"This smell..." Slytherin instantly perked up.
Wade was about to speak, but Slytherin raised a hand to stop him, then silently crouched in front of the incense burner.
"Inhale..."
"Exhale..."
After taking a deep breath of the smoke, Slytherin closed his eyes and let out a blissful hum.
Wade blinked. "Looks like it worked..."
But...
Why did something about this look so wrong?
He almost seemed... intoxicated.
Like a cat encountering catnip for the first time.
Wade looked at him expectantly. "How is it?"
Slytherin waved a hand. "Don't talk... Give me a moment..."
It took quite a while before Slytherin finally recovered.
"What exactly is this stuff?"
"I already told you. Incense! It's like lighting candles in churches. People burn incense when visiting temples or paying respects at graves..."
Slytherin pondered for a moment before asking, "Do you have any more?"
"Yes. I made about fifty sticks because I didn't know whether they'd have any effect on you."
"Make more!" Slytherin said excitedly. "I've been a ghost for so long, and this is the first time I've ever felt full!"
"All right... I can teach you how to make it, and then you can make it yourself. You should be capable of doing that now anyway," Wade said.
"What a remarkable thing..."
Slytherin reached out and wrapped a wisp of pale smoke in magic.
The next second, the smoke transformed into a small cake.
Slytherin gently bit into it, then said with a look of pure enjoyment, "Incredible... Using the smoke produced by this incense as a medium, even a ghost can taste food conjured from it!"
Wade looked at Slytherin in confusion.
"Is it really that amazing? I just threw it together. Even the incense powder was only made from ordinary sandalwood ground into powder..."
"Wow, I can't believe this stuff really works," Slytherin said.
Wade silently complained to himself, "Didn't you just say that things invented by Muggles were useless...?"
"I admit I was wrong," Slytherin said without hesitation.
Wade stared at him in surprise.
This was the first time the old man had ever admitted a mistake so quickly.
In the past, even when Slytherin was clearly wrong, he would stubbornly come up with a whole pile of excuses to justify himself.
There was not much Wade could say to that. He handed Slytherin the remaining incense along with the burner, then wrote down the method for making it.
After that, Slytherin carried the incense burner to the other side of the flying carpet and lit a stick for himself.
Wade could only stare.
It was the first time he had ever seen a ghost burn incense for himself.
...
History of Magic ended.
The students rose crookedly from their desks like zombies coming back to life.
History of Magic was a long class, and after sleeping face-down for so long, many of them had gone numb around the neck.
Tom stopped Anne as she was about to leave.
"Do you know where Wade is?"
Anne visibly froze.
"Wade... Wade Reynolds... Who's that?"
Tom's pupils contracted.
"You don't know who Wade Reynolds is?"
"I feel like I've heard the name before," Anne said with a frown. "But I really don't know him."
Tom sucked in a sharp breath.
Then, as though suddenly remembering something, he rummaged through his schoolbag for a while before pulling out a copy of the Daily Prophet.
It was the very newspaper from the first day of term that had reported on Wade's deeds.
"Look! This is the person..." Tom spread out the newspaper, then froze.
The front-page article about Wade had vanished. In its place was a completely different report about the promotion of a senior Ministry of Magic official.
The photograph of Wade's back, which had originally taken up most of the page, had also been replaced by an unfamiliar official giving a speech.
"What's wrong with this man?" Anne asked curiously. "His name isn't Wade Reynolds either."
"How is this possible?" Tom flipped through the newspaper in disbelief, wondering whether he had picked up the wrong issue.
But the date printed on it clearly showed that it was from September 1st.
"Tom, you're acting a little strange today," Anne said worriedly.
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!" Tom's face turned pale.
Anne frowned. "What's impossible? Come to think of it, you were acting strangely in class too. You suddenly stood up and startled everyone. Did you really just have a nightmare?"
Tom paused. "I stood up just now?"
"Yes. Don't you remember?"
"Right... I think I figured something out at the time, and I got so excited that I stood up." Tom frowned.
"What did you figure out?" Anne asked.
"I..." Tom grabbed at his hair in distress. After a long while, he said helplessly, "I... I don't remember. I only remember feeling as though something exploded in my head, and then I fell asleep. I thought Wade had attacked me again."
"So who exactly is Wade Reynolds?" Anne asked in confusion. "And why would he attack you?"
"I... I don't know either... No, forget it. Pretend I never said anything."
Pale-faced, Tom stuffed the newspaper back into his schoolbag.
"Tom, I think you should go to the Hospital Wing..." Anne said as she followed him.
