Perhaps because people his own age seemed more approachable, after Harry came through the wall, Ron followed Tom and the other boy into the same compartment.
Once they had stuffed all their heavy luggage onto the racks, Tom took out a textbook and continued reading.
Training was over. Next came study time.
Although Tom didn't spend much time reading each day, he had already finished all the first-year textbooks. He didn't understand much of the material, but he had memorized it all.
[Wisdom (Lv. 9): A powerful mind, with a light seemingly shining through the crown of the head. Never forgetting anything after seeing it once is just the most basic ability.]
He had nearly finished memorizing the second-year textbooks, too.
"Hello, I'm Ron Weasley." Ron held out his hand.
"Tom Riddle."
"Harry Potter."
The two introduced themselves in turn.
"It's you!" Ron's eyes widened.
He never expected to meet the legendary Boy Who Lived here.
And he remembered that Harry had been calling the person beside him "big brother" all the way here. The legendary boy's big brother surely wasn't an ordinary person, either.
He really was lucky. He couldn't believe that on his very first day at school, he'd get to spend time up close with two legendary figures at once.
Excited, Ron studied them carefully.
Since Tom and Harry had run all the way here on their own two feet, they were dressed lightly to keep cool. The muscles on their bodies were clearly visible—especially Tom's, which could only be described as "menacing."
He had never seen a physique like that on any wizard. It was unbelievable.
He couldn't help wondering: could it have been Tom who strangled the Dark Lord to death with his bare hands ten years ago?
Just imagining it made his blood run cold.
As he was thinking it over, someone suddenly shoved open the compartment door, making Ron jump. For a moment, he thought the Dark Lord had come to claim his life.
"Would you like to buy anything, dears?"
An elderly woman pushed a trolley piled with snacks into the corridor and smiled at the three boys inside.
Tom was getting hungry, too. They had traveled several kilometers, and with energy being conserved, breakfast had long since been digested.
But before he could pay, Harry, who was closer to the compartment door, pulled out a handful of Galleons and stuffed them into the woman's hand.
"We'll take everything!"
"Oh, dear, these snacks don't cost nearly that much."
The woman cheerfully returned some of the Galleons, then gave them a few Silver Sickles and Knuts as change.
Early finish!
"Ron, brother, don't you want to buy some snacks?" Harry pushed some of the snacks in front of Tom, then asked the other boy, puzzled.
"..." Ron really wanted to complain. You bought all the snacks. What am I supposed to buy?
Besides, he couldn't afford any.
His family had only one Galleon in their Gringotts vault, and the pile of Galleons Harry had just taken out was already worth as much as his entire family's fortune.
But looking at the snacks covering the table, he couldn't help swallowing. Then, awkwardly, he took a salted beef sandwich from his robes. Through the plastic wrap, he could see the dry, unappetizing meat inside.
"No, thanks. I brought something," Ron mumbled.
"Too bad she never remembers that I don't like salted beef."
Tom noticed Ron's awkwardness, and memories from his previous life came flooding back.
Great Britain was known as a food desert. Apparently, there was a brand of canned corned beef made with military-grade preservation methods so extreme that, in theory, the beef could last a hundred years. The British army had even eaten beef that dated back to the soldiers' grandfathers.
Judging by Ron's disgusted expression—and the fact that his father liked collecting Muggle things—Tom was quite sure the sandwich in Ron's hands had been made with military-grade canned beef his father had picked up somewhere.
After all, Arthur Weasley was a wizard and couldn't spend long periods of time among Muggles. It made sense that he'd buy a batch of Muggle canned food with a long shelf life all at once.
Poor kid.
"How about we trade?" Tom offered, pushing some of the snacks toward Ron. "There's so much candy here. You'll get sick of it if you eat too much."
He was doing it partly to establish a good reputation, but also because the snacks were too high in calories.
Besides consistent exercise, a proper diet was important for fitness, and beef was an excellent source of high-quality protein.
"Sure, thanks!" Ron looked at Tom gratefully, then held out the salted beef sandwich as if offering a tribute.
His heart felt warm.
Tom tore the sandwich in half and gave one piece to Harry.
Just then—
["Selflessness" +1 progress] ["Friendliness" +1 progress] ["Selflessness" +10 progress] ["Friendliness" +10 progress]
Why had he suddenly gained so much?
Tom glanced around. Could some old wizard have seen what happened?
Meanwhile—
In one of the compartments, an older wizard quickly wrote a letter and tucked it into the message tube tied to an owl's leg.
Before the train had started moving, the owl flew through the window and took off.
Just as Tom had guessed earlier, Dumbledore had indeed sent a member of the Order of the Phoenix to the station to keep an eye on him.
At first, the only goal had been to find evidence that Tom might be Voldemort reincarnated. But in the end, the Order member had been moved by Tom.
How could such a good boy possibly be the murderous Voldemort?
It was past eleven when the train started moving.
"Finally finished." Tom closed his book.
That meant he had now formally memorized all the second-year textbooks as well.
With the information already in his head, he would be able to learn much faster than his peers once classes began.
Although Tom had a cheat like the Persona panel, a person couldn't become truly powerful through cheats alone. His own hard work was just as important.
Hard work plus a cheat—that was how he could bring his strength to its full potential.
["Diligence" +1 progress] ["Wisdom" +1 progress] ["Diligence" +10 progress] ["Wisdom" +10 progress]
But just then—
The compartment door was shoved open again, and this time it was thrown open with such force that the whole thing rattled twice.
A platinum-blond boy appeared in the doorway, with two fat lackeys behind him who looked almost as big as Dudley before he lost weight.
"I just heard someone on the train say that the Boy Who Lived all those years ago was aboard. Now I see they weren't blind after all."
Draco Malfoy swept his gaze around the compartment. He recognized Ron's red hair at once, then let his eyes rest on Tom for a few seconds.
He quickly ran through the faces of the Sacred Twenty-Eight in his mind, but nothing about Tom matched any of them.
At the thought, a look of disgust crossed his face.
"Well, well. I never thought the famous Harry Potter would be hanging around with a disgrace to pure-bloods like a Weasley, and with a half-blood even lower than the Weasley family at his side."
"Potter, if you want to get out of that dodgy little circle of friends, I'd be happy to help you—" Draco hadn't even finished speaking.
A fist the size of a sandbag was already flying toward his face.
Thud!
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