Chapter 371: Twice Before

Very smoothly, Harry met Sirius, went to Gilnis with him, and caught up with the meal in time.

"The Ministry of Magic is preparing to restart the Doctor project," Harry said casually at the dinner table. "The formal kind."

"When?" Tonks's tone carried a trace of vigilance.

"Tomorrow afternoon," Harry answered without thinking. "We are going to the Ministry of Magic at one o'clock, he hopes to bring the TARDIS over."

"This is a good thing," Lupin smiled. "Tonks, you can truly become a Doctor."

After a slight pause, Tonks said something astonishing: "No, I don't want to."

"Eh? Why?" Sirius asked curiously. "I thought you would be very happy, after all, you have wanted to be an Auror since you were a child, and the Doctor is undoubtedly a more advanced choice."

"Perhaps," Tonks looked elsewhere. "But if possible, I'd rather stay here."

"Are you not going to return the TARDIS?" Harry frowned.

"Of course, I will return it. However..." Tonks looked a bit irritable. "No, it's fine, it's settled, I'll return the TARDIS to the Ministry of Magic, and then it's over, I won't become a Doctor, nor will I participate in any project."

"Oh?" Sirius's doubt seemed deeper. "Then you, stay here? But the mission is over, what are you going to do?"

"Cooking is fine, I made this meal, what do you think?"

"No, Tonks, I hope more that you go to become a Doctor," Lupin said sincerely. "You understand those theories very well, your talent shouldn't be buried, we all know you yearn for that kind of life, you have always had an adventurous spirit."

"You don't know what I'm talking about at all." Tonks's tone was a bit dissatisfied.

Harry stopped his movements and looked at the two of them cautiously.

"I know, but I have also advised you several times, you should go out and see," Lupin's tone had no waves. "I am too old, and it's a bit dangerous, after all, I am a werewolf. Yes, it's nothing here, but in other parts of the Wizarding World, there is no one who doesn't hate werewolves."

"In short, you deserve better, don't delay yourself on me."

Harry heard a trace of bitterness from his mouth.

"I'm not saying this, this can still be explained," Tonks looked even more irritable. "The problem is if I become a Doctor, you know the Doctor always needs to maintain fate, right?"

"What will happen then?"

"I can't watch—at least not in this matter, no, in short, that's it, you wouldn't understand even if I told you."

"But if you don't tell us, we definitely won't understand," Sirius said, laughing and crying.

"Ah, perhaps, this is also my fault," Harry scratched his head embarrassedly. "I remember Clara said that although fate can be easily broken, if it involves me, it will become a bit dangerous, that is, it's not easy to say."

"This isn't your fault," Tonks sighed. "Let's eat first."

The four of them ate something dully, then Tonks got up and began to clean up the plates.

"I will be there on time tomorrow," she only said this one sentence.

Sirius saw Lupin sitting in place a bit awkwardly, and immediately called him out in a tone that was slightly blaming.

"What are you being foolish for?" Sirius scolded unceremoniously. "Even Harry can see it, Tonks is clearly interested in you."

"But, as I said, I am a werewolf, and I am too old," Lupin said without waves. "I only count as barely having a human appearance here, but for Tonks, she can't stay in the same place for long."

"You are also failing her now," Sirius said dissatisfiedly. "If you said you didn't like her, that would be fine, but you're pulling this age and werewolf stuff here, things that are meaningless in her eyes. If you ask me, dragging things out for these things is purely self-torture."

"Listen, Remus," he grabbed Lupin's shoulder and stared into his eyes. "Self-torture is the stupidest thing. You not only make things worse and hurt the people who love you, but are you happy yourself?"

"I still feel I am delaying her," Lupin shook his head. "Or change to another excuse, just say I don't like her, I'm not ready yet, in short, I think I should let Tonks do something else."

"It's also possible that she has been in Gilnis, seeing me surrounded by people, and developed strange emotions? I think, if she invests in the Doctor project and works seriously for a period of time, maybe she will forget me."

Sirius was silent. He couldn't say whether Lupin was too inferior, too cowardly, or if everything was just a beautiful dream as he said?

"Let's see, Godfather," Harry advised. "In matters of feelings, it's not convenient for us to make decisions for them."

