That night, Hogwarts was crawling with night owls.
It was probably the latest the student body had ever stayed up in the history of the school.
A festive energy buzzed through the entire campus.
Everyone was in their dorms, raising their glasses and chugging drinks. They really wanted alcohol, but that would break the rules, so they settled for regular beverages instead.
"Did you hear? You-Know-Who sneaked into the school and got absolutely wrecked by Headmaster Dumbledore. I told you Dumbledore was the strongest wizard alive!"
"Your info is garbage. I heard it wasn't Dumbledore who took down You-Know-Who, but a different mystery wizard..."
"Another mystery wizard?"
The other students raised their eyebrows, looking at the guy speaking with genuine curiosity.
The boy held up a finger, playing it up for suspense. "Dumbledore arrived late. He actually witnessed this mystery wizard fighting the Dark Lord. Word is, their magical mastery was off the charts. The Dark Lord went all out and still couldn't win. And get this—the mystery wizard's identity is..."
He paused deliberately, letting the silence stretch. The guys around him were practically crawling out of their skin with anticipation.
"Spit it out! Who was it?"
"I don't know for sure, but rumor has it... it was Merlin."
"Merlin?!" A few of them clamped their hands over their mouths, gasping. "Are you messing with us? How the hell could Merlin be at Hogwarts? Besides, Merlin should be..."
Dead!
After all these centuries, how could Merlin possibly be alive? Not even wizards live that long.
"Look, it's just what I heard. They say he's Merlin's reincarnation. You know what reincarnation is, right? Heh. Merlin was a god-tier wizard; pulling something like that off would be a cakewalk for him."
"No way. Who exactly told you this? Sounds like a load of bull."
"Harry," the boy replied defensively. "The Dark Lord was trying to kill Harry, but luckily, this mystery guy showed up out of nowhere, snatched Harry right out of his clutches, and even blocked the Dark Lord's Avada Kedavra. Have... have none of you actually gone to see Harry?"
The group collectively scratched their heads.
They knew Harry was the center of this whole mess, and they obviously knew his name, but honestly? Very few people actually hung out with him.
Aside from the Gryffindors, hardly anyone went out of their way to talk to Harry.
To them, Harry was a living legend. At most, they just whispered about him behind his back.
"Cough. Yeah, maybe we shouldn't gossip about that. Professor Dumbledore will probably make an announcement eventually. But I do have another massive scoop. You cannot tell a soul. I overheard this in the hospital wing. I ate something bad and ended up there. Guess who was lying in the bed right next to mine?"
When nobody answered, he just kept going. "Tom Riddle. Classes start back up next month, but once they do, there's one student who won't be attending. Tom!"
"Did he get expelled?"
"Expelled? Are you crazy? Professor Dumbledore said Tom is already so powerful he doesn't even need classes anymore! He's sending Tom to live at the Malfoy Manor for a while. Oh, and his final grades? He's getting straight 'O's!"
The group was completely dumbfounded.
An 'O'? Outstanding was literally the highest grade possible!
"In everything?"
"Everything!"
In the entire history of Hogwarts, you could count the number of students who got straight 'O's on one hand. And every single one of them was a total bookworm who spent every waking second studying—not just for a day or two, but for the entire year!
"Is Tom really... that ridiculously good? Did Professor Snape actually agree to this?"
"Isn't Tom basically Snape's illegitimate kid? Seems pretty normal to me."
"Then why would Professor McGonagall agree?"
"Did you forget? At the Yule Ball, Tom wasn't even supposed to be allowed to dance. He literally had every other professor gang up on McGonagall to get her to give him permission."
The group fell dead silent.
Only one thought echoed in their minds: He's practically royalty!
It was absolutely unfathomable how a first-year student had managed to make every single professor treat him like their own flesh and blood.
Even Professor McGonagall, the ultimate stickler for the rules, had left the back door wide open for him.
Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying!
Tom could practically walk sideways through this school and nobody would stop him.
They all quietly sucked in a breath of cold air. "Whatever. Let's stop thinking about stuff that has nothing to do with us. Tonight, we drink till we drop! And when classes start in a month, I'm going to grind hard. I'm getting straight 'O's too!"
The rest of them just treated it like a joke.
