Hogwarts: Hermione and I switched identities!

When he saw Tom and the other man, the weight on his heart finally lifted.

Thankfully, Tom and Hermione are alright...

Hagrid patted his chest heavily, knowing he would be in grave danger if either of them were injured.

"Tom, why didn't you go back to school? What happened in Hogsmeade?" Dumbledore poured them both a glass of water. "What happened that made you two children make this choice?"

This wasn't a review meeting, just a conversation with two young boys, and Dumbledore maintained his benevolent demeanor.

Tom took a sip of hot tea and replied seriously, "Professor, the owl couldn't bring the letter back to the school. The mysterious man hijacked it, and I dare not return rashly—if the mysterious man intercepts us halfway and launches a sneak attack, the consequences would be unimaginable."

"Oh?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "You knew the letters would be intercepted?"

“I have a friend, a house-elf. He is very weak, but he is very kind to me and told me all this. I'm sorry, professors, I can't say the elf's name.”

"I'm worried Professor Quirrell might take us away in the name of Hogwarts if we don't stay in the Broomsticks. I read in the books that the Man of Voldemort has followers, so I'm concerned..." Tom shrugged. "One man's strength can't fight four, Professor, you told us that."

“Professor Quirrell…” Professor McGonagall murmured, then suddenly realized, “You knew Quirrell was the Man of Varian all along? You were the one who told Hermione about it?”

Professor McGonagall remembered that Hermione had come to her saying that she had discovered something fishy about Professor Quirrell, but she didn't think much of it.

Now it seems that Tom had seen through everything.

Such amazing insight.

Professor McGonagall sighed softly.

If it were any other student, they probably wouldn't suspect Professor Quirrell at all; at most, they would suspect that bat-like Severus Snape.

Tom smiled and nodded.

Dumbledore's smile seemed to have vanished for a moment. He tapped his fingers on the bench for a long time before turning his head and saying, "Hagrid, you have something to say to these two children, don't you?"

"I...I'm so sorry, if it weren't for me..."

Tom interrupted Hagrid: "Mr. Hagrid, please don't underestimate yourself. You discovered the mysterious man's trail long ago before you went to find him, didn't you? Your courage is admirable and worthy of our learning."

"But that mysterious man is too cunning. He tricked you into taking you away from us. It's not a huge mistake, sir. Everyone makes mistakes. When facing a powerful enemy, it's only through making mistakes that we learn and grow. As long as we can correct our mistakes next time, that's fine."

Hagrid looked at Tom, a deep sense of gratitude welling up in his eyes. He lowered his head in shame, not daring to speak.

Hermione was speechless—though she hadn't intended to speak in the first place.

Only now does Hermione understand why Tom has so many friends.

Tom's friends always trusted him completely, and even the house-elves would come to tip him off against their master's wishes—something Hermione would never have dared to imagine before.

Tom always kindly forgives everyone, no matter what mistakes they have made.

“I…I met someone.” Hagrid sighed. “I was blinded by luck. Someone gave me a dragon egg, and I thought I had met a good person. I talked to him a lot, and even went to see the dragon egg with him…”

Hagrid couldn't continue speaking, so he downed the glass of water in front of him in one gulp: "Albus, this was caused by my mistake, and I request to leave Hogwarts."

Dumbledore's expression remained unchanged: "Rupert, this is escapism. Now that Tom has forgiven you, you should find a way to repay him. We now know that the Mystic has been resurrected and will definitely target Hogwarts in the future. You cannot choose to leave at this time."

“I…” Hagrid’s beard trembled.

Dumbledore had already spoken, and Hagrid nodded excitedly: "I will try my best, thank you, Tom."

"Wait!" Hermione spoke for the first time, asking in surprise, "That mysterious person, he, he actually escaped the professors' encirclement?"

“Tom is right. The Death Eaters are secretly helping Voidman. Even though Voidman isn’t at his peak right now, those Death Eaters believe that one day he will lead them to unify the world.” Dumbledore stroked his white beard. “The Death Eaters, also known as Voldemort’s followers, are always treacherous and cunning. If you encounter Death Eaters, you must run away immediately and never try to fight them head-on.”

This time, the mysterious man escaped our encirclement thanks to the Death Eaters.

Tom inwardly scoffed.

What Death Eaters? He's clearly a super undercover agent.

His gaze "casually" swept over Snape, lingering on him for a couple of seconds before Snape glared at him fiercely, and Tom quickly looked away.

"Go and rest, you two little ones. I look forward to seeing how you do at the Christmas dinner."

Hermione blushed upon hearing the last words.

The thought of being stared at by so many professors on the dance floor gave her a strange feeling...

