Dracula frowned when he saw the pendant he had given away two months ago.
The original eerie wooden amulet should have been darker than black ink, as if it had gathered all the darkness in the world.
However, the amulet hanging around Harry's neck was no longer black, but was stained with blood red.
Although it is still black, it is not as pure as before.
This is a phenomenon that will only occur after absorbing multiple powerful black magics. Black magics that only appear once or twice and have weak magic power are simply impossible to change the color of the Gloomy Wooden Amulet!
"Don't leave in a hurry. I have something else to ask you." Dracula stopped Harry who was about to open the door and asked seriously, "Have you encountered any dark wizards recently?"
"Dark wizards?" Harry asked doubtfully. "No... if we exclude those weird wizards we met in Knockturn Alley."
"Have those dark wizards attacked you before you met me?" Dracula frowned slightly.
Harry shook his head blankly.
Dracula also felt that the dark wizard who could survive in Knockturn Alley was not the kind of reckless man who would act rashly.
At that time, Harry suddenly appeared in Knockturn Alley. Those extremely cautious dark wizards first tried to test him, not sure whether this little wizard had any powerful backers wandering around nearby.
The hag who stopped Harry should have been the first creature to take the initiative to test it, so the spooky wood amulet should not have been triggered...
"Could it be that..." Dracula asked slowly, "You were attacked in that Muggle's house?"
"No... Professor, I really didn't encounter any attacks!" Harry said without thinking, "If Uncle Vernon locked me in an iron cage in the room doesn't count..."
"Wait." Dracula suddenly interrupted Harry and asked with a frown, "Why did he lock you in an iron cage, Potter? Has this kind of abuse happened frequently before?"
A cold light appeared in Dracula's eyes.
Dracula felt very embarrassed that someone dared to imprison his student, and the other party was just a Muggle who had accomplished nothing!
"Professor, don't be impulsive!" Looking at Dracula's cold eyes, Harry shuddered suddenly.
Even though Harry hated the Dursleys and they were very unfriendly to him... they were still his relatives who had raised him since he was a child! Harry didn't want to let the family die on the street because of his own faults.
After all, he knew that Professor Dracula would really kill someone!
So Harry quickly explained, "Professor, it was actually me who offended Uncle Vernon first, so he locked me up..."
"Really?" Dracula narrowed his eyes, and the cold light in his eyes faded a little. "Tell me, how did you offend him?"
"Because Uncle Vernon and his men hid all my magic-related stuff, I was a little resentful..." Harry said uneasily, "So I ruined his big business..."
After saying this, Harry glanced at Dracula secretly, only to find that his brows were furrowed even deeper.
"This is unlike you, Potter," Dracula said. "I don't have the impression that you are a little wizard who would seek revenge on others in this way."
"Maybe I was just impulsive at the time..." Harry scratched his head.
"No." Dracula interrupted him again, "It is true that such a thing could happen in a fit of anger, but you knew that you could not use magic outside, and you also knew that destroying your uncle's big business would inevitably make him hate you, but you still did it."
"This is not something that can be explained by a hot-headed mind. This is called stupidity!"
Dracula's tone was too harsh, and his eyes were full of cold doubt.
Harry's face froze, and he subconsciously wanted to argue that he didn't do it, but that it was done by a diary named Tom Riddle...
But Harry couldn't tell.
Because Tom didn't want him to reveal its existence, he didn't want to betray his academic mentor and friend.
But Harry's hesitation of less than a second made Dracula see something different.
"Interesting." Dracula suddenly put away his stern face and curled his lips. "Potter, you didn't tell me the truth, did you?"
"I... I didn't." A trace of panic flashed in Harry's eyes for a moment.
"So who are you hiding the truth for? Who is the person who actually destroyed your uncle's big business?" Dracula looked at Harry deeply and chuckled.
Harry involuntarily took two steps back, shuddering, "No... No, I really did it all by myself."
"If I remember correctly, you had quarrels with more than one person at the end of last semester." Dracula moved forward as Harry retreated, a burgundy light flashing in his eyes.
"I remember very clearly that you originally wanted to go to the Potions Professor's office to resolve your grievances with Snape, but you ended up having a big fight with him, which intensified the conflict..."
"Not only that, the twins from the Weiss family also told me another thing - you scolded them harshly because they lost money in a bet... Even though you are just a junior from the same college and a friend of their brother, there is no reason for you to do that."
"Where did you go when you had an emotional outburst, you who was humble, optimistic, and kind?" Dracula asked softly, "Who on earth is bewitching you, Potter?"
Harry finally retreated to the corner, with no room to retreat, but he still refused to say Tom Riddle's name.
"Look at me!" Dracula suddenly raised his voice.
Harry subconsciously raised his head and looked at Dracula who was so close.
He saw a pair of wine-red eyes, the flashing light in them seemed to have an irresistible charm, making him fall deeply in love with them—
In the school infirmary, Madam Pomfrey held up a strange diary and asked him if it was his. After opening it, the name "Harry James Potter" was written on the title page...
In the Gryffindor common room, Harry accidentally used his quill to drop a drop of ink on his diary, but it was absorbed by the blank page...
In the dead of night, Harry quietly climbed up from the four-poster bed in the dormitory, leaned over the desk by the window, lit a candle, and then wrote in his diary with the weak light...
