Chapter 246

Harry looked at the frozen figures and couldn't help asking, "Can I split the energy from the Time-Instant Matrix to give to others, so they can respond to the call too?"

"That's probably impossible—or at least, beyond our current technology," Barty said, drawing his wand. "Look, in this frozen time, we can't even cast magic."

Can't cast magic? Harry's mind stirred—perhaps here, the Elder Wand could still cast.

He walked over to Dumbledore's side; the powerful wizard still held the pose of battle. Harry gently pulled the elder wand from his hand and whispered, "Lumos."

A white light glowed from the wand's tip. Harry felt a surge of relief, then quietly slipped it into his pocket.

"Come on, Harry, stand with me," Barty said. "If the calling ritual begins, we can return together. Or, take another look—do you want to bring anything else?"

Harry scanned the surroundings. He saw the tower of the final battle was missing two corners—the painting hadn't yet entered this shattered time. On the ground, Dumbledore's severed half-hand—he decided to take it.

Though he had long accepted Dumbledore's death, Harry didn't want the beloved headmaster to have only a symbolic grave. Even if he couldn't carry the whole body, taking a part was better than nothing. Burying half his hand and his wand in the headmaster's tomb—that was all Harry felt he could do.

"Hurry, Harry, I can feel it," Barty called. "The call has begun."

Harry rushed to his side and grabbed his hand. Barty's hand and body were warm, golden light beginning to shimmer from him, spreading to Harry.

A hand painted with nail polish flickered into view before them. Barty seized it without hesitation—the owner materialized fully. Harry saw her face and his heart lurched.

She wasn't anyone from the Ministry. She was the girl who represented the Wolf.

Harry felt a pulling force growing stronger, like a Portkey—but it was still too weak to drag them both. They had to wait a little longer…

Suddenly, the girl's expression turned to shock. Then, as if struck, she collapsed backward.

The pulling force vanished. The ritual was broken. Barty lunged forward—but caught nothing. His face turned grim.

Harry quietly released Barty's hand and stepped back a few paces.

"This is bad. The ritual was interrupted. Ross must have been attacked," Barty said, defeated. "We're stuck here to die."

"It's just interrupted. The Ministry can easily hold another," Harry ventured, his right hand gripping the Elder Wand.

"I'm tired. I don't want to play this role anymore," Barty said. "Let me tell you—I'm not Barty."

"I know," Harry nodded. "But I think you'll be my ally."

"You've guessed something, haven't you?" He smiled. "If the calling ritual hadn't been interrupted, we could've kept playing along silently. I'm not Barty—but I could be the Doctor. The Tenth Doctor."

"Was it your ally who performed the ritual? Even if she failed, won't the organization send someone else to rescue you?" Harry asked.

"No. Because this was my private act. I didn't want to be buried here as planned. And I didn't want you to die alongside Dumbledore and Voldemort," Barty groaned, clutching his hair. "I just wanted to be the Doctor."

"There must be another way. Let's walk around—see if we can find a way out," Harry said, half-believing him. He wondered—if this place connected to the afterlife, perhaps they could still pass through the Veil back to reality.

"Impossible. This place cannot connect to the world beyond the Veil," Barty seemed to read his thoughts. "This is the end of time—a realm even Death cannot reach."

"What do you mean?"

"The explosion of the TARDIS was powerful enough to destroy all of spacetime. If time is a river, then we're standing at its end—not its natural end, but one artificially created," Barty sighed. "Can you imagine? In the void, there's a long riverbed, and the flow of time surges from one end, endlessly chasing the distant horizon along a dried-up channel."

"I understand," Harry murmured. "Doctor Who explained it to me."

"Yes, usually things are this simple to grasp," Barty sat again on the rubble, gesturing with his hands. "But don't forget the word I used at the start: this river exists within the void."

"Now, when the river flowed to a certain point, the TARDIS exploded. The blast was so immense it shattered the river, the riverbed, and the stable space around it. The river couldn't flow into the void—so it stopped entirely. And once the River of Time halts, all its waters freeze."

"What consequences does that cause?" Harry struggled to comprehend.

"Once time is frozen, no one can time-travel anymore. No spell, no magical artifact—no one can return to the past," Barty said. "But more importantly, we're cut off from the future too. The 'Absolute Now'—whether it still moves forward or not—is no longer connected to us."

"So the timeline's stuck. You should've realized the problem when you arrived," Harry recalled the Doctors' frantic desperation over being unable to time-travel. "But why? Unless… you did this on purpose?"

"Yes. To sever Death's interference in the mortal world. His realm—the world behind the Veil—exists at the head of time, the Absolute Now. This explosion used the void to separate the mortal present from the Absolute Now. He can't meddle in this world anymore." Barty's face softened with satisfaction.

"It seems your research into magic runs deeper than I imagined," Harry said. "You not only discovered Death's existence, found His location, and managed to isolate Him."

"To study magic without limits, we devised this plan. The magical world doesn't need gods," Barty said solemnly.

"You say…" Harry wasn't sure if the idea was right or wrong, so he changed the subject. "But where are we now? Still inside that frozen river?"

"We're inside fragments of the river," Barty said. "Imagine it like water droplets splashed up by the explosion—but before they could fall back, the river froze, trapping them mid-air."

"After the river froze, you can't think of time linearly anymore. It's now a single point. Everyone lives in the same second, and that second will never pass. But they can still move freely—as long as they don't time-travel, everything remains exactly as it was before the explosion."

"True—if you don't time-travel," Harry agreed. "I never thought about, or needed to understand, these theories."

"Time is a point. So those inside the point can pull people from outside back in. That's the ritual's principle—but it requires immense magical power, so many participants are needed." Barty continued. "Theoretically, you could use this ritual to pull Death back—but who'd be that desperate to die?"

"What would happen if you pulled Death back?" Harry asked curiously.

"Imagine Death as a father. We wizards are his favored younger son. Muggles are his neglected elder son. Normally, the father works outside and doesn't care much what happens at home. But one day, the younger son locks the door to keep the father out, so he can do whatever he wants inside." Barty chuckled. "When the father comes home and finds he can't enter, he's furious. Now, if someone performs this ritual for Death, it's like reopening the door—angry Father returns home."

"Will he punish the wizards?" Harry asked.

"If he finds nothing's wrong, he might just scold the younger son and give him a slap on the behind. In reality, that might mean more Squibs or Obscurials are born." Barty suddenly remembered something. "But if the house is in chaos—and Death holds dominion over time…"

"He'll rewind everything to the point before any of this happened. Or even further back—to the moment before the younger son even conceived the idea of locking the door. Then he'll redirect the River of Time, sending it elsewhere, to a path where the younger son never had such a ridiculous thought." Barty shook his head. "These are just guesses. How can mortals truly fathom a god's mind?"

"Alright, it sounds plausible," Harry said, thinking of another question. "But if all it takes is the TARDIS explosion to complete this plan, why not just quietly blow her up on any random day? Why involve all the Doctors—and why drag me and Dumbledore into it?"