— — — — — —
"Tom, you're finally back!"
Ariana, who had been idly flipping through a novel, looked up the moment she heard the door. She cheered and jumped off the bed.
Tom caught her steadily, spun her once in his arms, and the two of them fell onto the bed together.
"Yeah, I came to see you the moment I got back to Hogwarts," Tom said, perfectly straight-faced, deploying his verbal artistry. And the girl immediately beamed.
Ariana had been quite resentful about Tom running off as soon as the holidays started. But the Dumbledores were all deeply sentimental people. A few sweet words were enough to soothe her.
Grindelwald handled old Dumbles the same way.
"Ariana, this is your Christmas present."
Tom took out a delicate golden bracelet. Seven gemstones of different colors were set into it.
"So pretty!"
Ariana was instantly captivated by the bracelet's luxurious, intricate design. She didn't even spare Tom's face a glance, turning the bracelet over in her hands instead.
The fine patterns delighted her more the longer she looked. She couldn't put it down.
"Try not to take it off," Tom said, holding her as he explained. "Each of the seven gems seals a different astral magic. Even Grindelwald would get a headache facing them head-on."
"It also has five long-distance Apparition charges built in. Don't waste them casually, got it?"
Ariana's situation wasn't like the other girls'. As Grindelwald's personally chosen successor, countless people already saw her as a thorn in their side.
Right now she was still at Hogwarts, where there were too many powerful figures for outsiders to easily get in. Once she left, plenty of people would probably try something in the shadows.
He'd already given her life-saving tools before. This time, the bracelet was meant for killing enemies and making a statement.
Sealing astral magic was far more difficult than ordinary magic. This was his finest work so far, something he'd never consider selling.
"Got it," Ariana hummed softly, sweetness filling her chest.
Tom really was considerate. Her two idiot brothers only knew how to tell her to improve her strength herself. They wouldn't even give her proper life-saving gear.
Well… it wasn't that they were unwilling. They just didn't have the skill.
Even though Dumbles was proficient in alchemy, the tools he made weren't as practical as the spells she could cast herself.
...
..
At midnight, Tom tucked Ariana in, told the little witch to sleep early and wake early, then quietly drifted away.
"Didn't I tell you to come after midnight?"
Inside the Room of Requirement, Tom switched seamlessly to Ginny, wiping a bit of cold sweat inside.
Ginny leaned over him and sniffed hard. She didn't smell anything, and her expression eased slightly, though suspicion still lingered.
"Astoria said you came back right after dinner. Didn't you say you'd come see me first? Why did you insist on midnight?"
"Because I'm busy," Tom replied calmly. "You know I took the Sorting Hat, right? The Sword of Gryffindor Headmaster promised me is inside. I need to figure out how to get it out."
"I swear to Merlin, when I got back, you were the first person I came to see."
What did Merlin matter? He was already Morgan's student. Swearing to Merlin meant nothing.
Besides… the first girl he met after returning from Hogsmeade really was Ginny. Who could say he was lying?
"Fine, you pass."
Seeing his confident expression, with not a hint of guilt, Ginny finally dropped her suspicion.
Tom gave a faint, dangerous smile. "I pass? Then what about you? Since when did a little brat get the nerve to interrogate me?"
"Ah! Tom, I was wrong!"
The girl cried out. Before she could argue, she was lifted into the air. After a dizzying spin, she somehow ended up sprawled face-down across Tom's lap.
He hadn't even started yet, but she already felt like her backside was about to swell.
"Still want to talk back? Still want to push it?" he muttered. "You even dared question my character. Would I lie to you?"
Smack. Smack. Smack.
The rhythm was crisp and steady. At first Ginny struggled theatrically, pretending to resist. Before long, it dissolved into soft little hums.
"Still going to talk back to me next time?"
"N-next time… maybe?" she blurted.
Tom raised an eyebrow and lifted his hand again.
"N-next time I will never!" she hurriedly corrected herself. If this kept going, she wouldn't even be able to get out of bed tomorrow. Even sleeping would hurt.
"That's more like it."
Tom rubbed her small head and sighed inwardly.
Time… why was there never enough of it?
...
After a heart-stopping night, Tom had no energy to do anything else.
He escorted Ginny back to the Gryffindor common room, then immediately returned to the Slytherin dorm and collapsed into bed. He slept straight through until morning, only getting up to head to breakfast in the Great Hall with his roommates.
Naturally, the conversation turned to yesterday's clash between Potter and Malfoy.
Tom had always felt their little spats were nothing new, but listening to Zabini's animated retelling, he suddenly realized that enjoying drama required patience.
Otherwise, you never knew what spectacle you might miss.
Like this time.
This time, Harry and Draco had actually fought… over a girl?
And not just any girl. An Ilvermorny student.
Tom knew her too. She was someone Cassandra could count as a "friend." Ivy Warrington.
