After leaving the Senior's true hiding place, Wade was transported back to her goblin workshop.
He looked at the goblin craftsmen, who were still working busily throughout the workshop.
Wade recalled the last thing the Senior had said to him before he left.
"Once I get out, the goblin workshop and all the servants I've taken in during this time will be yours. All I want is freedom. Of course, I know I can't give you enough reason to trust me. The only thing I can offer you is tangible benefit. The choice is yours..."
Wade could not help sighing.
"For the strong, trust is unnecessary... but living that way seems far too dull. It seems I'm not quite as strong as I imagined myself to be."
Wade turned and took a single step forward, disappearing from the workshop.
...
Dumbledore had already left.
Tom travelled alone through the fireplace and left the inn.
However, instead of going to the safe house as originally planned, he headed alone to the coast of the North Sea.
After realising that the source of everything lay with himself, Tom abandoned his previous plan.
If the world itself was not what had gone wrong, but rather him, then asking other people would be pointless.
But with that realisation, Tom suddenly felt as though he had lost his direction.
Standing on a reef and looking out over the endless sea, the agitation in his heart finally settled somewhat.
He had heard that bastard Wade mention coming here for a few days during the summer holidays, so with no clear destination in mind, Tom had instinctively come here to take a look.
Since he had nowhere else to go for the time being, Tom decided to stay for a few days and carefully go through everything again based on the clues he had already found. Perhaps he would come up with a new idea.
Tom was always decisive. Once he made up his mind, he did not delay.
However, unlike Wade, he did not set up camp by the sea. Instead, he booked a room at the best hotel in a nearby town.
Unfortunately, with the country at war, even the best hotel was not particularly comfortable.
There was little Tom could do about that, even with his wealthy family background.
Lying on the soft bed, Tom stared straight up at the ceiling while constantly reviewing everything that had happened.
"Since Dumbledore came looking for me again and had clearly prepared himself, that proves everyone at Hogwarts returned to normal after I left."
"From the moment Dumbledore found me until I got close to him, he had obviously already resisted that curse once. And I walked to the inn rather than Apparating there. When he saw me and started talking to me, his memories and perception hadn't been completely altered yet."
"That means the curse only activates when someone gets close to me. So its range actually isn't very large. That's why Dumbledore's resistance hadn't completely disappeared yet... Based on what happened before, the range is probably around five metres. And the closer someone gets to me, the stronger the effect becomes."
"That's barely good news. If people beyond five metres aren't affected, could I talk to them from outside the range and exchange information? No... it isn't that simple. Voices could also be interfered with or altered."
"And Wade, who wasn't at Hogwarts at the time, should be unaffected by me."
"If Dumbledore could find me, then... Wade should be able to find me too."
"Hm... perhaps the moment I see that bastard appear in front of me, the curse on me will be broken."
"Wait! No! I can't stay here!"
Tom immediately sat upright, his body going from relaxed to tense in an instant.
If everyone who came near him was affected, then wouldn't Wade be affected too if he approached?
He might even be erased.
Wade probably had no idea how far the curse around Tom extended.
More importantly, that bastard loved showing off by Apparating everywhere.
If he suddenly teleported right beside Tom, there was a chance he might simply disappear.
"No! I can't let him find me!"
Tom immediately stood up and grabbed his bag.
Then he faintly heard voices talking outside the door.
"...Yes, the boy named Tom is staying in this room."
"All right, thank you. I'll take it from here."
The footsteps stopped outside the door.
As the other set of footsteps faded away, someone knocked on Tom's door.
"Tom, open the door." Wade's voice came from outside.
Although the pitch sounded strange, as if Wade's voice had been raised by two notes, his distinctive proud accent (Snape's accent) remained unchanged.
Tom's eyes widened.
"Shit, it really is you!"
He quickly estimated the distance between himself and the door.
"Don't come in! Listen to me first..."
Before Tom could finish, however, he heard a faint pop from outside.
Oh no!
Wade had Apparated!
Tom was alarmed.
Normally, wizards could not Apparate into places they had never been before.
But a wizard as skilled as Wade, standing so close to him, could easily detect his magical traces and use them to perform a short-range Apparition.
Without hesitating, Tom grabbed his bag and Disapparated.
Pop!
Outside the room, Wade was busy dusting himself off when he heard the sound from within. At the same time, he felt the curse radiating from Tom suddenly disappear.
"Hm?"
Click.
Wade used the Unlocking Charm to open the door.
Staring at the empty room, he was completely baffled.
