Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 248 Saying this name
Tom Riddle, now back to his true form, expressed strong disdain for Gilderoy Lockhart's wish to "make all magicians and non-magical beings live in harmony," but then abruptly changed the subject:
"However, things changed when Lockhart told me he would be the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts."

At this moment, the smile on Riddle's face was no less than that of Lockhart, who had won the Most Charming Smile award five times.

"I patiently began to play the role of a close friend, writing some replies to him: filling his vanity with sweet words, satisfying his arrogance with false wisdom..."

Finally, Lockhart began to trust me and brought my diary to Hogwarts.

However, he remained wary of me and was unwilling to use the magic I taught him to show off, preferring to try it himself.

I was initially a little worried, but I hadn't expected that even I had overestimated his strength—those mere little Pokémon weren't even worth calling a problem, yet he was completely helpless against them!

As he said this, a hint of pity even appeared on Riddle's face.

Sherlock and Hermione exchanged a glance but said nothing.

"As you have seen in the end, everything was under my control."

With the foundation laid in the first lesson, he began to rely on me more and more in subsequent lessons.

Not to brag, but Holmes, I've always been able to use different methods on different people and bewilder them at will.

So this fool went from distrusting me at the beginning to obeying me completely, until... he opened his whole soul to me.

And that's exactly what I need.

Riddle spread his arms wide, enjoying the exhilarating feeling of being filled with power:
"The moment he opened his soul, I devoured it like a basilisk devouring its prey—his fears, his secrets, his deepest desires."

I devoured his most hidden fears and deepest secrets, my appetite growing ever larger.

I gradually grew stronger, becoming much stronger than this man who only knew the Oblivion Spell.

Powerful enough to reveal several of my secrets to Mr. Lockhart, and to begin opening a small part of my soul to him as well.

Gradually, I transformed from a memory into an entity capable of controlling a physical body...

As you can see, Mr. Lockhart is absolutely smitten with me.

Sherlock frowned; he didn't like that way of putting it.

"The more at ease Professor Lockhart becomes in the later lessons, the stronger your control over him becomes."

“Well said, Holmes,” Tom said, looking at Sherlock with interest. “Now you should be able to guess what happened, right?”

"It's not a 'guess,' it's an inference."

Sherlock looked at Riddle: "The course of events is obvious:"

You control Lockhart to open the Chamber of Secrets, causing him to kill the school's rooster and unleash Slytherin's Basilisk to attack the students, along with a cat and a ghost.

"I don't understand why you had Pansy write that line on the wall in the first place; you could have just had Lockhart do it."

"Yes, yes, this is something I didn't expect at all."

Riddle laughed again, this time his voice was cold and harsh, not at all like that of a sixteen-year-old.

This made the hairs on the back of Hermione's and Harry's necks, who were invisible, stand on end.

After a moment, he stopped sneering and said in a fierce tone:

"That filthy, lowly mud-blood, when he discovered my purpose, actually dared to try to control me and make me work for him!"
He even promised me that in the future he would share that supreme honor with me—to become a hero who makes wizards and Muggles live in harmony.
Absolutely...disgusting!

“I think that’s where Professor Lockhart is more noble than you.”

Sherlock said coldly, "Because he didn't want to do it himself, you tried to control Pansy?"

"Heh, he was indeed unwilling to do it at first, so I had to get someone else to do it through him. This took a lot of my effort..."

But it doesn't matter. From the moment he agreed to open the secret room, his life was no longer in his own hands.

Speaking of which, I should thank him for fulfilling my wish and letting me enjoy the thrill of becoming a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

Mr. Holmes, that's why I'm not unfamiliar with you, after all, I was your teacher for a whole semester!
However, of all the students I've taught this semester, only you and Harry Potter have earned my respect.

"Thank you."

"You are Welcome."

After thoroughly humiliating Lockhart, Riddle regained his elegant demeanor:
"Mr. Lockhart told me all the thrilling and fascinating stories about Harry Potter, which made me very interested in this savior of the wizarding world."

I tried to persuade him to give the notebook to Harry. If I could see Harry, I would make sure the savior witnessed me capturing that big idiot Hagrid and gain his trust.

Unfortunately, this was the only point Mr. Lockhart absolutely refused to agree to—which was a real shame!

At this moment, Harry, standing next to Sherlock, was furious.

He used almost all his strength to control himself and prevent himself from rushing forward and punching Riddle.

