Chapter 340 The Resurrection Stone Appears Out of Nowhere!

On the hospital bed.

Weasley's body was still fading.

The boundary of the discoloration continued creeping upward from his knees, already swallowing half of his thighs.

Madam Pomfrey took out potion after potion, pouring them into his mouth or over his body, but none of them seemed to have any effect.

Professor McGonagall anxiously rubbed her brow.

"Severus, I don't know enough about Potions, but even if you haven't tested its effects, can't you at least make a rough guess based on the ingredients you used?"

"That is difficult."

Snape's brows were drawn together just as tightly.

He explained:

"The same ingredients can produce completely different effects depending on the brewing method.

Even the brewer's state of mind can cause variations.

A calming potion becoming a stimulant, a sleeping potion becoming something that keeps people awake. Such things happen all the time.

And with this particular potion, I used a great many ingredients associated with souls.

Dew that had remained inside ghosts for extended periods, a section of a Dementor's black robes, Mandrake, Shrivelfig...

In theory, it should have something to do with the soul.

But judging from Weasley's current condition, it may also have formed some sort of connection with the physical body."

Snape revealed everything he knew while glaring fiercely at Ron on the bed.

"Besides...

The potion I developed was intended to be applied drop by drop.

How much its properties changed after being swallowed is impossible to determine.

Unless you give me another bottle of the exact same potion, making an accurate guess will be extremely difficult."

The greasy-haired man grew increasingly irritated.

After a moment, he flicked his robes.

"Forget it. I'm going back to my office. I'll see if I can brew another bottle."

With that, he strode away.

Dawn did not spare him even a glance.

His eyes remained fixed on Weasley.

He narrowed them as he observed the patterns rising and falling within the magical mist.

The patterns inside Weasley's body were extremely strange.

For an ordinary wizard, their special patterns would be mixed together, moving randomly throughout the body like particles undergoing Brownian motion.

But Ron was different.

The countless complicated patterns inside him seemed to be repelled by something.

A huge empty space had formed in the center, while the densely packed patterns were being pushed toward the edges.

"Interesting."

Dawn could not help murmuring.

He carefully distinguished the abstract patterns that had been forced together.

Aside from their movement, their shapes were not particularly different from those of other people.

In other words, the reason this phenomenon had occurred was most likely because the potion had altered certain patterns in the external environment.

Hmm...

That was also consistent with Snape's description of the potion's intended method of application.

Dawn rubbed his chin, his thoughts turning rapidly.

Then, at a certain moment, an abrupt yet strangely compelling thought surfaced in his mind.

Speaking of which...

Could Ron's gradually disappearing body have some connection to the conversion of matter into magical energy?

Dawn narrowed his eyes.

He wavered between the possibilities.

Was there a connection?

Or wasn't there?

Dawn did not know.

He simply felt an unbearable itch of curiosity. He desperately wanted to use the Invisibility Cloak's coverage to observe what was happening to the patterns surrounding Ron's body.

But when he looked at the natural magic still gathering around him, he sighed.

He did not dare remove this Deathly Hallow from his body.

The hospital wing was unusually quiet.

Dawn thought about his own affairs, not particularly fond of the heavy atmosphere, and casually asked, "By the way, why didn't you send him to St. Mungo's?"

"We tried last night."

Professor Flitwick answered him, his face practically saying, "We trust you. It's in your hands."

"But the healers there couldn't do anything. They suggested that we come to you."

Oh?

So Ron had been left in the hospital wing specifically to wait for Dawn to return?

Dawn raised an eyebrow.

Without revealing anything, he glanced at Dumbledore and had already begun thinking about what conditions he might demand.

Protection against Merlin?

This was not a case where he was coercing Dumbledore. The old Headmaster had voluntarily come to ask him for help.

Surely Dumbledore would not ruin the situation simply because he disliked the idea of such an exchange?

Dawn pondered the matter.

But just then!

He suddenly let out a soft sound of surprise.

His head turned, and he looked down at Ron again.

The special patterns that had been pushed toward the edges of Ron's body seemed to be moving inward again.

At the same time, Hermione's delighted voice reached his ears.

"It's happening! Professor, Ron's legs are coming back!"

FUCK!

What the hell?

Why now?!

The corner of Dawn's mouth twitched.

Looking at Ron's body gradually returning to normal, he felt as though someone had just forced a steaming lump of something down his throat.

