Send in an Undercover Agent

Even if Fudge is the Minister for Magic, he cannot interfere in their internal affairs; he can only pretend that they don't exist.

To enter openly and legitimately, we'll have to wait for the right opportunity.

Tom glanced at the still grayed-out icons in his friend list, closed "IChat," and opened the system panel again.

[Host: Tom Riddle

Identity: Second-year student at Hogwarts

Credits: 2587

Achievement Points: 721

Rewards to be used: None

Huh? Where are my mission rewards? Did the system take them?

Tom opened his task list and discovered that the task would take seven days to complete, meaning he would have to wait until next Tuesday to receive his reward.

Tom was hoping to try his luck in the lottery, but he had to wait, which was a bit disappointing.

Tom shut down the system panel and entered the Study Space to continue learning other schools of magic from Gellert Grindelwald.

No one noticed that Tom inadvertently helped Lockhart create a Hogwarts history—the shortest-serving professor.

This guy only attended classes for a week and a day and a half before he was beaten up and ended up in the Hospital Wing. He was expelled from school in less than two weeks and had to rewrite his records.

Before him, the shortest tenure was that of a 19th-century professor who protected Fantastic Beasts —lasting only one month.

It was rammed through by Tebo, its intestines spilling out onto the ground.

Although he was later rescued, he was left with severe psychological trauma and resigned from his job to run away.

The next morning, the young wizards learned from Professor McGonagall that Albus Dumbledore had already left the school.

Where did you go? No need to ask, you went to find the new Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, of course.

Having already found two brilliant minds, Quirrell and Lockhart, what would happen if they found another unreliable one?

Albus Dumbledore's reputation among young wizards has probably dropped by more than half.

So Albus Dumbledore now in a real bind: new professors must be truly capable and able to keep students in line, but wizards of this caliber are never short of work.

Not to mention the infamous curse of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Other professors can't keep teaching indefinitely, so he needs to find suitable replacements as soon as possible.

The over-100-year-old man was forced to go out overnight to visit his old friends one by one, hoping that someone would suddenly have a brain fart and accept his invitation.

Even without Albus Dumbledore, the students' classes continued as usual.

During the Transfiguration Class, Ron actually greeted Tom with a smile and even came over to chat for a few minutes.

Ron's attitude changed drastically for a simple reason: after the Ministry of Magic sentences Lockhart, he will be fined.

All textbook fees paid by students for the complete works of Lockhart will be refunded.

The six or seven books, totaling more than ten Galleon, were a godsend for the Weasley family, providing a much-needed boost.

"Mr. Weasley," Tom said, glancing at the hand holding his wand.

"If you could chant spells half as fast as you speak, Merlin would thank you."

Ron shrank back, immediately focusing his attention and diligently practicing the spell.

Professor McGonagall looked at him sternly until Tom successfully turned the flower basket into a hedgehog, then slowly moved it to the other students.

Tom was idly fiddling with the hedgehog's quills when suddenly, IChat laptop vibrated.

He picked it up and his eyes lit up instantly. The message was from the person he had been waiting for.

[The Old Black Rose of France (Ms. Rosier): Good day, Mr. Riddle. I'm so sorry to be contacting you so late; Vogel only arrived in Paris today.]

[Tom: Good day, Ms. Rosier, I need Acolyte help with something.]

[The French Black Rose: Please give your orders. Do you need me to go to Britain myself?]

Tom: Not for now. Just focus on what you're doing.

I need someone who is ostensibly unrelated to the Acolyte, but absolutely trustworthy, to come to Britain to apply for the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts.

[French Old Black Rose: So, is this like you, infiltrating the enemy? Brilliant!]

Albus Dumbledore's guard against the Acolyte has lowered; this idea is brilliant. Please give me some time; I need to screen the candidates.

[Tom: Hurry up, Albus Dumbledore has already started looking for a new professor, don't let him beat us to it.]

[French Old Black Rose: Don't worry, I will give you an answer by this time tomorrow at the latest.]

Before starting school, Tom's self-perception was...

While Harry Potter was causing a huge uproar, he quietly stayed in his ivory tower, focusing on his studies and living a solitary and beautiful life.

As a result, after starting school, the art style completely went astray:

Harry Potter remained restless, and he himself was never idle, constantly causing trouble.

Instead, he's increasingly showing signs of being the mastermind behind everything, the next Dark Lord.

Tom felt utterly helpless. "How can you blame me? It's clearly the world that doesn't want me to study peacefully, so I'm forced to take action and change the world."

Rather than letting Albus Dumbledore wander around like a headless fly looking for Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, it would be better for him to lend a hand.

He didn't find Acolyte to be his teacher because he wanted to plant a spy or infiltrate Albus Dumbledore's inner circle.

He simply wanted to find someone on his own, someone who would attend classes quietly and not cause any more trouble like Lockhart did, so he could have some peace of mind.

However, Vinda Rosier clearly didn't see it that way, viewing it as a good opportunity to infiltrate Hogwarts.

Even yesterday, after Gellert Grindelwald understood his thoughts, he praised him highly, mistakenly believing that getting rid of Lockhart was already part of his plan.

He also said that his strategic and tactical demeanor was reminiscent of the Dark Lord, and that he was fully capable of inheriting his mantle.

Tom could only sigh: How could the world misunderstand me so deeply?

I'm just a good student who wants to study hard.

He held Daphne's soft little hand; only this little girl's hand could bring a sliver of warmth to his wounded heart.

Daphne was playing with the flower basket, poking it with her wand, when suddenly her hand was grabbed. Although she didn't know why Tom was being emo, she still gave him a big smile.

Looking at her smiling face, Tom couldn't help but smile back, temporarily forgetting his worries.

After a day of classes, Tom, as usual, slipped away to the Forbidden Forest to get extra lessons from the Centaur.

Dealing with Lockhart and studying are never mutually exclusive.

He's been taking Herbology with the Centaur these past few days and has made some progress, finding two herbal formulas that can replace precious ingredients.

His and Nicolas Flamel's initial approach was correct; the Centaur ' understanding of magic was completely different from that of wizards, and they could always inspire people to draw inferences from similar cases.

With the profound expertise of herbalists Firenze and Magorian, the efficiency of improving the formula was also greatly accelerated.

What Tom didn't know was that he had driven Firenze and Magorian almost crazy these past few days.

Many of the ideas he proposed were ones that the two Centaur were simply not confident they could provide accurate answers to.

Every day after class, I have to stay up all night researching, afraid of embarrassing myself the next day.