— — — — — —

Inside Greengrass Manor, Daphne had no idea she was stabbed in the back by her own little sister. She was still feeling rather pleased with herself for sneaking back home ahead of time.

She had even secretly contacted Pansy and learned that Tom had come looking for her early that morning, clearly in a foul mood. She gave a nod, pleased with her own cleverness.

That afternoon, Lady Greengrass returned home right on schedule. Seeing Daphne lounging on the sofa in the living room, watching TV with great interest, she was visibly surprised.

"When did you get back? You didn’t tell me in advance."

"Hehe, Mom, I just suddenly missed you." Daphne trotted over and hugged her. After years of practice, the young lady’s coquettish act had reached perfection.

Feeling her daughter cling to her, Lady Greengrass couldn’t help but smile.

Still, she knew Daphne’s temperament well enough not to be dazzled by the sugar-coated attack.

Leading her toward the sofa, Lady Greengrass asked, "Did you get into trouble at school and come home to hide?"

Daphne’s heart skipped a beat, and she almost lost control of her expression.

No. Better not share the "good news" about adding a love rival for herself. Otherwise she’d definitely get another lecture.

"Of course not," the girl protested. "Mom, don’t wrong me. I’m so well-behaved. What trouble could I possibly cause? Besides, with Tom around, even if I did mess up, I wouldn’t need to hide."

In her heart, she silently added a condition: as long as she wasn’t the one who made Tom angry.

Lady Greengrass nodded. There was some truth to that—perhaps her daughter really had missed her.

Feeling guilty, Daphne quickly got up, cut a slice of cake delivered by the house-elf, and handed it to her mother ingratiatingly. "Mom, this is a new dessert. Try it. Is it good? Is it sweet?"

...

..

"Sweet. There’s raspberry sauce, strawberry jam, crushed pecans..."

In Hogwarts, Tom smacked his lips and listed most of the ingredients.

At the moment, his eyes were covered by several layers of black gauze tied by Astoria. The girl insisted on playing a game, making him rely purely on taste to guess the cake’s ingredients.

"I guessed right, didn’t I?"

"Mm-hm. Next one."

Astoria stuffed a piece of cake into her own mouth first, then used a fork to feed another bite to Tom. He barely chewed twice before answering.

"This one’s even easier. Chocolate, hazelnut, a hint of truffle, heavy cream."

After speaking, Tom grinned smugly. "Astoria, raise the difficulty already. I don’t even like sweets that much, but with Daphne around I’ve eaten plenty. Ordinary desserts won’t stump me."

The next second, something soft pressed against his lips.

A complicated taste followed.

Tom’s eyes widened in surprise. The black gauze was blown away by a burst of magic. The girl had already climbed onto him, clumsily urging him to "taste" this unusually complex dessert.

"What... what flavor is that?" After they parted, Astoria’s face flushed red, but she still forced herself to ask.

Tom didn’t answer. He shoved the remaining cake into his mouth in a few bites, then leaned forward and kissed her.

At that moment, he didn’t think about Astoria being Daphne’s little sister. Instead, Daphne gained a brother-in-law named Tom Riddle.

"Tom... if my sister finds out, you’ll protect me, right?"

After lingering together and finishing quite a few more sweets, Astoria leaned into his arms and asked softly, "Or... maybe we should keep it secret? Let’s not tell my sister yet?"

"We definitely can’t tell her now."

Tom wrapped an arm around her while stroking his chin with the other. "How about this. We’ll let her know once you’re eighteen."

Astoria froze.

She had only wanted to delay things a bit. She hadn’t expected that much of a delay. If it got to that point, how was she supposed to compete with her sister?

But she’d just finished acting all meek and gentle, so she had no good way to argue. Astoria could only give an awkward laugh and agree, while secretly thinking about how to confess to her sister later. When the two Greengrass sisters teamed up, why would they need to rope in Cassandra at all? 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Both of them drifted into their own thoughts. Tom idly stroked the girl’s silky hair, wondering whether it was time to activate the bloodline inside her.

— — —

Monday—

Daphne had planned to hide at home for a few more days, but early in the morning Lady Greengrass drove her back to school.

The young lady walked into the Great Hall with a miserable expression.

After a whole day, Astoria should have already soothed Tom’s temper, right?

And to the young lady’s relief, when Tom saw her, he only gave a light glance and said nothing. After finishing breakfast, he even took her hand and went to class together.

But just when she thought everything had blown over, once the day’s lessons ended, Tom finally revealed his sinister tail.

By the time he let her go, the young lady’s cheeks had been kneaded until they were visibly swollen. She cried and swore she’d never do something like that again before he finally released her.

"Big sis, who told you to mess around like that?"

The considerate little sister took out a potion she’d prepared in advance and gently dabbed it onto Daphne’s face with a cotton swab.

Daphne wanted to cry, but the moment her mouth moved, her face hurt. She wailed miserably, "Didn’t you say Tom had already calmed down?"

"He did calm down with me," Astoria replied matter-of-factly. "I was only an accomplice. You were the mastermind. Our situations aren’t the same."

Astoria suppressed her laughter, keeping a perfectly straight face while she fooled Daphne. Still, her hands stayed careful and gentle.

After applying a full layer, she set the potion bottle and cotton aside on the bedside table.

"Apply another layer before bed. It should be fine by tomorrow."

"Huh? Where are you going?" Daphne looked at her sister heading for the door, confused.

