Although Sherlock's inner turmoil was no less than Harry's and Ron's when he saw the boy, he remained outwardly calm.
As he tightened his grip on his wand, his left hand silently touched the third button down on his robe.
"Tom Riddle?" he asked softly.
The black-haired boy sitting in the chair looked somewhat surprised when he heard Sherlock's address, though it also seemed within his expectations.
"Professor Sherlock Cavendish." He spoke with the same smile, slowly rising from the chair.
"I wonder if you've realized that this isn't the first time we've met."
Sherlock grabbed Harry and Ron's hands, pulling them behind him, and stared intently at Tom.
"The first time was at that bookstore?"
Tom strolled leisurely through the Gryffindor Common Room as if he were taking a walk in his own garden.
"You sensed me starting from that time, indeed."
He walked over to the Fireplace, where the fire had long gone out. It was the darkest area of the Common Room, yet his originally illusory body seemed to solidify slightly there.
"I also noticed your unusual nature at first, feeling that you were somehow different from others. When I ran into you a second time at Hogwarts, it further confirmed my suspicions, so I hid myself in time."
Sherlock heard his words and recalled the first time he met the Malfoys at the bookstore, when the mark on his arm burned.
As well as the second time the mark reacted, when he came to Hogwarts and met Neville in the Castle.
His expression was grave.
"You were with Neville from the very beginning?"
Sherlock wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but Tom's face visibly darkened when he asked that question.
"That idiot!" he said coldly.
"He didn't start interacting with me until the third week of school. He is stupid and timid. I was very weak then, so I had to constantly guide him. Only then did he reluctantly agree to open the Chamber of Secrets, but after two attacks, he realized something was wrong."
"Before that, we were good friends who talked about everything.
He told me how strict his grandmother was, how much his Gryffindor classmates looked down on him, how he admired Harry Potter's greatness, and how he resented his own cowardice. Only I, his best friend Riddle, was willing to speak a few words to him every day."
"But after getting rid of that Muggle who liked carrying a camera, he actually sensed that I was controlling him."
"That cowardly, weak idiot tried to burn me then!"
Tom's voice was filled with rage—the fury of being betrayed by such a fool.
"One late night, he threw me into this Fireplace and used magic. He was so nervous he didn't even dare to check if I had been burned to ashes. He didn't know I was impervious to fire and water. I lay in this Fireplace for two days before another student picked me up."
As he said this, his voice suddenly became playful.
"That Weasley prefect seems shrewd, but he was actually much easier to control than this idiot."
Harry and Ron, hiding behind Sherlock, immediately gasped aloud.
"Percy!"
"Ah, yes, that's his name. Percy Weasley, a boy obsessed with power, who will surely have a great future."
"I made a simple deal with him."
Tom's gaze met Harry's cold stare as Harry peeked out from behind Sherlock.
"He wanted revenge on someone, and I helped him. All he had to do afterwards was place me on another boy's desk. That's why we met later, isn't that right, Harry?"
Harry shivered. He thought of Malfoy being attacked, and how the diary had appeared on his desk for no reason.
"Afterwards, Weasley didn't even retain any memory of me, because I devoured Neville's and his fear and greed. I grew stronger and they grew weaker. That's why I was able to open a part of my memory to you, hoping to regain your trust, Harry."
His voice turned cold again as he said this.
"But I didn't expect you to stop looking for me after just one conversation. And when this idiot found out that I hadn't been burned, but had fallen into your hands instead, he actually stole me back."
Tom walked up to Neville and looked disdainfully at his pale face.
"He tried to turn me over to the school, but with the power I had then, he couldn't resist at all. He struggled desperately, trying hard to break free of my control and leave some messages, but he didn't realize that everything he left behind was something I deliberately allowed him to leave."
"What surprised me even more was that Harry Potter, the chosen one worshipped by countless people, could be so timid. After learning all the key clues and knowing where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was, you didn't sneak in yourself; instead, you ran off to tell a teacher!"
Upon hearing his words, Harry felt no shame; instead, he glared back proudly.
He knew that if he and Ron had foolishly rushed into Tom's trap, they would truly be finished.
Tom was unfazed by Harry's provocation and said casually.
"Fortunately, I adjusted my plan in time and waited for you in this Common Room. You cleared out all the students, making it very quiet here; no one will disturb us."
Ron tightly gripped the corner of Sherlock's robe and stammered his question.
"So... what exactly do you want?"
"Of course, it's for Harry Potter, the chosen one of the Wizarding World, who achieved the feat of defeating the greatest Wizard in history while still an infant!" He laughed coldly. "I want to know if you, who once escaped Lord Voldemort unscathed and destroyed his power, can escape my grasp now!"
Harry swallowed.
"What does Lord Voldemort have to do with you?"
Sherlock said calmly.
"Can't you see yet, Harry? Who else in this world could have such a deep obsession with you? Tom Riddle is Lord Voldemort."
Unbeknownst to them, the wand in his hand had quietly changed direction, pointing toward the tightly closed portrait passage behind him.
Tom seemed slightly surprised that Sherlock could state his identity, but he wasn't overly shocked. His identity wasn't a heavily guarded secret; most people who knew simply chose not to mention it.
Harry and Ron, however, were stunned.
They hadn't realised that the boy standing before them was the Dark Lord himself.