The outstanding new student from Gryffindor, rumored to be Professor Richard's "illegitimate child" (yes, no one remembers that William just graduated this year at the age of seventeen), has for some reason been hanging out with the new ghost from Slytherin House lately.
Since Madam Grey and the Bloody Baron both disappeared, Ravenclaw and Slytherin have been without their house ghosts, and the new ghost that appeared in the school recently filled one of the vacancies—nobody knows where he came from, they only know that this ghost's last name is Black.
But unexpectedly, this ghost ended up hanging around with the popular new Gryffindor student.
As for why Tom Riddle is considered a star student...
It's not simple. First of all, he has a good relationship with the "famous Savior" Harry Potter; secondly, Professor Snape has never deducted a single point from Gryffindor because of him; finally, and most importantly—his last name is "Riddle".
This is the surname of "that man", not to mention, Professor Lupin's attitude towards him is also unusual.
Therefore, any little wizard with eyes or ears has, in the nearly three months since the start of school, realized that the other party's identity is not simple at all, most likely... no, definitely, definitely a person with an extremely significant background!
Thus, in Little Tom's own view, his school life is extremely boring—
Nobody dares to mess with him, except for those two brats from his dormitory, and he doesn't have many friends—the little circle around Harry Potter doesn't count, since he said from the beginning that he doesn't like that green-eyed boy with the lightning scar on his forehead.
It's like a physiological aversion.
Of course, after understanding more about the Magic Realm during this period, Tom roughly understood why this was the case, so he didn't have more contact with the other party.
Meanwhile, the boy became very interested in that "former self".
Precisely because, after Voldemort's fall, after various media confirmed Voldemort's death from Dumbledore—after all, the old man had always insisted that "Voldemort will make a comeback"—various newspapers and magazines have published articles about Voldemort, most of which naturally consist of scolding, but there are always those few peculiar ones...
However, having collected almost all recent articles, Tom believes they are nearly all biased, given the most crucial point—
These authors have probably ninety-nine percent never even seen Voldemort.
And Regulus's appearance undoubtedly helped him fill in some of the blanks, especially since the species known as Death Eaters went through an extinction event; no living being can become a ghost under William's Killing Curse, none—so Regulus became the only remaining Death Eater… ghost.
Of course, this is based on Tom not knowing that Snape used to be a Death Eater.
After meeting in the Slytherin Dungeon that day, it wasn't just Tom curious about Regulus; the latter was also incredibly curious about the former—only, the more he interacted with him, the more Regulus felt something was off about this boy, like he was naked in front of him, with all his thoughts seemingly being seen through by the other—
If it wasn't because he was a ghost, he would have suspected the other could read minds.
After that afternoon's "Q&A", Regulus didn't get any useful information, instead, he was coaxed into talking a great deal, almost falling into reminiscing about the Voldemort he once pursued.
And as he got to know more later, Regulus felt like he had detected some truth, but still needed some confirmation.
Then, the time came to tonight, routinely... though he didn't know why it was routine, of night adventure time, one person and one ghost adeptly avoided the patrolling Mrs. Loris and successfully snuck into what was known as the most heavily defended place in all of Hogwarts Zone 13... no, it was the library.
But, there was something different today—
Perhaps stirred by a sixth sense, almost as soon as he walked into the library, Tom sensed something was wrong, and without any hesitation, the sense of danger urged him to pull Regulus who was following him to hide—then, in no time, they saw a combination they definitely did not expect to see before.
A strange man, glowing with golden light, and Professor McGonagall, coming out of the library.
"…there seems to be a secret passage leading out of the school over there."
Tom carefully recalled the Marauder's Map he had seen in the Room of Requirement, and at the time, he was only focused on looking at his name displayed on the map, having glanced over the secret passages.
After exchanging a glance, the one person and one ghost decisively followed them—staying far behind to avoid being discovered, even losing them for a bit, fortunately Tom's sixth sense wasn't wrong, as they directly headed towards the eighth floor, finally seeing the pair again as they exited the Room of Requirement.
At the end of the corridor, within the shadows cast by the cold stone wall, the air seemed to freeze.
In a corner, the translucent ghost Regulus Black and the boy Tom Riddle, whom he was arduously using his ethereal body to shield, were holding their breath—though Tom still needed to breathe and Regulus did not, but having not been a ghost for long, Regulus still lacked experience.
Until the two disappeared from the end of the corridor.
"...What happened?"
Tom lowered his voice, his dark eyes filled with bewilderment; after a brief hesitation, he quickly ran to the wall with the tapestry depicting the Troll and Barnabas the Barmy, pacing back and forth in the middle of the corridor three times, and then, a stone door appeared on the empty wall opposite the tapestry.
"Knock knock knock—"
Tom started to knock on the door.
"Creak—"
The observation window on the door was pulled open from inside, Dobby's bulbous eyes appeared behind the door.
"Tom, Tom, Tom, ..."
"It's me, can you open the door now?"
Whenever Dobby saw Tom, he'd stutter, entirely out of a subconscious state that he couldn't adjust, even though Dobby wasn't aware of the true identity of the boy in front of him.
"Alright, alright, alright, alright..."
"...Why don't you open the door first?"
"…"
The stone door opened silently, and Dobby jumped down from the bench, making way for Tom and the ghost behind him.
"You just... never mind, Black, you ask."
"Ask what?"
"Of course, ask... sir?"
Halfway through talking, Tom suddenly realized the voice he just heard was off, he turned his head on reflex, only to see William, at some point, had already been standing directly under the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, his eyes slightly narrowed, looking at the one person, one ghost, and one elf in front of him.