Albus sighed as he stared at the two boys before him, he tuned out Armando and focused on the dark-skinned boy sulking in one of the chairs. Filius Diggs was a muggle-born wizard placed in Gryffindor, nothing about him stood out when he first laid eyes on him but that quickly changed when the boy topped all his classes with exceptional marks. He rarely got in trouble in his three years at Hogwarts. Still, when he did he brought about disastrous consequences which brought him to the second student seated in the office, Franklin Eland was also a muggle-born student. The latter had unfortunately been brought up with the distasteful views muggles harbor, which is why he tried to bully the other boy every once in a while. Filius always retaliated brutally when teased broken bones here and there and while he could excuse him when this was done to Slytherins he could not look the other way when it was another Gryffindor.

"Filius I understand you're upset but you shouldn't let words have such power over you," Armando stated and Dumbledore could see the smaller boy's face cloud over as he interrupted,

"I was just defending myself, sir, Franklin needs to learn that I'm not to trifled with," Dumbledore sighed again as Armando spluttered, for all his brilliance Filius was arrogant to a fault. Even now his icy blue eyes stared disdainfully down at his housemate, who flinched back in turn.

He cut in, "Mr. Eland I was under the impression that after our numerous talks in the second year you had stopped bullying Mr. Diggs?" Franklin didn't get to answer as he was intercepted by Filius,

"He was blackmailed by stupid Lestrange another one that needs to be taught a lesson," He sneered as Franklin scoffed,

"Even you're not stupid enough to injure a prominent pureblood Filius, His family would string you alive, what I would give to see that, I heard in Amerca they lynch the likes of you,"

"That's enough both of you! Filius you are to do no such thing to Mr. Lestrange and Mr. Eland, you would do well to show some modicum of respect for your classmate. We will not be discussing this matter ever again and we will be taking 10 points from each of you! And 50 points extra from Filius," The teenager spluttered, "No no, no protests the type of magic you cast on Mr. Eland is dangerous young man! You could have sealed his magic away permanently. Now gentleman, off to bed both of you now!" Armando exploded, at last, Franklin was the first to scurry out with Filius following closely behind, Albus only hoped they didn't get into another altercation.

When Filius was reborn into the world of Harry Potter he was ecstatic, even more so when he saw that he had some form of the gamer system to help him navigate the world, that excitement died a swift death when noticed what time period he was in, 'Well at least I'm not in America?' Was all he could think to calm himself, luckily enough the orphanage he was brought up in was not that bad, though he couldn't go on the rare trips that were afforded to other kids as the matrons feared public backlash. It was fine though that gave him time to work on his magic eagerly waiting for when he went to Hogwarts.

Filius shook his head, he had far more important matters to think about. Lestrange and his crew always targeted at least 4 muggle-born students to torment each year, poor Myrtle Warren had been bullied so much that she took to hiding in the girl's bathroom, and even though they had moved on to new targets she still insisted on avoiding them as much as possible.

'Stupid Lestrange, what I would do to teach them a lesson' Filius thought. As much as he despised Franklin he was right, he can't physically hurt Lestrange, and seeing as how his other friends were also prominent purebloods it wouldn't do to go after them. 'Though there is Riddle' Filius had only met the boy once, the older boy had merely congratulated him for matching the academic records he had set the year before and that was that. 'He still keeps pureblood company though, and he doesn't do anything to reign in his mutts when they torment others' Even though Riddle was raised in a muggle orphanage he was sorted into Slytherin, and from what Filius heard he had earned the respect of the wizards in his house, in fact, most of the purebloods in his friend group seemed to look at him as some sort of leader.

But no Filius can't go after him, he had never actively participated in any of the bullying and he was pleasant enough when they had met, what he needed to do was go after anyone who actively bullied him, Filius smiled as he reached into his inventory and took out a grimoire he had acquired from one of the many dungeons he had completed. He had a particularly wondrous spell he could use in here, it granted one the ability to dream walk, and manipulate the dreams of other people, Filius Smirked as he thought about all the wonderful things he could make Lestrange witness.

