Time flowed by silently, and soon it was Halloween Eve.
The air at Hogwarts was permeated with the scent of pumpkin.
The professors had also set up various strange and wonderful decorations...
The busy students finally had a long-awaited trace of a smile on their faces.
Sirius was actually quite uneasy about Harry being in school because, according to Victor Wick, Voldemort was already plotting to steal the Philosopher's Stone.
This proved that Voldemort had already infiltrated the school through some unknown means.
However, since Victor and Dumbledore were there, he barely managed to put his mind at ease and focus entirely on making contact with Regulus.
For some reason, however, the messages he sent to Regulus seemed to vanish into thin air...
To this day, there had been no response from the other party.
This left Sirius utterly puzzled; theoretically, even if Regulus didn't want to show himself, he should at least send a letter to talk!
Victor Wick strolled through the corridors of Hogwarts.
Every student greeted him with respect when they saw him.
Naturally, Snape, who was walking beside him, did not receive the same treatment...
"Try to smile more, Severus. Not every student is the poor Mr. Potter," Victor teased.
Snape's expression remained as cold as water, and he did not speak. As the wound on his leg had gradually healed, he no longer limped even without the use of the pain-relieving potion.
Victor wanted to use the festive atmosphere to chat with Snape.
But Snape completely ignored his attempt at conversation, interrupting him instead with concise words. "How is your research on that thing coming along?"
Clearly, the matter of resurrecting Lily was far more important to Snape than anything else!
"Alright... I've mostly finished my research on it, and I'm currently collecting it in an orderly fashion..." Victor was naturally referring to the Power of Faith.
To Victor's surprise, that stuff wasn't only found in churches. The faith he had collected in the sports stadiums was even purer than what he found in churches, and it could be used directly without needing any transformation!
That was the faith of die-hard fans in their home teams...
In Britain, this kind of faith was mostly nurtured from childhood and was incredibly pure.
"That's good... I'm nearly finished on my end as well. I'll give you the recipe soon." Snape's work was not easy either.
He needed to carefully substitute rare ingredients with common ones that had similar effects without causing any chain side-effects. It was no simple task.
These potions were much more complex than the recipes Victor had devised himself previously.
Therefore, this work required Snape's vast experience in Potions. Even Victor, who could access his database at any time, could hardly match Snape's efficiency.
For the experienced Snape, the moment he thought of a medicinal effect, the corresponding herbs would instantly flash through his mind. Victor, on the other hand, still needed to search... that was the gap in experience.
"By the way, do you have a photo of Lily?" Victor suddenly asked.
"Why do you ask?" Snape frowned. "Don't you have one yourself? As far as I know, Potter received a photo album from you as a gift!"
"Those were photos I asked acquaintances to send. At that time, I hadn't started this plan, so I didn't keep them," Victor explained.
Snape shook his head. "I don't have any."
"Really? None at all?" Victor narrowed his eyes. "Be honest! If you keep being so secretive, how can I do my work? You should know that humans are different from magical creatures; I need to polish the modeling to perfection! It's best to start preparing now!"
Snape stopped and stared gloomily at Victor. After a long while, he said hesitantly, "I do have one... but it's not suitable."
Victor looked at him in confusion. "Not suitable? Why?"
Snape hesitated for a long time before taking a yellowed photograph out of his inner pocket and reluctantly handing it over...
"Give it here!"
Victor snatched the photo away, and the corner of Snape's eye twitched slightly.
Victor looked at the photo and immediately understood why Snape said it was unsuitable...
Because this was a Muggle-style photo that didn't move, and the Lily in the photo... appeared to be only eleven or twelve years old...
Victor thought that perhaps even Petunia didn't have a photo like this... Heaven knows where Snape had gotten it!
"I told you it wasn't suitable." Snape reached out, wanting to take the photo back.
Victor needed the photo for modeling; it would provide immense reference value for what Lily would look like when she was resurrected in the future. But the Lily in this photo was too young...
"It's suitable! This is very suitable!" Victor pulled his hand back, and Snape's grasp met empty air.
"What do you mean?" A very bad premonition rose in Snape's heart.
"Reconstructing an adult body is much more difficult than reconstructing a child's body..." A smile appeared on Victor's face.
"No!" Snape tried to grab the photo again, but it vanished into thin air from Victor's hand.
"Why not? We're paying such a high price to resurrect her, so why not make her a bit younger?" Victor argued righteously.
Snape's face darkened. There was nothing wrong with the idea of making her a bit younger, but... this was far too young!
"Something's not right... Severus, something is very wrong with you! Don't tell me you're planning to take advantage of the situation... and woo the widow by starting early?" Victor took out the photo and looked at it again. "Severus, you can't have such twisted thoughts! That's a crime!"
Snape's breathing became heavy. Clearly, it wasn't because he was tempted, but because he was absolutely furious!
