In the end, Hermione rejected Tom's suggestion. She didn't want to punish someone without apparent reason. Tom, with no other option, accepted Hermione's idea.
"Alright, I'll listen to you, but in the next few days, you'll have to stay close to me so I can protect you properly," Tom said seriously.
Hermione: ...
"Even sleep together at night?" Hermione asked with a mischievous smile at Tom.
Tom coughed twice, trying to explain that it was all for her safety and that Hermione shouldn't read too much into it.
Both of them didn't worry too much about the matter and returned hand in hand to Hogwarts Castle.
With the arrival of night, the young wizards who had worked all day or all night were plunged into their dreams, and Harry Potter was no exception.
But this time, he had another dream.
The setting of his dream was somewhat different from the previous two times. The difference was that he recognized the place in his dream.
It was none other than the village of Hogsmeade! He had been there several times! Although darkness covered the place, he could clearly recognize the familiar buildings.
Wait, Hogsmeade? Harry had a vague sense of what was wrong with his dream, but because it was a magical dream, he couldn't wake up immediately and could only silently observe everything.
With the experience of the two previous dreams, Harry knew he was seeing things from Voldemort's perspective. Today's Voldemort seemed to be in a very good mood...
"Harry" he entered a ramshackle bar and went upstairs, opening the door to the private lounge. He saw two people sitting in chairs waiting for him.
"My lord." Seeing Voldemort enter, the two people immediately stood up and greeted him with respect.
"You've done well, Bella."
Bella is... Harry first felt confused, but then he realized. Bella must be Bellatrix Lestrange, mentioned in the newspapers, a fugitive Death Eater and Voldemort's confidante.
What was she doing here? Harry was somewhat confused.
Soon, his question received an answer.
"My lord, I've brought the person you wanted. Draco, come here!" Bella gestured to the person in the corner of the room, indicating him to approach.
The second person was originally in the room's shadow, and his face couldn't be seen, but when he took a few steps forward, he emerged from the darkness, and Harry could clearly see his face.
Seeing that face, Harry felt like he was about to wake up. That person turned out to be Draco Malfoy!
However, he couldn't wake up.
He watched helplessly as Voldemort marked Draco Malfoy with the Dark Mark and then handed him a wooden box.
"Go, my loyal servant, take the weapon I've given you and rid me of the obstacle in your path."
"Yes, my lord." Draco bowed solemnly.
Voldemort shook his cloak and left the bar's private room. As he left, he muttered, "Hermione Granger... Tom Yodel, and... Albus Dumbledore."
Harry suddenly woke up, the morning light illuminating his face, tickling his nose.
His nose... it was so irritated!
Tom opened his eyes and found the culprit of his discomfort: a curly brown hair.
The owner of the hair was sitting, concentrated on reading something on a parchment.
Seeing Tom wake up, Hermione frowned and called him, "Yodel, look at what you've written in this Magical History dissertation... You've completely mixed up the dates of several goblin rebellions, a mistake that could have been avoided if you had consulted a book!"
It was clear that Hermione was very dissatisfied with Tom's academic work.
Tom could only show an awkward smile. He hadn't really been focused on his studies lately. After all, he was a young man who enjoyed excitement and fun, so he couldn't blame himself.
He approached Hermione, gently wrapped his arms around her neck, and gave her a good morning kiss.
Hermione, who had already gotten up much earlier, had finished getting ready, and her mouth emitted a pleasant scent of mint.
After a brief kiss, Hermione impatiently pushed him away and, with her other hand, tossed the work in front of his eyes.
"Look at what you've written, you shouldn't have even done this. This will affect our grades... Here, here, and here, it all needs to be rewritten!" Confronting the schoolwork, Hermione became very strict, and Tom's kisses didn't change her attitude.
Tom felt a bit embarrassed, standing to the side and smiling awkwardly. He had made a mistake, and it had held Hermione back. In a group assignment, if one performed poorly, it affected both.
"Smile, you only know how to smile. I've already corrected part of the work for you; the rest you have to fix before sleeping tonight." Hermione put the work on the table, lifted it onto her lap, and held him by the waist.
"Of course, I'll make sure to complete the task," Tom responded while patting her chest and rubbing it at the same time.
"Behave!"
But Tom didn't listen to her and instead increased his strength. Soon, Hermione couldn't hold the quill in her hand.
"Wait, wait! Oh, look what you've done... the paper is stained..."
"Mmm... it doesn't matter; I'll rewrite it tonight."
Hermione was lifted onto the table, which soon began to shake.
...
After a while, they separated. Hermione cleaned the stains from her leg with a handkerchief, looking at Tom angrily. "So early in the morning, and you've already made me change my socks...?"
"But you have a cleaning spell, right?" Tom was leaning on Hermione's legs, wearing a charming smile.
"Not only is there a cleaning spell, there's also a repair spell." Hermione replied irritably, quickly changing to a new pair of socks while picking up the damp and crumpled paper from the table.
"Remember to rewrite it, hand it to me tonight, and if you don't, there will be consequences," Hermione said. After everything was in order, they both left the Room of Requirement and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.
Tom piled several sausages, a large heap of bacon and roasted ham onto his plate, along with a bowl of oatmeal with honey and milk. And that wasn't all; he also grabbed two slices of toast and spread a thick layer of butter on them.
"Do you eat this much?" Hermione was surprised by Tom's appetite.
"That's because there's someone who needs to be well-fed," Tom responded as he devoured the food and spoke with his mouth full.
At that moment, Harry approached and sat next to Tom.
"Tom, I have something important to tell you," he whispered quietly, hoping to speak privately with Tom and Hermione as well.
