— — — — — —
The common room wasn't the place for airing grievances, so Tom brought the girls into the pocket world. Only then did Astoria finally pour out everything she had endured over the past few days, her voice thick with the sniffling tone of someone who had just found someone to back her up.
The only person capable of making her this miserable was her troublesome older sister.
While Tom had been away, Daphne had enthusiastically volunteered to stay in the Chamber with Astoria and sleep there with her.
In Daphne's mind, she was being a thoughtful, caring sister.
In Astoria's eyes, it had been pure torture.
Every night she had to patiently coax her energetic sister, who bounced around like a little lion cub, into falling asleep first. The problem was that even after Daphne fell asleep, she never stayed still. She tossed and turned constantly, sometimes rolling across the entire bed without warning. Her arms and legs would frequently flop right onto Astoria and wake her up.
And once she woke up, falling asleep again became almost impossible.
On one side there was her sister rolling around and occasionally talking in her sleep. On the other side, in the corner of the room, three Yuki-onna were bound in magical chains, faint blue light glowing around them.
Late at night, Astoria often felt like she was living in some creepy haunted house. She didn't even dare breathe too loudly.
After enduring this for an entire week, she had been going to class every day with dark circles under her eyes. She could only sneak in little naps during the boring lectures in History of Magic or while waiting for potions to finish brewing in Potions class.
Now that Tom had finally returned, Astoria only had one thought.
Either take her sister away… or take her away.
Tom nearly lost it after hearing the whole story. He almost burst out laughing, but forced himself to hold it back when he noticed Astoria's eyes were already turning red. If he laughed now, the little witch would definitely start crying on the spot.
Daphne, meanwhile, looked completely baffled.
"Huh? Me?"
She had no idea she'd made her sister suffer so badly and asked in confusion, "Then why didn't you tell me? If you said something, I wouldn't have stayed with you."
"How could I not say anything?" Astoria grew even more aggrieved. "I told you several times that I could handle it alone and you didn't need to stay with me. But you never listened."
"I thought you were just being polite," Daphne muttered, cheeks turning slightly red as she awkwardly picked at her fingers. "Honestly… I thought you were worried about me staying up too late and felt embarrassed to let me keep you company."
"Pfft!"
Tom finally couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.
To have a sister like this… Astoria was truly blessed.
"Alright, alright." Tom quickly pulled Astoria into his arms and gently patted her back to comfort her. Then he shot Daphne an exasperated look. "Now you get it, right? From now on you go back to your own dorm and sleep like a normal person."
"Fine," Daphne muttered, turning her head away unhappily. She had just been rejected by both her sister and her boyfriend at the same time.
Tom softly comforted Astoria while quietly checking her condition.
Staying with Yuki Onna for this long clearly had an effect. Her skin was paler than before. Not the unhealthy kind of pale, but it did have a faint, ghostly whiteness to it. Her body temperature had also dropped slightly.
All of that was within Tom's expectations. Everything was developing in the right direction, which made him breathe a little easier.
Before long, Astoria fell asleep in his arms.
Tom signaled Daphne to have the house-elves prepare dinner and to let Hermione and the others know they were welcome to join them.
...
Before long, the house-elves had laid out a lavish feast.
Tom currently had three house-elves taking care of his daily needs.
The Beauxbatons house-elf specialized in French cuisine. The Greengrass family elf handled all other styles of cooking. The one Nicolas had given him filled in the gaps and basically acted as a household manager.
Together, they had successfully elevated Tom to the ultimate level of useless aristocratic comfort. Meals appeared when he opened his mouth, clothes arrived when he lifted a finger.
During dinner, Tom occasionally glanced at Fleur and Gabrielle, leaving both sisters puzzled.
"Tom, what exactly are you looking at?" Fleur finally asked after making sure nothing was wrong with her outfit or makeup.
"Nothing," Tom said, shaking his head. "I was just wondering why Veela don't have tails."
Fleur blinked, completely unable to follow his train of thought.
If she knew he'd simply gotten addicted to petting tails earlier, she might have thrown something at him.
