HP/LOTM: Visionary - 374

Chapter 374: Charms Class and Professor Aiden's Private Lesson

Monday, the first class of the students' return was Professor Flitwick's Charms class.

"Come on, raise your wands, repeat after me. Aguamenti."

Professor Flitwick stood on top of the book pile, guiding students on the spell incantation and the proper wand movement.

Aiden raised his wand lightly, and water flowed from the tip. He then controlled the water stream to draw a small flower in the air.

Seamus, sitting across from him, was still immersed in last night's Apparition lesson, wielding his wand with force. As a result, the water stream that spurted out was like a high-pressure water gun, spraying onto the ceiling and then reflecting down to drench Professor Flitwick.

Aiden waved his wand once, and a hexagonal crystal shield appeared. His two roommates smartly hid behind him. The surging flood was blocked outside the shield, but the other young wizards weren't so fortunate.

"Stop, put away your wand, Mr. Finnegan." Professor Flitwick climbed up from the ground angrily.

Using a spell to dry his clothes, Professor Flitwick came before Seamus.

"I am a wizard, not a baboon brandishing a stick. Copy it until class ends."

Professor Flitwick issued the punishment, then swept his gaze across the other young wizards. They all fell silent.

After class, Edmund and his roommate were fighting over Aiden's notes. Aiden, meanwhile, sensed that Harry had received his little toy and was paying constant attention to Draco, his crush.

Aiden didn't pay much attention to Harry either, just finishing dinner early and heading to the Headmaster's office to prepare Harry's lesson.

As night fell, Harry entered a dream.

He felt himself falling continuously, finally crashing onto a conference table.

"Welcome," Aiden said. He rested his leg on the conference table.

He waved his hand, and Harry felt the world spinning. Then he was sitting beside Aiden.

"Hold on, this feeling is a bit terrible," Harry raised his hand to stop it.

"Oh, sorry," Aiden snapped his fingers, and a glass of lemonade appeared at Harry's side.

Harry picked it up and drained it in one go, then felt his stomach settle considerably.

"In any case, let's begin today's lesson," Aiden said, looking at Harry.

Harry didn't respond, just nodded to him.

Aiden extended his hand and tapped three times on the table. A mist wrapped around them both, taking them back to Hogwarts from several decades ago.

The first memory appeared from Dumbledore's point of view. Harry had seen Tom from the orphanage on a previous occasion. By this time, he had already put on wizard robes, and his handsome appearance drew the attention of many young wizards.

And Tom himself seemed to greatly enjoy this attention. A slight smile played at his lips.

When Professor Merrythought called out his name with parchment, he walked forward. The Sorting Hat had shouted Slytherin before it even touched Tom's head.

Then Harry witnessed Tom's school life.

As a student, he was well-behaved and courteous. His magical talents far exceeded normal standards, and combined with his exceptional appearance, he nearly won the affection of all teachers.

"Feel like he's a bit similar to you?" Harry turned back, confused.

Aiden looked at him with a 'kind' expression.

"Forget it, pretend I didn't say anything," Harry wisely backed down.

However, the Dumbledore in this memory had weathered many trials, and through his mastery of hatred-reversal and understanding of love magic derived from it, he could naturally sense that this boy, named Tom Riddle, harbored not a shred of love in his heart.

So he maintained twelve times the vigilance toward this boy. Equally, Tom discovered Dumbledore's awareness and distanced himself.

Then the tone changed. Good student Tom disappeared, bad boy Tom came online.

He used various means to threaten and entice, gathering a group of friends who were naturally cruel, clung to the strong, or sought shelter under his wings.

Harry saw a flash of platinum in the crowd, then turned back to look at Aiden.

"That's Draco's fa..."

"Yes, it's his grandfather," Aiden cut him off decisively.

"Oh, so that means Voldemort is already very old?" Harry always managed to catch on to strange details.

Although the faction Tom built didn't dare commit evil openly at school, they did commit bullying, cruelty to small animals, and similar acts. The biggest incident was releasing the Basilisk to kill Myrtle.

This action angered the school. Aiden deliberately let Harry see himself sleeping in the sea of consciousness.

Harry's eyes widened, but seeing Aiden's calm expression, he swallowed his question.

In the sea of consciousness, a massive castle rose up and actively cut off protection for Tom. From then on, Tom, who lost the protection of the mental defense network, delved deeper into the path of Dark Magic research. His mind was riddled with holes.

The memory dissipated like ink. Harry leaned back in his chair and let out a deep breath.

"So, did you discover his weakness?" Aiden fiddled with his wand.

"I did. Arrogance, contempt... this weakness that he carried all along, he always unconsciously overlooked. Or rather, he never opened his eyes to see the power of the weak."

Harry pondered the several failures in Voldemort's student years. They were all defeated by the very things he most despised. This indirectly led to him never being able to receive the castle's protection again, from then on going further and further down the dark path of mental degradation with no return.

"That..." Harry wanted to ask about the sea of consciousness, but Aiden didn't give him the chance.

"Good, next is the second memory."

Aiden snapped his fingers again, and the ink wrapped around them once more.

At sixteen, Tom became unusually fascinated with his own origins after a Slug Club gathering. After some investigation, Tom came to the place where his parents had once lived, the village of Little Hangleton.

Here, he met his uncle Morfin Gaunt. Clearly, this memory came from Morfin Gaunt's perspective.

After old Marvolo Gaunt was released from prison, with no one to care for him, he soon died of illness. Subsequently, after being released from prison, Morfin Gaunt lived alone in the old Gaunt house.

"Who are you!" Morfin Gaunt looked coldly at Tom, who had broken into the Gaunt house, speaking in Parseltongue.

"I am Tom Marvolo Riddle!" Tom announced his identity to his uncle.

"Is that you? You're the half-breed bastard born of Merope and that dirty Muggle!"

Morfin Gaunt angered Tom with his very first words. Subsequently, he was controlled by a Body-Bind Curse.

From Morfin Gaunt's mouth, Tom learned of the greatness and glory of his bloodline. A mad and evil plan formed in his mind.

He took the chaos fragments he had removed from school, and also took his uncle's wand, and headed to the Riddle mansion.

In the mansion, he sacrificed his grandfather, father, and stepmother, using their lives to construct a ritual, burying the chaos fragments in the Riddle mansion.

This ritual, combined with himself, caused his true name to produce a curse-like effect.