Chapter 121 - 121 A gathering of Death Eaters full of insiders.
Chapter 121: A gathering of Death Eaters full of insiders.
October is coming soon.
This October is particularly cold, and the damp cold air permeates the Scottish Highlands and penetrates into Hogwarts Castle from outside.
In the cold temperature, colds suddenly spread among the faculty and students, which made the head nurse Madam Pomfrey in a panic.
For this reason, she prepared a large amount of stimulants in the school infirmary, and posted notices in the common rooms of the four colleges of the castle and the staff lounge, asking faculty and students with colds to go to the school infirmary on the fourth floor to get stimulants in time.
Madam Pomfrey's stimulant has an almost immediate effect, but people who drink this potion will have smoke coming out of their ears for several hours.
Fred and George were infected.
The lively twins of the Wesley family have a wide social circle and often go to various colleges to bet with others, so they soon caught a cold from other carriers.
Unlike other little wizards who would feel miserable after catching a cold, Fred and George seemed even more excited after being infected with the cold.
They rushed to the school infirmary to get two bottles of refreshing potion and drank them immediately-
The next second, steam came out from under their bright red hair, and their heads seemed to be on fire.
The two troublemakers had a lot of fun, and they were still not satisfied until the effect of the potion wore off. They wanted to go to the school infirmary to get two more bottles of refreshing potion, but they were discovered and Madam Pomfrey chased them out with a broom...
...
One afternoon, Dracula had just finished a Defense Against the Dark Arts class for the second-year wizards, put away his wand, and was admiring Riddle's lesson plan on the podium.
Even though the class just now once again unknowingly deviated from the existing teaching plan, Dracula had to admit that Riddle's teaching plan was quite good, and his handwriting was very beautiful, clear, and neat, which was even easier to use than Quirrell, the tool man.
At this time, Riddle was also in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, holding a thick stack of parchment and came to Dracula - those papers were the students' homework, all assigned by Riddle.
Riddle, who had almost all of Voldemort's experience in his school days, easily crushed the actions of those students who wanted to squeeze him out of the teaching assistant position. Flint and other poor students did not succeed in getting rid of homework after all, and even suffered a lot for it.
In fact, Tom Riddle, as a Slytherin born in an orphanage, was also excluded and disgusted by those pure-bloods in his early years at Hogwarts.
But in this situation, he relied on his unique means, both soft and hard, to successfully subdue a large number of Slytherin's so-called pure-blood nobles. At that time, Abraxas Malfoy, Avery, and Strange all became the first batch of Death Eaters.
The tricks that Marcus Flint and others used now were all left over from their grandfathers, so they naturally could not be Riddle's opponents.
So after the September when Dracula promised not to leave homework, Riddle, as an assistant, immediately took control of the power of life and death in assigning homework, making those little wizards who were unwilling to do homework miserable.
"Professor Dracula, the homework has been collected." Riddle came to the podium and said to Dracula, "Everyone is very conscious today."
"How can they not be conscious? You went to the door one by one for those who didn't hand in their homework yesterday." Dracula smiled casually, "In the future, you can make your own decisions about homework, and you don't need to report to me. Trouble!"
"I know." Riddle nodded.
At this time, Harry, Ron and Hermione from Gryffindor packed their schoolbags and stood up from their seats.
Before leaving the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom through the door at the back, Harry, still carrying his bag, came to the front of the podium and said hello to Dracula and Riddle.
"See you next class, Professor Dracula!" Harry waved, and then turned his expectant gaze to Riddle, "Tom, after the duel club tonight, can I still study with you alone?"
"Of course, we are friends!" Riddle smiled gently at Harry.
Harry's expression immediately became excited, and he ran towards Hermione and Ron who were waiting at the door of the classroom with small steps.
"So... you have already dealt with Harry?" Dracula looked at Harry's back with some surprise as he left, and asked Riddle.
He clearly remembered that when Harry first learned that Tom Riddle had become an assistant teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts, he was extremely repulsive and puzzled by this matter.
Dracula was too lazy to deal with the emotional problems of the young wizard, but letting Harry expose Riddle's identity was not very suitable for the stability of this course.
So he assigned Riddle a task, asking him to deal with Harry's rejection and stabilize his position as an assistant.
"It's been done." Riddle sneered, "Harry is still too naive after all. I told him that I was just a collection of some of Voldemort's memories, and now I have been conquered by Professor Dracula and stand on the side of justice... He foolishly believed it."
"I guess it's not that simple." Dracula shook his head, "Although Potter is a bit reckless, he is still quite smart overall."
"Of course, there are some other details." Riddle had a slightly sarcastic smile on his face, "Harry just cares too much about feelings. I just used the previous method of being a diary to teach him some magic knowledge again, and he once again remembered his diary friend named Tom."
Dracula fell silent.
"Potter probably already considers you as a friend, Riddle." After a moment, he whispered, "Since you have become a course assistant at Hogwarts and have decided to turn against Voldemort, then you actually have the position to make friends with Potter."
"Don't let the little wizard down, Riddle."
Dracula looked deeply at the black-haired young man in front of him, his tone solemn.
Riddle was stunned for a moment, looking at Dracula who suddenly changed his tone in astonishment, and suddenly realized his problem-
He has not completely changed his mentality, and has not put his position on the side of the Hogwarts faculty.
Faced with the naive and credulous character of the little wizards, Riddle did not correct them with the attitude of a faculty member, trying to teach them to learn those life lessons, but first produced emotions such as mockery and joking, and watched these scenes with a mentality of watching a play.
