Just as Nicholas was fully immersed in translating the alchemical symbols on the mural before him, an entire afternoon passed. Several Albanian Aurors had come down to deliver food, urging him to eat something.
It was then that he discovered Sirius was missing.
Nicholas didn't hesitate. He immediately checked the pockets of his robe and, sure enough, found that the letter Severus had sent him was gone.
"Up above, did you see a large black dog run out?"
Hearing his question, the Albanian Auror who had delivered the food and stayed underground looked puzzled.
"Are you referring to your pet? He left around 3 p.m. He had a piece of paper in his mouth. The guards at the tunnel entrance saw him. They initially tried to stop him, but someone recognized him as being with you, thought you had sent him on an errand, and let him go."
Nicholas smiled. He wasn't angry, nor did he intend to immediately go find Sirius. He just muttered to himself.
"Just as I thought. Even after suffering a major setback because of this very nature, it's hard for him to change..."
His words were somewhat inaudible to the Albanian Auror beside him.
"Were you speaking to us?"
Nicholas just waved them off, chewing the sandwich in his hand slowly and shrugging his shoulders.
"Let him be. Severus will... educate him properly."
Meanwhile, on the very night Severus and the others had just sent out the letter asking Nicolas Flamel for help, something strange happened at the troll camp.
Or, to be more specific, it was Harry who had a strange dream.
It was the night he and Draco were crouching outside the research lab door, eavesdropping on Severus and Lupin studying the silver whistle.
After dinner, and after taking a walk with Draco and Severus by the nearby river, Harry was exhausted.
He fell asleep soon after getting into bed inside the tent. But in his sleep, as if having a nightmare, he entered a strange perspective.
He was still in this forest, but the viewpoint was exceptionally low, so low that the dead grass and leaves beneath were clearly visible. He could even see a colony of ants moving house!
This startled Harry. He finally realized that, somehow, he had turned into a snake!
A slender snake with brown scales. The species also felt familiar to Harry. Before entering Llogara, Severus had specifically educated him and Draco on which animals in the forest they needed to stay away from.
Among them was his current form.
'The snake's name was... was... the Nose-Horned Viper!'
It was the most venomous of the vipers, not uncommon in the area around Albania, which is why Severus had given them the heads-up.
Harry's mind was in a whirl. He didn't know how he had suddenly become this snake, or why he was here.
But currently, the snake's body clearly wasn't under his control… he could only share its vision and senses.
The snake seemed to have a clear purpose as it slithered through the forest. It crossed a small stream that felt somewhat familiar to Harry, then avoided a few magical creatures that looked like leopards foraging for food, finally arriving at the foot of a small hill.
"Hssss! Hssss!"
Such sounds clearly came from himself, and the snake kept moving around the area. It seemed to be searching for something.
The sky that night was very dark, the entire starry sky seemed obscured by clouds… neither stars nor moon could emit a single ray of light.
Vaguely, Harry felt a 'rustling' sound coming from behind him. It sounded like grass being crushed, something soft sliding over rough ground.
And at some point, the surroundings had become extremely quiet, as if this wasn't a forest but a cage sealed off by dark walls!
Harry felt his consciousness sense that eeriness and cold. His spirit trembled, and he instinctively wanted to turn his head to see what creature had appeared behind him.
At that moment, his thoughts seemed to synchronize with the snake he was possessing. The Nose-Horned Viper turned its head back.
The moment a colossal figure hidden in the shadows came into Harry's view, he jolted awake from the nightmare!
Sitting up in bed, Harry began to gasp for breath, his forehead covered in sweat. After staring blankly for a moment, he fumbled around in the dark, finally found the lamp switch, put on his glasses, and then hurriedly got dressed.
His actions woke the Puffskein curled up in its cupboard nest. It watched curiously with its little eyes as Harry put on his clothes, stepped into his slippers, and finally pushed open the door, quickly heading towards Severus's bedroom.
The Puffskein also jumped down from the cupboard. It rolled and hopped along the ground, trying to keep up with Harry's pace, but ultimately couldn't catch up. It watched as Harry knocked on the door, entered Severus's room, and then closed the door shut behind him.
When Harry knocked, Severus wasn't asleep.
He was attempting to brew the potion called the [Potion of Invariant Essence], following the recipe given to him by Grindelwald.
The primary function of this potion was to help a wizard fix their magical power at the level it was the moment they drank it. But in reality, this effect was quite niche.
Because as wizards grow, their magical power gradually increases until it peaks upon reaching adulthood.
After that, magical power generally stabilizes at this peak, with almost no opportunity for further increase, nor does it weaken with the passage of time or bodily senescence.
Therefore, aside from using this potion to poison young wizards whose magic is still growing and hasn't reached its peak state, effectively using it as a murder weapon, there were few other places where it could be useful.
Hence, in Grindelwald's own words, it was a specialized potion.
But although the potion's effect was specialized, the required materials weren't particularly rare.
Back in France, Severus had already prepared the ingredients for brewing this potion.
These past two days, besides studying the silver whistle with Lupin, he had spent his time attempting to complete this potion.
With his talent in Potions, having failed only once due to the differences in techniques between modern and ancient potion-makers, he was almost certain to succeed on the second attempt.
