In the early hours of the morning, in the Slytherin common room.
The magical flames burning in the fireplace gave off not a trace of heat, only a pale blue glow that illuminated the dormitory beneath the lake.
It also lit Vaughn's pensive face.
A full hour had passed since he returned from the Room of Requirement. Vaughn had not moved, merely sitting with his notebook spread open, lost in thought.
Fruit Tea, who had already taken a nap, woke from a sweet dream. It had dreamed of eating mouse-flavored dried fish again, and the wonderful taste made it lick its lips even after waking.
"Meow~"
Fruit Tea stretched lazily, then padded over to Vaughn and rubbed against him.
Vaughn leaned over and lifted the adorable creature onto his lap, scratching its neck. "Fruit Tea, tell me—what does a true alchemist consider real, and what do they consider false?"
"...Meow?"
"Heh..." Vaughn chuckled. "Sorry. I shouldn't be asking you such strange questions."
With Fruit Tea interrupting him, Vaughn finally stopped staring blankly into space.
He picked up his quill and began recording what he had seen that night in the open notebook.
And... the assignment Dumbledore had given him...
"How Do Alchemists View the World?"
The quill wrote that title across the parchment.
Vaughn vaguely understood why Dumbledore had assigned such homework. During their discussion of aether that day, he had consistently shown doubts toward alchemical theory.
That was not necessarily a bad thing.
Just as Vaughn had said before, interpreting objective phenomena through subjective judgment was bound to have limitations. There was no absolutely correct doctrine in the world.
Dumbledore agreed with that as well, which was why he had said Muggle theories were interesting while they were in the aether.
He did not oppose Vaughn's doubts. He was