Dumbledore stared at the office door after it closed again, the lantern monster's words still echoing faintly from outside.
He slowly returned to his chair with the newspaper in hand.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Ever since Tom had arrived, everything had seemed perfectly normal, as though it were merely a student suffering from some psychological problem.
Yet Dumbledore felt an increasingly strong sense that something was fundamentally off.
The boy's questions had been too precise, his confusion too controlled, his eyes too sharp for simple distress.
"Wade Reynolds... Wade Reynolds..."
Dumbledore murmured the name to himself, finding it more and more familiar.
The syllables tugged at something buried, like a half-remembered melody that refused to surface fully.
...
Slytherin Common Room.
"Equality."
The stone door opened.
Tom walked inside in silence.
He glanced back at the stone door as it closed again, his emotions complicated.
In the past, the Slytherin password had always been something related to pure-bloods, such as "Pure-blood" or "Pure-blood Honour."
But after Wade founded the Mutual Aid Society and thoroughly subdued the pure-blood students throughout the school, the password to the Slytherin Common Room had changed.
Yet today, when Tom asked the others about it, everyone had looked at him in surprise and told him that he had been the one who led the Mutual Aid Society in defeating the school's pure-blood students.
"I call bullshit... I didn't have that kind of nerve in my first year."
Tom snorted and strode towards the dormitory.
"Tom? Are you all right?" Anne's voice came from nearby.
Tom turned and saw many members of the Mutual Aid Society sitting in front of the fireplace. Every one of them was looking at him with concern.
It was understandable. Tom had spent the entire day running around and asking everyone all sorts of strange questions. Naturally, people had noticed.
Tom's gaze fell on Elena.
Wade had brought Elena back from the Soviet Union.
Tom had asked her about it earlier that day as well, and the answer had been exactly what he expected.
She did not know who Wade Reynolds was.
And according to her memories, the person who had brought her out of the Soviet Union was Tom himself.
The thought made Tom feel utterly frustrated.
He had never even been to the Soviet Union!
"Haah.. I'm fine... I just went to see Professor Dumbledore. I picked up a harmless little curse while reading a second-hand book. It's been removed now," Tom said, casually making up an excuse.
He no longer wanted to mention what had happened during the day.
There was no point.
Unless he wanted everyone to keep treating him like a lunatic.
Seeing their curious expressions, Tom quickly added, "Sorry. I just had the curse removed, so I'm a little tired. I need to get some rest."
"All right. Get some proper sleep. Whatever it is, we can talk about it tomorrow," Anne said.
Tom's excuse was somewhat flimsy, but it was still believable.
In the wizarding world, books, especially second-hand books of unknown origin, carrying strange curses was hardly unusual.
Tom had not been entirely lying either.
He really was exhausted.
After returning to the dormitory, he tidied up briefly and went straight to bed.
"Hmm....."
Lying on his side, Tom stared fixedly at the empty bed opposite him.
He could almost still see that bastard lying there day and night, reading Muggle novels, one ankle crossed over the other, completely at ease in a place that should have belonged to pure-blood heirs.
"Fucking bloody shit... that bastard..."
Filled with resentment, Tom gradually fell asleep.
When Henry and Alphard returned, they saw him sleeping soundly. Although they were curious, neither of them woke him. The room stayed quiet, the only sound the soft lap of water against the castle walls far below.
Late that night.
Three o'clock in the morning.
Snap! Tom's eyes suddenly snapped open.
He picked up his wand and tapped each eyelid once.
The next second, the darkness around him instantly became bright and clear to his eyes. Every detail of the room stood out in sharp silver-edged clarity.
Tom quietly got out of bed and looked towards the window.
Outside the window, the green depths of the Black Lake reflected the moonlight onto Tom's face, tinting his already pale complexion a sickly green. The water moved slowly, almost watchfully, as if the lake itself knew he was leaving.
"Goodbye, Hogwarts. I'll bring your most talented student back."
Tom picked up the backpack he had prepared in advance. With a light sweep of his wand in front of himself, his figure slowly vanished into thin air.
A few seconds later, the dormitory door opened by itself, then quietly closed again.
Time passed minute by minute.
The sky gradually brightened.
The bottom of the Black Lake welcomed the first light of dawn.
Sunlight filtered through the lake, shimmering as it fell across the bedside table and illuminated the newspaper dated September 1st.
Suddenly, the air seemed to distort slightly.
The photograph of the Ministry official on the newspaper slowly disappeared.
In its place appeared Wade's resolute back as he stood alone against a hundred Dark Wizards.
...
The fire in the fireplace was still warm.
Dumbledore stood before it, tightly gripping the September 1st newspaper in his hand.
"Hmm.. Where exactly did something go wrong?" Dumbledore murmured.
At that moment, the first rays of dawn shone through the window.
Dumbledore sighed. Without realising it, he had stayed awake until morning.
He sat wearily back in his chair and rubbed his eyes with his left hand.
He still intended to find time that day to speak with Tom again. This matter clearly was not simple.
"Wade Reynolds... Wade Reynolds.."
The moment he thought of that name again, Dumbledore suddenly felt something changing in his memories.
It was as though his memories of the previous night were rapidly disappearing, sliding away like sand through open fingers.
"Hm? Wait! No!"
____
[]~(￣▽￣)~*
Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69