Hogwarts: This Dark Lord is so evil

Chapter 130: Tom Has Reformed? How Could I Have Such an Absurd Dream…

Professor Slughorn's Obliviation Charm worked exceptionally well.

Mrs. Cole and the other children no longer recognized Leivde and Tom.

In their eyes, Leivde and Tom were just two kind-hearted children from a wealthy family.

Tom used the Riddle family's money to donate a considerable amount of supplies to the orphanage.

Mrs. Cole was very grateful for this, as it meant that at least this Christmas, no one in the orphanage would go hungry.

And Mr. Riddle did not object to Tom's actions. On the contrary, seeing Tom do this made him feel more at ease.

At the very least, it proved one thing: that Tom was indeed not the kind of evil wizard he had imagined. Otherwise, how could he possibly do good deeds?

After distributing the supplies, the two bid farewell to the old butler and returned to the safe house.

Toby had already prepared dinner as usual and was waiting for them.

Even for Tom the Kneazle and Nagini, the meticulous house-elf had prepared their favorite foods.

Leivde and Tom each sat down and silently ate their food.

After Tom finished eating and was about to return to his room to read, Leivde suddenly called out to him.

"Tom."

"Are you calling me, or your cat?" Tom turned to look at Leivde.

"Yes, this time I'm calling you," Leivde said calmly.

"What is it?" Tom sat back down at the dining table.

"Do you know? After learning about your good deeds today, Professor Dumbledore and Mr. Riddle were very happy, especially Professor Dumbledore. In his reply to me, his words were filled with relief…" Leivde said to Tom with a smile.

"Hmm…"

Tom didn't know why Leivde would suddenly bring this up, so he could only hum vaguely and wait for Leivde to continue.

"Tom, you have indeed grown now… You have indeed learned something from me," Leivde continued.

"Learned what?"

"You are now… better at disguising yourself than before."

"What do you mean?" Tom suddenly became a little nervous.

"Professor Dumbledore believes you are finally starting to change. Do you think I feel the same way?"

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

"I just want to say that this time you imitated me very well. You almost successfully deceived everyone. But you… can't deceive me."

"You… do you mean that everything I've done is fake?" Tom seemed very angry.

"I didn't say that what you did was fake…" Leivde had a faint smile on his face.

"Hmph, I know what you mean! Leivde! Are you saying that everything I've done is just an act! Right?"

Leivde didn't answer, still maintaining his smile, quietly looking at Tom.

Tom suddenly felt like he had punched cotton…

However, at this time, even Nagini and Toby, who were on the side, felt that Leivde was being a bit too much.

What Tom did today was indeed impeccable.

Giving back to the orphanage where he grew up was not only an act of gratitude but also an act of kindness.

In any case, it was a good thing.

They were all a little unclear why Leivde would say this.

"I don't care what you think. Anyway, I'm not doing these things to make you believe me," Tom said, angrily leaving his seat and striding up the stairs.

"Look, you're getting anxious again. Tom, ah… It's okay to deceive your friends, but don't deceive yourself…"

Upon hearing this, Tom, who was stomping up the stairs, suddenly stopped, and then quickly disappeared around the corner of the stairs.

Nagini raised her head, "Hiss, hiss, hiss…"

"Nagini, I don't deny that a person's character can undergo drastic changes. But ah, that usually requires a major change, but what about Tom? I can only say that he's too hasty…"

Nagini tilted her head, thoughtfully flicking her tongue.

Leivde propped his face with one hand and slowly stirred the coffee in front of him with the other, a playful smile on his face.

"Tom… you're really becoming more and more interesting…"

He did not deny that Tom had indeed changed compared to before.

However, this change seemed too abrupt, so abrupt that everyone who knew Tom felt a little unfamiliar with him.

Something abnormal must be afoot. In this world, no one understood Tom better than Leivde.

Tom was originally a person who was good at disguising himself!

In the original plot, his disguise won the favor of the teachers and students of the whole school, but Dumbledore was not deceived by his disguise.

So why did Dumbledore believe it so easily this time?

You know, Dumbledore didn't even see what Tom did with his own eyes this time, but just listened to my narration and decisively believed it!

In that case, Dumbledore's belief in Tom's change was not so much a belief in Tom's change as it was a belief in Leivde's judgment…

"Tom ah, you have indeed grown up, even I have been used by you as a pawn for disguise…"

Of course, there was an even more important reason that confirmed Leivde's guess!

You know, just by letting Dumbledore live, that garbage system generously gave him 10,000 merit points.

But… he successfully turned a future dark lord white, and this garbage system actually gave him only 55.5 merit points?

