"Are you sure there's really some powerful magic on this?"
Tom stared at the Gaunt family heirloom ring in his hand, unable to see anything special about it.
"Of course you can't see anything just by looking… who does research just by staring?!" Wade snapped as he snatched the ring from Tom's hand.
"Even if it's a relic left by Slytherin, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a magical item," Tom argued.
"You're a descendant of Slytherin. You should understand his character. Would you use a non-magical item as a family heirloom?" Wade asked.
"No…" Tom answered immediately.
Logically speaking, how could something ordinary be used as a family heirloom?
If it were up to him, at the very least, the material wouldn't be some common gemstone!
"If even you wouldn't do that, would the proud and great Slytherin pick a random gem to be an heirloom?"
"In fact… this ring was probably made by the Gaunt family, not Slytherin himself. Slytherin never saw this ring," Tom corrected.
"Then it's even more unlikely to be something ordinary!" Wade, though corrected, grew even more excited. "You know what kind of people the Gaunt family are. Do you think they'd allow something so 'Muggle' into their house? If they could treat this as a family treasure, could it really be that simple?"
"This... you actually managed to talk your way around that!" Tom, who thought he had the upper hand in the debate, was visibly stunned.
"The Gaunt family may be fallen now, but they were once quite prosperous!" Wade said as he examined the ring in his hand. He pulled out a glass bottle, unscrewed the cap, and poured the colorless liquid inside into a glass cup. "Stay hopeful, my friend!"
It was Tom's first time watching Wade perform an experiment, and he was curious about everything.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing to the liquid Wade had just poured out.
"This is a potion that tests for magical energy. As long as you soak an item in it, you can determine the strength of the magic it contains. From that, we can roughly infer whether it holds powerful magic!"
As Wade spoke, he dropped the entire ring into the glass.
"And then? How are you going to determine it?" Tom asked again.
"See this? The potion was colorless at first, but now it's changing color! If the item has no magical energy, it'll turn blue. If it does, it'll turn red—and the stronger the magical energy, the deeper the color!"
Just as Wade finished speaking, the potion that had been soaking the ring had already turned a red so dark it was nearly black...
"Damn... Doesn't this mean there's extremely powerful dark magic on it?" Tom asked with a shudder.
He had just been wearing that thing on his hand! If the dark magic was really that strong, didn't that mean he'd nearly lost his life?
"Strong magical energy doesn't necessarily mean it's dark magic... Tom, remember this—it's not only dark magic that can be powerful," Wade said.
"Non-dark magic can be powerful too?" Tom looked a little stunned.
He had snuck into the Restricted Section himself after all.
From what he'd read in those books, the knowledge subtly but firmly impressed upon him that to become powerful, one had to study dark magic.
Because the strength of dark magic was said to be unmatched by any ordinary spellwork.
And now Wade was telling him that non-dark magic could also be incredibly powerful?
"Of course! Don't doubt it. Let me ask you—do you think Professor Dumbledore is powerful?"
"Without a doubt." Tom nodded.
"He doesn't use dark magic anymore," Wade said.
"How do you know he doesn't use dark magic now?" Tom asked.
"When Professor Dumbledore teaches us Defense Against the Dark Arts, he always says that the power of love is strong. Have you ever seen someone who regularly uses dark magic go around preaching about 'love'?"
Tom scoffed. "He has said that... but I don't believe it. Emotions like 'love'? How could those possibly produce powerful magic? He's definitely lying to us!"
"Strong emotions can enhance your spells—there's no doubt about that. So why are you so sure those emotions have to be negative?" Wade said calmly.
"In fact, as long as the emotion is intense enough—whether it's positive or negative—it can amplify your magic. Of course... some spells are tied to specific emotions, that's another matter. If you don't believe me, try casting a Disarming Charm with different emotions."
As he spoke, Wade fished the ring out of the potion.
Tom fell into deep thought.
Could it really be that Dumbledore was a powerful wizard who had abandoned dark magic and relied solely on positive emotions?
"And what about you?" Tom asked after a while. "Do you believe Dumbledore is right?"
"He just doesn't want us using dark magic, that's all. Look, it's not like you have to use dark magic to become powerful—Dumbledore proves that. But come on, only kids make binary choices. If dark magic is also powerful, why wouldn't I use it too? Tom, I don't choose—I take it all. Besides, if you don't understand dark magic, how can you defend against it properly? Am I wrong?"
"You really can talk your way into anything... Wait! What are you doing?!" Tom suddenly exclaimed in shock.
Wade had, while Tom was lost in thought, pried the obsidian gemstone off the ring.
