the Gambler

McGonagall suddenly got up from the headmaster's table and walked over to Slytherin, no doubt coming towards Harry.Seeing the dean with a serious expression, he quickly took Tom's kerchief and wiped the stains from the corners of his mouth, showing a particularly sincere smile, and the witch's eyelids twitched.If Mag was in a delicate mood, she didn't express it clearly.Harry watched as she pulled a shiny gold badge from her pocket and held it in front of him.

"Congratulations on becoming the captain of Quidditch, Mr. Potter." McGonagall showed a small smile, but Harry knew that the other party was really happy, oh, he didn't forget that Tom told himself that McGonagall was also a fanatic Quidditch lover Or, the fact that he was even a very talented Quidditch player when he was younger.

"Thank you, Professor." Harry studied the badge carefully, a bright smile lighting up his entire face.

"By the way, you need to prepare for the selection of players. Now 23 people have signed up with me." McGonagall spread a piece of parchment in front of Harry, "This is the list."

"Okay, Professor."

When McGonagall returned to the staff table, Harry turned his head and looked at Tom: "I never knew that the Quidditch team was so popular." He stretched out his finger and scratched the name on it, "Is the number of girls a bit too much?" ?”

Draco sneered: "Oh, Potter, don't tell me you didn't realize they were all after you, now that everyone knows that the lord is back and you're the savior again, they are naturally special to you If you are interested, if you think about entering the Quidditch team, you will be able to win the moon and become the future Mrs. Potter. Pick those useless girls, and this year's Quidditch Cup will be ours."

"Just daydream, Draco, if it will let you sleep well at night." Harry complained dissatisfiedly, hearing what the other person meant, his face was so red now, even the air temperature seemed to rise Much, "I wouldn't consider dating a girl, at least not yet."

"With boys, Harry?" Bryce blinked, and Harry blushed even more.

"Nobody," Tom interjected suddenly. "Harry must be ready to face Voldemort."

All the people around turned pale. Slytherin and Harry had maintained a delicate balance all this time, and those hidden little thoughts were well concealed, and everyone avoided mentioning the upcoming war in unison.It’s not that Slytherin taboos Harry, but that Tom’s power is suppressed. For them, Tom’s position is not clear. As a descendant of Slytherin and the new leader of the Snake House, even under Voldemort’s control, he still has a lot to do. Impact.Tom never publicly took Voldemort's side, but the Dark Lord's sidelines were obvious.

"You, you don't mind him fighting the lord?" Draco asked softly.

Tom waved his wand and turned the fork into a living little snake, and the dark green pattern made Harry feel very familiar.

"Of course, if Harry can kill Voldemort, there's no point in his life." Tom replied coldly, his tone as if Voldemort and himself were out of reach. Harry couldn't help peeking at him, and the boy just used The silver knife teased the little snake, making a hissing sound from time to time.

"/Nagini?/" Harry tentatively greeted, the turquoise snake suddenly turned its head to look Harry's face carefully, its forked letter sticking out of its mouth and bobbing up and down.

"/If you know the name, it looks like Nagini is still alive./"

"/It should have been Nagini who bit Mr. Weasley last time./" Harry said angrily, and his gloomy mood made the already weird snake language sound even more creepy.

"/I won't apologize, casualties are inevitable in war,/" Tom stroked the baby Nagini's triangular head, with a gentle light in his eyes, and Harry could see the tension between the boy and Nagini. Relationships are not just between owners and pets. If he were to add a definition, he felt that Nagini was to Tom just like Hedwig was to himself.Perhaps, Nagini was the one who was by Tom's side from beginning to end.

Some kind of inexplicable emotion that even Harry himself couldn't describe welled up in his heart. He cut a small piece of meat from the dinner plate and threw it to Nagini. The food, the whole piece of meat disappeared in the blink of an eye, and Nagini belched contentedly, hissing gratefully at Harry.

"/I never imagined that there would be a day when I would find Nagini cute, she was Voldemort's pet./"

"/I've never kept her as a pet, she's my family,/" Tom corrected Harry, "/And so should Voldemort./"

"/My Tom./" Nagini said, unwilling to be ignored, in that very proud tone, "/I grew up watching Tom boy,/" She turned to look at Harry, using a snake Grinning as much as possible, "/You're Tom's mate, have you copped yet? I've always wanted a bunch of pups./"

"/We're not that kind of relationship!/" Harry was so frightened by Nagini's words that his fork fell off, his sudden gaffe and flushed cheeks attracted the attention of everyone around him, and the boy didn't care about some Slytherins Ben was sexually excited because of the Parseltongue//, and retorted loudly, "/And we are both men, so we can't have sex! Bah, we can't have children!/"

"/No birth potion yet?/" Nagini asked dissatisfied, wrapping his tail around Tom's thumb.

"/I don't know./" Tom answered honestly, and met the curious eyes of the people around him. He switched to English and asked, "Is there any fertility potion now?"

Bryce spit out all the pumpkin juice he just drank, and his weird eyes went back and forth between Nagini, Tom and Harry, and Draco was not much better, Harry didn't know what he was thinking. What, but the blond wizard seemed to be passing out.

