"Hope?"
Augusta Longbottom hesitated for a moment, even the vulture ornament on her hat revealed a trace of confusion, "Really?" Her voice couldn't hide the overwhelming joy, and Dumbledore's reputation made her believe William wasn't one to make empty boasts, yet her joy was still measured.
She wasn't the only one surprised; the three healers beside her, Neville, and even Dilys Derwent in the picture frame blinked repeatedly out of reflex.
"Yes, at least they can still perceive everything around them—"
William waved his hand in front of Frank, and immediately saw the nearly invisible orange glow atop the man's head turn into a light purple, indicating confusion and curiosity.
Other than that, his appearance showed no reaction.
"Yes, but apart from that—" Doctor Smethwyck sighed. As the Longbottoms' primary doctor, he knew them best, "The continuous Crucio completely destroyed their minds. I've tried many ways, but none seem to work."
"This exactly shows that their resistance to Crucio is quite high—" William nodded.
"?"
"Because Crucio can actually kill. If a person's mind is fragile, a long enough Crucio can directly kill them—"
"How did you…"
"Don't ask how I know that." William quickly interrupted a certain savior who was about to ask.
"...Oh."
Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance, instinctively beginning to hypothesize.
"But clearly their suffering lasted more than a day, and knowing those beasts, there might have been some..." William shifted the topic back to the right path, glancing at Neville's hopeful face and instinctively decided not to continue, "some inhuman methods, this group of Death Eaters really is..."
William sighed, deciding to hasten his efforts to have Fudge reform the Ministry of Magic's laws and then have those bastards in Azkaban executed.
They only waste air and food, fit only for feeding Dementors—though, what's the point of keeping those around?
As for the Death Eaters under his command... deduct three months' wages, and give each one two Crucios.
"Alright, so what's your plan?"
Dilys asked with eager anticipation, and William felt she seemed ready to climb out of the picture frame.
"First, conduct an experiment. Neville, come over."
William waved the boy over, who then stood at the foot of the bed, and at that moment, the faint light on Frank's forehead returned to a light orange. Though the color was still pale, William smiled, and the blue light in his eyes became intense. The floor tile beneath Neville's feet instantly transformed into a gray snake that swiftly wound around the boy, opened its mouth, and revealed a pair of sharp fangs—
Neville's face showed a pained expression, he groaned, his face turned purple, and blood oozed from the corner of his mouth.
The appearance of the boy by the bed changed as well; his hair began to grow wildly, his originally handsome facial features twisted and transformed, turning into a hated visage stabbing at Frank's sight—Bellatrix, that maniac groveling before Voldemort—
"Wait, Bella! What are you doing?! Let go of Neville!!"
Meanwhile, Augustus Longbottom's desperate cries rang out from the side.
"Good, I'm now sure there is hope—"
Seeing the red glow that was much stronger than before, William nodded with satisfaction, he snapped his fingers, and everything returned to normal, Neville still stood there anxiously, Augustus too stood there, and Bella had disappeared—
"Only this is a project that will require a lot of time..." William stood up, continuing.
"No matter how long it takes!"
Mrs. Longbottom's voice trembled. Although William's words seemed to have no solid basis, he merely had Neville stand there for a moment before drawing a conclusion.
"Re-really? Senior?"
Neville's voice sounded, as he accepted another candy wrapper handed to him by his mother, somewhat uncertainly asking.
"If you choose to believe me—then it's true, Neville."
William nodded, looking at the witch's portrait on the wall, "Alright, enough staring, Ms. Derwent, shouldn't you be reporting back to Dumbledore?"
"But you haven't said what you'll do?"
Dilys didn't deny being Dumbledore's informant, mainly because her presence was due to Dumbledore's concern for the Longbottoms.
The secondary reason was to keep an eye on William, ensuring he doesn't get too out of hand—since William had been spending time with a certain excellent Durmstrang dropout, making Old Bee a bit worried... although Dumbledore wasn't sure who would influence whom.
"You wouldn't understand even if I told you—alright, the Longbottoms' issue lies in their souls being forcibly torn by charms, and such trauma evidently cannot heal naturally, with those Dark Arts constantly occupying the wounds on their souls, preventing any medication from curing them. They can perceive things happening outside but are unable to manipulate their bodies to react."
William explained simply, although there weren't really any professional terms for this.
"But, Mom gives me candy wrappers, even though she can't recognize me, she does—" Neville said hesitantly. After all, according to William, the Longbottoms should now be lying in bed unable to move, just like "vegetables?" Hermione, coming from Muggle background, used a Muggle term, then explained it to Ron and Ginny.
The healers beside him listened intently.
"Unable to manipulate the body to react ≠ unable to manipulate the body, alright, stop looking at me so blankly."
William sighed, continuing, "Simply put, those Dark Arts occupying the wounds on their souls not only obstruct healing but also block all signals—if Mr. Frank wanted to stretch, his body might perform another action, like… standing on his head? And due to the presence of soul wounds, they're unable to process external information rationally—
"They can only instinctively feel joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, meaning not only have the key bindings been changed, but even skill points have been wiped—"
"Then you plan to…"
"Reset their key bindings, then reassign the skill points, alright, sis, stop asking, Dumbledore must be getting impatient—"
"—"
With that, the already two-hundred-year dead old lady swung her eyes dramatically at William, then turned and disappeared into the frame.
"So, is St Mungo's needed for cooperation?"
Doctor Smethwyck, feeling dazed after mentally reviewing William's explanations, found himself touching his knowledge blind spot, helplessly and somewhat dispiritedly asked William.
"Not really needed... should prepare some Draught of the Living Death though; the treatment requires the patient to be in a sleeping state." William rubbed his chin, "Ah, you can just ask Hogwarts for this batch of magic potions, right, recently the Potions Class professor needs a reason to keep busy..."
Saying that, William looked at Frank on the bed, pulled out a Niffler from his pocket, then took out a bottle of Draught of the Living Death (Snape's creation), and gently poured some into Frank Longbottom's mouth, causing the man's eyes to roll back, "fainting" straight away.
"Very well, now Neville—"
"Ah?" The boy's named lifted his head, somewhat bewildered.
"Calm your mind, come meet your father—"
William raised a hand, placing it on the boy's forehead. The latter rolled his eyes promptly and fell to the ground with a thud, as Augusta Longbottom instinctively moved forward only to be stopped by Harry and others outside, "This is a normal phenomenon—""It's Senior's Dream Magic."
The young wizards began explaining in a hubbub.