The night is young, the 24h restaurant is quiet, the waiter sitting behind the counter chairs dozed off, and the hand of the clock on the gray wall is already pointing at ten o’clock.
Hermione sat on the bed, looking through the window at the bright, clear night sky, she mentally estimated the time, almost tomorrow at noon, the owl will deliver the letter, right? This unexpected time travel will also end tomorrow.
She looked down at the time-turner tied around her neck, the dark golden sand has turned pale white, only occasionally flashed with a faint glow, Hermione remembered very well, that this phenomenon has been going on for a long while.
After a few moments of daze, she pulled a black book from under her pillow to complete today’s record: “Day 72 of time travel.
“Time travel Day 72, Seventh-day at the current timeline: the closer to normal timeline, the closer the sense of reality is, much better compared to the beginning when I wandered aimlessly like a ghost … abandoned by the whole world feels bad; When the Time-turner flash I can’t touch any physical object of the time I am at and if it flashed continuously I will travel a year forward. If not for the small beaded pouch in which I stored some food, it would be impossible for me to survive those early days … Today there are two more cracks on the Time-Turner, the reason is unknown …”
Hermione stopped and stared at the text for a moment, then placed the book on the nightstand. Then she quietly slipped out of the room, the moment the door closed, the black book ” clattered ” and turned, and an illusory figure murmured, ” the third task, the trophy, the door key, and the root of everything … so it is you, Crouch Jr.”
On the other hand, Hermione cast a Disillusionment Charm on herself as she stood at the top of the stairs and gazed at the couple in the living room, who are sitting on the sofa, watching TV and chatting –
“When I see Hermione tomorrow, I must question her properly, what does she mean about just helping that Harry? Helping all the competition?” Mr. Granger said angrily.
“She grew up with a lot of thinking, and you praised her a lot for her cleverness–” Mrs. Granger said, looking at him.
“So she used her cleverness to lie to her own mother and father?” Mr. Granger huffed, “You don’t know what that wizard said when I brought up all my nerve to ask him about the Tournament of Champions! He said it had been discontinued for centuries because the death rate was too high. You hear that!”
“Hermione’s letter said that the safety measures are in place this year … and it got down to the last task, and we saw a safety officer in the footage, didn’t we?” Mrs. Granger advised, “Why don’t we ask tomorrow what the third task is, if it’s too dangerous, we can discuss it with the school …” she pursed her lips, and the anger didn’t stop, “This little girl is too much when the competition is over we can teach her well!”
They rambled on for 30 minutes, before turning off the TV and heading upstairs. They passed by Hermione at the corner, and when she reached out her hand, she only caught a piece of air, in the silent world, her hand slowly dropped.
24h open restaurant.
The silver glint in Felix’s eyes gradually faded, and after a moment of silence, he took out two glass vials, one large and one small. The larger one contained what looked like a slimy liquid that is bubbling gently, and inside the smaller one is a small handful of gray hair.
It is the hair of Cornelius Fudge – the Minister of Magic and Polyjuice Potion. Felix’s face showed a light smile, the origin of this hair is quite dramatic – two years ago when Fudge visited to see the corpse of the Basilisk, he was accidentally poisoned and was sent to the hospital wing for treatment.
He took that opportunity to grab a strand.
The intentional act at that time saved him a lot of trouble.
Felix unscrewed the cork and dropped the ash-colour hair into the large glass vial, and the potion inside immediately boiled up, turning to an ugly greenish-grey colour the next second, like a vial of boiling cement.
“Clerk, bill please.” Felix shouted while pocketing the polyjuice potion in his sleeve.
When he walked out of the restaurant, the time hit 10:30.
The London night is frighteningly silent, in spite of the noise, and Felix walked alone down the street, his booted footsteps reverberating in the darkness, his figure flickered several times as he appeared in front of a dilapidated red telephone booth.
He opened the door of the phone booth and walked inside, skilfully dialling the number 62442, and the voice of a cold woman rang out in the booth.
“Welcome to the Ministry of Magic, please state your name and the reason for your visit.”
“Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, ask the duty staff to confirm my identity.” Felix said calmly, his body already transformed under the effects of the polyjuice potion into that of a short man with messy gray hair, a stubby build, and a large belly.
He waited a few seconds, and a distinctly more animated male wizard’s voice heard, and his tone held an undisguised surprise: “Minister Fudge? It’s really you, what’s the matter with you coming over so late?”
“It’s not for you to know.” Felix said in a deep voice.
“Oh, of course … but why aren’t you using the exclusive fireplace?”
“I was visiting a friend’s house nearby, and it occurred to me that there is an urgent matter that needs to be attended to. Do you require me to make up a procedure now?” His voice became stern.
“No, I’ll let you in here …,” the voice said fearfully.
The telephone booth began to descend slowly, and the pavement outside gradually rose past the window. After a period of darkness, Felix regained his vision, and he looked around calmly; the main lobby is considerably darker than the times he came before, the fireplace on the wall is not burning, and the statue in the distance stood dark and silent in a pool of water, and there is no sound except the water flowing in the fountain.
At that moment, a rush of footsteps approached from a distance. Felix’s eyes passed over the statue and looked at the male wizard running from the security checkpoint.
Coincidentally, he happened to know this man.
“Eric Munch.” Felix said.
“It’s me, Minister.” Eric Munch said with an accompanying smile with a great degree of honour.
“I’m glad you’re not sleeping in your chair.” Felix looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze.
“How can – I certainly won’t – be diligent in my duties – ” Eric reddened and stammered.
“Go back to your place, Mr. Munch! I’ll leave from the fireplace when I’m done.” Felix said.
“I understand, Minister.” Eric didn’t dare to breathe.
Felix nodded at him, took a few steps out, and stopped again. “By the way, is there anyone else in the Ministry who hasn’t left by now?”
“I, I’m not sure … Minister,” Eric looked at him cautiously, “I guess Ms. Bones, Ms. Marchbanks, and Mr. Ogden should all be in… . And those strange people from the Department of Mysteries, er, I mean, the Unspeakable, whose whereabouts I never managed to figure out.”
“It’s so late – ” Felix looked across the table with a frown in mid-sentence, knowing Eric would give an answer.
Sure enough, Eric’s words became more respectful and humble. “Ms. Marchbanks and Mr. Ogden are working overtime on the wizarding level exam papers, they are very busy at this time of the year, and as for Ms. Bones,” he raised his eyelids to look at Felix, “you transferred a group of Aurors as guards for the third task earlier, there is not quite enough manpower for that.”
Felix remained silent for a moment and grunted from his nose, “I see.”
He entered the elevator and pressed the button for the ninth level, and the gate closed with a thud. The lift made an ear-piercing clicking sound, and Felix exhaled slowly inside, the first step went well. As the elevator came to a stop, a cold woman’s voice stated, ” Department of Mysteries.” The gate then opened and Felix steadily made his way out.
Passing through a dimly lit corridor, he stopped in front of a black door, the wavering firelight shining on his face, making his expression bright and dark. In his magical perspective, he saw a large glow of magic that almost blinded him.
Just as he debated whether to violently break the door, it suddenly opened from the inside. A middle-aged male wizard looked at him in surprise and froze for a few seconds, then he said with a stiff face, ” Minister? Why are you …” he said as he quietly reached toward his pocket, and the next second a Confundus Charm hit him.
“Your name?”
“Saul Croaker.” The male wizard said in a trance.
“May I ask you to be my guide today?” Felix asked politely.
“Mini-ister, this is against the rules-” The male wizard suddenly covered his head, and a pained expression appeared on his face.
“Okay, another question, is anyone else in there?” Felix didn’t force the male wizard to answer further, he feared that would trigger the secrecy pact of the Unspeakable.
“Bode is still in there, in the Hall of Prophecy.” The male wizard’s face regained its composure as he replied.
“Thank you.”
Then a red light struck the male wizard, and the Unspeakable Saul Croaker slowly fell to the ground, Felix flashed in through the door as the black door closed behind him, Felix took out an Echo Bird, and the little bird shook its fiery red feathers and bounced in his hand.
