Daphne Greengrass searched her memory and found she had never heard of this surname before. She asked tentatively, "Are you a half-blood? Or... a pure Muggle-born?"
"Actually, I don't know what I am."
Tom shrugged casually and said, "I was abandoned by my parents at birth. Maybe they were pure Muggles, or maybe they were Squibs. It doesn't really matter."
"Why, does the eldest daughter of the Greengrass family regret sitting in the same compartment with me?"
The Greengrass family is listed among the 'Sacred Twenty-Eight Purebloods' in Cantankerus Nott's Pure-Blood Directory and is hailed as a model of a pure-blood family, known for being both low-key and elegant.
Tom subconsciously thought this girl was likely similar to Malfoy and would espouse blood purity rhetoric.
However, things unfolded differently than he expected.
"No, no, no, please don't misunderstand."
The girl waved her hands repeatedly. "I don't really care about those things. Mother said all pure-blood families actually have Muggle ancestors. I'm just curious because I've never had much contact with Muggles..."
"I misunderstood you. I apologize," Tom admitted his mistake frankly.
"It's okay."
Daphne shook her head seriously, then completely skipped the topic. "I have a sister who really likes Muggle fashion magazines, but she only has one outdated copy she found many years ago. If you have the chance in the future, could you buy me a few copies? I'll pay for them."
"No problem, but you'll have to wait until Christmas."
Tom finally remembered some unimportant details. Daphne's sister seemed to be named Astoria Greengrass. She was a person with a very low presence. It seemed she ended up with Malfoy. She had some health problems and died not long after.
Tom naturally wouldn't tell Daphne this information. He just followed up on the conversation she started and continued.
Usually, it was Daphne who asked questions about the Muggle world, and he answered them. When talking about some things, the girl even took out a pen and paper to write them down, saying she would write a letter to tell her sister.
From these details, it was clear she was an older sister who loved her younger sister very much.
The train had started moving unknowingly, heading west towards the Scottish Highlands. The noise from the wheels turning outside did not affect the two people's conversation at all.
Andros suddenly popped up and said, "I'll bet you a Galleon this girl likes you. No, she thinks you're pretty and wants your body."
...
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Tom was startled by Andros's sudden appearance and immediately said angrily, "Andros, do you even have a Galleon?"
"She's only eleven years old. Does she even know what love is?"
Tom didn't say anything about himself, but the idea of him falling in love with an eleven-year-old girl was nonsense.
But... it wouldn't hurt to keep her in mind for a few years.
"What's the big deal?" Andros said nonchalantly. "In our time, many people got married and had children at thirteen or fourteen, even earlier."
"What about you, Mr. Andros?" Tom asked, directly triggering the silence and defense-shattering effects.
Back then, Andros was a battle maniac and a magic enthusiast. Women would only affect the speed at which he could learn magic. Not to mention at thirteen or fourteen; he was still single when he died.
His great magical talent wasn't inherited; otherwise, he would have probably founded a powerful family.
In fact, it made sense that the magical world emphasized bloodlines. Powerful wizards always passed down some of their power and magical knowledge, making it easier for family legacies to last longer than those of mixed-bloods.
For example, the Gaunt family, or the other twenty-eight pure-blood families—their ancestors were all very powerful.
...
Seeing that Andros was easily silenced by him and had even taken the initiative to close the study space connection, Tom laughed inwardly and continued to deal with Daphne's endless questions.
During this process, Tom also asked a few questions of his own.
How could the innocent little girl resist his tactics? She quickly revealed everything she knew about the Greengrass family.
For example, her mother was the Director of the Department of Transportation at the Ministry of Magic, her grandmother had also been the Director, and her great-grandmother had held the position too...
By the way, it was a custom of the Greengrass family for husbands to marry into the family, and for three hundred years in a row, all offspring had been female.
When Tom heard Daphne complain that she only received two hundred Galleons in pocket money per semester, his heart was deeply moved.
Marrying into such a family was not a problem at all.
There were three semesters in a Hogwarts school year. Daphne's annual pocket money was 600 Galleons, almost as much as Dumbledore had given him for seven years.
A rich woman, and a soft, cute little rich woman at that—wasn't she attractive?
Unconsciously, Tom became much kinder towards Daphne, and the little girl always had a smile on her face.
Around half past twelve, the compartment door was pushed open again. A smiling witch looked inside: "Kids, would you like to buy some snacks?"
"Of course."
