— — — — — —
"Headmaster, thanks. Huh? Where'd he go?"
To save time, Tom had contacted Dumbledore in advance to borrow the fireplace in the headmaster's office. Yet now that he was here, the old man was nowhere to be found.
Tom glanced around. Even Fawkes was missing.
"If that's the case…" he murmured, walking up to the silver stand, and with a not-so-innocent flick of his hand, quietly pocketed the Sorting Hat.
"Stop right there, Riddle boy!"
A portrait, who had been pretending to sleep, finally couldn't take it anymore. Phineas Nigellus Black opened his mouth wide in outrage.
"You think we didn't see that? What are you doing with the Sorting Hat?"
"Blasted fool! Aren't you supposed to be the Dark Lord? Since when do you stoop to petty theft?"
"It's nothing, really." Tom was shameless as ever. "Wait, Phineas. Don't go around spouting nonsense. What Dark Lord? I'm just the most outstanding student Hogwarts has ever seen. And this isn't theft. I'm just taking the hat for a little reunion. Why are you, a dead old man stuck on a wall, meddling so much?"
"Believe it or not, I'll have your Sirius go track down Voldemort and wipe out your whole family line."
"Y-you…!" Phineas trembled, pointing at him. If he were still alive, he'd probably have died of anger all over again.
"Riddle, that's going too far," another former headmaster spoke up. "You can insult Phineas all you like, but leave the Sorting Hat. That's school property."
Tom didn't back down in the slightest. One against a whole gallery of past headmasters, and he still held his ground, trading barbs without losing an inch.
He even took the girls out of the pocket world so they could watch the drama.
Fleur and Cassandra stared, dumbfounded. Gabrielle clapped happily, cheering him on.
Daphne and Astoria, on the other hand, looked completely unfazed.
They were already used to this dynamic. They knew what kind of relationship Tom had with these former headmasters. Sometimes Phineas even dropped by the Slytherin common room to chat, and the two of them would bicker for ages.
What puzzled them was something else entirely.
Why did Tom want the Sorting Hat so badly? It was old, shabby, and ugly. What use could it possibly have?
At the thought of that, Tom felt annoyed.
Dumbledore had promised long ago to retrieve the Gryffindor Sword and give it to him. But after brushing him off that day, the old man had been playing dumb ever since. A whole year had passed, and the sword was still inside the hat.
Now that he'd finally caught Dumbledore away from the office, there was no way he'd let this chance slip.
Artifacts from the other founders had already fallen into his hands. Only Godric Gryffindor remained.
That gap bothered him more than it should.
...
After arguing for a while, the portraits gradually fell silent. Their vocabulary simply couldn't keep up with Tom's relentless barrage. One by one, they gave up, going still as if they'd lost interest.
Truth be told, they were just passing time, trading words with him for fun. If he really walked off with the hat so openly, there wasn't much they could do about it anyway.
"Hey, where's Dumbledore?" Tom asked after catching his breath, raising a brow at Phineas.
"I have a name, you know," Phineas snapped. "Hmph! McGonagall just called him away. Something about that Potter and Malfoy clashing again. If you ask me, both of them should be expelled. The lot of them are troublemakers, always causing scenes…"
Once he got going, Phineas didn't stop. If it were up to him, half the students would be expelled by now.
Tom ignored the rant, turned, and led the girls out of the headmaster's office.
He had no interest in watching this drama unfold. The first couple of times might've been entertaining, but Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy fought every other day over trivial nonsense. They might not be tired of it, but he certainly was.
He first escorted Daphne and Astoria back to Slytherin, then took Fleur and her sister, along with Cassandra, out of the castle, heading all the way to the shore of the Black Lake.
Cassandra went into the ship. Fleur led Gabrielle into the carriage.
Tom stayed where he was.
He stood quietly, gazing up at the sky full of stars.
In modern cities, neon lights drowned out the sky. But around Hogwarts, untouched by industry, the stars stretched endlessly, bright and breathtaking.
For a moment, he found himself wanting to go back into outer space again. After getting used to the overview effect, nothing compared to watching the world from beyond the atmosphere.
Just then, a faint fragrance drifted over with the night breeze. A soft figure bumped into his arms.
"You're finally back."
A little fox lifted her head, smiling brightly, her voice soft and sweet. "I missed you."
Tom lowered his gaze.
The light in her eyes shone even brighter than the stars above.
The girl wrapped her arms tightly around Tom's waist, squeezing with all her strength as if she wanted the two of them to melt into one.
At first, Tom hadn't understood. They hadn't even officially defined their relationship, so why was Kamio so attached to him?
But now, feeling the soft body trembling lightly in his arms, he thought he understood.
Loneliness. A lack of security.
She looked cheerful every day, handling everything with effortless ease. Yet deep down, she had never truly blended into this era. She had no friends, no family, and she was living in a completely different age.
Worst of all, she was already warned that her future held a life-threatening crisis.
So to her, Tom Riddle was also her only support, her only light.
Once he realized that, Tom tightened his arms slightly, pulling her closer.
Their hearts seemed to press together. Kamio sensed the feeling behind his embrace, and the pretty face buried against his chest broke into a bright smile.
"Tom, did you miss me these past few days?"
"Mm… I guess. I was thinking about when you'd bring me new materials again."
"Ugh, you're awful. You just want my property."
"No, no. I want the fox and the property. And later I'll even help discipline your kids."
"Hehe, okay. We'll do it together. When Mom used to spank me, Dad wouldn't help, he just watched from the side."
They stayed wrapped up in each other for a long while. Only after the lights in the castle went out did Tom, step by step, turn back and escort Kamio to her dorm.
Watching the door close, Tom let out a breath. With a flick of his wand, a gentle breeze swept away the girl's lingering scent and smoothed the wrinkles in his robe.
Once that was done, he hurried off to Hogsmeade without wasting a second.
He had more than one appointment tonight.
.
.
.