The Matter Settled

"Senior, what we have isn't anything special!" the skinny Avery said with a sheepish grin.

Lestrange, however, reacted differently. He yelled at Xiwen, "Rozier, let me tell you, don't meddle! Otherwise, even considering the relationship between our two families, I'll deal with you!"

Upon hearing Lestrange's words, Xiwen finally burst into laughter.

"Accio." He waved his wand.

The objects in their hands immediately broke free of their obstruction and flew straight towards Xiwen. The object in Avery's hand even caused his body to spin dramatically, straining his back.

Xiwen paid no attention to the two's "wonderful" performance, but silently lowered his head to examine the two items in his hands.

One of them was a somewhat worn-out secondhand school uniform robe. The robe should have been washed clean, but Lestrange had roughly crumpled it into a ball, making it wrinkled and crumpled.

The other item was a black-covered diary with the name "Tom Marvolo Riddle" written on the cover in beautiful handwriting.

"So, all of these belong to Riddle?" Xiwen asked calmly, looking at the two people in front of him.

"We're just keeping it for him; we'll return it to him when he gets back," Avery tried to argue, vaguely trying to explain to Xiwen.

"Do you believe these lies yourselves?" Xiwen interrupted him impatiently, addressing the two men. "Taking someone else's personal belongings without permission—you're both well-educated Pure-blood individuals, surely you know this is wrong, right? So why did you do it?"

"Let me guess what you're planning. Are you going to steal Riddle's things and wait to see how anxious he gets? Or are you going to destroy his belongings so he'll embarrass himself when he tries to use them?" Xiwen asked coldly.

"Rozier, he's just a filthy Mudblood, why are you protecting him!" Lestrange shouted indignantly.

"I said, Riddle's admission to Slytherin House means he's not Muggle-born wizard!" Xiwen raised his voice, reiterating. "He's now a member of our Slytherin House; you should unite him, not ostracize him!"

"I'm sorry, senior. We know we were wrong." Avery pulled Lestrange back from arguing, shook his head at him, and then apologized to Xiwen. "Actually, we just wanted to play a prank, we didn't mean any harm."

"I hope so." Xiwen nodded casually, then cautioned the two. "Also, there's something I think you need to understand—my stopping you isn't simply to protect Riddle. In fact, it's partly for the harmony and unity of the academy, and partly for your safety."

"Are you kidding me! How can this be related to our safety?" Lestrange looked at Xiwen with an absurd expression.

"That's right, it's for your safety." Xiwen ignored Lestrange's skepticism and simply said, "You've already clashed with Riddle on the train. Based on that experience, do you really think the two of you can beat Riddle?"

"As far as I know, What If...? he discovers his things are missing or damaged, the first thing he'll do is retaliate against you so-called roommates. You might end up in a very awkward situation then."

Xiwen thought again about what Dumbledore had told him about Riddle's past.

Even when he was very young, long before other Pure-blood were ecstatic about the slightest burst of magical power, Riddle was already able to crudely use his magical abilities. He used them to bully his companions and steal their toys.

Now, he has even obtained his own wand and has learned some basic spellcasting techniques. Xiwen has no doubt that Lestrange and Avery combined couldn't even touch a finger of Riddle. If they were to actually clash, the two would likely suffer a crushing defeat...

"I was only caught off guard and ambushed by him on the train! If it were a fair fight, I wouldn't be afraid of him," Lestrange said defiantly.

Xiwen's lips twitched, and he looked at Lestrange with the eyes of someone looking at an idiot, unsure of what to say to such a blindly arrogant person...

Why are you so confident despite being so ordinary?

Just then, the door behind Xiwen was pushed open.

Xiwen turned around and saw the person involved in this incident, the handsome young wizard Riddle, who always made a striking appearance.

Looking at Riddle's impressive demeanor and appearance, Xiwen still finds it hard to believe that such a person would bully classmates and steal other people's belongings.

Riddle was visibly taken aback when he saw Xiwen in the dormitory, but quickly recovered and greeted him with a smile, "What a coincidence, Senior Rozier."

"It's not too much of a coincidence, I came here to see you anyway," Xiwen said with a smile.

Then, Xiwen handed Riddle the secondhand school uniform and black diary, saying, "I found these after I got here. Your two roommates said they wanted to keep them for you."

Riddle took the school uniform and diary, giving Lestrange and Avery a cold look.

The gaze was so chilling that the two people standing in the corner of the dormitory shivered violently, their bodies even trembling slightly.

"What are you all standing there for? Come over here and apologize to Riddle!" Seeing Riddle's gaze, Xiwen quickly said to the two of them, fearing that he might hurt them too much.

Avery had completely chickened out, at least at this moment.

He hurriedly stepped forward, gave Riddle a stiff smile, and said curtly, "I'm sorry, Riddle. We took your things without your permission. We hope you can forgive us."

Riddle nodded slowly, then turned his gaze to Lestrange.

Lestrange noticed that everyone in the room was staring at him and awkwardly swallowed.

He's torn: should he follow his heart like Avery, or should he fight to the death and resist to the bitter end?

"Ha, if you don't want to apologize, then forget it," Riddle scoffed coldly.

Hearing Riddle's icy tone, Lestrange made the final decision to "follow his heart," squeezing out a weak word from his throat:

"Sorry."

"What did you say?" Xiwen was quite surprised that such a faint voice could come from such a rough voice. "If you're a man, just say your apology straight out loud. What kind of behavior is this, all all that coy hesitation?"

Lestrange's face flushed red, and he shouted, "I'm sorry!!"

His voice was so loud that everyone present couldn't help but turn their heads to look at him.

Riddle nodded again, then looked at Xiwen and said, "Thank you this time, Senior Rozier."

"It's nothing," Xiwen waved his hand and said to him. "But I still need to tell you, don't act as recklessly at Hogwarts as you did on the train. If you continue to act without restraint, you might really get expelled!"

Upon hearing the words "expelled," Riddle's body trembled almost imperceptibly.

"Don't worry, I won't break the school rules."