Chapter 66: The Sorting Hat: Azkaban!

"Clang! Detected that the host caused weak psychological trauma to the bad child Malfoy, rewarding the host with 5 merit points."
"Clang..."
"Clang! Detected that the host caused massive psychological trauma to the evil little imp Tom, rewarding the host with 200 merit points."

Listening to the continuous stream of system notifications ringing in his ears, Wade Lee remained completely calm.

There was no help for it; this system was utterly useless. Aside from the items refreshed at the very beginning, it had hardly ever produced anything good thereafter.
Those potion ingredients and alchemy materials could be purchased directly with Galleons; there was no need to spend merit points on them at all.
Could you at least drop something like Phoenix tears?

Wade was so exasperated by the system that he almost wanted to gulp down a mouthful of Felix Felicis and wait for a refresh.
Later, because he was busy studying with the senior sister every night, he stopped paying attention to the system shop that refreshed at midnight, only glancing at it during the day.

...Speaking of the system, previously when he bullied Tom, it barely popped any merit points, leading him to think the kid had turned over a new leaf.
Little did he expect that today, Tom would hit him with such a massive payout... He really knew how to endure.
This made complete sense, though. How could a fellow like Tom possibly stay obedient for long?

Still, the Nightmare Magic turned out to be unexpectedly useful... Grateful to the senior sister!
...

The Hogwarts Express had already departed, and the scenery outside the window was rapidly receding backward...
Tom sat opposite Wade, keeping his head lowered.
Right now, he didn't quite dare to meet Wade's gaze, fearing that Wade might pick a quarrel with him right then and there.
Although Wade said he believed his explanation, but... Tom simply couldn't bring himself to believe Wade's words!
Tom had a premonition that Wade would definitely retaliate; he just didn't know when...
At this thought, anxiety gripped Tom once again.

Suddenly, a few knocks sounded on the compartment door, breaking the unsettling silence that had made Tom feel like he was sitting on pins and needles.
Wade shifted his gaze away from his book and looked toward the door.
The compartment door slid open, and a remarkably pretty girl leaned against the frame, asking with great politeness, "May I come in and sit? There are no seats left outside."

Wade looked at the girl, feeling she looked somewhat familiar, though he couldn't quite place her for a moment.
"Of course, there are still empty seats here," Wade said, sliding the books on the table a little to the side.
"Thank you. The other compartments are all full!" the girl said happily as she walked in, carrying a trunk.
"Tom, don't just sit there like a fool..."

At these words, Tom understood instantly and stood up, taking the trunk from the girl's hands and hoisting it onto the luggage rack.
What could he do? Having just caused trouble, he could only hope that his current obedience would make Wade's eventual retaliation a little less fierce...
*Sigh*, who could possibly be as miserable as me...
Tom sat back down with a sorrowful expression.

"Thank you..." the girl said, looking somewhat embarrassed.
"Just sit wherever you like," Wade smiled.
"Okay..." The girl glanced at the expressionless Tom and ultimately chose to sit next to the warmly smiling Wade.

Wade smiled and said, "I'm Wade Lee, you can call me Wade. This is Tom, Tom Riddle; don't let his silence fool you, he's actually a surprisingly good person. We are both first-year students starting school this year."

Tom raised his head and forced a smile, which looked rather like a twitching of the mouth...
"N... Nice to meet you, I'm Anne Rozier, also a first-year student. You can call me Anne, too. So glad to meet you," Anne said with a smile.

"Rozier..." Wade's eyes lit up. He finally remembered who Anne resembled.
The woman standing beside Grindelwald... Vinda Rozier.
Back in Godric's Hollow, that woman had been together with Grindelwald.
It was just that all of Wade's attention had been focused on Grindelwald at the time, while Vinda had been busy rescuing people, which was why he hadn't paid her much extra attention.
Consequently, upon seeing Anne now, it wasn't until he heard her surname that he finally recalled who she looked like.

"Hmm? What is it?" Anne seemed a bit curious about Wade's reaction.
"Oh, nothing, I just suddenly remembered that the Rozier family is said to be one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight," Wade explained.
"Yes, the Rozier family is universally recognized as one of the twenty-eight most genuinely pure-blood families," Anne said, looking rather proud. "By the way, are you pure-blood wizards?"
"Yes, exceptionally pure..." Wade said decisively.

In truth, Wade wanted to go to Slytherin.
And Tom, as the descendant of Slytherin, would naturally be sorted into Slytherin as well.
In this era, non-pure-blood wizards assigned to Slytherin would face enormous difficulties.
Being isolated and bullied was practically a daily routine.
Although Wade wasn't afraid of bullying, he still preferred not to court such unnecessary trouble.
Therefore, since others didn't know anyway, whenever he was asked, he would simply claim to be pure-blood.
At the very least, this would resolve eighty percent of the trouble.

