"...Oh, I know, I know, back then I was treating Muggles for a disease called 'smallpox', but I forgot to conceal my magic, and... well, I also liked to conjure rabbits from the Holy Communion Cup, those Muggles said I was a demon crawling out of Hell..."
The Fat Friar babbled on, and when he talked about his own death, there was no sadness in his tone. He even had a smile on his face, as if it wasn't him who was executed back then. However, when Sirius eagerly continued to ask about what he saw at the time of his death, the Fat Friar scratched his head somewhat awkwardly.
"Um, at the time of death... I seem to not remember, just a vast whiteness?"
The Fat Friar pouted sadly, probably because he felt he hadn't been much help, so he was a bit upset, "Perhaps you could ask Sir Nicholas... What? You mean Nick can't remember either? That's really bad... Maybe you could ask Ms. Grey?"
"Before that..."
William turned his body, looking at the Bloody Baron who was silently floating past the Slytherin table, "Hey, Baron?"
"...What is it?"
The pale, pearl-colored thin ghost turned around, staring at William with his lifeless black eyes, asking in a hoarse voice.
"Do you remember how you died?"
Sirius asked unceremoniously, leaping in front of the Bloody Baron with a rude tone.
"...Don't remember."
Baron squinted his eyes, shook his head, and was about to turn and leave.
"Hey, wait, don't lie, you definitely remember, say something!"
Sirius stubbornly followed, watching the man appear ready to throw a tantrum in the hall, in front of everyone if the Baron didn't answer. William and Hermione, who came with him, instinctively covered their foreheads.
"That's Gryffindor for you." William muttered expressionlessly.
"?" Hermione raised her head in shock.
Opening with a stereotype?
Annoyingly, can't argue...
On the other side, Sirius's "interference" had no effect at all, and the Bloody Baron, dragging his silver-blood-stained frame, floated right through Sirius, making Sirius instinctively cover his chest, shivering.
"Baron—"
"I said I don't kno—"
"I have a way to make Ms. Grey willing to see you, so..."
"..."
Social skill of the predator tree.
When you need something from someone, don't let it show, try to make them need something from you.
"Speak."
The Bloody Baron indeed paused, glaring at William, his blood-stained robe fluttering in Sirius's face, making the man instinctively step back.
"Answer the question first, Baron."
William unflinchingly met his gaze, speaking with a smile.
"...You tell me the method first."
"Then forget it, maybe I can ask Gray... no, Ms. Helena directly, perhaps get her to recall some things, like the killer responsible for her death."
Baron's expression visibly stiffened, he took a deep breath, continuing to glare at William, "You can't disturb her..."
"Why? Are you the owner of the school?"
William squinted his eyes, a dangerous blue light passing through the boy's eyes.
"...I took my own life."
Finally, in this game of who blinks first, William successfully overcame a ghost who doesn't need to blink. Gray began evasively answering questions, frowning with his shriveled forehead, his voice hoarse and unpleasant, "Ordinary ghosts don't remember the scenes after death, but I'm different—"
He paused, seeming unwilling to recall that past, shook the shackles on his hand, Baron continued, "It was a vast white place, I died in the forests of Albania, using tha... that knife, to pierce my heart, but when I awoke, I was back in the Slytherin Dungeon—"
"Oh? You mean you crossed 1500 miles in the moment of losing consciousness, back to Hogwarts Castle?"
"No, of course not, it was just the Slytherin Dungeon. I wandered there for a long time, probably three or four years, before finally coming out of that seemingly endless dungeon, returning to the present world."
Baron shook his head, breaking free from the memories, he looked back at William, "Alright, tell me the method."
"A dungeon without end? Describe it in detail..." William squinted his eyes, as if remembering something.
"..." The Bloody Baron pressed his lips together, anger appearing on his face.
"You don't have the leverage to negotiate with me, Baron."
"... It was a world shrouded in white mist, from the bricks on the wall to the ceiling, everything was white." The Baron pouted, glaring fiercely at Sirius, who glared back in confusion. "There, I met... the Slytherin teacher."
"Salazar Slytherin?"
"Yes, the teacher told me many things, and..."