Straight 'O's? What kind of garbage are you smoking? You think you're Tom? Snape's Potions class alone would weed you out instantly.
---
The next morning.
Tom was up bright and early.
Draco Malfoy had been waiting for him for quite a while. He was sitting outside the Ravenclaw dorms, yawning non-stop.
He really hadn't slept well last night.
Especially after his father came home and told him he had to go to the school today to bring Tom back to their manor. That little tidbit completely ruined Draco's sleep.
He absolutely hated this guy!
Spotting Tom stepping out of the dorm, Draco gave a stiff greeting, then coldly laid down the law. "When we get to my house, do not wander around. Do not look at things you aren't supposed to see. I have no idea why Dumbledore agreed to this, or why he went to my father to ask for this special privilege, but I highly suggest you keep your hands to yourself. Curiosity killed the cat."
Tom nodded casually. "Of course. Will do."
Tch. Everyone knows about the shady crap going on in your house. It's just Death Eater stuff, isn't it?
The whole world thinks your father, Lucius Malfoy, is Voldemort's most loyal lapdog. They have no idea that in the future, your parents will end up "betraying" him too.
Walking down the road, Draco deliberately controlled his pace. He kept a measured, perfectly even stride—unhurried, unbothered, flawless!
Honestly, Draco was incredibly anxious about Tom. He was walking right in front of the guy, his back completely exposed!
All the crap he'd pulled recently—like trying to ask Hermione out and constantly bothering her—was still painfully fresh in his mind.
If Tom was the kind to hold a grudge, he might just take this opportunity to beat the living daylights out of him.
Fortunately, Tom didn't pull anything like that. He just quietly followed Draco.
Neither of them said a word as they walked.
It wasn't until they were officially off campus that Draco finally broke the silence. "You and Hermione... have you known each other since you were kids? I heard you two grew up together and are pretty tight."
"Is that what people are saying? Fake news. We aren't childhood friends. We just share a few... personal secrets, that's all."
Draco's curiosity instantly spiked. He probed cautiously, "Could you... maybe let me in on that secret?"
"It wouldn't be a secret if I told you," Tom shrugged. "But honestly, Malfoy, why are you so obsessed with Hermione? It's not just you, it's Harry, too. You guys even started some sort of 'Hermione Simp Club' a while back."
"It was the Hermione Fan Club!" Draco immediately corrected him.
Just bringing it up made a faint blush creep across Draco's cheeks.
Looking back, the things they did were so incredibly childish. No wonder Hermione had been so annoyed with them.
"Same difference." Tom waved it off dismissively, stepping up to walk side-by-side with Draco. "You're a pure-blood. You're supposed to look down on us Mud—uh, I mean, half-blood wizards. If your father found out you were doing all that crap just for Hermione, he'd be absolutely livid, wouldn't he?"
Draco's face completely fell. "Three months. I lost my allowance for three whole months. And when I went home, I had to spend three hours in solitary confinement every single day."
He let out a heavy sigh. "If everything at school hadn't gone crazy, my father never would have found out what I was up to."
Translation: I know I messed up. But I'll absolutely do it again!
"All that for a half-blood? Is it really worth it?"
Draco stopped dead in his tracks and looked Tom right in the eyes.
He had fully expected Tom to be mocking him, but looking into Tom's eyes, Draco only saw sincerity.
It seemed like Tom was genuinely just asking a simple, ordinary question.
"Of course it's worth it!" Draco nodded fiercely, his fists slowly clenching. "You don't know what my past was like, Tom. Sure, I'm a pure-blood. In everyone else's eyes, I'm nobility. But the truth is... I don't really have many friends. But..."
Draco gripped his fists tighter, his eyes suddenly shining with emotion.
He looked up at the sky, his mind drifting back to that one specific night.
"Even though I was completely useless... that day, the first time we ran into You-Know-Who... Hermione didn't single me out or criticize me, even though I was nothing but a coward who ran away. She's not like the others. Hermione is special. So, I..."
Tom held up a hand, cutting Draco off. "Alright, wrap it up. I've heard enough."
You absolute idiot. If you only knew the person who forgave you that day wasn't Hermione... it was me. Ugh. Tom let out a mental sigh. Why are boys this age so damn easy to win over?
