Wade recounted his entire experience to Dumbledore, including why he had used Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Harry.
After listening, Dumbledore remained silent for a long time. Wade looked at the old man's calm eyes, feeling that his current expression was somehow hard to describe.
After a good while, Dumbledore gently asked, "You said you used... that magic Grindelwald taught you?"
"Yes," Wade glanced at Dumbledore, "the magic that destroyed the cursed trees in the forest before."
He had always suspected Dumbledore was nearby at that time, and now he was subtly probing.
Dumbledore nodded, without question or confusion, simply saying, "Do you know who the person carrying the bundle was?"
Wade shook his head. "I didn't wait for him to reveal his face... I guessed the person coming out might be Voldemort, and I didn't dare gamble on whether I'd have a chance to act after he entered."
"Your decision... was absolutely correct," Dumbledore said slowly. "It seems you've destroyed Voldemort's current vessel. He will become even weaker, and it will take him much longer to resurrect."
"It's a shame Barty Crouch Jr. escaped," Wade said regretfully. "Without his help, perhaps Voldemort would have continued to wander the forest as a spirit for many years... it's not even certain he would have found a chance to resurrect."
Dumbledore also sighed, but looking at his expression, Wade felt that his regret was different from his own.
Wade remembered Voldemort once stating that when he lost his body, he was actually worse than the most wretched ghost, as powerless as the weakest creature. Every spell that could help him required a Wand, and he only had one remaining magic he could use: possession.
He could possess animals, like snakes—perhaps because they weren't very intelligent. But to possess a human, especially a wizard, he needed the other party to willingly open their mind to him and accept his possession.
And no matter the host, Voldemort's presence would shorten the host's lifespan. He could only constantly switch bodies, living in a very painful way.
Wade felt that this way of survival was practically torture, far more cruel than directly killing him.
If Voldemort continued to wander like this, after a few years, or decades, perhaps one day he would choose to end himself completely.
For example, Herpo the Foul, the dark wizard who bred the Basilisk and invented Horcruxes. Tom Riddle had walked the irreversible path of soul-splitting based on Herpo's research.
But after Herpo's death, there had never been a legend of that dark wizard resurrecting in the Wizarding World.
So Wade strongly suspected that the guy had no friends or loyal subordinates, and didn't even know how his soul would live on after being left in the world by a Horcrux before his death—perhaps he thought he would simply resurrect on the spot, like doing sit-ups! But he didn't.
The outcome was that Herpo's soul wandered the world for many, many years, never finding a chance to resurrect, and eventually, unable to bear the loneliness and torment, it dissipated in despair.
If this were also Voldemort's fate, Wade thought it wouldn't be bad. They would only need to find and destroy Voldemort's other Horcruxes, and then ignore the soul fragment on Harry's forehead—he would eventually die of old age, taking that fragment with him to the underworld.
With the long lifespans of wizards and the assistance of various Potions and Alchemy, Wade believed he could live for a very long time, at least longer than Harry.
But Dumbledore didn't seem to think so.
Wade looked at the lack of joy on the old man's face, thinking that Dumbledore probably still wanted to proceed with his own plan—eliminate all Horcruxes, have Voldemort destroy his own last soul fragment, and then completely eliminate Voldemort.
He didn't want to leave the threat to the distant future and the currently immature young wizards.
Wade looked at Dumbledore's calm expression, as if seeing the strong desire for control beneath the old man's gentle demeanor.
Dumbledore asked a few more detailed questions. After fully understanding the events, he gently tapped the armrest and after a moment said:
"Wade... Sirius was turned into a squirrel, and you helped him, which is good... but I hope next time you encounter similar situations, you'll remain vigilant..."
He looked into Wade's eyes and softly said, "You must be especially careful of small animals that suddenly approach you, no matter who they claim to be."
Wade felt a slight chill in his heart and nodded gently.
"Alright, go back and rest," Dumbledore smiled. "There's not much time left until dawn."
"Okay."
Wade finished the water in his cup, turned to leave, but as he pushed aside the door curtain, he suddenly remembered something and turned back.
Under Dumbledore's slightly questioning gaze, Wade opened his Wardrobe Space, and soon after, pulled out a long, slender box. He opened the lid, and inside were Wands.
He awkwardly rubbed his nose, his gaze shifting to avoid eye contact with the headmaster, and then he recounted in detail the process of being kidnapped during the previous Alchemist gathering.
This included how, when he finally released everyone, their Wands had already been taken by them. So after Wade retrieved the Wands, he hadn't found a suitable reason to return them, and they had remained in his possession.
In fact, when he returned from the island where the base was located, Wade had thought of asking Dumbledore to return the Wands to everyone, using the excuse that these Wands had been found on the island.
But because of the incident where Mabel released the Obscurus, he forgot about it, and then he was sent back to school early by Professor Snape, so he never had the chance to mention it.
Later, being kidnapped to Grey Castle, he also followed Grindelwald and witnessed the Alliance destroying those people's base.
Wade again thought of taking the opportunity to return the Wands, but then he reconsidered—how would others view the dark wizard Grindelwald kidnapping him, treating him well with food and drink, and then letting him bring back all the captured spoils?
Was that reasonable?
The Alliance was a group of dark wizards, not good people dedicated to charity.
If possible... at least on a public level... Wade still wanted to stand on the side of light and justice.
Even Drayne and the others had carefully helped him keep his identity a secret. Wade couldn't possibly carelessly expose himself.
So, it was delayed again and again until now, to the point where Wade almost forgot why he kept these troubles in the first place, leading to him being unable to use his own Wand at school.
No one knew who the attacker was this time, right? So that dark wizard could be anyone—why couldn't it be one of the gang members who participated in kidnapping the Alchemist?
Now, Wade wasn't worried about exposing a more authentic part of himself to Dumbledore.
He just suddenly realized that when he faced Grindelwald, Dumbledore was his confidence; but conversely, in Dumbledore's presence, Grindelwald's regard also became a part of his support.
He no longer felt he had to appear "like a good person" everywhere.
After dumping the problem on Dumbledore, Wade didn't look up at the headmaster's even more complex expression, and quickly bid farewell and left.
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