When the footsteps approached the door, Stella let out a timely cold snort, "Go out and turn right. I think that washroom is just right for you!"
"Stella!" Ms. Picquery gently patted the girl's hand, mildly scolding, "Don't talk nonsense... that's Amy's toilet!"
She turned to the maid who came in with the Magic Potion and said kindly, "Excuse me, Miss Harper, please take Mr. Gray to the washroom—don't listen to Stella, just head to the nearest one."
The maid set down the Magic Potion and curtsied, "Yes, ma'am... Please follow me, Mr. Gray."
Vid followed the maid to what appeared to be an ordinary washroom. The place had only a very small, stained glass window that wasn't translucent. A white porcelain sink was installed against the wall, with the edges decorated with a few sculpted blue flowers and plants.
The maid reached out and opened the door, glanced inside, then stepped aside for him.
After Vid went in, he casually closed the door. The thick walls and wooden door had been soundproofed by the household to ensure that no one outside could hear the sounds inside.
Vid approached the sink, his fingers lightly tracing around it, then he smiled.
There was an extremely clever magic cast on it—of course, in a wizard's home, magic was everywhere and not surprising.
But the key to unlocking this magic was hidden within these floral carve-outs, and this kind of Magic Text combination...
If an ordinary wizard found it, they would only interpret it as the phrase "We are all waters from different rivers," full of peace and acceptance.
But only those proficient in Alchemy would decode another meaning... a spell.
Presumably, Ms. Picquery set up this little mechanism upon learning that the messenger was Vid Gray.
Vid slowly drew out his Magic Wand and pressed it on the sink, muttering under his breath:
"Aparis-Apasno-Water Mirror Open, Reality Revealed!"
In an instant, the sink emitted a gentle silver glow. Its shape began to flow and change as if it had experienced thousands of years in a moment, turning its smooth white surface into something extremely coarse, and the color into a deep gray.
—It transformed into an ancient Pensieve.
Unlike the one Dumbledore kept in his office, this one looked rougher. Apart from the engravings imbued with Magic Power, there were no excess decorations on the stone.
[Stone...]
Vid's thoughts couldn't help but drift for a moment.
Dumbledore's Pensieve, Voldemort's hiding place for a Soul Artifact in the cave, the Uagadou admission Rune Stone, including the Resurrection Stone, were all made of stone...
Ancient wizards, without advanced processing methods, nor today's convenient spells, chose to imbue powerful magic into various stones, utilizing the hardness of the stone to ensure the long-term retention of magic's effects.
Nowadays, many Alchemy Materials are available: the horn on a Unicorn's head, a Phoenix's tail feather, a Fire Dragon's heartstring, a Veela's hair, a Sphinx's nail...
Various Magic Materials that ancient wizards didn't even dare to dream of; just write a letter to a shop in Diagon Alley, and in a day or two, you'll receive a package.
These materials are not only easy to process and transform, but also contain Magic Power that is more active and potent than stone.
Thus, various stones have become less important—for instance, when Vid makes Poppets, he often chooses these expensive and rare materials to make them more agile and lightweight.
But these materials generally all have a weakness—they aren't fire-resistant.
Recalling the last time the Poppets suffered heavy losses from Voldemort's Fiendfyre, Vid had a spontaneous thought—
Perhaps what he needed to do wasn't to enhance the Poppets with fire-resistant spells, because even something as strong as a Soul Artifact couldn't withstand Fiendfyre's incineration. Perhaps it would be better to choose suitable stones as the main material?
Stone processing is more difficult than most materials, but the moment this idea came up, inspiration in Vid's mind began to emerge endlessly.
Of course, these thoughts flashed through his mind in a lightning-fast instant.
On the surface, Vid only paused briefly, then took out the silver memory hidden in his sleeve, gently poured it into the Pensieve, and, like Dumbledore, softly chanted a spell.
The fragile silver strands seemed about to break at any moment. As it entered the basin, it began to slowly rotate, as the silver mist spread around, seemingly on the verge of evaporating at any moment.
Vid no longer hesitated. He put down the bottle, placed his hands on the edge of the stone basin, took a deep breath, and submerged his face into the constantly spinning silver memory.
A familiar sensation of falling suddenly overwhelmed him—
...
"Hurry up, Jensen!" a man roared loudly, "Don't stop! Move forward!"
A young man called Jensen looked somewhat frail. His eyes darted around in panic, his hands holding a heavy gun as he staggered to keep up with the others.
Vid stood beside them, not moving.
He looked at this young man named Jensen—the source of the memory—and was somewhat surprised to find that Jensen was not a wizard but a regular person.
To be precise, a not very strong soldier.
The images in the Pensieve always followed the subject of the memory. When Vid stopped, the world around him seemed to move backward quickly.
Vid looked around. The sky was dim and gray, and thick black smoke billowed up to the sky everywhere he looked. Many places were burning, and in his ears were the piercing sounds of terrifying screams.