After dinner, Dumbledore announced to the young wizards below, "This year, we are fortunate to have Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, Third Class Order of Merlin recipient, honorary member of the Dark Arts Defense League, and five-time winner of Wizarding Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award, as our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Please welcome him."
The young wizards below erupted into enthusiastic cheers, and Horatio started chanting, "Ron! Ron!"
The young wizards who had read The Daily Prophet understood what he meant and joined in. "Ron! Ron!"
He still hadn't let Ron off the hook. Sitting beside Harry, Ginny felt that this year's school life would be filled with darkness.
Professor Lockhart smiled awkwardly at the staff table. He had no idea why he had suddenly fallen for a young wizard. His orientation was perfectly normal... well, perhaps not entirely normal. Lockhart glanced at the utterly despairing Ron, then lowered his head with a blush.
Why are you blushing like a bloody teapot? Horatio complained inwardly. But then he thought that perhaps he could play matchmaker, so he looked at Ron and began considering the feasibility of a plan.
Ron saw the terrifying look in Horatio's eyes and gave up struggling. Whatever. As long as he was already socially dead, there was nothing Horatio could do to him.
"Silence!" Dumbledore shouted from the stage. "This year, Horatio of Gryffindor committed several extremely serious offenses. I wish to announce them so that everyone may take them as a warning:
First, he used forbidden magic freely outside the school.
Second, he kidnapped and modified the Sorting Hat.
Third, he damaged Hogwarts' public property.
These actions had a negative impact. Therefore, I have decided to deduct 150 House points from Gryffindor. In addition, Mr. Horatio will receive detention for an entire semester, beginning tonight."
A wave of dismayed murmurs rose from the young wizards below. The other three Houses looked sympathetically toward Gryffindor, while Professor McGonagall nearly blacked out. They could have won the House Cup last year, but this year they were starting out 150 points behind everyone else.
Ignoring the murderous stares from his Gryffindor classmates, Horatio thought, Come at me head-on if you've got the guts. I'll take on a hundred of you.
After singing the school song, Snape found Horatio. "Come. You'll be serving detention with me this week."
After following Snape to his office, Horatio watched him sit in his chair and ask, "Where is my item?"
Horatio took a faceless Alchemy Golem from his sack. "I upgraded it for free. You can change its appearance however you like. It's absolutely sturdy and durable. As long as you don't burn it with Fiendfyre, it'll last a long time."
Snape accepted the Alchemy Golem and asked, "How do I use it?"
"Grab its neck and picture the appearance you want it to take."
Snape followed Horatio's instructions, and the Alchemy Golem transformed into the person he hated most.
Seeing that the Alchemy Golem looked exactly like the person from his memories, Snape could not stop himself from swinging his fist at its nose.
"Ah! Ugh! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!" Snape clutched his hand and howled in pain.
Several question marks seemed to appear over Horatio's head. Man, this thing is made of orichalcum and Mithril. You actually challenged metal with a carbon-based body. Impressive.
Feeling Horatio's stare as though he were an idiot, Snape coughed to ease the awkwardness. "Is there any way for me to experience the feeling of every punch landing solidly?"
Horatio said, "Sure. You just need to make a pair of Adamantium gauntlets. But Adamantium requires a lot of materials, and refining it is extremely troublesome."
Horatio wrote out a list of materials and handed it to Snape. "Gather the materials yourself. I can refine them for you for free, but I'll be in detention and won't have the time."
Snape looked at the dazzling list of materials and suspected Horatio of lining his own pockets. Horatio indicated that there was no need to suspect it—he absolutely was.
In the end, Snape still agreed. "I'll apply to Dumbledore to have you serve more detention with me. When the time comes, you can use that time to make what I need." With that, Snape dismissed Horatio.
As Horatio left the room, he heard Snape using Sectumsempra on the Alchemy Golem. Horatio shook his head. What kind of grudge was that? Snape had better learn to be more magnanimous.
Horatio took out the Death Note and wrote, "Albus Dumbledore gave Horatio a semester of detention on September 1, 1992. A gentleman must avenge such a grudge." He did not realize that he was the most petty person of all.
When he returned to his dormitory, Nut, who had already been brought there, rubbed her eagle head against Horatio's face, begging for food.
