Young Tom: I Want to See Harry Potter!

Defense Against the Dark Arts Office.

Lockhart scribbled in his Old Diary with Peacock Quill:

"Are we going to attack the little wizard so soon? Should we wait a bit? The risk is still too great."

Lockhart waited anxiously as the ink gradually disappeared.

For some reason, Tom's replies have been getting slower and slower lately, often taking several minutes for a new message to appear.

Moreover, even the words Lockhart wrote disappeared at a slower rate, whereas before they would have disappeared almost immediately after being written.

"Could something have happened to Tom? After all, he said he was just a memory..."

Lockhart muttered uneasily to himself. He was reluctant to part with such a magical artifact, a "friend" who understood and helped him, and even more reluctant to part with the honor and fame that was about to be his.

Inside the diary.

It was a room almost a carbon copy of the Headmaster's Office. Young Tom leaned back in his chair, showing no signs of the poor condition Lockhart had worried about.

"Lockhart, tsk, his magical skills are utterly useless. He's probably only about as good as an adult wizard, or even worse than some of the better students."

"Hehe, but there are advantages too. They're quite easy to fool; that person's desires are too strong and obvious, making them very easy to manipulate..."

After a moment's thought, Tom picked up his pen and wrote in the brand-new diary:

"I am touched by your kindness, but didn't you also mention that a student named Lucien can provide Mandrake? The Petrification Antidote has already been made, so the little wizard will only need to lie in bed for a few days."

"But if we don't speed things up, if the event isn't dangerous or sensational enough, my friend, how can you become a hero, how can you create big news?"

"Opportunities are fleeting."

Tom wrote down words that disgusted him while pondering his next plan.

The appearance of a young wizard who could provide Mandrake was somewhat unexpected, but it wasn't a large number and wouldn't affect the overall situation.

Even if they managed to petrify the student named Lucien using the Basilisk, it wouldn't help; the Mandrake had already been made into an antidote.

Moreover, now is not the time to immediately begin the killing spree.

Tom needs to gather his strength until he can reshape the body for this fragment of the soul.

When that time comes, a bloodbath will surely ensue.

Besides getting rid of Dumbledore, there's another person...

The thought of that name filled Tom with anger and resentment.

"Harry Potter!"

"What a joke! How could I possibly be defeated by a baby!"

No, that's not me, that's "me" decades from now, ah--

What will "I" be doing decades from now?!

Through this period of time spent together and communicating, Tom also learned about the major events that had occurred over the years from Lockhart.

This, of course, includes the turmoil stirred up by the "You-Know-Who".

At first, Lockhart didn't even dare to write the name Voldemort in his diary. After Tom's repeated prompting, he finally learned that the so-called You-Know-Who was Voldemort, who was also his future self.

Tom naturally knew that he would manipulate the situation in the future and use powerful magic to reach the pinnacle!

But what was the result?

Voldemort was actually defeated by a baby?!

Are you kidding me?!

Tom asked Lockhart incredulously to confirm, and the latter stated that the widely known story was that Harry Potter, still a baby, defeated Voldemort, the Dark Lord.

At that moment, Tom felt as if fragments of his soul were trembling, about to shatter into even smaller pieces!

He was furious. Decades of study and exploration had honed his skills to the pinnacle of magic, pushing Dark Magic to unprecedented heights—and yet he could be defeated by a mere infant?

And it's widely known!?

What will my future self be doing? Has she lost her brain?!

Tom tried to calm himself down. He felt something was off; it was like he was cursing himself, yet also like he was cursing someone else.

Tom had made up his mind. After regaining his physical body, he wanted to meet Harry Potter and see what was so special about the Boy Who Lived —a baby defeating the Dark Lord?

Even if he were Merlin reincarnated, it wouldn't work!

Outside of the diary.

Lockhart breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the reply, thankful that Tom hadn't lost contact.

But seeing Tom's words of advice, Lockhart frowned again.

After thinking for a long time, he wrote down again:

"I'll think about it carefully, friend. You haven't been doing too well lately, is there anything I can do to help you?"

Perhaps Lockhart was too agitated to notice that the writing was disappearing faster this time.

Tom, leaning back in the principal's chair, saw these words, and a strange smile crept across his blurred face:

"They've taken the bait."

