My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 150, Section 147: Dumbledore, come out and collect the corpse!

Jerry was stunned when he heard the sound coming from the ball in his hand.

He held the sphere formed by the Soul-Sealing Curse in front of his face, and inside he could vaguely see a transparent thing floating around.

"Where is Mrs. Cole? What are you doing? What have you done to me? Child trafficking is illegal in Britain, you know that!" the childish voice shouted repeatedly from inside the ball.

Jerry stared blankly at the ball in his hand, then suddenly asked a question.

"Are you Tom Riddle? Are you eleven years old and live at Wood's Orphanage?"

Upon hearing his question, the boy's voice inside the ball spoke fiercely.

"I'm eight years old! And now that you know I'm an orphan, release me immediately! Even if you arrest me, no one will pay your ransom!"

Jerry remained silent for a long time. He didn't know why things had turned out this way. He had captured Voldemort, but he had also truly become Little Tom!

While he was thinking, he subconsciously kneaded the ball like clay, causing little Tom inside the ball to yell.

"Did we succeed or fail?" Marsall and Tuffy surrounded Jerry.

Jerry hesitated before saying, "I guess we can call this a success?"

Hagrid was standing right next to them and had overheard Jerry's conversation with Tom inside the ball. He stared incredulously at the ball in Jerry's hand.

"Is this really the mysterious person? You've caught the mysterious person!"

Seeing that the battle was over and Hagrid hadn't clashed with the three men in black robes, Harry and Hermione ran out from behind the tree.

They hid next to Hagrid and overheard what he said.

Harry was startled.

"Voldemort? Where is Voldemort?"

Hagrid pointed with his finger at the small ball that Jerry had crumpled into a ball in his hand.

Harry was stunned.

Although it was somewhat disrespectful, the thought still popped into his head.

So his parents died because of such a ball?

Hermione paid no attention to Voldemort; ever since she ran to Hagrid's side, she had been staring at the black-robed man who called himself Jerry.

For some reason, she had a strange feeling that the black-robed man's behavior was very similar to Lynn's.

But Hermione didn't make a fuss or ask. She was a smart girl. If Lynn wanted to hide his identity, he must have his reasons. What if she exposed him now and caused him trouble?

Then the little girl shifted her gaze from Jerry and stared intently at the black-robed man named Tuffy. So who is this woman who is acting with Lynn?

While the group of six were each lost in their own thoughts, a voice suddenly rang out.

"You really gave me a big surprise, Belloc."

All eyes turned toward the direction from which the sound came.

Under a tree, an old man with a bushy white beard and wearing moon-shaped glasses stood there. He seemed to have been there for a long time, but no one around him noticed him.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Hagrid and Harry exclaimed.

Hermione immediately ran to Lynn's side. Since Professor Dumbledore had already revealed his identity, Hermione was naturally not afraid that she would ruin Lynn's plans.

"Take off your hat!"

The little girl's voice sounded somewhat unhappy.

Lynn pulled down his hat, revealing his true face. He rubbed Hermione's head, and Hermione struggled for a moment but couldn't break free.

Dumbledore walked up to Lynn, and he didn't seem to be putting on an act; he was genuinely surprised.

"I really didn't expect it to end like this."

Lynn showed no fear in front of Dumbledore. He had never intended to hide anything from Dumbledore in the first place, and it was even better that Dumbledore had seen everything that had just happened.

"Professor Dumbledore, was that really Voldemort?" Harry stood next to Dumbledore, pointing at the orb in Lynn's hand and stammering.

Dumbledore shook his head, his blue eyes, which seemed to see through people's hearts, staring at the little ball that had sensed something was wrong and had quieted down to eavesdrop on their conversation. A complex expression appeared on his face.

"To be precise, Voldemort is dead; Tom Riddle is the one who is still alive."

Harry looked bewildered; he couldn't understand what those words meant.

Dumbledore didn't explain further to him; he looked around at everyone present and said...

"I know you still have many questions, but it's very late, so let's all go back to sleep. Pretend nothing happened what just happened, and don't tell anyone—remember, nobody."

He then extended his hand to Lynn.

"Belok, could you hand me this little boy you're holding?"

Lynn had no objection. As long as Voldemort was captured, Lynn didn't care what he became. He originally intended to use this as a pledge of loyalty, and he couldn't wait for Dumbledore to ask him for it.

"Of course I can teach him." Tom was handed to Dumbledore. "Can I come to your office tomorrow morning and have a chat with you?"

Dumbledore did not refuse him.

"You're always welcome in my office. Tomorrow's password is lemonade. I'll be waiting for you."

On the way back to the castle, Hermione stayed close to Lynn.

She had already seen that the man in the black robe named Tuffy was actually Lynn's friend Ian in disguise, so her wariness naturally disappeared, but she was still angry.

"So, why didn't you tell me beforehand that you were going to do something so dangerous? What do you mean by keeping it from me?"

Lynn listened to Hermione's little tantrum, but he didn't find it annoying at all; on the contrary, he found it very amusing.

"That's why we don't dare tell you, it's because it's too dangerous. Didn't you see that the three of us are hiding our identities? If we fail in the end and Voldemort gets away, we'll be in big trouble."

Hermione wrinkled her nose. She wasn't an unreasonable girl. Since Lynn had already said that, she certainly wouldn't continue to throw a tantrum.

At this moment, Harry, who had been silently following them without saying a word, suddenly hesitated and spoke.

"Senior Belloc"

Lynn corrected his form of address: "Just call me Lynn. I'm only one year older than you. It feels awkward when you call me senior."

"So, Lynn, that means Professor Quirrell was the one who actually wanted to steal the Philosopher's Stone all along?"

Lynn knew exactly what Harry wanted to ask.

"It is indeed Professor Quirrell. You want to ask about Professor Snape, right?"

Harry nodded. He actually had many questions, not just about Snape, but also about Voldemort tonight.

"I can't answer that for you. You should ask Professor Dumbledore when you have the chance; he will tell you."

Harry got no answer from him and, disappointed, walked back to the Gryffindor common room with Hermione.

Hermione made an appointment with Lynn before leaving.

See you at the library tomorrow afternoon.

At the castle gate, before the three parted ways, Lynn smiled as he looked at Cedric and Ian.

"Whether tonight's events will be recorded in the history of magic or whether we will be known to future generations because of this, we have succeeded now."

"Yes, we succeeded," Cedric said with relief. "We captured the Dark Lord who plunged the entire wizarding world into darkness."

Even Ian had a rare, slight upturn at the corners of his mouth. It felt really great to have worked so hard with his friends to accomplish something big.

Lynn put his arm around one of the men's shoulders, and the three of them walked into Hogwarts Castle.

"I cannot predict the future, nor can I see it clearly, but I know it will be bright!"

The promised Umaru-chan side story will be added at the end of this volume, with Voldemort turning into Tom. That should be considered a crazy move, right?

(End of this chapter)