Hogwarts: Hermione and I switched identities!

No one answered.

"Professor Dumbledore, please help us, could you take us to the Leaky Cauldron...?"

"Little guy, how did you know I was here?" Dumbledore emerged from the shadows and chuckled twice. "Tom, you shouldn't have been so impulsive. If... if you hadn't been lucky, you would already be food for the eight-eyed spider."

However—"Dumbledore changed the subject, "Tom, you're a good boy for your friends. You two little ones, take my hand, I'll take you home. The Leaky Cauldron isn't for you, boys."

Phantom appearance!

Hermione felt a sudden dizziness, and her stomach was churning.

The next moment, she was already in front of her own house.

“Miss Granger, you have to go home, or your parents will worry, Tom, you…”

“I don’t have parents, so Misha will worry about me if I go back.” Tom shrugged. “The Leaky Cauldron will do. I’ll catch the train tomorrow morning; I should be able to make it.”

“Alright…” Dumbledore couldn’t persuade Tom otherwise, so he took him to the Leaky Cauldron.

When the owner saw Dumbledore arrive in person, his eyebrows lifted in surprise: "My goodness, what a day this is! No wonder I saw the goddess smiling at me when I went out this morning. Mr. Albus, welcome to the Leaky Cauldron, my friend."

Dumbledore's name is actually quite useful in the wizarding world—except when facing Voldemort and the Malfoy family.

After settling Tom in, Dumbledore left the Leaky Cauldron.

Dumbledore returned to the dense forest.

Reappearing, Dumbledore looked at Snape beside him: "I hadn't noticed this place at all before, and now it's filled with so many trolls and eight-eyed spiders."

Severus, have you discovered anything?

Snape sighed and shook his head: "There's nothing here, not a trace. If we hadn't come with Tom, we wouldn't have even found this place."

However, Albus, your suspicions should have been dispelled by now.

"Doubt?" Dumbledore chuckled. "I have never doubted Tom."

"No! You do! You'll definitely have doubts the moment you hear Tom's name, after all, there's no such coincidence in the world!"

But if he really is... really is the Mysterious Man, Granger definitely wouldn't be making it back alive tonight. We were all a step too slow.

Dumbledore felt the same way.

With the same name and such high level of achievement at such a young age, it's impossible not to have doubts. In any case, they were all secretly wary of Tom.

But what Severus just said... doesn't he have any doubts?

"Severus, you never thought Tom would be the Mysterious Man?"

“Absolutely impossible!” Snape’s tone was more certain than ever before. “However, after this, the Man of Darkness might target Tom. He—I mean Tom—might be even more terrifying to the Man of Darkness than Pott!”

Snape emphasized the word "Potter," pronouncing "Potter" as "Potter," his tone carrying a hint of dissatisfaction—or perhaps dissatisfaction.

"Alright, Severus, we shouldn't waste too much time on this. We all have our own things to do. In any case, we must ensure that our students can enroll normally tomorrow. Hogwarts must be the safest place in the world."

“You’re right.” Snape shuffled away like a giant bat.

Aren't you coming back with me?

"I'm going to Diagon Alley to buy some materials."

As Dumbledore watched Snape's departing figure, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn upwards in a smile.

Diagon Alley?

Leaky Cauldron is also in Diagon Alley!

It seems Severus really likes Tom.

……

"Dobby, Dobby is a bad guy!"

Inside the Leaky Cauldron, the little elf was banging his head against the wall again and again.

"Dobby doesn't want to hurt you, Dobby, Dobby just wants to... Dobby can't say!"

Tom sipped his lemonade, watching the little elf continue to bang his head.

“Calm down, we’re not blaming you.” Tom couldn’t hold back any longer and grabbed Dobby.

"Did you take Hermione to the Woods?"

"Dobby doesn't have any!"

Tom pursed his lips: "So, you intercepted Hermione's letter, didn't you? And mine too."

Tom had guessed right. Dobby's eyes welled up with tears: "Dobby just doesn't want you to go to school. You, you can't go to school. Someone... Dobby is a bad guy. He betrayed his master!"

Before he could finish speaking, he slammed his head against the wall again—but Tom pulled him back, preventing him from getting a bloody head wound.

Master? The arrogant guy's dad?

Tom let out a long sigh.

So it's Lucius Malfoy who's going after Hermione? Why? If you're going to target someone, go after Harry! Why bother with the two of them? Hermione hasn't changed much...

broken!

Could it be because I let Hermione win the championship?

