Vid was momentarily stunned, then suddenly realized: "Did Mr. Weasley get bitten by... a king cobra?"
He remembered that on the night Voldemort was resurrected, when he and Harry saw baby Voldemort at the monastery, there was a black king cobra coiled around his high-backed chair.
Later, when chaos erupted, Vid, still just a child at the time, was mainly focused on survival and didn't notice when the black snake disappeared.
As for Voldemort's original pet, Nagini...
Unluckily, Vid had long since incinerated it to ashes.
"That's right."
Dumbledore relaxed slightly, leaning back in his chair, nodding: "Arthur was found too late... If it weren't for the targeted antidote, even if he survived, he might suffer irreversible long-term damage."
Vid breathed a light sigh upon hearing this, feeling fortunate as well.
Phoenix tears are already the most powerful healing artifact in the Magic World, but they're not all-powerful — they can't heal the shattered minds of the Longbottoms' past nor regrow Moody's lost eye.
The king cobra can release a significant amount of venom at once, enough to kill twenty or thirty adults, and its neurotoxins can completely paralyze the respiratory system of a prey in no time, while the cardiac toxins accelerate the collapse of circulation.
The longer the delay, the more severe the damage by the toxins on the human body. Even the phoenix's tears cannot directly erase all the harm completely.
So for Arthur Weasley to recover, there must be another hero Dumbledore hasn't mentioned, which should be Severus Snape who made the antidote.
In a flash, these thoughts crossed Vid's mind, and then he asked: "Professor, did you call me over because there's something you need me to do?"
Dumbledore took off his glasses and wiped them, seeming troubled by something, and after a few seconds finally said:
"Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you earlier, Vid... about the memory of Lady Abigail. But before I could send out a message, I suddenly received news of Arthur's attack."
"Voldemort is more patient than we imagined, reviving and then waiting so long." Vid frowned slightly: "But Mr. Weasley got hurt, how was it not discovered until he was at death's door? I remember you had arrangements made early on at the Ministry of Magic."
After Voldemort's resurrection, Dumbledore and Vid had speculated on several most likely scenarios.
Vid originally thought he might need to remind them of certain matters with his understanding of the plot, but in fact, Dumbledore considered everything.
In the headmaster's speculations, Voldemort's likely actions included — a prison break, contacting werewolves and giants, assassinating high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Magic, attacking the Department of Mysteries, or directly targeting Harry himself.
Dumbledore made corresponding warnings and arrangements on all these fronts, with Vid's Friendship Book, Communication Pea, and Magic Pet assisting, his setup was even more thorough than the original plot.
Logically, even if Voldemort himself appeared, there should have been alarms sounding promptly rather than Arthur Weasley being discovered at the brink of death.
Upon hearing this, Dumbledore sighed wearily.
"Vid, humans are the most difficult and unpredictable element in the world. Even if we've prepared everything, it doesn't prevent human error in execution."
...
"What on earth happened?"
At the end of the corridor of Magical Injuries, Sirius lowered his voice, annoyed:
"Our warnings? The partner arranged for Arthur?"
His eyes lifted to see the scene at the other end of the corridor —
The atmosphere over there was so heavy it could almost be wrung like water, the Weasley children crowded at a tightly closed door, nervously peeping inside.
But in reality, the curtains inside were tightly drawn, nothing could be seen, nothing could be heard.
"The treatment isn't over yet." Ginny said with a sob, in a low voice: "Dad will be fine, right?"
"Of course." George tried to sound light-hearted: "Dad's tough!"
Ron didn't speak, just stared pale-faced at the door, as if trying to pierce it with his gaze.
Harry paced back and forth at the door, while Fred accompanied their mother, sitting on the bench in the corridor, whispered: "He'll get better... Dumbledore said so."
Mrs. Weasley clasped her hands tightly, her face pale, lips trembling: "Surely, he even said we should go to Diagon Alley to buy gifts tomorrow... He has so much to do, he won't... won't just leave us like this."
Pain flashed across Fred's face, he suddenly turned his head, blinking hard to stop the tears from falling.
And next to him, after murmuring a few words, Mrs. Weasley finally couldn't hold up, suddenly covered her face with her hands.
Stifled, fragmented cries seeped through the fingers:
"He was fine when he left... just a few hours... how did it turn into this in a few hours... Merlin, we almost lost him forever..."
Harry, who had been anxiously pacing, saw this, quickly walked forward, clumsily held her trembling shoulder, yet didn't know how to comfort her.
"Harry, dear, thank you for being here."
Mrs. Weasley embraced him, sobbing: "Arthur has always liked you so much, knowing you're here, he'd be... very happy... Don't worry, child, I'm okay, I'm just... just too scared..."
From a distance, Lupin heard Sirius' annoyed inquiries, sighed heavily, speaking in a low tone only the two of them could hear:
"Arthur's original partner was Tonks, she was on duty today."
"Then where was she?"
"She was reassigned." Lupin explained helplessly: "Several American Magic Congress officials visited, led by a woman. Minister Sinclaire thought it necessary to send a female Auror to accompany them, so Tonks was diverted."
Sirius said incredulously: "For that? At this time?"
"Sinclaire didn't know, Tonks had orders from the Order of Phoenix too." Lupin laughed bitterly: "She couldn't exactly tell the Minister of Magic— 'Sorry, I can't perform your task because I need to follow Dumbledore's orders first.'"
Sirius frowned, saying: "But surely someone should replace her, who was next in line?"
Lupin spoke in an even lower tone: "It was Mundungus Fletcher. Tonks notified him, and he agreed. But last night... he got drunk, forgot about it."
Sirius' eyes immediately widened, a surge of anger rushing to his face: "That scoundrel! This isn't the first time he's done this, right?"
"Yeah, but before... nothing major happened."
Lupin wearily rubbed his brow, saying: "So when Arthur couldn't reach Mundungus, he assumed he was drunkenly lying in some bar somewhere."
"Just recently, Mundungus was scolded by Kingsley for missing duty due to drinking, so Arthur probably... didn't want him to be blamed, also thought he could handle things, so sent Mundungus a message, before going to the Ministry alone."
"Did not expect, fatefully, it was this instance..."
Sirius slammed his fist against the wall with a 'bang', angrily saying: "Did you find Mundungus? Give him a good thrashing?"
Lupin answered objectively to Sirius' rage: "In this case, Mundungus wasn't the only one at fault, Sirius... a thrashing won't change anything, we all know his character."
"Moreover..."
He glanced toward the tightly closed door, saying: "Before today, we had all been waiting too long."
"At first, everyone could follow Dumbledore's requests, stay vigilant, conscientiously on guard. But days, weeks, months... nothing happened."
"Not just Mundungus, everyone's sense of caution relaxed, leading to today's consequences."