While the Hogwarts faculty and students were still confused, the Forbidden Forest presented a different scene.
Dumbledore pointed his wand at Tom, but he couldn't bring himself to attack.
Tom had disengaged for a blink of an eye during the battle, and when he reappeared, a large photo frame was hanging on his chest.
"Professor, try to attack me. This is the moment to test the love between you and Professor Grindelwald."
Dumbledore looked at the photo of him and Grindelwald in their youth inside the frame, then at Tom's puffed-out chest, clearly using the thing as protective armor, confident that he couldn't strike.
After a moment of struggle, Dumbledore dejectedly lowered his wand. "Alright, this little rascal gambled correctly. He really can't bring himself to attack a photo of him and Grindelwald. He just doesn't know where Tom got this thing from."
Grindelwald, who was watching from the side, was stunned. "What kind of move is this? How can there be such a shameless person in the world? Although I'm happy with Dumbledore's choice, the honor of the Wizard has been completely destroyed by you!"
Seeing Dumbledore stop, Tom quickly said, "Professor, calm down, calm down. Now that you've vented enough, go back to sleep early. Too much liver fire in old people is not good for their health."
As he spoke, he raised the photo frame as a shield and approached Dumbledore step by by step.
Seeing Tom in this posture, Dumbledore felt his recently relaxed fist begin to clench again.
Just then, Tom put down the photo frame and, with lightning speed, shoved a box into Dumbledore's hand.
"What is this?"
Dumbledore asked, looking at the box in his hand.
Tom chuckled, revealing a mischievous smile: "Inside is that thing you, Professor, have been frequenting 'Gail' to collect recently, the limited edition one."
Hearing Tom say this much, Dumbledore instantly understood, and for some reason, he felt a little excited.
At this moment, Tom handed an identical box to Grindelwald, ensuring that everyone got a share: "Professor, this is yours. It's a set with Professor Dumbledore's."
At this point, fighting was out of the question. Dumbledore and Grindelwald even wanted to go back quickly and open the boxes.
Meanwhile, the Hogwarts Professors arrived belatedly and were surprised to see the three of them there.
"Albus, Gilderoy, and Tom, why are you three here?"
Professor McGonagall asked what everyone was wondering.
"Ahem, Professor Lockhart and I are currently giving Tom special training, showing him the charm of magic."
"Oh?!"
Everyone looked at Dumbledore with suspicion. "Who do you think would believe that reason? Is Dumbledore really secretly plotting something?"
Once the seed of doubt is planted, it truly takes root and sprouts.
Early the next morning, Tom, still asleep, was woken up by Dumbledore.
"So early? What's the matter, Professor?"
Tom rubbed his sleepy eyes, looking at the white-bearded old man who had disturbed his peaceful sleep so early in the morning with a look of disdain.
"Go ask for a leave, then take me to Knockturn Alley. As the person in charge, I can't be completely clueless about the local situation."
Dumbledore had heard about the ongoing renovation and expansion of Knockturn Alley during this period. Combined with what Tom showed him yesterday, Dumbledore roughly understood what had happened after some thought.
However, hearing is one thing, seeing is another. He couldn't feel at ease without seeing it with his own eyes, so he sought out Tom early in the morning, as this fellow was the instigator of everything.
Upon hearing this, Tom's interest was piqued. He immediately wrote a leave note and handed it to Snape.
Watching Tom and Dumbledore walk away hand in hand, Snape couldn't help but clench the note in his hand.
"Due to an external study tour with Principal Dumbledore to explore the future development experience of Hogwarts, I hereby request one day of leave — Tom Riddle."
Thinking about the content on the note and recalling the rumors circulating during this period, Snape wondered if Tom was really referring to Hogwarts, or was he secretly referring to certain organizations?
Seeing how well Dumbledore and Tom seemed to get along, Snape began to suspect that Dumbledore's manipulation of his love and regret for Lily, turning him into a double agent, was merely to fulfill his personal ambitions.
And now that Dumbledore's ambition seemed to have been realized, did that mean he was about to become expendable to Dumbledore?
Smart people always tend to overthink, and Snape was such a smart person. For a moment, Snape's heart began to waver, and he himself started to become paranoid.
While Snape was being paranoid, Tom and Dumbledore had already arrived at the entrance of Knockturn Alley. The renovation work was still ongoing, but it had already taken shape.
The formerly dirty, messy, and disorganized alley had become neat and clean. The narrow roads had been widened considerably, and the Dark Wizards who used to be seen everywhere were gone, replaced by personnel in brand-new black uniforms patrolling the streets.
"Professor, these are all former Dark Wizards who, after being screened and confirmed to have no serious cases on their hands, have been retrained and re-employed. They are now mainly responsible for the safety and sanitation of Knockturn Alley."
"With work and a stable life, they can settle down. In the future, with wives and children, they will be even less likely to harm the magic world. After all, most Dark Wizards chose this path out of necessity. Now we can give them a chance to choose again."
Dumbledore nodded in satisfaction upon hearing Tom's words, sighing in his heart that Tom had finally done something decent.
At this moment, two patrolling personnel noticed Tom and Dumbledore, immediately stopped, raised their right arms 45°, and saluted:
"Hi, Dumbledore!"
"Hi, Dark Lord!"
"..."
"..."
Tom and Dumbledore both fell silent.
"Please don't salute me like that in public."
"Please don't call me Dark Lord in public."
Upon hearing this, the two patrolling personnel jolted, thought for a moment, and quickly changed their address, saluting again:
"Hi, White Wizard!"
"Hi, You-Know-Who!"
"..."
"..."
This was even worse than the first one.
After the two left, Dumbledore earnestly told Tom, "Tom, you still need to strengthen the training of your personnel. They don't seem very smart."
How embarrassing, truly too embarrassing. Are those guys trained by Lord Voldemort really competent? Do these small matters really require Tom himself to come forward and give them a 'loving' training?
Lucius, let's find some time to have a good talk.
Just as Tom was secretly cursing his unreliable subordinates, Dumbledore had already stepped into the alley.
The tour of the new Knockturn Alley officially began!