Dumbledore immediately threw himself into the work.
Consequently, Harry found his legendary gear—the Invisibility Cloak—among his Christmas presents, and later discovered the Mirror of Erised in an empty classroom.
Dumbledore, who had been lurking and watching from the shadows for several days, finally stepped out to chat with Harry, providing him with more than enough hints...
Victor Wick paid no attention to any of this. At that moment, he was in Quirrell's office, standing face-to-face with the Dark Lord.
Quirrell sensibly remained silent, keeping his back to Victor so that he could consult with his master as he pleased.
After all, Victor hadn't come all this way in person just to wish the Dark Lord a Merry Christmas...
"Merry Christmas, Mr. Dark Lord," Victor said with a smile.
Quirrell: "..."
Voldemort: "..."
It took them a good while to react; Victor suddenly showing up just to say "Merry Christmas" to the Dark Lord was simply too absurd.
"You came here today just to spout such nonsense?" Voldemort asked coldly.
To be honest, back in the day, if anyone had dared to speak such drivel to him, he would have hit them with a Killing Curse long ago.
Quirrell's face was twisted in anger; Victor was making a joke out of his master.
Even if his master was fuming, he couldn't do anything to Victor right now, which meant that accumulated rage would almost certainly be vented on Quirrell instead!
'You get to have your fun with words, and I'm the one who pays the price!'
"I didn't come here just for nonsense. You know, after saying Merry Christmas, the next step is usually giving a gift," Victor chuckled.
Voldemort almost laughed out of sheer irritation. "So, you actually have a gift for me?"
"Exactly." Victor pulled a wooden box from his pocket. "Your current state isn't exactly ideal, and you can't exactly go around hunting unicorns easily anymore, so..."
Victor opened the box, revealing a cluster of white light within.
The glowing white light drifted out, instantly making the gloomy office feel warmer.
"This... what is this!?" Voldemort asked excitedly.
Though he didn't know exactly what Victor had produced, Voldemort could feel an overwhelming attraction toward the orb of light.
It was like a man who hadn't had a drink in three days suddenly seeing a chilled bottle of tea straight from the fridge...
Voldemort's remaining sanity desperately suppressed the soul-deep longing for that light.
Who knew if Victor had tampered with it?
"This is soul power, Mr. Dark Lord," Victor said with a smile. "I'm aware of your situation. Such soul power will be of great benefit to your weakened spirit."
Voldemort pursed his lips tightly, but his vertical pupils remained fixed on the glow.
"I know you're still suspicious of me. You likely think I could just ask Dumbledore for help instead of needing you. But that is not the case."
"Oh? Is it not? Dumbledore trusts you implicitly now. Why would you still need me? Don't try to use that excuse about not wanting to associate with him anymore; when it's a matter of life and death, such things are worthless!" Voldemort said coldly.
Victor pointed to his own head. "You peered into it yourself once. Do you think the things in my head are something I can let Dumbledore see?"
Voldemort suddenly let out a dry cackle. "You're right. When I peered into your mind back then, I saw some of your memories... slaughtering so many people just to nourish your own soul. Even I find your methods a bit extreme."
"Aside from the fellow who ambushed me, there are only three people in this world who can help me unlock the thing in my head: one is Grindelwald, one is you, and the last is Dumbledore. Grindelwald has been locked away for decades, and his power is no longer what it used to be. As for Dumbledore, I can't guarantee he won't look at what's in my mind, just as you did. So, you're my only choice. What is there to worry about?" Victor said calmly. "Heh, Dumbledore wouldn't peek at your memories. I know that sanctimonious old fool," Voldemort sneered.
"If it were you, would you take that risk?" Victor chuckled.
Voldemort fell silent. Even if he understood Dumbledore's nature, if he were truly forced to gamble his life, he would never do it.
Like Victor, he preferred to keep the initiative in his own hands rather than relying on luck.
"A fair point. You have no choice but to seek my help, and you have no choice but to help me resurrect first." Voldemort's mood suddenly improved. "You're so anxious... I suppose your time is running out."
"Three years. At most, I have three years. If I can't find a suitable person to help me unlock that thing within three years, I'm dead. Besides... I've mostly finished researching the method; I just need a wizard powerful enough to help..." Victor's brow furrowed. "So, if you don't actually have a way to resurrect, please tell me. When push comes to shove, I might just have to take that risk with Dumbledore..."
Voldemort's smile slowly vanished. Victor was threatening him!
Once Victor went to Dumbledore, if Dumbledore discovered his secrets, Victor would surely offer Voldemort up as a token of allegiance to secure leniency!
He might even turn against him entirely to atone for his crimes!
And that old man Dumbledore might actually agree to it!
As it stood, Victor still had a way out, but Voldemort had very few options left!