In truth, that whole series of tests was just for show. Wade had planned to take the gemstone from the very beginning! Heh~
Wade, of course, already knew that this black gemstone was none other than the legendary Resurrection Stone—one of the three Deathly Hallows.
Now that all the preliminary appearances had been taken care of, it was time to test the actual effects of the Resurrection Stone. Wade was extremely curious about what it could do.
But in Tom's eyes, it simply looked like Wade had dismantled the Gaunt family heirloom.
"We agreed! You wouldn't damage it!" Tom accused angrily.
"Tom, the magic of the ring lies entirely in the gemstone. The rest is just worthless silver and gold," Wade replied calmly.
"Even if it's worthless, it's still one piece! I—"
"Tom, this is the Gaunt family heirloom, and didn't you say you were cutting ties with the Gaunts? Then why are you still wearing a ring engraved with their name? I think you should forge a new ring—have it say 'Riddle' or 'Voldemort' or something, then mount the stone into that."
"Volde-what?"
"Don't mind the details, Tom. If you don't want a new one, I'll help you re-mount the stone after the experiment. I'm just taking it apart, not destroying it. Why are you so worked up?"
"You…" Tom wanted to curse Wade out, but after thinking about it carefully… he had to admit, the bastard kind of had a point.
Why shouldn't he—Tom—be able to establish a new family legacy?
As long as he could achieve something as great as Salazar Slytherin once had, his descendants would proudly claim to be Riddle's heirs, not Slytherin's.
Hmm… Of course, if possible, maybe even the surname Riddle could be changed to something that sounded a bit more elegant…
While Tom was still lost in his grand future plans, Wade had already wiped the Resurrection Stone clean and was now holding it between his fingers, examining it closely.
The pitch-black stone was dull and lusterless. If one didn't look carefully, they wouldn't even notice the faintly latin engraved symbol on its surface—Peverell.
The Peverell brothers, according to legend, were the ones who obtained the Deathly Hallows directly from Death himself.
The second brother, ancestor of the Gaunt family, had received the Resurrection Stone. The third brother, who got the Invisibility Cloak, was the progenitor of the Potter family.
As for the eldest brother, who wielded the Elder Wand—he'd been killed for it, and no known descendants were left behind.
And that Elder Wand… it was currently in Gellert Grindelwald's possession.
Tsk… should I find a way to trick—cough, acquire—the Invisibility Cloak from the Potters?
Wade thought as he spun the Resurrection Stone between his fingers like a fidget spinner. On the third spin...
Suddenly, Wade felt a faint mist begin to rise around him.
Even the very tone of the space seemed to dim.
Startled, he glanced at Tom beside him.
"Did you notice... anything strange?" Wade asked.
"No? Nothing at all…" Tom looked around with a confused expression. "What are you trying to pull now?"
"No tricks… I think I finally know what kind of magic is on this gemstone," Wade said deliberately.
Then he looked ahead, eyes filled with anticipation, at the mist only he could see.
He was genuinely curious—could the Resurrection Stone summon the souls of his deceased loved ones from before he crossed over into this world?
But just as the mist was beginning to take form, just as it seemed that humanoid shapes were about to appear, they suddenly dissolved!
Wade stared in shock at the lingering mist, frowning slightly.
By right, the Resurrection Stone couldn't summon actual souls of the dead. It could only manifest illusions shaped by the holder's deepest desires to see those who had passed.
According to that theory, even if Wade's deceased loved ones hadn't existed in this world, they should still have been able to be simulated by the stone.
But now… the simulation had failed.
Could it be… that the spirits summoned by this thing weren't purely illusions?
Or perhaps… it really did have some faint connection to the world of the dead?
Which meant that those who had never existed in this world simply couldn't be called forth?
While Wade was lost in thought, Tom was growing increasingly frustrated.
This bastard had just said he knew what kind of magic was on the gemstone—and then said absolutely nothing else!
Damn it, at least say something! You can't just dangle a mystery and then go silent!
"So, what exactly is the magic on that stone?" Tom forced himself to ask calmly, swallowing his irritation.
Yelling wouldn't work, at least not openly—Wade's payback was always brutal and merciless.
"Try it yourself… there's a surprise," Wade said, handing the Resurrection Stone over to Tom. "Hold it in your hand, turn it three times…"
At that moment, Wade was feeling rather excited. Lately, the amount of merit points he'd been gaining from Tom had been decreasing steadily.
So if he lent the Resurrection Stone to Dumbledore—would that perhaps earn him a lot more merit points?
_________
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