Wade suddenly turned to look at Michael.
Michael looked at him strangely. "—You mean you never thought to question him about it?"
Wade: ...
No, he really hadn't.
The plot he knew had, to some extent, blinded his thinking—Wade had known from the beginning that Voldemort was attached to the back of Quirrell's head, and that no one would die that year. He carried the superiority of a "transmigrator" and "prophet" in his heart, even a game-like mentality. When he suddenly discovered Voldemort's secret, he simply attributed it to his own carelessness, not blaming anyone else.
Under Michael's gaze, he now carefully re-evaluated the entire situation from start to finish, including his own thoughts, Dumbledore's possible considerations, and the ultimate fates of these characters in the story.
He found that he still wouldn't question or resent Dumbledore.
"Why?" Michael asked, puzzled. "He's the headmaster; he should protect our safety."
"And what would I gain by questioning him?" Wade asked earnestly. "To see Dumbledore repent? Or for him to apologize to me? What good would that do? Would resenting Dumbledore for this keep us safe from danger in the future?"
Michael was speechless.
"There's no point dwelling on what's already happened, Michael," Wade said at last. "Yelling at the only person who can protect us, questioning him, resisting him, is even more foolish—only those who are favored can act recklessly. Since we aren't favored, we should be even less inclined to indulge our emotions."
Michael was silent for a long time before asking softly, "Don't you feel wronged?"
"No," Wade said. "If I've learned anything from this, it's that—"
"First, don't put all your hope in others."
"Second, only those with power can do as they please."
"Third… when you can't beat someone, you just have to endure it."
"That's just how this world is—always has been."
...
While Wade spoke to Michael with great rationality, he wasn't entirely unaffected.
For several nights, when he woke up in the middle of the night, a green light representing death seemed to flash in his dreams. Sometimes it was the grotesque, cruel voice of a noseless, bald monster.
In the latter half of the night, Wade would stare at the stars on the ceiling, unable to fall back asleep for a long time, so he would simply get up and read.
He began to spend more time on studying and Alchemy.
In the last week before Christmas, Wade finally completed his first Alchemical work.
On the pale yellow parchment, golden lines formed extremely complex and regular geometric patterns. The inner and outer circles rotated slowly at different speeds, and Ancient Runes alternated with flashing golden light.
Wade clearly saw the trajectory of magic flowing within it and the way spells operated. He could even faintly sense where adjustments were needed and where materials needed to be replaced.
After a while, he felt his eyes dry and closed them to rest. When he looked again, it was just an ordinary piece of parchment in front of him.
After independently completing his first Alchemical work, Wade's eyes underwent another change, acquiring a new function—
Following his ability to see others' true names and the methods of spellcasting, Wade discovered he could also see the magical diagrams, the patterns of magic flow, the spells used, and the engraved runes within Alchemical items.
However, it required intense concentration and focus to "see" it. The moment his attention wavered, that special vision disappeared.
In a way, this was good, but Wade really wished his Golden Finger came with an instruction manual.
At first, he thought he would be well-suited to be an Auror in the future—nothing like Polyjuice Potion or human Transfiguration could escape his eyes.
Later, he thought he might be suited to be a teacher, providing one-on-one tailored guidance to each student, with a success rate of at least ninety percent, if not a hundred.
Now, Wade felt that he was probably a born Alchemist.
But if he had never encountered Alchemy in this life, wouldn't he forever be unable to discover that his eyes could see even more miraculous things?
During his Thursday tutoring session, he handed his repeatedly adjusted work to Professor Murray.
"Oh, let me see... a piece of parchment?"
Professor Murray put on his glasses, stopping Wade's attempt to explain, and slowly stroked the seemingly ordinary parchment with his slender fingers.
"Hmm... ordinary parchment, with a little mercury, scaly fish oil, and mountain rat weed. None of them are special materials." Professor Murray murmured a spell, gently waving his fingers, examining the magical circuits on it. "A Transformation Charm, a Linking Charm, a Vanishing Charm... and even a Concealment Charm... very clever—a very ingenious idea—"
He looked at Wade with surprised, sparkling eyes and said, "I'm guessing you have another identical piece of parchment, don't you?"
"Yes, Professor." Wade smiled, pulling out a self-bound notebook from his bag. "Actually, I have a whole stack!"
Professor Murray smiled. He sat down, thought carefully for a moment, and then wrote a sentence on the paper in his hand—
"Superior intellect is humanity's greatest wealth."
Strong, forceful handwriting appeared simultaneously on both pieces of parchment, with identical content and placement.
"Just as I thought." Professor Murray inspected it again. "The structure of the magical circuit is incredibly stable; there's nothing even I could change... it's almost unrestricted by distance, capable of transmitting information instantly—"
As he spoke, he stood up and paced back and forth in the room several times, mumbling words no one could understand, his eyebrows practically flying off his face.
After a while, Professor Murray suddenly turned around, strode over to Wade, reached out and gripped his shoulder, saying excitedly, "My boy! Do you know? You will change the world! This is a great invention that can change the world! Merlin! It's more significant than all my inventions to date!"
"It's hard to believe you're only eleven years old!"
"This is a piece of parchment, but it's more than just a piece of parchment! It will change the way all Wizards communicate!"
"Why did no one think of it before? It's so simple, yet so profound!"
Watching Professor Murray's gleaming eyes and somewhat frantic demeanor, Wade's heart began to pound wildly. He forced himself not to step back, his fingers slightly curled, almost unable to resist reaching for his Wand.
In an instant, countless precedents flashed through his mind—like Song Zhiwen, who "killed with poetry," or Newton, who suppressed and persecuted other scholars.
Wade's vigilance instantly spiked, as if he were back to that day—hearing Voldemort's voice through a wall.
Dumbledore's calm, light blue eyes seemed to gaze directly at him.
Wade secretly gripped a button-sized bean—his prepared safety net.
He tried his best to remain humble and composed, smiling as he said, "It's not really my invention—I just drew on the precedent of Muggle internet communication. Without the professor's careful guidance, I wouldn't have been able to make it work."
-----------
Machine Translation by: https:// randomtranslator.com/
Read ***+ original & fanfic translations in English, Español, Português, Deutsch, Français, or Русский
Or Translate for free at : https:// randomtranslator.com/translate
Join our Discord: https:// discord.com/invite/XXUR9nkjwa
-----------