His face drooped.

But the professors did not care about his feelings.

Madam Pomfrey continued examining Ron and suggested that Snape be called back as well.

The old Headmaster immediately called out, "Fawkes."

Soon.

A flash of fire.

The greasy-haired man reappeared in the hospital wing.

Various smells clung to his robes, and his expression was terrible. It seemed the phoenix had forcibly dragged him back.

Dawn ground his teeth in secret irritation.

Why hadn't Fawkes burned off that disgusting hair of his while he was at it?

But Dawn knew perfectly well that he had already missed an excellent opportunity to negotiate with Dumbledore.

All he could do was retreat to the side with a dark expression.

After a detailed examination.

Madam Pomfrey happily announced, "Merlin's beard! This is wonderful. The boy is completely fine! There are no lasting effects either!"

Snape nodded as well, coldly adding his own conclusion while making a record.

"It appears that the potion has a limited duration. Its effective period is approximately twelve hours."

The two reached their diagnosis.

Coincidentally, not long after they finished speaking, Ron slowly opened his eyes on the hospital bed.

"Ugh... where am I?"

"Ron!"

Harry and Hermione cried out excitedly and rushed to the bedside, bombarding him with questions about how he felt.

However...

Their touching display of friendship clearly did nothing to move the cold-faced bat.

"Entering a professor's office without permission, completely disregarding discipline, and then stealing a precious potion."

"One hundred points from Gryffindor. Each."

Snape flicked his robes, his voice cold enough to freeze the air.

Dawn rubbed his chin.

Perhaps it was just his imagination, but he felt that the part that had truly angered Snape was the phrase "stealing a precious potion."

McGonagall helplessly shook her head.

The punishment was perfectly reasonable. She had nothing to say against it.

Besides, no matter what, the most important thing was that the young wizard was safe.

Even so, the Deputy Headmistress did not look remotely pleased.

She felt that these reckless young wizards needed to learn a serious lesson.

Seven or eight stern faces surrounded the bed.

Poor Ron had only just woken up and had not even figured out what was happening before the sight of all those adults terrified him into shrinking his neck and unconsciously scratching his cheek.

Harry and Hermione also immediately stood properly.

Dawn shook his head.

Seeing that there was nothing more for him to do, he memorized Snape's special pattern and decided to find time later to investigate that interesting potion.

He was about to leave.

But suddenly!

Out of the corner of his eye, Dawn saw a flash of black light in Ron's palm.

As Ron scratched his cheek, something fell to the floor with a clang.

"Hm?"

Dawn instinctively looked down.

An irregular stone lay on the floor.

Its entire surface was pitch-black, reflecting the brilliant white light surrounding it.

What was this?

Dawn did not react at first.

He suddenly felt dazed, thinking he had seen it incorrectly.

He blinked.

His scarlet pupils suddenly widened.

The Resurrection Stone?!

How could it be here?

It had not been there just moments ago!

Three questions instantly filled Dawn's mind.

But his body moved without hesitation. He immediately crouched down and reached for it.

Bang!

Two palms collided above the stone.

Dawn looked up.

Dumbledore was also staring in disbelief.

The old Headmaster bent down and picked it up. Clearly, he had recognized the stone's true identity as well.

Dawn's brows furrowed.

When faced with such a precious treasure, he had never possessed any habit of respectfully yielding to the elderly.

On the contrary, his response was decisive.

Without even a moment's hesitation, a red spell condensed in his wand.

Hiss!

It shot straight toward the old Headmaster's chest.

"Dawn, you..."

The spell reached him.

Only then did Dumbledore snap out of his daze.

A barrier silently unfolded before him.

The Shield Charm swallowed the red light completely.

Dawn's eyebrows lifted slightly in surprise.

Normally, the Shield Charm would repel, weaken, or cancel out an incoming spell.

But in Dumbledore's hands, after neutralizing Dawn's spell, the barrier itself remained almost completely intact before him.

Dawn guessed that the old Headmaster had independently utilized part of the magical structure forming the Shield Charm, producing this effect.

Tch.

What exquisite technique and control.

He could not help admiring it.

But regardless of what he thought, Dawn did not waste the brief moment when Dumbledore was frozen in place.

He quickly grabbed the stone and retreated, putting distance between them.

At the same time, the other professors finally reacted to the strange and dangerous situation.

Some frowned.

Others looked at the two men in confusion.

