After Ted left, he returned to his timid, shrinking demeanor. "M-Master, can Epiphany get Cerberus's weakness from Hagrid?"
A gloomy voice sounded from behind his head. "It does not matter. If he can get Cerberus's weakness from that foolish half-giant, so much the better. Even if he cannot, it does not matter. As long as he continues pursuing magic, he will eventually be of use to me!"
Come to think of it, Voldemort had been fairly happy lately.
His long-held dream of becoming a Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor had finally come true. He felt thoroughly fulfilled.
And he was even more satisfied with Ted.
He had always wanted the experience of being a renowned teacher with an outstanding student. Ted perfectly matched his image of a good student—tirelessly pursuing the power of magic, intelligent, diligent, and, to a certain degree, utterly contemptuous of rules and institutions!
That was right. Voldemort saw in Ted a side that was highly unruly and completely indifferent to authority.
It had to be said that Tom was a very good judge of character.
After "Professor Quirrell" assigned him homework, the string that had been tightly wound in Ted's heart for nearly two weeks finally loosened.
He understood what was going on—Professor Quirrell had not found a way to deal with Cerberus.
So, because Ted was close to Hagrid, he wanted to try an indirect approach and take a roundabout path to success.
Ted decided to play along and pretend to fall for it, but he would not reveal Cerberus's weakness.
As long as it did not affect the course of the original story, he would sponge off Professor Quirrell for as much knowledge and experience about Magical Creatures as he could.
After all, putting experience points aside, just Professor Quirrell's two weeks of