Chapter 817: Temporal Exile
Chapter 817: Temporal Exile
"Albus Dumbledore... has he gone back in time by a century?"
Kyle's heart skipped a beat as this thought crossed his mind.
He had assumed Victor wanted to continue their discussion about alchemy, but he never expected this topic to surface.
But how did he know?
Kyle was certain that on the day Dumbledore left Godric's Hollow, only the two of them were present. Bathilda had been upstairs and was unaware of what transpired downstairs.
How, then, could Professor Victor, all the way from France, have learned of this?
Kyle tightened his grip on his wand, but his expression remained calm and indifferent. "You should ask Professor McGonagall about that. How could I possibly know about Professor Dumbledore's itinerary?"
"You don't know?" Victor furrowed his brows.
"Of course not. I've only just graduated," Kyle said. "And going back a hundred years—that's a bit far-fetched, isn't it? The Time-Turners we have now can't achieve that."
"Not the modern ones, but a Time-Turner from a millennium ago." Victor rubbed his forehead. "Strange, Nicolas clearly told me he gave that item to you... Did I remember it wrong?"
"Uh, wait a moment..."
Kyle blinked, "Professor Victor, you know about that Time-Turner?"
"Of course. Albus approached me a long time ago to help him repair an artifact... that very same Time-Turner." Victor explained, "The arcane formula to get that thing working again was something Nicolas and I figured out together."
As Victor spoke, Kyle vaguely recalled that Dumbledore had indeed mentioned he would invite the most renowned alchemy masters to repair the Time-Turner.
It seemed that in addition to Nicolas Flamel, this Professor Victor was also one of them.
With this realization, Kyle breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Being invited by Dumbledore and entrusted with the truth suggested that this professor was trustworthy. Nonetheless, Kyle remained vigilant.
"I'm not aware of the situation you described," he said.
"He hasn't come to you for the Time-Turner?" Professor Victor paused, taken aback.
"No," Kyle shook his head, opting to continue concealing the truth.
The more people who knew about Dumbledore's absence, the greater the risk of exposure, and Kyle dared not take such a chance, even with someone as seemingly trustworthy as this professor.
He hadn't even shared this information with Professor McGonagall or Mrs. Weasley, both of whom were undoubtedly more trustworthy.
Additionally, Professor Victor seemed a bit... well, how should he put it... aside from alchemy, he didn't seem particularly astute in other areas, making it more likely that he would let something slip.
"Oh." Professor Victor nodded, "Well, I didn't expect him to hold out for so long. Nicolas and I even had a bet going on when he would seek out Ariana."
"What do you mean?" Kyle's eyes lit up with curiosity.
"I guessed it wouldn't take more than half a year, while Nicolas thought it would take longer, at least a year or more."
Professor Victor rubbed his forehead, "I have to admit, he understands Dumbledore better than I do."
"What was the wager?" Kyle asked, intrigued.
"Tickets to Paris Fashion Week."
"What?" Kyle rubbed his ears, thinking he must have misheard.
"It's a Muggle event," Victor clarified, assuming Kyle was unaware. "The relationship between the French Ministry of Magic and the Muggle leaders is quite amicable, and there are quite a few people in the Ministry who were my students. So, from time to time, I receive all sorts of odd items."
Victor wiggled his fingers, and a nearby drawer opened, revealing a collection of small objects, pamphlets, souvenirs, and an abundance of tickets.
Kyle glanced at the assortment, spotting tickets for football matches, fashion shows, lingerie shows, music festivals, car races, and more.
"I'm not interested in these things, and I've never attended any of them," Victor said. "But Nicolas loves them. He's always coming up with excuses to get tickets from me.
"Of course, even without those excuses, if he wanted them, I'd gladly give them to him."
Victor selected a few tickets from the pile and then offered the rest to Kyle. "If you like them, feel free to take them."
"Ah, no thanks." Kyle waved his hands in refusal.
If Connor saw some of the items in this collection, he'd likely be sent back to Britain via owl post.
"Professor Victor," Kyle steered the conversation in a different direction. "Why did you think Professor Dumbledore had gone back in time earlier?"
"Because he hasn't been seen or heard from in a long while," Victor explained. "Aside from going back a century, I can't think of any other reason for his prolonged absence."
