The fake Philosopher's Stone he had planted in Newt's home had finally undergone its transformation.
This signaled that the alchemical process for the imitation stone was complete.
He needed to retrieve it quietly, make a few final adjustments, and then place it within the Mirror of Erised.
The trip went smoothly since no one was home at the Scamander residence.
The magical creature that had been providing the soul power for the fake stone had evidently passed away.
Newt had mentioned before that he buried every creature that died of old age in a specific, communal location.
He even remarked that one day, when his own time came, he would likely be buried there as well.
After slipping away from Newt's house without a sound, Victor held the fake Philosopher's Stone up to examine it closely.
The irregular, reddish-brown stone shimmered brilliantly under the moonlight.
Even Victor, who had seen the real Philosopher's Stone, would have found it difficult to distinguish this replica from the original without a meticulous inspection.
He double-checked the modifications he had pre-installed within the fake stone, and once satisfied that everything was in order, he tucked it away and prepared to leave.
Suddenly, he spotted Newt walking back from a distance.
Victor quickly ducked into the shadows by the roadside, waiting silently for the older man to pass.
Newt appeared somber and reflective; clearly, he had just finished burying his old friend.
To Newt, every creature he rescued was a dear companion, so it was only natural that his spirits were so low.
Once Newt had passed, Victor stroked his chin in thought for a moment before finally deciding to depart.
He knew where the creatures were buried.
Seeing Newt return had given Victor the sudden idea to use a creature's corpse to test his secret resurrection magic.
For a fleeting second, he had even considered going to that graveyard to dig up some bones for his experiments.
However, he quickly abandoned the thought when he remembered his respect for Newt.
There was no need to commit such a desecration against an elder he admired just for his own personal gain.
If he needed a magical creature's corpse for an experiment, there were plenty of other ways to acquire one.
Upon returning to Hogwarts, Victor placed the fake stone inside the Mirror of Erised and handed the mirror over to Dumbledore, who then moved it to the final chamber of the trials for protection.
As for the Mirror of Erised itself, while Victor hadn't found the time to study it in depth yet, he had already fully replicated its data into his own internal database.
Whenever necessary, he could pull that data back up for thorough research.
At the same time, he issued an order to the young members of the Knights Templar to find a way to procure the corpse of a powerful magical creature. They were authorized to use the training center's operational funds and were told to store it at the facility in Knockturn Alley before sending him word.
Because he was so busy lately, Victor hadn't yet devised a more convenient method of communication, so he had to rely on these traditional channels for the time being.
According to his original plan, he wanted to use two-way mirrors for contact, but the cost of manufacturing them was prohibitive.
Even if he made them himself, the process was exceptionally complex, and many of the necessary materials were currently impossible to find.
While Victor could eventually overcome the high costs and complex techniques, the lack of materials was a difficult hurdle.
To replicate or improve upon the two-way mirror, he would need to find alternative materials.
This wasn't a problem he could solve immediately.
For now, Victor set aside his research on communications and shifted his focus back to the Dark Lord.
In recent days, besides his own research, he had been investigating how the Dark Lord managed to cheat death, while gradually nudging Harry to investigate the Philosopher's Stone.
Regarding Harry Potter... Victor had already gained the boy's complete trust, but he still lacked the right opportunity to guide him toward investigating the stone.
As for the Dark Lord's method of returning from the dead, Victor felt he was finally onto something.
True immortality required both the soul and the physical body to be eternal.
In reality, even someone like Nicolas Flamel hadn't achieved true immortality.
At most, he had extended his lifespan... but his vitality was still constantly leaking away.
The reason Flamel was willing to give up the stone—claiming he had lived long enough—likely wasn't because he was actually tired of life, but because he could no longer bear the sight of his own decaying body.
When a body can no longer move, life loses its meaning even if the mind remains conscious.
That was why he chose to let the stone go while he could still move, choosing to wait for death quietly with his wife.
The Dark Lord had once been so confident, claiming he had traveled further along the path of immortality than anyone else. This suggested he might have found—or even achieved—a way to make his soul and body immortal.
The fact that he didn't die even after the Killing Curse rebounded was proof of his soul's immortality.
And his confidence that he could reshape a physical body to return and continue his eternal life implied he had a way to keep that body immortal and immune to the ravages of time.
But how exactly did he do it?
Victor had been clueless before, but ever since he received the unicorn's blessing and noticed the strange changes in his own blood, an idea had begun to take root.
The unicorn's blessing proved that a wizard's body and blood could be modified.
For instance, by referencing the blood of certain magical creatures, one could modify themselves to possess those creatures' innate abilities.
He had heard that the Dark Lord was exceptionally handsome during his school years.
Yet, the first time Victor had seen him, the Dark Lord possessed a hideous, burnt-looking face.
Clearly, the Dark Lord had subjected his body to multiple modifications.
Those scars were likely the side effects of those modifications—or perhaps the lingering consequences of a failed experiment.
Regardless, he must have intended to use some method to alter his physical form and bloodline to match that of long-lived magical creatures, gaining immense power in a short time in the process.
Thinking of this, Victor's mind turned to the phoenix.
Could Voldemort have been trying to mimic a phoenix's blood? Perhaps he accidentally 'nirvana-ed' during a modification and ended up burning himself?
While Victor was letting his imagination run wild in his office, a three-headed eagle flew through the window and dropped a letter.
