Dumbledore pulled a crystal vial from a drawer, containing a swirling, silver-white substance.
He poured the silvery material into the Pensieve, where it began to swirl slowly, emitting a faint glow.
William leaned forward and plunged headfirst into the silver substance. His feet lifted off the office floor as he was engulfed by the constantly spinning darkness, descending rapidly.
Soon, he found himself standing on a flat cement road, surrounded by neatly arranged houses.
This appeared to be a Muggle neighborhood. William noticed signs reading "Yorkshire" and "Cleveland," though they had fallen to the ground and shattered into two pieces.
Despite the bright moon overhead, the surroundings were steeped in darkness. The Dark Mark floated ominously in the sky above, and the air was filled with the sounds of explosions and the cries of terrified people.
In the sky, two dragons soared. Peruvian Vipertooths!
They exhaled scorching dragon fire, wreaking havoc before their riders gave the command to retreat. The dragons veered and flew off into the distant skies.
"Dragons?" William blinked in astonishment.
"Yes, dragons." Dumbledore gazed calmly at the sky, as if recounting an old story.
"In the Wizarding War... Voldemort had the backing of several pure-blood families. Not only did he command dragons, but he also allied with dark creatures like werewolves and vampires.
"Voldemort exploited the longstanding enmity between wizards and giants, persuading many giants to join him and committing some of the most brutal massacres of Muggles."
Dumbledore's description painted a far more harrowing picture of the Wizarding War than William had imagined.
As the dragons disappeared, the Death Eaters began disappearing.
About ten paces away from William and Dumbledore stood a ragged man holding a wand aimed at a nearby werewolf.
The werewolf sprang toward him with terrifying speed. The man's spell missed its mark, and the werewolf lunged at him.
The man fell backward, pinned to the ground by a massive claw. The stench of sweat and blood filled his nostrils as the beast's greedy breath seared his throat...
"Confringo!"
A flash of light shot forth, sending the werewolf tumbling sideways into a wall.
William saw a witch with fiery red hair, moving like a streak of flame. She was stunningly beautiful, dressed in a pale blue outfit, her vivid green eyes glowing brightly in the darkness.
"Are you alright, Remus?"
"Thanks, Lily!" Remus Lupin stood up, grabbed his wand, and charged at the werewolf again.
Meanwhile, Lily dashed toward another Death Eater.
The battle gradually came to an end as the Death Eaters began their retreat.
Lupin sat alone on the ground, applying a blood-staunching potion to his injured arm.
"Hey, Moony, you're hurt?" A black-haired man with glasses approached. It was practically Harry in a larger frame.
"Moony?" William blinked, startled.
So... James and his friends were the Marauders! The Marauder's Map had been their creation all along!
What a coincidence!
William and the Weasley twins had always assumed the map had been made centuries ago by some unknown wizard.
"I heard from Lily that Greyback wanted to give you a kiss?" James sat down next to Lupin and took the potion to help him apply it.
"Hah, he picked the wrong target. I was ready to shove my wand straight down his throat," Lupin chuckled.
The two of them bumped fists against each other's chests.
"Where's Padfoot?" James asked.
"Sirius went after Dolohov! The Death Eaters killed the Prewett brothers." Lupin's tone darkened.
James fell silent for a moment, pained. "Don't… I don't even know how to break the news to Molly."
"Fabian Prewett and Gideon Prewett were Molly's brothers. They were ambushed by Death Eaters," Dumbledore explained from the side.
William nodded slowly, he had never heard the Weasley family mention this tragedy before.
"Hey, James, Remus, you two should come inside!" someone called from within the house.
The two men got up and went in. Several bodies lay on the floor, already cold and rigid, their faces frozen in expressions of terror.
They walked further into the house and saw Lily.
She was helping someone to their feet.
"Gideon, you're alive?" James exclaimed in surprise.
Lupin, too, pulled out a potion from his pocket, ready to administer it to Gideon.
Gideon swayed slightly on the spot, took the potion from Lupin's hand, and mechanically drank it.
"Did you see which Death Eaters attacked you? Besides Dolohov, who else was there?" James asked anxiously.
Gideon sat in the chair, seemingly struggling to figure out how to speak.
He pointed toward a corner of the room, motioning for the three of them to walk over.
James and Lily raised their wands and moved forward, noticing a large trunk sitting beneath the curtained window.
"What's this?" James asked.
"Is there anything unusual?" Lily pried open the trunk, but found nothing inside.
"Watch out!" Lupin suddenly shouted.
James spun around in horror and saw Gideon's body collapse as a massive snake erupted from his neck, lunging straight at Lily.
James grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her behind him, raising his wand at the same time.
The serpent struck, sinking its fangs into James' forearm. His wand went spinning toward the ceiling as the dazzling luminescence bounced off the walls before extinguishing.
The snake's tail slammed heavily into James' abdomen, sending both him and Lily crashing into the wall. The trunk shattered upon impact.
Lupin transformed into a massive werewolf and charged forward, sinking his fangs into the serpent's body and tearing its neck apart. Blood splattered across the room.
Gideon's body lay on the floor, nothing more than a shriveled husk with a twisted, horrifying expression frozen on his face.
The three of them stared in silence at the dead snake, as though still unable to shake off their shock.
"Let's go, William," Dumbledore said softly.
The scene shifted, and they returned to the headmaster's office.
"What was that?" William asked as he sat down.
"Upon examining the body, it's clear that Gideon had been dead for quite some time," Dumbledore explained.
"The snake entered his body and controlled it, making him appear alive and functioning as if he were still a normal person."
"How is that possible?"
"It's a form of dark magic invented by Voldemort, it requires Parseltongue as a foundation.
"Voldemort himself was a Parselmouth and could remotely control snakes, thereby manipulating wizards through them." Dumbledore sighed.
William suppressed the horror rising in his chest. "So... Filch, and those students who were attacked, they all have... a snake inside them?!"
Dumbledore nodded.
William felt a wave of nausea wash over him.
A memory from a movie he'd seen in his past life—The Host—flashed in his mind. In the film, parasitic creatures bred inside human bodies, controlling their consciousness and ultimately causing their deaths.
"So... they're all dead?" he asked quietly.
"No," Dumbledore shook his head, "The diary doesn't want to kill these students—or rather... it needs them alive.
"Beyond framing Harry, it must have some other purpose."
"Can you remove the snakes from their bodies?"
"It's incredibly difficult! The enemy is in full control. If they sense anything unusual, they'll command the snake to kill the host immediately—it's a defense mechanism!"
"Then what can we do?"
"We can only wait... wait for it to voluntarily remove the snakes."
William was silent.
He suddenly realized that this diary seemed even more cunning than Voldemort himself.
Its methods were completely different.
William glanced at Dumbledore. The headmaster still wore his usual composed, all-knowing expression, betraying no hint of panic.
But somehow, William had a strange feeling...
The headmaster...
Had messed up.
Despite his calm exterior, deep down...
He was utterly panicking.