Chapter 132: Time Travel

"I can't tell you all the details of the plan—it was meticulously designed by the Department of Mysteries to combat the Dark Lord." Ollivander said softly, "What I can tell you is that the essence of Priori Incantatem is time magic, so we'll add a structure to your wand so that when you duel Voldemort, it can tap into the power of time to defeat him."

"To be honest, I didn't quite follow." Harry scratched his head.

"This device can greatly amplify the power of one specific spell." Ollivander slipped a small sleeve over the tip of Harry's wand, "It still relies on the mechanism of Priori Incantatem—if before the duel you cast the same spell multiple times, then during Priori Incantatem, you'll see multiple identical spells emerge."

"Usually, the effects of Priori Incantatem are released in sequence," Ollivander explained the device's principle, "but if we accelerate the process—"

"Then the spell's power would be greatly strengthened." Harry nodded in sudden understanding.

"Clever boy, but now this device needs to be charged." Ollivander patted his head, "Let Doctor Doudou help you."

"What do you mean?"

"The Time-Instant Reservoir stores temporal potential energy—in simple terms, you need several time travels." Doudou said, "From now on, call me 'Doctor Doudou.'"

"Alright, Doctor." Harry shrugged, "But you said time travel—is that even possible?"

"In a sense, we can only perform incomplete time travel—that is, we can return to the past, but not travel to the future." Doctor Doudou said, "We built a large device called the TARDIS—it's far more stable and safer than a Time-Turner. You seem unfamiliar with Time-Turners?"

"To be honest, I've never heard of this before." Harry looked confused.

"Anyway, until July 1st, I have the right to use the TARDIS." Doctor Doudou walked to Ollivander's wardrobe and pulled open the door.

Harry followed Doudou in surprise through the passage inside the wardrobe, stepping into a vast, spacious control room, where he could see even more complex structures descending down the stairs.

"Time travel is an extremely dangerous act. Remember this: never attempt to change what has already happened—no one knows what consequences it might trigger." Doctor Doudou warned Harry seriously, "Of course, we're just going for a sightseeing trip—I'll make sure you don't cause any trouble."

"I understand…" Harry replied dully.

"So, where's your first destination? Better not go too far—last month would be fine."

"Um, if possible…" Harry was still a bit dazed, "Could we go back and watch the moment of the Quidditch victory again?"

"Of course, that's simple…" Doctor Doudou fiddled with the controls, then announced, "We've arrived," amid a grating screech of brakes.

Harry cautiously opened the TARDIS door and found himself in his dormitory, watching himself step out of the wardrobe.

"This is the Chameleon Circuit—it disguises the TARDIS as something unremarkable." Doctor Doudou explained, "Oh, but our location seems slightly off—if you'd like, you can walk over, or we can adjust… wait, who's that?"

Harry stared at the empty room, and under Doctor Doudou's prompting, he faintly saw a translucent human shape.

"It's me," Zhang Qiu dispelled her invisibility, "Aren't you supposed to be playing the match?"

"But I remember you were in the stands?" Harry frowned at her.

"Oh, that means we're both doing that thing," she grinned mischievously, "You know what I mean."

"You're also time traveling? But what are you doing in my dorm?" When Harry said the words "time traveling," he felt a sudden dread—as if something was watching him.

"Correct." Zhang Qiu admitted openly, "Neville needs to write the password on a slip of paper, and then the slip gets lost. I finally convinced him to write it down, then came here at a time when no one would be around to steal it."

"But how did you get in? The Gryffindor password—" Harry clapped a hand over his mouth, "Oh, so that's why you kept asking me the password—every single one—just to come back here and steal the note?"

"Yes, had to make up for the Divination I missed." Zhang Qiu shrugged, "But I used a secret spell to travel—you could think of it as a one-way train, each stop lasting only half an hour."

Harry noticed her body was gradually fading.

"By the way, where's your next stop?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. This spell is completely random—fate will take me where I need to go." Zhang Qiu said calmly, "Actually, this is already my fourth stop—I never expected to meet you here."