This left Ghost Snape, who had originally wanted to see Severus fail, speechless.
It must be said that aside from the innate potion talent of Severus's body, his own soul possessed considerable ability as well.
According to the brewing time, the potion would be successfully completed at a quarter past two in the morning. That's why Severus was still awake.
When Harry knocked on his door and entered looking flustered, Severus was quite surprised.
"What happened?"
Harry took several deep breaths before barely calming his emotions. He stared wide-eyed at Severus.
"P-Professor! Back when we first arrived in Albania, you told me that if... if I came to this forest, I might... might have some strange dreams! Right!"
Hearing Harry's breathless words, Severus's expression turned serious.
What he had previously told Harry, of course, referred to what Harry experienced in the original work: because Harry was accidentally turned into Voldemort's Horcrux, possessing a fragment of Voldemort's soul within his body, it led to a certain profound connection between him and Voldemort himself.
This connection was definitely not good, as it was two-way. When Harry peered into Voldemort, Voldemort himself would also sense it somewhat.
Perhaps the first or second time, he might not detect this sensation, but after multiple occurrences, this man hailed as the most powerful Dark Wizard in history would certainly become aware.
As for when exactly this connection would manifest, Severus couldn't quite pinpoint it.
At the very least, during Harry's first year at school, Voldemort, who was possessing Quirrell, didn't cause Harry to have any dreams despite being in close proximity.
The period when Harry truly started seeing through Voldemort's eyes in his dreams should have been when Voldemort's power was gradually recovering.
Therefore, upon first arriving in Albania, Severus had only warned Harry that he might encounter such things, not certain that Harry actually would, merely preparing for potential eventualities.
But now, Harry had come to him proactively mentioning this, instantly focusing Severus's attention.
"What did you dream?"
"I turned into a snake!" Harry's face was pale. "The kind you warned me and Draco about before entering the forest, the one called... the Nose-Horned Viper!"
"I was slithering through the forest, as if looking for something. Then I crossed a small stream, one that felt familiar, very similar to the one near the valley. Later, I came to a hill, hissing and making sounds, summoning something!"
"Just when I felt something coming up behind me, I suddenly woke up. I didn't see clearly what was summoned, I only vaguely saw that it was very large!"
Severus listened carefully to Harry's account. Then, he quickly pulled out a piece of paper and sketched the rough shape of a small hill with a quill.
"Was it this in your dream? The hill wasn't high, bare on top, with few trees, and even grass was sparse."
"Yes!"
Clearly, Harry still remembered the scenery from his dream vividly. After Severus described and drew the hill, he confirmed it directly.
"That's the place! In my memory, it was just east after crossing that stream!"
The hill Harry saw in his dream was precisely the small hill next to the underground ruin!
Severus fell into thought at this moment, frowning slightly. As he pondered, he continued questioning Harry.
"Did you see many dead animals on that hill?"
"No." Harry shook his head, "It was bare. I didn't see anything."
This made Severus frown even deeper.
He turned and went to the window, opened it, and gestured for Harry to look at the clear night sky outside.
"And the sky in your dream? Was it this clear too?"
Harry kept shaking his head.
"No, the night in the dream was very dark. Clouds covered the entire sky!"
This answer puzzled Severus even more.
Based on his recollection of the original work, what Harry could dream should be what Voldemort was currently experiencing and going through.
In other words, the time of Harry's dream and the time of the events Voldemort experienced should be the same.
But from Harry's retelling, what he experienced in the dream didn't seem like it happened tonight at all.
It seemed more like Voldemort's experience from a certain previous time period when he went to the area near the underground ruin.
However, if it could be confirmed that Harry's dream depicted events from the past, then the colossal figure he vaguely saw at the end was highly likely the basilisk that had been hiding in the underground ruin!
Severus stroked his chin, his brow gradually smoothing.
Although it wasn't clear yet why Harry would dream of Voldemort's past experiences, even this provided Severus with sufficient information.
Originally, he had been hesitant because no clues related to Voldemort were found in that underground ruin.
Now, Harry's dream could completely help Severus confirm that his investigation direction so far was not wrong.
'The thing the Hag's ghost was looking for, the abnormal behavior of the dragons in the nature reserve, and the ruin related to the Fountain of Fair Fortune discovered underground… all were intricately connected to Voldemort hiding in this forest!'
After thinking this through, Severus snapped out of his contemplation.
"Relax, Harry. Having such dreams won't cause you any harm, and you are not truly a snake," He comforted Harry, "While this is a special circumstance, I will find a way to help you resolve it later."
Finally, he earnestly instructed Harry.
"Do not speak of these strange dreams you have to anyone, or any creature. You must remember this point!"
Harry was still somewhat confused, but the trust Severus had built in him made him remember these words firmly.
After Harry left, Ghost Snape couldn't wait to ask.
[What's wrong with him? Do you know what he's experiencing?]
Severus didn't answer him. He just glanced at the time, then went to the simmering cauldron, took out the prepared vial, gripped his wand, and made the final preparations for the last step of the potion's successful brewing.
"He dreamed of your master."
This offhand remark left Ghost Snape stunned.
At that moment, Severus was already waving his wand, imbuing the potion before him with its intended magic.