Hogwarts: This Dark Lord is so evil

"Fighting eight opponents single-handedly without losing ground, you truly are the person I have faith in."

As he passed Tom, Leif effortlessly bypassed Tom's Protego with his left hand and vigorously patted him on the shoulder.

"What brings you here?" Tom asked, his face stern.

"Well... I just happened to be wandering around here and sensed your magic fluctuating wildly, so I couldn't resist coming to take a look... Ah, this Cascading Charm is quite well executed."

Leif spoke, observing the scattered and unfortunate students with amusement.

"Where's Annie?" Tom noticed that Leif had come alone and couldn't help but ask.

Annie clearly had her own agenda, and it seemed to involve Leif. Tom had certainly picked up on it.

That's why he was curious as to why Annie wasn't by his side.

"Well... while passing a certain staircase, it just so happened to move, and she just so happened to not keep up, so we temporarily separated," Leif said casually.

Tom knew Leif's capabilities well, so Annie had most likely been discreetly shaken off along the way.

Indeed, the slight worry he had felt earlier was unnecessary. A scourge lives for a thousand years, how could this guy stumble so easily?

"Are you two even acknowledging our existence?" the older student said coldly.

He had been enduring these two bastards for quite some time. If he hadn't seen Leif cast a Protego so casually, giving him some apprehension...

He would have already bombarded them with several curses.

"Who are you?" Leif asked.

"Andre Shafiq," the older student replied, his face full of pride.

"So, you're from the Shafiq family..." Leif nodded, then smiled and said, "Being able to stand your ground against Tom proves you're quite good. How about it? Want to join my team?"

Tom looked at Leif in astonishment. I thought you came to save me, but I didn't expect you were here to recruit followers?

Andre sneered at Leif, "Based on what you've done?"

"Yes, based on what I've done."

Andre's smile instantly froze because he realized that the voice came from behind him!

And Leif, who had been in front of him just now, had somehow moved behind him!

At this moment, he finally understood why Abraxas, a third-year student, would ask them, fifth-year students, for help to deal with a first-year student! This guy was indeed problematic!

Andre didn't hesitate and immediately turned around to cast a Stupefy.

"Bang!"

The sound of a curse hitting someone echoed.

But Andre's pupils contracted violently.

Because he now realized that the person standing behind him was not Leif, but the first-year student who had been standing behind him all along.

At this moment, the unfortunate student had been knocked unconscious by his Stupefy.

And Leif... was still standing perfectly fine next to Tom! It was as if everything he had just seen was an illusion!

"This... how is this possible? What exactly did you do?" Andre stared at Leif, his eyes filled with fear.

Since the other party could directly influence his senses, that meant he could knock him down at any time, or even... control him to do things he would never normally do!

Andre was terrified by the thought. At this moment, he felt an unprecedented sense of pressure from Leif!

Tom also watched this scene in shock.

Even though he had seen it more than once, he could still feel the terror of Leif's nameless magic!

Leif clearly hadn't even moved, but Andre had directly fallen into an illusion! This ability was truly too broken!

From this, Tom was even more certain that the previous Leif had never taken his clumsy schemes to heart!

Otherwise, he wouldn't be standing here healthy today...

At this time, on the other side, just as Andre was about to buckle under the pressure and wanted to admit defeat.

"Merlin! What on earth happened here?"

From the other side of the corridor, a young Professor McGonagall hurried over.

Tom's face turned pale when he saw the professor approaching.

When Dumbledore spoke with him at the orphanage, he had said that he was no longer allowed to use magic to attack others at will.

From that moment on, Dumbledore had been paying close attention to him, fearing that he would go astray again and abuse the magic he had learned...

Although today's incident was justifiable, it was a fact that he had knocked down his classmates on the first day of school.

He wasn't afraid of being punished, Tom's biggest fear was that Dumbledore would keep an even closer eye on him because of this!

If Dumbledore went back on his word and insisted on finding him a guardian or something, that would be terrible...

Of course, Tom's biggest fear was that Dumbledore would expel him from Hogwarts because of this!

At this time, Tom didn't really understand Dumbledore's character very well. He only knew that he was very strict with him, so now he was getting more and more scared.

"You guys... you've really grown bold! You're fighting each other on the very first day of school! And against students from the same house! Since you have so much energy, then you all go serve detention! For a month! Mr. Ogg always says he doesn't have enough manpower when patrolling the Forbidden Forest recently!"

Professor McGonagall's eyes never tolerated the slightest bit of sand, let alone this kind of student fighting incident... Most importantly, these students were all Slytherins! She had even less reason to be lenient!

The other students who had just been woken up all shuddered when they heard that they would be serving detention in the Forbidden Forest.

Slytherin students all had a sense of self-awareness that a wise man does not stand under a dangerous wall.

Therefore, they had always kept a respectful distance from the legendary Forbidden Forest, which was filled with dark creatures at night. They weren't Gryffindors!

Therefore, when they heard that they might be thrown into such a dangerous place as the Forbidden Forest for a whole month, they all seemed to be as quiet as cicadas in winter.

However, Leif's eyes lit up when he heard this.

He had certainly been to the Forbidden Forest before, and he had a strong interest in it.

It was just a pity that he wasn't familiar with the routes in the Forbidden Forest, nor did he know what kinds of potion ingredients were available, and of course, he didn't know what magical creatures were in which area...

And now, if he was given detention, that meant that a professional would lead them to tour the interior of the Forbidden Forest.

At that time, he would have a way to learn as much of this important information about the Forbidden Forest as possible from Mr. Ogg!

So, he really had to serve this detention!

But... he seemed to have just arrived and hadn't done anything, so he might not be punished, then...

Leif turned to look at Tom, only to see that his face was pale and his eyes were flustered...

