the Gambler

On the night before leaving Hogwarts, Harry had mixed feelings, and the atmosphere of anxiety had been hovering over the huge castle since Cedric's condolence meeting.Harry knew that even after Headmaster Dumbledore made it clear that he believed Harry's testimony and announced the return of the Dark Lord, most of the students still refused to accept this fact.Harry couldn't blame them, the influence of the "Daily Prophet" was unmatched in the wizarding world, and the parents expressed their belief in the reports, all of which were slowly shaking the faith of the young wizards and witches.

Harry likes to stay with Hermione and Ron, they are people who completely trust themselves, the three of them unite tacitly during this period, and Hermione is even more active in seeking any news from the outside world than in the past.They all knew that it was only a matter of time before Voldemort really appeared in front of the public, and as the most evil wizard in history, he would definitely launch an attack with great fanfare and show the Dark Mark to the world.They are all waiting patiently for that moment to come.

But Harry was different. He had witnessed Voldemort regain his body, and he was sure that the war had quietly begun.It can be seen from Principal Dumbledore's frequent absence of breakfast, except for Professor Trelawney who still behaves weirdly, the other professors on the teaching staff look very preoccupied.Since then, the witch hasn't shown any signs of prophecy. Perhaps it's more like returning to her god-like self, which makes Harry more concerned.

"Perhaps you should consider telling Principal Dumbledore about this prophecy?" Ron suggested after hearing Harry's doubts. Hermione frowned and kept her eyes on Tom, who was nestled in a corner not far from them, holding his hand Holding a heavy old book on the table, the strange tadpole script on the cover made the witch frown.It was obviously not Latin or English, nor was it a language that Hermione had ever heard of. She had doubts about the nature of the book, but she couldn't find a reason to check it. After all, there was no aura of black magic surrounding the book.

Hermione turned her attention back to the conversation itself.The witch pondered and said, "Generally, I would suggest that you tell the principal, but he hasn't been in school recently, and he looks a bit devastated. If what the "Daily Prophet" says is true."

"What did it say? I haven't read that nonsense lately." Harry noticed that Hermione's expression was inevitably angry. She seemed to want to stick Rita to the wall so hard that she couldn't do it again. Grab that nasty quill.

"She said that Dumbledore's madness is well known, and that he is now under scrutiny by the Wizengamot and the International Federation of Wizards."

Ron gasped, staring at Hermione in disbelief.Although Harry didn't understand the significance of that, his stomach was pounding at his friend's strong reaction.

"Is it possible, I mean, is there any way to help him?"

"Harry, we have no power to stop the investigation, we can only hope that those cowards wake up soon," Hermione saw the dejected expressions of the two quickly change the subject, she secretly rolled her eyes to indicate Tom's direction, Ron swallowed, Harry turned his head directly to look at Tom.Hermione lowered her voice and said, "What book is that? Is it about the Dark Arts? Have you read it, Harry?"

Harry squinted his eyes and looked at the suspected book carefully. He looked back at the two in surprise and replied calmly: "Can't you see? It's "Defense Against the Dark Arts Advanced Advanced", and the title says Clearly."

"Can you read it?" Hermione's eyes widened.

"What? Isn't that obvious?" Harry frowned, and he looked at the same headline again, and the frequent glances made Tom look up too.Harry noticed that the other boy's knuckles were whitening from the force he was holding on to the book.

Tom was in a strange mood, even though the other person's expression hardly changed, but Harry felt it.

"It's okay," Hermione said hastily, she didn't want Tom to know they were suspicious of him.The witch stuffed all her things into her schoolbag, quickly got up from the sofa, bid farewell to the two, and rushed back to the dormitory.Ron also took the opportunity to drive Harry out of the lounge, and naturally brought Tom along.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Tom occupied the last box, the atmosphere was quite heavy, and the whole space was filled with the shrill screams of piglets. Ron noticed Tom's dissatisfied gaze, and he wrapped his robe around the owl flapping its wings, The latter didn't show any intention of yielding. The little fur ball struggled under the clothes, and the sound became louder and louder.

Ron watched in horror as Tom took out his wand from his pocket and pointed it at the pig. Harry bent his elbow and knocked him back, and Tom turned his angry eyes to Harry.The boy threw his head back and pointed his chin at the other, and Tom suddenly broke into a pleasant smile and tucked his wand back into his sleeve.Ron took the opportunity to put the pig in the cage, and Hermione quickly cast a silencing spell outside.

Harry turned his head back and ignored Tom. He was still angry with the other party. Since the force was no match, he decided to adopt a cold war method.

The boy unconsciously tapped his fingers on the window pane of the train, ignoring the cold sight around him and the anxious eyes of his two friends.He watched the red platform at King's Cross getting closer, and a large group of adult wizards gathered on the platform were anxiously waiting for the train to arrive.

"I think it's pointless to come here by car. Everyone knows we don't need to go home." Tom said indifferently. If Harry insisted that he was still in the library, he would need to know more about this era. Generally speaking, the wizarding society has not developed much in the past half a century, which makes Tom feel very disappointed.Really, there's more to something so wonderful than magic if you put it to good use.

