Harry's Invitation

To determine Salazar Slytherin's attitude toward him, Voldemort had Snape do his best to force Slytherin out into the open, into public places, then use his students within Hogwarts to probe Slytherin's attitude step by step.

As for Voldemort himself—

He planned to take this opportunity to visit the Dreamlands and trade with the Moon Beasts for sufficient quantities of Sky Gold, Flowing Silver, and Pillar Copper. That way, even if his scheme was ultimately exposed to Tierra, Tierra would not be able to catch him for the time being. If he had the ability, then he could chase him into the Dreamlands and search every corner of it to capture him!

Voldemort believed that, given the Dreamlands' strangeness, even a Divine Being like Tierra would not dare conduct a massive, open search for him. As long as he was careful and hid in the Dreamlands, he would truly be like a fish in the sea.

Moreover, Voldemort could use the Death Eater Marks he had planted on Draco Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew, or other Death Eaters—or even directly use the fragment of soul within Harry—to let his will descend from the Dreamlands straight into their dreams. Before returning from the Dreamlands, he could use them to make sure the surrounding environment was safe.

With that in mind, Voldemort walked step by step toward the depths of the cave.

At the same time, at Hogwarts.

There were fewer than ten days left until Christmas.

Christmas meant not only a two-week holiday, but also countless Christmas presents, as well as Professor Horace Slughorn's supposedly "unprecedented and unsurpassable" Yule Ball—

The older students who had attended the Triwizard Tournament Yule Ball were all eagerly anticipating it, filled with both expectation and longing—

After all, unlike the ball during the Triwizard Tournament, not just