Standards were the most important metric for judging a school's quality.
From the current situation, Hogwarts was clearly inferior to Ilvermorny and Castelobruxo. This troubled Professor McGonagall greatly. Her standing in the educational world was already on shaky ground, and as a result, students found their homework piling up more and more by the day.
On the last day of May, in the library.
Tom was accompanying Cho as she revised third-year Transfiguration when a sudden cry rang out from behind the bookshelves. Moments later, an unconscious student was carried out.
"That's… Voray?" Cho said hesitantly after getting a clear look through the crowd.
Tom nodded. "Yeah, should be her. She's still wearing the Ilvermorny uniform."
He was genuinely surprised. Cassandra Voray fainting in the library was unexpected. Recently, he had not interacted much with Cassandra, but he knew she spent every day studying. Studying and more studying. She never rested.
Even during last week's public dueling class, she had only stepped onto the stage to defeat a few Hogwarts and Castelobruxo students before hurriedly leaving.
Had she finally pushed herself too far?
Before long, news of Cassandra's collapse spread throughout the school. By dinner, it had become a hot topic of conversation.
Everyone had reached the same conclusion. Voray had been hit hard by Tom and Ginny, and that was why she had been training obsessively to become stronger.
Some students even claimed they had seen Cassandra secretly practicing at night while wandering the corridors.
...
The hospital wing.
Tom sat by a hospital bed, eating with great enthusiasm. The person lying on the bed could only be Cassandra. Her face was pale, her lips colorless. Her usual arrogance had vanished, replaced by the fragile beauty of someone ill.
The sick beauty rolled her eyes at him. She had never heard of anyone visiting a patient while bringing a full meal and eating right in front of them.
Tom finished an entire chicken leg without effort and asked vaguely, "I heard you pushed yourself this hard because I stimulated you?"
"It has nothing to do with you," Cassandra denied flatly. "I just want to take advantage of the exchange to learn more magic from other countries. Don't flatter yourself."
"Oh." Tom nodded. "Then it must have been Ginny."
This time, Cassandra fell silent.
She did not refute it.
The main reason really was Ginny…
As for Tom, she had already convinced herself that the basilisk truly had been killed by him. There were always monsters like that in the world. But Ginny Weasley?
She was only a first-year. And she had defeated Cassandra through sheer ferocity.
That was what truly unbalanced her. Part of her wanted to learn more knowledge, but more than that, she wanted to numb herself so she would not think about that defeat.
"Actually, I didn't come here specifically to see you."
After finishing the last piece of lamb pastry, Tom elegantly picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth.
"Miss Voray, there's something I'd like to ask you."
"You? Asking me?" The girl's brows knitted tightly. "Riddle, are you joking?"
"I'm not an omniscient being," Tom smiled. "Of course there are things I don't know."
He flicked his wand, and the small dining table and plates vanished.
"Miss Voray."
The boy's voice suddenly softened, carrying a strange rhythm. Cassandra could not help but lift her head, meeting those eyes that shone like stars.
"The vampire causing trouble in Britain recently… does it have anything to do with Ilvermorny?"
Almost without thinking, she blurted out, "How could that be… what did you do to me!"
"You realized?"
Tom showed no embarrassment at having his method exposed. Instead, he found it strange. It was not that he looked down on Cassandra, but even an adult wizard would not have broken free that quickly.
Very soon, he found the reason.
Around Cassandra's slender neck hung a platinum necklace, and as for the pendant…
Tom's gaze instinctively followed downward.
"Where are you looking!" the girl snapped, both embarrassed and furious, shrinking to the edge of the bed.
"Flat as a runway. What's there to look at?" Tom curled his lips. Penelope had far more to look at than her.
"You!" Cassandra was so angry her chest finally heaved.
"I'm just stating facts," Tom said calmly, with no intention of backing down even as she fumed.
A real man should admire in awe, then throw deliberate punches and lash out with words, full force and unrestrained.
Cassandra snapped, "You actually used Legilimency on me! The vampire has nothing to do with Ilvermorny. That's slander!"
It was not slander.
Tom said silently to himself.
So far, more than forty witches and wizards had been infected and turned into so-called vampires. Even Snape and a group of Healers were at a loss.
A week ago, the Ministry of Magic had managed to corner the culprit, but five Aurors were no match for that vampire. Two were infected, and before reinforcements arrived, the murderer escaped again by relying on speed and strength.
That escalated the situation completely.
There were not that many witches and wizards in Britain to begin with. Over forty infected meant over forty wizarding families placed in danger. The threat was now comparable to that of werewolves.
Originally, Tom did not care. This was Dumbledore's and the Ministry's problem.
But Rouse had squeezed out a piece of information from Sauron. Sauron seemed to know that vampire.
That piqued Tom's interest.
However, based on what he had just seen through Legilimency, he was certain Cassandra knew nothing.
Seeing that she was still angry, Tom shrugged helplessly.
"Since I was caught, there's nothing to say. Using Legilimency without permission was my fault. As an apology, how about you and I have a fair and proper duel?"
Cassandra froze.
Was that really the correct way to apologize?
But strangely enough…
She was tempted.