"I’m going to see Tom. Big sis, you shouldn’t come. What if he sees you and gets angry again?"

Daphne nodded instinctively. That did make sense.

But then something about it felt... off.

Why did that sound so weird?

However, she was more focused on her face right now.

Luckily, the healing potion was made by Tom, so it was guaranteed to be top quality.

Daphne’s swollen pig-head face, which had lasted all night, magically returned to normal the next morning. The young lady finally breathed a huge sigh of relief.

She had no intention of going to class looking like that. If the swelling hadn’t gone down, she would’ve skipped school without hesitation.

But just as she thought her punishment was over, Tom appeared again and resumed kneading her cheeks. This time, Astoria joined in as well. Both of them reinforced their hands with magic. After just a few squeezes, her face swelled up again as if by magic.

"Wuuu... I waz wrong... pwease let me go..."

Daphne begged through puffed cheeks, her speech slurred, but instead of stopping, the two only became more enthusiastic.

"Tom, I never realized my sister’s cheeks feel this nice," Astoria said happily. "She’s always the one pinching me."

"Not too late to learn," Tom replied. "You’ll have plenty of chances in the future."

"True. My idiot sister will definitely keep making mistakes. Call me next time."

"No problem. Next time for sure."

Daphne widened her eyes, trying to intimidate Astoria into backing off. But it didn’t work at all. Today Astoria didn’t even apply the potion afterward. The young lady was so angry she had to treat herself.

Fortunately, Tom’s punishment ended there. From the third day onward, things returned to normal... and Daphne Greengrass immediately started stirring up trouble again.

"I really got the short end of the stick this time. I was a pig-head for two whole days. You have to compensate me."

Blocking Cassandra again, Daphne spoke with righteous indignation.

Cassandra looked utterly speechless. "I already acknowledged you as my big sister. I’ll listen to you from now on. What else do you think I can compensate you with?"

"Eh?"

Daphne blinked. That actually made sense.

"Then what should we do? If you don’t compensate me, I’ll feel terrible."

Cassandra thought for a moment. "How about this. When Dalaran City opens to the outside, I’ll buy a few shops and gift them to the Greengrass family."

The Greengrass family didn’t lack money, but free gains were still satisfying. Daphne reluctantly agreed.

And then... she continued causing trouble.

Although this was the first time Tom had punished her, with Astoria’s hints, Daphne had more or less figured out Tom’s bottom line.

So this time, instead of looking outside, she started from "within."

Her new target was Ginny Weasley.

If Ginny stood on her side, she’d not only gain another close friend, but also deprive Hermione of a supporter.

This time she definitely wouldn’t anger Tom, right?

Daphne congratulated herself on her "wisdom" while finding opportunities to get close to Ginny, constantly feeding her all kinds of snacks.

At first, Ginny was cautious, worried there might be some prank hidden inside. But once she remembered it was Daphne, she found it hard to stay on guard.

What bad intentions could this idiot possibly have? If she gives something, just accept it.

Soon Astoria also realized what her sister was planning and quietly tipped Ginny off, which amused the redhead to no end.

"Astoria, what’s Daphne thinking? Why would she assume I support Hermione? Just because we’re in the same house?"

The more Ginny thought about it, the funnier it became. She laughed loudly enough that Luna slightly frowned. Noticing her best friend’s expression, Ginny quickly reined herself in, then stifled her giggles as she whispered to Astoria.

"Isn’t supporting her fine? I’ll definitely agree. Why would I go against him? Just don’t tell her. Let her keep sending things for a while. Your house-elf’s cooking is really good."

Astoria held back her laughter and nodded.

...

..

February arrived, and Daphne’s attempts to curry favor with Ginny gradually decreased. It wasn’t that she got lazy. The third task was scheduled for the twenty-fourth, and everyone was watching her. If she kept lounging around, even she would feel embarrassed.

And to help Daphne train her underwater mobility and combat ability, the Slytherin students pooled their efforts. They cleared out a bathroom with a large tub for her exclusive use, and someone even summoned their family house-elf to magically expand the pool’s volume.

Several girls accompanied her every day during training, to the point that Daphne felt like she was about to get waterlogged.

Tom, meanwhile, didn’t concern himself with these small matters. He focused on preparing a bloodline potion for Astoria.

The base potion was already complete. Now he was stuck on the final step: merging the divine power extracted from the golden apple with the potion.

It required extremely delicate control. If the fluctuations were too strong, the potion would be ruined, and the divine power would be wasted.

Every day, Tom carefully separated strands of energy, extracting them bit by bit, then slowly adding them in.

Before long, Valentine’s Day arrived.

This was the holiday Tom hated most each year. Especially this year. Everyone had gathered together, and even splitting him into pieces wouldn’t be enough for all the girls.

Fortunately, he was a master of time management at an almost legendary level. Starting from before dawn, he scheduled everything meticulously. After running nonstop the entire day, he finally muddled through the dreaded holiday.

But he was exhausted.

In a bad mood, Tom naturally decided to take it out on someone else. Lying in bed, he pulled out his iCodex and sent Andros a message.

[Tom Riddle]: "Andros, not ready yet?"

The reply came quickly.

[Andros]: "Almost done. Just wait. News will spread in a few days. I’ll stay here and wait for Voldemort to deliver himself."

Seeing the response, the boy’s mood improved considerably. He put away the Codex and prepared to sleep.

.

.

.