"Albus, what's going on?"

Because of their position and their excessive focus on Ron, they had not seen the stone clearly.

They only knew that Dawn and Dumbledore seemed to have been fighting over something.

Only Snape's expression changed dramatically.

He drew his wand.

Without saying a word, he fired both the Stunning Spell and Sectumsempra at Dawn.

His voice carried a mixture of anticipation and nervousness.

"Ryan, what exactly did you just take?"

"Ha! What does it have to do with you?"

Dawn deflected both spells with the Shield Charm.

At the same time, he considered the technique Dumbledore had just used and coldly replied, "Don't flatter yourself. It never belonged to you."

Snape's expression darkened.

Magic surged through his body, and his oppressive gaze became even more sinister.

Dawn tightened his grip on his wand, equally unwilling to back down.

"Enough!"

Dumbledore suddenly shouted.

He stepped between the two men who were on the verge of fighting.

"Both of you, stop!"

Dawn clicked his tongue and raised both hands provocatively.

"Headmaster, heaven and earth can testify that I merely took back something that belongs to me. Everything I did just now was purely in self-defense."

Snape's eyes blazed with fury.

"Dumbledore, he just..."

"Severus, there is nothing!"

Dumbledore drew a deep breath and interrupted him.

He looked at Snape and repeated firmly.

"Nothing happened."

The old Headmaster denied that anything involving the Resurrection Stone had happened.

He no longer pursued the matter, nor did he want Snape to pursue it.

Was Dumbledore unwilling to have the stone?

Of course he wanted it.

But Dumbledore understood that once it had fallen into Dawn's hands, it would not be something he could easily reclaim.

If Snape became too obsessed with retrieving it, he might ultimately throw himself into a fire he could not escape.

After a long period of silent confrontation, the greasy-haired bat finally snorted and reluctantly lowered his wand.

But he did not leave.

Instead, his eyes turned toward Ron Weasley in the crowd.

Coincidentally, Dawn spoke at almost the same moment.

"Weasley, tell me everything. From the moment you drank that potion until now. Every sensation, everything you saw and heard."

"Why should I?"

The commanding tone immediately put Ron on edge.

He was just about to stand his ground, but when those scarlet eyes fixed themselves upon him, his courage inexplicably weakened.

The other professors were also watching him expectantly.

That left him even less confident.

"I... I don't know."

Ron desperately tried to find words to describe the sensation.

"It's just... I think I had a dream. I saw really tall buildings, and those cars driving along the roads. They looked just like the one my dad modified..."

His speech was fragmented, filled with all kinds of imagined details.

It sounded vague and absurd.

Dawn frowned and tried to separate the useful information from Ron's words.

But everything he heard was related to the Muggle world.

Skyscrapers.

Cars.

Neon lights.

Billboards.

That was strange.

What did any of this have to do with the Resurrection Stone?

Dawn did not understand.

Then suddenly, he slapped his forehead.

He had been an idiot.

Wouldn't it be much more direct to simply copy Ron's special pattern and read his memories?

With that thought, Dawn no longer lingered.

He casually said, "Goodbye," squeezed through the crowd, and strode away.

Pop!

Once he reached the outside of the castle, Dawn vanished in a flash of fire.

This time, he did not go to Egypt.

Instead, he traveled to Iceland and casually grabbed a Muggle.

But before carrying out the next step of Transfiguration...

Dawn thought for a moment.

He first took the pitch-black stone from his sleeve and rubbed it for a while.

"Long time no see."

After saying that, he tentatively closed his fingers around it.

He wanted to see, now that he was in the middle of being altered by the world, whose consciousness would answer his call.

Who would appear?

Who would the Resurrection Stone summon?

Whoosh.

A cold wind swept past.

A thin mist gradually appeared, spreading through the surroundings.

Then a figure approached from the distance, stirring the veil-like mist as she came into view before Dawn.

She was a woman in her thirties.

She wore jeans and a white jacket, her hair tied into a ponytail, with a bright red tennis cap sitting atop her head.

It was really Sophia.

Mr. Richter's first wife.

The biological mother from Dawn's memories.

Dawn's eyebrows lifted, and his spirits rose.

It was not entirely because he missed the woman.

More importantly, after so many days, something had finally happened that did not belong to Lai.

Something that belonged solely to Dawn.

But...

