When Vid flew over with Mabel, there was a trail of blood footprints at the door.
And then? What did they see before that?
A man with a gunshot wound to the forehead, lying on the ground, with a pair of glasses fallen in front of him.
Some people, with or without glasses, look like entirely different persons.
So Vid saw the blood footprints now and suddenly remembered that the man with glasses taken away by Snape, he had seen him once before.
Recalling the gunshot wound on that man's forehead, Vid's expression grew slightly solemn.
But Madam Pomfrey was still focused on treating Hayley, so Vid couldn't leave them.
The last two combat-ready poppets were left to Hayley before the Time Reversal, and though Mikhail was powerful, a body made of flame couldn't withstand a sneaky bullet.
It could incinerate the shooter instantly, but—
"Cannot change history that has already been noticed."
This is the rule of reversing time.
If it indeed changes, it doesn't mean the user of the Time Turner will immediately die or encounter bad luck, the Ministry of Magic simply warns against doing so.
Vid suspected that doing so would create a parallel timeline, and the user would remain in the new one.
After a moment's thought, Vid removed the metallic wire cloak that had always been draped over him and softly recited the spell he was so familiar with, causing beams of light to fall upon the cloak.
Moments later, the metallic wire cloak "stood" up, wobbled a few steps forward, then glided a short distance before hopping back to Vid's side.
Because it was made with copper and silver, after the magic was applied, the cloak seemed to glow brightly, like the heavenly garment in a fairytale woven with sunlight and moonlight.
So Vid cast a Disillusionment Charm on it, causing the cloak to blend into the color of the surrounding environment, its outline faintly visible.
It suddenly bent the hood down and spun around in circles, almost like a little dog chasing its own tail.
"Stop playing." Vid tapped the cloak with his magic wand and said, "You know what I want you to do."
With Vid's thoughts infused into it, the cloak instantly corrected its posture, nodded its "head," and flew swiftly towards the direction Professor Snape had left.
As for Vid who stayed behind, he frowned and looked around, waved his magic wand, making everything transform into what he had once seen.
...
Professor Snape did not know that the student behind him was worrying about his safety, but he too was thinking about Vid at this moment.
Sometimes, he felt he could see the shadow of the Dark Lord from Vid, even more ruthless, more cold-hearted than that person's.
Although he himself did not experience Voldemort when younger, through Vid, Snape could completely imagine what an outstanding yet cold-blooded young man he was.
But soon, he would tell himself that these were mere illusions, Vid was still that smart and upright student.
He reminded himself — for young people, yelling about fighting and killing due to a moment of impulsiveness is normal, especially for teenage boys, who understand nothing of the preciousness of life and are more prone to speak of death casually.
Just like himself, when young he cursed James Potter and those four to die every day, hoping earnestly for them to die miserably at his hands.
Of course, the hatred has not faded even now.
Later, when joining the Death Eaters, witnessing his companions murder, Snape felt little emotion — he wouldn't be like Bellatrix, getting excited and celebrating, nor did he feel repulsed or disgusted.
Snape once wholeheartedly aspired to gain the Dark Lord's favor, climb to a higher position, obtain greater power.
Until that day… until he saw lying there, turned into a cold corpse, was the person he loved most…
The Professor of Potions shut his eyes firmly, extracting his thoughts away from the painful memories.
He knew the Vid from the original timeline would soon arrive at this place, so to avoid interference, Snape first took the man with glasses and left a distance, found a secluded spot, then dripped Veritaserum into his mouth.
The man with glasses opened his eyes hazily, his expression empty and confused.
"Tell me." Snape asked softly, "What are you doing here? Who is the mastermind behind it?"
"We… we were conducting research on gene editing… exploring feasible methods for humans to acquire magic genes… discovering the secret to wizard longevity…"
Snape was stunned for a moment, this answer was unexpected to him and he didn't understand.
"What is gene editing?" Snape asked.
The man with glasses replied in a monotone: "It is a revolutionary biotechnology proposed only in recent years, using gene editing tools to modify specific targets in a biological genome, achieving efficient and precise genome insertion and replacement, thereby altering the genetic information of the organism."
"Most genes of humans and wizards are the same; we believe ordinary people cannot use magic simply because a part of their genes within them has not been activated."
"As long as this section of magic genes can be pinpointed, even normal people can be turned into wizards. Even without magic genes, maybe it could be achieved in future generations via replacement and recombination…"
Snape: "..."
He decided to skip the parts he didn't comprehend, interrupting the glasses man's endless speech, and directly asked the main question: "Who instructed you to do this?"
"It was the leader."
"Who is the leader? What's his name? Where can we find him?"
"I… I don't know… the leader never appears before us..."