Not only had he obtained a wisp of Lost Mist, but Merlin had also helped him find Ariana Dumbledore.
Victor had witnessed Harry's previous gratitude.
If he actually managed to resurrect Ariana...
He couldn't even imagine how grateful the two brothers, Albus Dumbledore and Aberforth, would be!
This was undoubtedly a fantastic path to take; as long as he spread his kindness across the world, his future would certainly be more exciting.
'To think the Lost Mist is actually a type of soul power, except it lacks nourishing vitality and instead possesses a chilling aura of death... Then again, in a place like that, it would be strange if there were any life.'
Through the massive computing power of Hogwarts, Victor had roughly analyzed and understood the structure of Limbo and the World of the Dead through the composition of the Lost Mist.
They were all reflections of the souls of the deceased over thousands of years.
For a kind-hearted person like Lily, the world she reflected was beautiful, and those around her were generally of a similar temperament.
As for those dark wizards whose minds and souls were twisted beyond repair, there was little beauty to speak of. The worlds they reflected were no different from hell.
Victor finally understood why those with incomplete souls were forever trapped in Limbo and could never proceed to the World of the Dead—not even the hellish parts.
Because their souls were incomplete, they couldn't truly reflect... In other words, a fragmented soul lacked enough soul power to transport them to the appropriate destination.
This meant that if Voldemort, who had created Horcruxes, were to die, he would be trapped in Limbo for all eternity with no hope of escape.
'Since I understand the principle of the Lost Mist... I could even use Power of Faith to transform it into Lost Mist,' Victor thought excitedly.
Lost Mist was truly a marvelous thing; it could manifest into anything according to one's will.
Just like Limbo—once a spirit entered that transit station, the Limbo they saw would transform into the place most deeply etched in their memories...
In this way, there was a lot of room to manipulate the Lost Mist.
Victor was delighted, but Snape was currently sitting on pins and needles.
Initially, when Lily appeared as a ghost, even if she had taken the form of another witch, Snape had been ecstatic.
Not only had he gained an opportunity to make amends, but he could also research potion recipes with Lily!
In the past, Snape wouldn't have even dared to dream of such a scenario!
However... all of that had ended with a single sentence.
"I heard... you hate Harry..."
And then Snape went completely numb.
"No... I don't... Who told you that?" Snape denied frantically.
Of course, he could guess exactly who Lily had heard it from without even thinking!
"You're still lying to me... I originally thought the words of repentance you said back then were true. I didn't expect..." Lily's face was full of disappointment.
"No, no, no! Everything I said was true! I truly repent! I swear, every word I said was the truth!"
"But if you were truly so remorseful, how could you target Harry like that? You said you would help me take care of him... How can I believe you? Point deductions for no reason, baseless detentions, deliberate punishments..."
"I... I was just a bit strict with him. I hoped he would truly learn and not become arrogant and rude like James..." Snape regretted his words the moment they left his mouth.
The issue of bullying the woman's son wasn't even resolved, and he had already started criticizing her husband again...
He was done for...
Lily was stunned for a moment, then sighed softly. "I'm sorry, Severus... I shouldn't have expected that of you. After all, Harry isn't your child, and you and James never got along... What right do I have to demand that you must be good to Harry? I've asked for too much."
Lily had come to terms with it; Snape was a normal person, and asking him to look after his rival's child was indeed a tall order.
But these considerate words were like a knife to Snape's heart, and he denied them with a pale face.
"No... it's not like that! I just... I just..."
"I'm not asking you to give him extra care. I just hope... I hope you can treat Harry fairly, like any other student, instead of... instead of targeting him at every turn. He's a poor child who has suffered enough. Let all the grudges end with our generation, alright?" Lily looked at Snape with pleading eyes.
Lily's meaning was clear: if you want to continue hating James, I can understand and accept that, but please stop involving Harry.
Snape felt his heart bleeding under that gaze.
'I'm truly a wretch...'
'Potter may look like that bastard, but his eyes are just like Lily's! How could I treat him so harshly?'
"I admit... seeing Potter's face, which looks so much like James's, I truly did hate him... But I already swore before Dumbledore that even if I hate him, I will use my life to protect him, simply because... he is your son," Snape said, his face wet with tears.
Lily could tell that Snape was telling the truth this time.
"Thank you, Severus..."
"You..." Snape was stunned. "Even though I hate him so much, you still want to thank me?"
"Even if you hate him, you're still willing to protect him... shouldn't I thank you?"
Lily's words left Snape dazed for a long time.