Leif knew Tom's past very well, so after thinking about it carefully, he understood what Tom was afraid of.

While Professor McGonagall was sternly questioning Andre about what had happened, Leif quickly whispered to Tom, "I know what you're thinking. Otherwise, why don't you push all of this onto me! Just say that I was the one who beat them all up!"

Tom looked at Leif with shock. "How can that be? I was the one who injured them… Besides, they're not mute. They'll probably tell the professor everything soon. Won't the professor know it was all my doing?"

"Don't worry, I have a way to make them say what I want them to say," Leif said calmly.

Tom immediately thought of Leif's magical, hallucinatory abilities.

It seemed… he really could do it!

Tom hurriedly said again, anxiously, "Since that's the case, why can't we just put everything on them? Just say we just arrived, wouldn't that be better?"

"Their purpose in coming here is to deal with someone, that's for sure… Oh well, you don't need to worry about that. Just put the blame on me."

Leif, wanting to enter the Forbidden Forest, explained halfway, then became too lazy to explain to Tom. Tom was too smart, and it was getting harder and harder to fool him. Any reason he made up felt flawed, so Leif simply didn't want to make one up.

But these half-explained words, falling into Tom's ears, made him "suddenly understand."

Tom now felt that Leif's magic might not be perfect.

It might not be able to change too much about the objective fact that the other party came here to deal with someone.

Without a mistake, a first, a hair, an inner, a tolerance, a looking!

It could only make them change their perception of that target, from himself to him…

So, Leif was planning to take the blame for him!

"You… why would you do that?" Tom said in a low voice, "This clearly has nothing to do with you!"

"Why so much why?" Leif said impatiently. "Just say what I tell you to say, or don't blame me for using magic on you later!"

Tom fell silent.

So, his previous guesses were all true!

This guy Leif… actually really treated him like a friend!

Otherwise, why would he immediately and unhesitatingly take the blame for him after guessing what he was worried about?

Indeed, all his previous bad guesses were just judging a gentleman with a petty mind!

Thinking about how he had almost defeated seven or eight people on the other side just now, using almost all the techniques and magic that Leif had taught him!

Tom felt a mess in his heart. If Leif was really very hypocritical and really bad to him, how could he have learned so many useful things from Leif?

Leif suddenly asked again, "By the way, you didn't go too hard on them just now, did you?"

"No," Tom shook his head.

Leif said, "That's good… At least, I don't have to worry about being expelled."

Tom: ?!

Tom's mood became even more complicated.

…

Just as Tom was in a mess, Andre over there had also finished confessing.

Because they had originally come to block Leif and Tom, but because Leif wasn't there, they only blocked Tom…

So, it wasn't as difficult as imagined for Leif to change some of these guys' perceptions.

He only made them have the wrong perception that Leif was there from the beginning, and that they were all knocked down by Leif, not by Tom!

Nightmare magic was certainly not as imperfect as Tom thought, but Leif wanted to go to the Forbidden Forest for detention, so he didn't completely change their perceptions.

Otherwise, this matter would have become a mutual fight between Andre and the others…

Professor McGonagall tried several times before releasing Abraxas, who was hanging upside down. A hint of surprise flashed in her eyes. She had never seen such a spell before.

Professor McGonagall walked towards Leif and Tom. She glanced at Tom, then stared intently at Leif.

"I already know almost all the details of the matter, but in any case, you have violated school rules by fighting privately and casting spells in the corridor… I have to punish you!"

Professor McGonagall turned her head and glanced at the students behind her with pale faces. "Because of the mistakes of you nine people, Slytherin will be deducted one hundred and eighty points! And you will also receive one month of detention! After receiving the notice, go to Mr. Ogg's office to report at the time specified in the notice!"

This punishment was quite heavy. Not only did they have to go to the Forbidden Forest for detention, but they were also deducted twenty points each!

This was only the first day of school. Without a doubt, many Slytherin students would feel like the sky was falling when they saw the scorekeeping gems after class…

Tom heard from the side that deducting one hundred and eighty points meant… as the culprit of this matter, he didn't receive any punishment?

That is to say, Leif did change the other party's perception, believing that Leif was the one who started the fight, not him, Tom!

"Alright, all of you come with me. I have to take you to your Head of House, Professor Slughorn, and tell him about the matter!" Professor McGonagall said.

Tom took a step forward, "Professor, I…"

"As far as I know, this matter has nothing to do with you, Mr. Riddle," Professor McGonagall frowned.

"This… I don't think you should punish Leif for this matter," Tom took a deep breath and said, "You can't possibly expect Leif to endure and not fight back when faced with these people's unprovoked attacks! Strictly speaking, this is bullying! And we are the victims! If you have to punish even the victims, then count me in too. I… Anyway, if you had come a little later, I would have already taken action!"

Professor McGonagall began to ponder upon hearing this.

Leif immediately turned his head and glared at Tom, "Tom, what are you doing?!"

Leif felt numb. He was clearly about to succeed, but Tom insisted on running out and talking nonsense at this time! Creating complications! What if Professor McGonagall was persuaded and didn't let him go to detention?

Sure enough, after pondering for a while, Professor McGonagall's tone became much gentler, "Alright, since that's the case, whether he should be detained will be left to your Head of House to decide, but…"

Professor McGonagall's tone became stern again, "He did take action, so points still have to be deducted!"

A few minutes later.

The group followed Professor McGonagall towards Professor Slughorn's office with their heads drooping.

Leif and Tom followed at the end of the line.

"Tom, what are you doing? Didn't we agree? Why did you have to say more? Now it's causing complications!" Leif said angrily.

Tom just walked silently beside him.

Anyway, he would never admit that he couldn't sit idly by and watch this guy be detained for him!

Of course, it wasn't because of any boring emotions like feeling guilty that a friend was taking the blame for him!