On a picturesque hillside blanketed in white snow.
Shawn and Tom stood against the biting winter wind, their extraordinary bearing making them look all the more noble and otherworldly.
As it happened, Tom also had black hair and black eyes. Those had been his original colors.
Although the puppet's bloodline came from Merope Gaunt's blood and bones, which should have given him brown hair and brown eyes.
As his creator, Shawn naturally had to recreate Tom's youthful appearance, or he would arouse suspicion.
Those were merely minor details.
Still, the two standing on the hillside really did look somewhat like brothers. Tom stood a head taller than Shawn, looking very much like the older brother.
Their actual positions, however, were the reverse.
Shawn reached out and lightly closed his hand on the wind, saying casually,
"You did well just now."
Tom said nothing. He had suddenly become mute again, all his earlier imposing presence withdrawn.
He stared steadily at Shawn's short black hair, his thoughts unreadable.
Only after a long while did he take out his wand and begin writing in midair.
"Your strategy was too hasty. There was no need to make such a spectacle merely for a School Governor's seat."
Shawn gave Tom an odd look. He knew it was not that Tom had grown used to being a diary, but that he did not know how to address him.
He did not mind. Reading the words suspended in the air, he sighed inwardly.
I'm still young. There really is no need to rush, but what about the three-stage Conquer Hogwarts quest?
With half the School Governor seats held by pure-bloods led by Dumbledore, the quest would probably take several years.
If he did not start now, he might as well give up.
But if he wanted to