Hogwarts Headmaster's Office.
Almost all the professors were gathered there—even Hagrid had rushed back to the castle.
When he saw Tom and Hermione safe and sound, the weight on his chest finally lifted.
Thank goodness Tom and Hermione were okay...
Hagrid thumped his massive chest. If anything had happened to them, it would've been his fault—a huge mistake.
"Tom, why didn't you two come straight back to school? What happened in Hogsmeade?" Dumbledore poured them each a cup of water. "What made you kids decide to handle things this way?"
This wasn't some kind of trial—just a conversation with two young students. Dumbledore kept his usual kind, grandfatherly tone.
Tom took a sip of the hot tea and answered seriously. "Professor, the owl couldn't get the letter back to the school. You-Know-Who intercepted it. I didn't dare head back right away—if he'd ambushed us on the way, it could've been disastrous."
"Oh?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "You knew the letter would be intercepted?"
"I have a friend—a house-elf. He's pretty weak, but he's really good to me. He told me everything. Sorry, professors, but I can't give you his name.
"We didn't stay at the Three Broomsticks because I was worried Professor Quirrell might show up and try to take us somewhere, claiming it was on behalf of Hogwarts. I've read that You-Know-Who has followers, so I figured..." Tom shrugged. "Two fists can't beat four hands, Professor. You told us that yourself."
"Professor Quirrell..." Professor McGonagall murmured, then it clicked. "You knew Quirrell was You-Know-Who all along? You're the one who tipped Hermione off?"
McGonagall remembered how Hermione had come to her earlier, saying she'd noticed something off about Quirrell. She hadn't thought much of it at the time.
Now it was clear: Tom had seen through everything from the start.
What incredible insight.
She let out a quiet sigh of admiration.
Any other student probably would've suspected that bat-like Severus Snape first, no matter what.
Tom just smiled and nodded.
Dumbledore's expression grew more serious. He tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair for a long moment before turning. "Hagrid, I think you have something to say to these two, don't you?"
"I... I'm so sorry, you two. If it wasn't for me..."
Tom cut him off gently. "Mr. Hagrid, don't put yourself down like that. You went looking for him because you spotted signs of You-Know-Who first—your bravery is something we really admire and want to learn from.
"He's just too sneaky. He tricked you into leaving us alone. That's not some huge mistake. Everyone messes up sometimes, especially against a powerful enemy. The only way we get better is by learning from those mistakes—as long as we fix them next time."
Hagrid looked at Tom, gratitude welling up in his eyes. He hung his head guiltily, unable to speak.
Hermione stood quietly beside them—she hadn't planned on saying anything anyway.
It wasn't until today that she truly understood why Tom had so many friends.
All of them trusted him completely, without holding back. Even a house-elf was willing to go against its master to warn Tom—something Hermione never would've imagined before.
Tom always forgave people kindly, no matter what mistakes they'd made.
"I... I met someone," Hagrid sighed heavily. "I got carried away with luck. This guy gave me a dragon egg, and I thought I'd found a decent person. We talked a lot, and he even came to see the egg with me..."
Toward the end, Hagrid couldn't go on. He downed the glass of water in front of him in one gulp. "Albus, this whole mess happened because I screwed up. I request to leave Hogwarts."
Dumbledore's face didn't change. "Rubeus, that's running away. Since Tom has already forgiven you, you should be thinking about how to repay him. We now know You-Know-Who is back. He'll definitely target Hogwarts in the future—you can't choose to leave now."
"I..." Hagrid's huge beard trembled.
Dumbledore had spoken, and Hagrid nodded vigorously. "I'll do my best. Thank you, Tom."
"Wait a second!" Hermione spoke up for the first time, sounding shocked. "You-Know-Who—he actually got away from the professors' ambush?"
"Tom's right," Dumbledore said, stroking his long white beard. "Death Eaters are helping him in secret. Even if he's not at full strength yet, those Death Eaters believe he'll one day lead them to conquer the world."
He paused. "Death Eaters—you could call them Voldemort's followers. They're always sneaky and cunning. If you ever run into one, get away immediately. Don't try to fight them head-on.
"This time, You-Know-Who escaped our trap thanks to the Death Eaters."
Tom smirked inwardly.
Death Eaters? More like the ultimate double agent.
His eyes "accidentally" flicked over to Snape, lingering for a couple of seconds before Snape glared back fiercely. Tom quickly looked away.
