Chapter 12: The Castle on the Lake
Despite his genetic abnormalities, however, Filius proved to be a rather intelligent person. Not as intelligent as Tom, of course, but he was not at all bad company. Better a kid half your size who knew what he was doing than a brute twice your size who didn't.
After a bit more wandering around, they came across a bespectacled girl named Minerva, who was talking to another rather plump girl named Pomona.
All of them were first-years who didn't have very many friends yet (or "not-quite-friends", in Tom's case), and he decided that he might as well start there.
They weren't complete idiots, and Minerva might even give him a run for his money in the "preparedness for school" department, as she, too, had read all of her books beforehand.
Though the fact that he would have some potential competition was annoying at first, Jerry managed to convince him that her existence was quite convenient for Tom, because she was the reference marker for the difference between "reasonably intelligent" and "just completely batshit insane." Therefore, when they got to classes, Tom would have to make sure to hover about her equal in academics – too much smarter, and people would probably look at him like he was an alien from another planet.
If wizards even entertained the idea of extraterrestrial intelligent life.
That seemed to be the extent of intelligent life for the first-years. Anyone else worth talking to was already older than him, and therefore had the advantage of already having a pre-established social circle. Still, Tom managed to make himself known among them by the time the train stopped at Hogwarts, at least.
Something about "accidentally" running into a bully (third-year, in Hufflepuff, surprisingly) – and no, he hadn't gone around seeking out bullies to bully on purpose at Jerry's urging; what are you talking about? – and levitating a pumpkin pasty so that it dropped right onto his face – in front of a large group of upperclassmen.
The Ravenclaws would like him for taking the initiative to master a few spells before Hogwarts. The Hufflepuffs liked him for putting that blemish on their House's reputation in his place.
The Gryffindors liked him for being noble. The Slytherins analyzed his display of power and decided that he would probably become pretty powerful in the future despite the fact that he wasn't pureblood.
And it wasn't suspicious at all, because he didn't use any dark curse, because he was working in self-defense and not as an instigator, and because Minerva and Filius knew how to perform Wingardium Leviosa, too, so it wasn't like he was too far ahead of the curve.
Really, the only unusual thing about the whole situation was the manner in which he applied the spell, but that could be as easily attributed to a little first-year desperately using the only spell in his arsenal on the only loose object in sight as it could to an aspiring Evil Overlord taking very careful advantage of a planned situation to earn the respect and trust of a large group of future allies.
Occam's Razor and all that. Oh, boy were they going to milk it for all its worth.
In the end, the only person really offended by the whole thing was the bully himself, but he didn't have enough in either the power or the brains department to do anything against Tom.
The worst he could do was become an annoying distraction, as no doubt he would hold a grudge against him for this. Then again, annoying distractions could be fatal in crucial times, so maybe they would have to eliminate him in the future.
Or maybe Tom could set things up so that said idiot allied himself with Tom's enemies and thereby drag the whole group down.
Then again, it wasn't very wise to let discontent and grudges fester.
While it was highly likely that this guy would end up as a no-good bum facedown in a sewer and never end up causing any more damage to him than a wooden dart would to a three-foot-thick castle wall, it was also very possible that his petty revenge could end up triggering a chain reaction that would eventually snowball into something far more dangerous.
Given the nature of the occupation of being a Dark Lord, Tom was all too aware of Murphy's Law – anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. It was like the universe had something against evil dictators.
Yeah, this guy would be suffering a very tragic and fatal accident in the near future.
He would not be missed. But if he would be missed, then it was up to Tom to hunt down those people who would miss him and "accident" him, too. You never knew what idiots might come up with some troll conclusion like "that kid Tom was responsible for his tragic death because he dropped a pie on him on the train in 1937 and so I must take revenge!" and actually be right.
But none of that for now. All of the non-first years were already boarding the flying carriages (actually pulled by Threstrals, but Tom hadn't killed anyone yet), leaving the rest to huddle at the edge of the lake.
In a short few moments, a little old man appeared by the docks were all of the boats were parked, introduced himself as Ogg, the Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts, and herded them all onto the boats.
In a few short moments, Hogwarts became fully visible, and this time, Tom couldn't pretend to deny that it wasn't awe-inspiring. Diagon Alley – whatever. Platform 9 ¾ – it was just like any other train.
A full-size fortress from the High Middle Ages staring down at him?
Somewhere in the back of his head he knew that military bunkers were more secure, but that didn't mean Hogwarts wasn't impressive nonetheless.
Unlike Diagon Alley and the train platform, Hogwarts was actually bigger than its Muggle counterpart – the public school Tom had gone to before, as well as the secondary school he should have gone to had Hogwarts not provided him with another alternative, didn't even take up the first floor, even if you included the playgrounds and sports fields.
And unfortunately, Tom had never been to a military bunker, so there was nothing in his memory that could debunk the castle's grandness.
It's pretty cool, I'll admit, Jerry agreed. Definitely better than the model at Universal Studios.
What's Universal Studios?
It's a place in Florida that hasn't been built yet.
Futuristic reference?
Yep.
The boats hit the opposite shore, and they disembarked and began the short walk up to the castle gates.
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