Hermione, upon seeing Tom enter, immediately jumped up and rushed towards him. "Professor Tom! Waaah..."
Tom patted Hermione's fluffy head, trying to comfort her. He was speechless. I don't remember Hermione ever arguing with anyone, so how could this happen? Is this some kind of unavoidable fate?
Just as Tom was pondering this, Albus Dumbledore arrived with a gaggle of professors. Seeing the messy and dilapidated surroundings, they immediately surmised that a troll had been present.
Minerva McGonagall promptly inquired, "Where is the troll?"
Tom shook his head slightly. "Gone."
"It escaped?" Minerva McGonagall was puzzled. Had this troll gained superpowers? How could it escape Tom Riddle's clutches?
Hearing this, Tom shook his head again. "Gone is gone."
"..." Minerva McGonagall finally understood; not a trace remained.
Then Filius Flitwick noticed Hermione clinging to Tom. "What is Miss Granger doing here? We should return her to her dormitory at once."
Tom attempted to pry Hermione off, but... she wouldn't budge. "I will take her back." Slightly resigned, Tom relented.
Before departing, Tom glanced at Severus Snape's injured and bleeding leg. "Was he bitten by a dog?"
"..."
Hearing Tom's words, Snape's already unpleasant expression turned even more grim.
"Looks like I guessed correctly." Tom's words inflicted a second wound on Snape's fragile heart. If anyone else, even Albus Dumbledore, had said that to him, he would have retorted without hesitation. But this was unacceptable; Severus Snape had a reason not to die.
Thinking thus, Snape decided to find an excuse to leave. "I have several potions that require my immediate attention, so I must be going." With that, Snape limped away. Surprisingly, despite his injured leg, Snape didn't move slowly, perhaps eager to escape this dangerous place as quickly as possible. Watching Snape's half-crippled, bat-like figure, Tom sighed inwardly, realizing that fate was indeed real; even Snape couldn't escape being bitten by a dog. He chuckled inwardly, turned, and left with Hermione Granger.
...
The next morning in the Great Hall, the young wizards sat together, eating breakfast, while several professors also enjoyed theirs.
"Snape got bitten by a dog?!" The proclamation echoed through the Great Hall, and of course, it was Draco Malfoy who said it.
Snape, who was eating breakfast, immediately darkened his face and resolved to find a chance to completely ruin Malfoy's childhood.
Albus Dumbledore, standing nearby, was privately amused by Snape's predicament.
Meanwhile, Tom ate his breakfast expressionlessly, as if nothing had happened. In fact, he wasn't pretending; he had just learned the truth about the previous night from Quirinus Quirrell. Because Quirinus Quirrell's own strength hadn't fully recovered, he couldn't deal with Snape in a short amount of time, and as a result, the plan had failed. For this, Quirinus Quirrell was even called a "lung fog Socket" twice. Of course, he could only swallow his anger and dared not speak out. After all, he was still relying on that person's secret-recipe hamburgers; now was not the time to fall out, or he would truly be dead.
Back to Harry and the others: "So, Snape wants whatever's in there too?" Harry Potter said, stroking his chin. Meanwhile, a nagging thought lingered in his mind; he'd known all along that this greasy-haired, bat-like man was no good. It was clear he still harbored resentment towards Snape for trying to force a refill on him.
"But he probably didn't get it either." Hermione began to recall the scene when she saw Snape, and after thinking carefully, it didn't seem like he had obtained anything of any importance.
"Then we're back to square one. We need to find a way to get around or deal with that three-headed dog and get through the trapdoor." Cassandra Vole finished speaking and stood up. "I'm finished eating. I'm going to the library to research three-headed dogs."
Seeing this, Hermione Granger also got up and followed. "I'll go too. Two people working together will be more efficient."
"Then I…" Harry was about to say something.
"What do you mean, 'I'? You're coming with me!" Draco Malfoy grabbed Harry Potter without hesitation. "The inter-house Quidditch matches are about to start! We haven't even joined the Slytherin Quidditch team! This won't do! Let's go!" Then, Harry, still not having finished his breakfast, was dragged out of the Great Hall by Malfoy.
…
"You two... aren't you a little early to be trying out for the Quidditch team?" Marcus Flint, captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team, looked impatiently at Harry and Malfoy. Because the head of Slytherin House, Snape, didn't particularly care for Quidditch and didn't bother with anything related to it, Marcus was responsible for recruiting members for the Slytherin Quidditch team.
"My dad's on the board of trustees." Draco Malfoy arrogantly raised his head, looking directly at Marcus with his nostrils flared.
Seeing Malfoy's arrogant attitude, Harry's lips twitched involuntarily. I have a premonition that Malfoy is about to offend someone again.
As expected…
Because his family wasn't as wealthy as these purebloods, Marcus grew angry at Malfoy's attitude. "Even if your dad was the headmaster, it wouldn't work! Absolutely not! You can both go home!"
Hearing this, Harry thought it was hopeless and was about to drag Malfoy away. If Malfoy keeps going, there might be a full-blown brawl next.
But how could Death Eater Number Two Handsome Man give up because of this little setback? His dad was never useless! "I can get my dad to buy every single person on the Quidditch team the latest Nimbus-series flying broomstick—a Nimbus 2000!" Malfoy proudly crossed his arms, flaunting his inherited wealth. Because he had only recently started using flying broomsticks, Harry didn't know the value of the Nimbus 2000, but he understood the word "latest."
Damn rich people…wait, I think my family has a vault too? Harry was determined to get the key to his family's vault from Albus Dumbledore.
"Hiss~" Hearing Malfoy's words, Marcus couldn't help but gasp. He'd never seen such extravagant spending before. Although still annoyed by Malfoy's attitude, well… that was an entire team equipped with Nimbus 2000s! Taking a deep breath, Marcus slowly said, "Alright, I agree. Congratulations on joining the Slytherin Quidditch team."
"That actually works?" Harry was still a bit shocked.
Hearing this, Malfoy smiled knowingly, "There's no back door that can't be opened. If there is, it's because your dad wasn't powerful enough."
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