school, government subsidies, and even appearance fees from television stations.
What he had in the drawer was just his daily pocket money. He also had a deposit of 40,000 pounds sitting in a bank account earning interest.
When Dumbledore learned that Tom was so capable, he could only give him a thumbs up to express his admiration.
After saying goodbye to Ms. Alman, Tom followed Dumbledore out of the children's home.
If it were any other child, Ms. Alman would never be so relieved, but Tom's understanding and ability since childhood made her feel a lot more relaxed.
Perhaps, there may be a reason why Dumbledore secretly used magic?
Walking on the tree-lined path, Dumbledore did not use wizard methods to save time. Instead, he took Tom towards the train station with great interest. Along the way, he asked Tom some questions about his life like an elder who cares about his younger generation.
Tom did not hide any of this and spoke frankly about his situation.
He was abandoned and became an orphan. His appearance in this world was an accident. His parents abandoned him at the door of the orphanage after giving him only his name and surname as a birth gift.
The next time he heard about them was from a plane crash report.
The two of them had no inheritance and were heavily in debt, but fortunately, he didn't have to pay it back.
After hearing this, Dumbledore twitched his lips.
This kind of thing seems to happen quite a lot in the Muggle world, where people get pregnant unexpectedly and give birth to the child because of strict restrictions on abortion.
Then, when it is discovered that they are unable to raise the child, they abandon the child to the government to clean up the mess while the other children go about their lives.
Little did people know that the English wizarding world had already been in a state of lack of talent to a certain extent. The Weasley family was a minority after all. When six boys and one girl stood together, which pure-blood family would not be envious?
I wonder how many people regretted not marrying Molly Weasley; otherwise, their family would have been prosperous.
All I can say is that people of the same country have different destinies.
"I see that the children in the children's home seem to be quite afraid of you?"
While sighing in his heart, Dumbledore did not forget to dig out some more things.
Until the two of them went out, the little boy named Seth was still obediently following Tom's instructions and hitting the sandbag.
This scene brought back some bad memories for him.
"Sir."
Tom stopped and looked up at Dumbledore, but he had too much beard, so the boy couldn't see his whole face. He could only look into his deep eyes.
"Do you know what the most frightening thing about being an orphan is?"
Dumbledore seemed to be all ears.
"You're afraid that others will know your cowardice."
Tom said to himself, "Once people find out that you are easy to bully, they will try to bully you for pleasure."
"And the best way to prevent bullying... is to arm yourself and be the first to bully others."
Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly and his beard twitched.
"Of course, I'm not bullying Seth." Tom tried to justify himself, "He's my friend. I'm just teaching him some self-defense skills. He's going to middle school soon, and he must have the power to protect himself."
"He will understand your painstaking efforts." Dumbledore thought of how Seth, although with a bitter look on his face, still completed the task assigned by Tom seriously, and also knew that the two had a good relationship. His mood suddenly improved a lot, and he said happily:
"I think you have the potential to be an excellent Hufflepuff, provided, of course, that you don't bully others."
"Hufflepuff? What's that?"
"The name of a house, each of which is extremely outstanding..."
The shadows of the two people became longer and longer and gradually disappeared on Elm Avenue.
After taking the train and then the subway, an hour and a half later, the two finally arrived at the entrance of Diagon Alley—the dirty and run-down Leaky Cauldron.
Three o'clock in the afternoon is not the busiest time, with only two or three tables occupied by customers.
When they saw Dumbledore, all the wizards who were drinking and chatting immediately stood up and greeted him awkwardly. The hunchbacked man who was wiping the bar with a dirty rag also hurried over with a smile on his face:
"Good afternoon, Professor Dumbledore."
"Good afternoon, Tom. Oh, no, there is another Tom here."
Dumbledore laughed and introduced the two to each other, "Mr. Riddle, this is Tom. Isn't it wonderful? Tom, Mr. Riddle is a new student this year. I am here to take him to buy what he needs."
"It's fate, it's fate, nice to meet you, little Tom."
The bar owner Tom laughed. Although the British Tom didn't have 100,000 or 80,000, he was more enthusiastic than before for Dumbledore's sake and invited:
"After you finish shopping, you can sit down and have a drink. It's my treat. It's the non-alcoholic version of Butterbeer."
"Good idea."
Dumbledore agreed. "Then we must hurry up. See you later, Tom."
"See you later, Dumbledore."
Dumbledore led Tom through the bar and to the small patio at the back. He took out a wand with knobby protrusions and introduced how to enter Diagon Alley.
"Count three upwards, two horizontally..."
The wand tapped three times and the bricks began to move, opening in the blink of an eye to form a wide archway, and the bustling crowd rushed in.
Tom's eyes lit up as he looked at the dense crowd inside.
"A world of magic..."
"Yes, the magical world." Dumbledore liked Tom's expression at this moment. He finally saw what a child should be like in him.
"Let's go, the most important thing... money."
Dumbledore took Tom across the street and arrived at the door of Gringotts. Because he was so popular, in just a few hundred meters, people kept greeting Dumbledore and coming up to him to say hello.
At the imposing gate of Gringotts, two goblins bowed respectfully. One of them became their exclusive receptionist and took the two to the front desk to exchange money.