Chapter 371

Very smoothly, Harry met Sirius, went to Gillyness with him, and arrived in time for dinner.

"The Ministry of Magic is preparing to restart the Doctor project," Harry said casually at the dinner table, "It's the official 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 ponder, 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 okay, it's settled, I'll return the TARDIS to the Ministry of Magic, and then it's over, I won't become a Doctor, and I won't 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 and 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, looking at the two of them cautiously.

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

"In short, you deserve better, don't delay 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, do you know that the Doctor always needs to maintain fate?"

"What will happen then?"

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

"But if you don't say it, 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 is not 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 somewhat awkwardly, and immediately called him out in a tone that was slightly blaming.

"What are you doing?" Sirius scolded unceremoniously, "Even Harry can see it, Tonks is obviously interested in you."

"But, as I said, I am a werewolf, and I am also too old." Lupin said without ripples, "I only count as having a human look 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 say you don't like her, that's fine, but you are pulling this age and werewolf thing here, these things that are meaningless in her eyes. If you ask me, pulling and dragging for these things is completely torturing yourself."

"Listen, Remus." He pulled Lupin's shoulder and stared into his eyes, "Torturing yourself is the stupidest thing, you not only make things worse, hurt the people who love you, and, are you happy yourself?"

"I still feel I am delaying her." Lupin shook his head, "Or change an 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 is also possible that she has been in Gillyness, seeing me surrounded by people, and has developed strange emotions? I think, if she invests in the Doctor project and works seriously for a period of time, perhaps she will forget me."

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

"Let's see, godfather." Harry advised, "In terms 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. Weasley 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, stood at the door of the room that had once served as the office for the Doctors, and watched the slightly messy room silently.

"Not here, child." Ollivander suddenly appeared behind him, "Let's 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 set of steps.

Tonks walked out, her eyes red.

"I'll return her to you," she said unceremoniously, "That's it, then I'll leave, bye."

"She chose you." Ollivander stopped Tonks, who was stepping out, "The TARDIS recognized 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 outer shell, "Right 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 touch of sadness, "At that time we still used 'Unspeakable' 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, more precisely, he knew what it 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 will become much simpler. But if, a person realizes that he needs 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, which was as high as a church, filled with high shelves, and on the shelves were many small, gray, dusty glass balls. Under the illumination of the wall candle holders between the shelves, the glass balls shone with a dim light. The candle flames here were 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 to 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 the prophecy balls are stored."

"Prophecy balls?"

"If someone makes a prophecy, they can use a prophecy ball to record it." Snape explained patiently, "The person involved in the prophecy can use the prophecy ball 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 balls?" Harry felt that the more he asked, the more questions he had, "And, I still don't quite understand, prophets use prophecy balls to record prophecies, what are they trying to do?"

"This has to do with fate. Fate borrows the mouth of the prophet to guide the world to change the decisions they make, and finally, leads the situation in the direction of destiny." Ollivander stopped, turned to the side shelf, "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 effortlessly, the so-called fate is actually that annoying Death. He didn't speak, just watched Ollivander take down one of the prophecy balls, then pointed his wand at its top.

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

"The last day, a plain, ordinary, unimportant 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, comes information projected in time and space, an ancient mystery... Shh, be quiet."