Something was off.
Something was terribly, terribly off!
In the brightly lit, cozy Great Hall, forty or fifty souls were listlessly scattered about. Though breakfast was laid out before them, it was abundantly clear that their minds were elsewhere.
A spoon stirred aimlessly, a fork struggled to skewer, toast and bacon were neglected, growing cold... The sharp clatter of metal against the stone floor snapped the professors and students back from their collective staring at a certain corner of the Great Hall.
"Ahem… sorry about that, haha…"
A Ravenclaw seventh-year wizard awkwardly retrieved his fallen spoon, and the collective gaze of the hall abruptly shifted away from him in a show of polite disinterest.
Over in the corner.
Tom reclined on a bench, his head resting upon a soft, fragrant lap. He lazily opened his mouth from time to time, allowing Nagini to feed him morsels.
Now, Nagini's fondness for feeding Tom Riddle was not exactly breaking news, but today felt… different. How to describe it? Elusive, yet immediately apparent.
Nagini, usually radiating maturity and intellect, now wore an expression… How could anyone explain the look of a young girl utterly smitten?
Gossip swirled in the professors' eyes. Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald wore undisguised, avuncular smiles that had not faded since they entered the Great Hall. Minerva McGonagall and Filius Flitwick mirrored their expressions. Even Severus Snape occasionally glanced up, observing with veiled interest for a few seconds. Sybill Trelawney, perpetually tipsy, had completely forgotten to raise her wine bottle...
The younger wizards were desperate to ask, but they remembered the recent blunder they had made and Tom Riddle's furious outburst. Even though almost all of them were Death Eaters, they couldn't be sure they wouldn't be doomed to watch the drama unfold after stepping out of line for the first time.
They hadn't forgotten that Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, the newly-minted leaders of the Death Eaters, had been caught spreading "rumors" not long ago. Tom had sentenced them to two days in the Hogwarts Infirmary where they remained wrapped like mummies.
The other Death Eaters at Hogwarts were not arrogant enough to believe they were more favored than the second-in-command.
The silence in the Great Hall persisted until Malfoy and Harry stumbled in for breakfast, supporting each other.
"Huh?"
Malfoy stopped, surprised, and glanced around. "Why is everyone here at this hour? Are they all skipping class?"
"..."
Malfoy's words darkened the expressions of the professors, especially Snape, who shot his godson a venomous glare.
Harry, standing beside him, nearly rolled his eyes, but he knew this wasn't the time. He limped along from the infirmary, hunger gnawing at his back, and urged, "Hurry up! Don't just stand there, Malfoy!"
Malfoy didn't argue, sharing Harry's urgency.
They barely sat down, and before the house-elves could even serve their food, they were surrounded by other students. Behind the screen of students, the professors strained their ears.
"Hey, Potter, look over there."
"Malfoy, take a look."
Following the pointed directions, the two finally understood the unusual atmosphere – it was all about the unfolding drama!
Sensing the strange mood around Tom Riddle and Nagini, Harry and Malfoy exchanged a glance, each knowing the other had noticed it, too.
Unlike the others, these two possessed a deeper understanding of Tom's situation.
They knew that Cassandra Volle had succeeded, but had not imagined Nagini might as well?
Impressed, they rarely admired others, but these two truly deserved respect.
Of course, they couldn't say anything aloud. They weren't sure if Tom Riddle would want them to say it, even if he seemed to have no intention of hiding anything at the moment. But what if he did?
If they put their foot in it again, their "broken bodies" couldn't withstand the ordeal.
Harry and Malfoy exchanged glances, instantly understanding each other's thoughts. "Impossible! What you're thinking is absolutely impossible!"
"Have you forgotten what happened less than a week ago? And even if that were to happen, it couldn't have happened this quickly!"
"Tom Riddle, how dare you spread rumors? Are you lovesick? You won't even need the professor to punish you! I'll go to the Ministry of Magic and report you for defamation!"
"..."
The young wizards hoping to persuade Harry and Malfoy to ask were immediately silenced. After all, this was a serious "crime," and the last rumormonger was right before their eyes - the disastrous outcome... tsk tsk… Besides, what Harry and Malfoy said made sense; they were probably overthinking it.
Accepting this logic, the young wizards either sighed in relief or settled into boredom... in any case, they stopped obsessing over it.
However, the professors weren't so easily swayed by these kids. Aside from the two aged masters, the others possessed a wealth of life experience. Even Snape, despite his miscalculations, was no exception.
They simply kept their opinions to themselves. Tom's willingness to take risks depended entirely on his whims.
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