Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world.

Chapter 353 Using the Resurrection Stone to Fish for Snape!

As it turns out, Hermione underestimated Vaughn's shamelessness and Professor Snape's "scope".

That night, after the experiment was over, she accompanied Vaughn to the potions office in the dungeon and watched him walk in.

Ten minutes later, Vaughn came out and gave her an "O" sign: "It's solved. Although the professor doesn't have any in stock, he knows who does and will buy some for me in a few days."

""

"."

Seeing the girl's bewildered and confused expression, Vaughn chuckled.

Thanks to his memories of the "plot" from his previous life, few people understand Snape as well as he does.

Just like Hermione, in her mind, although Snape was already complicated enough, her deepest impression of him was still that he was cold, mean, and difficult to talk to.

Even Dumbledore, despite his close relationship with Snape, never truly trusted the double agent he had "cultivated."

Only Vaughn knew that the professor, who was always as cold as ice and as indifferent as a ghost, was actually a very "weak" person.

His usual coldness and hardness were just a disguise. The real Severus Snape was a "poor wretch" who had an unhappy childhood, a bad adolescence, and almost no smooth sailing in his life.

The personality shaped by those experiences has nothing to do with words like steadfastness. Therefore, the real Snape's personality is different from the one he pretended to be. He was never a decisive person. His nature was indecisive and easily influenced.

More than a decade ago, Dumbledore could have used his twisted love to turn him against his own side.

Now, Vaughn can certainly use him as well—it's not too difficult to get someone with such strong convictions to abandon their beliefs, principles, or even instantly reverse their stance.

Just satisfy their obsession!

Even if it's just a glimmer of hope.

Vaughn didn't tell Hermione how he "persuaded" Snape. All Hermione knew was that the two were far away, and the door to the potions office in the dungeon was still open.

Where she couldn't see him, Snape sat blankly in front of the fireplace, unconsciously clutching a piece of parchment in his hand.

There were no words on the parchment, only a simple line drawing.

It depicts a diamond-shaped stone.

Resurrection Stone!

No one knew what Vaughn had said to him; even Vaughn himself was in a daze, as if still dreaming. The less than 10-minute conversation before seemed like the ramblings of a dream—false, absurd, and nonsensical.

but----

He knew he believed it, because his once-dead heart began to pound!

Hermione was curious whether Vaughn had some leverage over Professor Snape, and of course, she was even more curious whether the professor would actually help her find Felix Felicis.

Otherwise, the development of new potion-making methods will be severely delayed.

After all, the delegations from the Far East involved in the potion-making activities were about to arrive—this was the headline of the second page of the Daily Prophet the next day.

The author describes in detail how the Eastern country sent a delegation mainly composed of students from the Central Alchemy Academy, traveling in their iconic "cloud chariots" across the sea to England, more than 5 miles away.

It is expected to take 5 days to arrive.

Unsurprisingly, the article praises the esteemed Minister of Magic, Mr. Fudge, for his outstanding contributions to facilitating this historic visit and exchange. The kind and benevolent Mr. Fudge also instructed Dumbledore to take good care of the young wizards from the East along the way.

As for himself, the busy Mr. Fudge had already gone to the Magic Institute to coordinate the itinerary of the Japanese delegation when the article was published.

Yes, Hermione found the article on page two of the Daily Prophet; as for the front page headline—

Unsurprisingly, it's about Vaughn's new potion-making method!

[Rebellious! Wolfish ambitions!]

The enormous title, with each letter's sharp angle seemingly outlining a fierce aura, condenses the meaning of opposition, criticism, and struggle into that short phrase.

The accompanying photo was also carefully selected; it was a snapshot of Vaughn raising his arms and shouting at a questioning session in Wisconsin last year regarding the establishment of C.

In the photo, the werewolves who had silently gathered looked like a dark cloud, while the background depicted astonishment.

Panic, excitement—the purple-robed figures displayed a variety of expressions.

