Severus deliberately brought up the matter in front of Grindelwald when asking Nicolas for help.
Even though this imprisoned old man had lost his former drive and hadn't held a wand or used magic for a long time-
He was, after all, a dark wizard standing at the pinnacle of the wizarding pyramid. While Nicolas was analyzing his problem, perhaps he could offer some insights from the sidelines?
Nicolas took the letter Dumbledore had written from Severus's hand, his eyes noticeably widening a bit.
He was no different from other elderly people in his movements, his hands trembled slightly when picking things up.
After opening the envelope and reading the full contents of the letter, he looked at Severus with sudden understanding.
"Albus says your soul and your magical power itself have some compatibility issues."
Just this statement alone caught the attention of Grindelwald, who had been sitting hunched on the single bed.
He turned his gaze to Severus. Those cloudy eyes seemed capable of seeing things ordinary people couldn't.
"Magic and soul incompatible?"
Facing their gazes, Severus drew his wand. He cast a spell right in front of them.
"Lumos."
The tip of the wand lit up with a bright white light, illuminating the originally dim cell.
From this simple Lumos charm, one could actually see that Severus was quite proficient in spell application.
He had too many accolades-
Potions Master, Master of the Dark Arts, expert in Occlumency, Master of Legilimency-
These often overshadowed his other specialties.
For example, as a Potioneer, Severus was also quite skilled in Herbology. While not at Professor Sprout's level, he still ranked among the top herb cultivation experts.
Then there was Defense Against the Dark Arts.
As an expert in the Dark Arts, he naturally understood how to defend against such Dark Arts better than most, which was why he persistently sought to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts' Professor at Hogwarts.
As for spells, that went without saying.
Even during his student days, Severus had privately invented many useful jinxes, hexes, and even curses.
Like [Tongue-Tying Curse], [Levicorpus], including the most formidable [Sectumsempra].
What decent person invents spells before even graduating from Hogwarts?
The only one in decades!
Probably only students like Dumbledore and Riddle could compare to Severus.
But those present here, both Grindelwald and Nicolas, were far from ordinary.
Especially Nicolas Flamel. Although he was now extremely aged and his magical power wasn't noteworthy, the knowledge he had accumulated over centuries was unparalleled.
Upon seeing Severus cast the Lumos charm, he keenly spotted the problem.
"A perfectly executed spell..." Nicolas stared at Severus's wand, "Every aspect is impeccable, and the effect fully matches your current magical level. But..."
"But as Albus said in the letter, the spell itself is fine, but it clearly doesn't harmonize with your own soul during casting."
His gaze shifted from the wand, beginning to look Severus up and down.
"This situation is extremely rare. It's usually only caused by magic that affects the soul. However, those magics almost always weaken the soul. In all my long life, I've never heard of any magic that can enhance the soul."
Grindelwald was also watching Severus, but he remained silent, simply observing, silently observing.
At this moment, Nicolas raised his wrinkled, spotted hand. A silver alchemical snake coiled around his wrist and appeared in his palm.
"Haha, they used me to threaten and force Abel to do some things, but thankfully it's fine, unharmed."
The silver snake, called [Earthworm] by the old Alliance's members and named 'Abel' by Nicolas, crawled from Nicolas's hand onto Severus.
The small snake slithered along Severus's arm until it reached the top of his head.
"Relax, don't be nervous. It won't hurt you."
After Nicolas's reassuring voice sounded, a drop of blood-red liquid flowed from the snake's mouth!
The droplet fell onto Severus's forehead, quickly seeped into his skin, and vanished without a trace.
Afterwards, Severus distinctly felt his body become lighter.
It wasn't an illusion, it was really happening.
This drop of potion seemed to possess a vitality far surpassing any other magical potion, filling Severus's entire body with a sense of vitality, like an old tree sprouting new buds!
"This is... the Elixir of Life?"
The moment he felt the change in his body, Severus guessed what that drop of potion his body had absorbed was.
Apart from the legendary Elixir of Life created with the Philosopher's Stone, there was absolutely no other potion in the world that could achieve this effect.
"The minuscule amount of the Elixir absorbed through the skin can temporarily activate your body and freeze it at this moment."
