"He can't beat me."
Vider stopped in his tracks, turning to meet Dumbledore's azure eyes.
Dumbledore was slightly taken aback; Vider's answer could be said to be extremely reasonable.
"We've arrived," Vider said again.
Only then did Dumbledore notice that they were already standing in front of a wooden door.
Vider pushed open Tom's door as if it were his own home.
"Tom, this... Mr. Dumbledopol has something to tell us," Vider walked inside.
Vider deliberately mispronounced Dumbledore's name because Mrs. Cole had mispronounced it during her introduction just moments before.
Dumbledore corrected him with a helpless smile, "Actually, my name is Dumbledore, Albus Dumbledore. I am a professor."
Tom was sitting on his blanket, holding a book, looking at this self-proclaimed professor with a hint of vigilance.
Dumbledore extended a hand, "Hello, Tom."
After hesitating for a moment and glancing at Vider, Tom finally reached out and shook hands with Dumbledore.
Dumbledore pulled over a chair and sat down, while Vider sat directly on Tom's bed.
"A professor? Is it about the same as a 'doctor'? What are you doing here?" Tom said, casting another wary glance at Vider.
"I am Professor Dumbledore. I work at a school called Hogwarts. I've come to take you to my school... which will be your new school, if you wish."
Upon hearing Dumbledore's words, Tom's reaction was extreme. He sprang up from the blanket as if propelled by a spring, retreating far away from Dumbledore with a face full of anger.
"Who on earth are you?! What are you really doing here? Tell the truth!" He pronounced the last three words with weighty emphasis, sounding like an order.
He glared angrily at Dumbledore with wide eyes, but Dumbledore only smiled pleasantly and didn't answer.
"Who the hell are you?" Tom asked again, enunciating every single word.
Dumbledore said patiently, "I've just told you, I am Professor Dumbledore..."
"No! Don't you try to trick me! You're from the psychiatric hospital, aren't you? A 'professor', yes, of course! I'm not going, you hear me?"
Tom said with an agitated expression. Suddenly, his gaze fell upon Vider, and his face changed drastically in an instant.
Recalling Vider's unusual behavior today in urging him to come back and rest early, Tom instantly figured out the "truth"!
"... You called him here, didn't you? You're finally going to make a move against me, aren't you? That's it, you're going to send me to a lunatic asylum! You... how vicious of you!"
Dumbledore cast a peculiar look at Vider.
Vider shrugged, "You know, we've had a fight."
Connecting this with what Vider had said earlier about Tom not being able to beat him, Dumbledore's expression became even stranger.
Clearly, the relationship between Vider and Tom was definitely much more than just having had a single fight.
Judging by Tom's stress reaction, he had definitely been heavily oppressed by Vider...
"I am not from a psychiatric hospital," Dumbledore turned his head and said patiently to Tom once again. "I am a teacher. If you can sit down quietly, I will tell you what kind of place Hogwarts is. Of course, if you don't want to go there, no one will force you..."
"And..." Dumbledore glanced at Vider again, "besides you, Vider is also on my invitation list."
"You mean... he's going too?" Tom looked suspiciously between Dumbledore and Vider.
"Tom, can you calm down, pull yourself together, and stop making a fool of yourself?"
Vider's words made Tom's face flush red. His panicky, jumping-around behavior just now truly had been rather embarrassing...
Seeing that Tom had finally calmed down, Dumbledore continued, "Hogwarts is a school that takes in students with special abilities..."
To Tom's ears, this description sounded far too much like a mental institution!
"I'm not crazy..." Tom had barely started his sentence when he once again met Vider's calm gaze.
In the end, he closed his mouth, swallowed the second half of his sentence, and let Dumbledore continue speaking.
"... It is a school of magic."
"Magic?" Tom whispered, repeating the word.
"That's right."
"So the things I can do are magic..." Tom looked at his own hands with a trace of excitement.
"What can you do?" Dumbledore asked with keen interest.
"Anything," Riddle panted, a flush of excitement appearing on his sunken cheeks, making him look quite fanatical.
"I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals obey me without training. I can make people who annoy me suffer. I can make them get hurt if I want to..."
Before Tom could finish his gesticulating words, he once again... met Vider's gaze, and his excited emotions instantly cooled down...
*... Except for Vider! That bastard!* Having calmed down, Tom slowly sat back down.
Dumbledore likewise looked at Vider, "Vider, you don't seem all that excited. Did you know what your abilities were long ago?"
"No, I only just found out... Just like Tom, I was indeed aware of my own differences. However, since this was already my ability to begin with, now that I merely know what this ability is, what is there to get excited about?"
Dumbledore nodded, "You're right, Vider..."
*What a peculiar child... So steady that he doesn't seem like an eleven-year-old at all. What on earth has he been through in the past?*
"You are both wizards," Dumbledore continued.
"That being the case, you must be a wizard too?" Vider asked.
"Yes, I am a wizard as well. I possess special abilities just like you two."
"Prove it to me," Riddle said immediately.
The imperative tone was identical to the one he had used earlier when he said "Tell the truth".
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.
"If I prove this to you, you must come with me to Hogwarts..."
"Of course I will!"
"Then you must address me as 'Professor' or 'Sir'."
Riddle's expression froze for a split second before he spoke. He adopted an almost imperceptibly polite tone, "I'm sorry, sir, I mean... please, Professor, could you show me..."
Dumbledore didn't waste any words; he simply pulled a dark, slender wand from the inner pocket of his suit jacket.
Vider raised an eyebrow, a flicker of anticipation in his eyes.
Dumbledore pointed his wand at the old wardrobe in the corner and gave it a casual wave.
"Boom!"
Fierce flames instantly engulfed the old wardrobe!
"Ah!" Tom shrieked and jumped up again. All his worldly possessions were in that wardrobe!
Just as Tom was hopping mad and about to question Dumbledore, the flames vanished instantly, and the wardrobe still stood there, completely unscathed, as if nothing had just happened.