Hogwarts: I, Tom, am really not Voldemort!

"Neville, your voice is too soft, louder!"

"Harry, your attack isn't firm enough, you can cast the spell faster!"

"Weasley, where are you aiming? You're off by three body-widths! If you can't manage, go see Madam Pomfrey to get your eyes checked."

"And you, Finnegan, don't turn the Killing Curse into an Exploding Charm."

"Bang!"

"Damn it!"

Voldemort stared blankly as Tom guided the young wizards in practicing spells, his face like a classic 'old man on the subway' meme.

If you ignored the content of what was being taught, Tom could indeed be called a good teacher.

But now, look at what they were doing. An 11-year-old wizard was teaching a group of 11-year-old wizards to practice the Killing Curse. If he hadn't confirmed repeatedly that he was indeed at Hogwarts, Voldemort would have suspected he was at some kind of Azkaban exchange program.

Voldemort didn't know when Hogwarts' atmosphere had become so open. Didn't Dumbledore care at all?

Heaven knows, he had fantasized countless times about teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts after applying so many times, but even in his wildest dreams, he had never considered teaching first-year students the Killing Curse.

At that moment, Voldemort felt that Tom probably, maybe, possibly had nothing to do with him. After all, he felt he was still a normal person and definitely not as crazy as Tom. Even if he liked the Killing Curse, he wouldn't do something so insane.

Large swaths of green light lit up the clearing by the lake, and the young wizards became more and more excited as they practiced. Although the power wasn't much, probably not even enough to give Voldemort a nosebleed, it was still essentially the Killing Curse.

This style, so out of sync with Voldemort's student days, gave him a sense of disorientation, as if he were too old to keep up with the times. At that moment, he really couldn't tell who was the real Dark Lord.

The class ended with Tom's earnest teaching, the students' enthusiastic learning, and Voldemort's bewildered state.

After class, the students scattered, but Quirrell, possessed by Voldemort, remained frozen in place.

Tom glanced at him and walked towards him.

Voldemort, seeing Tom approach, was about to do something when he saw Tom stop beside him and whisper in a voice only they could hear: "Tom, I know you've possessed Quirrell, and I know what you want to do. I won't stop you, and I don't want you to bother me. Let's all mind our own business. Otherwise, we can fight to the death, and Dumbledore will be the one who benefits in the end."

After speaking, Tom left quickly without waiting for Voldemort to respond.

Watching Tom walk further and further away, Voldemort's pupils contracted, not only because of the content of Tom's words, but also because the language Tom had just spoken sounded like a "hissing" sound to outsiders—Parseltongue.

Seeing that Voldemort didn't react, Quirrell asked hesitantly, "Master, he's a Parselmouth?"

Voldemort grunted in response.

Quirrell asked cautiously, "Then Master, what should we do with him next?"

Voldemort didn't speak for a long time before slowly saying, "Wait and see!"

Suspicion was making the madness beneath Voldemort's calm exterior begin to stir.

Tom, having revealed his cards a little to Voldemort, had no interest or time to care about his life or death. For Tom, who fought Old Voldemort one-on-one in the combat simulation every day, Voldemort in his current state was simply free food. As for what he wanted to do, that was Dumbledore's business. Right now, Tom just wanted to live his own life.

After that, Voldemort seemed to have listened to Tom's words, disappearing from Tom's world as if he had evaporated. He didn't even appear in Tom's Defense Against the Dark Arts class anymore.

Without the disturbances of Voldemort and Dumbledore, Tom could finally quietly do what he liked to do, such as modifying the Seer badges.

"...Linking Charm, Transfiguration Charm, Concealment Charm... Runes ᚨ, ᚠ... Seven magic nodes established... Magic circuit connected... Contract generated...."

In the Room of Requirement, Tom was pointing his wand at two badges. Various halos flowed on the surface of the badges, and after a while, the halos gradually disappeared into the badges.

"It should be successful. Cassandra, come and try it." Tom called Cassandra over and threw her a badge.

Taking the badge that looked no different from the original, Cassandra asked doubtfully, "What's different about this from the original?"

"Of course it's different. You could even say it's not the same level as what you made before. Now this little thing can do real-time communication." Tom's tone was slightly proud when he mentioned his masterpiece.

Cassandra looked at the badge again, tried it, and found that nothing had changed. She asked again, "It's still the same. How do I use it?"

"Okay, now the badge is bound to you. Only you can use it. If someone else tries to use it forcibly or there is any detection behavior, it will self-destruct."

Cassandra nodded to show her understanding and continued to ask, "What's next?"

"Next is simple. When using it, inject magic power into the badge and select the person you want to talk to."

Cassandra followed Tom's method step by step. As magic power was injected, a white light appeared on the surface of the badge. Then the heptagram and text on it disappeared and turned into a glass screen.

The Seer was at the top of the screen, followed by Tom in the number 1 position and Cassandra herself in the number 2 position.

"This is..." Cassandra stopped, not knowing how to proceed.

Seeing this, Tom explained patiently, "The Seer at the top is for group calls, used when there are important notices or major issues that need to be discussed. Usually, when contacting someone individually, just touch the name of the person you want to contact. If someone contacts you, input magic power to answer."

Cassandra cautiously tried to gently click on Tom's name with her right index finger. A "beep... beep... beep..." dialing tone sounded from the badge, and another badge belonging to Tom on the table in the distance began to vibrate.

Tom picked up the badge, input magic power, and said softly to the badge, "Hello, Cassandra."

Cassandra found that the same voice as Tom came from her badge: "Hello, Cassandra."

Cassandra was pleasantly surprised and asked Tom repeatedly, "This is an amazing invention! How far is the communication distance? Can it be mass-produced on a large scale? Why don't we cooperate with my family? The price..." She stalled at this point, realizing that she was too excited and had forgotten that the person in front of her was the Dark Lord. How should the Dark Lord be priced? Waiting online, it's urgent.

But these words, when they fell into Tom's ears, were understood as: Good fellow, as expected of a young lady, the face of a capitalist is revealed at this time, could it be that she wants to forcibly seize the patent?

Tom calmly shook his head and refused Cassandra: "The communication distance hasn't been tested, but it's far enough. But this thing is too complicated and not suitable for mass production. It's more suitable for use within the Seers. Besides, it can only do voice calls now, not video calls. There is still room for improvement. But don't worry, if I ever launch it on the market, I will definitely consider cooperating with your family first."

Hearing Tom say this, Cassandra didn't say anything more and turned to show the new badge to Hermione and the others.

In this way, time passed in Tom's busyness, and Halloween arrived in the blink of an eye.