Nicolas explained to Severus while pointing his wand at various parts of Severus's body.
"When the body follows the magic's activation but is simultaneously frozen, it highlights the changes in the soul..."
He spoke very softly, but as he observed Severus, his eyes grew wider and wider!
"Merlin's pants!"
"My soul is wearing Merlin's pants?" Severus quipped.
At this moment, even Grindelwald seemed to have noticed something. He was also staring intently at Severus.
"His soul and will are very powerful." Grindelwald stated.
"Extremely powerful! I've never seen such power in a wizard before!" Nicolas raised his voice. The silvery glow emanating from his wand continuously shed light particles that seemed almost solid.
"But the more powerful it is, the more wrong it feels! This simply shouldn't appear on a wizard... Because the soul is too powerful, reason dominates the thinking, while emotion and feeling are in the minority-"
Nicolas spoke loudly but trailed off, unable to articulate what he initially intended to say.
Grindelwald stared at Severus without blinking as he gave the answer.
"This shouldn't be a wizard's soul."
"Right!" Nicolas fixed his gaze on Severus, "Normally, you simply wouldn't become a wizard! You'd be a Squib, or if you came from a Muggle family, you'd be a Muggle!"
Hearing their conclusion, Severus's expression remained unchanged, but Ghost Snape's eyes widened.
It seemed to take him a long time to fully digest this information. He stared at Severus in utter shock, as if seeing him for the first time!
Severus, however, wasn't surprised by their discovery at all. He was only curious about the other implication in Nicolas's words.
"What are the criteria for being a Squib? In wizarding families, non-magical ordinary people are called Squibs? Could a child born to two Muggle parents also be a Squib?"
Nicolas seemed somewhat surprised that Severus would suddenly focus on this question, but he patiently explained.
"Wizards are inherited through magical genes. For those wizards whose parents are both Muggles, tracing back their family lineage, their ancestors must have had wizards."
"And so-called Squibs specifically refer to people who possess magical genes but lack the ability to perform magic. If such individuals have parents who are both wizards or one is a wizard, they can, of course, be identified and called Squibs. But strictly speaking, all people in the world who possess magical genes but lack the ability to perform magic should be called Squibs."
"For example, the Muggle parents of some wizards. Since they can give birth to a wizard, it means they possess magical genes. They just aren't called Squibs because they don't interact with the Wizarding World, and instead were called Muggles."
At this, he fixed his eyes on Severus.
"And among those with magical genes but no ability to perform magic, i.e., Squibs, there are many reasons for not being able to perform magic. But a small portion of them are precisely because their souls are too powerful!"
"Having a powerful soul isn't a good thing?" Severus clearly didn't have deep knowledge reserves in human anatomy and alchemy.
Nicolas shook his head.
"Magical power is inherited through magical genes, while the soul is unique to each life. Magical power grows stronger as a person matures. If it isn't regularly released in the form of magic but is suppressed, it can form an Obscurus."
"But there is one special case. If the soul is too powerful, a person's thinking tends towards reason, focusing on logic. In the Muggle education system, such people are basically geniuses in the sciences. They have extremely strong logical reasoning abilities and are very sensitive to numbers."
"However, for wizards, excessive rationality and logical thinking are completely anti-magic. In such people, even if magical power continues to grow, it will be suppressed by the powerful soul. It simply won't manifest as magical ability, nor will it turn into an Obscurus. Thus, a Squib appears."
Severus understood Nicolas's meaning.
And what he said was indeed correct. Before transmigrating here, he indeed had the best grades in physic.
And magic is clearly contrary to reason.
In all magical knowledge, apart from Potions and Alchemy, which might have some relation to logical thinking, other related subjects don't follow logic at all.
It's basically the power of 'I reckon'.
This is also why Dumbledore always emphasized the power of love but didn't tell Harry to study math well.
Math can't produce magic, but true love can indeed make one invincible!
The problem has now been identified, and Severus was already aware of it. He was a Muggle whose soul had transmigrated into Severus Snape's body. It was normal for his soul not to match a normal wizard's.
So, what's the solution to the problem?