The clenched fists were so strong that the slightly sharp nails dug deep into the palms, causing waves of excruciating pain.

"Actually, I think you should thank the Ministry of Magic."

"Why do you say that, Mr. Holmes?" "If they hadn't been so eager to close the case that they had just found any criminal, your framing would have been full of holes."

From any perspective, Rubeus Hagrid, a half-giant sorted into Gryffindor, could not possibly be Slytherin's heir.

“Hahahaha!” Riddle laughed again. “Sherlock Holmes, no, Sherlock, you really are…”

He looked Sherlock over with an admiring gaze:
“Absolutely right! But you might also consider the situation facing Principal Armando Dippert:”
Tom Riddle, born into poverty but exceptionally intelligent, orphaned but brave and resourceful, is a prefect and a model student at school.

Rupert Hagrid is savage, clumsy, and gets into trouble every week. He raises werewolf cubs under his bed and sneaks into the Forbidden Forest to fight trolls.

Anyone with a sound mind wouldn't doubt me, right?
However, I must admit that even I did not expect the plan to proceed so smoothly.

You know, it took me a full five years to figure out the situation of the secret room and discover the secret entrance.

Even disregarding Hagrid's background, this big, simple-minded guy couldn't possibly have the brains or the ability to do something like this.

"That's why I said you should thank the Ministry of Magic. Without them, your plan wouldn't have gone so smoothly."

"Yes, yes, I will thank them properly when I have the chance in the future—but Dumbledore, the Transfiguration teacher, firmly believes that Hagrid is innocent."

Not only that, he also persuaded Dippert to keep Hagrid and trained him to be a gamekeeper.

I must say, although Dumbledore personally brought me to Hogwarts, he didn't like me like the other teachers did.

"I must say, your words have improved my impression of Dumbledore somewhat."

Sherlock glanced discreetly in a certain direction. "Let's continue our conversation. Tell me what you did after that, and why you left it in your diary."

"Ever since Hagrid was expelled, I've known that it's not safe to open the secret room while I'm still in school."

"You are self-aware."

"Thank you for your compliment, Sherlock."

"You're welcome, Riddle."

The conversation between the two had reversed from what it had just been.

This made Hermione frown.

She sensed that something was wrong with the situation.

Both Sherlock and Tom Riddle's behavior is rather abnormal, isn't it?
Based on last year's experience, shouldn't the two of them have started fighting as soon as they met?
But now...

One was elegant and composed, the other calm and collected.

Judging from their attitudes alone, they seemed like old friends who hadn't seen each other for years, without a trace of hostility.

Under Hermione's questioning gaze, Riddle manipulated Lockhart's wand in a series of dazzling and complex movements, and continued slowly:

"I didn't want all my years of searching for the secret room to go to waste, so I decided to keep a diary and preserve the sixteen-year-old me in those pages."

In this way, one day, I might, by chance, guide another person to follow in my footsteps and complete the noble work of Salazar Slytherin.

"Later, the real you handed over the part of you that preserved the memories of being sixteen to Lucius Malfoy at some point," Sherlock sighed. "You were lucky; you just managed to escape the school entrance exam."

“I’ve also heard about this from Mr. Lockhart.”

Riddle glanced at Lockhart again and said with a hint of disdain, "But even if they check him, I don't think this diary I made can be found out."

"You certainly have a lot of confidence in yourself."

"Of course, after all, I am the greatest wizard in history!"

"Is this why you abandoned the name Tom Riddle?"

"Otherwise what? Do you think I'm going to use my filthy Muggle father's name for the rest of my life?"
You should know that the blood of Salazar Slytherin flows in my veins, passed down to me through the daughter of his descendant!

That disgusting ordinary Muggle abandoned me before I was even born, simply because he discovered his wife was a witch!

No, Sherlock, I've come up with a new name for myself.

Because I know that one day, when I become the greatest magician in the world, wizards everywhere will not dare to utter my name lightly.

Looking back now, I did it!

"No, you didn't."

Sherlock said bluntly, "Both of the people standing in front of you can easily say this name—Voldemort."

In response to Sherlock, Hermione quickly added, "Voldemort."

After saying this, she even gently scratched Sherlock's palm twice with her fingers.

Noticing Hermione's little gesture, Sherlock turned to look at her.

Hermione: ヾ(o)ヾ
(End of this chapter)