When it came to nurturing the children's talents, the ordinary children were easy enough to deal with. Tom Riddle was the real issue that could not be avoided.
Mo Fei himself was a Muggle through and through. He had never experienced an outburst of accidental magic or attended a magic school. He was just a middle-aged guy who had grown up quite ordinarily in an ordinary world.
But the Voldemort he had adopted was no simple existence.
After all, there were very few Magic Masters who had distinguished themselves in the original story.
Even Mo Fei, who knew quite a bit about the story of Harry Potter, could seemingly name only a handful of acknowledged Magic Masters: Dumbledore—the headmaster of Hogwarts; Nicolas Flamel—the greatest alchemist; Newt Scamander—a master of fantastic beasts; Voldemort—the second Dark Lord; and Gellert—the first Dark Lord and founder of the Acolytes.
At this point in time, Dumbledore had not yet become headmaster, Nicolas Flamel should already have achieved his glory, and Gellert was preparing an uprising that would sweep across Europe.
As for Newt and Voldemort, one should only just have been starting out, while the other was still a child.
At this point, it seemed that Nicolas Flamel was the only Magic Master from the original story...
But that was not the point. As Magic Masters, they probably would not have any connection with Mo Fei in the near future.
Mo Fei had simply thought of one thing: since Tom could become a Magic Master in the future, his talent for magic had to be exceptional in the extreme.
If he wanted to nurture that talent, or rather, help it develop further, what should he do now?
Mo Fei looked at little Tom, who was still in Jimmy's arms.
It seemed that several months had already passed since he had adopted little Tom. He did not know whether it was an effect of magic, but Tom seemed to grow a little faster than ordinary children.
His size was gradually approaching that of a one-year-old.
Unlike ordinary children, who liked to cry, Tom rarely seemed to cry at all.
Whenever he was hungry or wet himself, he would only whimper a few times. Compared with ordinary children, he was much better behaved.
Only those pitch-black eyes kept watching his surroundings, and even an incidental glance from them could send a chill through someone's heart.
Although Jimmy had gradually grown accustomed to that gaze from caring for him all this time, he still felt a little afraid on occasion.
He had once come to Mo Fei. "Director..." After hesitating for a long time, he finally spoke slowly. "Is there something wrong with little Tom's eyes? Sometimes, when I look at them, they don't seem like human eyes. They're more like a snake's..."
As he spoke, he seemed to remember a snake he had once seen, and that cold-blooded, sinister, unnerving feeling instantly made him shudder.
Seeing this, Mo Fei hurriedly pulled Jimmy into his arms to comfort him.
"It's all right. Nothing's wrong. Trust me, okay? Go and play with Aiwen for a while. I'll help look after him..."
"Really?!" The delight of being able to play with Aiwen instantly replaced his earlier misgivings.
Jimmy grew excited.
Of course, who in the orphanage would not want to play with the eldest big brother?
Mo Fei smiled as he watched Jimmy dash out.
Tom, in his arms, did not seem to notice that the person looking after him had changed. He remained just as he was.
Actually, the simplest approach was to leave him alone.
Was that not what Wool's Orphanage had done in the original story? They had not given Voldemort much care, and there had even been some bullying at the very beginning.
Later, if Tom had not experienced an outburst of accidental magic, awakened his Parseltongue, and then set off down the path of dark magic, it was uncertain whether he could even have grown up.
Of course, Mo Fei was not that ignorant. Everything done to Tom when he was little would be repaid twofold once he gained power.
So Mo Fei had merely wondered whether he should leave him to develop on his own.
That thought lingered in his mind for only an instant before quickly disappearing.
The reason was that he remembered the snake he had discovered in the children's room that morning.
Parseltongue was no ordinary thing.
Although the original story portrayed it as a simple ability to communicate with snakes, Mo Fei felt that this was far too one-sided.
After all, as the last heir of the Gaunt family, Tom Marvolo Riddle had carried the blood of the legendary wizard Slytherin from the very beginning.
To Mo Fei, magical bloodlines and ordinary people's bloodlines had never been the same thing.
Wizards with magical bloodlines not only possessed magic power and could perform wondrous magic, but also had more distinctive talents in certain areas.
These talents fit people's stereotypical impressions of wizards very well.
To ordinary people, wizards seemingly ought to keep company with cold-blooded animals, wear black robes, look particularly frightening, and stir a pot of pitch-black, poison-like stuff with a wooden spoon.
This stereotype seemed uncommon among the half-blood wizards of later generations, but it appeared to find some confirmation among the pure-blood wizards of earlier times.
This stereotype had two sides.
For many wizards, the talents within their bodies allowed them better access to more profound magic.
In Harry Potter, did those who later became Magic Masters not all have something that set them apart from ordinary people? The most classic example was Dumbledore's Phoenix Affinity.
But such stereotypes also naturally lent magic a great deal of mysterious, unknown terror.
Among these, Parseltongue, which allowed communication with snakes, seemed to be one of the foremost examples.
As Mo Fei understood it, Parseltongue should not simply be a means of communicating with snakes, but something more fundamental.
He ventured a bold guess: snakes were themselves an outward manifestation of cold-bloodedness, malice, evil, and darkness. With such a bloodline, was Voldemort also being influenced by it?
After all, how could a child be so indifferent from birth?
Normal children should cry and fuss, hoping for attention from others, but he...
Still, Mo Fei had no intention of giving up. His bloodline would affect him, but the way he was raised should also influence him to some degree.
In Mo Fei's view, much of Voldemort's later extremism in the original story might have been Dumbledore's responsibility.
If he had to put it into words, Dumbledore had poured some of his negative feelings toward Grindelwald onto Tom, ultimately creating the Voldemort he became.
If he could reform Voldemort while he was still at the orphanage, would that not mean he was indirectly taking part in reforming the magical world?
Without Voldemort, how would the world change? He was really looking forward to it!
Since he intended to reform Tom, the first step was to reduce the influence of Tom's bloodline.
A flash of inspiration struck Mo Fei, and he thought of a method.
Following a snake's habits might strengthen the influence of the dark bloodline, but what about doing the opposite? If he deliberately began giving Tom more love and care while he was still a baby, while also letting him experience more sunshine, could that bring about some change?
That really was something to look forward to.
After that, he would have Jimmy bring Tom into contact with the other children, letting him experience the warmth of Mo Orphanage ahead of time.
At that thought, Mo Fei suddenly felt a mischievous urge and pinched his cheek.
"Besides, if all else fails, there's always force. With a system, I might well become stronger than you'll be in the future!"