After a slight silence, Harry suggested that Sirius send him back to the Burrow. He vaguely felt that perhaps after he and his godfather left, Lupin and Tonks would talk again... or even have a fight.

Early the next morning, Harry followed Mr. Wei Silai to the Ministry of Magic, then took the elevator to the Department of Mysteries alone.

With a strange mood, he walked past several closed doors and stood at the entrance of the room that had once served as the Doctors' office, silently watching the slightly messy room.

"Not here, child," Ollivander suddenly appeared behind him. "We'll go to the hall on the side."

Harry followed him and came to the hall with the stone archway again. Snape and Donna were already sitting on the steps, and Harry walked to their side silently.

Then, just as the watch was about to reach nine o'clock, a familiar whistling sound appeared, and the TARDIS was slowly taking shape on another step.

Tonks walked out, her eyes red.

"I'm returning her to you," she said unceremoniously. "That's it, and then I'll leave, bye-bye."

"She chose you," Ollivander called out to Tonks, who was lifting her feet to walk out. "The TARDIS recognizes you."

"Yes, but I won't do it, I don't want to be this Doctor," Tonks shrugged.

"How interesting," Ollivander smiled, stepping forward to stroke the TARDIS's shell. "In this room, the Doctor refused to become the Doctor... twice."

"Twice? Who else?" Perhaps out of curiosity, Tonks's footsteps stopped.

"That Doctor, the original Doctor," Ollivander recalled with a trace of sadness. "At that time, we still used 'Unspeakables' to refer to members of the Department of Mysteries, and later he said he didn't want to reorganize, because he didn't know what the Doctor meant."

"No, to be more precise, he knew what this meant, but he didn't have the confidence to do it, or rather, he didn't have the confidence to ensure that every Doctor could do it." Ollivander knocked on the TARDIS window, and it suddenly became invisible. "If fate is just a topic waiting to be explored, then things would be much simpler. But if, a person realizes that they need to give up something for this..."

"Is every Doctor like this?" Tonks stared straight at him. "Does every Doctor know in advance—"

"Let's go, I'll take you to a place," Ollivander didn't answer directly.

"I hope this helps the project," Donna muttered.

After turning a few corners, they entered a huge room. It was as high as a church, filled with high shelves, and on the shelves were many small, dusty glass spheres. Under the illumination of the wall sconces between the shelves, the glass spheres flashed with dim light. The candlelight here was blue, giving people a gloomy feeling.

"Row fifty-three, I think we need to go left," Ollivander said calmly.

"Where is this, what is it for?" Tonks asked softly.

"The Hall of Fate," Ollivander walked straight toward one of the glass shelves and began to search among them.

"He is playing mystery," Snape shook his head gently. "In fact, this is where prophecy spheres are stored."

"Prophecy spheres?"

"If someone makes a prophecy, they can use a prophecy sphere to record it," Snape explained patiently. "The person involved in the prophecy can use the prophecy sphere to play it for others to hear, or, if the prophecy has already been realized, then anyone can hear that prophecy."

"Sounds reasonable, but why does the Ministry of Magic collect prophecy spheres?" Harry felt that the more questions he asked, the more he had. "And, I still don't quite understand, prophecy makers use prophecy spheres to record prophecies, what are they trying to achieve?"

"This is related to fate. Fate uses the mouth of prophecy makers to guide the world to change the decisions they make, and finally, leads the situation toward the direction of destiny," Ollivander stopped and turned into the shelf on the side. "And the Doctor project hopes to use this to understand the likes and dislikes of fate... let's listen to this prophecy."

Harry thought of it without effort. The so-called fate is actually that annoying Death. He didn't speak, just watched silently as Ollivander took down one of the prophecy spheres, then pointed his wand at its top.

The prophecy sphere began to make a sound in a storytelling tone.

"The last day, an ordinary, common, insignificant small town, it will send a message to the whole world. The bell rings through every dark corner, no one can understand, but everyone feels fear. Except for one person, a person who stays for love, in that burial ground that should have died, information projected in time and space circulates, an ancient mystery... shh, quiet." ===== CHAPTER 372 =====