The footsteps faded away. Only then did Harry, Ron, and Hermione slip out of the shadows.
"Maybe it really was Lucius…" Harry swallowed hard. "What do you think he's doing at school? No way it's just for his son."
"Let's talk about it tomorrow. If we don't want more points docked, we need to get back to the dorms now."
"Then tomorrow… Hermione, you free?"
"After seven p.m., yeah."
Harry nodded. "Afternoon it is. We'll meet up. Oh, Hermione—one question. Why did Professor McGonagall call you by your first name?"
Hermione forced a laugh. "Just the heat of the moment."
She definitely wasn't going to admit she was taking private lessons with McGonagall. That was also why she was only free after seven.
---
Snape's office.
Tom was buzzing around like an annoying little fly.
"Professor, there's so much blood, and you still say you're fine."
"I don't need you fussing!" Snape glared. "Go back to your dormitory, Tom."
Tom acted like he hadn't heard. "Okay, Professor, don't move. Let me see…"
He flipped up Snape's trouser leg without waiting for permission. "Not too bad. Professor Snape, wait here—I've got a couple of healing potions."
"I! DON'T! NEED! THEM!" Snape bit out each word.
"It might sting a bit. Gotta disinfect first. Bear with me."
Tom uncorked a vial and gently dabbed the wound with cotton gauze.
After disinfecting, he wrapped it carefully. "All done. I'll head out now, Professor."
Snape paused, then called him back. "I heard you and Hagrid are close. You've been studying magical creatures with him, correct? Can you tell what kind of wound this is?"
"Three-headed dog bite, sir."
"A three-headed dog is a—"
"No need for the lecture. You may go!" Snape said coldly. "And remember—don't breathe a word of this to anyone. Especially not your idiot little friend Hermione!"
"Of course. I won't tell Hermione."
But I do keep a diary. If she happens to read it herself, that's not on me…
After Tom left, Snape flexed his freshly bandaged leg and sat staring into space for a long time.
A sentence suddenly floated into his mind—one Tom had said before.
["Professor, it would be so nice if you really were my godfather. Then no one would dare call me a mudblood anymore."]
His deep black eyes cleared for a moment. Snape tilted his head back, gazing at the ceiling, lost in thought.
The quiet didn't last. Soon someone knocked.
"What are you doing here?" Snape asked bluntly the moment he saw the visitor.
"I heard you gave Draco detention. I wanted to know why."
Mentioning it made anger flare in Snape's chest.
He quickly crushed it down. His eyes returned to their usual bottomless black.
"Perhaps you should ask Draco what he said to the others."
Draco was still being stubborn. "It was just a mudblood. Besides, I wasn't even aiming at him—my target was Harry."
Lucius narrowed his eyes. "Mudblood? Who? Hermione? And what spell did you use?"
"It was Tom, Father. I used Levicorpus."
The name "Tom" seemed to carry power. The moment Lucius heard it, his whole expression turned serious. "This Tom—what's his full name? What's his surname?"
"Tom Riddle."
Lucius went quiet. He stared at his son. "We're leaving."
"Father, this—"
"I said we're leaving! You've already wasted enough of my time today. I don't want it to happen again, Draco. I'm warning you—seriously warning you—if there's a next time, you'll regret it!"
Draco didn't understand.
It was the first time he'd ever seen that look in his father's eyes.
Maybe he was imagining it, but the second Father heard the name Tom Riddle, unmistakable fear had flashed across his face—like a lamb staring at the wolf king.
---
The next morning.
Hermione ran into a familiar face right away—Cho Chang.
Cho pulled her into a tight hug. "Oh my god, Hermione! I heard you took down a troll all by yourself yesterday. That was way too dangerous. Promise me you won't do anything like that again."
First time being hugged by a girl, Hermione froze.
Her very first thought: Why is she so good at this?!
She doesn't hug Tom like this all the time… does she?
What the hell is that bastard doing with my body?!
"Senior, I'm fine." Hermione squirmed a little but couldn't break free.
She could if she used full strength, but she felt how tightly Cho was holding her, like she was afraid of losing something precious.
Then she noticed something was off.