Tom suddenly remembered that Draco Malfoy had also entered in Mr. Lockhart's competition, and then he was fiercely shrouded in his own thin veil.

Tom rubbed his temples; the whole thing was a bit complicated.

But it doesn't seem like something Lucius would do—after all, Dobby only intercepted the letter, but didn't interfere with Hermione's departure at all.

"Dobby, I need you to do something for me."

"Dobby can't help Tom. Dobby's a bad guy. Dobby'll just mess things up..."

Tom patted his head.

He's so good with kids.

"Little one, listen to me. Everyone makes mistakes. Making mistakes is not terrible. What's important is whether you can reflect on your mistakes and do something right to make up for them."

I grew up in the Saint Redia Welfare Home. As a child, I was not well-liked—because I was a wizard, and I considered myself special from a young age, feeling that I didn't belong with other people.

One day, a boy named Lawrence disliked me and put a mouse under my pillow. I was furious and beat him up; that was the biggest mistake I ever made.

Dobby stopped crying and listened attentively to Tom's story.

“The kids all saw me hit someone, and they started to be afraid of me. I had no friends, and everyone kept their distance from me. Dobby, you know, once someone dislikes you, it’s very difficult to get back on their good side.”

So, I humbled myself, and from then on, I was just Tom. I'll be nice to everyone because I want to make friends, and I want them to know that Tom isn't a grumpy person. Hey, are you listening?

Dobby is listening.

Tom spent a long time talking about how he changed at the orphanage, how he went out to sell flowers with his friends, and how he used the little money he had left to treat them to flower cakes.

And—she made a good friend, Misha.

Of course, this was all made up by Tom. In fact, he had always had a good reputation at the St. Redia Welfare Home; it was just that Lawrence didn't like him.

“So, Dobby,” Tom said, taking a sip of lemon tea to soothe his throat. “As I said, making mistakes isn’t terrible; what’s terrible is not knowing how to make amends. You almost killed Hermione, so you need to make amends. That’s what a man should do, you know?”

After a long silence, Dobby finally raised his head and looked at Tom with his green eyes: "What does Tom want Dobby to do?"

“Very good. You have green eyes just like me, which means you will grow up to be a man like me. There is only one thing I want you to do: if Hermione is in danger again, tell me, okay? Don’t do it on your own, you must tell me.”

"Dobby, Dobby will..."

The elf nodded, stopped his self-harm, and bowed his head in front of Tom.

Chapter 17 Miss Hermione, you wouldn't want this either...

Hermione can't sleep.

She felt like her head was a mess.

I finally managed to meet Tom, but we didn't get to talk much.

I almost died.

When it happened, Hermione didn't feel scared at all. Now that she's come to her senses, she can only cover herself tightly with the blanket, wrapping herself up in it.

She got up, looked at the moonlight outside the window, picked up a book from the bedside table, opened it, and began to read.

……

the next day.

Hermione got up early and, with her luggage which she had been packing for a long time, set off for Hogwarts.

Mirola has also returned home and is now lying obediently in her cage—in fact, Mirola has been in there for a long time, but Dobby didn't let Hermione discover her presence.

At Platform 9 3/4, Hermione successfully entered and saw the whistling train—the train bound for Hogwarts.

The red-haired children were making a ruckus outside the platform; they appeared to be Weasley children.

Hermione also saw a black-haired boy wearing glasses, and it seemed that many people were looking at him.

But Hermione didn't care; she had no time to care right now and just walked towards the car.

Once inside the car, Hermione realized just how famous she was!

She heard many whispers.

It seems everyone knows her name, everyone knows that Hermione Granger won the competition hosted by Mr. Lockhart two weeks ago.

The admiring gazes made Hermione feel breathless, so she could only quicken her pace, passing through one carriage after another.

Finally, in an empty carriage, Hermione saw the boy.

Tom sat by the window, propping his head up with one hand and flipping through the book with the other. His eyes swept over the lines of small print, and he quickly made notes before turning to the next page, repeating the process over and over.

Hermione placed her luggage on the table and sat down opposite Tom in one step. Her voice was quite loud, which made Tom look up. After realizing it was Hermione, he continued reading his book.

"Tom!"

After being called by name, Tom finally closed the book and said seriously, "Hermione, why are you wearing a floral dress underneath? I chose this dress for you to wear in the summer, and now you're wearing a wizard's robe on top. It doesn't look good, it's very conspicuous, you know that!"

You should choose a beige one…

Hermione interrupted Tom: "That's not what I wanted to say!"