Chapter 9: Tom, Buck Up, Don't Lose Face!
"He can't beat me."
Theo stopped and turned to meet Dumbledore's blue eyes.
Dumbledore was slightly taken aback. Theo's answer was quite reasonable.
"We're here," Theo added.
Only then did Dumbledore realise they were standing in front of a wooden door.
Theo pushed open the door to Tom's room as if he were returning home.
"Tom, this is... Mr. Dumbledore, he has something to tell us." Theo walked in.
Theo deliberately mispronounced Dumbledore's name, as Mrs. Cole had done earlier.q
Dumbledore chuckled and corrected him, "Actually, my name is Dumbledore, Albus Dumbledore. I'm a professor."
Tom sat on his blanket, holding a book, looking somewhat warily at this man who claimed to be a professor.
Dumbledore extended his hand. "Hello, Tom."
Tom hesitated for a moment, glanced at Theo, and then shook hands with Dumbledore.
Dumbledore pulled up a chair and sat down, while Theo sat directly on Tom's bed.
"Professor? Is that similar to a 'doctor'? What are you doing here?" Tom asked, glancing warily at Theo again.
"I'm Professor Dumbledore; I work at a school called Hogwarts. I've come to take you to my school... which is also your new school, if you're willing."
Upon hearing Dumbledore's words, Tom reacted strongly, jumping up from the blanket and moving away from Dumbledore, his face filled with anger.
"Who are you?! What are you really here for? Tell the truth!" He spoke the last three words emphatically, as if giving a command.
He glared at Dumbledore with wide eyes, while Dumbledore simply smiled pleasantly without answering.
"Who are you?" Tom asked again, each word distinct.
Dumbledore patiently said, "I've already told you, I'm Professor Dumbledore."
"No! You can't fool me! You're from a mental asylum, aren't you? 'Professor,' yeah, right! I won't go, understand?"
Tom spoke emotionally, then his gaze fell on Theo, and his expression instantly changed drastically.
Recalling Theo's unusual behaviour of letting him return early to rest today, Tom instantly understood the "truth"!
"He's the one who brought you here, isn't he? You're finally going to make a move against me, aren't you? Yes, you're going to send me to a mental asylum! You... you're so vicious!"
Dumbledore looked oddly at Theo.
Theo shrugged. "You know, we've fought before."
Thinking of what Theo had said earlier, that Tom couldn't beat him, Dumbledore's gaze became even stranger.
Clearly, there was more to the story between Theo and Tom than just a fight.
Judging from Tom's reaction, he must have been severely oppressed by Theo...
"I'm not from a mental asylum," Dumbledore turned his head and patiently said to Tom again. "I'm a teacher, and if you can sit quietly, I'll tell you what Hogwarts is like. Of course, if you don't want to go there, no one will force you."
"And..." Dumbledore glanced at Theo again. "Besides you, Theo is also on my invitation list."
"So, he... he's going too?" Tom looked suspiciously at Dumbledore, then at Theo.
"Tom, can you calm down a bit, buck up, don't lose face?"
Theo's words made Tom's face flush. He was indeed a bit embarrassed by his earlier flustered reaction...
Seeing that Tom had finally calmed down, Dumbledore continued, "Hogwarts is a school that accepts students with special abilities."
This description, in Tom's ears, sounded too much like a mental asylum!
"I'm not crazy..." Tom had just started to speak when he met Theo's calm gaze again.
He ultimately closed his mouth, swallowing the rest of his sentence, letting Dumbledore continue.
"It's a school of magic."
"Magic?" Tom repeated the word softly.
"That's right."
"So those things I can do are magic..." Tom looked at his hands excitedly.
"What can you do?" Dumbledore asked with interest.
"I can do anything," Riddle gasped, a flush of excitement appearing on his hollow cheeks, looking quite fanatical.
"I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals obey me without training. I can make people who annoy me suffer. I can hurt them if I want."
Before Tom could finish his excited ramblings, he once again, and again... met Theo's gaze, and his excitement instantly cooled down...
'...Except for Theo! That bastard!' The calmed Tom slowly sat down again.
Dumbledore also looked at Theo. "Theo, you don't seem so excited. Did you already know what your abilities were?"
"No, I just found out... Like Tom, I also knew I was different. However, since this was originally my ability, and now I only know what this ability is, what's so exciting about it?"
Dumbledore nodded. "You're right, Theo..."
'This is truly a peculiar child... So calm and composed, he doesn't seem like an 11-year-old at all. What has he experienced before?'
"You are both wizards," Dumbledore continued.
"In that case, you must be a wizard too." Theo asked.
"Yes, I'm also a wizard. I have the same special abilities as you."
"Prove it to me," Riddle said immediately.
The commanding tone was exactly the same as when he said "tell the truth" earlier.
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.
"If I prove this, you'll come to Hogwarts with me."
"Of course!"
"Then you'll have to call me 'Professor' or 'Mr.'"
Riddle's expression frozen for a moment before he spoke. He said in an almost imperceptible polite tone, "Excuse me, sir, I mean... please, Professor, could you show me..."
Dumbledore didn't waste any time and directly pulled a slender, black wand from the inner pocket of his suit jacket.
Theo raised an eyebrow, a hint of anticipation in his eyes.
Dumbledore pointed his wand at the shabby wardrobe in the corner and waved it casually.
Boom!
A violent flame instantly engulfed the shabby wardrobe!
"Ah!" Tom screamed again and jumped up. All his belongings were in the wardrobe!
Just as Tom was about to jump up and question Dumbledore, the flames instantly disappeared, and the wardrobe stood there unscathed, as if nothing had happened.
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(End of this chapter)