Seeing that Dumbledore had Bob Ogden under control, Snape didn't hesitate for a moment. He picked up his wand and began to clear the tea and pastries from the table. Both of their used cups vanished, except for the one in Mr. Ogden's hand.
He then swept his wand across the tabletop, and all their fingerprints and fabric fibers from their cuffs, which had brushed against the surface, were wiped clean.
"What are you doing, Severus?" Dumbledore asked curiously, his tone full of bewilderment.
"Getting rid of our tracks, Professor," Snape rattled off, as if talking to a machine gun. "You need to quickly get out the Veritaserum. Once I'm done, you can check too, to see if there are any other loose ends. Oh, and no one saw us when we came on the Thestral, did they?"
As he spoke, Snape lightly tapped the floor with his wand, and the almost imperceptible footprints vanished as well.
"What on earth is going through your mind? I was just trying to calm him down!" Dumbledore's hair and beard bristled with anger. "Am I that kind of person?!"
"Aren't you?" Snape raised an eyebrow slightly, asking back with a look of surprise.
"Sit down, you!" Dumbledore waved his wand sharply. An invisible force, like a large hand, "slapped" Snape back into his chair.
After a while, Mr. Ogden's expression slowly regained its vitality.
"Bob, don't be too nervous," Dumbledore said softly. "I just want to understand the situation from back then."
"I..." Ogden gripped his wand tightly, his voice laced with fear. "But..."
"I understand your concerns," Dumbledore said, interlocking his fingers, his blue eyes behind his half-moon spectacles showing sincerity. "Lately, Death Eaters have been attacking their opponents everywhere, and the scope is widening."
"But that experience isn't useful..." Ogden said hesitantly. "I don't understand..."
"Professor, did you bring me here just for this?" Snape shrugged, suddenly interjecting. "I agree with Mr. Ogden. I can't think of any use for that memory."
"Indeed, Severus," Dumbledore said softly, gazing at the flower beds outside the window. "I brought you here simply to try and understand some things about his past. I didn't expect it to necessarily be useful, but there's no harm in knowing more."
"Sigh..." Ogden's grip on his wand loosened, and he sighed, a helpless look on his face. "You've come all this way... what do you want to know...?"
"By the way, Mr. Ogden, you just mentioned there were three people in the Gaunt family," Snape tried to guide the conversation. "Do you know what happened to them later?"
"I'm not entirely sure," Ogden shook his head, frowning as he took a sip of his now somewhat cold tea. "But Morfin is probably still locked up in Azkaban."
"Morfin is in Azkaban?" Dumbledore's tone revealed a hint of almost imperceptible surprise, and a light flickered in his eyes. "Why was he imprisoned in Azkaban?"
"That's a rather complicated story," Ogden said. "That case wasn't handled by me. I heard Morfin killed a Muggle family, the Riddle family I encountered during my mission back then."
Dumbledore gave Snape a satisfied look.
"Bob, I have another uncomfortable request," Dumbledore said. "I wonder if you could show us that memory of your mission to the Gaunt family back then? Just in case there are any overlooked details."
"Is that necessary?" Ogden asked.
"I think if you extract that memory," Dumbledore said, "its imprint in your mind will also become fainter. This way, the possibility of it causing you trouble will be even smaller, won't it?"
"Sigh, even though I'm a retired old man now," Ogden said, his face full of conflicted emotions. "Albus, I also hope I can help you, and I hope it will be useful to you. I think he should have no reason to know of my existence..."
Ogden fell silent for a moment, then slowly stood up and walked to a cabinet.
He took a slender-necked bottle from the cabinet, gently tracing its surface with his rough fingers.
Sitting back in his armchair, Ogden shakily pulled out his wand and pressed it against his temple.
As a silver strand flowed into the slender-necked bottle, Ogden murmured wearily, "Albus... take it, don't let me be scared for nothing... I won't keep you for lunch..."
---
Snape and Dumbledore emerged from Mr. Ogden's small cottage.
Outside, trees swayed in the gentle breeze, and the light flickered under the green canopy.
Snape glared at Dumbledore, a hint of displeasure in his voice: "Professor, we don't have to ride a Thestral back, do we? Don't tell me you're not familiar enough with Hogwarts."
"Indeed, I should be quite familiar with that place," Dumbledore said lightheartedly. "Come, hold tightly to my arm."
Snape took two steps forward and gripped Dumbledore's extended forearm.
"Very good," Dumbledore said. "Off we go."
After a moment of dizzying disorientation, they stood side by side in the familiar office.
Dumbledore took the shallow stone basin, carved with strange runes, from the cabinet by the door and gently placed it on the table.
He then pulled out the slender-necked bottle Ogden had just given him from his pocket and slowly poured the swirling, silvery memory threads into the Pensieve.
The silver threads slowly began to swirl in the basin, emitting a faint glow.
"Come," Dumbledore said.
Snape didn't hesitate, diving headfirst into the Pensieve.
After a continuous fall, fall, fall, the summer sun suddenly hung high overhead, and Snape instinctively closed his eyes.
Before his eyes could adjust, Dumbledore landed beside him.
They stood on a country dirt road, flanked by tall, intertwining hedgerows. Above them stretched a vast summer sky, as clear and blue as forget-me-nots.
About twenty feet in front of them stood a strangely dressed, stout man. He wore a striped swimming costume underneath a frock coat, and shoe covers on his feet.
Mr. Ogden was not yet bald at this time, though his belly was already bulging enough to stretch the stripes of his swimming costume.
Following Mr. Ogden's steps, a wooden signpost emerged from the thorny bushes.
The two directional arrows on the sign pointed to: Great Hangleton (5 miles) and Little Hangleton (1 mile).
The two followed Mr. Ogden closely, slowly descending a steep slope. After an unknown period, the view suddenly opened up, revealing a valley.
Within the valley lay a typical English village, with a church and graveyard clearly visible.
A grand manor house stood on the opposite side of the valley. Around the manor, vast expanses of lush green grass stretched into the distance.
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