Hermione, let's start a revolution from Hogwarts!

"Is there any difference between Voldemort and a Dementor now? No, he has many ways to make a Dementor fall."

A moment of silence fell over the office. Nietzsche suddenly realized what Headmaster Dumbledore meant—that Voldemort's souls could connect, and if Harry Potter knew Voldemort's thoughts, it meant...

He stared at Hermione, both of them filled with disbelief.

You mean---

"I'm not sure, because that's the worst-case scenario."

"What about those Death Eaters who took the opportunity to disrupt the Quidditch World Cup?"

“A misled house-elf, whose owner is Barty Crouch, the current Director of the Department of International Magical Cooperation.” Dumbledore lowered his eyes wearily and continued, “We need to reconsider the Horcruxes.”

Only by destroying the Horcrux can Voldemort's soul, which is preserved inside, be destroyed.

But if we consider the worst-case scenario, it would mean that Harry Potter would have to die.

Riddle scoffed, "That kid's fate is truly tragic...isn't it? He was lucky to escape that time, but now, at the height of his happiness, he has to go to his death. Dumbledore, is he willing to do that?"

As long as one Horcrux exists, Voldemort will not die.

But the question is, would Dumbledore really dare to do that? He was the one who entrusted Harry Potter to the Dursleys, and he was the one who had Hagrid bring Harry Potter into the wizarding world...

Although Dumbledore rarely appeared in front of Harry, it must be admitted that he was always watching over Harry from behind.

“But you must have a way to call us,” Hermione said, mustering her courage.

Riddle let out a sinister laugh, crossed his legs, and was now the only happy person in the office.

"Yes, that's right, he had a way. His way was to rely on someone he once most wanted to kill. The reason Potter spoke Parsley was because of Voldemort!"

Dumbledore gave a wry smile, tacitly agreeing with his statement.

The meaning is self-evident—if necessary, Riddle needs to reuse the magic he cast on Ginny in the second year on Harry.

"But unfortunately, what I like to do most is say no to you!"

Chapter 224 The Part Severed by Voldemort

Headmaster Dumbledore wanted Riddle to inhabit Harry's body and remove Voldemort's soul... but due to the relationship between the two, the meeting naturally ended badly.

However, the diary was handed over to Nietzsche by the principal.

“Listen, even if you use some evil method to torture me, I will never help that old man.” Riddle followed Nietzsche out of the office and firmly protested in front of the gargoyle stone beast.

He looked like a wrongly convicted prisoner cursing the king before the guillotine.

"Why? He's not sending you to your death," Hermione scolded angrily. "Anyway, only one of you or Voldemort can survive."

“And collecting Voldemort’s soul will be good for you…” Nietzsche nodded, agreeing with her statement.

“Hmm~ I am a part of Voldemort’s soul, so that certainly helps me.” Riddle then let out a laugh. “Dream on! Haha! I saw through Dumbledore’s plot a long time ago!”

It was already curfew time, and they stood at the fork in the marble staircase in the lobby.

Hermione was disgusted by his smug look. She took out her wand, intending to teach him a lesson, but he only paused for a moment, then continued to clutch his stomach, pointing at her and emitting a harsh laugh, showing no fear.

It's clear that Riddle is determined to watch the show this time.

“You don’t know anything about Dumbledore. Listen... he’s trying to use some kind of ‘love’ or something to make me and Voldemort fight to the death. Impossible! Even if I don’t interfere, Voldemort will be finished sooner or later.”

After he finished speaking, his blurry projection disappeared and disappeared back into the Horcrux.

The next few days were uneventful, with everyone immersed in their fantasies about the Triwizard Tournament, except for Nietzsche, who wanted to hear Tom Riddle explain Dumbledore's plans, but the latter seemed to be acting out of spite.

Even if he deliberately used a soul-targeting spell like the Cruciatus Curse to touch it, at most he would only make a few swear words appear in the diary.

Around noon on Thursday, Nietzsche could hear a conversation at the Gryffindor table next door; he heard Harry and Ron discussing Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"He said he knew Sirius Black and had even worked with him... I'm going to write this in the letter and tell Black... I didn't know the Godfather knew so many famous people..."

Harry was much more cheerful than before; when he saw Nietzsche looking over, he waved enthusiastically.

Nietzsche merely smiled with relief and buried his face—he couldn't be happy at all. Who could have imagined that Harry, who should have been making up for the happiness he had missed, would soon be preparing to die?

Hermione didn't join the conversation. She wolfed down her food and then sat down with the plate of snacks.

"how's it going?"

“Not so good. He thinks he’s Harry Potter’s scapegoat.” Nietzsche clutched his pocket, preventing Crookshank from scratching at his diary with his paws as Crookshank snored away.

It seemed to hate Horcruxes, and with its back hunched, it hissed at Nietzsche warily. When Hermione sat down, it immediately jumped from his arms onto the girl's lap.

Hermione seemed to be in a good mood, and was talking about the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

“Speaking of which, Professor Moody said that some Aurors use white magic to reduce the effects of dark magic on the wizards themselves.” She proudly raised her chin. “And I am the only student who has mastered the Patronus Charm.”

Following her gaze, Nietzsche noticed that the Gryffindor hourglass contained more gems than Slytherin's.

