"Actually, you are a very capable Wizard."
Bella's voice echoed through the hall. She did not spare any praise for Sherlock in her words and even attempted to offer him an olive branch.
"If you are willing to take the initiative to beg for forgiveness from the Dark Lord and become his most loyal subordinate, then perhaps the Master will no longer pursue the things you have done."
Sherlock sat on the ground, nodding as he took a golden locket, covered in rust, out of his pocket.
"That might indeed be a good choice—joining the Death Eaters to save my own life, as long as I offer my loyalty to the Dark Lord. Besides, I am not an Auror, and I have no recognition for the Ministry of Magic, so I would have absolutely no psychological burden even if I defected."
His words were spoken very sincerely, making Bella truly believe that he was tempted. However, Sherlock's tone suddenly shifted.
"But I killed three of your people, and I remember one of them was your husband's own brother. If I throw myself under the Dark Lord's command, won't you and your husband stab me in the back and kill me?"
Everyone's attention was focused on the conversation between Sherlock and Bella; almost no one noticed that the black stone slab, which had originally been right beside Sherlock and was being pointed at by countless wands, was getting closer and closer to him.
"With the Dark Lord's order, who would dare touch you!"
As Bella said this, she waved her hand at the Death Eaters behind her, slowly approaching Sherlock and exerting pressure on him.
The black stone slab had now fallen into Sherlock's hands.
He held the stone slab in one hand and the locket in the other, his smile becoming even brighter.
"But these words are currently just your own one-sided claims. The Dark Lord isn't here, so how do I know for sure that I'll be able to survive? Unless you have the Dark Lord come here himself."
Bella's face darkened.
"What is the Master's status! How could he possibly come here personally for something like this!"
The smile on Sherlock's face gradually became playful, and he stared at Bella's left arm.
"Is that really so? Then why did you summon him in the first place? And isn't basically all of the Death Eaters' main force here right now? With such a large formation, and you summoning him so anxiously, why hasn't he come over yet?"
Bella's gloomy gaze met Sherlock's eyes. Sherlock did not avoid it in the slightest; holding the stone slab and the locket in his hands, he said with a smile.
"Could it be that something happened to him tonight, and even though you're summoning him so urgently, he can't come?"
"Shut up!" Bella shrieked.
Just at this moment, a burst of cold and ominous black mist suddenly permeated the surroundings of the bright hall.
The black mist seemed endless, continuously gathering from all directions!
The moment they saw this mass of black mist, expressions of surprise and joy appeared on the faces of Bella and the Death Eaters.
"Master!"
At the same time the black mist appeared, Sherlock realised something was wrong.
He had played too big; at this moment, Lord Voldemort in his prime had truly come!
He did not hesitate any longer and directly pressed the locket that had brought him and Snape to this time against the black stone slab.
A burst of golden light instantly enveloped both objects!
Just as the golden light shone, the black mist gathered and solidified beside Bella, turning into a handsome, cold-tempered Wizard wearing black robes.
The moment the Wizard appeared, all the Death Eaters behind him, including Bella, knelt on one knee together.
"Master!"
Tom Riddle, who had not yet become noseless, whose appearance was still intact, and whose intelligence, though declining, had not yet reached its lowest point, did not even glance at his subordinates behind him.
From the moment he appeared until now, he had been coldly staring at Sherlock, who was already wrapped in a burst of golden light. He then extended his pale, slender right hand.
Black smoke spread through the hall, circling the golden light, as if intending to interfere with the transformation within.
However, when it approached within about a metre of Sherlock, all the black mist could not advance a single inch further!
A sound of clock hands turning suddenly rang out.
With no source and no warning, going from faint to intense, the 'tick, tick, tick' sound became louder and more urgent!
It was like the final cry of someone being hunted.
Immediately afterwards, following a sound like something shattering, all noise abruptly came to a halt!
The golden light suddenly contracted. In the spot where Sherlock had originally been standing, apart from a black stone slab floating in the air, there was nothing else—it was completely empty.
The hall fell into silence, but this silence lasted less than a second.
The stone slab then shattered into countless pieces right in front of everyone!
The Death Eaters kneeling on the ground trembled involuntarily upon hearing the sound of the stone slab shattering.
Riddle's complexion was very pale, an unnatural pallor, as if he had just experienced an intense expenditure of energy, leaving him in a very poor state.
Seeing the scattered pieces of the stone slab on the ground, his hand clenched tightly into a fist. The locket worn on his chest, inlaid with a venomous snake sticking out its tongue, swayed along with the violent heaving of his chest, and an angry roar echoed through the hall.
