— — — — — —
Sometimes, being too good at things is its own kind of trouble. No matter what achievements you rack up, people start acting… strangely.
Tom had been feeling that firsthand lately. He was just a few achievement points away from summoning another teacher, but the professors had suddenly become stingy with house points.
They barely called on him in class anymore, instead giving other students more chances. It left Tom feeling oddly frustrated.
Earning achievement points through house points was getting harder and harder. At this rate, the only way forward was solving some truly major crises.
He even started wondering if he should release a few Dementors to ambush Harry again. That was the Chosen One, after all. Saving him once more ought to be worth a decent payout, right?
Still, a favor handed to him on a silver platter by Dumbledore was much easier than breaking his own wings to stir up trouble. Five hundred points. That translated nicely into a hundred achievement points. Perfect.
Dumbledore, for his part, was completely bewildered. This seemed to be the third time Tom had come straight to him asking for points. The very tool the school used to encourage competition had basically turned into Tom's personal bargaining chip, which left Dumbledore feeling deeply ashamed.
Before him, no headmaster had ever sunk this low, having to beg a student to get things done.
Just look at the disdain in the eyes of the former headmasters in their portraits. Even someone as seasoned as Dumbledore felt his cheeks heat up.
But then—
"No problem at all, Tom," Dumbledore said, switching expressions instantly, his smile warm and reassuring. "Hogwarts is part of the wizarding world. Your upcoming adventure is a tremendous contribution to the school. Awarding points is only fair."
"Though I will need to think carefully about the official reason for those points."
"That's easy." Tom waved his hand and proceeded to educate Dumbledore on concepts like tailor-made awards and custom commendations. Dumbledore listened, stunned.
He was now fully convinced that even without magic, Tom could still thrive in the world on sheer brains and social finesse alone.
"Professor," Tom added as a final reminder, "I only ship the goods after the payment clears."
Only then did he leave the office.
"That kid is a real profiteer!" Phineas snapped, voicing exactly what Dumbledore was thinking.
---
Back in his pocket world, Tom made a point of informing Nicolas that he had agreed to Dumbledore's request, even though it had always been part of the plan.
After all this trouble, Tom was obviously not doing it just to watch the chaos unfold. He had his own goals.
Nicolas wasn't surprised when he saw the message. He knew Tom had no real fear of Grindelwald. He only reminded him that no matter what Grindelwald said, he should treat it like hot air.
Tom agreed enthusiastically.
[Tom Riddle]: Teacher, I'm coming by tonight. Remember to have dinner ready for me.
[Nicolas Flamel]: Why are you suddenly coming back?
[Tom Riddle]: I'm planting a tree. I'll need your help and Uncle Newt's. I'll go talk to him in a bit.
[Nicolas Flamel]: A tree? What are you scheming now?
[Tom Riddle]: You'll find out tonight.
Tom left him hanging and flipped to a new page to contact Newt. The honest man agreed immediately without even asking why, and once again took the opportunity to lecture Tom about Grindelwald's treachery and moral bankruptcy.
Tom quietly summoned Grindelwald over and let him read Newt's messages.
Grindelwald, who had been in quite a good mood, instantly snapped.
"What the hell?" he exploded. "He spent years sabotaging me, and now he has the nerve to say my character's the problem?"
"He steals the blood pact between me and Albus and that makes him righteous? Scamander is an absolute disgrace to Hufflepuff!"
Furious, Grindelwald went off to vent his frustration on the Durmstrang students. He hadn't actually left the school at all, choosing instead to brainwash the students, aiming to reshape the ideology of the next generation from the ground up.
But today, he planned to use more physical methods to teach them what it really meant when people said magic was power.
---
After his last class ended, Tom took his time flying back to Dorset.
Nicolas had already instructed the house-elves to prepare a small banquet. Newt and Tina were invited as well. The entire evening passed without touching on any serious matters. Instead, everyone took turns criticizing Dumbledore for handling things poorly and cursing Grindelwald for being utterly inhuman, especially for dragging Tom into the mess.
Tom listened with a cheerful grin, nodding along and occasionally chiming in to agree.
He had a thick skin like that. Otherwise, he could never have worked so comfortably as the unseen hand pulling strings from the shadows.
Only after the banquet ended, with Tina accompanying Perenelle to the opera, did Tom finally get a chance to bring up business.
"Old men," he asked, "do you know about golden apples?"
Nicolas nodded. "I don't have children, but I still read fairy tales."