In the restaurant, Hermione wasn't the only one reading the newspaper. That morning, everyone who stayed at school gathered in small groups to read and discuss the "murderous" front-page article.

"The photos are really good."

"The Gryffindor table," Ron clicked his tongue in admiration, always finding a strange angle to start a conversation.

Dean and Seymour, who had become closer to the trio due to his nighttime outings, were also influenced by him and became unreliable: "Yeah, he looks really imposing, like a German in a movie."

Dean, who grew up in a Muggle family, instinctively raised his arm: "Hi, I'm here!"

Harry nudged Dean with his elbow, interrupting his antics: "That's not funny, guys."

Having been in school for almost two years, Harry was no longer the naive little boy he once was. He felt that the German's salute wasn't a good thing, and making fun of Vaughn about it was a bit strange.

Ron, who was unaware of the situation, wanted to ask more questions, but Harry didn't give him a chance to speak at all.

"The opposition is coming." Harry looked at the strongly worded sentences in the article, his expression melancholy. "It's even stronger than I expected. Look at what the author is saying."

He slapped the newspaper: "Weasley is attempting to overthrow the order of the wizarding world," and this, "he wants to dedicate pure magic to those lowly Muggle-bloods," first calling him a pure-blood traitor, then using even stronger language, even calling Vaughn a wizarding traitor!

What made Harry feel even worse was that after reading the article, he actually felt that the author's harsh words were somewhat understandable.

Because the author carefully analyzed Vaughn's paper in "Extraordinary Potions" in the article, it can be seen that the author is also a pharmacist, and a very skilled one at that.

At least he could understand what Vaughn said in the paper.

Therefore, his rebuttals, objections, and rebukes appear particularly reasonable and well-founded.

In particular, regarding Vaughn's new potion-making method, the protein robots actively transport magical elements, eliminating the potential drawbacks of a "medium".

[—For over a hundred years, we have done everything in our power to hide the existence of the wizarding world, finally achieving a hard-won peaceful and tranquil life away from Muggles. But Vaughn Weasley's ambition will utterly destroy all the efforts of countless people over the past century!]

Undeniably, Vaughn Weasley achieved some truly remarkable successes in his research into new potion-making methods, namely the magical protein championed by Damocles Belby. To be fair, this research was indeed groundbreaking, filling a gap in the magical world.

For millennia, whether mediocre or prodigies, all wizards, when learning magic, have pondered one question—where does our magic come from?

Uh—all wizards have considered this?

Harry scratched his face, and then he noticed that Ron next to him did the same thing. The two looked up at each other and saw guilt in each other's eyes.

"I thought about this when I was 5 years old, but I didn't understand it. Later, I got used to it and forgot about it."

"Sigh, I got into magic too late. I only started thinking about this after receiving the acceptance letter, and I still haven't figured it out."

"That means we're about the same skill level!"

"Yes, I bet a lot of people are like us, right?"

"Pretty much. Anyway, guys like Goyle and Crabbe, whose brains are all muscles, would never think about this kind of question. I even doubt they can read."

Huh?

That's right!

We're not the worst!

Ron and Harry, who had been stubbornly insistent, immediately felt much better. Their guilt dissipated, and they couldn't help but straighten their chests. Their two proud, heavy heads huddled together as they continued reading the newspaper.

The ancient wizards couldn't find the answer. In modern times, the theory of the Golden Soul developed and unified the alchemical school. Finally, some wizards proposed that magic might originate from the soul, but that's just speculation. Magic can come from the soul, but where does it come from? How does it exist in our bodies?

A few days ago, Vaughn Weasley revealed the answer to us: While humans don't possess magical organs like magical creatures, at the microscopic level of our bodies, in those tiny cells, there exist tissues that capture magical elements and synthesize magic.

This is a momentous event for the magical world, especially for those who study the origins of magic. I believe that as I write this, many of my colleagues are still basking in jubilation, trying to find the magical protein that Vaughn Weasley spoke of.

