The Argument in Herbology Class

The first class for the sixth years the morning after Dark Arts was Herbology, but none of the Hogwarts students cared about Herbology—or any other class, for that matter.

After a day of spreading, all sorts of stories about the young Voldemort had completely circulated among the Hogwarts students. Everyone eating breakfast in the Great Hall was passionately discussing the matter, discussing everything about Voldemort—

When mystery was no longer mysterious, when the veil of the unknown had been lifted, all fear naturally vanished with it.

When they had first come out of the Dark Magic Classroom yesterday, they had not dared discuss it too loudly among themselves. They had even only dared call him "You-Know-Who."

But by today—

"Hey, let me tell you, that Voldemort—yeah, the Dark Lord—was called Tom Riddle when he was little. What a lame name." When Harry arrived at the Great Hall for breakfast, he suddenly heard a Slytherin girl walking toward him say this loudly.

"Yeah, yeah." One of her Ravenclaw friends nodded in agreement. "And I heard his father was called Tom Riddle too. He was actually a Muggle—and not the kind of wizard born to Muggles, but a real Muggle. You know, the kind that absolutely can't use magic."

"Oh, Merlin, no way!" The Slytherin girl and her friend chirped as they walked away.

Harry glanced curiously at the two girls, finding them rather strange.

"Hey, let me tell you, Voldemort was really gloomy when he was little." Before the two girls had even left Harry's sight, another couple approached from the opposite direction.

"Really?" the girl asked in surprise. Then she said, "He's the Dark Lord. It's normal for him to have been different from other people as a child, isn't it? It would have been strange if he weren't different."