Slughorn slumped in the pool of blood, entirely unaware of the terrifying secret he had just revealed.
When Voldemort was no longer using magic to control him, he didn't regain his senses; instead, he suddenly grinned, revealing a dazed smile.
"Tom, you're such a crafty spirit, know more than half of the instructors, definitely can become the Minister of Magic..."
"Oh, Lestrange, I've lived for so many years and have never seen such strange magic potion operations... Essay, five feet! That's the homework you've earned for yourself!"
"Very good... very good... Lily, this Magic Potion is flawless, Gryffindor gains five points..."
He muttered indistinctly, a flush of satisfied smile appeared on his thin face, as if he had returned to a classroom filled with the scent of magic potions, with only a group of innocent lovely students in front of him.
"Let's go, Vid."
Dumbledore's voice suddenly sounded in Vid's ear, he said: "We should leave."
He grabbed Vid's arm, the two seemed to be slowly ascending, everything around was dissipating, Voldemort's face, Slughorn's silly smile, were all quickly swallowed by the mist.
When they came to their senses, Vid was standing back in the office, Dumbledore paced to the window, his face seemingly covered by a layer of frost.
"Professor..."
Vid's voice halted for a moment, he stared at the headmaster's silhouette reflected in the black glass, suddenly feeling it was somewhat insensitive to disturb him at this moment.
What they had just seen, for Vid, was Voldemort's process of obtaining vital information; but for Dumbledore, it was his old friend undergoing unimaginable torment.
Vid hesitated whether to end this conversation, leaving Dumbledore a space to relieve his mood. After calming down for a period of time, they could continue the discussion.
But before he could speak, Dumbledore had already turned around and said calmly:
"After breaking Slughorn's defense, Voldemort didn't rush to create new soul artifacts, for reasons you should be quite clear of..."
Vid nodded: "At that time, he was too weak, and making the soul in the soul artifacts split again is extremely important, he would never entrust it to others, not even his most trusted Barty Crouch Jr."
Vid's gaze fell on the Pensieve, he said: "So he should plan to wait until after his resurrection, then find time to do this... Additionally, he needs to verify again whether Slughorn had deceived him..."
"Exactly." Dumbledore said: "But now, he's a beast driven to a dead end, yet he's also successfully vanished from most people's sights. Therefore, he will definitely check his soul artifacts first, to see which one is suitable for another split."
"Then he will discover... his soul artifacts have been taken, and even destroyed." Vid said softly: "He'll inevitably become mad, furious, scared, then search every location where the soul artifacts are hidden, finally find that his hope for immortality is left with only two..."
"No, three." Dumbledore suddenly said.
Vid paused, looked towards Dumbledore, with inquiry in his eyes.
The headmaster confidently said: "The Gaunt Family's place has burned to white land, the cave is the same, the traces of destruction on the ring and pendant box are very evident, but the diadem hidden in Hogwarts is not."
Vid understood: "Voldemort only knows the diadem fell into Ryan's hands, was hidden by him, but doesn't know the thing was destroyed long ago!"
Recalling the Ilvermorny champion, Vid felt a trace of subtle sympathy.
After Voldemort's body was burnt, it should have transferred to the United States, Ilvermorny for a period of time, where he beguiled Ryan to work for him.
But unfortunately, Ryan's ability to conceal his whereabouts wasn't particularly strong, when he sneaked into the Room of Requirement, he was discovered by Vid. Vid found him searching for the Ravenclaw Diadem, so he switched a fake one for him, then reported this matter to Dumbledore.
Ever since then, that kid was virtually under their control.
Of course, Ryan himself never realized this, he even believed that by wearing the "Ravenclaw's Diadem", he possessed supreme wisdom, immediately becoming arrogant and conceited, even Voldemort thought he could be used.
With this mindset, he naturally wouldn't hand over the cheat code that could change his life to Voldemort, but found ways to procrastinate, hiding the diadem in "a place only he knew."
In reality, Ryan's mind for Barty Crouch Jr and Voldemort was like an open book, unable to hide any secrets at all.
But Voldemort might have thought this kid still had some use, didn't let Barty Jr retrieve the diadem in advance, giving Ryan an illusion that the situation was under his control.
On the other hand, every conversation Ryan had with Voldemort, every message he sent to Voldemort, was actually under Dumbledore's control—Hogwarts' headmaster seemed to have no desire, but in reality, his control over this school was terrifyingly strong.
Then it was Barty Jr who was exposed when trying to attack Vid, Ryan "assisted" Barty Jr in escaping, and was coerced into becoming a bird, helping Barty Jr monitor the movements of champions in the Forbidden Forest.
If not for all his actions being clearly known by Dumbledore, perhaps that kid's remaining life would truly be spent as a crow.
Unlike Vid and Harry, Ryan was already seventeen when participating in the competition, considered as an adult. He colluded with a Dark Wizard like Voldemort, even if he ended up crashing, looking like a victim, he still needs to face legal punishment.
In this regard, due to the United States' persistent hostile state between wizards and Muggles, having experienced the brutal Salem Witch Trials, and with the Scourers often stirring up trouble, their law enforcement is stricter than the British Ministry of Magic.
"Ryan Smith is currently imprisoned in the United States Magic Congress' prison, he will face up to twelve years of imprisonment — that's considering he just became an adult."
Dumbledore said: "Voldemort hasn't lost all hope yet, so he probably won't choose to forcefully break into prison, to interrogate Ryan about the whereabouts of the soul artifacts. Consequently, the choices left to him are not many."
Vid lightly tapped the armrest of the chair, saying: "Breaking into Azkaban or breaking into Gringotts, both are as difficult as forcibly breaking into the American magic prison... But Azkaban has his loyal subordinates, Dementors could also become his aid."
"But the simplest... even could assist him in directly obtaining the Hufflepuff Golden Cup, is still to find Lucius Malfoy..."
Lightning suddenly flashed outside the window, illuminating the portraits of past headmasters on the wall—
None of them pretended to sleep, opened their eyes, held their breaths, carefully listening to this conversation, even the noisiest Phineas maintained silence.
Vid lifted his eyes, bluntly asked: "Professor... Do you plan to return the diary to Malfoy?"