"Replace it?" Riddle's eyes widened. "What does that mean?!"
"They are all incomplete soul fragments of Voldemort. He can be completely resurrected through his father's bones, his enemy's blood, and his servants' flesh. So it doesn't make sense that you can't use them to obtain a physical body!" Dracula smiled evilly, with a light flickering in his eyes from time to time.
Riddle looked at Dracula's evil expression and was a little confused for a moment. But at the same time, he was burning with a strong desire to replace his main soul and obtain a real body.
If there really comes such a day, he will no longer need to exist as a humble Horcrux, but can truly become a "wizard"!
"Can I really?"
After a moment's silence, Riddle finally made up his mind and asked.
"Whether it's possible or not, it's always okay to try, right?" Dracula raised his glass again and shook it gently. "Since Voldemort has chosen to split his soul, he must also be prepared to be devoured by his own soul."
"If his soul is divided into many parts, how much power will be left in Voldemort's main soul?" Dracula took a sip of the bright red wine and said to himself.
"So what do you need from me?" Riddle asked.
"Don't worry, there's still quite some time until Halloween." Dracula chuckled, "Before that, I need your help with something."
Riddle gave a questioning look.
"Can you write teaching materials and mark homework?" Dracula asked Riddle in the face of his astonishment.
…
In the Defense Against the Dark Arts class the next day, there was a new assistant teacher beside Dracula.
The young wizards looked at the new young and handsome assistant with curiosity. They were wondering how such a wizard who looked only about sixteen years old could become an assistant teacher of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
The other junior wizards were better off. After all, they didn't look older than Riddle, so there was nothing much to say about it.
But in the sixth grade Defense Against the Dark Arts advanced class, Riddle's sixteen-year-old face was clearly the same age as the young wizards in the audience. Of course, some people would feel dissatisfied that such a person would have the "power of life and death" over their daily homework in the future.
Marcus Flint from Slytherin was very dissatisfied with the fact that someone of similar age to him became an assistant teacher, and he stood up on the spot and raised questions.
"Professor Dracula, I don't think someone who has only studied magic for a few years is suitable to be our assistant." He said loudly.
Dracula looked at the Slytherin Quidditch captain with interest and laughed to himself.
He had some impression of this student because in last year's Defense Against the Dark Arts Ordinary Wizarding Level Examination, he was the only one who got a "T" grade, which represented an extremely poor grade. He was also the only one with a "T" grade in the Defense Against the Dark Arts examination in recent years.
Dracula couldn't understand how such a poor student had the courage to question the Dark Lord's Horcrux
"So have you got anything else in mind, Mr. Flint?" he asked, half-smiley.
Looking at Professor Dracula's expression on the stage, Flint swallowed secretly.
He had already begun to back out, but at this moment, another Slytherin student next to him whispered to him: "Marcus, have you forgotten our purpose? We can't let the Defense Against the Dark Arts class recruit an assistant teacher. Do you really want to do your homework?!"
That's right, the reason why Flint and his classmates questioned Riddle, who became an assistant coach, was actually just one of the insignificant reasons for not accepting him.
The most important reason is that I don’t want to do homework!
After a year of getting along with each other, the students have already figured out Dracula's character. Before hiring a teaching assistant, he was too lazy to mark homework and there was a high probability that he would not assign homework at all!
Even before the end of last semester, under Professor McGonagall's strict requirements, Professor Dracula reluctantly found a few teaching assistants to help correct the homework. He himself did not even look at the homework.
In addition, in order not to affect the teaching assistants, the amount of homework on those days was actually pitifully small, which made a poor student like Flint very happy!
Thinking of the key points, Flint gritted his teeth and said under Dracula's half-smiley gaze:
"Professor, I think that the person who can become the assistant teacher of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class must at least have the ability of last year's assistant teacher Quirrell!"
"What about Assistant Quirrell's strength?" Dracula played with the wand in his hand, and his expression became more playful. "I remember that Assistant Quirrell's information has been announced. I think you should know that he is a powerful dark wizard."
"Do you want Assistant Coach Riddle to have the same strength as Assistant Coach Quirrell?"
Flint's forehead was covered with cold sweat, but in order to avoid doing his homework, he could only bite the bullet and say, "That's right, Professor Dracula."
"I think Assistant Coach Quirrell did a great job last year, and I don't want to find someone who is not as good as him as an assistant coach... especially since he is so young."
Dracula shook his head with a smile and turned to look at Riddle who had been watching the show for a while.
"What do you think, Assistant Coach Riddle?" he asked.
"Professor, since the students doubt my strength, why not let me show them a little bit?" Riddle smiled gently and glanced at Flint.
Flint looked at this gentle smile and for some reason, he felt a strong chill from it.
He probably never dreamed that the powerful dark wizard Assistant Quirrell, whom he used as a shield, could actually be regarded as a servant of Assistant Riddle on the stage!
"No problem." Dracula nodded gently. "In that case, let's change the teaching method for this class."
"Everyone put away your textbooks!"
The students in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom said they were used to it and stuffed their textbooks back into the drawers very skillfully.
"Now, Assistant Coach Riddle will have 'friendly' duels with each of you one by one." Dracula smiled maliciously, "This is a good opportunity to check on your achievements in the duel club over the past few days."
Then he looked at Riddle, "Don't overwork them. They have to attend the duel club party tonight!"
Riddle nodded slightly, then walked straight to Flint's position.
"Let me begin with you, Mr. Flint," he said quietly.
…
When the bell rang for the end of get out of class, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was in a mess again.