"Alright, after I finish eating, we'll-" Tom was busy eating the bacon he had taken; he didn't want to leave the table at the moment.
"Silence," Hermione took out her wand and cast a spell around them, making nearby students unable to hear their conversation.
"A very useful spell!" Harry praised.
"Tell me, what's going on?" Tom looked at Harry curiously, wondering why he was seeking him out today.
"They're in danger, both you and Hermione!" Harry shared the dream he had last night with Tom.
This time, Harry chose to skip the prophecy altogether. Killing Draco Malfoy, indicating that the person was already a Death Eater.
"He's trying to do something bad to both of you, first Hermione, then you, and finally Professor Dumbledore," Harry was visibly anxious, hoping Tom and Hermione would realize they were in danger.
"I'll follow Malfoy and find evidence that he's plotting against you..." Harry began sharing his plan with Tom.
However, Tom didn't care much; he was more interested in the fact that, according to Harry's dream, Voldemort had appeared in the village of Hogsmeade, which was quite noteworthy.
But this dream seemed strange in every way.
Tom clearly remembered seeing Draco yesterday afternoon, not at night!
"Are you sure everything that happened in the dream was in the afternoon?" Tom interrupted Harry.
"Uh, yes," Harry recalled for a moment and nodded confidently.
"Hogwarts has a curfew; how do you think Malfoy secretly met someone at night? I distinctly remember it was yesterday afternoon when he went to the village of Hogsmeade," Hermione also noticed something odd in Harry's dream.
"This..." Harry hesitated for a moment but was convinced his dream had no issues, so he came up with a good excuse: "Maybe he knows about some passages to enter and exit Hogwarts. Fred and George know several, right? As a pure-blood wizard, isn't it normal for Malfoy to know some passages?"
Tom nodded, Harry's reasoning had some logic to it. Malfoy might have taken advantage of the Hogsmeade Opening Day to leave Hogwarts and meet with Voldemort at night before returning through some passageway.
However, he still felt something was off because it wasn't necessary.
Was Voldemort a vampire and couldn't act during the day? Did he have to wait until nightfall to meet with Malfoy?
Thinking about this, a concern arose in Tom's heart.
"Tom, believe me! I'll find a way to prove it to you! He intends to harm Hermione!" Harry grabbed Tom's arm excitedly. "You're right," Tom agreed with Harry's thoughts. In any case, he couldn't tolerate anyone hurting Hermione.
"I have a straightforward way to check," Tom smiled, wanting to demonstrate that he didn't need to follow Malfoy to prove he had ill intentions. The Dark Mark on his arm was solid evidence.
"Find Malfoy and look at his left arm, the truth will be revealed," Tom said, providing an extremely direct and somewhat abrupt solution.
It's well known that Death Eaters bear the Dark Mark on their left arm, so those with the mark are essentially Death Eaters.
Harry: ...
"Ah, right!" Harry slapped his forehead; he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it before. He had become a bit rigid in his thinking.
However, he looked around the Great Hall and didn't see Malfoy anywhere.
"No matter, sooner or later we'll run into him... Doesn't he have to attend classes after all?" Tom calmly finished his oatmeal with milk, looking toward the staff table. "But more than Malfoy, I hope Professor Dumbledore acts soon..."
Dumbledore's action was already swift. After his conversation with Tom yesterday, he activated Hogwarts' defenses. Although he didn't mention the highest level of defense, it was enough to deter wizards coming from the outside. These defenses weren't invulnerable, but as long as Dumbledore was at Hogwarts, he could give those invaders an unforgettable lesson before the defenses were breached.
Seeing Tom's gaze, Dumbledore raised his glass and gave him a small smile.
Tom understood what Dumbledore meant and felt relieved.
In his understanding, Hogwarts now had a protective layer that could ward off some dangers. However, he also knew that this protection wasn't invincible; as simple as that, if the protective layer were invincible, then how would the Battle of Hogwarts have happened in the original timeline?
"Let's go." Seeing that Harry and Hermione had finished their breakfast, Tom didn't want to waste any more time there. He wanted to find Malfoy and resolve that issue as soon as possible.
However, just as they approached the Great Hall door, they heard someone calling for Hermione.
Turning around, they saw Parvati Patil, Hermione's roommate and a fourth-year Ravenclaw student.
"Granger, I received a necklace from my family, can you take a look at it?" Parvati shouted from afar, waving a wooden box in her hand.
"Hermione, today I have things to do..." Hermione was about to decline, but Harry grabbed her sleeve weakly, slowing her down.
"Tom, Hermione, that box Parvati has in her hand is suspicious!" Although they were still far away, Harry could see something in Parvati's hand and suddenly realized that the box was the same one Voldemort had given to Malfoy in his dream.
"What are you talking about?" Padma approached Hermione, her eyes not appearing different.
"Speaking of things, last night Harry had a nightmare, and we were discussing how to interpret it," Tom explained.
It was a reasonable explanation; Tom was known as a Divination genius, certified by Professor Trelawney, so seeking his help to interpret dreams was completely normal.
Parvati, who had great trust in Professor Trelawney, believed what Tom said and also complained about her poor quality of sleep following their chat.
"Before sleeping, you can try drinking a bit of strong liquor to improve sleep quality," Tom suggested as he chatted with Parvati and, naturally, received the box from her. "You said this box contains a necklace your family sent you, right?"
Seeing Tom take the box in his hands, both Harry and Hermione were tense because they knew all too well that the box contained a dark artifact that could spell doom for anyone who opened it.
"Yes," Parvati replied calmly, showing no signs of abnormality.