At the same time, there's another well-known fact — some people claim goblins are extremely greedy, which truly vilifies this race.
They guard the vast Gringotts, managing the wealth for countless wizards, yet have never betrayed their trust. Wizards' trust in goblins actually exceeds their expectations.
Based on this fact, the author has developed an idea:
The goblins' obsession with the items they forge may not merely be a difference in ideology between the two races, but rather because they truly infuse some unique and unreplicable characteristics into those items during the forging process?
Those characteristics endow their creations with extraordinary power and lead goblins to regard their works as a kind of "offspring" in a certain sense.
What wizards consider a "purchase" is actually seen by goblins as a "rental" or "employment," so they cannot tolerate permanent changes in ownership...
Plain language, tinged with the conjecture of being "the only one awake while everyone else is drunk," as if a wizard idly jotted down notes.
— How did such a harmless book, void of any dark magic content, end up in the Forbidden Book Area?
Halfway through reading, Vid couldn't help but wonder. Then he turned the page, and a delicate hand-drawn black-and-white picture caught his eye.
The image wasn't bloody or dangerous, merely documenting the developmental changes from embryo stage of goblins, humans, and their hybrid offspring.
Vid, holding an attitude of academic research, stared at the three similar pictures for a while, feeling like he was looking at a human development diagram from a middle school biology textbook.
Except that the goblins' pointed ears were already becoming noticeable during the embryo stage, besides this, the delicacy of the black-and-white images was far less than what he had seen in textbooks before...
Suddenly, a fact struck Vid, making his hand holding the book tremble slightly involuntarily.
— In ancient times, there was no ultrasound, and this isn't computer-modeled 3D rendering; how did the author know the state of each race's embryo within the mother's body?
Could it be a magic item similar to Moody's magic eye?
But Moody's magic eye was a fake eye custom-made after losing one, crafted by modern alchemists as an excellent alchemy item, rather than a Pensieve-like ancient magical item.
Ancient alchemists were indeed excellent, but...
Vid, with a complex mood, flipped to the next page, seeing that the author wrote:
To confirm this hypothesis, the author decided to conduct the most rigorous experiment ever — observing from the embryonic stage to verify whether goblins have a unique "characteristic" distinct from humans internally, which is also imbued into items...
He read two pages, slammed the book shut, closed his eyes, his face a mix of disgust and revulsion.
— That madman, even used "hybrid offspring" as the control object in the experiment, which was his own lineage with a female goblin...
At this moment, a deliberately low voice faintly came over:
"Ron, be gentle! Do you want to draw Madam Pince over?"
"It wasn't me!" Ron responded aggrievedly.
"Not me either!" Harry quickly added.
"No matter who it is, keep it down!" Hermione impatiently cut their arguments short, saying in a low, serious voice, "We're not here for a tea party!"
Vid looked up, and through the window gap in the bookshelves, saw that it was already broad daylight outside, the snow on the windowsill glazed with a layer of soft pale gold from the morning light.
He had actually stayed in the Forbidden Book Area for an entire night and had hardly felt the passage of time.
Without any hesitation, Vid immediately picked up his magic wand and tapped it silently on himself.
A coolness spread instantly throughout his body, making him quickly become transparent, as if merging with the surrounding books and shadows.
Vid stood up, stuffed the book he held back onto the shelf, silently and stealthily returning to the common book area along the narrow corridor.
Followed closely, Madam Pince, like a swift gust, quietly arrived in front of the Gryffindor trio.
Seeing the three quietly buried in their newspapers, she gave them a stern look, turned, and continued to patrol the Forbidden Book Area.
Feeling that the harsh gaze finally moved away, Harry, Ron, and Hermione couldn't help but breathe lightly.
"... Almost got kicked out by Madam Pince." Ron murmured quietly, irritatingly scratching his hair, "But Harry, without precise keywords, only knowing it involves time magic and someone got hurt, how do we find it?"
Harry, his gaze somewhat wandering, said, "It shouldn't be too long ago, just recently... Pavarti mentioned it too, she remembers seeing similar news not long ago."
"Yeah, just like you — forgetting when and which newspaper!" Ron muttered.
Hermione, without lifting her head, said, "An incident involving time magic with serious consequences, if it occurred within the UK, would certainly have long been widely discussed, it's impossible for everyone to forget!"
"So this must have happened abroad, focus on the international news sections, there's not that much content!"
Hearing the words "time magic," Vid, who was originally planning to leave quietly, paused, turned between the two nearby bookshelves, confirmed no one else was watching before dispelling the Disillusionment Charm.
He straightened his slightly disheveled robes, waved his magic wand, and the creases formed by sitting on the ground became smooth and straight, the fatigue from staying up all night wiped away, looking refreshed.
Vid turned the corner, walked a few steps, and saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione sitting around a long table by the window, a thick stack of Prophet Daily piled on the table.
Each had dozens of newspapers in front of them, all busy reading the international news sections.
Vid naturally stepped forward, casting a Quietening Charm in the surrounding area, only then asked, "What are you looking for?"
Suddenly hearing a familiar voice, Harry was startled, quickly lifted his head.
Seeing it was indeed Vid, there was a flash of nervousness on his face, his hand instinctively covering the newspaper open in front of him — even though he knew there wasn't a single word related to time magic on it.
Hermione lifted her head, calmly said, "Harry heard recently that someone was supposedly shrunk by time magic and is concerned. We've asked many people, some say they have slight impressions too, but all forgot where they saw it, so we're searching the library."
"Oh yes, that's the case." Harry quickly agreed, trying to make his tone sound natural, adding, "Because of our past experiences, I worry this might have something to do with... Voldemort."
"Alright, no need to explain so much, we all know what's going on!" Ron patted Harry's shoulder, directly asking, "Vid, have you heard about this?"
Vid: "..."
He was momentarily speechless, and Harry and Hermione's expressions turned slightly strange.
Despite Ron joining SSC for a few days already, they still hadn't adapted to Ron's sudden change in tone when speaking with Vid —
When Ron spoke, it always felt like they shouldn't be at school but rather sitting at a rural tavern bar, holding a pipe, a Colt pistol hanging on their waist, ready to gallop across the western wilderness once outside.
— Forget it, let's understand the child; probably after a period of adaptation, things will return to normal.
Vid, feeling weary, thought as he pulled a chair to sit, reached out among the pile of newspapers, then withdrew one.
After glancing at the date on the newspaper, Vid placed it in the center of the table, looked at Harry, saying, "If I'm not mistaken, it should be in this one."
Harry's heart leaped, feeling that Vid already knew what he was investigating.
Ron and Hermione immediately leaned over, Hermione softly reading, "Power transition or conspiracy subversion? American Magic Congress President becomes a wanted criminal..."
Upon hearing this, Harry instantly forgot what he was thinking earlier, quickly leaned over too, soon finding that line seemingly inserted amidst the long critique on Hosone:
"... Auror Office Director Ezra Hughes was hit by time magic, shrank to the size of a baby; Floo Network Administration Director Reginald Perez perished because of this, his death terrifyingly gruesome..."