"..."
"...whatever you say."
William's expression was still grave, probably the most serious Grindelwald had ever seen him. "Still curious about that 'Red Boy', right? How about we just go for a saturation 'nuclear' strike based on Malfoy's sent address?" He turned his head to look at the forbidden object slowly floating at the center of the Map Chamber—
The Secret Vault.
"No way?!"
Grindelwald exclaimed resolutely.
"...didn't you always want to blow it up?"
William was a bit puzzled, Grindelwald's intense reaction was beyond his expectation. Evidently, someone forgot that the reason William left such a disaster like the Secret Vault back then was twofold: firstly, a fear that absorbing its power might turn him into a slave to power, and secondly—
According to the original plan, he had intended to send this thing to the mid-twentieth-century Japan... ahem, and then light it up as fireworks.
Questioning America, understanding America, becoming America—
William, who once thought he could personally change the course of history, was quite excited, but things went wrong and brought him to this time, decades after the war's end, and most of that batch of people had passed. Setting off fireworks now would just be indiscriminate killing—William never relied on the Secret Vault, much like he defeated Lanlock with his own strength.
So, in William's eyes, it's really just a bigger "firecracker", and he's been holding off on lighting it simply because the time hasn't been right—
Now, he felt the time might, probably, possibly be ripe... definitely not because he was itching to do it, definitely not!
"When did I ever want to blow it up?"
"You didn't? Okay, then I did."
"Are you not even going to pretend?"
Grindelwald sighed somewhat helplessly, "I'm still researching this 'Secret Vault', and the bottleneck you encountered with your previous concept might be solved with its power—" He paused, "Besides, aren't you still fishing—trying to fish out all of Voldemort's soul artifacts?"
"Ah—there's still that, indeed."
William stunned for a moment, then successfully grabbed the forgotten matter from his dead memory, "Still need to find the soul artifacts... Voldemort, that bastard, is like a cockroach, impossible to squash completely, even after turning those two soul shards to dust, there are still other backups—"
Saying that, William flicked his hand and let the pen, transformed through the Transfiguration Technique, fall on the paper—
"Known soul artifacts now—Ravenclaw's Diadem... in my hand, the Gaunt Family's ring... also in my hand, the diary... destroyed, the one in Harry's head has been pulled out, next is, the snake Voldemort was raising... still around, Hufflepuff's Golden Cup... the current backup, and then, Slytherin's Pendant Box?"
William put a question mark after Slytherin's Pendant Box.
"...this one hasn't been found yet."
William paused, making things a bit more specific, "According to the information passed by Malfoy, that Vol... Golden Cup Tom—" William casually gave yet another "Tom" a nickname, "had someone look for this Pendant Box, but it seems they didn't find it, it may have been swapped by someone else—"
"..."
"They think it was me, but I didn't do anything."
William raised his hands, indicating he really didn't know where the Slytherin's Pendant Box was—a huge blame was laid directly upon him.
"...so, do you have any clues?"
"A little, but maybe it needs an on-site investigation."
Saying this, William stood up and then seemed to suddenly remember something, "Oh right, what you just said about my previous concept—" Though he was speaking to Grindelwald, his gaze instinctively turned toward the not far-off Secret Vault, "Is it really possible?"
"Still needs confirmation—"
"Then you take your time confirming—I've got to be busy going to clean up Tom's mess, raising a kid is a hassle..."
...
"Is it here?"
With hair split in the middle by the sea breeze, Lupin, who was drafted by William, held a suitcase and jumped down from Norbert's back, the latter shook its wings and swiftly reduced in size—then with a flash, appeared on William's shoulder, holding onto the snack tossed by William with its mouth.
"Should be, if the positioning wasn't wrong—"
William reached out to feel the stone wall in front of him, slowly groping around following the guidance—they're now standing on a giant reef, with the salty and fishy sea breeze carrying the surrounding waves crashing against their feet, carving the pitch-black cliff into various jagged shapes.
"Here."
Feeling the flow of magic power, William pressed his hand against the stone wall, "Looks like blood is needed—wow, such a standard black wizard move."
"Let me do it?"
Lupin had already rolled up his sleeves, then took out his magic wand from his pocket—
"No need—"
William interrupted his actions, then took two steps back, only to snap his fingers—"Roar!" Even though it was the size of a house cat, Norbert's dragon roar still maintained its might, the scorching Dragon Flame surged out, hitting the cliff simultaneously causing tremendous explosive power—
However, the power seemed still insufficient...
"Roar roar roar roar—"
Finally, before Norbert's throat went hoarse, the solid wall finally opened a huge crack under the intense lava, allowing this pitch-black inland lake its first ray of... moonlight.
"To find such a remote place to hide a soul artifact, really went through some trouble—"
Stepping over the crimson-hot rocks, William peered into the depths of the cave, from the calm surface of the lake, a faint green glow could be seen looming in the distance.
"How do we get across?"
Lupin, who hadn't been on the scene for a while, started his routine questioning to drive the plot forward, as the man paced back and forth on the shoreline's fine gravel, finally before William could speak, reaching out to feel a green-glowing iron chain beside him, he tentatively waved his magic wand, meanwhile, a small equally green-glowing boat rose slowly from the bottom of the lake.
"Seems like we need to take the boat over..."
"Huh?"
Having taken out a broom, William looked somewhat puzzlingly at Lupin who was preparing to try getting on the boat, "Just fly over—there's no anti-air magic here." He said, then paused, "If you really don't want to ride a broom, you can ride a fire dragon—or a bird snake? Thunderbird? They should all be in that case—"
"But you should stay away from that water."
William frowned, looking at the pitch-black lake at his feet, "I have a feeling, there's likely something bad in there... typical black wizard pattern."