Tom Riddle flipped another page of the genealogy book in his lap, making sure to pay attention to the conversation around him,

"Dumbledore lets the mudblood get away with anything," Rosier hissed, "Hell he could commit murder and he would only get a slap on the wrist,"

"The old farts' leniency has gotten to Filius' head," Lestrange scoffed, "Have seen him walking in the hallways? Thinks he owns the bloody school. His ego is unrivaled, filthy mudblood,"

Tom resisted pointing out that Filius' ego is only dwarfed by Lestrange's, the boy looked down on nearly everyone.

"Why you two insist on picking on ugly trolls is beyond me," Abraxas Malfoy sniffed, "They don't deserve our attention"

Rosier laughed, "Come now Abraxas, you yourself have taken part in our little fun if I remember correctly last time you drove one bloodblood off the school and sent the other into hiding in the girls' bathroom, pitiful thing can't even cross paths with us without breaking down," He turned his attention to the youngest member in the group, "Orion you were sharing a class with Gryffindor when today's events unraveled, what happened with Franklin?"

Orion paused his legs midswing, eyes blinking as if he had just come to life, a wide smile split his face in half, "Oh Edmund it was glorious!" He breathed out, "Filius broke his right hand, wandless and nonverbal then proceeded to cast a spell on him, and get this...it restricted his magic!"

Tom closed the genealogy book shut, "What do you mean restricted his magic? How? That's not a spell taught in Hogwarts," Filius was famous for his ability to cast nonverbal and wandless spells, but this? Spells that affected another person's magic were rare and heavily guarded.

Orion shrugged, "I don't know, he's always carrying weird grimoires, and just last week..." Orion leaned in eyes glistening with a touch of madness, "During Defence Against The Dark Arts he cast a spell that forced his opponent to apparate,"

Tom leaned back as he processed the information, Filius was brilliant, only a fool would be unable to recognize that. But genius or not there are spells he shouldn't, couldn't possibly know, 'Is Dumbledore teaching him these spells?' Tom felt his mood sour, Filius was one of Dumbledore's favorite students, so much so that he got away with doing ridiculous things, things that would get most expelled.

"I don't think Dumbledore knows where Filius learned the spells he uses," Orion's dark eyes stared unblinkingly at his, Tom was almost sure the creepy 3rd year could read minds sometimes.

Leaning back he tuned out the others, Filius Diggs, his muggle-born status aside Tom admired the other boys' swift and ruthless response to any form of bullying he encountered, it was how he himself managed to climb his way up in Slytherin, by brutally crushing anyone who came in his way.

'No no no no' Reinhard Lestrange stared at his bloody hands, his family was laid out before him, and he felt his breath quicken as their bodies started twitching and rising. "Not again not again PLEASE!" he bolted up the stairs, his mother's bony hand missing his leg by an inch, he shut the door hard and tried to focus on finding his magic but all he felt was emptiness. Something banged against the door and Reinhard fell to his behind as the door crashed down, his mother stared at him, her icy blue eyes were filled with cruelty.

"Stay back Please stay back" He whimpered, cruel laughter fell from her lips as she limped towards him, kneeling down she cradled his face before her cold lips met his, Reinhard felt his life seep out of him, he couldn't breathe! And slowly his eyes closed shut...

Reinhard wrangled the scream threatening to come out, taking deep steadying breaths, this was the third time he woke up from the nightmare, he shivered suddenly feeling cold.

He looked for his wand and a spell later and felt energized, Reinhard cradled his knees to his chest, eyes darting to the shadows in fear.

He stayed like that all night.

"Bloody hell Lestrange, what happened to you?" Rosier asked at breakfast.

"I-I had trouble sleeping is all," Lestrange replied, disguising his stutter as a cough.

He ignored the looks the others were sending him, he couldn't show any weakness in Slytherin, it would be used to blackmail him to hell and back.

"Oh look, here comes you're next pet project," Orion remarked as Filius walked in, eyes firmly set on him, Reinhard stared right back as the mudbloods lips curved into a mocking smile, satisfaction swelled in his blue eyes...those cruel blue eyes!

"That fucking Mudblood!"