"All right, all right, I know." Horatio stroked her eagle head, released Hathor, Isis, and Nephthys from their cages, then poured the food he had prepared for them into a large basin and let them eat as they pleased.
After finishing all that, Horatio sat on the sofa before the fireplace, took out Tom's diary, and placed it on the coffee table. He dripped several drops of soul-nourishing potion onto it.
After waiting for a while, Horatio wrote in the diary, "Hello."
The diary did not move at all, as though it could not be bothered to respond to him.
Horatio's face darkened. He could see that little Tom had awakened; he simply did not want to respond.
"Oh, you've got some nerve." Golden Fiendfyre ignited in Horatio's hand as he slapped it toward the diary.
Tom in the diary had not wanted to bother with this non-pure-blood young wizard, but when he saw the Fiendfyre in Horatio's hand and felt its terrifying heat, he immediately replied in the diary, "Wait! Calm down. The world is so beautiful, yet you are so hot-tempered. That's not good, not good."
"Tell me, who are you? And why are you hiding in this diary?" Horatio wrote in the diary.
"You can see me?" Tom in the diary was extremely surprised.
"What else would I be doing?"
"All right, my name is Tom Riddle. I'm your senior. Could you give me some more of that potion from earlier?"
"This?" Horatio shook the soul-nourishing potion in his hand. "Call me the invincible, unparalleled, unbelievably awesome, super handsome man of the universe, and I'll give you some."
"Invincible, unparalleled, unbelievably awesome, super handsome man of the universe." Little Tom Riddle was somewhat speechless. Why was this person so narcissistic?
Horatio dripped a little more soul-nourishing potion onto the diary.
"That feels much better. What's your name?" little Tom asked.
"Horatio."
"Hello, Horatio. Are you interested in Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets?" Although little Tom was dissatisfied with Horatio, he could only rely on him for now.
"You mean Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets? You're a Slytherin student? Gryffindor and Slytherin are irreconcilable enemies. Die!" Fiendfyre ignited in Horatio's hand again as he pretended to slap the diary.
"Wait, wait! Why do you start fighting at the slightest disagreement?" Little Tom panicked. Damn it, how had the diary ended up in the hands of a Gryffindor student? "And why is a Gryffindor like you so proficient in Dark Arts?"
"Huh? Isn't that common sense? If Gryffindors don't learn a little Dark Arts in their first year, they can't survive at all." Horatio took out Li and demonstrated the Unforgivable Curses to little Tom.
"??? Your Gryffindors learn these in their first year?" Little Tom was utterly shocked. He had not expected Gryffindor to hide its strength so deeply, secretly teaching such things. No wonder those Gryffindor students had dared to oppose him when he attended Hogwarts.
"Of course. Didn't you know that Gryffindor is Headmaster Dumbledore's reserve force for talented people? It's only natural that he secretly teaches us some powerful magic."
Damn it, Dumbledore. You actually held private lessons behind everyone's backs. I thought you truly treated everyone equally. So you were secretly keeping your own private army, little Tom complained inwardly.
"Then are you really willing to obey Dumbledore's command? Don't you want to build a career of your own?" Little Tom continued to tempt him.
Horatio considered it for a moment. Building a career was nowhere near as fun as causing trouble. So he answered, "No."
"??? Don't you want followers and the admiration of countless people?"
Horatio estimated the difference in strength between himself and the other young wizards. He could wipe them out five times in five minutes. "Wouldn't followers just be dead weight? No thanks."
"??? Don't you want unimaginable wealth?"
"I can refine the Sorcerer's Stone, thanks."
"??? Don't you want to be surrounded by beautiful women?"
Horatio recalled Pheobe and Hermione's fists and shuddered. "Wouldn't keeping that many tigresses around me be asking for death?"
"??? Then what do you want?" Little Tom asked speechlessly.
"I want every wizard to become my house-elf and work for me for pay.
"I also want to tie Dumbledore to a cross and pluck out his beard one hair at a time.
"Most of all, I want to install rocket launchers on Hogwarts and launch it into outer space. Can you help me make that happen?" Horatio asked expectantly.
"Are you a demon?" Little Tom asked speechlessly. Dumbledore had said his intentions were improper, but compared to the person before him, he was practically a good little boy.
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