October is coming soon.
This October was exceptionally cold, with the damp chill spreading across the Scottish Highlands and seeping into Hogwarts Castle from outside.
In the cold temperatures, a sudden outbreak of colds among the faculty and students left the head nurse, Madam Pomfrey, in a state of panic.
To this end, she prepared a large amount of stimulants in the school infirmary and posted notices in the common rooms of the four colleges of the castle and the staff lounge, asking faculty and students who caught a cold to go to the school infirmary on the fourth floor in time to collect the stimulants.
Madam Pomfrey's tonic had an almost immediate effect, but the person who drank it would have smoke coming out of his ears for several hours.
Fred and George fell into the trap.
The lively twins from the Weiss family had a very wide social circle and often went to various colleges to make bets with others, so they soon caught the cold from other infected people.
Unlike other little wizards who were in agony after catching a cold, Fred and George seemed even more excited after being infected with the cold.
They immediately rushed to the school clinic to get two bottles of stimulants and drank them immediately.
The next second, puffs of steam came out from under their bright red hair, and their entire heads looked like they were on fire.
The two troublemakers had so much fun playing that they were still not satisfied even after the effect of the drug wore off. They wanted to go to the school infirmary to get two more bottles of stimulants, but their intentions were discovered and Madam Pomfrey chased them out with a broom...
…
One afternoon, Dracula had just finished teaching a Defense Against the Dark Arts class to second-grade wizards. He put away his wand and was admiring the lesson plan written by Riddle on the podium.
Even though the class just now had once again unknowingly deviated from the existing teaching plan, Dracula had to admit that Riddle's teaching plan was quite well written, and his handwriting was very beautiful, clear and neat. It was even less troublesome to use than the tool man Quirrell.
At this time, Riddle was also in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. He came to Dracula with a thick stack of parchment - those papers were the students' homework, all assigned by Riddle.
Riddle, who had almost all of Voldemort's experience as a student, easily crushed the actions of the students who wanted to squeeze him out of the teaching assistant position. Flint and other poor students' plan to get rid of homework was ultimately unsuccessful, and they even suffered a lot for it.
In fact, as a Slytherin born in an orphanage, Tom Riddle also suffered from exclusion and disgust from the pure-bloods in his early years at Hogwarts.
However, under such circumstances, he successfully subdued a large number of so-called pure-blood nobles in Slytherin by using his unique methods, both soft and hard. At that time, Abraxas Malfoy, Avery, and Strange all became the first batch of Death Eaters.
The tricks that Marcus Flint and others are using nowadays are all left over from their grandfathers' generation. Naturally, they are no match for Riddle.
So after the September when Dracula promised not to assign homework, Riddle, as an assistant teacher, immediately took control of the power of life and death over the assignments, making those little wizards who were unwilling to do their homework miserable.
"Professor Dracula, the homework has been collected." Riddle came to the podium and said to Dracula, "Everyone was very conscientious today."
"How could they not be self-conscious? You went to the doorsteps of all those who didn't hand in their homework yesterday." Dracula smiled casually, "From now on, you can make your own decisions regarding homework. You don't have to report to me. Sorry!"
"I see." Riddle nodded.
At this time, Harry, Ron and Hermione from Gryffindor packed their bags and stood up from their seats.
Before leaving through the door at the back of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Harry, still carrying his bag, came to the front of the podium and greeted Dracula and Riddle.
"See you next class, Professor Dracula!" Harry waved, then turned his expectant gaze to Riddle, "Tom, after the duel club is over tonight, can I still study with you privately?"
"Of course, we are friends!" Riddle smiled warmly at Harry.
Harry's expression immediately became excited, and he ran towards Hermione and Ron who were waiting at the classroom door.
"So... you've already dealt with Harry?" Dracula looked at Harry's leaving back in surprise and asked Riddle.
He clearly remembered that when Harry first learned that Tom Riddle had become an assistant teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts, he was extremely repulsive and puzzled by the matter.
Dracula was too lazy to deal with the young wizard's emotional problems, but allowing Harry to expose Riddle's identity was not very good for the stability of the course.
So he assigned Riddle a task, asking him to deal with Harry's rejection and consolidate his position as an assistant.
"It's done." Riddle sneered. "Harry was too naive after all. I told him that I was just a collection of some of Voldemort's memories, and now I have been conquered by Professor Dracula and stand on the side of justice... He foolishly believed it."
"I guess it's not that simple." Dracula shook his head. "Although Potter is a bit reckless, he is still quite smart overall."
"Of course, there are some other details." Riddle had a slightly sarcastic smile on his face, "Harry just cares too much about feelings. I just used the previous method of being a diary to teach him some magical knowledge again, and he once again remembered his diary friend named Tom."
Dracula fell silent.
"Potter probably already considers you a friend, Riddle." After a moment, he said softly, "Since you have become a teaching assistant at Hogwarts and have decided to turn against Voldemort, you are actually in a position to make friends with Potter."
"Don't let the little wizard down too much, Riddle."
Dracula looked deeply at the black-haired young man in front of him, his tone solemn.
Riddle was stunned for a moment, looking at Dracula's sudden change of tone in astonishment, and suddenly realized his problem -
He has not completely changed his mindset and has not put himself on the side of the Hogwarts faculty.
Faced with the naive and credulous character of the little wizards, Riddle did not correct them with the attitude of a teacher and try to teach them the principles of life. Instead, he first felt emotions of mockery and ridicule, and watched the scenes with the mentality of watching a play.
This mentality of still considering oneself as an outsider is totally unacceptable to Dracula.