Tom's change only rewarded him with a little bit of merit points, and it was even fractional… Are you telling me he's completely reformed?

If you say he's reformed, then make up for the merit points I'm missing!

…

Upstairs, Tom angrily stormed into his room and slammed the door shut.

However, the moment the door closed, Tom's face, previously contorted with rage, instantly calmed, as if he had removed a mask.

He slowly sat on his bed, gently stroking his wand with his right hand, his eyes appearing somewhat sinister.

"…I even fooled Dumbledore, but…as expected, using your methods…I still can't deceive you, can I, Vede?"

"Hmph…no matter what, I will eventually stand above you! There will…definitely be a chance!"

…

In the following days, Tom was initially worried that Vede Li would expose his true colors to Dumbledore.

However, the next day when he saw Vede Li again, the latter seemed to have forgotten all about it…

Gradually, Tom understood that, although he didn't know why, Vede Li probably wouldn't reveal the truth.

No mistake, one first, one hair, one inside, one appearance, one look!

Therefore, in the following days, both Tom and Vede Li tacitly avoided mentioning their conversation that day.

It was as if nothing had happened.

However, what made Tom uneasy was that Vede Li seemed to trust him even more than before!

He even didn't avoid him when researching and improving some spells! He even invited him to participate!

If it weren't for Vede Li's words that day, he would have been under the illusion that Vede Li had been completely fooled!

Tom was certain that Vede Li was definitely plotting some bad idea, trying to trick him!

He just didn't have any evidence yet…

And so, the two scheming individuals stayed in the safe house until Christmas.

On Christmas morning, Vede Li woke up early.

Because the phoenix Fawkes had made several trips to bring a large pile of gifts.

These were all Christmas gifts that Vede Li and Tom had received.

It was just that because they were staying in the safe house, the owls couldn't find them, so they had to leave the gifts at the school, in their dormitories.

Therefore, Dumbledore specifically asked Fawkes to help them move the gifts to the safe house.

However, because Vede Li and Tom received so many gifts, even Fawkes had to make many trips to finish the job…

Vede Li very happily treated Fawkes to some fresh eel in the living room, then ran upstairs and knocked on Tom's door.

"Tom! Time to get up! If you don't get up, I'm going to open your presents!"

Tom, filled with morning grumpiness, opened the door with a gloomy face. Because he had just woken up, his hair was a mess.

He had been researching spells all night and went to bed very late. He didn't expect to be woken up by Vede Li so early…

He actually wanted to ignore Vede Li and continue sleeping.

However, Tom was worried that if he continued to sleep, Vede Li would tear down his door… No doubt about it, that guy Vede Li was capable of doing that!

After washing up and gulping down a bottle of invigorating potion, Tom finally came to the living room.

As soon as he walked into the living room, he was startled by the mountain of gifts in front of him!

"Are these all mine?" Tom asked in surprise.

"You wish, it's a pity, these are all mine, those over there are yours," Vede Li said with a smile as he eagerly unwrapped the gifts, casually pointing to the small pile of gift boxes next to the fireplace.

Tom looked at his gifts, then looked at Vede Li's… At that moment, he once again realized what the difference between people was.

"Why do you have so many…"

"It's simple, Tom. When you maintain this state and return to school, next year, you will receive just as many," Vede Li said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Tom felt a tightness in his heart. Vede Li was implying something, he was pointing it out!

Maintain this state, and you will receive just as many next year?

Wasn't that saying that as long as he kept up the pretense, he could make more friends at school… and then receive more gifts next year?

I knew you couldn't have forgotten what happened that day!

However, Tom decided that he would never admit that he was pretending. Dumbledore couldn't just use Legilimency on him, right?

It seems he needs to train his mind-shielding skills!

At this time, Vede Li, who had finished pointing out Tom's situation, found a very interesting gift among his pile of presents…

Judging from the gift box, this was a gift from Mr. G.

After opening it, Vede Li saw something very familiar…

"Did you receive one too?" Tom asked in surprise.

He was also holding an opened gift box of the same type.

"Yeah…this is very interesting."

Vede Li smiled and weighed the goblin-metal ball in his hand.

Of course, he recognized this thing, because he had made it to fool Grindelwald.

But now it seemed…Grindelwald had actually sent this thing as a gift to him and Tom?

"What does Grindelwald mean by this?" Tom asked with a frown.

"This is a gift, Tom, and, in theory, this is a great gift!" Vede Li said with a smile.

"Hmm…" Tom also had to admit that if this was a magical power that could really improve strength, it was indeed a great gift…

"When someone gives you a great gift, besides asking you for a favor, it's to win you over…"