Such a wonderful girl... he had missed his chance after all...
'Damn James! What did you do to deserve her!'
"I've already had Hagrid leak all the information to Harry," Dumbledore said from the other side of the two-way mirror.
"In other words, everything is ready! All that's left is to reasonably stuff the Philosopher's Stone into the Dark Lord's pocket!" Victor also grew excited; the net was finally closing!
As expected, Hagrid's role was to be a competent blabbermouth!
"What do you plan to do next?"
"Simple. Let Snape return recovered, then continue to bully Quirrell in front of Harry a few times. After that... we'll find a reason to temporarily leave Hogwarts. Then, we let Snape lead Harry and Quirrell to get the Philosopher's Stone."
"Alright, I'll go talk to Horace..."
"Don't! Professor Slughorn is quite good. Let him continue teaching. Can't he and Severus just split the year groups? This is also a good opportunity to break the inhumanly oppressive system for professors!"
Victor quickly spoke up to stop Dumbledore from making Professor Slughorn pack his bags.
The more professors, the better! A single professor was far too busy!
"This... if we move too fast, the Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors might not agree..." Dumbledore said somewhat helplessly.
Even though he was the Headmaster of Hogwarts, a rule-follower like him couldn't just do whatever he wanted.
"I'll talk to them! Coincidentally, I have some history with Lucius Malfoy, so I can handle the Board of Governors... And as for the Ministry, Minister Fudge and I are also somewhat acquainted."
Dumbledore's mouth twitched slightly. Fudge aside, did his history with Lucius Malfoy even count as an 'acquaintance'?
As far as he knew, back when they were in the Death Eater camp, Victor had almost bullied Lucius to death.
"Fine... you handle it then." Dumbledore nodded. "As long as the Board and the Ministry agree, I won't object... It pains me to see Minerva so busy all the time."
"Then you should actually help out... You have some nerve, making your former student work like a beast of burden. As Headmaster, you're being rather derelict in your duties."
The wicked Victor began a personal attack on the kind Headmaster Dumbledore.
"You misunderstand me; I actually have many other matters to attend to," Dumbledore helplessly defended himself. "Ahem, let's not talk about that. What reason do you plan to use to leave Hogwarts?"
"That's easy. Find a good day, then I'll have the boys from the Knights Templar attack Azkaban! They'll 'liberate' those imprisoned Death Eaters!"
Pfft! Dumbledore spat out the watermelon juice he had just sipped, looking at Victor in utter shock.
"Don't get excited, it's fake, of course! Only an attack on a place like Azkaban would make Fudge anxious enough to ask you for help. And for the Headmaster to go help, bringing along his loyal associate—me—would seem perfectly reasonable!"
"No... Victor, I think you're being a bit extreme..."
"This isn't extreme at all, Professor... I have a way to find the Dark Lord's Horcruxes, but... who knows if some accident might happen later that causes him to resurrect early? The wizarding world has been at peace for a long time. If the Dark Lord returns, someone with Fudge's personality will definitely suppress the news for the sake of stability. The wizarding world will be caught completely unprepared and suffer a massive blow."
Dumbledore pondered, "So you plan to use this chance to stage a major event to warn the world, killing two birds with one stone?"
"Exactly!"
"But this is too big of a deal... those kids might have been raised by Grindelwald, but they have clean backgrounds. If something goes wrong..."
"No need to worry, I know Azkaban better than my own home," Victor chuckled. "I've even built a one-to-one scale model of Azkaban."
Dumbledore's mouth twitched again. Only Victor could say he knew Azkaban better than his own home.
While others avoided Azkaban like the plague, this fellow had actually moved in and lived there for several months...
"Sigh... Cornelius is going to be worried to death because of this." Dumbledore silently offered a few seconds of sympathy for the innocent Minister Fudge.
"It's not a big problem. Based on the successful experience of our last cooperation, he'll definitely come to beg me... This way, it will be much simpler when Hogwarts needs further educational reforms."
Dumbledore was speechless. Had Victor already planned today's events back when he was using threats and inducements on Fudge last time?
"Too extreme... too extreme..." Dumbledore muttered.
"Fine... Then should I have the boys assassinate Fudge? Assassinating the Minister of Magic would have the same effect."
"Cough, cough..." Dumbledore was once again choked by his watermelon juice. "Cornelius's sins are not that grave... not that grave at all..."
[Support the story with Reviews, Power Stones, and Comments—they mean a lot and keep me going! 30+ chapters waiting on patreon.com/elite_reads]