Before he could enjoy the feeling for long, the woman tilted her head slightly and examined him with a strange expression.

There was hesitation and unfamiliarity in her eyes.

"May I ask... who are you?"

Slap!

Dawn's heart sank.

He abruptly released his grip, tossed the Resurrection Stone into a wooden box, closed the lid, and violently stuffed it into his wallet.

It was obvious.

The person Dawn had been longing for was still the mother from his own memories.

But the consciousness summoned by the stone no longer possessed any memories related to him.

Whoosh.

The thin mist dispersed.

The figure disappeared.

Dawn's expression changed several times before he finally exhaled.

He lowered his head and looked at the unconscious Muggle lying at his feet.

His magic seeped into the man's body.

He severed and rearranged the lines, transforming him into the appearance of a red-haired boy.

°Legilimens°

The Legilimency spell took effect.

Dawn searched through the copy's memories, paying particular attention to the period beginning with Ron secretly drinking the potion the previous night and continuing until now.

His brows slowly furrowed.

Scene after scene flashed before his eyes.

But most of them consisted of periods when Ron had been unconscious and possessed no memories.

Only occasionally did one or two images appear.

They showed prosperous Muggle cities.

Ron had not been lying.

He really had dreamed of Muggle cities.

And there was indeed no memory related to the Resurrection Stone.

Then where had this stone come from?

Dawn frowned.

The situation was truly strange.

He repeatedly searched through the copied memories, but could not find the slightest relevant clue.

Could it primarily have something to do with Snape?

Dawn considered the possibility.

The Muggle on the ground changed once again, transforming into the greasy-haired man.

Dawn began reading his memories.

Cold dew.

A Dementor's black robes, reduced to ashes.

Mandrake crushed into juice.

One ingredient and brewing step after another was deeply imprinted into Dawn's mind, giving him an opportunity to study them and attempt to recreate the potion.

But it was obvious that he would not be doing that anytime soon.

His most urgent concern remained Merlin and Lai.

Dawn clicked his tongue.

He burned the copied body on the ground to ashes.

Then he raised his head and instinctively searched the surroundings for Merlin, wherever the Grand Sorcerer might be hiding.

He gave a cold laugh and left Iceland.

Pop!

A flash of fire.

Dawn's feet once again touched the smooth stone floor of Hogwarts.

He determined his location and realized he was on the seventh floor.

He then went to find the stairs leading downward, intending to continue with his plan to visit the library.

But of course!

As though the world itself were deliberately trying to oppose him...

By the time Dawn reached the fifth floor and had taken the Ravenclaw common room books out of his wallet, another matter interrupted him.

Dawn sensed the protective spell he had placed around his private space being triggered.

His brows furrowed.

Merlin's figure immediately surfaced in his mind.

All these trivial interruptions had made his mood exceptionally foul.

But he could not simply ignore it.

He immediately Apparated back to the outside of his private space, intending to see who the hell had shown up this time.

The answer was...

A familiar short, stout figure wearing a gray-green bowler hat, gray-white hair, and a face covered in wrinkles.

It was Fudge.

The damned Minister for Magic was currently tapping and knocking against the wall.

He was even feeling around and reaching his arm into the opening, waving repeatedly.

"Hello? Sir... sir? Are you there?"

"Fudge!"

Dawn called his name through clenched teeth, forcibly suppressing his irritation.

"What is it this time? Don't tell me..."

Could he have already found the location of the Death Arch?

Dawn had only spoken halfway before the thought suddenly occurred to him.

He swallowed the rest of the sentence.

The irritation in his eyes was replaced by a trace of delighted surprise.

And sure enough!

Fudge bowed slightly and took a folded piece of paper from inside his robes, respectfully handing it over with both hands.

The location was written on it?

Dawn immediately reached out and took it, already thinking about how he could avoid Merlin and safely read the message.

But then...

The Minister for Magic poured cold water over his hopes.

"Mr. Ryan... no, no! Mr. Richter!"

Fudge smiled ingratiatingly.

There was not the slightest trace of the resentment he had shown after being struck by the Cruciatus Curse not long ago.

He lowered his head.

"This is a letter addressed to you."

"A letter?"

Dawn's movement froze.

He was somewhat disappointed.

But the next moment, curiosity emerged.

Who had written him a letter and gone through the trouble of having Fudge deliver it?

He casually asked, "Who sent it?"

"The Ryan couple, from America!"

___________

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