"Tell me, what do you think?"
In the dim Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office, Dracula looked at the black-haired young man in front of him and asked with interest,
"As a Horcrux of Voldemort, it's fine if you don't help your creator, but you actually want to come to my side and become his enemy? I don't understand."
Riddle exhaled lightly, looked at Dracula seriously, and said, "Voldemort never paid me the attention I deserved. He just treated me as a spare life."
"Since I have gained consciousness through his memories of his youth, it is difficult for me to convince myself to follow the path he has set. I should just treat myself as a tool, as an object without independent consciousness!"
"Mr. Dracula, I want to break free from his control!" said Riddle.
Dracula smiled and walked towards Riddle with interest, not stopping until he was beside him.
"Let me take a look... Well, this is a body made up of the power of the soul, right?" He looked at Riddle's slightly illusory figure and asked, "I have some impression of this body structure. At that time, Voldemort confronted me in this state inside the restricted area where the Philosopher's Stone was stored."
"You are right." Riddle nodded slightly. "He originally possessed Quirrell's body, but under the tremendous pressure brought by you, the state of parasitizing a human was not enough for him to have enough power, so he thought of his own Horcrux."
"Voldemort has always known that I was the first Horcrux he created. I also possess most of his memories before he was sixteen, so I must have a stronger soul power than other Horcruxes... So he used some means to take me out of Malfoy Manor, hoping to absorb the soul essence retained in the Horcrux."
"But what he didn't expect was that I had already developed self-awareness, and his forceful occupation caused me to resist," said Riddle.
"As far as I know, as a Horcrux, it is difficult for you to resist the power of the original body." Dracula looked at him deeply. "In addition, when Voldemort officially started the operation to steal the Philosopher's Stone, I did not find your existence."
"Yes, I couldn't resist the power of the main soul at all, and he easily took over the soul body that I had worked so hard to condense." Riddle pulled the corner of his mouth, his expression was very unwilling, "Even before the final action, he told me that he would not take risks with his own Horcruxes, and even returned my body..."
"… But I know that Voldemort is not thinking about me, but is only worried about his own survival. He will not take any risk with any Horcrux. I am no different from those Horcruxes without self-awareness!"
"In fact, I also know that the mind that accidentally gave birth to a Horcrux is actually a burden and a disaster to my suspicious main soul... It is because he realized that he might fail in stealing the Philosopher's Stone that he was willing to return the soul body to me and let me lurk in the castle to complete his backup plan..."
Riddle stared into Dracula's eyes, his eyes full of defiance.
Riddle has demonstrated through his actions that he was born from the memories of the Dark Lord who cannot be named, and that he has a similar personality and traits to Voldemort. He will never be manipulated by others and lose his autonomy!
Dracula also looked into Riddle's eyes, with a hint of admiration in his eyes.
"When Voldemort was young, his personality and appearance were more stylish than his current bald head." He chuckled and said, "I don't know what he did later to make himself look like that."
"Although it's hard to accept, I can understand his choice." Riddle said softly, "For me, immortality and power are much more important than external things like appearance."
"Oh, immortality again." Dracula sneered disdainfully, "What's so good about immortality? There are always so many superficial people who want to pursue it. It's so boring!"
Riddle was about to open his mouth to refute, but Dracula raised his hand and interrupted him, "Don't say those boring things. Tell me what you did during your time lurking in Hogwarts Castle."
"Is the backup plan Voldemort gave you just to seduce Harry Potter's mind?" Dracula looked at Riddle and asked thoughtfully, "It can be seen that you have gained a lot of Potter's trust, and you should have many opportunities to take action."
"There were so many opportunities. You could have easily killed him by creating an accident. But you just did something like bewitching his mind. Isn't that a bit unnecessary?"
"There are other reasons for this," Riddle shook his head and explained, "I can't kill Harry... My noisy main soul told me to leave Harry Potter to him. So not only can I not kill Harry directly, I even have to protect him and keep him alive!"
"What kind of logic is this?" Dracula frowned. "Is Voldemort so stupid? He has to kill a second-year wizard by himself just because he failed once in his hands?"
"That's not the reason. He's not that stupid." Riddle shook his head slightly. "Do you know the prophecy that Sybill Trelawney made twelve years ago?"
Dracula frowned slightly.
Of course he knew what the prophecy was. His friend of several hundred years, Nicolas Flamel, was an extremely good prophet and could understand the meaning of the prophecy.
But twelve years ago, Dracula was still in a deep sleep, and had no idea what was happening in the wizarding world, let alone the prophecy that was listed as a secret by both the Ministry of Magic and the Death Eaters.
"Damn it, how many magnificent things happened in the hundred years I was asleep? !" Dracula gritted his teeth in hatred and looked at Riddle with cold eyes.
Seeing Dracula's cold eyes, Riddle's expression tightened, and he immediately said the prophecy he knew from the main soul -
"'Here comes a man capable of defeating the Dark Lord... born of a family that has thrice resisted him, born when July is over... the Dark Lord will mark him as his greatest rival...' - this was the prophecy Voldemort had learned, incomplete perhaps, but sufficient to select a suitable candidate."
"So Voldemort chose Harry Potter as his rival and went to Godric's Hollow to kill him, but ended up falling under his own killing curse?" Dracula asked with a strange expression, "If it weren't for this prophecy, maybe he wouldn't have failed?"
"Yes, this is one of the reasons why I am dissatisfied with him." Riddle said coldly, "Instead of doing his best to achieve his goal, he believed the prophecy he heard from others and finally fell into this prophecy... It is really stupid!"
