Chapter 394: The Cloak

Chapter 394: The Cloak

A red beam of light shot out, striking the man and sending him flying into the wall with a "whoosh."

It was Professor Snape, and his speed this time was astonishingly fast.

Vold was a step too late, and his spell shattered the pool, causing blood to spill all over the floor.

A white object flew out of the man's hand and rolled across the ground.

"What's that?"

Madam Pomfrey waved her wand, causing the object to fly towards her. After a glance, she couldn't help but exclaim in shock, and her spell lost control, causing the white object to clatter to the ground.

"Merlin—!" Madam Pomfrey covered her chest as if she was about to faint, muttering in disbelief, "Even Death Eaters wouldn't be this cruel."

Vold looked down.

It was a butterfly bone.

He had seen pictures of it in the files in the archives, but this was the first time he had seen the real thing.

Professor Snape suddenly spoke up, "Grey, if you want us to save that person, I think you're overestimating the power of magic."

Vold followed his gaze and saw that on the conveyor belt, there was already a familiar head with an unrecognizable face, but the body was nowhere to be found.

Even the most skilled magic couldn't bring back to life someone who had died and been dismembered.

"No, it's not this person," Vold quickly said. "Come with me—the girl is over here!"

He led the two professors quickly through the Picture Book Room and into the first operating room, where he was surprised to see two people.

A plump nurse was tidying up various surgical instruments, while another man was using a hose to wash away the bloodstains on the floor.

They were startled by the sudden intrusion and were about to ask questions when they were immediately knocked down by spells.

Upon entering the second operating room, Vold finally saw the person they were looking for.

The little girl lay unconscious, blood flowing from the operating table and pooling on the floor.

The nurses surrounding her showed no intention of stopping the bleeding but were carefully removing a still-beating heart from her chest cavity.

Someone nearby had prepared a box for organ transfer, identical to the one Vold was holding.

"Bastards!"

Madam Pomfrey let out an angry roar, and her wand slashed through the air, her magic almost exploding with rage.

The people in surgical gowns were all thrown out, hitting the wall with a thud. They cried out in pain, unable to get up, and were struck by the Stupefy spell again.

Professor Snape quickly extended his wand, and an invisible thread held the heart steady, floating above the girl.

Then, he also found the girl's kidneys in the box.

I've never heard of such a thing," Madam Pomfrey said, her voice trembling slightly as she opened her medicine box. "It's... it's... even the devil isn't this evil!"

"This child can still be saved, Poppy," Professor Snape reassured her. "You focus on saving her, and leave the rest to me."

He handed over his precious potions to Madam Pomfrey and then used the Levitation Charm to drag the people in the room out.

As he turned to leave, Professor Snape said to Vold, "Follow me."

"Yes, Professor," Vold replied.

He followed behind, seeing the people floating stiffly, their heads banging against the wall, and their bodies slamming into the iron bars.

Soon, the room was quiet, except for the occasional flashes of Madam Pomfrey's magic.

As they passed the first operating room, Vold noticed the messy footprints and bloodstains on the floor, and heaving a sigh for the boy they couldn't save, he waved his wand. The Cleaning Charm erased all the disordered traces on the ground.

Then, Vold threw away the box he had been carrying, placing the organs, the boy's head, and the bone he had picked up from the ground inside.

Professor Snape found an empty room, knocked out and tied up the people inside, and then the two of them searched the entire area, finding several more people sleeping, slacking off, or writing reports, and they were all subdued.

"What will happen to them?" Vold asked.

"Azkaban will have a place for them," Professor Snape replied.

Seeing Vold's disapproving expression, Professor Snape added, "Trust me, it's more terrifying than death... and in that place, they won't last long."

Vold nodded. Seeing that Professor Snape had no intention of killing these people directly, he naturally didn't voice any objections.

He pulled the Glassesman out and asked, "Professor, did you bring Veritaserum?"

Professor Snape looked at him intently and asked, "What do you want to do?"

"Of course, I want to interrogate this guy," Vold said naturally. "They must have many more accomplices. This guy seems to have a high status and should know a lot of information."

Professor Snape's expression was a bit odd. After a pause, he didn't say anything but simply nodded and said, "Leave it to me. You stay here and protect Poppy and the child."