Newt asked. "You mean the golden apples from Greek mythology? Zeus and Hera's wedding gift, or the golden apple trap set by the goddess Eris?"
Eris, after all, was the very goddess from whom the Mirror of Erised took its name. She was known as the goddess of discord, one who stirred desire and ambition in people's hearts, sowing conflict and war.
Her most famous deed was the one that sparked the Trojan War.
When the hero Peleus married the sea goddess Thetis, every god was invited except Eris. In retaliation, she tossed a golden apple into the wedding feast, engraved with the words: To the fairest goddess.
Among the goddesses present, Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all fell for the ploy and began competing for the apple.
Zeus, unwilling to offend any of them, passed the judgment to Paris, a Trojan prince. Each goddess offered him a tempting bribe.
In the end, Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite, who promised to help him win the love of Helen, the queen of Sparta.
The goddess kept her word, and the Trojan War followed, forcing even the gods to choose sides.
"..."
"I mean Hera's golden apples," Tom said.
He released his Transfiguration. Before Nicolas's and Newt's astonished eyes, Tom's face was edging toward perfection.
There was also something else about him now, an aura that did not belong to any human. The pressure it radiated made both men instinctively uneasy.
Nicolas stared at him, uncertainty written all over his face. "What exactly is going on here?"
"I ate a golden apple," Tom answered honestly. "The one from the legends. Eternal youth, immortality, and a kind of divine power higher than magic itself. That's why I'm like this now."
Nicolas and Newt were dumbstruck, as if they were listening to a myth come to life.
"Tom," Newt said carefully, "it's not that we don't believe you. But you just said it yourself, it's a legend. How can you be sure it really was that golden apple?"
"The trial."
Both of them understood instantly.
Understanding, however, did not make it any easier to accept. Tom's trials seemed endless, and the rewards were always outrageous. At this rate, it felt like one day he might come back wielding Zeus's thunderbolt or Poseidon's trident.
Tom would not have minded, honestly. But recently, he had tried activating a new trial and found that the tenth Zodiac palace gave no response at all. Chances were he had to finish the Trial of the Phoenix first.
The later trials were getting more and more insane. Even Tom felt a bit intimidated now, with no idea how long the next one might stall him.
Whatever. Future problems were for the future.
"..." Tom looked at the two men, who were still silent, and continued. "Aside from the apple I ate, I also have a seed. It needs to be planted somewhere with extremely dense magical energy."
Newt snapped back to himself. "Near the Whomping Willow, maybe? There's still some land around there."
"That won't be enough," Tom said, shaking his head. "Golden Apples demand far more magic than the Whomping Willow ever did. I'm planning to build a dedicated plantation. I'll use the Inferi lake water from Voldemort's base as fertilizer, then raise some dark creatures to keep the ecosystem stable. That way it won't just burn itself out."
As Tom laid out his plan, Newt could not help clicking his tongue.
"You really dare to think big. That lake water could trigger plagues and disasters if anything goes wrong. And you want to raise magical creatures nearby…"
Nicolas was unconcerned about the risks and countered immediately. "But his plan is feasible. You remember Death Valley in Romania's Hoia Baciu Forest, don't you? Wizards won't even set foot in that place."
Hoia Baciu's Death Valley was home to more than a thousand dangerous magical creatures, venomous insects, beasts, and spirits of all kinds. It was smaller than the Albanian forests, but far more deadly.
"That's exactly why I need your help," Tom said with a smile. "Don't let magical creatures turn into one-time fertilizer for the Inferi lake. Sustainability matters."
Newt nodded. That was his field. He was on board.
Nicolas also agreed. They decided that once Tom returned from Berlin, they would start dismantling the Inferi lake. For now, they would focus on organizing the plantation plan in the pocket world.
Newt quickly mapped out which species to raise, along with the necessary food chains and supporting ecosystems. Tom followed his instructions, partitioning the space and shaping the environment.
Many things would have to be sourced locally. For example, hauling in a few small hills from the real world. Anything that could not be done in one go was carefully marked for later.
Nicolas trailed behind them, frowning the entire time.
"Something's not right," he muttered. "Feels like we're missing something."
"Missing what?" Newt asked, turning around. Tom stopped as well, surprised. "You know about ecology too?"
Nicolas looked at their faces, and suddenly, inspiration struck.
"A plantation without tools?" the old man said with a cheerful grin. "And people are practically born to be tools. Shall I go get Dumbledore?"
Tom: "..."
Newt: "..."
.
.
.