Hogwarts: I, Tom, am not the Dark Lord

Tom is a time traveler.

When he was six years old and his magic was rioting, it also helped Tom awaken his past life memories.

Of course, Tom didn't know at first that this was the world of Harry Potter, but it wasn't until he started participating in math competitions in the third grade that he met an opponent named Hermione Granger.

And after asking, he learned that Miss Granger's father was a dentist, and he was completely numb.

It's actually the Wizarding World of Harry Potter?

His name in this life has extraordinary meaning in this world.

Tom Riddle, isn't that Voldemort?

After that, Tom did think about whether he should change his name.

But putting aside the fact that he is a minor, if one wants to legally change his name or even his surname, he needs to become an adult to do so.

The risk of being caught by Hogwarts even after changing his name was not something he could gamble on.

After all, it was a magnificent and magical world, and Tom didn't want to take the risk of missing this opportunity.

So Tom has lived with this name with great consequences until today, and the day before yesterday he received the admission letter from Hogwarts as he wished.

But Tom didn't expect that it wasn't Hagrid or McGonagall who came to lead him into the magical world.

Instead, Dumbledore took action personally.

But he could understand why it would alarm the greatest white wizard of this century.

Tom Riddle was too special for Dumbledore.

Especially since his experience was so similar to Tom's, it was normal for Dumbledore to come and see in person whether he was Voldemort's reincarnation.

When Dumbledore raised the question just now, it was the first difficulty Tom faced.

Why didn't he show any shock or doubt?

Tom didn't think his act of shock could fool Dumbledore, an old man with rich experience and who had lived for more than a hundred years.

It would be better to handle it the same way as before, openly showing off one's talent and using it as an excuse.

Of course, this is also a gamble.

Betting on Dumbledore's character, he would not become hostile to him just because of his name and use Legilimency to explore his memory.

If he made a wrong bet... then he would surrender on the spot and tell everything. It seemed that he had nothing to lose. Maybe he could even witness Dumbledore's heroic feat of quickly collecting seven Horcruxes.

But there is no guarantee that he will be sliced ​​and studied afterwards.

Fortunately, he made the right bet, and Dumbledore still had good character and did not do anything out of line.

"Mr. Riddle, I didn't expect today to go so smoothly."

Dumbledore stood up and extended an invitation: "It's still early, why don't we get everything you need ready right away? I also need to go to Diagon Alley to pick up something today."

"Of course, sir, please wait a moment."

Tom nodded, walked to the desk, and took out a wad of banknotes from the drawer, mostly ten- and five-pound notes.

In the UK, the largest denomination note is fifty pounds, even after decades of severe inflation. Fifty pounds is mostly used for large transactions. I don't know if you will be beaten if you give fifty pounds to someone for change at a convenience store, but you will definitely get someone to greet your relatives and friends with a word starting with f.

"Mr. Riddle."

Dumbledore then remembered what he had forgotten and said, "For students from needy families, Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic have established loan programs that do not require repayment."

"But I'm not difficult, am I?"

Tom counted it out, a total of 1,200 pounds, and smiled and waved it at Dumbledore.

Chapter 3: The Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley

Tom doesn't have any special cheats, but perhaps because he has been a human in two lives, his memory, although not photographic memory, is much better than that of ordinary people. He also has a strong learning ability.

Don't think that competitions only happen among students in the East; the same is true in British schools.

Tom managed to save a certain amount of money by relying on prize money from various competitions, school grants, government subsidies, and even TV appearance fees.

What he had in the drawer was just his daily pocket money. He also had a deposit of 40,000 pounds sitting in his bank account, earning interest.

When Dumbledore learned that Tom was so capable, he could only give him a thumbs up to express his admiration.

After saying hello to Alman, Tom followed Dumbledore out of the children's home.

If it were any other child, Arman would never be so relieved, but Tom's understanding and ability since childhood made her feel a lot more relaxed.

Perhaps, there may be a reason why Dumbledore secretly used magic?

Walking on the tree-lined path, Dumbledore did not use wizarding methods to save time. Instead, he took Tom towards the train station with great interest. Along the way, he asked some life questions like an elder who cares about his juniors.

Tom did not hide any of this and told his situation frankly.

He was abandoned and became an orphan. His appearance in this world was an accident. His parents only gave him his name and surname as a birth gift and then abandoned him at the door of the orphanage.

The next time I heard about them was from a plane crash news report.

The two of them had no inheritance and were heavily in debt, but fortunately he didn't have to pay it back.