Harry is a total simp for pretty faces, so him crushing on Hermione after her glow-up makes sense. But you're a pure-blood wizard! Stop acting like a pathetic dog chasing a bone!
Wouldn't it be way better to just use your elite pure-blood status to pick up some pretty girls?
Tom didn't want to listen to another second of Draco's sappy garbage. They picked up the pace and soon arrived at the Malfoy Manor.
This was Tom's very first time seeing a true "Noble House" up close.
Towering walls wrapped around the estate. The manor was located in a ridiculously wealthy area; one of their bathrooms probably cost enough to buy the entire St. Radegund Orphanage.
Calling it "luxurious" didn't even begin to cover the sheer scale of it. Gold trim everywhere! Tom genuinely suspected the toilets might be solid gold.
Towering, ancient trees grew in the Malfoy gardens, their massive branches swaying in the breeze, seemingly welcoming young master Draco back home.
Or, maybe they were just terrified of Tom. A rising Dark Lord for a new era.
Creak. Draco pushed the heavy doors open. "My father had business to attend to. He already left for the day. For this week, it'll probably just be the two of us here."
The second they stepped inside, a house-elf came practically stumbling over itself, rushing to swap out Draco's shoes.
When the house-elf saw Tom, its enormous eyes instantly lit up.
But because Draco was standing right there, the little elf didn't dare say hello to Tom. It was Dobby. Dobby the house-elf, the Malfoy family's personal slave.
"What's this house-elf's name?" Tom asked.
Draco shrugged carelessly. "Who cares? I certainly don't know. Maybe ask my father? House-elves are just slaves. Servitude is baked right into their bones. If you treat them well, they just become insanely annoying, so I usually ignore them entirely. You're part of the wizarding world now, Tom; you need to understand how things work. Do you know the difference between wizards and house-elves?"
Tom shook his head.
"Wizards are human. From the day we're born, humans experience joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. We inherently reject things that harm us, we feel complex emotions, and the second we're oppressed, wizards will rise up and smash their cages to pieces! But these elves? They don't even have the guts for basic rebellion. They deserve to be human slaves forever."
Hearing this, Dobby trembled violently and bowed his head lower.
"Dobby... Dobby will always be just a slave."
"Shut up!" Draco glared at the elf. "I explicitly told you not to speak when I'm home. Just hearing your voice makes me sick."
Dobby clamped his mouth shut, not daring to utter another word.
He cast a terrified glance at Draco, then looked up at Tom with eyes desperately begging for salvation.
Only those who had actually spent time with Tom knew how truly kind he was. Dobby was profoundly, genuinely grateful to Tom. After neatly arranging Draco's shoes, the elf silently backed away and disappeared.
"Hmm..." Draco frowned, resting his chin on his hand in deep thought.
The plan was to let Tom experience everyday life in the wizarding world. But what exactly did people in the wizarding world do for fun on a normal day? Honestly, not much.
"What do you usually do on the weekends?" Draco asked.
"Study spells, practice spells, brew potions. Basically, as long as studying won't literally kill me, I'll study myself half to death."
Draco stared at him, falling completely silent again.
What kind of psychopathic overachiever is this?!
What do you mean, "study yourself half to death"?! Do you think you're a pack mule? Even a mule gets tired!
Wait... does Tom actually have troll blood in him or something? Is that how he pulls off these insane study sessions without crashing?
Draco shook his head, forcefully throwing the ridiculous thought away.
"Never mind. Do you know any of the standard games wizards play socially? They're actually super important for networking in the wizarding world. After all, not every wizard is like those crusty old professors at Hogwarts who just sit around pouring tea and chatting all day."
Tom shook his head honestly. "Not really. Or rather, I have absolutely no idea what kind of games wizards play for fun."
"For example... Wizard's Chess. Have you heard of it?"
Tom nodded, then shook his head. "I've heard the name, but I don't know the rules. I've never actually played."
Where Tom couldn't see, the corners of Draco's mouth curled up into a smirk.
Yes! Finally found something Tom sucks at. Which means, in this specific arena, I can totally crush him!
Today, I'm going to show Tom what a true wizard looks like!
---