the Gambler

What a perfect day.Harry kicked the stool in resentment. Angelina had just found him during breakfast and loudly condemned him for being irresponsible. Considering that the witch is now the captain of the Quidditch team, she had already asked all members to gather on the pitch to participate in the selection of the goalkeeper. Contest.Of course, Harry had to go to Umbridge for detention, and this answer only infuriated the dark-haired girl even more, and she snarled obscenities and left the embarrassed boy behind.Ron glanced at Harry uneasily and told his friend that he also needed to participate in the Quidditch player selection. Although he hoped that Harry would be there to cheer him up, he could understand that the confinement was inevitable.Hermione yelled at them with an expression of disbelief that they hadn't even written their Charms thesis yet, and the day after tomorrow it was a deadline, and in OWLs, the boys still only thought about those boring sports!

"But Hermione, you obviously like Quidditch too. You were so excited that you squeezed my arm blue last time I watched the game." Ron said vaguely, and Hermione gave him a hard look, and lowered her voice to say something about the boy. The other two couldn't catch what happened to the child, but the witch's face is not good, so it's better to accept the criticism obediently.

"Whatever you want." Hermione concluded her tirade with these words, and Harry couldn't help cursing that if it was true what the witch said, she should have stopped teaching them.Hermione, unaware of Harry's attitude, grabbed the two boys who were still holding their asses off the bench, interrupting Ron's reluctant gaze at the food, with the same seriousness as Professor McGonagall. The expression said: "We need to go to class, Professor McGonagall's metamorphosis will start in 10 minutes."

"Seven minutes is enough to get there," Ron mumbled, grabbing a drumstick and stuffing it into his mouth.

"And then be late again? Absolutely not!" Hermione retorted immediately, she poked Harry's arm to signal the boy to bring Tom over, as if telepathically, when Harry turned his head, Tom raised his head just in time, the two The people's eyes were locked together for a moment, and the latter got up and left a group of Slytherins staring at him dryly, and took Harry's schoolbag and slung it over his shoulder.

"Why is he carrying your bag for you?" Ron looked confused.

Tom raised his eyebrows, with a surprised expression of 'you didn't tell them' clearly written on his face, Harry nodded, ignored his friend's inquiry, and walked out of the auditorium.

"You all know that metamorphosis is a simple and complicated subject, which is for people of different levels. However, I think it is not difficult to obtain a certificate as long as you put in enough time and effort, so I hope you learn this lesson Manifestation spell and disappearance spell. Each of you has a pen holder on your desk—” Professor McGonagall said with a straight face, “The person who makes it disappear smoothly and then reappears will get ten points, and the one who masters it first will get thirty Noticing the exclamation in the classroom, the witch explained, "The vanishing spell is the most difficult spell that may appear in the OWLs exam, and extra rewards are a must."

"You've already passed the OWLs exam, right?" Harry bumped Tom, who seemed to be listening carefully but was in a state of emptiness, with his elbow. For those who didn’t receive any grades, I’m confident that all of them are O’s because the questions are too easy.”

Harry complained dissatisfiedly, looked up and looked in the direction of Professor McGonagall, the witch was cutting him with sharp eyes, well, the one beside him.Professor McGonagall cleared his throat: "Although Mr. Riddle is in the fifth grade class, you all know that the Vanishing Curse is not a problem for his talent. Do you mind performing it?"

Tom didn't take McGonagall's obvious hostility to heart at all. He waved his wand, and the pen holder quickly disappeared and reappeared. Thirty points from Slytherin.

"It seems that Mr. Riddle has mastered it proficiently. All you need to say are 'disappear without a trace' and 'reveal quickly'. Now you can try it."

Hermione flicked her wand the moment the words fell, the pen holder lost a leg, and fell staggeringly on the table.She frowned and gave Tom a dejected look, Harry gave the witch a sympathetic look, and Hermione was clearly not used to being able to do better than her.Harry felt a poke in his arm, which brought him back to reality from his distraction.Tom was squinting at him, a sardonic smile on his lips, his eyes clearly full of challenge.

"Please me, let me see if you are qualified to stand by my side?"

"Just for practice, don't think too highly of yourself, bloody smug bastard." Harry waved his wand imitating Tom, he had no intention of impressing him, he just didn't want to see that A smug face!In fact, Harry had never been very good at Transfiguration, although Professor McGonagall had said that both his father and Sirius were top students in this field.He fixed his eyes on the pen holder in front of him, a little slower than Tom, but the small object wobbled and disappeared completely, and Harry turned the pen holder back into place after a moment.

"Wonderful performance, Mr. Potter, it seems that the genes of the Potter family are still flowing in your blood," Professor McGonagall suddenly appeared in front of the table for two, with a rare smile on her face and sparkling blue eyes Shining, "Your perfect performance makes me can't help but add thirty points to Gryffindor!"

Hermione faced Harry with that betrayed expression, and most of the pen holder in front of her had disappeared, which made her very annoyed.Ron gave Harry a sympathetic look, and mouthed 'never mind'. Hermione was always very extreme in her studies, and they had long been used to it.This may have a lot to do with the witch's desire to prove that bloodlines do not affect magic power. She has always insisted on burying all her spare time in thick books.Sometimes both of them wondered if Hermione had almost read half the books in the library.