In short, both Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy had taken a liking to the silver-haired beauty at the Christmas dinner. And during the holiday they each tried to win her favor, exchanged a few verbal jabs, and eventually ended up trading blows.
That was Zabini and Nott's version of events. But Tom didn't quite believe it. He knew Harry and Draco had completely different tastes.
After asking a few more questions and confirming that Harry had pursued Ivy first, and Draco only jumped in later to "steal her," Tom became even more certain of his guess.
Draco probably felt ignored by lovestruck Harry and got jealous.
Tom silently mocked the situation but didn't voice his speculation. It was only a guess, and Draco would never admit it even if he died.
But when they reached the entrance hall and saw the house point scoreboard, Tom couldn't keep his composure.
"Why did we lose so many points?"
Before the holidays, he had painstakingly kept Slytherin's score in the negatives but still ahead of the other houses. Now, it had only been a few days, and they were suddenly tied with Gryffindor, charging backward at full speed.
Hearing this, several nearby Slytherins lowered their heads in shame.
"Um…" Rosier said awkwardly, "Tom, we didn't mean to… The holiday was too boring, so we went to the Forbidden Forest for a picnic. We… almost set the forest on fire. The Headmaster docked us two hundred points…"
Tom walked into the Great Hall with a dark expression.
Dumbledore looked just as grim.
Old Dumbles wasn't upset about the petty feud between Harry and Draco. What really troubled him was the Sorting Hat.
If he had left his office just a few minutes later, he could have saved it.
But now it was too late.
The hat… had already been ruined by Tom.
Thinking that even Gryffindor's relic had fallen into Tom's hands, he felt a deep shame, like he had no face left to show anyone.
"Dumbledore, another batch of school cauldrons broke. I need more funding."
Snape chose that exact moment to stab him again. Dumbledore stared at him in disbelief.
"Severus, do you eat cauldrons? If I remember correctly, Minerva approved a sum of Galleons for you just last term."
Dozens of cauldrons in a single term, not even counting ingredients. What school could afford a teacher like that?
Faced with Dumbledore's questioning, Snape's expression didn't change in the slightest. He replied calmly, "I've been researching a new potion recently. The consumption is indeed a bit higher. But it's for the students' benefit, Dumbledore. You understand, don't you? It's for the greater good."
Then he launched into a barrage of potion theory, leaving the old headmaster dizzy.
Dumbledore was a polymath, but in the field of potions he simply couldn't compare to Snape. At least for now… he didn't understand half of what Snape was saying, yet it somehow sounded very reasonable.
With no other choice, Dumbledore reluctantly approved the funding.
...
On the way to the Quidditch pitch, Snape deliberately lagged behind, the corners of his mouth curling slightly.
He really was researching a new potion, but the cauldrons weren't burned through overnight. It was his way of getting back at Dumbledore for targeting his house recently.
Sure, my students are a bit mischievous, but you can't punish them that harshly.
When it came to protecting his own, Snape was absolutely the fiercest among the heads of house.
...
..
Meanwhile, the Quidditch pitch quickly filled to the brim.
Before a match like that, it would have been advertised as a friendly. It wouldn't even have been an official school event, just students venting their pent-up energy on the field.
But now, as the tournament atmosphere grew more heated, the rivalry between the magical academies was becoming increasingly obvious.
Today's match was Ilvermorny versus Durmstrang. There would be one match every Saturday after this.
Durmstrang had Krum. Ilvermorny, meanwhile, was a school obsessed with Quidditch. They didn't have professional-level players, but everyone's fundamentals were solid.
The match was quite exciting. Krum tied up much of the Beaters' attention, while Ilvermorny's Chasers were clearly a level above Durmstrang's.
They pushed the score past three hundred before Krum finally seized an opening. Shaking off multiple opponents, he caught the Golden Snitch and secured victory by a razor-thin margin.
It was one hell of a match. Those who recorded it with their iCodex were swarmed by people asking to replay it. They hadn't seen a match this good in a really long time.
...
..
Meanwhile, Tom didn't watch the match.
After breakfast, he headed straight for the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid had told him Aragog was sick, and that caught his attention immediately.
This was important production capital. Of course he had to take good care of it.
It was like employee benefits. If the "means of production" were protected, they could work with peace of mind. Unfortunately, there was no retirement in his system. Aragog could keep contributing to his grand cause until the day it died.
After examining the giant spider, the situation wasn't ideal.
Tom found quite a few issues, though most were minor. The biggest problem was simply old age. Even with rare potion supplements, Aragog was already nearing the end of its lifespan.
Should he try using an Elixir of Life?
No idea whether that stuff worked on spiders. Better go back and ask Nicolas.
---
When Tom returned to the castle, the common room was empty.
He took out the Sorting Hat and placed it on his head.
"Hat, how much have I changed from who I was?"
.
.
.