As he spoke, the Baron looked around, and the little wizard and ghosts whom he had glared at also paused their actions, pretending to fiddle with whatever was in their hands. The Fat Friar and a knight's armor with an arrow stuck in its helmet left with their arms around each other's shoulders.
People often pretend to be busy when they are anxious.
"And, he told me the name of that place. In Greek Mythology, it is called 'Persephone's Garden', and in Egyptian Mythology, it is called 'Nether River'. We wizards usually like to call it the Illusory Realm...
All the deceased souls will enter the Illusory Realm, without exception. There, souls can choose to venture into the unknown death, or return in fear to become ghosts wandering the world."
"Clearly, you chose the latter—"
"Because I have unfinished business."
"Does it have to do with Ms. Helena?"
The Bloody Baron nodded, his dark pupils slightly protruding from their sockets. "Alright, now you should tell me, how are you going to make Helena forgive me?"
"I only said to let you meet her. Whether she forgives you or not is up to you."
"...Fine."
The Baron breathed a sigh of relief. He had deliberately said it wrong to lower William's expectations and make it more likely that William wouldn't go back on his word because the Bloody Baron indeed knew he had no means to threaten William, and could even be threatened in reverse—
He still remembered when not long after the start of last year, one morning, Peeves was causing trouble in the kitchen and accidentally knocked over a Chinese breakfast...
For about a month after that, Peeves hadn't appeared in the castle.
Not many people knew about this, only the Bloody Baron who coincidentally passed by and accidentally witnessed the "harmonious and friendly" scene.
To think someone could torment even a non-existent like Peeves truly was "defying the heavens", the Bloody Baron had no doubt that if William wanted, he could make him "disappear" for a whole month... or even forever.
So, he had truly mustered his courage to negotiate with this fiend, and even now, the Baron's calves still felt like they were trembling slightly.
"Then..."
"Don't rush. We still have some other things to take care of. You've waited nearly a thousand years, waiting a little longer shouldn't be hard, right?"
"...Hmm."
After dismissing the Bloody Baron, William took a deep breath. Now, he had gathered many clues unrelated to Harry, only missing the last one, a crucial puzzle piece to connect all the clues together—
So, what on earth happened this afternoon related to Harry... Voldemort?
Like a light bulb suddenly illuminating a room, everything that was "dark" before William's eyes seemed to dissipate at the emergence of this name... Voldemort, according to Hermione, Ron, and Neville's "testimonies", showed no abnormal behavior before passing out, and was even joking with Ron the second before—
And according to the time Hermione mentioned, William remembered that he had looked at his watch at that very moment— that time was precisely when he "climbed" out of Voldemort's mind, and Harry, not long ago, had "consumed" Voldemort's soul artifact...
It all connects! Truly connects!
The thoughts and clues linked together as if they had unraveled, and feeling like he had uncovered the truth, William raised his hand to place the deerstalker cap of Sherlock Holmes on his head.
Perhaps, the problem lay with the Voldemort soul Harry "consumed"— that soul fragment, in essence, was Voldemort's first soul artifact, and even had its own thoughts, its own memories. Upon realizing that Harry is the "future" person to defeat him, it did not flee in fear of William, but instead plotted to harm Harry.
And when I made Harry eat that Voldemort soul, it somehow turned Harry into a soul artifact for Voldemort?
Finally, because earlier this afternoon, I extracted the last remnants of Voldemort's soul from that body, it no longer had the basis for survival. Originally thinking to bring it back to Hogwarts to plan the next steps, in the middle suddenly appeared a bunch of poachers from who knows where, and an inexplicable mummy...
So... could Voldemort's main soul be dead?
But hadn't he a whole slew of soul artifacts? By rights, the strength of the remnants should have been enough for him to remain in the real world... Moreover, no matter what, it seems really strange for the main soul to enter the Illusory Realm with the soul artifacts...
After all, soul artifacts are meant to keep the soul intact, aren't they, ah, the head itches...
...
"..."
Watching William, who had fallen into thought and subconsciously held a pipe in his mouth, Hermione, knowing the figure from the Sherlock Holmes detective series, remained silent for a moment, finally pushing William's shoulder with a bemused face, "Hey, senior, figured it out yet, give us some clues? What should we do next?"
"Next step?" William blinked, responding instinctively, "Kill someone first."
"?"