"Useless! You bunch of useless fools!"
...
"How... have you been doing at school lately?"
Snape, who had transformed into Slughorn, suppressed the voice that couldn't help but tremble and asked as calmly as he could.
Lily relaxed and leaned back against the chair, interlacing her fingers and extending her arms, tilting her head as if pondering how to answer Snape's question.
"Actually, it's not bad. Although there isn't anyone I can truly confide in, my relationships with everyone are quite good."
"Confidants?" Snape asked, pretending to be casual. "Isn't your relationship with Severus the best? Doesn't he count?"
Hearing "Slughorn" mention Snape's name, the expression on Lily's face turned somewhat gloomy.
"Don't mention him again, Professor. I have completely broken ties with him; we are no longer friends, and there will be no relationship between us in the future."
Hearing these words, the corners of Snape's mouth couldn't stop twitching. He seemed to really want to smile, but his body was beyond his control; no matter how hard he tried, his face remained filled with sorrow.
"Why is that? Is it just because of that phrase he used to insult you? I heard he already knows he was wrong and has been apologising to you."
Lily's attention was not on Snape's face, so she did not see the strange expression "Slughorn" displayed. She pouted and muttered.
"I know he didn't mean it at the time. Potter and his crowd really went too far, which provoked him, and that's why he said those things."
"His real problem is hanging out with Rosier, Wilkes, and those people all day. You know what kind of people they are. Their lifelong goal is to follow that person. When he chatted with me before, he never hid his admiration for that person."
"And those spells popular in the Castle—Levicorpus, Muffliato, and Langlock—these Dark spells were all invented by him."(TN: Calling it dark spells is hilarious. Especially considering how useful they are and that Harry used a few of them.)
"He is becoming more and more unlike his former self. I'm scared, so scared that he will eventually become that person's servant, becoming a thug who burns, kills, loots, and stops at nothing."
"I tried to persuade him and stop him, but he never truly let it go. It's as if he was born for those dark things; he gets along so well with those people, and his grasp of the Dark Arts is so proficient."
"It wasn't until the moment he called me that word that I truly made up my mind. He and I were never on the same path. He tried to pull me to his side, and I tried to pull him to mine, but neither of us succeeded."
"Rather than continuing like this, it's better to cut ties completely. Even if we become enemies in the future, it won't make things difficult for either of us."
Lily was like a teenage girl who had found someone to confide in, pouring out all her inner thoughts.
She just didn't notice that the expression on Professor Slughorn's face was becoming increasingly painful.
"Then... will you still forgive him?"
"Hmm~"
Lily tilted her head back, as if thinking of something wonderful, and said with a smile.
"If one day, he truly turns over a new leaf, stops getting tangled up with those people, stops researching those messy spells, and honestly focuses on the Potion-making that interests him most—hmm, it would be best if he could come to Hogwarts and become a Professor! The Professors in the Castle are all good people. If he could also become a Professor, that would mean he has truly changed for the better. At that time, I would look at him with new eyes, and perhaps we could even be friends again."
Her words struck Snape's soul like a heavy sledgehammer.
He stared blankly at the girl, who was smiling as if she had thought of a beautiful scene, while complex emotions erupted within his mind!
Snape didn't know whether he should cry or laugh right now.
All of Lily's expectations for him, he had finally achieved. He had reached the standard for her to forgive him; he had fulfilled every single requirement!
But the person who hoped for forgiveness was gone...
Lily's death made him realise, but after realising it, whose forgiveness was he striving for?
Tears silently streaked down Snape's face. He opened his mouth, wanting to wail, but not a single sound could be emitted from his throat.
He looked at the girl sitting alive beside him, and a wildly crazy thought suddenly arose in his mind.
He wanted to say everything out loud. He wanted to tell her that he really had changed for the better, just as she had hoped!
If she didn't believe him, he would extract his memories and let her see for herself!
He would no longer care about the agreement with Sherlock, nor would he care about some history!
Tell her everything! Let her know everything that happened afterwards!
Just as Snape had planned to do so regardless of the consequences and was preparing to speak, he suddenly vanished from the classroom entirely!
It took five seconds for Lily to realise that she was the only one left there. She looked around in confusion and called out in bewilderment.
"Professor Slughorn?"
However, there was no response in the empty classroom; only the magic notebook in her pocket could prove that someone had truly just had a conversation with her.