Chapter 291: Do You Still Want It?
Chapter 291: Do You Still Want It?
Two days later, early in the morning, Ivan was enjoying his breakfast in the Great Hall. He was a bit puzzled because his first elective class was about to start, yet the Time Turner he had been eagerly anticipating had not yet been delivered to him.
Just as he finished his breakfast, Gryffindor Prefect Percy suddenly walked over, looking rather odd, and informed Ivan that Dumbledore wanted to see him in the Headmaster's Office.
Ivan's brows furrowed. What could Dumbledore want with him at this time? Ivan suddenly had a premonition that getting the Time Turner might not be as easy as he had thought.
With this in mind, Ivan got up and made his way to the Headmaster's Office. After saying the password Percy had given him, he ascended the spiral staircase and entered the Headmaster's Office.
The Headmaster's Office looked no different from usual. The circular room was spacious, with a long table in the center, scattered with letters. Dumbledore was sitting in his chair, flipping through one of them.
The portraits on the walls all turned to look at Ivan as he entered, curiously sizing him up. Fawkes, who had been dozing on a branch, opened his eyes.
"Good morning, Professor Dumbledore!" Ivan said politely, then added tentatively, "Is there something you needed to see me about?"
Dumbledore seemed to be completely engrossed in the letter, and only noticed Ivan's presence when he spoke.
Dumbledore placed the letter face down on the table and picked up a timetable from the side, turning it around to face Ivan.
"Minerva delivered your timetable last night. I was surprised to see that you seem to have chosen all the courses. Could you tell me why you made that decision?"
"Learning an extra subject can't hurt, can it? Besides, I believe the professors at Hogwarts have their reasons for offering these courses!" Ivan explained confidently.
Dumbledore's expression was somewhat exasperated. "I'm glad to see your enthusiasm for learning, but I must point out that everyone's time is limited, and many of the classes overlap. I hope you'll learn how to make choices!"
"That's not an unsolvable problem, is it? Professor Mcgonagall didn't tell us we couldn't choose all the courses when she had us select our classes", Ivan interjected, then continued earnestly.
"You can't stop a student's thirst for knowledge!"
Dumbledore fell silent, his long fingers steepled together, and his blue eyes, magnified by his half-moon glasses, scrutinized Ivan.
Ivan held his ground, determined not to back down. The Time Turner was something he absolutely had to obtain this school year; it was the core of his plans, and he wouldn't give it up for anything.
Ivan also realized that Dumbledore didn't seem to want him to get his hands on it.
They stared at each other for a while, with Ivan maintaining his Occlumency shield. However, he didn't feel any attempt to breach his mind, unsure whether Dumbledore's Legilimency skills were too advanced for him to notice or if Dumbledore hadn't used it at all.
After a long silence, Dumbledore finally spoke. "Of course, no headmaster would ever discourage a student's pursuit of knowledge."
Ivan let out a slow breath of relief, fearing that Dumbledore might have outright refused, which would have left him with no chance of obtaining the Time Turner.
Then, Ivan saw Dumbledore open a drawer and pull out a long, thin golden chain. Hanging from the chain was a gleaming timepiece.
Ivan's gaze was immediately drawn to it. He knew that was the thing he had been longing for.
"What is that, Professor?" Ivan tried to keep his excitement in check, asking in a calm tone.
"A Time Turner, it allows you to go back in time!" Dumbledore said with a meaningful look.
"Isn't that a very powerful ability?" Dumbledore suddenly asked.
Ivan nodded; reversing time was an incredibly powerful ability no matter where you were.
He could think of a hundred ways to profit from using the Time Turner, and it would be invaluable in battle.
With proper planning, he could have countless versions of himself at the same point in time, forming an Ivan-Hals army!
Of course, for Ivan, the most important thing was that the Time Turner could allow him to go back to a time before everything happened, and reverse the outcome of Aisha's attack!
Perhaps sensing some of Ivan's thoughts, Dumbledore warned him, "But if you use it with the intention of changing the past, you will gain nothing!"
The hope that had ignited in Ivan's heart was doused like a bucket of cold water had been poured over it.
Dumbledore folded his hands, his blue eyes fixed intently on Ivan, and continued.
"I hope you understand that the power of the Time Turner is also limited and extremely dangerous; otherwise, the Ministry of Magic wouldn't have locked it away!"
"In stories that left a deep impression on me, there was a person who once tried to change the past."
"That person went to great lengths to obtain a very powerful Time Turner and went back a year to prevent a deeply painful event—his wife died in a conflict!"
At this point, Dumbledore paused.
"Then what happened?" Ivan asked, frowning.
"The person successfully went back a year and waited at the place where his wife died. He encountered a drunkard who was trying to follow his wife, and they got into a fight. The drunkard, in a fit of anger, cast a large-scale explosive spell."
"So his wife was killed, right?" Ivan guessed the outcome.
Dumbledore nodded and informed Ivan that the person returned to the original time point and told the story to some people.
He deeply regretted it and told everyone that he would prepare thoroughly and use the Time Turner again, going back even further to kill the drunkard in advance!
"Did he fail the second time as well?" Ivan was puzzled; with the experience from the first attempt, it should not have gone wrong again.
"He disappeared!" Dumbledore's answer surprised Ivan. He continued without pausing, speaking rapidly.
"However, more than half a year later, someone found his body in a place, along with a broken Time Turner. After some investigation, it was determined that the person had been dead for almost two years by the time he was found. No one knew what he had experienced when he went back in time."
"Some speculated that he was killed by someone while searching for the drunkard. Others suspected that after failing the second time, he kept using the Time Turner repeatedly, failing each time, and eventually went mad, destroying the Time Turner and taking his own life!"
After finishing, Dumbledore looked at Ivan with a blank expression, his blue eyes seeming to say,
Do you still want it?
(End of Chapter)
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