Hogwarts: I, Tom, am really not Voldemort!

“Albus!”

“Professor Dumbledore!”

Dumbledore's sudden appearance caused a burst of exclamations.

Professor McGonagall looked at Dumbledore with a headache: “Albus, students using the Killing Curse on such a large scale has never happened at Hogwarts. What do you intend to do?”

“Minerva, the students had their reasons this time, a forced move out of desperation. Besides, the first-year little wizards united to kill a troll together. Don't you think that's a remarkable achievement? Therefore, I plan to award Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin 10 points each.”

“Albus, that's impossible!” Professor McGonagall was clearly dissatisfied with Dumbledore's handling.

The dispirited students suddenly perked up. They thought they would be punished, but they didn't expect to receive points. Their adoring gazes were so intense they almost burned through Dumbledore.

“Alright, the students are tired now. Let them go and rest…” Seeing that the matter was basically resolved, Dumbledore sent the students back.

Tom was about to sneak away in the middle of the crowd, but unsurprisingly, Dumbledore called out his little trick: “Tom, you stay behind and come to my office with me.”

Hogwarts Castle, eighth floor, Headmaster's office.

Entering for the first time, Tom curiously looked around. Fawkes was dozing, the Sorting Hat was humming a tuneless song on the shelf, and the portraits of the previous headmasters hanging on the wall were clearly doing their own thing, but he couldn't fail to notice their subtle gazes.

In fact, there is a big difference between hearing about it and seeing it with your own eyes. Phineas Black immediately jumped up when he saw Tom's true face.

“Dumbledore, the Dark Lord, send him to Azkaban!”

Tom was speechless, silently giving him the middle finger in his heart, secretly observing Dumbledore's reaction.

Dumbledore ignored Phineas Black, his smile was kind, and he invited Tom to sit down on the chair with a gentle attitude, showing no sign of wanting to question him.

“Tom, would you like something to drink…?”

Before Dumbledore could finish his greeting, Tom suddenly grabbed his right hand, wiped his face with the wide sleeves of his wizard robe, and cried with tears and snot: “Professor Dumbledore, I'm wronged. The Killing Curse is really normal teaching content. I really, really have no selfish motives. You have to believe me!”

“Speak properly!” Dumbledore looked disgusted, wanting to silently withdraw his right hand, but Tom held it tightly and didn't move.

“Professor, you have to know that I just purely wanted to teach the students life-saving skills.”

Dumbledore chuckled angrily: “Oh really, so you teach the Killing Curse?”

“Isn't that upholding tradition? Back then, everyone at Hogwarts was proficient in the Killing Curse. I'm just trying to restore Hogwarts' glory. Besides, there are many Slytherin upperclassmen who know the Killing Curse. I'm just advancing the timeline.”

Tom's shameless appearance made Armando Dippet unable to bear it and retorted: “Is private and public the same? And when did Hogwarts have such a tradition? How come I don't know? You Dark Lord, the thing I regret most in my life is teaching you, you…”

“Wait…” Tom quickly interrupted him, “This Headmaster, I just enrolled this year. When did you teach me? Are you mixing things up?”

One sentence choked Armando Dippet. He didn't want to pay attention to Tom's nonsense, but Phineas Black jumped out to stab him in the back: “Wait a minute, that's not right. It seems like what he said makes sense. For some reason, there seems to be a vague picture in my memory. Although I don't remember it very clearly, it seems that during my tenure, everyone at Hogwarts knew the Killing Curse.”

“!”

“!!”

“!!!”

This time, not only Dumbledore and the portraits looked at Phineas Black, but they never dreamed that Hogwarts would have such a thing. Even Tom looked at him with admiration. It was originally just a joke, but there really was a Hogwarts Legacy element.

Seeing Dumbledore and the portraits turn their gazes from Phineas Black to himself, Tom quickly defended: “I was talking nonsense, do you believe me?”

Dumbledore finally pulled out his hand, rubbed his eyebrows wearily, and decided not to talk nonsense with Tom anymore: “This matter is too bad, Tom. I have to stop you from working as a Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching assistant. Severus will take over your job next.”

God knows how tired he is. Tom's teaching method is not as good as Quirrell's. It's too challenging for an old man of a hundred years.

Tom didn't feel much. If he didn't teach, he didn't teach. He just silently lit a candle for the younger wizards in his heart.

Although he was indifferent to being dismissed, some accounts still had to be settled: “Then how do you calculate the teaching salary and severance pay for this period? According to the calculation…”

“Stop!” Dumbledore immediately stopped Tom, “You can find Minerva for these things.”

“Okay, Professor. Do you have anything else? If not, I'll leave first.”

Dumbledore hesitated for a long time before opening his mouth: “Can you help take care of Harry?”

Tom tentatively asked: “Quirrell?”

“You know?” Dumbledore glanced at Tom in surprise.

Tom felt that Dumbledore's reaction was strange: “Please, Professor Dumbledore, Quirrell has already exposed himself to this extent. Everyone thinks he has a problem. Now everyone thinks that you must have some deep meaning if you don't deal with him, so they didn't say much.”

“This is to make Harry grow up as soon as possible!”

“If Quirrell regrets it, what should I do? Aren't you going to save him?” Tom was very interested in this question.

Dumbledore hesitated for a moment and said firmly: “Everyone should pay the price for their wrong choices.”

It was rare to hear Dumbledore speak so frankly, and Tom couldn't help but respond: “For the greater good!”

Suddenly, the two looked at each other, speechless.

Silence lasted for a moment. Seeing that Dumbledore had nothing else to do, Tom got up and prepared to leave.

“Stargazer!”

At the moment Tom turned around, Dumbledore's gentle voice came from behind.

'Damn old honeybee, can't he finish his words in one go?' Tom cursed in his heart, preparing to turn around and perform a Sichuan opera face change for him, acting innocent and selling misery.

Dumbledore predicted Tom's actions and disgustedly pushed him away the moment he turned around: “Don't do this, I'm too old to take it.”

But Tom's performance didn't stop: “Professor Dumbledore, I'm so miserable. This is just a study group. Now all of this is led by Cassandra and Hermione. I'm just a scapegoat, boo hoo hoo~”

Dumbledore looked at Tom as if he were looking at an idiot. After he finished acting, he said lightly: “I just want you to submit a club application form to Minerva.”

Hearing this, Tom's action of squeezing out tears suddenly froze.

At this moment, he felt like a clown.