Chapter 191: The Potion - The Only Way Is to Drink It
The stone basin was filled to the brim with a vibrant green liquid, its surface perfectly still.
Dumbledore reached out, but couldn't touch the liquid. He used several complex spells to examine it, murmuring silently to himself, before finally withdrawing his wand after a long while.
Looking at Wade, who was waiting patiently beside him, Dumbledore said, "This liquid cannot be separated or scooped out. Spells can't make it disappear or transfigure it, and even a hand can't pass through it..."
"In this situation, Wade, how do you think we can uncover its hidden secrets?"
Wade replied, "Drink it."
Dumbledore nodded. "Indeed, that is the only way."
"Earlier, when Regulus tried to attack Sirius, I saw residual traces of a curse on him, identical to the liquid in this stone basin."
Wade quietly said, "He must have drunk a lot of this liquid before he died."
"Voldemort doesn't consider his subordinates his equals, but to treat a young man who was once so loyal to him like this..."
Dumbledore trailed off, shaking his head with pity. He conjured a crystal goblet in his hand.
Wade frowned. "You're not thinking of drinking it yourself, are you, Professor?"
"Oh, I want to see its effects."
Dumbledore said casually, "Compared to you, my magic is better able to resist the harm of Dark Magic. And I believe Voldemort wouldn't want to immediately kill someone who comes to this island."
"So, based purely on speculation, you're putting yourself in danger?"
Wade disagreed. "Why don't we just move it, basin and all, and deal with it elsewhere?"
"I'm afraid not, Wade," Dumbledore said. "I imagine you've also noticed that this stone basin, the stone pillar, and everything else on this island are closely integrated with the entire lake and the cave. Unless we can move everything in the entire cave, we can't take the basin out."
"There's no imminent crisis that requires us to sacrifice ourselves to deal with," Wade suggested again. "We could find a truly heinous criminal to drink it—Muggle prisons are full of such people."
Dumbledore gazed at him deeply.
"Sounds a bit unconventional, morally speaking?" Wade said frankly. "Professor, I don't have your brand of righteousness and kindness. If someone has to be sacrificed, I'd rather choose a criminal than someone I know."
Dumbledore was silent for a moment before saying, "No... Wade... you think too highly of me."
"I can't say I have much pity for a death row inmate. I've seen too many innocent lives cruelly harmed... and I've harmed others myself."
"But even so... I absolutely do not believe that sacrificing others for one's own goals is right, even if it's a bad person."
"Wade, the weight of life is far heavier than we imagine... even killing for a righteous cause will wound the soul."
"Voldemort scoffs at this. He fears death, yet he considers the lives of others insignificant. But he is wrong, Wade, he made a very grave mistake, one that left his soul riddled with holes."
Wade subconsciously thought: Wasn't Voldemort's soul split in order to create Horcruxes?
Then he realized, according to Dumbledore's words, even without Horcruxes, when Voldemort began killing, his soul had already changed, he just hadn't realized it himself.
And then, he understood that even if Dumbledore might have originally considered doing such a thing, he was here now.
Wade, in Dumbledore's eyes, was a gifted child whose sense of right and wrong was not yet fully formed, and who could easily stray.
The words and actions of those around him would influence his view of the world.
He was watching.
Therefore, Dumbledore would never achieve his goals by sacrificing others, even if it was the least costly method.
Wade sighed and said, "I understand, but I'd like to try my method, if that's alright?"
"Of course," Dumbledore said.
Wade opened his bag, and a serious-faced man leaped out.
He was only palm-sized when he landed, but then the Magic Golem rapidly "grew" under the Engorgement Charm, instantly becoming as tall as Dumbledore.
After kneeling in a single-kneed bow, he silently took the goblet from Dumbledore's hand, tilted his head back, and drank it down in one generous gulp.
Wade immediately looked at the stone basin, but the liquid level didn't seem to have dropped.
Then came the second cup, the third cup...
After five or six cups, the Magic Golem's movements became slower and slower. Finally, he let out a long sigh and said, "That tastes awful..."
No sooner had he spoken than the Magic Golem's head drooped, and his body became stiff like stone. Wade poked it, but it showed no reaction.
The Magic Pattern Circuit on its body was completely messed up, and even the properties of the material seemed to have changed. Even if Wade were to re-inject a mind into it, it wouldn't be able to move again.
Wade and Dumbledore exchanged a look.
Then, he opened his Wardrobe Space and stepped inside, emerging a moment later, leading a chubby gray pig.
"A pig?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, asking with some surprise.
"Yes," Wade said. "It's not one of those ordinary breeds Hagrid keeps. It's said to have a sixteenth of Teebo Warthog blood, so it has a faint magical ability."
Wade stroked the piglet's ears, which were pointier than others of its kind, and its wide, flat nose. Just as he was about to cast a spell, he remembered something else.
"Professor Dumbledore," Wade said, "Transfiguration can turn people into animals, but can it turn animals into people?"
"Hmm?" Dumbledore was completely taken aback by his thought and paused before saying, "Magic can indeed do that, but even after Transfiguration, its essence would still be that of a warthog."
"That's perfect. If it could truly become human, I wouldn't have the heart to do it. But I suspect this potion might need to be drunk by a human or a humanoid creature."
Wade tilted his head, gesturing towards the piglet, and said to Dumbledore, "Professor, if you wouldn't mind."
"...Alright."
Dumbledore gave a wry chuckle but, following Wade's lead, pointed his wand at the piglet.
Bathed in light, the piglet thrashed in panic. Its limbs lengthened, its snout and ears shrank, and its tail gradually vanished as it spun.
A few seconds later, a plump man in a gray robe sat on the ground.
His bald head had only a few sparse yellow hairs, a pair of small black eyes still held a lingering panic, and his mouth was flat and wide, as if he could swallow a child whole; his limbs were short and thick, and his belly was round and bulging.
He no longer looked like a pig, but rather like a toad demon that had transformed into a human, squatting on the ground.
"Hmph-oink—"
He opened his mouth and let out a strange cry.
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