"I, I saw..."
"Saw what?"
"Blue, blue light, and golden light... a vortex, and another vortex..."
Harry's breathing started becoming rapid, the threat of death from behind him caused him to uncontrollably break out in a cold sweat, his robe was instantly drenched, but he still forced himself to open his tightly shut eyes, staring intently at the stone wall in front of him—
"Very good."
Upon hearing Harry's response, William narrowed his eyes slightly and relaxed the grip in his hand.
It seems that the ability to see ancient magic can be acquired even postnatally, and... that little Tom is indeed not completely dead.
Although he had indeed just made Harry feel the threat from the brink of death, like being approached by a Dementor who cradles your face, William's was more like holding a wand charged with the Killing Curse against the lower back, but essentially, it was just an illusion—
Based on the principles of dream magic, William quickly explored a whole bunch of derivative magic— for some reason, his innovative ability in magic was ordinary, but things like drawing inferences almost seemed to be at his fingertips, like the magic he just used.
The constraint was that he adjusted what could have been remotely and silently cast dream magic into one that could only be cast at close range, the closer the distance, the stronger the effect, but the resulting function was that it wasn't necessary to put the other party to sleep—this was a pretty good interrogation method, only he hadn't expected the first one to experience it firsthand would be Harry.
But it was this limitation of close-range casting that, when William had a sudden idea, he fortuitously poured his magic power into the other party's brain and checked it— if he hadn't, it wouldn't have mattered, but seeing it revealed a significant issue, to put it bluntly, Harry's head had not only himself.
Little Tom was still alive...
But his condition was not quite right, seemingly stripped of the main consciousness, only able to issue some basic commands to this body—such as, "Kill him!"
Yes, William also heard the voice that originally only rang in Harry's mind, originally he couldn't so crudely check someone else's soul and mind, but Harry was different, as his first test subject in soul magic research, William knew his brain better than the garden behind his Room of Requirement—
Is the issue serious? Unknown, although William was also unclear why little Tom was so hard to kill, clearly after administering a month's magic potion to Harry previously, little Tom's soul was confirmed to be completely gone, but now it actually reappeared...
But now he could still confirm, this bastard had already completely lost consciousness, as long as Harry wasn't exposed to any life-threatening danger, the other party was basically harmless.
But can he always remain so harmless?
Unknown, but probably unlikely.
So, the priority is to figure out how this little Voldemort managed to survive until now...
William frowned, carefully recalling this incident—
After this examination, he pretty much confirmed that ancient magic could still be mastered postnatally, though the specific means were unknown, but it seemed related to the special nature of the soul artifact, after all, during that time in Diagon Alley, the soul artifact diary was accompanied by the aura of ancient magic.
Now he was almost certain that soul artifacts were inseparable from ancient magic, but having not practiced firsthand, he still wasn't quite sure about the specific connection—and he didn't plan to try, tearing one's soul apart like that brought pain rivaling death.
William had no interest in trying, after all, could emotion magic suppress madness on the soul level?
This was completely an unknown.
Having a spirit of inquiry was a good thing, but seeking knowledge and courting death were two different matters.
As for the issue with Harry, medicinal treatment might have lost its effectiveness, but it must continue, after all, the reason for little Tom's "sleep" hadn't been found yet, it might be related to the magic potion he had previously devised to soothe the mind and soul.
Since it was possible, then the medication couldn't be stopped, Harry still needed to be the blazing squad captain for a while.
Regarding the impact on Harry... William sighed, it seemed he still had to bother Lupin, Harry must learn Occlumency as soon as possible.
After making up his mind internally, William finally let go of Harry's neck, sensing the release of constraints, Harry staggered and steadied himself. The sensory stimulation from before still left him with lingering fears, if not for his prior encounters with intimate contact from Dementors, he suspected he couldn't have restrained his bladder just now...
"Ha... just now, what was that?"
After a while, Harry finally collected himself and blinked, looking at the stone wall again, but this time he saw nothing, just like before.
But Harry didn't wait for a response, he turned around, only to find that William had vanished without a word of farewell, the boy blinked in a bit of a daze, only then did he realize a problem—where on earth was this?
"Mr. Potter—"
Just as the boy was bewilderedly looking around, a sharp voice suddenly emerged from the shadows, Dobby, wearing a slightly oversized thick sweater, suddenly sprang out from the shadows, after a very brief greeting, this little elf brought Harry to the entrance of the Gryffindor Common Room.
"... Goodnight, and pleasant dreams, great Harry Potter sir."
Dobby bowed deeply, and before Harry could say anything, he snapped his fingers and disappeared, leaving Harry in silence for a while, gazing at the quiet corridor around him and the already asleep portrait of the Fat Lady before him—