"No... I don't need to."
"All right. Then get some proper rest. I'll handle the Mutual Aid Society meeting tonight..."
Tom suddenly stopped walking.
"What did you just say? The Mutual Aid Society?"
"Tom, what is wrong with you? Don't tell me you've even forgotten the Mutual Aid Society?" Anne was now beginning to suspect that Tom had been cursed.
"Of course I remember the Mutual Aid Society..." Tom grabbed Anne by the shoulders. "Do you remember... who founded it?"
"Who founded it? Wasn't it your idea to establish it?" Anne looked at him with growing concern. "Tom, I really think you should go to the Hospital Wing."
Tom released her in shock and staggered several steps backwards.
"Tom?"
"Ah... No, it's nothing. I was just joking with you."
Tom quickly composed himself and forced a faint smile.
"Just joking? Really? Then you're a remarkably good actor..." Anne looked at him suspiciously.
Tom calmly picked up his schoolbag and walked out of the classroom.
Only his unsteady footsteps betrayed him.
...
"Something's wrong... Something is very wrong! Why doesn't anyone remember Wade Reynolds? Even their memories of the things he did have all changed! Could it be that I'm the one with the problem? Did Wade Reynolds never exist in the first place?"
Tom sat beneath a statue in Hogwarts's Entrance Hall, tugging at his hair as he muttered to himself, looking almost like a madman.
Immediately after speaking with Anne, he had gone to ask Wade's other friends.
Yet not a single one of them remembered who Wade was.
Then Tom had rushed back to the dormitory, intending to find Wade's belongings as proof that such a person really existed.
Instead, he was stunned to discover that Wade's bed was completely empty.
Wade's wardrobe was empty as well.
When Tom cautiously questioned Henry about it, Henry told him that their dormitory had always been one student short.
"No. I have to find Dumbledore! Yes! The armour and the lantern monster Wade made are still outside Dumbledore's office! And Dumbledore is so powerful that he'll definitely notice something is wrong!"
Tom wasted no time. He sprang to his feet and ran straight towards Dumbledore's office.
A few minutes later, Tom appeared in the corridor outside Dumbledore's office, breathing heavily.
From a distance, Tom could already see the suit of armour outside Dumbledore's office, along with the lantern monster perched on it.
His heart immediately leapt with joy.
Something Wade had created was still here. This time, it had not disappeared.
With the lantern monster's bizarre appearance, there was no way anyone other than Wade could have made it.
Tom hurried over and stared fixedly at the lantern monster.
Sure enough, the moment it saw him approaching, the lantern monster spoke.
Before, Tom had always found its voice unbearably noisy and annoying, but now it sounded almost unbelievably adorable.
"Ah! Great Lord Riddle! Good evening! Have you come to see the equally great Professor Dumbledore?" the lantern monster shouted loudly.
Tom froze.
It had never called him "Great Lord Riddle" before.
It had only ever called him "Lord Wade's little brother"!
And the lantern monster had only ever used the title "great" for two people: Wade and Dumbledore.
But now...
"Why aren't you calling him Lord Wade this time?" Tom asked in a trembling voice.
"Lord Wade? Who's that? Not just anyone is worthy of being called 'Lord' by me!" the lantern monster yelled.
Tom instantly felt his hands and feet turn cold, and his heart sank.
"Tom, come in," Dumbledore's gentle voice called from inside the office.
Tom slowly pushed open the door and stepped into Dumbledore's office.
The fire in the fireplace was burning brightly, making the room warm as spring.
"Tom, what's wrong? You only came to see me earlier today," Dumbledore asked.
"Professor... do you remember why I came to see you today?" Tom asked.
"Of course. You felt that you kept forgetting something important, while I thought you might simply be under too much pressure."
Dumbledore spoke gently as he pulled over a chair for Tom to sit in.
"It seems you've encountered a problem you can't solve on your own. Tell me about it again. As your professor, if it's something within my ability, I'll naturally do my best to help you."
Dumbledore sat back behind his desk and quietly looked at Tom.
There was something about Dumbledore's gaze that always seemed to calm people, as though there were no problem he could not solve.
Tom felt some of the tension in his heart ease for no reason.
Then he took a deep breath.
"Professor... do you know where Wade has gone?"
Dumbledore's eyes sharpened slightly.
"If you can, could you first tell me... who Wade is?"
Tom's eyes widened as he stared blankly at Dumbledore.
The office was as warm as spring, yet Tom felt as though he were sitting in the middle of an icy wasteland.
____
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Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69