"What the... why did you run!? I was just dusting myself off..."
After confirming Tom's exact location with Fawkes, Wade had deliberately walked over instead of appearing directly beside him.
He wanted to slowly test the effective range of the curse surrounding Tom.
He had only just reached the door and had not even determined the exact range when Tom suddenly fled.
What the hell was that kid doing now?
Tom really had learned quite a lot from his ancestor. Even during an emergency Apparition, he had managed to conceal his tracks in time to prevent anyone from following him directly.
But that still was not enough to fool Wade.
Wade drew his wand and carefully sensed the magical traces left behind by Tom's Apparition, quickly determining the general direction.
Then he transformed into a cloud of white mist and flew out through the window.
...
Tom moved quickly. Instinctively, he felt that he needed to stay away from Wade for the time being.
What he was supposed to do after that, however, he had not figured out yet.
Still, based on what he knew about Wade, that bastard definitely would not need long to track him down.
So when Tom reappeared on a huge reef by the sea, he immediately prepared to Apparate a second time.
However, for a wizard his age, performing a full long-distance Apparition consumed a great deal of both physical and mental energy.
Even if Tom wanted to Apparate again and keep running, he needed a moment to recover.
Otherwise, there was a very high chance the Apparition would fail.
And during that brief pause, he saw a cloud of white mist rapidly rushing toward him from the distance.
"Not good!"
Tom squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth, forcing himself to recall the image of his next destination as clearly as possible.
He was preparing to make a second Apparition by force.
However, just as he began to turn, someone grabbed his shoulder and held him firmly in place.
"Tom, stop running." Wade's voice sounded beside his ear.
Even his voice became strange when it reached Tom, muffled as though it were coming from underwater.
Tom opened his eyes and turned around. Wade was standing right behind him, the last wisps of white mist only just dispersing.
"You're not affected?" Tom was overjoyed.
Wade had really appeared in front of him, proving that he was not suffering from some kind of mental breakdown.
And if Wade was unaffected, then with his abilities, he should definitely be able to find a way to free Tom from this inexplicable curse.
"Affected? Affe..."
Wade suddenly stopped mid-sentence. His expression froze, and a trace of confusion appeared in his eyes.
"Huh... who are you? Wait... who am I again?"
Tom's heart instantly sank.
"We're screwed!"
You bastard! If you were going to be affected too, why did you come so close to me?!
And...
Even Wade himself couldn't break this curse?
More importantly, why had the light gone out of his eyes?
Could it be that the curse couldn't erase Wade himself, but had erased his memories instead?
"That's even worse!" Tom shouted.
As long as Wade knew about Tom's condition, there had still been hope that, with his abilities, he could research a way to save him.
But now...
If Wade's memories had been erased, Tom could only hope it was temporary.
Otherwise, the result would be no different from Wade himself being erased.
The chance of a curse making a living person disappear entirely might be small, but simply erasing someone's memories was far more plausible.
The more Tom thought about it, the more frightened he became. He hurriedly began prying Wade's hand off his shoulder, preparing to get away as quickly as possible.
He was terrified that if Wade stayed close to him for too long, he might never recover.
After finally forcing Wade's hand away, Tom took a deep breath and began turning.
"Appari..."
Before he could complete even half a turn, Wade grabbed him again.
"Ha! I remember now!" Wade said, gripping Tom's shoulder and shaking him hard.
"Fuck! You bastard, what did you remember this time?!" Tom roared.
His Apparition had been forcibly interrupted, nearly causing him to Splinch himself.
"I mean, I remember who you are. And... who I am." Wade smiled.
Tom did not relax.
This curse did more than alter perception. It could also rewrite memories.
That had happened to Dumbledore, and to everyone else as well.
Judging from Wade's dazed expression just now, he had probably failed to resist and been forcibly given a set of false memories by the curse.
If Tom's guess was right, Wade now believed himself to be someone else entirely.
Still, that was better than nothing. At least Wade himself and his memories had not been directly erased.
"I remember now. You're Tom. And I..."
"Who are you? Some bastard?" Tom asked, once again trying to pry Wade's hand away so he could leave as quickly as possible.
"What bastard? Show some respect! My name is Wade Reynolds, and I'm your godfather! Come on, my good son, call me Dad!"
This time, Wade's voice had returned to normal.
Tom's hands immediately stopped moving.
He turned his head in disbelief and once again saw that infuriating grin on Wade's face.
"Fuck... you were messing with me just now?!"
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[]~(￣▽￣)~*
Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69