Tom slowly wrote:

"My friend, you know I'm just a memory, destined to fade away. I'm glad I met you... I once read in a book that perhaps things rich in life force, like dragon's blood, could alleviate this..."

Beside Hagrid's vegetable garden.

"Hehe, I still have to thank you, Lucien. Without your help, I'm afraid we wouldn't have enough giant pumpkins this year."

Hagrid moved the giant pumpkins from the vegetable garden and piled them outside the fence, waiting to be harvested a few days later for Halloween.

"You're welcome, it's nothing. By the way, judging from previous years, you should have a good idea of the number of pumpkins, right? What happened this year? Are there new pests? Did you run out of the insecticide I gave you?"

While helping to manipulate the pumpkin, Lucien asked Hagrid a question.

Hagrid had just placed a large pumpkin down, waved his hand dismissively, and an indignant voice came from behind the bearded man:

"You still have plenty of potions left. And it's not pests, it's Lockhart, your Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. A few days ago, he inexplicably showed up and said he had a way to make pumpkins grow bigger. Then he gestured for a long time, and the spell he cast shrunk an entire bunch of pumpkins! Those pumpkins were about the size of my fist, how can we use them?"

Glancing at Hagrid's fist, which was actually bigger than a casserole dish, Lucien thought that a pumpkin of that size wasn't bad, though of course it was too tiny compared to a magic pumpkin.

Hagrid rarely complains about someone like this, and once he does, he goes on and on:

"Even earlier, Lockhart actually taught me how to prevent water sprites from getting into wells. Did he think I didn't know that? Oh, and he even talked about driving away Werewolf and repelling female ghosts..."

"When he came last time, he talked to me about strong and ferocious Magical Creatures like Fire Dragon and Chimera, but all the information he gave was wrong. He even asked where he could get a lot of their blood. Lockhart doesn't actually think there are those creatures in the Forbidden Forest, does he?"

As he spoke, Hagrid let out another long sigh:

"It's so hard to find a Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts these days. Everyone thinks the position is unlucky and doesn't want to do it. Dumbledore can definitely see Lockhart's problems, but he might be the only candidate this year."

Upon hearing Lockhart inquire about the blood of powerful creatures, Lucien understood immediately.

It's Tom's need. Absorbing a person's life force is too slow; replenishing it with a large amount of Magical Creatures blood is much faster.

Anyway, given Lockhart's circumstances, he probably bought it from a reputable store; a bestselling novelist like him isn't short of money.

Great Hall.

Halloween decorations are back in style once again.

It's still the same familiar pumpkins, bats, ghosts...

The little bats, just like last year, are Transfiguration from all sorts of candies and snacks; you can get a candy just by catching one.

This was conjured up by Headmaster Dumbledore, who said that Lucien's idea for the last Halloween was very good, so he continued to use it.

Interspersed among them were some magical candies made by Lucien, whose effects were naturally random, adding a touch of surprise and laughter to Halloween.

Along the way, you can see little wizards trying to catch snack bats with their hands or spells.

Lucien didn't need to do that, because he was carrying a large bag of candy, all from Honeydukes, located in Hogsmeade.

Hogsmeade is a wizarding village located near Hogwarts Castle.

Only junior wizards in the third grade and above, with the consent of their guardians, are allowed to go there on a specific Saturday, organized by their schools.

This bag of candy wasn't bought by Lucien himself, although he could have gone through a secret passage or had Liuguang teleport him there directly.

Actually, all these candies were a gift from Filch, yes, Filch.

When Filch gave Lucien this bag of candy, he said it was to thank Lucien for saving Mrs. Norris. Since he didn't know what Lucien liked, he went to Honeydukes and bought all sorts of snacks and candies.

Making Petrification Antidote from Mandrake was a simple task for Lucien, but it actually saved Filch's beloved cat.

Filch stammered as he spoke, as if he rarely thanked anyone in that way.

Lucien didn't waste the other person's kindness and accepted the bag of candy, which included Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Sherbet Lemon, Ice Mice, Jelly Slugs, and many other treats.

With a Sugar Quill, Lucien was about to walk over to the Ravenclaw Table and sit down.

"Lucien! Come quick, we've got a new lead!"

Harry appeared out of nowhere and led Lucien to the Gryffindor table.

