Hogwarts: Chill, I'm Not That Riddle

Chapter 719: No Comfort in Good News

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"Professor, take these first."

While Fawkes was off fetching the others, Tom pulled out two pills and set them on the desk.

Dumbledore looked at them, puzzled. "Tom, what are these?"

"Fast-acting heart medicine," the boy explained with a harmless smile. "Just in case what I’m about to tell you is a bit too much to handle. Better safe than sorry."

Dumbledore’s face twitched.

Just what exactly was Tom about to say? Something bad enough to scare him half to death?

Boy, if you’ve got something to say, just say it. Handing me medicine first is already terrifying enough.

After a moment’s hesitation, the old wizard reached out, picked up the white tablets, and swallowed them.

Stubborn as he could be, he also knew when to listen. If Tom was taking this so seriously, then whatever it was couldn’t be minor. Better to prepare himself first.

"Tom," Dumbledore said after taking the medicine, "to be honest, you don’t look panicked at all. Not even a little. Does that mean you already have a way to deal with the chaos that’s coming?"

It felt wrong, putting so much hope on the shoulders of a teenager. But if it meant the world could stay peaceful and stable, it didn’t matter.

Tom immediately shook his head, "Professor, you’re giving me too much credit. The situation’s a mess right now. Nobody knows how far this is going to spiral. We don’t even know how many enemies we’re facing."

He gave a helpless shrug as he continued, "I’m still trying to figure things out myself, so solving it? Not happening yet."

Dumbledore said calmly, "And yet I don’t see any confusion or fear in you, Tom."

Tom paused, then smiled. "That’s because I’m not carrying as much on my shoulders as you are. Even if the whole world goes to hell, I’m confident I can protect the people around me. If that much is certain, it’s hard to be too pessimistic about the future."

He paused, the smile on his face deepening. "If anything, I think it’s kind of interesting. The unknown is always the most fascinating part. The old world had started to feel... boring."

Dumbledore froze for a moment, then let out a tired sigh.

That was true. He couldn’t expect Tom to bear responsibilities that were never his to begin with. The fact that Tom was willing to help at all was already more than enough.

As long as curiosity and interest were enough to keep Tom standing against the pressure Herpo would bring, that alone would ease the burden on the Ministry.

At that moment, flames burst into the room.

Fawkes reappeared, bringing Nicolas Flamel, Newt Scamander, and Tina Scamander into the meeting room.

"Tina, Nicolas, you two..."

Dumbledore stared, stunned.

Tina looked exactly as she had in her youth, and Nicolas looked like a middle-aged gentleman, a form Dumbledore had never seen before.

"Albus, I’ll explain that part later," Nicolas said with a helpless smile before turning to Tom. "Actually, Tom can probably explain it better. But right now, what matters is this: what happened?"

"Tom, what’s going on in New York?" Tina asked anxiously. "I’ve been trying to contact Queenie and Jacob, but I can’t reach them."

"No need to worry, Aunt Tina." Tom helped her into a chair and reassured her. "Queenie and Jacob are safe. I moved them into my pocket world. They’re fine. I just made some modifications there, so communication through the iCodex is temporarily blocked."

"That’s good. Thank goodness."

Hearing that her sister and brother-in-law were safe, both Tina and Newt finally relaxed.

Newt gave Tom a light pat on the shoulder. "Thank you, Tom."

Tom laughed and shook his head. "No need for that. It was nothing."

"As long as they’re safe, that’s what matters," Nicolas said, steering the conversation back on track. "Tom, you called us here, so I assume there’s something we can help with?"

Living for over six hundred years had its advantages.

Nicolas Flamel’s calm was even steadier than Dumbledore’s, as if what had happened wasn’t a world-shaking crisis, but just another unexpected inconvenience.

Dumbledore gave a bitter smile. "I have a feeling Tom’s been sitting on something huge. Before you got here, I tried asking him, but he wouldn’t say."

Tom smiled warmly. "I just didn’t want to explain it twice. And yes, the problem is serious. Very serious. But first rule in a crisis: don’t panic."

The room fell into collective silence.

"...Okay, let’s start with the most important part." Tom turned to Nicolas. "Professor, we found the mastermind behind the attack on your estate."

Nicolas’s brows rose, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

There were some things you just couldn’t let slide.

It didn’t matter whether those hundreds of vampires could have actually threatened him or not. The fact that they’d stormed his estate so brazenly was an insult, plain and simple.

A direct stomp on his dignity.

A man who had lived for over six hundred years, with endless wealth and unmatched prestige, was not the type to swallow that quietly.

"Who was it?" Nicolas asked, his voice low and cold, a dangerous edge creeping into it.

Tom met his gaze calmly. "Have you ever heard the name Corvinus Gaunt?"

Nicolas frowned, his brows knitting together as he searched through centuries of memory, but the name stirred nothing.

"Gaunt? Isn’t that the surname of Slytherin’s descendants?"

The moment the name was spoken, Dumbledore’s expression had already changed. "Tom... are you talking about Corvinus Gaunt? The one who studied at Hogwarts centuries ago, and later joined the Department of Mysteries?"

Tom nodded, "Yep, that’s him."

"He’s far more mysterious than he ever let on. I suspect he’s the real power behind the Sun Chasers. But the good news is that Corvinus and Herpo aren’t technically on the same side. They distrust each other, and they each have their own goals."

"But the bad news..." Tom paused, then gave a casual, almost helpless shrug. "Apparently, I’m too strong for either of them to deal with alone, so they’ve decided to team up. At least for now. Against me, and to take control of the wizarding world."

"..."

After some time, Dumbledore let out a long, weary sigh. "Tom, to be honest... that ’good news’ doesn’t sound good at all."

The others fell silent as well.

The ancient monsters in the wizarding world just kept crawling out one after another.

One from the left, one from the right.

When was it ever going to end?

And the real surprise... was still yet to come.

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