#1 - Chapter 1 My name is Tom, but I am not Voldemort

In 1991, London, Wool's Orphanage.

The morning sun streamed into the room, and Tom jolted awake, his mind filled with the earworm-like laughter of "Eh hehe, eh hehe..."

"Strange, how could I dream of becoming that noseless, bald-headed freak from some children's book in my past life?"

Thinking of the scene in his dream, he quickly got out of bed and grabbed the mirror from the table, looking at his handsome face.

Thankfully, his nose and hair were still there in reality. Seeing this, Tom breathed a long sigh of relief.

Just as Tom opened the window, ready to dispel the nightmare with the fresh morning air, he suddenly seemed to hear a mechanical voice in his ear:

"Di!"

"System officially activated..."

"Character panel successfully generated."

"System newbie gift pack successfully distributed."

"Storage space successfully generated."

"Mission system... zzz... zzzz..."

"Error... Error...."

"Bang!"

"?"

The system, which had finally appeared after eleven years of transmigrating, didn't even allow Tom to be moved before he had to lament its demise in less than a minute.

Bad news: The system crashed; he's on his own from now on.

Good news: The activated parts are still usable, better than nothing.

"Am I still an unlucky person even after transmigrating!" Tom lamented his bad luck as he opened the character panel left behind by the system to check.

[Name: Tom Marvolo Riddle]

[Occupation: Wizard]

[Magic Power: Level 1]

[Talents:

Transfiguration: 7 / 10

Charms: 9 / 10

Potions: 7 / 10

Herbology: 6 / 10

Divination: 1 / 10

...

Tom looked at the panel with a head full of question marks, uttering a question from his soul:

"Is this panel serious? Isn't this the world of Harry Potter? And how come I didn't know I had the talent for Parseltongue after growing up so much? I'm just called Tom Marvolo Riddle; I'm not really Voldemort."

"Wait a minute..."

The belated Tom suddenly thought of something. What if... what if it's real?

If it really is the world of Harry Potter, Tom broke out in a cold sweat at the thought.

Bearing the name Tom Marvolo Riddle and growing up in Wool's Orphanage, this fully stacked buff is definitely a state where he'd be targeted to death by Old Honeybee.

That's right, it's July now, isn't it the time for Hogwarts to recruit new students? Maybe Old Dumbledore is already on his way.

"Forget it, let's quickly check the storage space and the newbie gift pack; whether I can save myself depends on this wave."

The 4 cubic meter storage space was empty, but this size is probably only good for storing small items in the future.

As Tom opened the newbie gift pack, golden light flashed, and three more entries appeared on the character panel:

[Skills: Occlumency (Passive, Perfect), Wand Protection (The host's wand can shield against Ministry of Magic traces, Prior Incantato, and a series of tracking magic), Soul Furnace (Can absorb specific soul matter without side effects)]

[Spells: Avada Kedavra Lv1, Crucio Lv1, Imperio Lv1]

[Special Items: "Secrets of Cutting-Edge Dark Arts" (Annotated by Grindelwald), Combat Crystallization (Unactivated)]

"..." Tom looked speechlessly at the generous benefits from the gift pack.

Although Occlumency is what Tom urgently needs right now, and Wand Protection can save him the trouble of finding a spare wand, what's with the Unforgivable Curses three-piece set? Besides the ambiguous Combat Crystallization, is a book like "Secrets of Cutting-Edge Dark Arts" meant for a little wizard like him who hasn't even started school yet? Are they really treating him as Voldemort, or does this broken system think that anyone named Tom Riddle is born to be a Dark Lord?

While frantically complaining about this broken system in his heart, Tom was more concerned about the Soul Furnace skill. He had a feeling that it was aimed at Voldemort. Isn't this encouraging him to go and find the noseless Tom for trouble? He has to admit that it's a little tempting to Tom.

Closing the panel, Tom sat down with trepidation, waiting for the arrival of an unknown fate.

In fact, just as Tom was restless, Dumbledore had already knocked on the orphanage door.

"Hello, I am Anna Jones, the head of this orphanage. May I ask who you are?"

Orphanage Director Anna looked at the strange old man with a long dark robe and a pointed hat in front of her, introducing herself while asking for his identity and purpose.

"I am Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School. I am here today for Tom Riddle's enrollment matters."

Dumbledore stated his purpose with a complex expression. After 53 years, guiding a young wizard named Tom Riddle to enroll at the same location again gave Dumbledore an indescribable feeling of strangeness.

Hearing that the old man in front of her was here for Tom's education, Mrs. Anna's face immediately bloomed with a smile, and she enthusiastically led Dumbledore to find him.

On the way, Dumbledore politely asked Mrs. Anna about Tom's background:

"Excuse me, Mrs. Anna, may I take the liberty of asking when Tom came to the orphanage?"

Mrs. Anna thought for a moment and quickly gave a definite answer:

"Little Tom was abandoned at the orphanage door when he was just born; that was December 31, 1979. Yes, that's right, it was the last day of that year; I remember it very clearly. At that time, he only had a piece of paper with his name on it."

'December 31st? Is it really a coincidence?'

Dumbledore thought about Mrs. Anna's words with suspicion.

However, Mrs. Anna didn't notice Dumbledore's strangeness; instead, she introduced Tom to Dumbledore with a warm smile:

"Tom is a sensible and intelligent good child. He has never worried me in anything he has done since he was a child. And he has really helped me a lot over the years. I remember from a long time ago, he started helping to take care of the younger siblings. Whenever something happened to the children in the orphanage, they would think of finding little Tom first."

"So, Tom has good relationships at the orphanage?" Hearing an evaluation that was completely different from the previous Tom Riddle, Dumbledore couldn't help but show surprise.

"Yes, the children at the orphanage are very dependent on little Tom."

"When Andy had a high fever at the age of five, Tom took care of him for three days and three nights without closing his eyes until Andy's fever subsided. Tom was only seven years old that year."

"When Tom was eight years old, Milia was bullied by the bad kids in the next block. After he found out, he desperately beat up those bad kids and warned them not to bully his younger siblings. After that, they never came to bother the orphanage children again."

"Also, the orphanage's situation hasn't been very good in recent years, and Tom has been secretly working several jobs outside. He has done everything from setting up stalls, collecting scraps, and delivering newspapers, just to save some money every year so that the children can have a better time in winter. He thought he could hide it from us, but everyone in the orphanage knew, but for the sake of his self-esteem, no one pointed it out."

"There are too many things like this. As the director, I am both gratified and feel guilty. I, as the director, have failed too much. This child is only 11 years old, but he has been made to bear too much at this age."

Mrs. Anna told Dumbledore about Tom's past events, and tears welled up in her eyes unconsciously.

"It's not your fault. You have already done very well. I believe everything will become better in the future."

Dumbledore comforted Mrs. Anna meaningfully.