"I knew it!" Anne exclaimed excitedly.
In her view, people with the poise and bearing of Wade and Tom simply *had* to be pure-blood wizards!
"Eh? You even keep a snake as a pet?" Anne noticed Nagini coiled in front of the books. "You're definitely going to be sorted into Slytherin."

Of course, Slytherins played with snakes, and now Wade did too...
"What about you, which house do you want to be sorted into?" Wade asked casually.
"Slytherin, of course! Everyone in our family has been in Slytherin, no exceptions!" Anne said excitedly.
"Ah... Is that so..."

***

Although Wade exchanged casual banter with Anne, appearing very amiable, his internal vigilance had actually reached its peak.
Vinda Rozier was Grindelwald's most trusted follower.
And just not long after he and Tom had caught Grindelwald's eye, a Rozier actively approached them.
To believe there wasn't something fishy going on here would take more gullibility than he possessed.
Wade suspected that Anne might well have been sent by them to investigate him and Tom.
However, he wasn't sure whether this was Grindelwald's idea or Vinda Rozier's.

Sure enough, after a little idle chatter, Anne's topics began subtly steering toward the family backgrounds of Wade and Tom.
Yet Tom remained uncommunicative throughout, while Wade was a veteran schemer who kept deflecting and running circles around her, refusing to take the bait.
Wade felt that this was far more entertaining than reading a book.

Eventually, even Tom began to sense that something was off about Anne, right as the broadcast announcing the imminent arrival of the Hogwarts Express echoed through the train.
Anne felt profoundly frustrated.
Wade seemed to have chatted with her about a great many things, yet at the same time, nothing of substance had been discussed at all!
A full six hours and more! Anne's throat was practically dry, yet she hadn't gleaned a single piece of useful information!

"Anne, you should go change your robes first," Wade said, and along with Tom, he stepped out of the compartment.
In an instant, Anne was left all alone in the compartment.
She silently drew the curtain over the compartment door.
When she turned around, all traces of a smile had vanished from her face.

"I refuse to believe this..." Anne frowned, whispering to herself.
What she failed to notice, however, was that on the table, Nagini was staring intently right at her...

***

"I'm Ogg, the gamekeeper and keeper of keys at Hogwarts! Please disembark in an orderly fashion! First-year students, follow me! Leave your luggage on the train, don't worry about it!"
A bald wizard holding a high lantern stood upon a vantage point, shouting at the top of his lungs.
Students filed off the carriages one after another, and the platform instantly became bustling and crowded.

Taking advantage of the moment when Anne was pushed away into another part of the crowd by the throng, Tom quietly said to Wade, "That woman is suspicious."
"I know," Wade nodded.
"You know?" Tom looked at him in surprise.
"The most trusted person by Grindelwald... named Vinda Rozier."
Tom looked even more astonished. "You mean to say... she was sent by that man?"
Wade shrugged. "Unclear, but presumably so."

"You... Since you knew she was suspicious, why did you let her stay in our compartment earlier?" Tom asked, puzzled.
Wade grinned broadly. "More often than not, people like that turn out to be unexpectedly useful... There's no need for us to expose her."

Tom wanted to say more, but Anne had already forced her way back through the crowd to join them, forcing Tom to snap his mouth shut and resume his reticent demeanor.

The new students followed Ogg for a long stretch until they arrived at the shores of the Black Lake.
Looking at the distant silhouette of Hogwarts Castle in the dark, Wade felt a quiet surge of emotion.

"Attention, four to a boat," Ogg called out as he began directing the first-years to embark.
Wade and Tom stepped into a small boat first, with Anne following closely behind.
Very soon, another boy stepped into their boat, claiming the final seat.
The boy raised his head with a full smile, intending to greet his boatmates.
However, upon seeing Wade, his expression instantly stiffened.

By this time, Wade and Tom recognized him as well—the younger of the two Black siblings.
The boat had already begun to glide forward, and even if the boy wanted to switch boats now, it was far too late, leaving him no choice but to awkwardly sit back down.

"Hey, you of the House of Black, what's your name?" Wade suddenly asked.
"Me?" The boy pointed to his own nose in surprise.
"Of course. Are there any other Blacks in this boat?"
"Oh, oh... I... I'm Alphard Black..."
"Hello, Alphard, very nice to meet you." Wade enthusiastically shook Alphard's hand.
This easygoing, familiar attitude quickly helped alleviate Alphard's nervousness.

"Hello... I remember your name is Wade Lee, right?"
"Just call me Wade," Wade said.
"I'm Tom, Tom Marvolo Riddle," Tom said with a cool expression.
To be honest, having been through so much today, Tom's romanticized filter for pure-blood families had shattered completely.
"I'm Anne Rozier," Anne introduced herself as well.
"Mm-mm... Nice to meet you," Alphard appeared somewhat at a loss for what to do.