In the second half of the first grade, Harry communicated with the diary through text, learned the knowledge he had missed in class, and finally won the first place in the Defense Against the Dark Arts final...
At number four, Privet Drive, the diary came from the cupboard to Harry's room, instigating him to take revenge on Uncle Vernon, and used magic to trick the big client for him...
In a room sealed by a large iron bar, the diary urged him to use the evil spell...
The last scene shows Harry taking out the diary from the bottom of the suitcase before the Dueling Club begins.
Harry abruptly looked away from Dracula's eyes, breathing heavily.
He instinctively realized that something was wrong and subconsciously protected the diary in his pocket.
"Is it really a diary?" Dracula laughed happily, "I never thought that the thing I have been looking for is actually here with you."
He took out a piece of parchment, which was densely written with details about evil black magic items.
This was a list of Voldemort's dark magic tools that Lucius sent to him after they met at the White Dragon Bar.
Now, all the other names have been crossed out, leaving only a single word circled in bright red ink—
Journal!
"Professor, what are you talking about?" Harry nervously pressed the diary in his arms, pretending to be confused, "How come the thing you have been looking for is here with me?"
"Potter, it seems that you really regard him as your friend." Dracula suddenly laughed, "I have to admit that you are indeed sincere enough to treat your friends. Even at this time, you still want to cover for him."
Harry lowered his head in silence, saying nothing.
"But I have to tell you a cruel fact..." Dracula leaned over and said softly, "Tom Riddle, whom you trusted, never regarded you as a friend."
"This is impossible!" Harry shouted, "He has always been very good to me, teaching me knowledge, talking to me, and counseling me when I encounter unhappy things..."
Harry knew that he could no longer conceal the existence of the diary, but he still didn't want Tom, his teacher and friend, to be misunderstood by Professor Dracula, so he defended himself angrily.
Dracula didn't pay attention to Harry's rebuttal, but just smiled casually, "Do you know what kind of magic Tom Riddle taught you?"
Before Harry could reply, Dracula extended his hand to his side.
The next moment, a rat that had lived in the Hogwarts dungeon for many years fell into Dracula's hands along with a ray of moonlight.
As if sensing the strong dark aura from Dracula, the mouse immediately began to tremble.
"Do you know the name of that spell, Potter?" Dracula looked at the mouse in his hand and slowly took out his wand from his pocket.
"Avada Kedavra."
A dazzling green light suddenly appeared!
The mouse was hit by the green light, lost its breath instantly, and collapsed in Dracula's hands.
"The name of this spell... is the Killing Curse, Potter!" Dracula said word by word.
Harry opened his mouth, speechless for a long time.
A scene vaguely emerged in his mind—
A woman was crying beside him, kissing his cheek... Then, an ugly man with distorted features walked in... The next moment, there was a dazzling and terrifying green light!
"Don't—" Harry suddenly shouted.
The next second, he collapsed on the cold ground, trembling all over...
After a dead silence, Harry breathed heavily, slowly raised his head, and saw Dracula looking at him thoughtfully.
"Professor...what happened to me just now?" he asked uneasily.
Dracula's eyes moved, and he was silent for a moment, then he slowly said: "It's okay, you might have had a dream, don't take it too seriously."
After that, he forcibly changed the subject, "Riddle, it's already come to this, are you still staying in Harry's clothes and don't want to come out?"
A faint black mist emerged, and a handsome black-haired young man suddenly appeared in front of Harry.
"I knew that you would find me sooner or later, Dracula." His expression did not show panic at all, but rather a sense of relief. "But I didn't expect that this day would come so soon. I thought I still had at least two months!"
"You... you are Tom?!" Harry looked at the black-haired young man in front of him, his mouth wide open in shock. His complicated thoughts were indeed dispersed by Riddle. "Didn't you say... you are just a diary with thoughts, and you can only communicate with me by writing?!"
Such a bizarre scene was no less devastating to Harry than a volcanic eruption!
He knew that he had been deceived. Professor Dracula was right...
Harry leaned against the wall of the office in a daze, his eyes almost out of focus.
"I'm sorry, Harry, I did lie to you." Diary Riddle turned around and looked into Harry's lifeless eyes. "But I had to lie to you. This is the task Voldemort gave me."
"What did you say?" The name of his old enemy instantly brought Harry back to his senses. "You just said... Voldemort?!"
"Don't you understand yet, Potter?" Dracula sighed softly and looked at the black-haired young man standing next to Harry. "Explain to him, Riddle, who you are."
Unexpectedly, Riddle did not resist Dracula's arrangement at all, but just nodded to him slightly.
"Voldemort..." Riddle looked at Harry and said softly, "I am my past, present and future, Harry."
He suddenly snatched Harry's wand from his hand and drew three glittering names in the air with a few strokes -
Tom Marvolo Riddle.
Then he waved Harry's wand, and the letters automatically switched places, becoming -
I am Lord Voldemort.
"See?" he whispered. "That's the name I've used since I was at Hogwarts, of course, only to my closest friends. Do you think I'm going to use my filthy Muggle father's name for the rest of my life?"
"No, Harry. I have come up with a new name for myself. I know that one day, when I become the greatest wizard in the world, wizards everywhere will not dare to say this name easily!"
Harry's mind seemed to freeze.
He stared blankly at Riddle, the man who had been an orphan and who had grown up to kill Harry's parents and so many other people...
But he regarded this person as his close friend for a long time!
…
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