"Okay.

"Vold said.

He was not at all reassured by leaving the follow-up investigation to the Ministry of Magic, but if it were up to Professor Snape, then there would be no problem.

Vold's straightforwardness made Professor Snape pause, he glanced at Vold, wanting to say something but stopping himself, and in the end, he silently led the Glassesman away.

Previously, as Snape had walked back and forth, he had stepped in the blood on the ground, and now, as he walked out, he left a trail of red footprints at the door.

Vold looked at the footprints, and in a flash, several scenes appeared in his mind—

When Mabel flew over with him, there was a trail of blood-colored footprints at the door.

And then? Before that, what did they see? A man with a gunshot wound to his forehead, lying on the ground, with a pair of fallen glasses hanging in front of him.

Some people, with and without glasses, looked like two completely different people.

Therefore, when Vold saw the blood-colored footprints, he suddenly remembered that he had seen the Glassesman taken away by Professor Snape once before.

Thinking of the gunshot wound on the man's forehead, Vold's expression became slightly solemn.

But Madam Pomfrey was still fully focused on treating Haley, and Vold couldn't leave the two of them behind.

In the end, the two combat-capable puppets were left with Haley before the time reversal, and although Mihal was powerful, his flame-made body couldn't block a sniper's bullet.

It could instantly burn the shooter to death, but—

"You can't change history that has already been noticed."

This was the rule of time reversal.

If it were truly changed, it didn't mean that the user of the time converter would die immediately or suffer misfortune; the Ministry of Magic only warned that it was absolutely forbidden to do so.

Vold suspected that this would be equivalent to creating a parallel space-time, and the user would also be left in the new space-time.

After a moment of thought, Vold removed the metal-threaded cloak he had been wearing and softly recited the incantation he knew all too well. Beams of light fell on the cloak, and after a moment, the metal-threaded cloak 'stood' up. It wobbled and walked a short distance before gliding for a while, then hopped and skipped back to Vold.

Because copper and silver were used in its creation, and after the spell was cast, the cloak appeared to glow, almost like a fairy tale garment woven from sunlight and moonlight.

So Vold cast an Invisibility Cloak Charm on it, and the cloak changed to match the colors of its surroundings, with its outline barely visible.

Suddenly, it bent its hood and spun around, like a puppy chasing its own tail.

"Stop playing." Vold tapped the cloak with his wand and said, "You know what I want you to do."

The cloak, infused with Vold's thoughts, immediately straightened its posture and nodded its 'head' before zipping off towards the direction Professor Snape had left with the Glassesman.

As for Vold, he furrowed his brows and looked around, then waved his wand, transforming everything back to how he had seen it before.

...

Professor Snape was unaware that the student behind him was worried about him, but at that moment, he was also thinking about Vold.

Sometimes, he felt that he could see the young Voldemort in Vold, even more ruthless and indifferent than that man.

But soon, he felt that these were just his illusions, and Vold was still the smart and upright student he knew.

He told himself that it was normal for young people to be angry and call for violence, and that boys of that age didn't understand the preciousness of life, making it easier for them to talk about death.

Just like himself when he was young, cursing James Potter and his group of four to die every day, and sincerely wishing for their deaths at his own hands.

Of course, his hatred had not diminished even until now.

Later, when he joined the Death Eaters and saw his companions kill, Snape didn't feel much—he wouldn't be as excited and frenzied as Bellatrix, nor would he feel aversion or resistance.

Snape had once yearned for the Dark Lord's favor, to climb higher and gain more power, and to uncover the secret of the wizards' longevity.

Until that day when he saw the one he loved most, turned into a frozen corpse.

The Potions Master forcefully closed his eyes, pulling his thoughts away from the painful memory.

He knew that Vold from the original timeline would soon arrive at this place, so to avoid interference, Professor Snape first took the Glassesman away for a while, finding a quiet place to drop the Veritaserum into his mouth.

The Glassesman opened his eyes in a daze, his expression empty and confused.

"Tell me," Professor Snape asked softly, "What were you doing? Who is the mastermind behind this?"

"I... we were conducting genetic engineering research... exploring measures to grant humans magical genes... discovering the secret of wizards' longevity..."

Professor Snape was stunned by this answer, which he didn't understand.