"But it seems I was mistaken," he continued. "I've been busy working on a new textbook lately and probably haven't been paying much attention to his situation. Don't mind me; just pretend I never brought it up."
"But now I'm relieved."
"Relieved?" Kyle asked, puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"What do you mean?" he asked, his face growing solemn.
"Temporal exclusion," Victor explained. "Normally, if a person using a Time-Turner doesn't make a mistake, they will definitely return to the correct timeline, the one they decided to go back to in the past.
When a person disappears, the past version of them returns, allowing for a perfect handover, ensuring that person's continuous existence in the present time."
"Then what do you mean by temporal exclusion?"
"It means he can't come back," Victor said, seeming to struggle with explaining the concept. After thinking for a while, he continued, "For example, if a person uses a Time-Turner at 8:00 am to go back to 5:00 am, after three hours, they will return to 8:00 am and complete the handover with themselves.
"But if they are temporally excluded, their world will no longer have an 8:00 am. The latest time they can reach is 7:59 am or even earlier."
"What would happen to that person?" Kyle asked anxiously.
"I don't know," Victor shook his head. "They might be stuck at 7:59 am, or they might go back to 5:00 am again..."
"Of course, you don't need to worry about that," he waved his hand. "Fortunately, Nick discovered this early on, and Albus hasn't taken action yet. Just find him and make some minor adjustments to the arcane formula in the Time-Turner, with the help of the Philosopher's Stone, and there won't be any problems at all."
"He's already gone," Kyle sighed.
"That's good... Wait, who do you mean went back?"
"Professor Dumbledore," Kyle said with a bitter smile. "He's already used the Time-Turner."
"But you just said he hadn't..."
"Sorry," Kyle said, "The reason we can keep calm right now is mainly because the Death Eaters are afraid of Professor Dumbledore. The fewer people who know about this, the less likely it is to be exposed."
An oppressive silence filled the classroom.
"Well, I can understand your concern," Victor said with a dry voice. "But I was just relieved that Albus hadn't used the Time-Turner too early. I didn't expect..."
"Sorry," Kyle said again.
"It's fine. In fact, you're doing the right thing," Victor shook his head. "Keeping Professor Dumbledore's whereabouts a secret is indeed the best choice for you."
"So, Professor Dumbledore really can't come back now?" Kyle asked.
"When did he leave?"
"Over a month ago," Kyle said. "Have you heard about what happened in Godric's Hollow? He used the Time-Turner then."
"I haven't heard about it," Victor shook his head. "But if it's been a month, I'm afraid he really has been temporally excluded."
"Is Professor Dumbledore in danger?"
"It's just a time loop, he might suffer a bit, but it's not dangerous." Victor said, "With Albus' current strength, no one in this century can harm him."
"That's good," Kyle felt slightly relieved, but only a little.
While Dumbledore was safe, they might not be.
He couldn't keep using Polyjuice Potion to pretend to be Dumbledore forever, and Voldemort didn't have that much patience. One day, when he felt the time was right, he would undoubtedly make a move on Hogwarts.
When that day came, what would they do...
The Polyjuice Potion could change his appearance, but it couldn't give him Dumbledore's power.
Kyle felt a sense of gloom in his heart.
"Is there any way to bring him back?" he asked tentatively.
"Yes, and it's quite simple."
Kyle looked up, surprised by Victor's answer.
"What is it?"
"Send someone back in time to bring him back," Victor said, "It's like a runner who unknowingly strays from their original route. All you need is for someone to go and remind them or bring them back. Isn't that simple?"
Kyle didn't respond.
Was Victor right? In a sense, he was definitely correct. Bringing Dumbledore back didn't seem that difficult, but the challenge lay in how to send someone back to guide him.
"We don't have another Time-Turner that can go back a hundred years," Kyle said dejectedly.
It had taken a long time just to repair Dumbledore's Time-Turner, and making a new one would likely take even longer. By the time it was ready, Voldemort might have already led the Death Eaters to attack Hogwarts.
The classroom fell silent once more.
"Hey, wait a moment," Victor suddenly seemed to remember something. He quickly stood up, searched the desk, and then walked to a mirror and said:
"Gafar, I'll give you three minutes. Come to my office immediately.