He set his thoughts aside and picked up the envelope.
"A letter from Sirius?"
Sirius had only been gone for a short while. Was this about Regulus?
Victor opened the letter with a trace of confusion, and his expression quickly turned strange.
"He's waiting for me at the Shrieking Shack right now? Why is this guy so desperate to see me?"
Though he found it odd, Victor decided to go meet him.
He left Hogwarts and made his way to Hogsmeade.
The Shrieking Shack was a derelict house located on the outskirts of the village.
Since the house was outside the grounds of Hogwarts Castle, Victor couldn't see its details even when connected to his 'server.'
He had only heard that the house was haunted and that blood-curdling screams could be heard from it every month.
Consequently, no one ever wanted to go near the place.
Victor actually didn't quite understand it; ghosts were a common sight in the wizarding world, so why would wizards be afraid of a haunting?
With these thoughts passing through his mind, Victor arrived in front of the Shrieking Shack.
The windows and doors were all boarded up tight, making it impossible to see the interior from the outside.
As Victor approached, he was stunned to find complex sequences of Ancient Runes swirling around the shack.
'This magical aura... it's Dumbledore. Why would the old man cast spells on a dilapidated shack? Is there something so foul inside that Dumbledore had to personally seal it?'
Suddenly, a large black dog lunged out from the nearby bushes.
The dog rushed toward him, transformed back into Sirius, and immediately performed a sliding kneel, grabbing the hem of Victor's robes.
"Professor Wick! Help! It's an absolute emergency! You have to save us brothers!"
"Aren't you being a bit dramatic?" Victor's lip twitched slightly.
After being locked up for over a decade, this guy's head had clearly developed some issues.
He remembered that while Sirius used to be reckless, he was never this over-the-top.
"I'm not kidding, Professor! It's Meadowes... something's wrong with her!" Sirius stood up and recounted everything that had happened.
"...So, I had to use that excuse to stall her. But... I've barely ever been on a real date. When we were in school, all I thought about was sneaking out and going on adventures. After graduation, we were straight into the war. I don't have any good ideas! That's why I came to you... maybe you could just get back together with her for a few days? My ancestral home is already a loss, but if Regulus gets killed by her, what will happen to the intel you want? If you help me with this, I'll do whatever you want from now on! I'll practically sell myself to you!"
Victor massaged his temples forcefully. "Sirius... Sirius... your brotherly love is touching, but you can't just sell me out like that!"
From what Sirius described, Victor's second rejection had hurt Dorcas far more than the first.
And then she had been triggered by Regulus's clumsy kidnapping attempt.
This seemed to have caused a shift in her personality—a shift toward something quite unpleasant.
Sirius's exaggeration today wasn't entirely for his brother and his house.
Part of it was genuine fear after seeing the drastic change in Dorcas's temperament.
Given her current style... Sirius was just as worried about her future as Victor was.
He had sought out Victor because Victor was the direct catalyst for Dorcas's transformation.
"I had no other choice, Professor," Sirius said with a bitter smile. "If she decides to start casting spells on Muggles or burning down houses again... I can't exactly stop her. What if she starts fighting me too? Besides, I might not even be a match for her. So..."
"So, your 'great idea' is to tell me to fake an acceptance? And once you're out of trouble, I just dump her again? That plan... if you want me dead, just say so."
Victor was feeling quite troubled. After all those shocks, Dorcas seemed to have darkened... she was even becoming a bit of a yandere.
A powerful witch suddenly turning into a yandere, and it being directly related to him!
This was definitely not good news.
People always say they're envious when they see someone else with a yandere girlfriend, but when it's your turn... please, no!
"Victor, you can't run from this," Sirius argued. "Even if you ignore her and let her pummel me and kill Regulus, you won't be able to hide for the rest of your life. Why not... just try to accept her? Maybe you can help her become normal again? Besides... just don't dump her! You're not getting any younger; it's about time you found a wife."
"Sigh... I have my own difficulties..." Victor let out a long sigh.
"Uh..." Sirius gave him a weird look. "Is there actually something wrong with your body? Or are you just not into women..."
Victor's face went dark. "Where are your manners? And why are you taking a step back!"
"I'm not gay! It's just... my body has some..."
Sirius breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh... well, that's fine then. Just a minor physical ailment. Snivellus is actually pretty good at potions. You're on decent terms with him, so just ask him for a tonic."
"You little..."
Victor really wanted to kick the black dog across the room right now.
Sirius's plan was terrible.
Even if Victor accepted Dorcas now, it wouldn't necessarily make her normal again.
In fact, if something happened later to trigger her, she might darken even more completely.
"Then what do you suggest?" Sirius asked helplessly. "It's only just started. There's still a chance to change things. If it gets to the point where she's beyond help, you won't even have a place to go to regret it!"
Sirius wasn't wrong about that. If Dorcas truly lost her mind, who knew what she would do in the future?
Seeing Victor remain silent in thought, Sirius couldn't help but ask, "Victor, what do you actually think? Do you really have no feelings for her at all?"
"Go back for now. I need to think about this myself," Victor said, waving him away tiredly without answering.
"Fine... I won't pester you. I don't know much about romance anyway... though I learned a thing or two from watching Snivellus... forget it. I'm off!"
Sirius transformed back into a black dog and vanished into the nearby bushes.