"Here, have a candy. Happy Halloween."

Lucien casually grabbed a handful of candy from the bag and stuffed it into Harry's hand.

"Thank you, Happy Halloween, Lucien."

After sitting down at the table, Lucien gave Hermione and Ron candy, and they wished each other a Happy Halloween.

"Actually, regarding Mrs. Norris's attack, besides the mention of the Heir of Slytherin, the word 'monster' in the writing on the wall is also very important. If we can figure out what the monster is and how it moves and harms people in the castle, that would be one direction..."

Lucien listened to Hermione's methodical analysis, he suddenly realized that the progress was indeed much faster.

Is it because the three little ones don't have a specific suspect right now, and aren't targeting the Heir of Slytherin, so they've started thinking about investigating the monster?

In the original story, using Polyjuice Potion to infiltrate the Slytherin Common Room only cleared Malfoy of suspicion and incidentally revealed that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened fifty years ago...

Regarding the monster's true form, in the original story, Harry and Ron went to the Forbidden Forest to ask Aragog, but they didn't get a clear answer. Hermione, on the other hand, learned much earlier that the monster was Basilisk, finding it in a book in the library...

This is actually not difficult to find out.

"Yes, someone has been petrified!"

"I think you should know--"

Halloween is here again.

It was another similar cry.

Another crisis...

At this time, no professors were present, so some of the young wizards chose to hide in the Great Hall, while others, being bolder, rushed over after inquiring about the location of the incident.

"Don't panic, don't run around! I'm the Prefect, listen to my orders!"

This cry is like a reef in the sea, standing firm and unwavering.

But then, with a snap, it was covered by a wave.

The crowd quickly engulfed the Prefect who was raising his arms and shouting.

Lucien naturally wanted to go and take a look.

After that exclamation, he realized that there were victims at this point in time, and things had indeed become chaotic again. The more changes were made, the less plot reference there was.

Harry and his two companions followed behind Lucien.

Soon, the group arrived at the crime scene.

The same blood-red font as always:

"The first one..."

This time, it was only a short sentence, yet it sent chills down one's spine.

Lucien looked at the petrified victim.

A pretty girl with long curly hair.

Lucien immediately recognized her: Penelope Clearwater Clearwater, Ravenclaw's senior.

Pushing through the crowd, Lucien took out his wand and examined Penelope Clearwater, whose body was stiff.

It is indeed petrification. At this stage, Tom only intends to petrify rather than kill, otherwise it would cause more serious panic, and it is possible that the school would be locked down and students would go home.

Then neither Tom nor Lockhart will achieve their goals.

Lucien looked at Penelope Clearwater's face; she was pale, her eyes slightly wide, as if she had seen something terrifying.

One hand was raised, roughly to face level; judging from the gesture, it seemed to be holding...

Lucien's gaze swept around, examining the ground beneath him.

A small, round mirror covered in cracks lay on the ground.

Was it because I was looking in a mirror and it reflected the Basilisk's eyes?

Meanwhile, the young wizards began to whisper among themselves:

"The first one? Last time it was just a cat, now it's really the wizard's turn?"

Will I be next?

Are you Muggle-born?

"Uh, right, I'm Pure-blood..."

Does anyone know that girl?

"It seems to be Penelope Clearwater, the one from Ravenclaw..."

Fear and unease still spread among the people; the petrification was terrifying, and the monsters roaming the castle were frightening.

But the victim last time was just a cat, and one that most young wizards didn't like or even hated.

But this time, it was people who were petrified—young wizards just like them!

They were in class together during the day, living, breathing people, and now they're petrified, their skin deathly pale, their eyes wide open...

Meow~

A thin, dark gray cat walked by, scanned the people with its bulbous yellow eyes, and then strolled away.

"Um, Mrs. Norris?"

"It's recovered?"

"Right, didn't Lucien take out a huge jar of Mandrake, and the antidote was made in just a few days!"

"Will Penelope Clearwater wake up soon?"

"But petrification is still terrifying, what if..."

"What's there to be afraid of? I'll go get a bottle of Petrification Antidote and carry it with me. If I get petrified, one of the sisters can feed it to me. As for the brothers, forget it."

"Do you think that if someone is petrified and then revived, they won't have to go to class or do homework for those few days in between?"

"..."