"It seems I have no choice but to believe you."
"My patience is limited, Mr. Dark Lord. My time really is running out," Victor said coldly.
Voldemort's distorted face suddenly broke into another ugly smile.
"Of course I believe you!"
Voldemort's reasoning was simple: he still had his Horcruxes. Even if Victor tampered with him, this fragment of his soul could still reform.
This was the power of a Horcrux! As long as they remained, his soul was immortal!
Since that was the case, why not take another risk?
A smile returned to Victor's face as he handed the box over.
"Then take it. You can only fulfill our deal once you've resurrected. In your current state, if you can't hold on until the day we get the Philosopher's Stone, all my efforts will be for naught..."
"Of course... of course..." Voldemort looked at the orb of light.
With a flick of Victor's hand, the light in the box fluttered toward Voldemort's face and was quickly absorbed through his mouth...
"Mmm..."
In an instant, Voldemort felt his fragmented, weakened soul being enveloped, nourished, and repaired by a surge of warm power...
The sensation was so comfortable that Voldemort actually found himself wanting to stay in that moment!
Voldemort had an intuition: if he had enough of this soul power, his originally fragmented soul might actually be fully restored!
After a long moment, Voldemort didn't feel any discomfort; instead, his condition was ten times better than before.
His faith in Victor's words instantly deepened...
"Do you have any more of this soul power?" Voldemort asked.
"This is something I recently researched... I recently wiped out the Ashwinders. I refined this tiny bit from the souls of dozens of wizards at their headquarters," Victor chuckled. "You know, with my current identity, there aren't many wizards I can kill openly."
"Don't worry, Logic. Our deal continues... Even if your method doesn't work for me, you can continue to earn my friendship through this soul power," Voldemort said.
"My pleasure, Dark Lord," Victor chuckled, then turned and left.
The door locked behind him.
"Master, have you finally decided to cooperate with him? Do you really trust him?"
"Trust is the most useless thing in the world. I only know that as long as he is useful to me, he can strike a deal with me."
*Click!*
The door to the dungeon office opened, and Victor strode inside.
"Severus, how is the recipe coming along..."
Victor's voice trailed off.
To his astonishment, he found Snape standing before a mirror, frowning while applying a facial mask...
Snape, with a mask stuck to his face, turned his head with difficulty to meet Victor's gaze.
Victor noticed that the light had completely faded from his eyes...
The air in the room seemed to freeze completely.
Victor had to think about the most tragic events possible just to barely suppress the urge to let his mouth curl upward.
'Shut up, mouth! Don't you dare laugh!'
"Ahem..." Victor cleared his throat twice and then backed away step by step until he was outside the door, trying his best to maintain a deadpan expression. "It seems you're busy. I won't disturb you, then. Not at all..."
*Thud!*
Victor shut the door.
The moment it closed, Victor turned and bolted!
He had only run a few steps when the door behind him was sliced in half by a Sectumsempra!
Having just ripped off the mask, Snape rushed out with a wet face, his wand spinning like a windmill...
"Victor Wick! DIE!"
*Boom!*
Two minutes later.
Snape lay expressionless on the floor of his office, his eyes vacant.
Victor had carried him back—he looked like a hollow shell that had lost its soul...
Even though he had lost his mind and used his full strength, he had still fallen before Victor.
At Hogwarts, this bastard's strength simply defied all logic.
"Oh, why bother? Haven't you heard the saying? As long as you aren't embarrassed, the embarrassment belongs to someone else." Victor prattled on while repairing the door. "Luckily, nobody usually comes to this dump of yours, otherwise where would you hide your face? ... Ahem, I'm not laughing, really. I've had professional training. No matter how funny something is, I won't laugh."
Snape had no words; he remained motionless on the floor.
"I didn't even use a Body-Bind Curse on you. Why are you still lying there playing dead?"
"Just let the world end. Nothing matters anymore," Snape said, his eyes empty.
"Tsk... what's with that attitude? This is just human nature! Who doesn't want to show their best side to the person they care about most?" Victor said with a face full of sincerity.
"Just go... leave me alone. And please, knock next time..."
"Alright, don't worry. I definitely won't laugh at you for today. In fact, I'm quite heartened to see you making a change. If you didn't change at all, how could Lily ever change her opinion of you?"
A glimmer of life finally returned to Snape's eyes.
"Goodbye. I promise to knock next time." Victor gently closed the door...
Then, a muffled gasp of breath came from outside. Clearly, that bastard was holding back a laugh!
It felt like the Earth was no longer a place he could stay... but there was still someone in the wizarding world he cared about.
Snape lay quietly on the floor, a single tear slowly trickling from the corner of his eye and sliding down his cheek...
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