"Senior… c-can't… breathe… lighter…"
Cho realised, blushed furiously, and let go. "Sorry, I just… But you're not hurt, right?"
"Almost died."
"I didn't mean that!" Cho's face turned even redder. "I meant the troll—did it hurt you? Books say those things are terrifying."
Oh, the troll?
Hermione smiled faintly and shook her head. "Of course not. And if it had touched me, it wouldn't have been just an injury."
With that kind of strength it would've crushed her flat.
Injury? That'd be the least of her problems.
"Good, good, you're not hurt." Cho patted her chest, finally relieved. "Oh right—this is what you asked me for earlier. I found them."
Them?
Seeing Hermione's confused look, Cho laughed. "Didn't you ask me to get you the fifth-year textbooks?"
Fifth-year???
No need to guess who'd ask for something like that. Definitely Tom.
But if he wanted fifth-year books, that meant… he was already studying at fifth-year level?
"Last week, remember? Hermione, you've been acting a bit strange lately. Um… I can't really explain it."
Cho just had this feeling—the Hermione she'd met last week had felt more mature, steadier, like a little adult. You'd never guess she was only eleven from the way she talked.
But the Hermione standing in front of her now felt more… youthful.
Actually, it was kind of cute.
"Thanks, Senior." Hermione took the books and hugged them to her chest.
"Okay, you've got class, right? Go on, go!"
"Okay."
After saying goodbye, Hermione met up with Harry and Ron.
"Morning, Hermione."
"Morning." Hermione's mind was elsewhere.
"Hermione, Halloween's almost here. You ready?"
Hermione suddenly snapped back to reality.
Oh right—it was almost November.
"Halloween's the best! The whole school gets decorated like a fairy-tale wonderland. You're gonna love it, Hermione!"
"Maybe."
After a quick chat, Hermione headed off to class—her electives had her schedule completely packed.
"Tom!" Hermione spotted him immediately. Tom stood out in any crowd—those bright jade-green eyes were impossible to miss at Hogwarts.
"Oh?" Tom saw her and the corners of his mouth curved up. "Looks like you slept well last night. Haven't been running around with Harry and them lately?"
"I never run around! Oh right, Halloween's coming. Remember not to hide in the lab all day. Come out and hang with everyone… Hey, Tom, are you even listening?"
Halloween's coming?
Halloween?!!
The troll had entered the school yesterday—the timeline had shifted!
Tom's breathing quickened. He didn't know why it had been moved up. If he remembered correctly, the troll incident was supposed to happen on Halloween.
But now it had been forced forward by several days.
"Yeah, I'm listening. Just thinking." Tom snapped out of it. "Um, fifth-year textbooks. Senior already got them for me. Hand them over."
Hermione pulled her hands back and tilted her chin proudly. "No. Senior gave them to me. She specifically said 'Hermione,' not 'Tom Riddle.'"
"Petty."
"Thanks for the compliment." Hermione fired back in perfect Tom style. "Oh right, why are you here at this hour?"
Tom suddenly grinned, leaned in close, and whispered right next to her ear. "Remember the egg Hagrid gave me? The rainbow-scaled giant chicken egg!
Yesterday Hagrid told me—it's about to hatch."
Hermione went from calm to covering her mouth with both hands in a flash. "Tom, I want to see it too! We're friends—let's go together!"
Tom didn't answer. Instead he looked at the textbooks she was clutching.
"I know, here, take them all! Here you go, petty Tom!"
"Before that, I've got a major breakthrough. Come with me, Hermione." Tom naturally took her wrist—Hermione was already used to it.
At first she'd been awkward about it, but Tom had said one sentence that fixed everything.
"I've already bathed you. What's holding hands?"
After that, Hermione had relaxed.
But just because she was fine with it didn't mean Harry and Ron, trailing behind at a distance, were fine with it.
"Ron, they're just friends, right?"
"Hm? What'd you say, Harry?" Ron had been looking somewhere else and missed Harry's expression.
"Nothing."
…
Tom and Hermione slipped into a private room.
A secret room. Just the two of them.
Right now Tom's cheeks were glowing with excitement.
"Hermione, quick—come here!" He waved at her, practically bouncing.
Hermione felt like she was staring at a wild beast…
---