"Professors, sweet dreams tonight." Tom said goodbye to the professors and pulled Hermione away from Dumbledore's office.

……

“You seem to know a lot of things,” Hermione said, pouting. “But you haven’t told me anything.”

Tom grinned: "You know a lot, but you didn't say a word just now."

"I'm not good with words, but you always manage to get along well with the other professors. Hmph, goodnight!"

"Good night."

After saying goodbye, the two went their separate ways back to their dormitories.

The two doormen in the Ravenclaw dormitory had been waiting for Tom for a long time. They stood in front of the door and, when they saw Tom return, each grabbed one of his hands and held him down.

"A whole day! You were gone for a whole day!"

Li Su gritted her teeth and asked fiercely, "Tom, tell us what happened, or I'll let Terry sleep in your bed tonight, and you'll have to put up with the sound of him grinding his teeth to fall asleep!"

"Sigh, I ran into a mysterious man. I fought him for three hundred rounds and finally trampled him under my feet. I even cut off his nose and almost lost my life."

"..."

"You're kidding me!" the two retorted simultaneously, each scratching Tom's itch from one side.

Terry and Lee Sue, of course, did not believe Tom's utter nonsense.

What role does the mysterious person play?

That was a notorious dark wizard, whose name was so feared that people dared not even mention it, yet Tom claimed to have trampled him underfoot.

They don't believe it!

This is impossible!

"Tell me the truth!"

Terry chimed in, "You and Hermione spent so much time together, did you do a lot of things...?"

Tom remained expressionless, while Terry's face was frighteningly red.

"What did you do?" Tom asked back.

You know the truth in your heart!

"Indeed, she and I fought the mysterious man together. We were killing like crazy. Okay, I want to sleep now. Those of you who grind your teeth tonight, please keep it down. Those of you who snore, please stay up all night. Thank you."

Lying on the bed, in less than two minutes, Tom's even breathing filled the entire dormitory.

Tom was asleep, but the other two were wide awake.

When Terry and Li Su woke up the next morning, both of their eyes were red.

"You guys really aren't asleep?" Tom scratched his head. "That's strange, I've never seen you guys so envious before, what happened?"

Soon, Tom found out what had happened.

On the way to the first class, everyone was afraid of Tom and avoided him by taking detours.

"Good morning, Tom."

"Good morning, senior." Tom greeted Zhang Qiu. "Senior, do you know why the other students are all... Senior, why are you backing away? Is there something scary on my face?"

The next moment, Tom knew what Senior Zhang Qiu was afraid of.

“Mr. Riddle!” Snape’s voice, like the sip of morning coffee, instantly jolted Tom awake. “You know what you missed this morning. I’ve been waiting for you in the Potions Lab for an hour!”

"I'm sorry, Professor, I'm too tired. I'll go tomorrow."

"hope so."

Professor Snape was gone, but the fear in Zhang Qiu's eyes did not diminish in the slightest.

"Senior?"

"Ahem." Zhang Qiu coughed twice, then asked with some curiosity, "Tom, do you know, there have been rumors lately that you and Professor Snape have... that kind of relationship?"

The prestige of the English gay community is still rising!

"Senior, you're judging me with prejudice. I'm a pure, innocent student who only wants to study hard and occasionally get along well with my friends. I'm definitely not the kind of person you think I am!"

"Hermione!" Cho Chang waved and greeted Hermione behind Tom. "Hermione, you and Tom are close. Is he and Professor Snape... um, you know, in that kind of relationship?"

—Zhang Qiu was referring to the father and son.

Rumor has it that Tom is Professor Snape's illegitimate son, and that Professor Snape abandoned him in an orphanage when Tom was very young in order to toughen him up.

Hermione paused for a moment: "I guess... I guess so."

Hermione was referring to the special treatment they received.

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Tom exclaimed.

I think I'm fairly average-looking, and I probably got a lot of candy for Halloween!

How dare you slander me out of thin air!

"Tom, admit it!" Zhang Qiu seemed to have gained some leverage and became a little smug.

"What do I admit to?"

Zhang Qiu just kept smiling and remained silent.

Hermione saw that Tom was in a hurry and had been thwarted. Although she didn't know what had happened, she just wanted to laugh.

Okay, okay, is this how you treat me?

Senior Zhang Qiu, it looks like I'll have to teach you a lesson next week.

Chapter 50: Is this how you're supposed to use the Mirror of Eris? (3k-word chapter, please read, vote, and recommend!)

Hogwarts is missing a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

Naturally, a professor came to take his place.

Hermione was somewhat desperate; they were getting tired of seeing the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor standing on the podium.

Severus Snape continued to exert his intimidation, instilling fear in every student equally.