"Forbidden Forest?"
Under the hazy moonlight, Cassandra and Draco stared blankly at the unexpected scenery before them.
Seeing their reaction, Tom kindly reminded them, "Perhaps that path originally led to the Forbidden Forest, but now is not the time to dwell on this. Curfew is almost here, and we need to hurry back to the Castle."
Then he complained a little, "I didn't expect that leaving in the daytime would lead to night, and it seems Snape's detention today has been skipped as well."
Cassandra shivered, thinking of her Dean's furious expression. "Skipping the Dean's detention, what do you plan to do?"
Tom, however, looked calm. "It's fine. At worst, I'll send him some 'Harry's' photos."
Seeing them still joking around, Draco couldn't help but speak up, "Do you know the way back to the Castle? It'll be too late if we don't go now."
"Follow me."
A blue smoke trail had appeared from Tom's wand at some point, extending into the distance.
"What is this?" Draco asked curiously, looking at the blue smoke trail.
"A small tracking magic, just in case we get lost in the Forbidden Forest. The smoke trail will lead us back to the Castle. Let's go."
Tom was about to lead them away when he suddenly stopped. "My apologies, I can't walk in the dark."
Cassandra and Draco's faces immediately flushed red.
"Lumos!"
"Lumos!"
The light from their wands dispelled the darkness, and the three set off again.
But before they had gone far, Tom stopped again.
"Tom, what is it this time?" Draco asked in a muffled voice, nearly bumping into Tom's back.
"Shh!"
"Be careful, there's something ahead. Extinguish your lights!"
Cassandra and Draco obediently extinguished the light from their wand tips, mimicking Tom, crouching low, and cautiously, stealthily approaching.
Under the moonlight, a figure wearing a black hood was feeding on an animal's corpse.
"Is that...a Unicorn? Someone is drinking Unicorn blood!!!"
When they got closer and saw the scene clearly, Draco couldn't help but exclaim.
Draco's voice startled the figure, who slowly raised his head and turned towards Tom's location.
"Sigh~"
"You two hide here, and whatever you do, don't come out."
Tom sighed, whispered instructions to them, then straightened up and walked out alone.
"It's actually you!"
Seeing Tom's appearance by the moonlight, the other party was very surprised by his presence.
"It's me. Should I say long time no see, Lord Voldemort, or rather, Tom Riddle."
Tom's first greeting nearly made Cassandra and Draco shriek in surprise.
Fortunately, they immediately clapped their hands over their mouths, their eyes darting back and forth between Tom and Lord Voldemort, filled with confusion.
"Yes, long time no see. I've always wanted to have a good talk with you, Tom Riddle, or rather, another me."
Lord Voldemort probed Tom with a hoarse, low voice.
Tom raised an eyebrow at this. "I don't think there's anything to talk about."
"Are you perhaps looking to complain to me about your humble existence as a parasite on snakes and rats in the Albanian forest?"
"Or grumble about your miserable state, now only able to survive on Unicorn blood?"
"Or perhaps discuss the fated enemy who defeated you?"
"Hmm... a baby."
After listening to Tom's words, Lord Voldemort suppressed his surging anger and retorted sharply, "Nonsense! My downfall has nothing to do with Harry Potter. It's all Lily Potter's fault; it was her ancient magic that caused it."
Tom couldn't help but sneer, "But in fact, you failed, didn't you?"
Lord Voldemort's anger grew more intense, maintaining a shred of rationality only because he faced Tom. "Yes, you're right. Although I failed 11 years ago, now I have a chance to make a comeback. The Philosopher's Stone, as long as I get the Philosopher's Stone, I will be resurrected."
"Help me, Tom. We are one and the same. As long as I am resurrected, we can deal with Dumbledore and once again reign supreme."
Faced with the grand promises Lord Voldemort offered, Tom decisively interrupted his fantasy.
"Sorry, I think you've got something wrong. There is no 'we,' there is only 'I'!"
"You want to replace me?" Lord Voldemort stopped pretending. "Who exactly are you? My Horcrux doesn't have you looking like this."
Lord Voldemort's words made Tom laugh again. "Replace? No, no, no. Only the victor is Lord Voldemort, and you, you are just a pathetic failure, Tom."
"As for who I am, as someone who has walked further than anyone on the path to immortality, why don't you use your withered little brain to guess, hmm?"
"You deserve to die!" Lord Voldemort completely lost his composure. "Avada Kedavra!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
Tom, who had anticipated Lord Voldemort's move early, also cast a Killing Curse.
Green light collided in the air and vanished.
"Weak, too weak. You're like this and you still dare to call yourself Lord Voldemort." Tom continued to mock.
Lord Voldemort felt his inner humiliation being brutally torn open by Tom. He brandished his wand, and a wave of orange-red Fiendfyre surged towards Tom, with a green light mixed within the Fiendfyre.
"Always using these two tricks. Don't you have any new ones?"
The moment the Fiendfyre ignited, Tom conjured an earth wall in front of him, blocking the sneak attack of the Killing Curse.
Then...
"Finite Incantatem!"
The Fiendfyre vanished with Tom's spell.
Just as Tom was about to continue, he found that Lord Voldemort had disappeared, using the Fiendfyre as cover.
Tom cautiously searched around again, still finding no trace of him, and chuckled softly, "Heh, at least he has some brains. He fled really fast!"
He then called out to Cassandra and Draco, who were still hiding nearby, "Come out, it's safe now."
The two, who had witnessed the entire event, emerged timidly, their calves trembling uncontrollably.
Cassandra hesitated for a moment, then couldn't help but confirm with Tom, "Was that the Dark Lord just now?"
"The real deal, a living Lord Voldemort." Tom confirmed.
"But aren't you also the Dark Lord? Oh, and he said you two are the same person. Could there be two Dark Lords? But..."
Cassandra's head was still buzzing from receiving too much information. She had too many questions but didn't know where to start, and her words became somewhat incoherent.
Tom, however, intended to remain mysterious, responding to Cassandra with the same two words: "You guess!"
Meanwhile, Draco had made up his mind to write a letter to his father when he returned, but Tom seemed to have read his thoughts and issued a warning in advance: "You should know what can and cannot be said tonight, Draco. You need to understand, Lucius knows more than you think."
Just as the two were still immersed in the excitement of the night, the sound of hooves suddenly came from deep within the Forbidden Forest.
Tom couldn't help but frown. "Did I not check the almanac today? Why are there more uninvited guests?"
A male Centaur with a silver mane and platinum-blonde hair charged forward first.
When he saw the gruesomely dead Unicorn and the three standing nearby, his first words were, "Did you do this?"