However, my fellow wizards, my pitiful wizarding colleagues, this world is not only about pursuing truth. We are first and foremost human beings, and only secondly wizards and researchers of magic. While the so-called magical protein brings you closer to the truth, it also poses a real threat to the entire magical world.

Today, Vaughn Weasley used magical proteins to enable Muggles to enjoy potions. So tomorrow, could he, or some other ambitious individual, use magical proteins to teach Muggles magic? This is not an alarmist or emotional threat, but a warning I must give you. The Muggle population is thousands of times larger than ours. With such a massive population, once they master magic and become aware of the magical world, chaos and war will not be far off!

While reading the beginning, Harry and Ron were initially curious, wanting to see how the author of this article would oppose Vaughn.

But by the end, both of them were pale.

Chaos, war!

These words, which seemed so distant and only heard from my parents, suddenly felt so close.

"Uh, he's just trying to scare people, right?" Ron forced a smile. The only war he knew about was the one led by the mysterious man more than 10 years ago.

"There are no Mysterios in Muggle society, so what's their purpose in starting a war?"

He hoped Harry would give him the answer he wanted to hear.

But what he saw was Harry's hesitant expression, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

After a long pause, Harry stammered, "I don't know, Ron, but I've seen on TV that Muggle society has never been peaceful."

"—Never?"

"Yes, World War I, World War II, and many places are still in conflict, including England (at this time, the Irish resistance was just beginning to split and had not yet announced its disarmament)."

Ron was bewildered; he didn't understand.

His understanding of war came from the black and white portraits he saw in the family tree, some from the Weasley family and others from his mother's side of the Pewter family.

It was a truly tragic scene.

Harry's mind was also a little foggy. How much knowledge could a 12-year-old have? Most of his understanding of the world came from television. National struggles, and even the many causes of wars as a political continuation, were not things he could explain clearly.

Of course, this doesn't prevent him from making a judgment—the author of this article is not exaggerating.

He was somewhat convinced.

He wasn't the only one who was persuaded; Dean and Seamus's voices could be heard from not far away, as the two were also eating and reading newspapers.

"What this person said makes a lot of sense. If Muggles become aware of the wizarding world, there will be huge trouble!"

"—Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration? I grew up in Muggle society, and my neighbors are all very nice."

"Dear Seamus, I also grew up in Muggle society. Don't worry about what ordinary people think; instead, think about those gentlemen on Downing Street. Decades ago, for colonization, and later for oil, how many wars have they waged? Now, with even more amazing potions and magic laid out before them, do you think they'll turn a blind eye, or will they, like before, unleash their greedy plundering instincts?"

Seamus seemed unconvinced and retorted, "We wizards aren't like those backward, third-world Muggles!"

"Come on, buddy. Adult wizards might not be afraid, but people our age might not be. If the Muggle government targets us, what spell are you planning to use to subdue them?"

"this----"

"You can use your front teeth as a big stick!" A chuckled voice joined in, and Harry didn't need to turn around to recognize it as one of the twins.

"Tarantella is fine too." This was the other twin.

Harry heard Dean scoff, "Are you kidding me, George, Fred? Are you planning to grow Muggle teeth bigger and starve them, or make them dance themselves to death?"

The twins burst into laughter.

These two guys are always so optimistic, as if nothing can affect their mood.

"Relax, guys. What that guy in the paper was talking about hasn't even happened yet, why are you guys already worrying?"

"George is right, Vaughn just wrote a paper, why is everyone taking it so seriously?"

The twins joked around.

But this clearly failed to convince Dean: "If the idea of ​​the magic protein had come from someone else, then we could indeed wait and see. It's precisely because it was Vaughn who proposed it that I believe he can actually do it!"

Upon hearing this, Harry, who had been eavesdropping, nodded slightly.

Harry wasn't sure when it started, but Vaughn seemed to have gained credibility—whenever he proposed a concept, he was sure he could deliver on it.