"That sounds a little odd." Harry sensed something wrong.

"At my second stop, I met Neville—he was also…" Zhang Qiu blinked, and Harry realized she wasn't going to say the word.

"But Neville? Why?" Harry wanted to ask more, but Zhang Qiu's figure was already growing fainter.

"I'll give you a tip—go to Divination class." Zhang Qiu left him with one final phrase, "The first Divination class."

After her image vanished completely, Harry was once again left bewildered.

"Let's get back to the TARDIS." Doctor Doudou brought him back to the wardrobe and closed the door.

"Don't let anyone else know you're time traveling." Doctor Doudou said, "Not even someone else who's time traveling. Of course, you can hint at it, understand each other silently—but never say the word."

"When I said it, I felt a sudden heart palpitation." Harry touched his chest, "Why?"

"You must understand: although wizards have invented many methods of time travel, time itself dislikes our constant meddling." Doctor Doudou said, "It easily triggers temporal paradoxes. When you feel that palpitation, it's your magic—or a wizard's instinct—warning you."

"I see." Harry nodded. He wasn't unfamiliar with temporal paradoxes—the simplest being if someone went back and killed his own grandfather, creating a contradiction.

"But what consequences would a paradox cause?" Harry asked curiously.

"I don't know—but they'd be extremely dangerous." Doctor Doudou shook his head, "You wouldn't want to try."

"Alright, let's go back to the first day of term." Harry said, "I remember Professor Trelawney said I attended the first Divination class. If that wasn't her hallucination, then I really was there. Now that we can time travel, maybe we should just go finish that class."

"That's another paradox." Doctor Doudou mused, "If you hadn't attended that class, no one would have said you were there. Even if you started time traveling, you'd never think to attend Divination."

"But now, you'd better go—because Trelawney knows you were in that class. To avoid a paradox, when you gain the ability to time travel, you must align with what has already happened. It's strange: whether you attend or not, a consistent time loop is logically possible—but the fact is, you did attend."

"So does that mean I could've chosen either way? Then why did I end up choosing to attend?" Harry was confused again, "I wasn't interested in Divination—I had no intention of going."

"We still understand too little about time itself. Perhaps it has its own will?" Doctor Doudou shook his head, "Take your attendance: besides skipping class, countless other possibilities are logically valid—but time itself made the choice. It wanted you to attend, because that's fate."

"Fate." Harry had heard that word countless times now, "So Zhang Qiu's Divination always shows fate, and time always tries to steer events back onto their destined path?"

"Often, we're forced to work for time." Doctor Doudou sighed, "For time travelers, you sometimes discover that past facts contradict your memory—then you must act to make them align."

"Changing the past causes paradoxes, but sometimes not changing it does too—and sometimes, either way is harmless." Doctor Doudou summarized his experience while manipulating the controls, "Good news is, I'm watching over you—you won't run into trouble. Come on, it's time for Divination."

Harry quietly stepped out the door, this time emerging from a closet in an empty classroom, with the Divination tower not far ahead.

He noticed Hermione hurrying toward him with books in hand, making Harry alert again—because Hermione was also present in her Muggle Studies class.

Harry had reason to suspect Hermione was also a time traveler—her secret to attending every class was going back to retake them.

He didn't greet Hermione, slipping quietly into the classroom instead.

Professor Trelawney asked students to read tea leaves. From Harry's cup, she saw an ominous black dog—something he dismissed as nonsense. His godfather's Animagus form had nothing to do with omens.

Harry boredly scanned the room and noticed Hermione clearly disliked the class. In the corner, Zhang Qiu's fading figure waved at him.

"Alright, Doctor." Back in the TARDIS, Harry spoke listlessly, "Do we keep traveling?"

"Yes, we're nowhere near fully charged." Doctor Doudou said, "If you don't know where to go, we can use the TARDIS's tracking function—see what the other two time travelers are up to."

With Harry's indifferent attitude, the TARDIS began tracking the antics of his two classmates. After witnessing their insane exploits in full, Harry had only one thought: it's good to be alive.