Three minutes later, hurried footsteps approached the door.
"Professor Victor," the male student who had mocked Kyle earlier pushed open the door, his face filled with dread as he glanced between Professor Victor and Kyle.
"I'm sorry, Professor. I... I haven't finished copying yet. Please give me a little more time..."
"Set that aside for now." Professor Victor fixed him with a stern gaze. "I'm asking you, did you take away the discarded items from the classroom this morning?"
"Yes, it was me." The student looked even more frightened. "Professor, I just wanted to... see where everyone else went wrong... The others were doing it too..."
"Was there an envelope among those items?" Professor Victor asked again.
"An envelope?" Gafar stammered. "I... I don't know. I've been busy copying the textbook and haven't had time to look at it yet."
"Then go and find it!" Professor Victor said in a low voice.
Gafar scurried out of the room as if fleeing.
"Professor... What was in that envelope?" Kyle asked.
"We'll talk about that later. For now, remain quiet." Professor Victor sat down and began writing rapidly on a piece of parchment.
Though curious, Kyle dared not interrupt him.
About five minutes later, Gafar returned, breathless, holding a common Owl Post envelope in his hand.
"Professor... Is this what you're looking for?" Gafar asked between breaths, placing the envelope on the table after running back and forth three times.
"Yes, that's it." Professor Victor glanced at it. "For taking something that belongs to a professor without permission, you will copy the textbook one hundred more times."
Gafar's face turned pale.
"Professor... I didn't mean to..."
"If you had meant to, the consequences would be far more severe than just copying."
Gafar hurriedly left, his footsteps heavy. If given another chance, he would definitely not provoke that British student again, nor would he ever set foot in the Alchemy classroom.
After he left, Professor Victor sealed the classroom once more.
He opened the envelope and said, "I've been working on a new textbook lately, so I haven't paid much attention to what's been happening outside.
"But do you know why I suddenly realized that Albus has been absent for quite some time?"
"Because you two are close?" Kyle replied softly.
"No, our relationship is limited to academic exchanges, so I wouldn't say we're particularly close." Professor Victor shook his head. "The reason I noticed his absence is because I received this."
He opened the envelope and took out a... golden pocket watch.
"Clang!"
Kyle jumped to his feet, knocking over the chair behind him.
"A Time-Turner!"
He certainly knew what it was. He had held it in his hands for a long time before giving it to Dumbledore a month ago.
This was the very Time-Turner that Nicolas Flamel had repaired.
However, it was now broken, its surface covered in cracks, and its once-brilliant gold had lost its luster.
"But... how did it end up here?" Kyle asked.
"That's what I don't understand either." Professor Victor said, "When I received this, I thought it was from Nicolas, so I contacted him immediately.
"But he told me that he had already given the Time-Turner to you, and as far as I know, it had been repaired.
"So, I assumed he was playing a prank on me..."
"Don't look at me like that." Professor Victor explained, "He often does this, taking apart something that has already been completed and giving it back to me, then using a completely different set of alchemical formulas to reassemble it. It's a little game we play."
"A game?" Kyle twitched his lips.
While alchemical formulas were diverse, it was almost impossible to use two completely different formulas to achieve the same effect.
"Don't interrupt, let me finish." Professor Victor's voice turned cold, and Kyle immediately closed his mouth.
"But lately, I've been busy with the textbook, so I just put it aside.
"I didn't pay attention at the time, but now I think it must have ended up among the students' failed assignments."
"And then it was taken by that student?"
"Yes, that's right. Since alchemical ingredients are expensive, they have a habit of studying their failed attempts to minimize waste." Professor Victor explained.
"I had forgotten about it until I saw you, and it reminded me, so I asked Ollym about Albus' situation during dinner.
"That's when I felt something was amiss, and I decided to call you over."
Under his gaze, Kyle felt a twinge of guilt.
"Fortunately, I asked one more question, and this should indeed be the original Time-Turner."
"Yes." Kyle nodded.
It was fortunate that he had asked that extra question; otherwise, if Professor Victor had continued to misunderstand and thought that Dumbledore hadn't gone back yet, who knows where this item would have ended up.
If they needed to find it later, it might not have been so easy.
...
(End of Chapter)
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