The Weasleys looked at Vid.
Vid thought for a moment, didn't mention the plot he knew, and just faithfully recounted, word by word, what he had heard that day.
His memory was excellent, and even though more than a month had passed, there was hardly any deviation in the retelling of the dialogue.
Invisibly, a chill seemed to rise from the soles of his feet. The Umbrella House sank into a long silence, and for a while, no one spoke.
Finally, Fred broke the silence: "I must say—this joke is not funny at all—did you understand it, George?"
George nodded silently, his face unusually pale.
"So—" Leian tried to comprehend, frowning: "Professor Quirrell isn't Professor Quirrell, no—should say, a Dark Wizard possessed him? He wants to kill Harry Potter? Our Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor—is a Death Eater?"
He looked around at everyone, as if expecting someone to suddenly shout, "Scared you, didn't I? Hahaha!"
But no one spoke.
Leian leaned on the table and sat down, hoping for a while, he said: "Should we—go find Professor Dumbledore? All Death Eaters fear him. As long as Professor Dumbledore acts, he can surely—"
Hermione slightly shook her head, said softly, "No, you don't understand, Leian—'He stepped over my corpse and became a star'—think about that sentence, Leian—who else would say that?"
Bit by bit, the blood drained from the boy's face, Leian clenched his fists tightly, and his body trembled slightly: "But—it's impossible—that person is dead, right—everyone knows he died—killed by Harry Potter…"
He seemed to suddenly bite his tongue, his voice cut off abruptly.
Hermione looked at him with pity. She could tell that the boy actually believed, but he dared not admit it.
—As if by not admitting it, that person would not come back to life.
There's nothing to laugh at, because she also felt a shiver.
Born in the Muggle World, Hermione should originally have no feeling about Voldemort, but even before entering the Wizarding World, she read many books, and so understood even more than most students born in wizard families how many horrifying atrocities the "man whose name cannot be mentioned" had committed.
Before that person disappeared, his influence swelled to its peak, casting a terrible shadow over the entire British Isles, even Dumbledore… People said that person feared Dumbledore the most because the fires of war never reached Hogwarts, but even Dumbledore couldn't stop the unending deaths.
This made Hermione subconsciously develop a deep fear of that person, but when she tried to say his name, she opened her mouth, yet couldn't directly say it.
As if it would awaken some dreadful monster.
"Voldemo… I mean, the Mysterious Man—" Hermione looked at everyone and said: "If the Mysterious Man really possessed Professor Quirrell—I think we should tell Dumbledore! Vid, why didn't you immediately go to Professor Dumbledore back then?"
Vid thought for a moment: "Perhaps… it's hard for me to believe Dumbledore knows nothing about this, right?"
Fred nodded: "Dumbledore must have noticed Quirrell's oddity, but for some reason, hasn't taken action."
George said sternly: "He knows everything."
"But what if?" Hermione countered: "What if Dumbledore just suspects and is still looking for evidence? He may think Professor Quirrell just turned to darkness, not knowing the Mysterious Man is on him! We should find Dumbledore, tell the truth, and let him decide what to do!"
"Of course, Hermione, you're right." Leian said: "Of course we should do that."
"Then why don't we act now?" Fred promptly stood up: "I saw Dumbledore in the Great Hall during dinner! He's definitely at school now."
It surprised Hermione how decisive he was, she hesitated to ask: "Should we call Harry then? I mean—the Mysterious Man wants to kill him—he should know where the danger is coming from—"
Vid thought for a moment: "Just like you said, Hermione—let Dumbledore decide."
Hermione thought of his mention of "test," silently nodded, her eyes full of worry, as if concerned that on the way to find Dumbledore, Harry would be killed by Voldemort.
Standing in the corridor, Vid took out a bright silver whistle and blew a note.
The loud, piercing whistle cut through the air, and not long after, an owl spread its wings from the western tower, flew through the window, and accurately landed on Vid's extended arm.
"Cool!" Fred whistled.
The owl Eva tilted her head to look at him, "Hoo hoo" it called twice.
Vid rolled up the written note, let Eva hold it in her mouth, and instructed: "Deliver to Professor Dumbledore, then bring his reply back to me."
Eva nodded and flew away. The group watched it circle in the sky, then flew into a small turret window.
Hermione bit her finger and worriedly said, "Professor Dumbledore wouldn't dismiss our letter as nothing, would he? Maybe I should write in detail, so he knows we're not fooling around…"
Fortunately, Dumbledore didn't keep them waiting long—perhaps only a minute or two, and Eva flew out from that window again.
The owl handed the reply to Vid, and on the parchment, in long, looping writing, it read:
"You're welcome to come to my office, password is Baicai Sundae."
"Baicai Sundae?" George mumbled: "I don't recall seeing this dessert in the Great Hall."
Fred said: "It was at the feast at the end of last term. What were you doing then? Oh, you secretly stuffed a bottle with cockroaches onto Montague—"
"Making him think he bought the Cockroach Cluster himself—" George recalled the prank and laughed: "He hasn't eaten Cockroach Cluster since! Wait—you took the chance to eat my sundae?"
"How can you call it stealing?" Fred argued: "I took it openly, you just didn't see—"
The two tussled as they reached the entrance to the Headmaster's Office, and coincidentally ran into Michael returning from the Quidditch pitch, who greeted them, seamlessly joining the group without anyone finding anything amiss.
Sitting by the Headmaster's Office was an incredibly ugly gargoyle. Fred evaded George's attack, jumped ahead and said, "Baicai Sundae!"
The gargoyle jumped aside, the wall behind it split in two, revealing a slowly ascending spiral staircase. The group stepped in one by one, and with a rumble, the wall closed again.
The staircase carried them higher and higher, Vid marveled silently—in the Muggle World, escalators were commonplace, but this was his first time seeing such a thing in the Magic World.
So why mimic Muggles in this way?—The elevator always appears where the Headmaster needs it.
When the group felt a bit dizzy from the rotating staircase, they finally saw a shimmering oak door with a brass knocker shaped like a Griffin.
This was Dumbledore's office.