It's you, Quirrell!
The first thing Harry saw upon entering the room was Quirrell, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, standing in front of the Mirror of Erised, wrapped in a purple turban.
He was only surprised for a moment before calming down, seemingly unsurprised by Quirrell's presence here.
Quirrell, however, was curious about Harry's reaction: "It's me, Harry Potter, you don't seem surprised. I thought you would suspect Severus Snape."
"That's because your daily behavior at Hogwarts, Quirrell, was too outrageous. If the teachers and students in the school weren't blind, they would all see that something was wrong with you."
Speaking of this, Harry felt a little embarrassed, after all, he had indeed first suspected Snape. Who could blame him? Snape always looked like a bad guy. It was only at the STARGAZER gathering, when everyone sat together and analyzed the situation, that they realized Quirrell was more likely to be the problematic one than Snape, and Harry was among those "blind" people he spoke of.
"..."
After listening to Harry's words, Quirrell recalled his own behavior and fell silent.
When Tom passed through the flames and entered the room, he saw this scene of two people staring at each other in silence.
'Good, good, I didn't miss the classic scene.'
Tom, while feeling fortunate, quickly found a corner to hide and enjoy the show.
At the same time, Tom also noticed Dumbledore, who was also hiding on the other side, watching the show. The two exchanged a smile, everything understood without words.
At this moment, Harry, under Quirrell's threat, stood in front of the mirror and saw himself pulling the Philosopher's Stone from his pocket, even winking at his reflection.
In reality, Harry also quietly touched his pocket, and indeed, there was a hard object.
Seeing Harry standing in front of the mirror for a long time, Quirrell sternly demanded, "Tell me, Potter, what do you see?"
Harry was a bit nervous but forced himself to calm down, casually lying, "I see myself winning the House Cup."
"He's lying." A hoarse voice, different from Quirrell's, rang out.
Hearing this voice, Quirrell's heart inevitably tightened, and he more anxiously demanded of Harry, "Tell me, what exactly did you see?"
This time, Harry said nothing, using all his strength, turned around, and fled.
Quirrell snapped his fingers, and walls of fire erupted around the room, blocking Harry's escape route.
And at this moment, that hoarse voice sounded again: "Let me speak with him personally."
'Here it comes, here it comes, the infamous scene is here.'
Tom, who had been on the verge of dozing off, perked up immediately upon hearing this sentence.
Quirrell, as expected, finally removed his purple turban, revealing Lord Voldemort's hideous face on the back of his head.
"Harry Potter, we meet again!"
"Lord Voldemort!"
The meeting between the Savior and the Dark Lord, the hatred between them almost materialized.
Tom, however, was like reliving a classic drama, his mind filled with constant commentary.
'As expected of the childhood trauma series, truly ugly beyond belief. But given Voldemort's personality, what follows will probably be a lot of nonsense. Doesn't he know that villains die from talking too much? Staring at each other and talking so much, is this a blind date? Can't they just fight directly?'
What followed was exactly as Tom had expected. Lord Voldemort first recounted his miserable experiences over the years, then tried to win Harry over to his side, even promising to resurrect Harry's parents.
Tom kept shaking his head at this series of actions.
'Voldemort's brain really isn't working well. You killed his parents, and you still want him to join your side? Are you living in some brain-dead female-oriented web novel? Besides, you're not a beauty like Empress Ruyan; you've made yourself ugly and grotesque. A looks-obsessed person like Harry would be disgusted just by looking at you.'
'As for resurrecting Harry's parents, that's even more ridiculous. You've been half-dead for so many years yourself; if you want to resurrect someone, resurrect yourself first. Even Ron Weasley wouldn't believe that excuse.'
'Also, since you like to complain so much, why don't you take some time to write a memoir? Call it "My First Half-Life." I'll make sure to give a copy to everyone at Hogwarts to support you.'
Just as Tom was looking at Lord Voldemort with disdain, Lord Voldemort finally lost patience and, tearing off his facade, moved to attack Harry.
"Ah!!!"
When Harry touched Quirrell, Quirrell let out a piercing scream, and the part of his arm that made contact was first petrified, then turned to dust.
'Is this the ancient magic left by Lily? It's truly astonishing, no wonder even Voldemort covets it.'
Witnessing Lily's sacrificial protection charm for the first time, Tom couldn't help but feel secretly startled, but then a new question arose in his mind.
'Where did Lily's ancient magic come from? It doesn't seem like Dumbledore gave it to her.'
After thinking carefully for a moment, combining a theory he had heard in his previous life, Tom thought of a possibility.
'Unspeakables, Department of Mysteries.'
Just as Tom was considering finding time to explore the Department of Mysteries again, the battle on Harry's side was already nearing its end.
Quirrell was firmly held down by Harry, and under the effect of the protection charm, his entire body disintegrated into dust.
Lord Voldemort, having lost his host, transformed into a wisp of black smoke, passed through Harry's body, and prepared to escape.
But unexpectedly, at that very moment, Lord Voldemort felt excruciating pain and let out a sharp wail. His already fragmented soul suffered even more severe damage at this moment and would not recover for a very long time.
Lord Voldemort couldn't help but look back, wanting to see who had done it, only to see Tom holding his wand, smiling at him, and saying in a relaxed and cheerful tone: "A small gift, no need to thank me."
What made his eyes split with rage was that Tom, at an angle Dumbledore couldn't see, took out the Gaunt ring, which was extremely familiar to him, and put it on his own finger, then said the word to him in a mocking tone: "Loser!"
At this moment, Lord Voldemort's defenses shattered, and he roared at Tom with burning fury: "Tom Riddle, how, how dare you!!! I'll kill you!!!"
Tom raised an eyebrow, even picking his ear with his pinky, completely disregarding Lord Voldemort's impotent barking like a loser.
However, Lord Voldemort's rage didn't last long, because a certain white-bearded old man NPC, who made regular appearances, also revealed his form.
Upon seeing Dumbledore appear, Tom knew that this game, named the Harry Growth Plan, was over. He immediately took off the ring and threw it back into his storage space while Dumbledore's attention was still on Lord Voldemort.
And the moment Lord Voldemort saw Dumbledore appear, he instantly lost his temper, disregarding his injuries, and fled in a hurry without looking back, leaving only that one sentence representing his final stubbornness.
"Dumbledore, and Tom Riddle, you just wait, I will be back!!!"