"Do not use your filthy thoughts to slander me!"
"Then why do you object?"
Snape glared at Victor for a long time before suddenly turning around and striding away.
He was worried that if he stayed with this guy any longer, he wouldn't be able to resist pulling out his wand!
Fine... he didn't dare to have such extravagant hopes anyway... After all, even if Lily were resurrected, she wouldn't forgive him.
In fact, Lily had already said she would never forgive him... and the fact that her family met with tragedy was, in the end, because he had been the one to leak the secret...
Forget it... Let Victor do as he pleased, as long as she could come back to life.
Although Snape's steps remained steady, his battered heart shattered once more...
Victor returned to his office with the photo.
The theoretical aspects were nearly all prepared; next came the practical experiments.
And for that, he needed a safe and undisturbed location...
He couldn't exactly do this within Hogwarts.
Ultimately, Victor planned to build a laboratory at the Knights Templar's base in Knockturn Alley.
The subsequent series of practical experiments would all be completed there.
Victor had already tested them in his own way; those young people really didn't know their own origins and only obeyed Victor's every word.
Therefore, putting the lab there and having those young people help guard it was relatively the safest option.
Moreover, the magical creature carcasses he had them search for would also be stored there, which saved the risk of transporting them multiple times.
Victor put away the photo. Suddenly, his heart stirred, and he accessed the Hogwarts server directly.
Soon, he spotted Quirrell's silhouette in the dungeons...
"Is this... triggering the magic trap on the cell door? It seems to be a timed one... Is he planning to release the troll during the feast? What is the Dark Lord up to?" Victor mused, a flash of understanding crossing his face. "It seems the Dark Lord wants to see that mirror with his own eyes..."
This was indeed Voldemort's style... if he couldn't see that mirror personally, he would likely never be at ease!
At this moment, Quirrell was leaving the dungeon. As he walked, he was scattering something on the ground...
Although Victor couldn't see the substance clearly, he roughly knew that Quirrell intended to use it to lead the troll to the place he wanted it to go—the Great Hall.
"Reasonable... only then can he quietly sneak into the fourth floor to see the mirror while everyone is in chaos."
Victor understood Quirrell's predicament. If it were anyone else, they could just sneak in.
But Quirrell... he had already attracted Dumbledore's attention, and someone was definitely watching his movements.
So, he could only cause a disturbance and use the chaos to slip in.
As Quirrell left, Victor flicked his finger... In the corridor Quirrell had just walked through, the floor tiles suddenly moved.
The tiles floated up and quietly swapped positions, and the trail leading the way was also quietly redirected...
In this way, the route was changed. The troll, which would have been led to the Great Hall, could now only wander aimlessly in the dungeons.
Disconnecting, Victor immediately contacted Dumbledore via the two-way mirror, informing him of the situation and the trick he had played.
He couldn't personally appear in this matter; he had to let that old man Dumbledore, who had nothing better to do, handle it.
Dumbledore mused for a moment and then smiled. "Then let him in... You handled the troll issue very well. I will be prepared."
Seeing Dumbledore's smile, Victor knew Quirrell was going to have a very bad night...
The old man could be quite devious when he wanted to be... Naturally, if he didn't have such a side, he wouldn't have been able to suppress two generations of Dark Lords.
Closing the two-way mirror, Victor was about to take a rest when his office door was suddenly burst open!
Fleur strode in, her face full of urgency, having even forgotten to knock.
"What's wrong?"
"A Chimaera!" Fleur said urgently. "We found the carcass of a Chimaera! It's just... we've run into some trouble..."
A Chimaera?
Victor was pleasantly surprised; those things were rare to see!
Such magical creatures were incredibly ferocious; wizards who encountered them head-on almost never survived!
They were creatures even more dangerous than dragons, but now, this group of young people had actually found a complete Chimaera carcass!
"What kind of trouble did you run into?"
Fleur said hurriedly, "A Chimaera carcass is too precious! It's attracted a lot of poachers! The squad that found the carcass is a bit small. They're struggling to hold them off and sent a distress signal! Other squads have already set off... I think it's best if you go too."
A Chimaera that could be retrieved without the risk of hunting was indeed very valuable, especially to those poachers...
"Then let's go!" Victor stood up.
The Dark Lord was going to make a move today, but Dumbledore was already prepared; he could now go out to avoid suspicion!
"Follow me, I have a faster way to get there!"
Fleur led Victor to a classroom filled with miscellaneous clutter.
In a hidden corner, there was a battered suitcase, looking very unremarkable.
"This trunk has an Undetectable Extension Charm... and there's a Vanishing Cabinet inside!" Fleur explained.
Victor now understood how Fleur had been transmitting information. Furthermore, her ability to leave Hogwarts and quickly reach Knockturn Alley that day hadn't been entirely dependent on Hogwarts' secret passages.