Chapter 433: Time Magic

No one can change time, but wizards can use time to change themselves.

Remember, your actions altering history are themselves part of history.

Wizard Sean took out the Time-Turner and the book detailing its rules.

On the book’s cover, the yellowed parchment spat out this maxim.

He stared at it thoughtfully, then recalled all the rules again.

For example: never let anyone see you.

This was also what Professor Dumbledore warned Hermione and the others about.

Another rule: you may use it for no more than five hours.

This point was highlighted in red and bold, with several cases listed to explain it.

These cases especially caught Wizard Sean’s attention—he always understood one thing: the deeper your understanding of magic, the greater your control over its power.

Knowledge and wisdom are a wizard’s most precious treasures.

What troubled him even more was that these cases were provided by the Department of Mysteries.

There lie magic’s deepest secrets: the brain, death, prophecy, time, love…

As a Hogwarts student, Wizard Sean had rarely encountered any materials about the Department of Mysteries—what they did was strictly confidential.

Those who worked there were called Silence-keepers; no one knew where they worked or what they did.

Moreover, the Department of Mysteries possessed great autonomy—it was the only department in the Ministry of Magic not required to obey the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

They could even ignore the Minister’s interference; for instance, Rodolphus Lestrange once tried to shut down the Department of Mysteries but failed.

{Though many fantasies surround this subject, even in the magical world, time travel can only be achieved to a limited extent.}

{This topic is shrouded in extreme secrecy—the Department of Mysteries is currently investigating—but magic seems only able to carry you so far.}

So far? Wizard Sean wondered. Is that why it’s five hours?

{The following passage is from Sol Crook, who spent his entire life studying time magic in the Department of Mysteries.}

Wizard Sean read on:

{According to our current investigations, the maximum duration of time reversal is approximately five hours, without causing serious harm to the traveler or time itself.}

{We have successfully encapsulated individual Hour Versal Charms in small enchanted hourglasses; these spells can be worn around a wizard or witch’s neck and rotated according to the number of hours the user wishes to revisit.}

The yellowed script introduced a spell Wizard Sean had never heard of: the Hour Versal Charm.

This was how the Time-Turner worked.

The Department of Mysteries offered no further explanation as to who invented this charm.

The text then returned to the five-hour limit:

{All attempts to reverse time beyond a few hours have resulted in catastrophic harm to the wizard or witch involved.}

{Since Eloise Mintumble was trapped in 1402 for five days in 1899, all such experiments have been abandoned.}

{We now know her body had aged five hundred years by the time she returned to the present, and due to irreparable damage, she died shortly after we rescued her at St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.}

{More importantly, her five days in the distant past caused massive disruptions in the lives of everyone she encountered, drastically altering their life paths—so much so that at least twenty-five descendants “never came into existence” and vanished from the present.}

{Finally, in the days following Mintumble’s recovery, disturbing signs emerged indicating that time itself had been disturbed by such a grave violation of its laws.}

{Her Tuesday after reappearing lasted two and a half full days, while Thursday passed in just four hours.}

{The Ministry of Magic went to great lengths to conceal this incident; since then, anyone researching time travel has been subjected to the harshest laws and penalties.}

Killing the user, causing unpredictable and horrific effects on other wizards, even altering time itself…

These were the historical cases cited by the Department of Mysteries to show every Time-Turner user the terror of time magic.

Wizard Sean silently memorized these examples and recited once more the Department of Mysteries’ final warning:

{Most in the magical world would be surprised to learn that Time-Turners are typically used only to resolve the most trivial time-management problems, never for more important or significant purposes.}

{For as Sol Crook said, “Just as the human mind cannot comprehend time, it cannot comprehend the harm we inflict by presuming to interfere with its laws.”}

Immediately, he turned the hourglass three notches.

The bright Hope Room vanished; Wizard Sean felt himself hurtling backward at great speed.

Blurred colors and shapes flashed past; his eardrums swelled, and he heard nothing—then his feet touched solid ground, and everything sharpened again—

He stood inside the Hope Room, before an empty table, thin morning mist drifting in through the open door.

He had returned to five o’clock in the morning.

Hogwarts was still fast asleep.

It worked—

Wizard Sean examined the Time-Turner closely.

Of course, wizards could not understand time magic—but if that were true, where had the Hour Versal Charm come from?

Carrying this question and a cautious attitude, Wizard Sean fully utilized his time.

…

For four consecutive weeks, Wizard Sean became increasingly elusive.

During this time, a Quidditch match took place: Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff.

In the morning, the weather was clear, the sun bright, a pleasant breeze gently blowing.

“Perfect weather for a Quidditch match!”

At the Gryffindor table, Wood enthusiastically piled scrambled eggs onto each player’s plate, then hurried over to the Ravenclaw table to bring some to Harry.

“Harry, snap out of it—you need a proper breakfast.”

Harry had recently struggled to balance training in the Hope Room with Quidditch practice, and he instinctively searched for the black-haired wizard.

But that one glance widened his pupils.

Wizard Sean was sitting at the table reading—but who was that figure flashing past the Great Hall’s window? It was Wizard Sean again.

He rubbed his eyes hard, dropped his tray, and ran to the door—the figure was gone.

Afternoon.

Harry walked toward Gryffindor Tower, picked up his Firebolt, and joined the throng streaming across the grounds, but his thoughts remained inside the castle, chasing that shadow.

As he donned his bright red robes in the locker room, his only comfort was his absolute confidence in victory.