"Shut up, Marvolo." Harry rested his head on the back of his hands and sighed as he watched the scene keep retreating.

"I will not allow anyone to disrespect me." Tom's indifferent voice sounded in Harry's ears, and he could feel the other's lips touch his earlobe several times.Harry wiped away the discomfort. To be honest, during the time he spent with Tom, he was a little used to him getting too close. This arrogant Slytherin didn't seem to have the slightest sense of respecting other people's private space.

"Then kill me." Harry shrugged indifferently, his friend's gasp mixed with Tom's chuckle.

Hermione almost threw her whole body into Harry's arms, and the impact made the whole floor shake.Harry stretched out his hand to push aside the brown hair that blocked his view, and listened to the witch's trembling voice: "Oh, Harry, don't think so, we will write to you as often as possible, promise me, protect yourself, every day A letter, Harry! We'll let Headmaster Dumbledore know if the communication goes down someday! Oh, Harry, we're really worried about you, and I'll ask Mrs. Weasley to take us to you!"

"Yeah, dear friend, you must protect yourself!" Ron glanced at Tom, who raised half of his eyebrows, and Ron quickly turned his eyes away, focusing all his attention on Harry.Merlin's stockings!The young Dark Lord is also super scary!

Harry patted Hermione on the back, comforting the sobbing witch: "Don't worry, I will protect myself, and you all know that he can't really hurt me," Harry raised the phoenix tail feather wand in his hand, Hermione quickly understood what her friend meant, and nodded in relief. Harry took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to the witch, "Now wipe away your tears, you are the stunning Hermione Granger at the Yule Ball, Make those stupid boys drooling over you."

Hermione punched Harry on the shoulder playfully, and Ron grunted disapprovingly.Winking at his red-haired friend, Harry added, "Some guy in particular, if he doesn't work harder, beautiful Hermione will be chased away."

Hermione and Ron blushed at the same time, and Harry chuckled.

The peaceful atmosphere was suddenly interrupted by Tom: "Here we are."

Harry and Tom sent the other two to the car door. He noticed a few sharp gazes from the right, and turned his head to meet the Malfoy family. Draco frowned and looked at Harry and Tom carefully, while Narcissa Looking extremely bored, Lucius raised half of his neatly trimmed eyebrows and smiled haughtily at Harry.Tom recognized him as one of the group he'd seen in the cemetery, and he smiled the same way, looking as if he didn't think much of Malfoy.The older boy said, with just enough disdain for everyone to hear, "It's just Malfoy."

The effect of these words was immediate, Harry saw that the whole family had a tendency to lose their masks, Draco was shaking with anger, if it weren't for the snake-headed staff that Lucius was resting on his shoulder, he would have rushed to curse this rude Heart Slytherin can not.Harry showed the same sarcastic smile as Tom, raised half of his eyebrows and teased: "Marvolo, you are too reserved, this is just a ferret."

Tom looked down into bright emerald eyes, and the satisfaction in his eyes was self-evident.

"Who gave you that sharp tongue, my dearest Harry? You're a little cunning, aren't you?"

"He is standing in front of me, don't you want to know how far I can do it? You will know, Marvolo."

The conversation between the two made Draco furious, really, who is that Riddle?Hao Duan Duan appeared in Hogwarts and lived with Potter again. Many girls in the school rumored that the two were in a relationship, but Draco was sure this was not true. Harry Potter had a crush on Ravenclaw's Seeker , which is known to all.And Riddle's mediocre surname, obviously a bitch!He's just a lowly commoner, but he pretends to be a leader in school, and now he dares to provoke the ancient and noble Malfoy family!

"Father, we need to properly educate them on the etiquette of pure-blooded nobles." Draco looked at Lucius expectantly, who shook his head and replied to his son in a low voice: "No, little dragon, the lord made it clear that we cannot Touch Riddle by a hair."

"why?"

"I don't know, we just need to abide by it. I believe that the whole Slytherin will receive a warning when we come back from this holiday." Lucius lowered his voice, "He is not an ordinary person. I saw him in the Black Monarch's rebirth ceremony. He was also the one who took Potter away from the public eye, and the lord didn't say anything." Lucius glanced at Tom who was still sneering, and he could see the dark magic power lingering around the boy, like a siren's The singing sound tempted him to approach, and at the same time, there was a strong coercion that made him dare not move.If he hadn't seen Tom at the age of sixteen or seventeen with his own eyes, Lucius would have thought he saw a second Dark Lord, a Dark Lord with great potential who was slowly rising.

"This is disrespectful, what does that lord need in him?" Draco looked at Tom carefully, and to tell the truth, he didn't know anything about him that could attract the attention of the Dark Lord, except for a good-looking appearance.

"He's very powerful, little dragon. You can't feel his power now, and he makes me wonder if that adult had the same profound magical power when he was young." Draco's eyes widened because of his father's words, Looking at the two people not far away who were only interested in flirting, their beautiful golden eyebrows were frowned. He really couldn't feel Riddle's magic power, but his instinct told himself to stay away from that boy.

"Don't piss him off, that's the only advice I can give you." Lucius said.