Gabrielle blinked her big eyes and chirped, "Big brother, you could give me a tail with magic."
Tom grinned teasingly. "How about a pig's tail? One of those curly little ones."
Gabrielle's face went pale with horror. She quickly covered her mouth and shook her head violently, which made everyone at the table laugh.
As expected, the conversation eventually drifted back to the turmoil in New York.
Cassandra hadn't been invited tonight. She wasn't fully one of their own, so Hermione and the others spoke much more freely.
"Right now both the Magical Congress and the International Confederation of Wizards are demanding that Dumbledore release the President," Ginny said, her voice full of admiration. "But the Headmaster hasn't responded at all."
To her, that was exactly the kind of bold dominance a true Gryffindor lion should have.
Tom leaned back in his chair and let out a scoffing laugh.
"Tom, you weren't spared either," Penelope reminded him. "Every week, a few Ministries of Magic condemned you for detaining those wizards at the World Cup. They didn't mention you by name, though. They only referred to the Astra Abyssum Guild."
Tom shook his head. He had zero interest in these kinds of verbal battles.
"If running your mouth actually solved anything, why would anyone need Aurors or wands?"
"Don't pay too much attention to what other people say," Tom continued, taking the chance to lecture the girls a little. "What matters is achieving your goals. Only people without ability rely on rules and family names. Those with real power make the rules bend to them."
Penelope didn't react much. Fleur, Daphne, and Ginny looked thoughtful. Hermione, on the other hand, frowned slightly.
The difference in personalities was obvious.
Tom didn't say anything more. When they eventually became beneficiaries of power themselves and discovered that rules were restricting their interests, they would naturally start thinking differently.
---
The next day marked the beginning of a new week.
When Tom entered the Great Hall for breakfast that morning, the sight of six long tables still felt a little strange.
After all, he had left soon after the Ugandan students from Uagadou arrived. Now that he was back, the champion selection was already just around the corner.
Wednesday night would be the Halloween Eve feast. At that time, the Goblet of Fire would spit out the names of the champions, and the wizarding championship would officially begin.
Thinking about that, Tom suddenly set down his knife and fork halfway through breakfast and walked out to the entrance hall.
He gave the Goblet of Fire a thorough inspection, making sure it hadn't been affected by any Confundus Charms or misleading spells before finally relaxing.
After returning to the Great Hall, Tom happened to run into the little fox girl who still hadn't fully recovered.
Even though she'd rested all day Sunday, Hozumi Kamio still looked exhausted. Her beautiful face carried a fragile, worn-down look.
The moment she saw Tom smiling at her, she nearly popped her tails out again from sheer panic. Her body went weak.
She didn't even bother with breakfast. She immediately turned around and hurried off in the opposite direction, looking rather flustered.
"I feel like she's scared of you," Daphne said.
Whenever Tom was in sight, Daphne's attention rarely left him. She had seen the brief encounter in the entrance hall, so the moment Tom sat down she asked about it.
"I grabbed her tail the other day," Tom said casually. "Of course she's scared when she sees me."
Daphne nodded, assuming Tom meant he'd caught some leverage over Hozumi. She had no idea he meant an actual tail.
"This is today's schedule. Take a look," Daphne said, handing him a sheet of parchment.
Tom took it and began reading.
Hogwarts now had nearly two thousand students. With just the original faculty, even if the professors worked themselves to death they wouldn't be able to handle that many students. Class sizes would have become ridiculous.
So the schedule had been adjusted.
The visiting professors from Ilvermorny, Beauxbatons, and other schools weren't here to sit around doing nothing. They would also take on teaching duties, sharing the workload with Professor McGonagall and the others.
Hogwarts students still followed the tradition of pairing two houses per class, but now each group was divided into Class A and Class B. Add in some students from other schools, and the number of students per lesson stayed fairly manageable.
Tom glanced over the day's timetable.
In the morning they had Herbology with the Mahoutokoro professor Kaoru, followed by Transfiguration taught by Beauxbatons professor Mobius.
In the afternoon, however, there was Defense Against the Dark Arts.
The substitute instructor from Durmstrang.
Laos Wilkinson.
.
.
.