Hermione probably added it in the last class...

"If white magic can reduce the effects of black magic, does that mean that the wizard himself is the key?"

"Are you talking about magic, or about Riddle?"

“The same idea,” Hermione said crisply. “Perhaps we should first figure out why Riddle hates Dumbledore. We’ve gone astray… We can’t let him feel like a piece of the same cloth.”

The problem lies here: Dumbledore's attitude toward Riddle has always been clear: Voldemort's soul.

Although Riddle recognized his true feelings toward Voldemort, Dumbledore still believed that his nature had not changed—Riddle's nature was Voldemort.

So if Voldemort were a ship, and they dismantled the broken "Voldemort" and used the materials to build a new ship, would the new "Riddle" still be the original "Voldemort"?

Therefore, Hermione intends to start from Riddle's understanding of his own soul.

She snatched the diary from Nietzsche's pocket and wrote down the questions with a quill pen:

"You say we know nothing about Dumbledore, so where is his hypocrisy?"

There was no movement for a long time. After a long time, the ink began to melt and combine into other letters. To Nietzsche's amazement, Hermione actually made Riddle speak.

It seems she's well-suited for a career in education...?

He said in surprise, "If you become a professor in the future, Hogwarts should be relatively more peaceful."

“Yes, if your only friend you can talk to has antisocial personality disorder, you can easily appease him like that,” Hermione said, soothing the furious Crookshanks.

"Hey!" Nietzsche said, feigning anger, "How dare you say that!"

Hermione raised her eyebrows and a smile appeared on her lips.

As she wished, Riddle wrote in his diary: "Dumbledore is never brave. He fears anyone who has great power, because it is beyond his control."

"So you were targeted by him before, right?" Hermione stroked the fur on Crookshank's back.

She was so skilled that Nietzsche began to suspect that Hermione's past actions were deliberately designed to make him feel that she had met his expectations... In reality, he had not changed Hermione?

Damn it!

Nietzsche felt he couldn't continue thinking like this, or it would become too terrifying.

Seeing that Riddle did not reply, Hermione calmly wrote: "You and Dumbledore are fighting for no reason, which will not benefit either of you. You should know that Voldemort has already abandoned you as a disgrace."

“If you’re so curious, why don’t you come and see for yourself…” Riddle paused for a long while before continuing to write, “Miss Granger?”

Hermione was annoyed that he had guessed her.

However, I also learned a little about why Riddle refused to help Dumbledore. It was probably related to a past dispute. Fortunately, as the part of him abandoned by Voldemort, Riddle was more like a human being.

"No, I am Nietzsche Holmes."

"In my memory, the Holmes who had a twisted desire for control didn't have such thoughts... Although what you said makes sense, I just don't want Dumbledore to get what he wants."

Hermione didn't know whether to say he had a good eye for people or to ignore him.

"Then why don't you cooperate with us?"

“It’s not impossible, but how about you let me speak with Nietzsche alone first?” Riddle suddenly said inexplicably.

She looked around, pulled Nietzsche up from his chair, and moved away from the noisy crowd. He was dragged along with Hermione all the way to the eighth floor, where they stopped in front of the melon stand where they had beaten Barnabas.

“We need a quiet lounge where we won’t be disturbed,” Hermione said, pacing back and forth three times before giving the order to the Room of Requirement.

Pushing open the door, the bedroom inside was different from the Gryffindor style that Sirius liked; the decorations were more like Hermione's own bedroom.

"Call the gods to protect you!"

A silvery-white phoenix emerged from Dragonheartstrings, circled above Hermione's head for a while, and finally landed on Nietzsche's shoulder.

“Harry Potter is counting on you.” She placed the Horcrux back in his hand and said seriously, “If anything goes wrong, I will have my Patronus sever the connection between you.”

Chapter 225 Voldemort's Unknown Past

In the instant Riddle and Nietzsche opened their minds to each other, they found themselves in a desolate desert—the worst, most disgusting, and most boring place he had ever been! There was no wine, no place to sleep...

There are two suns in the sky, one about to rise and the other about to set.

In this endless arid land, frankly, every second spent here is torture for Riddle...

“You should be grateful there are no Dementors here,” Nietzsche said as he slid down the dune. “If there isn’t a place where you can bewitch me, then I’m truly sorry.”

"But at least others, to some extent, have something they care about most in their hearts, while you..."

As a Horcrux, Riddle can influence wizards through their subconscious, but only if he can see what the other person cares about most. But there is nothing here; it's empty. Riddle can't imagine that this is the subconscious of a fourteen-year-old student.

He wiped away the sweat he had imagined.

"You're not normal!"

“That’s very impolite,” Nietzsche said, displeased.

"This is definitely not normal... okay?"

"Then what do you care about?" He felt lightheaded, waving his hand to wipe away the scene before him, everything swirling like ink. "Nothing more than the desire for honor, lineage, and the like."

Even though Riddle was just a fragment of a soul, Nietzsche could still sense those memories of him.

This includes some vague things, such as... he knows that Riddle doesn't even have a girl he likes.

The hard, dry sand receded, revealing several small figures underneath. Some of them looked very similar to Riddle and appeared to be very young, while the other was a young woman with a pale face and listless expression.