The "corpses" were placed in various corners of the classroom, with their eyes rolled back and breathing heavily.
"Have a good rest at noon, and remember to be on time for the duel club in the evening!"
Dracula and Riddle walked out of the classroom on time. Before leaving, Dracula did not forget to remind them to join the punctual club.
Outside the classroom, groups of little wizards had already come to poke their heads around to find out the news. Even though they had seen such scenes in the classroom many times, they still couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts.
When everyone present heard Professor Dracula's "kind" reminder, they shuddered, and a word quietly came to their minds -
"devil!"
Fred and George, who had been waiting in the corridor for a long time, slipped into the classroom first, jumped back and forth on the empty space where no one was lying, and soon found Percy Weiss in the crowd.
"Percy, tell us what we just learned in class!" Fred shook Percy's body and asked curiously.
"Did Professor Dracula feel that the training in the duel club was not exciting enough, so he went back to the devilish training?" George asked from the side.
"No... none of them..." Percy was shaken by Fred, but he had no strength to break free, and said intermittently, "Professor Dracula found a new assistant teacher from somewhere... He is just as evil as Professor Dracula... He took on all of us alone..."
"That's not right. Assistant Professor Riddle was there when we were in class." Fred saw that Percy was about to faint, so he stopped shaking him. "But we clearly didn't have this kind of devilish training!"
At this time, another sixth-grade student told them the truth.
"Flint... I'm going to kill you..." It was the breathless voice of Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, "Why did you provoke... Provoke Assistant Coach Riddle... And make all of us duel with him..."
Fred and George looked at each other and silently put the new assistant coach Riddle on their prank blacklist.
…
Meanwhile, in the principal's office.
"Albus, I want to know the identity of Professor Dracula's latest assistant." Professor McGonagall, wearing a pointed hat, hurried in and asked seriously, "I always feel that he looks familiar, and the familiarity with him... doesn't seem to be a positive impression."
"Albus, who the hell is this Assistant Riddle?!"
Dumbledore was revising a document about Horcruxes. When he saw Professor McGonagall coming, he quietly put the document away.
"You may have remembered it wrongly, Minerva." He said with a smile, "I don't have any impression of Assistant Professor Riddle... Oh, I see, maybe he looks a bit like your handsome Muggle first love decades ago?"
"I'm not kidding you, Albus!" Professor McGonagall said angrily after hearing Dumbledore's irrelevant remarks.
"Minerva, I'm not kidding either." Dumbledore still maintained a smiling expression, "If you think about it carefully, both of them are very handsome. Maybe they really look a bit alike?"
"Since you don't want to tell me, I'll look for it myself." Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, glared at him angrily, then hurried down the spiral staircase of the headmaster's office to look for clues herself.
Watching Professor McGonagall leave, Dumbledore sighed softly.
Using such an unorthodox method to annoy Professor McGonagall and drive her away could indeed change the subject very quickly, but he didn't know how long he could keep it a secret from her, nor did he know whether this matter would have any other adverse effects.
Dracula's sudden decision to make Riddle his assistant did catch Dumbledore off guard.
Although Voldemort's face had been distorted beyond recognition more than forty years ago, few people in the current wizarding world know what he looked like when he was young.
But wizards generally live long lives, and there are always some wizards who experienced Voldemort's student days and are still alive.
Not to mention the wizarding world, there are several wizards in Hogwarts Castle who know what Voldemort looked like when he was young.
Excluding Dumbledore himself, Professor Kettleburn, who has been teaching Care of Magical Creatures for more than 60 years, was one of the professors who taught Tom Riddle. Fortunately, as a Horcrux, Riddle did not need to eat in the hall, so he had not yet met Professor Kettleburn, who always taught outdoors.
However, not only that, the current gamekeeper Hagrid also knew Riddle and was even extremely impressed by him.
Riddle reported Rubeus Hagrid, who was still a third-year wizard, and made the professors at Hogwarts believe that the eight-eyed giant spider that Hagrid secretly raised was a murderous monster. Because of this, Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts, and Riddle received the Special Contribution Award for the school.
Even Professor McGonagall, who was not impressed by Riddle, had entered school less than ten years later than this outstanding alumnus of that year. She would always have many opportunities to learn about the legend of Tom Riddle and even witness his appearance when he was young.
Dumbledore pulled out the documents he had just put away from the drawer and examined the plan that Dracula had briefly introduced to him.
He actually knew that making Voldemort's Horcrux an assistant teacher was probably not part of the plan, but just another way for Dracula to seek fun.
But Dumbledore finally decided to indulge Dracula's willfulness for once.
Because he knew that only if Dracula truly enjoyed the plan, would he follow the plan and lead Voldemort to a dead end step by step; he would not choose to quit because he felt bored halfway.
For Dumbledore, the appearance of a professor like Dracula is a blessing, as it can add a powerful force to the plan to destroy Voldemort; but the appearance of such a vampire who is not willing to follow law is also a misfortune. Dracula has been out of Dumbledore's control from beginning to end, and no one can know what outrageous thing he will do next.
Amid the whispering of the portraits and the gentle cry of the phoenix, Dumbledore gently folded the document in his hand and placed it in the drawer full of desserts.
He sighed and burned the parchment on another table into ashes.
That was his original plan.
Dumbledore knew that his original plan had too many contingencies, and it was difficult to guarantee the ultimate success rate of destroying Voldemort. It was also difficult to truly save the life of Harry Potter, who had become half a Horcrux.
The price he paid was probably too high, so high that he finally chose another plan that was not completely under his control...
…
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