Unlike Snape and the others, Nagini had no intention of helping Tom Riddle increase his strength. She had spent more time with Tom than anyone else and knew better than anyone how terrifyingly powerful he was. Frankly, if Tom truly needed help with his strength, even a dozen Dumbledores would be instantly defeated. She did not believe that hard work alone could make her strong enough to assist Tom in that way.
While she wouldn't give up learning magic—after all, she could still help Tom with some minor troubles—she would continue to aid Tom in other ways while also ensuring her own continued growth.
...
The return journey was uneventful, utterly devoid of unexpected incidents. In Tom's words, it was truly boring, which set him thinking about how to stir up a bit more excitement.
On another, rather anonymous, wizarding cruise ship...
The other tourists cowered inside, refusing to emerge at the sight of Tom Riddle sunbathing on a deck chair, a giant Thunderbird obediently squatting behind him as a backdrop.
Although Tom appeared to be in good spirits and didn't seem inclined to kill them all, the Thunderbird was hardly a docile little puppy! It was enormous and terrifying. It could probably crush a dragon in two bites!
"..."
Harry Potter, also sunbathing, saw the curious yet frightened wizards behind him, and his lips twitched involuntarily. "Sir, aren't we... a bit conspicuous?"
Harry's voice snapped Tom from his reverie.
"Tsk, Harry, you simply don't understand. I keep this magnificent beast purely for show, of course!" Tom feigned displeasure but was, in fact, patiently instructing. "And there's something I must impress upon you... Now that you've ascended to the vaunted position of second-in-command of my Death Eaters, you must also familiarize yourself with the subtler aspects of my power... namely, the art of ostentation. Remember to learn how to properly flaunt your power when you venture out in the future."
That's right! As he spoke, Tom was already hatching a plan: next time, he wouldn't take Harry out to play; he'd have him escort those callow young Death Eaters from Hogwarts, simply to broaden their horizons.
"That's right, Scarhead! As a Death Eater, especially the second-in-command, you need the presence to back it up!" Perhaps it was a natural talent, but even Malfoy's nose seemed a tad more upturned than others while he was lying down. "You must learn this from me. You see, I have truly received the Master's true teachings in this, haven't I?"
"..."
Tom glanced at Malfoy but remained silent.
"Heh, don't speak nonsense." Cassandra Volle, reclining on the sun lounger next to Tom, chuckled coldly, clearly annoyed. "Tom still possesses some degree of shame."
"..."
Nagini, coiled comfortably on the sun lounger on Tom's other side, nodded silently with her eyes closed, indicating her agreement.
"How am I shameless, young mistress?" Malfoy sat up abruptly, only to be glared back down by Cassandra.
Lying back down, Malfoy muttered under his breath, "So what if she's slightly better than me? So what if she's slightly better looking than me? So what if she's slightly more favored than me?"
Besides all that, what else does she have?! Is her dad as powerful as mine...? Yes, her family isn't that much worse off than mine... but still not quite as powerful as mine! My surname is Malfoy; Cassandra's isn't. She's not one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, merely a newly ascendant noble family... One victory! As a proud Malfoy, I am inherently superior to Cassandra... Two victories! Anyway, I've already won two, so what's one more...? That's three victories! I, Draco Malfoy, am superior to Cassandra Volle in every conceivable way!!!
"Hehehe... hehehehe..."
Malfoy, lost in his whirlwind of self-delusion, continued chuckling to himself.
This prompted Harry's expression to turn rather strange, and he swiftly averted his gaze, refusing to look at him. "Sir, where is Professor Snape?"
"Bats are nocturnal creatures," Tom replied, basking in the sun without opening his eyes. "They do not sunbathe."
...
Meanwhile, elsewhere...
In a Muggle city, within a park...
Two elderly men, one dressed in black and the other in white, sat quietly on a park bench beside the lawn. The white-robed man had his arms and legs crossed, while the black-robed man rested one hand on the back of the bench, seemingly slumped in a daze.
They silently watched the passersby, occasionally exchanging a few words, their eyes filled with nostalgia and reminiscence.
This was typical behavior for wizards their age. What grand spectacles hadn't they witnessed? What exotic locales hadn't they explored?
For Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald, their honeymoon didn't necessarily require scenic spots or exotic environments. They simply revisited places they had often been to, reminiscing about the past, repeating the good stories and glossing over the bad ones.
Watching the sunrise and sunset, spending a day slowly exploring one place before drifting onto the next, reflecting on the changes along the way. Although "people and things have changed," these places still felt remarkably familiar.
"Al," Grindelwald, in an unusually relaxed mood, seemed to suddenly recall something.
"Hmm?"
"Am I still 'all alone' right now, do you think?"
"..."
That sounds terribly familiar... Dumbledore chuckled softly. "And what do you say? Didn't you once ask, 'Who will love me now?'"
"Heh... well, I retract that. You still have me." Grindelwald clapped Dumbledore on the shoulder. "And I still have you."
"Still so adept at deception, I see. Perhaps I should have been more ruthless back then. Aberforth has been ceaselessly complaining to me since you arrived, you know," Dumbledore feigned seriousness. "Saying that, as her brother, I am honor-bound to teach you a lesson for Ariana."
"No, I wasn't deceiving you; you know that." Grindelwald raised his hands in surrender. "Besides, I heard your sister resurrected that Tom Riddle boy, didn't she? Are they still blaming me after all this time?"
"Hmm... perhaps if you were to venture into the Hog's Head right now, Aberforth would come after you directly," Dumbledore mused. "But it's hardly surprising, really. It's only because I'm soft-hearted that you found yourself in such a predicament."
Grindelwald smoothly picked up the thread of the conversation. "However, the truth remains that you couldn't defeat me back then."
Hearing this, Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "But you still lost, didn't you?"
"That was because I allowed you to win. You know the power of the Elder Wand."
"How about a rematch then?"
"No, this rusty old bone wouldn't stand a chance against you."
"..."
The two chuckled, then fell silent.
Not out of embarrassment or any other complicated emotion, but because of the ethereal beauty of the moment.
---
Look some readers already know what the night holds before it arrives. Chapters ahead, deadass. They found p@treon. You're still here waiting. Don't play yourself. You already know what to do.