The bare stone chamber contained a crystal-clear coffin.
Wade stood beside it, quietly looking at the Senior lying inside like Sleeping Beauty.
"Wade, as a gentleman, it's rather impolite to stare at a woman like that."
Wade turned around and saw her spirit passing through the stone wall of the chamber.
"Was this your doing?" Wade asked directly.
She did not seem surprised by the question.
"You're the second person to ask me that today."
Wade understood immediately. The first person must have been Dumbledore.
"Then you should already know what happened."
"Yes. Though I only found out today. Don't be surprised. My consciousness often wanders around, but you only cast that magic over Hogwarts a month ago, so I hadn't been paying much attention to the place until Dumbledore came to find me today."
"What do you think?" Wade asked.
She looked at him with an amused expression. "If I tell you I wasn't responsible, will you really believe me that easily?"
Wade nodded. "Yes. I believe you."
"Heh... Watching you lie with such a serious expression is quite entertaining. In truth, you've never trusted anyone, have you?" she asked with a smile.
Wade replied calmly, "You weren't lying just now."
"Exactly. You don't trust me. You simply reached the conclusion, through your own reasoning and all the available conditions, that I wasn't lying. That's why you said you believed me. I have to admit, you're the most self-confident person I've ever met."
"Did you really have to spell it out?" Wade sighed.
"I'm pointing it out because this matter has a great deal to do with that particular trait of yours," she said slowly.
Wade looked at her in surprise. "So you've already figured out why the nightmare magic went out of control?"
"More or less."
She raised one pale, beautiful hand, and the parchment in Wade's pocket floated out.
It drifted in front of her and unfolded by itself.
After briefly reading through Wade's analysis, she slowly nodded.
"Your analysis is extremely reasonable. So reasonable that there are almost no flaws in it. It's like a combat puppet running on a predetermined magical program. Precise, but also somewhat rigid."
"I know my reasoning isn't complete," Wade said. "Perhaps you can help me fill in what I've overlooked. Then I can bring Tom back."
"Hm... Dumbledore asked me today how Tom could be saved as well. So I gave him an idea. Use Occlumency to protect his true memories, then approach Tom."
"That really is a good method. Occlumency seems almost perfectly suited to countering this curse. And Professor Dumbledore should be quite skilled at it as well. With enough raw power, he might actually be able to bring Tom back!"
Wade's eyes lit up.
She smiled.
"He failed."
"When Tom approached him, Dumbledore's Occlumency instinctively resisted, but his memories and perception were still altered. Strictly speaking, even the reason he had activated Occlumency in the first place was changed."
"So you were watching the whole time? In other words, Professor Dumbledore approaching Tom according to your suggestion was merely an experiment you arranged?" Wade asked thoughtfully.
"How could I understand the exact situation without testing it first? As it turns out, the experiment was well worth conducting. It allowed me to see some of the underlying nature of this magical accident."
Her gaze settled on Wade once again.
Wade said, "The way you're looking at me means this still has something to do with me? I know it does. After all, I was the one who cast the nightmare magic."
She interrupted him.
"No. It has nothing to do with who cast the spell. It has to do with something you've consistently overlooked."
"What?"
"Emotion."
"Emotion?" Wade looked at her in confusion.
"Emotion can amplify magic. You should know that very well."
"Of course. The residue inside your body is, fundamentally, a substance produced by negative emotions, and that substance can amplify magic. Negative emotions are merely one form among many different emotions."
Wade paused before continuing.
"You say I've overlooked emotion. I can't exactly argue with that. But what does it have to do with this magical accident?"
"I told you earlier that you don't trust anyone," the Senior said.
Wade looked at her calmly. He neither agreed nor disagreed.
She did not wait for a response and continued, "And because you never truly trust anyone, you can't have any real friends."
"I have friends," Wade argued.
"No, you don't. The people gathered around you, Tom included, are merely people who are useful to you. Nothing more."
"That's a rather harsh way of putting it..." Wade said helplessly.
"How can someone who never trusts others possibly have genuine friends? Even if you do, they're only friends in appearance."
The Senior mercilessly tore away the flimsy excuse Wade had tried to hide behind.
"You're intelligent. You know exactly what to say depending on who you're dealing with. So in the eyes of your companions, you're a good friend. In the eyes of your professors, you're a good student. Even to me, you're a trustworthy child. But what about you? Do you think of us as friends, or merely as tools that help you achieve your goals?"
Wade took a deep breath.
"I find it difficult to agree with what you're saying. And we've strayed rather far from the original subject."
She smiled. "Fine. Let's go back to Tom. Based on what I just said, perhaps you only see Tom as someone useful to you. But what about Tom? Have you ever considered how important you are to him?"
"On the surface, you certainly suppress him at every turn, leaving him unable to fight back. It almost looks as though the two of you are enemies. But think about everything you've done for him."
"You got him out of that dreadful orphanage, constantly pushed him to improve, helped resolve the conflict between him and his father, appeared at the most critical moment to save his entire family, helped support his family's business afterward, taught him the new spells you invented, and whenever you developed new equipment, he always received a share..."
"Wade, tell me this. If it were you, would you consider someone like that your enemy? And if someone truly hated you, would they devote themselves to helping you with everything you asked?"
"Wade... you've underestimated how important you are to Tom."
"That's why, among all the people at Hogwarts affected by your magic, he was the only one who noticed something was wrong."
"His deep emotions, combined with his desperate resistance, caused the nightmare magic surrounding him to change. That is the true cause of this magical accident."
"The magical analysis you just showed me contained hundreds of words, yet not a single one mentioned emotion. That's why I said you overlooked the most crucial factor."
After hearing her explanation, Wade could not help drawing in a sharp breath.
He tried to put himself in Tom's position and eventually had to admit that she had a point.
If he were Tom, he would probably consider someone who had helped him so much a close friend as well.
If Wade himself had a friend like that, then even if they normally argued and fought, the moment something happened to that friend, he would undoubtedly do everything in his power to uncover the truth.
Watching Wade's expression change, the Senior continued, "Wade, I don't know what you've been through that made you instinctively put on a mask and constantly act around everyone. But deep down, it's not as though you feel nothing for the people around you. You've simply grown accustomed to ignoring those emotions because they might interfere with the role you're trying to play. That's why I said you ignore emotion, not that you don't have any."
Wade remained silent.
He genuinely did not know what to say.
"On the night you left, you already knew I was eavesdropping, didn't you?" she suddenly asked.
Wade: "..."
"That's why you were able to tell Dumbledore so confidently that you trusted me." She sighed. "Wade, don't you get tired living like this? Still, it's understandable that you'd be wary of me. My origins really are mysterious. But there's no need to be so guarded around Tom, is there?"
It was perfectly reasonable for the Senior to think Wade had no need to be wary of Tom.
After all, she did not know that in the original future, Tom would become the utterly ruthless Dark Lord Voldemort.
But...
Was the Tom of today still the same Tom from that future?
A Tom capable of casting a Patronus Charm could hardly become that Voldemort anymore.
At that moment, Wade felt as though a heavy weight inside his heart had suddenly been lifted.
"Then... how should I save Tom?"
"You already know the answer, so why are you asking me?" She rolled her eyes. "Hurry up and deal with this, then come back and let me out! I've been trapped here for so many years that I'm going insane! I'm starting to forget what eating even feels like!"
Wade hesitated.
"What else do you want to say?"
"I was going to say... I could burn some incense for you..."
"Get lost!"
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Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69