"So... just because of this prophecy, he won't allow you to hurt Potter?" Dracula asked, "If that's the case, then Voldemort's understanding of the prophecy is too superficial."
"Want to hear what a real prophet thinks about prophecies, Riddle?" He chuckled and looked at Riddle and asked casually.
Dracula did not care about letting Riddle know the true meaning of the prophecy, or the slight possibility that he might reveal it to Voldemort.
Because this kind of knowledge needs to be understood and respected with heart. Even if it is revealed to Voldemort himself, it will not make a dark wizard like him who has long lost his original beliefs change his mind. Instead, it is more likely to disrupt his thinking.
The same is true now that Dracula is willing to tell Riddle about the prophecy. He wants to use this to understand how different Riddle is from Voldemort and whether he is really worth helping.
"Have you thought about it, Riddle?" Dracula asked with a chuckle, "The prediction ability of my prophet friend is simply incomparable to that of the current divination professor at Hogwarts."
"Mr. Dracula, are you willing to tell me such important knowledge?" Riddle's eyes shrank slightly, and he looked at Dracula in disbelief. "I thought it would be difficult to gain your trust."
"Gain my trust?" Dracula raised his eyebrows. "Then you think too much. I can't trust you. I will only consider how much help I can give you based on how much fun you can bring me."
Riddle was stunned for a moment, then he laughed, "Then I'd like to trouble you to tell me about the prophecy, Mr. Dracula."
"I think you can guess who my friend the prophet is," Dracula looked at him with a smile and said, "Nicolas Flamel said that the reason he studied prophecy was not just to kill time, nor to accurately predict the future—"
"The meaning of prophecy is not this, but to get rid of the shackles of fate, let us know that there are more possibilities in this world, so that we can live more freely."
"In short, prophecy is a kind of magic that is meant to help us live our lives, not to constrain our behavior."
"Wait a minute, I have a question..." Riddle raised his hand and asked Dracula, "Since we already know the prophecy, how can we not be bound by it? If we completely put the prophecy aside, what is the difference between us and wizards who don't know the prophecy at all?"
"Riddle, no matter what the future mentioned in the prophecy is like, everyone lives in the present." Dracula said to Riddle as he slowly walked behind the desk and sat comfortably on the sofa.
“The present is complete, but prophecy is not. Prophecy is fragmented. It is impossible for it to tell us all the possibilities of the future, and naturally there is no need to let it interfere too much with our present.”
"For old man Nico, the prophecy is just a hint and a choice; for me, the prophecy is just a way to find a more interesting future." Dracula said, "Voldemort's real life was interfered with by the prophecy, so he fell into the prophecy."
Before they knew it, the two people in the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office just seemed like an ordinary professor and student. One asked questions and the other answered. There was no sign that one was the Dark Lord's Horcrux and the other was a vampire Count who had lived for more than a thousand years.
"I understand, Professor." Suddenly, young Riddle used the honorific that he would have used sixty years ago. "All magic is controlled by wizards, not wizards being controlled by magic."
"Not bad, you are quite insightful." Dracula chuckled, raised a goblet, and took a sip of the bright red wine. "But I suggest you replace 'wizard' with 'magical creature', otherwise I will not be happy."
"Yes, I subconsciously forgot that Professor Dracula is not a wizard." Riddle also changed his words with a smile.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the office was harmonious and friendly, resembling a warm school scene.
However, the next moment, this harmonious atmosphere was broken by a sentence -
"I've been quite sincere in telling you the true meaning of the prophecy, right?" Dracula put the wine glass gently on the table in front of him and said softly, "In that case, shouldn't you also tell me some more useful information?"
"Well, I won't make it difficult for you. I just need to know three things—"
"First, what is the fundamental reason for your betrayal of Voldemort? Second, what is Voldemort's purpose in keeping you by Harry Potter's side? Third, when was the most recent large-scale action of the Death Eaters, and what was the content of the activity?"
Wave after wave of dark aura with a strong sense of oppression emanated from Dracula, and the atmosphere in the office quietly became solemn, as if even the air was filled with lead, so heavy that Riddle could not breathe.
The wine-red light in Dracula's eyes moved, quietly spinning around the child's hole, making Riddle feel that all his secrets had nowhere to hide.
"... I stayed with Harry because of his blood." Riddle could no longer bear the heavy pressure and said honestly, "My father's bones, my enemy's blood, and my servant's flesh are the three things needed for resurrection. Now all I need is Harry's blood..."
"As for the reason why I chose to betray... it's because I absorbed the soul essence from another Horcrux of the main soul. He will find out about this sooner or later..."
Hearing this, even Dracula looked at Riddle with some surprise.
He also didn't expect that this Horcrux diary was so bold that it actually absorbed one of Voldemort's Horcruxes...
"What's the last thing?" Dracula asked with interest.
"The most recent large-scale operation took place on Halloween night..." Riddle said slowly, "Voldemort ordered me to get Harry's blood before then. He wanted to be completely resurrected that night, and then break into Azkaban in one fell swoop and rescue his most loyal servant!"
Riddle looked at Dracula, only to find that Dracula had exaggeratedly raised the corners of his mouth, revealing two sharp side teeth.
This is Dracula's most common behavior when he thinks of something very interesting.
"Listen to me, Riddle..." Dracula said evilly with an exaggerated smile on his face.
"Do you have any idea to replace Voldemort?"
…
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