Wade told Dumbledore everything that had happened earlier, in full detail—including his reason for using Polyjuice Potion to disguise himself as Harry.
After listening, Dumbledore remained silent for a long time. Wade looked into the old man's calm eyes and couldn't help but feel that Dumbledore's expression was... hard to describe.
After quite a while, Dumbledore gently asked, "You said you used… the magic Grindelwald taught you?"
"Yes," Wade replied, glancing at Dumbledore. "It's the same magic I used to destroy the cursed trees in the forest."
He had long suspected Dumbledore was nearby during that event, so this was a subtle attempt to test that theory.
Dumbledore nodded. He didn't question it, nor did he seem confused. He simply asked, "That person carrying the bundle—do you know who it was?"
Wade shook his head. "I didn't wait to see his face… I suspected the person inside was probably Voldemort. I couldn't risk waiting until he came out—by then, I might not have had a chance to act."
"Your decision… was absolutely right," Dumbledore said slowly. "It seems you destroyed Voldemort's current vessel. He'll become even weaker, and his resurrection will take much longer."
"It's a pity that Barty Crouch Jr. got away," Wade said regretfully.
"Without his help, Voldemort might have remained in his wandering spirit form, trapped in the forest for years… Maybe even forever. Who knows if he'd ever find another chance to come back."
Dumbledore sighed as well—but Wade noticed that the regret in Dumbledore's expression didn't seem to match his own.
Wade remembered Voldemort once describing that when he lost his body, he was even less than a wandering spirit—powerless like the weakest creature. Every spell that could help him required a wand, and the only magic he had left was possession.
He could possess animals—snakes, for instance—possibly because they didn't have much of a mind. But to possess humans, especially wizards, he needed the target to willingly open their mind and accept him in.
Regardless of the host, Voldemort's presence would shorten their lifespan. He would be forced to constantly switch bodies, surviving in an excruciating, parasitic existence.
Wade thought: This kind of existence is a punishment far crueler than death.
If Voldemort were left to wander like that, perhaps after years—or decades—he might eventually choose to end it himself.
Just like Herpo the Foul, the Dark wizard who bred the Basilisk and invented the Horcrux. It was based on Herpo's dark magic research that Tom Riddle had set foot on the path of soul-splitting.
But after Herpo's death, there were no tales in the magical world of his revival.
So Wade strongly suspected that Herpo had no loyal followers, no friends—perhaps he hadn't even realized that his soul would remain tethered to the world through Horcruxes after death.
Maybe he thought he'd just resurrect, sit up like nothing happened! But that didn't happen.
In the end, Herpo's soul wandered the world for countless years, never finding a way back. Eventually, unable to bear the torment and solitude, he faded into despair and vanished.
If that ended up being Voldemort's fate, Wade thought it was a pretty acceptable outcome.
All they needed to do was find and destroy the rest of Voldemort's Horcruxes. As for the soul fragment in Harry's scar, they could just leave it—Harry would one day die a natural death, and take that fragment with him into the afterlife.
Given the long life expectancy of wizards—and the aid of potions and alchemy—Wade believed he could live a long time. At the very least, longer than Harry.
But Dumbledore, it seemed, didn't think the same way.
Wade noticed that there was little joy on the old man's face, and thought to himself: Dumbledore probably still prefers to follow his original plan—destroy all the Horcruxes, let Voldemort eliminate the final piece of his own soul, and only then finish him off completely.
He didn't want to leave such a dangerous threat lingering into the distant future, where it would fall upon the shoulders of still immature young wizards.
Looking at Dumbledore's calm expression, Wade suddenly felt that beneath the old man's gentle demeanor lay a strong desire for control.
Dumbledore asked a few more follow-up questions. Once he fully understood what had happened, he lightly tapped the armrest of his chair. After a while, he said:
"Wade… Sirius was turned into a squirrel, and you helped him. That's good… But I hope that if something like this happens again, you'll stay vigilant."
He looked Wade in the eyes and said softly, "Be especially cautious of small animals that suddenly approach you—no matter who they claim to be."
Wade felt a chill in his heart and nodded slightly.
"All right, go get some rest," Dumbledore said with a smile. "There's not much time left before sunrise."
"Understood."
Wade finished the water in his cup and turned to leave. But just as he lifted the tent flap, he suddenly remembered something and came back in.
Dumbledore gave him a slightly questioning look.
Wade opened the wardrobe-space inside his robe and, after a moment of searching, pulled out a long, slender box. When he opened it, the box was filled with wands.
He rubbed his nose awkwardly and avoided eye contact with the headmaster, then proceeded to explain—again in full detail—how he had been kidnapped during the alchemists' gathering.
He included how, when he finally returned everyone, their wands had already been taken from them. After he retrieved the wands, he never found a proper reason to return them, so they'd just been sitting with him ever since.
In fact, when he returned from that island base, Wade had considered asking Dumbledore to return the wands on his behalf, using the excuse that they'd been recovered from the island.
But then the whole incident with Mabel releasing the Obscurus happened, and the matter slipped his mind. After that, he'd been sent back to school early by Professor Snape and never had the chance to bring it up.
Later, after being kidnapped by the Alliance, he'd even followed Grindelwald and witnessed them destroying the Organizations' base.
Once again, Wade thought about returning the wands—but then reconsidered: What would people think if a Dark wizard like Grindelwald kidnapped him, treated him with fine food and drink, and even let him bring home all the captured loot?
Does that sound reasonable?
The Alliance members are Dark wizards—not exactly the charitable type.
If possible… at least on a public level… Wade still wanted to be seen as standing on the side of light and justice.
Even Delaine and the others had gone to great lengths to help him keep his identity a secret—so Wade certainly wasn't going to blow his own cover without reason.
And so the matter had been put off again and again, until now—he had nearly forgotten why he'd held on to all these wands in the first place. It had even gotten to the point where he couldn't comfortably use his own wand at school.
After this most recent attack—no one really knew who the attackers were, right? So who's to say that Dark wizard wasn't one of the original kidnappers from the alchemist incident?
Now, Wade no longer felt afraid to reveal a more honest side of himself to Dumbledore.
He suddenly realized: when facing Grindelwald, it was Dumbledore who gave him confidence. But conversely, when in front of Dumbledore, Grindelwald's regard for him had become part of his strength too.
He no longer felt he needed to look like a "good person" all the time.
After tossing the troublesome responsibility of the wands to Dumbledore, Wade didn't look up to see the increasingly complex expression on the headmaster's face. He simply excused himself and hurried out.
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