“Guard here, notify me if an outsider appears or if this gentleman unexpectedly awakens,” Felix instructed gently.
The palm-sized bird nodded at him, jumped on the male wizard on the ground, and got into his shirt pocket.
At that moment, Felix had time to look around, he found himself standing in a huge circular room, everything from the floor to the walls is black, and some candles with blue flames embellished on the walls, providing weak lighting.
There are no windows, only black doors neatly lined in the wall, identical to the ones behind him, twelve in total.
“Where is the Hall of Prophecy?” Felix muttered to himself, wanting to deal with the wizard called “Bode” first, but he simply didn’t see any difference. After a few seconds of hesitation, he pushed open a black door.
Inside the door is a deep, sunken pit, the center of the pit is a stone platform on which an ancient arch is erected, a tattered black drapery draped on it, as it moved without any wind.
Behind the drape, there seemed to be someone standing … someone he knew well, as if he lifted the drape he could see them. Felix circled around the archway, there is nothing behind the archway, immediately after that he heard a whisper, the voice is unique.
It seemed to be the voice of a young child, and Felix’s expression fell into a trance, as he thought of his memories of the orphanage. But he may have heard it wrong because at this time the owner of the voice became a woman, she murmured softly, Felix took a step closer to hear more clearly.
The voice became audible as he got closer, and she must have been a very gentlewoman. Felix thought.
“Too bad it’s a fake.”
Occlumency operated automatically, he stared at the black drapery for a long time, then exited the room slowly, and the moment he closed the door, an ear-splitting roar immediately followed, and the walls began to spin rapidly. He drew his wand quickly, leaving an arch bridge mark on the door, he glanced at the mark he had left as the wall ceased moving, and then he made his way towards the door next to it.
The second room is empty, there is only the huge glass tank full of dark green liquid in the center of the room with some translucent brains floating around in it except for a table placed by the wall, Felix took a quick look at it and left.
The third room is a dark room full of planets, Felix stood in the doorway to take a look twice, then rushed to other rooms.
Next, he came to an extraordinarily high-ceilinged room, the ceiling is almost as high as a church, the room is lined with towering shelves straight into the ceiling, these shelves are filled with gray orbs of prophecy, large and small prophecy balls flashed with a faint silvery light. Felix pondered, the Hall of Prophecy … so that Bode is here.
“Saul? Is that you?” A voice asked from afar.
Felix approached him silently, without a word – “Saul?” The voice raised its volume noticeably, and the dimly lit room suddenly lit up with the glow of a wand as a sallow-skinned, mournful man stepped out from behind a shelf, and froze when he saw Felix.
“Minister?”
“Sorry.” The red light flashed and Bode slumped helplessly against the shelf. Felix then took a moment to transport the unconscious wizard to the entrance hall to keep his colleague company, while the echoing bird hid in the shadows of the chandelier above the entrance hall.
As he walked out of the Hall of Prophecy, his sense of perspective blossomed for a moment, an odd feeling of intimacy flooding over him, as if something closely related to him is hiding here … Felix closed his eyes and walked to a shelf based on his senses.
He opened his eyes and there, at eye level, laid a silver glowing glass orb. It is brighter than those prophetic spheres around it, and quite obviously, much less dusty. As he approached, the glass orb shimmered with a noticeably faster rhythm, as if welcoming him.
Felix saw a two-year-old date on the label, followed by a string of characters: S.P.T. to H.J.P. (to be verified). After making protective preparations, he reached out and took the prophecy orb off the shelf, only to be surprised to find that it is not obstructed in any way.
Felix stared at it, the Prophecy Orb’s texture felt out of place in the cold room; it is warm and bright, and when he held it, it felt like standing in the daylight basking for hours. At the same time, a hoarse voice sounded in his head–
“The unprecedented change of a thousand years … legendary drama is thus played … ho – the clown returns on the drumbeat, the warrior is ready to go, the lion grows old, the firebird of Nirvana … Time! Time!”
Felix couldn’t help but grip the prophecy orb tightly and listen to it again.