This mentality of still considering himself as an outsider is completely unpopular with Dracula.
Dracula is different. Although he often observes the actions of the young wizards with a watching attitude, he still has a little professionalism in him. On the one hand, he has promised Nicolas Flamel to come to Hogwarts as a professor, so he naturally does not want the students he teaches to be inferior to others... This will make him lose face in front of his old friend. This is also one of the reasons why Dracula is very unhappy about the high failure rate of Defense Against the Dark Arts. On the other hand, Dracula actually thinks in his heart: Isn't it enough to have a fun person watching the show in Hogwarts Castle? Tom Riddle is just a Horcrux, why should he watch his students with a watching attitude? So Dracula immediately suppressed Riddle. "I understand, Professor Dracula." Riddle lowered his head and said softly, "I won't let Harry down." "I understand." Dracula nodded without comment and turned to walk towards the stairs leading to the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office in front of the classroom. When he was about to reach the door, he seemed to suddenly remember something, turned around again, and looked at Riddle who was still standing on the podium.
"The next Death Eater gathering will be in two days, right?" Dracula asked.
Riddle was slightly stunned, and quickly responded, "Yes, it's this Saturday night."
"By the way, Professor Dracula, Potions Professor Severus Snape is now Voldemort's most trusted subordinate. If he tells Voldemort that I have become an assistant, Voldemort may doubt me..."
"What I want is to make him doubt you." Dracula suddenly interrupted Riddle.
"What..." Riddle was shocked.
"Don't worry, at the Death Eater gathering, as long as you follow the words I told you, everything will be fine." Dracula said, "Believe me, the plan has been going on step by step..."
In Riddle's doubtful eyes, he pushed open the door and walked into his office.
Then, Dracula's mouth curled up into an extremely playful smile——
"Riddle, Malfoy, Snape... I'm really looking forward to what Voldemort's expression will be when he learns the truth!"
...
It was twelve o'clock in the morning on Saturday, the night was deep, the sky was gloomy, there was no moonlight, no stars, and the horizon was pitch black.
Malfoy Manor seemed to be unable to pay for the lamp oil. There were no lights on in the living room, and it was almost as dark as the night outside.
Voldemort played with his wand with his spider-like slender fingers, walking on the thick carpet without making a sound.
Lucius Malfoy had already asked his wife Narcissa to return to the bedroom, and he stood alone in the living room trembling, waiting for the arrival of the Dark Lord.
"You are quite punctual, Lucius." Voldemort said softly. His scarlet eyes were particularly obvious in the dim light, "I just don't know... whether other people are as punctual as you."
He gently raised the wand, and Lucius consciously rolled up the sleeve of his left arm, revealing a skull with a snake head swallowing and spitting out.
Voldemort suddenly exerted force, and the wand instantly poked the skull of the Dark Mark on Lucius' left arm - the Dark Mark instantly turned as red as blood!
Lucius clenched his teeth tightly, while enduring the burning pain of the Dark Mark and the severe pain of the wand piercing his arm.
Accompanied by a series of "bangs" and "bangs", one after another Death Eaters in black robes Apparated to the living room of Malfoy Manor and sat in their respective seats.
Voldemort pulled the wand out of Lucius's arm and looked around the long table in the living room.
Taking this opportunity, Lucius returned to his seat with cold sweat on his head and sat next to Yaxley.
"If I'm not mistaken, we still have one person who hasn't arrived yet." Voldemort said in a very light voice, but the Death Eaters present shuddered.
At this moment, a young and handsome black-haired figure suddenly appeared in the dim living room and came to Voldemort.
"Sorry, I'm a step late." Riddle said softly.
"It doesn't matter, it's good to be here." Seeing Riddle's arrival, Voldemort slowly revealed a smile, "Since everyone is here, let's get started on today's topic."
After that, he couldn't wait to look at Riddle beside him, "Have you brought what I want?"
Riddle was silent for two seconds.
"I haven't got it yet." He replied calmly.
Visibly, the smile on Voldemort's face disappeared, and his expression instantly became gloomy, just like the dark night outside.
In the living room of Malfoy Manor, everyone was silent.
However, before Voldemort completely exploded in anger, Riddle spoke again.
"Although I haven't got it yet, I have found a definite way." He said in a deep voice, "Now, I have completely gained Harry Potter's trust, and I have an hour alone with him every day."
"So what does this mean?" Voldemort said coldly, "Don't you have time alone with Potter during the summer vacation?"
"This is different." Riddle said, "Before, I didn't completely gain Harry Potter's trust, so there were many ways that I couldn't use. But now it's different-"
"Now that Harry Potter has completely trusted me, I can let him use a special bottle to collect the lost blood and give it to me. As long as Dracula's attention can be reduced a little, I can get Potter's blood immediately!"
Voldemort frowned and looked at Snape, who was sitting in the first place on his right.
"Severus, tell me, is there anything wrong with what my clone said?" he asked.
"No problem." Snape glanced at Riddle calmly and said, "Your clone is now the assistant teacher of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. He has time to tutor Harry Potter every day and is indeed trusted by him. So there is nothing wrong with what he said just now..."
"But--" Snape suddenly changed to a more serious tone, "The professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts is Dracula! I don't believe that your clone can hide from Dracula and become his assistant openly!"
"So what you mean is..." Voldemort asked, his voice seemed extremely low.
"I mean... your clone is likely to have been discovered by Dracula, and the clone sitting here now may have been tampered with by him!"
Snape's eyes were sharp, looking directly into Riddle's eyes.