"You two little ones should head off to rest now," Dumbledore said with a twinkle returning to his eye. "I'm looking forward to seeing you both at the Christmas feast."
At those last words, Hermione's face turned red.
Just thinking about being watched by all those professors while dancing in the Great Hall gave her a weird feeling...
"Good night, professors," Tom said, bidding everyone farewell. He grabbed Hermione's hand and led her out of Dumbledore's office.
...
"You seem to know a lot of stuff," Hermione said curiously, pouting a bit. "But you never told me any of it."
Tom grinned. "You know plenty too, and you didn't say a single word back there."
"I'm not great at talking anyway. You're always the one who gets along with the professors. Hmph. Good night!"
"Good night."
They said their goodbyes and headed off to their separate dormitories.
Back in the Ravenclaw common room, Tom's two dorm mates had been waiting forever. They were posted up by the door like guards, and the second they spotted him, they each grabbed one of his arms.
"You were gone the whole day!"
Li Su gritted his teeth. "Tom, spill it—what happened? Or tonight Terry's sleeping in your bed, and you can deal with his teeth-grinding all night!"
Tom sighed dramatically. "Fine, I ran into You-Know-Who. We battled for three hundred rounds, I pinned him down, sliced off his nose—almost lost my life."
"..."
"Are you kidding us?" they both shot back at once, tickling him from both sides.
Of course Terry and Li Su didn't buy Tom's nonsense for a second.
You-Know-Who? That was the most infamous dark wizard ever—people were too scared to even say his name. And Tom claimed he stepped on him?
No way!
Impossible!
"Tell the truth!"
Terry joined in, teasing, "You were with Hermione all that time—did you guys do a bunch of..."
Tom kept a straight face, while Terry's own cheeks turned bright red.
"Do what?" Tom asked innocently.
"You know what!"
"Yeah, we teamed up against You-Know-Who. The two of us wrecked him. Anyway, I'm beat—good night. Whoever grinds their teeth, keep it down, and the snorer can stay up all night. Thanks."
Tom flopped into bed, and within two minutes his steady breathing filled the dorm.
He was out cold, but his two roommates didn't sleep a wink.
The next morning, Terry and Li Su both had bloodshot eyes.
"You guys really didn't sleep?" Tom scratched his head. "Weird, I've never seen you that bad before. What happened?"
He found out soon enough.
On the way to their first class, everyone gave Tom a wide berth, dodging around him like he was contagious.
"T-Tom, morning," someone stammered.
"Morning, senior," Tom replied cheerfully to Cho Chang. "Hey, do you know why everyone's avoiding me? Senior, why are you backing up—do I have something scary on my face?"
Then he figured out what Cho was afraid of.
"Mr. Riddle!" Snape's voice cut through the morning air like bitter black coffee, snapping Tom to attention. "Do you realize what you missed this morning? I waited for you in the Potions lab for an hour!"
"Sorry, Professor—I was exhausted. I'll be there tomorrow, I promise."
"I certainly hope so."
Snape swept away, but the fear in Cho's eyes didn't fade.
"Senior?"
Cho cleared her throat awkwardly, curiosity winning out. "Tom, have you heard the rumors going around? People are saying you and Professor Snape are... you know, in that kind of relationship?"
The British gay rumors were leveling up!
"Senior, you're looking at this all wrong. I'm a pure, innocent student who just wants to study hard and get along with my friends. I'm definitely not whatever you're thinking!"
"Hermione!" Cho waved, spotting her behind Tom. "Hey, Hermione—you're close with Tom. Is he and Professor Snape... um, in that kind of relationship?"
—Cho meant father and son.
The rumor was that Tom was Snape's illegitimate kid, and when he was little, Snape had dumped him in an orphanage to "toughen him up."
Hermione paused. "I guess... yeah, sort of."
—She meant the private tutoring kind of relationship.
"What are you two even talking about?!" Tom panicked.
I look decent enough, right? I got plenty of candy on Halloween!
How can you slander me like this out of nowhere?
"Come on, Tom, just admit it!" Cho said, looking smug now that she had backup.
"Admit what?"
Cho just grinned and wouldn't say more.
Hermione saw Tom flustered and struggling, and even though she didn't know the full story, she couldn't help but smile.
Okay, fine—you wanna play it like that?
Senior Cho, looks like next week I'm gonna have to teach you a little lesson.