” Clown, warrior, Lion, Firebird … What do they all refer to?” He didn’t spend much time thinking about it, time is short, almost twenty minutes have passed since he appeared in the Ministry of Magic, so he left the place with a big stride, tracing a circle on the black door.
Felix went straight to the next room, and the moment he pushed open the door, he realized he found the right place at last – a cacophony of hundreds of ticking sounds mixed together; a beautiful, dancing light that sparkled like gems, he saw all kinds of clocks and timepieces, alarm clocks, stopwatches, travel clocks, floor-to-ceiling large wall clocks, and old sundials … which are either hung on the wall, or on the floor, or on long tables and bookshelves.
On a closet with a glass front door, an assortment of hourglasses hung on the wall where the closet stood.
Felix, who had always been calm, showed an excited expression on his face, these are the hourglasses used in the Time-Turner, as well as – his eyes skimmed over the folders on the shelves, the drawers under the long table, and landed on a towering clock-shaped crystal jar that stood at the end of the room.
Unlike the other rooms, the crystal jar is the only source of light in this room, the sparkling, gem-like light Felix saw earlier came from it, and the jar is filled with a churning, shimmering gas stream.
That is time energy.
“Time … time …,” Felix whispered, understanding somewhat why the prophetic orb held a special attraction to him, “because I am also a part of the prophecy.” He closed his eyes, “So who am I? The lion and the firebird are impossible, the rest – is it a clown? Or a warrior? Or maybe – they all exist because of me?” His eyes snapped open and his light blue pupils turned into a deep silver blaze that burned and filled his entire eye sockets.
The dark floor covered with silver light, and all the earlier scenes were recreated by Felix in his thinking room, only this time he did his best to pull it out of his mind. Then many shadows came out of Felix’s body, they are part of Felix’s mind, the pinnacle of memory magic creations, these “people” scattered, and retrieved a copy of the information from the bookshelves, drawers, on the floor, or hovering, they carefully studied all of it.
Felix himself stared at the bell-shaped crystal jar, and soon, the first shadow put the folder back on the shelf and came over and merged with him. Felix’s body suddenly froze, and after two minutes, he finally finished absorbing the knowledge.
Then the second and third shadows returned, and this time Felix remained frozen for five minutes, during which he resembled a statue made of stone and clay. Felix sighed and resignedly took the Ravenclaw’s crown from his ring, which he hadn’t used in a long time, and said to himself, ” Should I say that I am lucky that Valen left this for me?” He put on the crown, and a cool sensation spread throughout his body.
More shadows approached him…
In the early morning, Felix held a floating hourglass in his hand, and the crystal jar’s cover in front of him also opened, wisps of air currents injected into the hourglass – this is the harvest of his full effort all night, a mere glimpse into the field of time, but just this insignificant step is enough for him to crack the secret of how to replenish the energy of the hourglass.
He also went through the records of the Ministry of Magic’s experiments on time travel – more detailed than the information collected by Nicolas Flamel, and there are even many personal descriptions made by time travellers themselves. For example, the experiences of Eloise Mintumble, who went five centuries back in time, provided a reference point; her autobiography occupied twelve parchments, and the analysis and speculation surrounding those twelve parchments occupied a full thirty drawers.
…
When Felix stopped, the hourglass floating in midair fell into his hand, the fine white sand in the hourglass coated with a golden layer of matter.
“One hourglass may not have enough energy, and two hourglasses are questionable, I should make more preparations.” He turned back to the closet, staring at the hourglasses of various shapes hanging in the closet, and muttered in a small voice, “It’s only a temporary loan.”
He waved his hand, and the glass front door of the closet opened, and one hourglass flew toward Felix … After an unknown amount of time, hundreds of hourglasses floated crookedly around Felix, at the cost of an empty closet and a dull crystal jar.
His magic power also left with only a trace.
At that moment, Felix jerked his head up, his eyes fixed in one direction, and the echo bird he had left behind got triggered!
He gathered the full hourglass and rubbed his face, the effects of the polyjuice potion long
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