Dracula is different. Although he often observes the actions of the little wizards as if he were watching a play, he still has a little bit of professionalism in him.
On the one hand, he had already agreed to let Nicolas Flamel come to Hogwarts as a professor, so he naturally wouldn't want the students he taught to be inferior to others... This would make him lose face in front of his old friend.
This is also one of the reasons why Dracula is very unhappy about the high failure rate of Defense Against the Dark Arts.
On the other hand, Dracula actually thought in his heart: Isn't it enough to have a fun-loving person watching the show in Hogwarts Castle? Tom Riddle is just a Horcrux, why should he watch his students with the attitude of watching a show
So Dracula immediately suppressed Riddle.
"I understand, Professor Dracula." Riddle lowered his head and said softly, "I won't let Harry down."
"I understand." Dracula nodded without comment and turned to walk towards the stairs at the front of the classroom leading to the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office.
When he was about to reach the door, he seemed to suddenly remember something, turned around again, and looked at Riddle who was still standing on the podium.
"The next Death Eater meeting is in two days, right?" Dracula asked.
Riddle was stunned for a moment, then quickly responded, "Yes, this Saturday night."
"By the way, Professor Dracula, Potions Professor Severus Snape is now Voldemort's most trusted subordinate. If he tells Voldemort that I have become an assistant, Voldemort might become suspicious of me..."
"What we want is to make him doubt you." Dracula suddenly interrupted Riddle.
"What...?" Riddle was shocked.
"Don't worry, at the Death Eaters' meeting, as long as you follow the words I told you, everything will be fine." Dracula said, "Believe me, the plan has been proceeding step by step..."
Under Riddle's doubtful gaze, he pushed open the door and walked into his office.
Then, Dracula's mouth curled up into an extremely playful smile—
"Riddle, Malfoy, Snape... I'm really looking forward to seeing what Voldemort's expression will be when he learns the truth!"
…
It was twelve o'clock in the morning on Saturday. The night was already deep and the sky was gloomy. There was no moonlight or starlight, and the horizon was pitch black.
It seemed as if Malfoy Manor couldn't afford the oil money for the lamps. There were no lights on in the living room, and it was almost as dark as the night outside.
Voldemort played with his wand with his spider-like slender fingers and walked on the thick carpet without making a sound.
Lucius Malfoy had already asked his wife Narcissa to return to the bedroom, and he stood alone in the living room trembling, waiting for the Dark Lord to come.
“You are quite punctual, Lucius,” Voldemort said softly. His scarlet eyes were particularly obvious in the dim light. “I just wonder… if other people are as punctual as you.”
He raised his wand slightly, and Lucius consciously rolled up the cuff of his left arm, revealing a skull with a snake head swallowing it.
Voldemort suddenly exerted force, and his wand instantly poked the skull with the Dark Mark on Lucius' left arm - the Dark Mark instantly turned as red as blood!
Lucius clenched his teeth tightly, enduring the burning pain of the Dark Mark and the excruciating pain of the wand piercing his arm.
Accompanied by a series of "bang" and "bang" sounds, one after another, the Death Eaters in black robes Apparated into the living room of Malfoy Manor and sat in their respective seats.
Voldemort pulled the wand from Lucius' arm and looked around the long table in the living room.
Taking this opportunity, Lucius returned to his seat in a cold sweat and sat next to Yaxley.
"If I'm not mistaken, we still have one person who hasn't arrived yet." Voldemort said in a very light voice, but it made the Death Eaters present shudder.
At this moment, a young and handsome black-haired figure suddenly appeared in the dim living room and came to Voldemort.
"Sorry, I'm a little late." Riddle said softly.
"It doesn't matter. I'm glad you're here." Seeing Riddle's arrival, Voldemort slowly revealed a smile. "Since everyone is here, let's get started with today's topic."
After saying that, he couldn't wait to look at Riddle beside him, "Did you bring what I wanted?"
Riddle was silent for two seconds.
"I haven't got it yet." He replied calmly.
Visibly, the smile on Voldemort's face disappeared, and his expression instantly became gloomy, just like the pitch-black night outside.
There was collective silence in the living room of Malfoy Manor.
However, before Voldemort could completely explode in anger, Riddle spoke again.
"Although I haven't got it yet, I have found the exact method." He said in a deep voice, "Now, I have completely gained Harry Potter's trust and have one hour of alone time with him every day."
"So what does this mean?" said Voldemort coldly. "Didn't you have any time alone with Potter during the summer vacation?"
"This is different," said Riddle. "Before, I didn't have complete trust in Harry Potter, so there were many things I couldn't do. But now it's different—"
"Now that Harry Potter has completely gained trust in me, I can let him collect the lost blood in a special bottle and give it to me. As long as Dracula's attention can be reduced a little, I can get Potter's blood immediately!"
Voldemort frowned and looked at Snape, who was sitting in the first seat on his right.
"Severus, tell me, is there anything wrong with what my clone said?" he asked.
"No problem." Snape glanced at Riddle calmly and said, "Your clone is now the assistant teacher of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. He has time to tutor Harry Potter individually every day and is indeed trusted by him. So there is nothing wrong with what he said just now..."
"But—" Snape suddenly changed his tone to a more serious one, "The professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts is Dracula! I don't believe that your clone can deceive Dracula and become his assistant openly!"
"So what you mean is..." Voldemort asked, his voice sounding extremely low.
"What I mean is... your clone has most likely been discovered by Dracula, and the clone sitting here now may have been tampered with by him!"
Snape looked Riddle straight in the eye with a sharp look.
…
…