After hearing this, Dumbledore twitched the corner of his mouth.

This kind of thing seems to happen quite often in the Muggle world. People get pregnant unexpectedly and give birth to their children because of the strict restrictions on abortion. When they find out that they are unable to raise the child, they abandon the child and leave it to the government to clean up the mess, while they go about their lives.

Little did they know that the English wizarding world had already reached a certain level of lack of young people. The Weasley family was a minority after all. With six boys and one girl standing together, which pure-blood family would not be envious?

I wonder how many people regretted not marrying Molly Weasley, otherwise their family would have been prosperous.

All I can say is that people of the same country have different destinies.

"I see the children in the children's home seem to be quite afraid of you?"

While sighing in his heart, Dumbledore did not forget to dig out some more things.

Until the two of them went out, the little boy named Seth was still obediently following Tom's instructions and hitting the sandbag.

This scene brought back some bad memories for him.

"gentlemen."

Tom stopped and looked up at Dumbledore, but his beard was too thick, so the boy couldn't see his full face. He could only meet his deep eyes.

"Do you know what the biggest fear of an orphan is?"

Dumbledore pretended to listen attentively.

"You're afraid that others will know your cowardice."

Tom continued, "Once people find out you're easy to bully, they'll try to bully you for pleasure."

"And the best way to prevent bullying... is to arm yourself and be the first to bully others."

Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly, and his beard twitched.

"Of course, I'm not bullying Seth," Tom said, trying to justify himself. "He's my friend. I'm just teaching him some self-defense skills. He's going to middle school soon, and he needs to be able to protect himself."

"He will understand your painstaking efforts." Dumbledore thought of how Seth, despite his bitter expression, still diligently completed the task assigned by Tom. He also knew that the two had a good relationship. His mood suddenly improved a lot, and he said cheerfully:

"I think you have the potential to be an excellent Hufflepuff, provided you don't bully others, of course."

"Hufflepuff? What's that?"

"The name of a college, each of which is extremely outstanding..."

The shadows of the two people became longer and longer, and gradually disappeared on Elm Avenue.

.....

After an hour and a half of traveling by train and then by subway, the two finally arrived at the entrance of Diagon Alley - the dirty and shabby Leaky Cauldron.

Three o'clock in the afternoon is not the busiest time, and there are only two or three tables with customers.

When they saw Dumbledore, all the wizards who were drinking and bragging immediately stood up and greeted him awkwardly. The hunchbacked man who was wiping the bar with a dirty rag also hurried over to greet him with a smile on his face:

"Good afternoon, Professor Dumbledore."

"Good afternoon, Tom. Oh, no, there's another Tom here."

Dumbledore laughed and introduced the two men to each other, "Mr. Riddle, this is Tom. Isn't it wonderful? Tom, Mr. Riddle is a new student this year. I'm here to take him shopping."

"It's fate, it's fate. Nice to meet you, little Tom."

The bar owner Tom laughed heartily. Although the British Tom didn't have 100,000 or 80,000, he was even more enthusiastic than before for Dumbledore's sake and invited:

"After you finish shopping, you can sit down and have a drink. It's my treat. It's the non-alcoholic version of Butterbeer."

"good idea."

Dumbledore agreed. "Then we must hurry. See you later, Tom."

"See you later, Dumbledore."

Dumbledore took Tom through the bar and to the small patio at the back. He took out a wand with knobby protrusions and explained how to enter Diagon Alley.

"Count three upwards, two sideways..."

Three taps of the wand and the masonry began to shift, opening in the blink of an eye to a wide archway, through which a bustling crowd of people rushed.

Tom's eyes lit up as he looked at the dense crowd inside.

"A magical world..."

"Yes, the magical world." Dumbledore liked Tom's expression at this moment very much. He finally saw in him what a child should be like.

"Let's go, the most important thing... money."

Dumbledore took Tom across the street and came to the door of Gringotts. Because he was so popular, people kept greeting Dumbledore and saying hello in the short distance of a few hundred meters.

At the grand entrance of Gringotts, two goblins bowed respectfully. One of them became their personal receptionist and led the two to the front desk to exchange money.

Chapter 4: Borrowing Money from the Principal? The Frightened Master Wandmaker

"Each person can only exchange for 70 Galleons, but because of Dumbledore, I can give you a limit of 100 Galleons, a total of 505 pounds, including a 5-pound handling fee."

"So little?" Tom frowned in dissatisfaction. "Professor Dumbledore just told me that it can usually be exchanged for around 200 Galleons."

“Because times have changed.”