Before long, the small boats successfully reached the shore.
Ogg led the new students off the boats, up the long stone steps, and right to the front doors of the castle.
At that moment, a few new students in the procession caught sight of Wade and hastily shrank back in terror.
Wade glanced at them and chuckled merrily, "Tom, aren't those your good friends?"
"No, they aren't, stop talking nonsense..." Tom immediately issued a triple denial.

***

Ten minutes later.
The new students filed in a line into the buzzing, packed Great Hall, coming to a halt before a patched, frayed hat resting upon a three-legged stool.
Wade cast a glance at the professors seated at the staff table and instantly recognized several familiar faces.

Dumbledore sat next to an elderly wizard with a white beard, smiling toward Wade.
Wade surmised that the white-bearded old man must be the current headmaster of Hogwarts, Armando Dippet.
On Dumbledore's other side sat Professor Hecate.
As for the remaining professors, apart from a youthful Professor McGonagall and the rather stout Professor Slughorn, Wade didn't recognize any of them.
Still, this was also Wade's first time laying eyes on a younger version of Professor McGonagall.

Just as Wade's thoughts were wandering, the Sorting Hat suddenly piped up, crooning a rather strangely-tuned song that outlined the traits of the four houses.
As the song concluded, Dumbledore stood up, holding a scroll of parchment, and walked over to the three-legged stool.
In this era, that particular chore still belonged to Dumbledore.

"When I call your name, come forward, sit upon the stool, and place the hat upon your head..."
"Henry Avery!"
Amidst nervous steps, the first boy walked up and was sorted into Slytherin.
The Sorting ceremony officially began.

As the name list grew shorter, Wade could sense Alphard standing beside him growing increasingly tense and uneasy.
Tom maintained his composure quite well, though Wade still noticed his fists clenched tight enough to turn white.
He was still just an eleven-year-old brat, after all...

"Wade Lee!"
Dumbledore's voice pulled Wade back from his thoughts.
"That was quick..." Wade thought with mild surprise, not expecting his turn to arrive so soon.
He strode forward briskly and sat down upon the stool.

"No need to be nervous, Wade. Just relax," Dumbledore smiled warmly, placing the Sorting Hat upon Wade's head.
For Wade, the hat was still rather oversized.
The moment it settled on his head, it dropped down and covered his eyes entirely.

Immediately afterward, Wade felt a subtle voice echoing within his mind.
"Hmm... How peculiar. You don't seem to have any particular house in mind? How can that be?"
Hearing this, Wade figured his Occlumency must have sealed his mind too tightly.
Thus, he hurriedly operated his Occlumency, conjuring up a few fabricated images within his thoughts.

Sure enough, the voice rang out once more.
"Ah! I see... So that is it... Courage, shrewdness, and ambition... Ah, and a heart genuinely devoted to friends!"
Standing nearby and waiting patiently, Dumbledore could not help breaking into a slight smile upon hearing those words.
Wade truly was a fine boy, after all...

"My, my, this is quite a puzzle. You seem exceptionally well-suited to all four houses! So then... where would you like to go?"
Faced with the artificial memories and thoughts deliberately projected by Wade, the Sorting Hat found itself in a bit of a dilemma.
"Then let's go to Slytherin," Wade murmured mentally.
Only in Slytherin could he reliably harvest merit points, flawed though this system might be...

"Ah, very well then, since that is your wish, so be it... Slytherin!"
Upon hearing that Wade appeared to have voluntarily chosen Slytherin, Dumbledore standing nearby paused slightly in surprise.
He hadn't quite expected Wade to choose Slytherin.
However, upon catching sight of Tom waiting in the line of students directly behind Wade, understanding dawned on Dumbledore. It must have been for Tom's sake.
Dumbledore hadn't even needed the Sorting Hat; knowing Tom's history and behavior at the orphanage, he already knew the boy was bound for Slytherin.
And of course, given how much Wade valued friendship, naturally he would want to be sorted into the same house as his friend... That explained it completely.

Wade smiled, handed the Sorting Hat back to Dumbledore, and walked toward the thunderously applauding Slytherin table.
Yet no one noticed that the fingers which had just held the Sorting Hat flashed with a faint, imperceptible white glow...

A little while later.
"Tom Riddle!"
Tom walked up nervously and placed the Sorting Hat upon his head.
For a student with such pronounced traits, the Sorting Hat had no hesitation whatsoever.
However, right as it was about to announce the result aloud, the phrase poised on its brim unexpectedly morphed into...

"Azkaban!"
Tom: "!!!"