Chapter 43: Not a loss (Edited)

The phoenix felt a bit like a big rooster, only warm to the touch. Tom took the opportunity to get a closer look at the legendary immortal bird. Yes, Fawkes was not really a phoenix, but an undead bird.

Fawkes was the size of a turkey, with golden red feathers, and did not smell like the stench of birds. Tom petted it for a minute and put it back on the branch just as Fawkes' tolerance was reaching its limit.

"Well, would you like something to drink?" Dumbledore smiled as he watched Tom carefully place Fawkes on the branch.

"Butterbeer?" replied Tom, after a moment's thought.

Dumbledore was clearly surprised by the answer, but he pulled out two mugs and filled them with frothy butterbeer.

The two drank small sips of butterbeer together.

"So the three-headed dog saved you from the Troll?" Dumbledore threw out the question as if making small talk.

Tom: "Yes, thanks to the three-headed dog." He didn't specify which three-headed dog, and Dumbledore didn't ask.

Dumbledore gave him a meaningful look, and Tom didn't dare make eye contact, but lowered his head and studied the pattern of butterbeer bubbles.

Dumbledore withdrew his gaze, "Yes, indeed it was the three-headed dog that saved you." He opened his desk drawer and pulled out some sweets, "Would you like some sweets? Personally, I prefer peppermint hard candy at night."

"Sure" Tom grabbed a few candies at random and then chatted with Dumbledore. The conversation was not as hesitant as he would have liked, and there were no trick questions. Tom's vague epithets and unconvincing explanations were accepted at face value by Dumbledore. Dumbledore merely chatted with him about his family and asked him about the current state of the Muggle world.

After about ten minutes of conversation, Dumbledore looked at the clock and saw that it was almost nine o'clock at night, he gave a gentle smile, "Go back to the Common Room, if you don't come back, I'm afraid you'll miss dinner."

Tom obediently got up and left Dumbledore's office.

So Tom went into his office, petted a Phoenix for a while, drank butterbeer, chatted for a while, and came out. That made him feel a little weird.

But all long-term problems aside, Tom's short-term gains were not insignificant: he had successfully imprinted the Phoenix, and now he could transform into one! Although each of his transformations is a little less powerful than the original, for example, the three-headed dog has only one head that is sentient. However, it is still an undead bird! With his high stamina, magic resistance and poison resistance, Tom felt that he might have a flaw in his immortality trait, and of course, his tears would not be as effective after his transformation.

In the short term, it was worth the trip to the office, and in the long term, it was worth it.

Tom made his way to the Ravenclaw Common Room and knocked on the door.

"First year Hogwarts students need to cross the Black Lake by boat, we know that ideally it would take one boat 18 minutes to travel 360 meters against the water and 10 minutes to return to the same place; another boat would take 15 minutes to travel the same distance against the water, and how long would it take to return to the same place?"

Tom scribbled on the ground for a while and said quietly to the eagle at the door, "Nine minutes."

"The answer is correct." The door opened, revealing the Common Room in the back.

The Common Room was still full of students, and a table was filled with all kinds of food, no matter the appetizer, main course, or dessert, all kinds of delicacies were on the table, and the young wizards were sitting in groups at the table enjoying their dinner.

Of course, there were only a few who were concentrating on their meals, there were many who were discussing the big news of the night with their friends and classmates, and there were a few who were in a corner, grabbing a plate of food and indulging in a book.

Hermione was sitting at a table by the common room window in a gray robe. She had taken off the wizard robe she had been wearing all day, and her table was crowded. It was clear that there was a mystery surrounding Hermione's unexplained absence from the group and her late arrival, and this did not go unnoticed by the observant Ravenclaw wizards.

They gathered around Hermione to find out what was going on.

"...That's what happened, I ran back to get Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape, and by the time I got back the Troll was dead. Professor Snape deduced that a magical creature with fangs had done it" Hermione said.

This explosive information ignited the enthusiasm of the little wizards, and they all discussed what kind of magical animal can kill a troll, and also discussed why it had not killed Tom.

Stephen Cornfoot said very confidently that a vampire should do it, and the reason is obvious: the Troll's wound is in the neck, what magical creature would rather attack a neck than a vampire?

But someone immediately raised doubts: not to mention whether it is realistic for a vampire to kill a Troll alone, can a vampire with a human-like size really bite a Troll's neck? Stephen Cornfoot said stiffly that it could be some kind of giant vampire, but he didn't seem to believe it himself.

The rest of the discussion got more and more absurd, with some suggesting a giant, others a werewolf, and even a second year girl who thought a fire dragon was a strong suspect.

It was then that Tom entered the common room and, for a moment, he felt like the world was focused on him, as if everyone was watching him. But the Ravenclaw students were a bit more reserved, not rushing to ask questions like the Gryffindors, but all waiting.

Finally, Robert Hilliard, the Prefect, approached, "Are you alright? Come, the food is still warm, come to my table." The young wizards around the table cursed, "You old fox! How did you come up with that way of getting information?"

Tom saw that there were few empty seats, so he gladly took a seat. He ate and drank with Robert, and soon Robert brought the conversation to the evening's Troll.

"Wow, so how did you end up escaping?"

The question was asked and the entire Common Room went silent for a moment, then returned to normal, but the chatter of the students became incoherent, and the books of those reading stopped turning pages.

"A three-headed dog appeared and bit the Troll, that's all" Tom said.

"Wow--"

The young wizards' doubts were answered and they were content to move on, as to why there was a three-headed dog, the intelligent Ravenclaw students would not ask Tom, but would discuss it themselves. How could a first year know where a three-headed dog came from?