Thanks to Miss Granger, Tom was able to determine the information about this world several years in advance.
Since the math competition in the third grade, Tom had met Hermione more than once in various elementary school competitions.
He was doing it to earn bonuses and school awards, while Hermione was doing it purely for fun.
Miss Granger's hobby is learning.
How could interest be stronger than Tom's desire to survive? Therefore, in more than ten confrontations, most of them ended with Tom's victory.
The only time he failed was at a sports meet, when the idiot teacher sent by the school had poor coordination and held him back in the three-legged race.
Hermione originally thought that her competition with Tom would end when she went to Hogwarts, and she felt regretful for a while.
As a result, I met Tom again on the train. Will we be classmates in the future?
After a brief moment of surprise, Hermione became excited.
Doesn't that mean she still has a chance to defeat Tom and prove herself?
At that moment, Hermione forgot the original purpose of coming to this box, and did not care about Daphne's gaze. She sat down next to Tom and began to talk incessantly.
"Riddle, I have finished reading Modern Magicians, The Rise and Fall of Dark Magic, Important Magical Events of the 20th Century, and most of the extracurricular books during the summer vacation. What about you?"
"Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you that I have already mastered some simple spells. Which house do you want to be assigned to? I want to go to Gryffindor. I heard it is the best."
Tom closed his eyes and felt a hundred birds chirping around him.
Finally, when there was a gap, Tom pointed at the fat boy who was standing at the door at a loss and looked like he was about to cry: "Granger, have you forgotten your friend?"
"Also, we don't have many toads here. You can look for them in other carriages."
Hermione turned around, suddenly realizing what was happening, and gave the fat boy an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry, Longbottom. I got so excited that I forgot about you."
"No, it's okay." Neville Longbottom stammered.
"Then we can talk about it later. Don't let me lag too far behind, otherwise I won't feel a sense of accomplishment."
After saying these harsh words in a fierce tone, Hermione hurriedly took Neville to find his toad.
As soon as the person left, Daphne said angrily: "Tom, who is that person? It's so rude."
After entering the room, Hermione didn't even look at Daphne, let alone say hello. Coupled with the condescending tone she spoke to, Daphne was really angry.
"A friend I met when I participated in a competition." Tom smiled and noticed the change in Daphne's way of addressing him. "Daphne, she is just like that. She is very competitive, but she doesn't have any bad intentions. You will understand this later."
"I don't want to get to know such an impolite person." Miss Daphne also got angry, "No wonder he wants to go to Gryffindor. He looks like the stupid lion that mom mentioned."
The corners of Tom's mouth twitched, but he did not refute Daphne's comment.
Actually, Hermione's personality was unpleasant during her first year, no, to be more precise, most of the time.
In Tom's impression, Hermione seemed to have had conflicts with everyone, from her roommates to Ginny and Luna.
Not to mention Harry and Ronald, they were the only two with soft tempers and short memories, they forgot everything after making up.
Otherwise, Hermione really wouldn't be able to make any true friends.
Tom didn't want Daphne to continue complaining, so he casually changed the subject.
The next moment it happened again, but Daphne had fallen asleep. Tom made a gesture for silence, and Hermione had to leave the box again.
It was not until the sky gradually darkened and the train slowed down that Tom knew they were about to reach their destination, and he gently woke up Daphne who was still sleeping.
Daphne, who had just woken up, blinked in confusion, looking cute, but she soon remembered the environment she was in.
"Tom, are we almost there?"
"Well, the train has slowed down."
"Oh, then we must put on our robes quickly."
Daphne got up in a hurry and felt that the corners of her mouth were a little wet. She wiped it with her hand and her face turned red.
She was actually drooling.
I wonder if Tom saw us? It would be so embarrassing!
He wouldn't mind the way I sleep, would he?
Tom didn't know that Daphne had so many questions in her mind, but he suddenly found that the girl who was very talkative before going to bed suddenly became silent.
.....
With the whistle blowing, the train finally arrived at its destination.
Following the crowd out of the car, Hagrid called out to the first-year students to line up and take the boat to Hogwarts.
Tom and Daphne also boarded a small boat, along with two other freshmen.
Tom also counted the number of heads. There were about eighty or ninety freshmen this year, probably less than a hundred. From this, he inferred that the number of people in Hogwarts was not as small as he imagined.
There should be about 600 students in the seven grades combined.
(Appropriately expand the world view, and the situation is during the dark period of Voldemort, when wizards have no intention of having children. There will be more and more students from past and future years, and the school will be capped at about a thousand people.)
When passing a cliff, Hagrid asked all the little wizards to bow their heads, but in fact he was the only one who needed to do so.
It is said that this road is the road that the four giants took when they came to Hogwarts, so every new class of freshmen must come here once, which can be regarded as a kind of inheritance.
After an unknown amount of time, the boat arrived at the dock. Students came ashore one after another, followed Hagrid up the steps, and gathered in front of a huge oak door.
Hagrid raised his huge fist and knocked on the door three times.
The door opened, and a tall witch in emerald green robes stood in front of it with a serious expression.
The freshmen who had been talking loudly just now immediately became quiet, not daring to breathe, as obedient as mice seeing a cat.
"First-year students, Professor McGonagall." Hagrid pointed to a group of little kids on the steps.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I'll take care of this."
Professor McGonagall nodded to Hagrid, then opened the door wide and led the little wizards into the warm and bright hallway.
.....