Daphne happily jumped off her seat and came to the cart to pick out food like a curious child.
Although she said she was picking, she bought a little of almost everything, just in varying quantities, and she nearly cleared out all the Chocolate Frogs.
It cost two Galleons and thirteen Sickles, which was about as much as the entire Weasley family's pocket money for a school year.
Tom suddenly understood why Daphne complained that 200 Galleons was too little pocket money. At her spending rate, it indeed wasn't enough for a semester; she'd probably spend most of it in a month.
Meanwhile, while Daphne was checking out, Tom was secretly observing the saleswitch.
It was said this saleswitch had been employed by the Ministry of Magic since the express train first appeared in 1830. This meant she was at least [many] years old.
This age was considered longevity among wizards.
Tom not only observed carefully himself but also called out the sulking Andros. However, by the time the saleswitch pushed the cart away, neither of them could detect any hidden signs of unusual magic about her.
Tom just assumed she had a naturally long lifespan and stopped paying attention.
Daphne generously put all the food on the table and shared it with Tom.
Tom also accepted her kindness very calmly. If he didn't even have this little bit of shamelessness, how could he expect to be a kept man?
The two ate and chatted, and the conversation turned to the Hogwarts Houses again.
"My family are all Slytherins," Daphne said shyly. "If nothing goes wrong, I'll be in Slytherin too. Of course, the other houses are good too. Mom won't be mad about it. Just don't let me go to Gryffindor."
"Why do you hate Gryffindor so much?" Tom asked curiously.
"Mum said Gryffindor is the source of trouble."
Daphne didn't hide her disgust at all: "Wherever Gryffindor is, there's never peace. You never know what kind of trouble they'll cause."
Tom thought about it and felt Mrs. Greengrass's comments were spot on.
"Um... Riddle, which house do you want to go to?"
Seeing that Tom didn't say anything, Daphne thought he was unhappy because she had spoken ill of Gryffindor and secretly regretted her recklessness.
"No, I hope I can go to Ravenclaw," Tom smiled and said. "Or Hufflepuff is good too. It's suitable for quiet studying."
"Since you love studying so much, you'll definitely get into Ravenclaw," Daphne said affirmatively.
At that moment, a scream suddenly came from outside the compartment. Tom and Daphne didn't take it seriously and were preparing to take a nap after finishing their meal.
But not long after, someone knocked on the door again.
Without waiting for a response, the compartment door was pushed open.
"Have you seen a toad... Riddle? Why are you here?!"
The person who opened the door was a little girl with thick brown hair. Her cute face was somewhat marred by prominent front teeth.
The little girl was halfway through her sentence when she saw Tom and screamed as if she'd seen a ghost, startling the chubby boy following behind her so much he trembled.
Daphne was already frowning at her rude behavior, and seeing that the visitor actually knew Tom, her pretty face wrinkled even more.
Tom looked up at the newcomer calmly and said, "Miss Granger, since you can appear on the Hogwarts Express, why can't I?"
"No, I'm not saying you can't."
Hermione Granger stammered, "I, I just wanted to say, this is great!"
Daphne's face darkened completely at this point. She suddenly felt like her favorite toy was about to be taken away.
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Thanks to Miss Granger, Tom was able to confirm the information about this world several years in advance.
Since the math competition in third grade, Tom had run into Hermione more than once at various elementary school competitions.
He was doing it to earn bonuses and school awards, while Hermione was doing it purely for the love of it.
Miss Granger's hobby was learning.
How could interest defeat Tom's desire to survive? So in over a dozen confrontations, most ended with Tom's victory.
The only time he failed was at the sports day, when the idiot teacher sent by the school was uncoordinated and held him back in the three-legged race.
Hermione had originally thought that once she went to Hogwarts, the competition between her and Tom would end, and she had felt a bit regretful.
And then she met Tom again on the train. Would they be classmates in the future?
After a brief moment of surprise, Hermione became excited.
Didn't that mean she still had a chance to defeat Tom and prove herself?
At that moment, Hermione forgot the original purpose of her coming to the compartment. She didn't care about Daphne's gaze, sat down next to Tom, and began talking incessantly.
"Riddle, I've already finished reading Modern Magical History, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, Important Magical Events of the 20th Century, and most of the extracurricular books during the summer vacation. How about you?"
"Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you, I've already mastered some simple spells. Which house do you want to be sorted into? I want to go to Gryffindor. I heard it's the best."