"What is genetic engineering?" Snape asked.

Glasses Man spoke in a flat tone, "It's a revolutionary biological technology that has emerged in recent years. Through the use of gene editing tools, specific targets in the genome of biological entities are modified, efficiently and precisely achieving gene insertion and replacement, thereby altering the genetic information of the organism."

"Most of the genes in humans and wizards are the same. We believe that the reason ordinary people can't use magic is because a part of their genes has not been activated."

"As long as you can lock in this part of the magic gene, even ordinary people can be converted into wizards. Even without the magic gene, perhaps it can also be replaced and regenerated in the next generation..."

Snape: "..."

He decided to skip the parts he didn't understand, interrupting Glasses Man's endless stream of words, and asked directly, "Who made you do this?"

"It's the leader."

"Who is the leader? What's his name? Where can he be found?"

"I... I don't know... The leader never appears in front of us..."

"Then how does he convey his orders?"

"By email."

Snape took a deep breath, "Tell me everything you know... For example, who is the messenger of this island?"

Glasses Man's eyelids trembled, and he was bewildered for a moment before saying, "It's Zach, of course."

"Tell me about this Zach..."

Before Snape could finish his sentence, he suddenly frowned and looked behind him.

Something was breaking through the wind and flying towards him was a... an invisible cloak?

In mid-air, the effect of the Invisibility Charm was not very obvious. Snape could clearly see the outline of the cloak, and even recognized it as the one Vold had been wearing earlier.

Snape was startled for a moment, seeing the cloak fly towards him. He didn't know whether to dodge or catch it, and in a moment of hesitation, the cloak covered him directly.

The cloak moved and embraced him in a nearly hugging posture.

Due to the length issue, Snape's upper body became faintly visible, and his calves were still exposed outside, making him look a bit eerie.

The Glasses Man, whose thoughts were controlled by the Veritaserum, was not disturbed. His eyelids trembled as he began to answer the questions.

"Zach... Zach is a trusted aide of the leader. It's said that he was sent here because he offended a wizard in the organization. He doesn't understand technology at all, and he's temperamental, but he's quite generous when it comes to money..."

Snape tried to pull the cloak down but to no avail. He only managed to tear the hood from his face, and his ears keenly caught the key information—

"A wizard in the organization? Your organization has wizards?"

"Of course! They are..."

"Bang! Bang!"

Before Glasses Man could finish his sentence, a bullet pierced his forehead.

He fell straight back, hitting the wall with a thud. His glasses slid off, and his mouth hung open, blood flowing down from his nose wings.

Another bullet shot towards Snape's forehead, but it was blocked by the hood of the cloak that had been raised in time.

Snape stumbled back two steps, quickly casting a thorough Invisibility Charm on himself, hiding along with the cloak.

It was at this moment that he realized what had just happened.

The invisible wizard quietly left the original location and stood at the corner of the other side of the wall. Soon after, he saw a group of fully armed soldiers protecting a man and a woman, walking quickly towards him.

"Who was that guy talking to?" The man with the ponytail said angrily, "Who did he leak the secret to?"

Two soldiers quickly and cautiously ran to Glasses Man's body, checked it, and fired a few shots at the surrounding open space, shattering glass and light bulbs.

"Report, no one."

"He must have escaped." The woman in red frowned, "Is Apton a traitor?"

"Definitely! Didn't you see him talking to someone just now?"

Zach, the man with the ponytail, felt a mix of anger and relief, quickly pushing the blame for the infiltration onto the traitor.

"No wonder we set up so many anti-wizard measures, but someone still sneaked in and caused destruction—there's a traitor among us who leaked our security arrangements and even attracted external enemies!"

Veronica, the woman in red, nodded slightly, frowning, "If Apton is here, then... forget about the organs we need. Escaping is the priority now. Let's get the people upstairs to move quickly. I'll give them five minutes at most!"

Several people hurried upstairs, someone conveying orders through their headphones.

Snape watched silently, and after they left this corridor, he floated up and followed them.

He had once learned flying techniques from Voldemort, and even without a flying broomstick, Snape could make himself fly.

The group left this corridor, and the surroundings returned to complete silence.

Soon after, a fire arrow carrying Vold and Mabel flew by quickly.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end