"You are very powerful," Tom commented. "It seems that metamorphosis was not your strong point before. I must admit that I feel flattered. I didn't expect your desire to show me so strong."

"Your pride is about to explode."

Tom put aside Harry's sarcasm, and put on a serious tone: "Magic power is connected with emotions, and the purer emotions are, the easier it is to trigger strong magic, which is why magical accidents frequently occur in young children. Reason, using a wand is just an auxiliary means of self-restraint. You have a strong desire but don't use it well, and the idea of ​​​​avoiding exposure to flash lights is something I can't agree with."

"You speak as if you know me well."

Tom showed an offended expression, his pupils shrunk into thin slits, and his tone became aggressive: "No one knows you better than me, not only because I can easily feel your intense mood swings, but I'm also a good observer of human beings." type. To me, you are an open book." Tom smiled suddenly, "I can say now that you are angry. Your eyes are green with this primal emotion, and your magic— He gently stroked Harry's arm, the skin on his palm was slightly prickled by the magic power radiating from the boy, "It is calling me, like the beautiful song of a siren. I have never been so close to such pure magic."

"You can be like me if you want," Tom murmured.

"I take issue with what you say, and my emotion is pure disgust," said Harry, pulling Tom's hand away from his body, "especially when it's against you."

"Disgust is also a strong emotion, but it shouldn't be so easily exposed to the opponent," Tom said calmly, and this attitude made Harry feel uncomfortable. "In order to achieve the real purpose of surveillance, you should put It's covering it up even deeper. Dumbledore's protecting you too well, don't you think?"

Harry frowned, and Tom continued, "I've been thinking about the emotion that hides in your eyes every time you see me. It seems to be pure disgust. Tell me, Harry, I mean something to you." What? Opponent is an understatement, isn't it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Harry lowered his head to avoid Tom's gaze. He noticed that Professor McGonagall looked at the interaction between the two of them suspiciously, and seemed to come to stop him, and finally struggled to walk to the hall. Ravenclaw's side went.Before turning her back, the witch warned Tom not to do something outrageous with her eyes.Harry was very grateful for the dean's care and protection, but he knew very well that in this war without gunpowder, only he and Tom could fight against each other.

"You know what I'm talking about, Harry." Tom's breath hit Harry's earlobe, and his whole body stiffened, but he insisted on staring at the air directly in front of him, without giving Tom a look.The other party chuckled, and the sweet voice made the hairs on the back of Harry's neck stand on end, "Don't pretend to be dull, your quick response when you are angry has completely exposed your sharp nature, as long as you want to be smart, More cunning than those little snakes. Since we all know each other's true nature, why do we have to maintain a false appearance?"

"you think too much."

"You can show me who you really are, satirize me, provoke me, irritate me, fight me and pay the price. I will watch you succumb to power with bruises all over your body, and I will watch patiently, forever waiting for you to bite back."

"You're crazy." Harry wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"As you said, dear Harry," Tom suddenly pulled the distance between them, with an excited smile on his face, "I can be crazier than you can imagine."

As soon as the bell rang, Harry rushed out of the classroom like an arrow. Hermione and Ron quickly caught up with their friends, and the three sat down on the grass near the Black Lake.Hermione waited for a long time, and Harry still had no intention of speaking. She sighed and opened the topic: "What happened between you and Marvolo in Transfiguration class? The atmosphere between you seems to be very tense, everyone—"Look Seeing Ron's puzzled expression, Hermione changed her words, "Well, most people have noticed the situation on your side, and Professor McGonagall has sneaked at you many times."

"Nothing happened," Harry said sullenly.

"You know we won't accept that, Harry, you can tell us everything, we're best friends." Hermione continued to persuade.

"It's not something you can interfere with." Harry could see the hurt expressions on the two of them, but he didn't want to drag his friend into the water. Tom is a dangerous person. Today he felt the feeling of being with a king like a tiger. It looked like Tom Having initially established his identity, Harry is an obvious sign of the bright side, and his disgust can only show that Tom is standing in the opposite position.Harry sighed. "He makes me nervous, you know?"

"Yeah, man, he can make anyone nervous," Ron agreed.

"He can also be very charming." Hermione added, she bit her lower lip and thought for a while, then raised her head again, "This is not a good development, more and more people are starting to be attracted by the appearance of his model students Deceived, they thought Marvolo was a gentle man, and the gentlemanly demeanor he showed towards Harry made their impression even deeper."

"What does that mean?" Harry frowned.

Hermione suddenly became bewildered, she tore off the grass roots at her feet, and her eyes were fixed on the calm lake.

"You can tell me directly, Hermione," Harry insisted.

Hermione took a few deep breaths and met Harry's eyes again, although hesitation was still written on the girl's face.Harry knew that whatever the other person said next would not be a pleasant conversation for him, but he was desperate to know.

"They all think you are crazy, and you should have noticed that you are isolated—" Hermione grabbed Harry's hands firmly, "We will always stand behind you, but they don't think so, they, they feel that Marvo Luo is indeed a gentle person, if he can still get along with a bastard like you who is full of nonsense and wants to attract everyone's attention—" Hermione's eyes were firm, "Don't care about other people's opinions, they will all realize in the end It's right up to you."

"I don't care what they think anymore, Hermione, it's enough for you and Ron to trust me."