"Yes, yes, just invented." Bryce suddenly lowered his voice, "Do you need me to get you one, Mr. Riddle?"

"I appreciate your help, Bryce," Tom said quietly, and Bryce grinned slyly, and Harry noticed that this was the first time Tom had called a dark-skinned Slytherin by his Christian name, according to Judging from the jealous expressions of others, this should be the highest honor.Harry snorted coldly in his heart, the Slytherin hierarchy was so stupid.

"I'll have my mother send it as soon as possible," Bryce repeated, blinking at Harry, "as soon as possible."

Harry opened his mouth wide in horror, hell, did they really think they had that kind of relationship with Tom?He bent his elbow and bumped the instigator, and the other party put on such a pure and innocent expression, which made him feel angry and had nowhere to vent.Harry jabbed the knife into the luncheon meat in front of him, and Draco moved half a step away from Gryffindor with the brutal action.

"/So when are you going to make//match? It's better to hit the day than to hit the day, and I will hide in the cupboard tonight!/" Nagini said excitedly, and she blinked her yellow eyes at Harry, "/He So cute, I love those green eyes!/”

"/You're in a hurry./" Tom teased Nagini's jaw, and Nagini purred, seemingly enjoying his service.

Harry glared fiercely at the little snake who had teased him, and Nagini grinned again.Knowing she couldn't beat her, the boy focused his fire on someone smug: "/Damn it! Don't rush it, it's impossible! Tell her, Tom!/"

"/Oh, he's really cute, I agree!/" Nagini said in the tone of a mother watching her child get married, and Harry wailed and lowered his head and kept banging on the hard table, causing Tom to chuckle .

Nagini crawled slowly along Tom's arm to his shoulder, put his head on his neck, and gently rubbed his cheek: "/I haven't seen you so happy in a long time, Tom. If he makes you happy, I'll be happy too. Speaking of which, what's his name?/"

"/Harry, his name is Harry./" Tom took Harry's hand on his forehead and gave it a gentle squeeze, "/I'm glad to have your permission, Nagini dear./"

"/Speaking of how Nagini appeared here, shouldn't she stay with Voldemort?/" Harry put his head on his arm and teased the coquettish little snake curiously, "/She has her own thoughts, It doesn't look like it was made by a simple transfiguration technique./"

"/I stuffed the memory in, it won't take long for her to become a tableware again./" Tom's tone became cold and hard.

"/You really like her./"

"/Um./"

After the bowl meal, Tom followed Harry to meet the other two at the entrance of the auditorium. Hermione kept looking worriedly in the direction of Parvati and Lavender. The two witches had a good relationship and were hugging each other for some reason. sobbing.Harry looked at his friend suspiciously and motioned for her to explain.Hermione frowned and complained something like 'boys just don't get it'.

"Oh, just say it, Hermione." Ron stomped his feet impatiently. He was sleepy just after eating, and now he just wanted to get into the warm bed.

"The Patil sisters are going to drop out of school. In fact, they are not the only ones who plan to do so. The world is not peaceful now."

"But Hogwarts is the safest place in all of Scotland. Not only Dumbledore, but also Aurors and—" Ron lowered his voice. "The members of the Order of the Phoenix are also here, and Dad told me specifically."

"I think the Headmaster might be a little out of his depth, remember his hand?" Hermione whispered, "Dark Magic, no doubt, I suspect the hand is dead - and, if you've noticed, it's been a long time since he Appeared on the headmaster's desk."

"Well, I just saw him the other day. He said he would give me private lessons, remember?" said Harry.

Hermione showed an embarrassed expression, and then became agitated again: "You didn't tell us the content of the class, what did Principal Dumbledore teach you? Especially powerful attack and defense spells? Advanced potions or—"

"Telling stories, Dumbledore only told me the story of Voldemort." Harry wrinkled his nose. Although the headmaster said that those memories were very important, he still didn't understand why the old man didn't teach the advanced spells. It's more useful when Voldemort is there, isn't it?

"Why did the principal—"

Hermione's words were interrupted by Ron: "Dumbledore is such a weird wizard, in a positive sense. I mean, knowing Voldemort's story has no effect on the war," he glanced at the gloomy Tom, "is it possible Have you found his weakness?"

"Who knows, I didn't find it anyway." Harry shrugged indifferently. In fact, Tom's unhappiness had overwhelmed his desire to continue the conversation. Talking about how to kill the older one in front of the other party was absolutely not In such a comfortable situation, Harry's wink almost made his eyelids cramp, but Ron still hadn't received the message, so he had to change the subject and ask Tom, "Is the duel still coming, before bed?"

Tom nodded. He needed to vent too much. A duel with Harry would always let him release the pressure, and the other party would also learn self-defense skills from it. Killing two birds with one stone, why not do it.

"Then let's leave first, good night." Harry waved goodbye to his friend.

Slytherin was already ahead.Harry looked at Tom's back, shrouded in moonlight, which was particularly illusory, as if a non-existent dream would shatter if touched.Hermione was right, the situation was tense now, and Harry didn't want to draw Tom into the fray, but that was impossible.

Harry quickly followed Tom's pace.

Perhaps this was really a dream, and when I woke up again, there was no young Tom Riddle, nor my anxious self.