Gentle sunlight bathed the earth, slowly drifting westward beneath the wind before sinking into layer upon layer of clouds where black and white intertwined.
The sun set.
Another day in the dream came to an end amid laughter and cheerful voices.
Inside the castle, Dawn sighed in frustration.
After bringing Harry and the other two into the Room of Requirement, Lai had done nothing particularly unusual.
He attended classes, ate meals, and read in the library, continuing like that until nightfall.
This left Dawn deeply disappointed, having thought he would be able to gain something from the dream.
Moreover, when dinner arrived and Harry's trio finally reappeared in the Great Hall, Lai didn't ask why they had missed lunch. He merely gave them a distant nod of acknowledgment.
Everything seemed to end there.
Dawn lifted his head and looked toward the window.
The moon rose into the sky.
As he felt time gradually slipping away within the dream, he was already prepared to return to reality with another head full of unanswered questions.
"Tsk. I can only hope the next dream gives me something useful. Preferably one that comes sooner after this one."
Dawn folded his arms behind his head.
He clearly still couldn't let go of what had happened with the Room of Requirement. After all, it happened to be connected to the very room where the diadem had been stored.
But—
Dawn never expected that after making this helpless wish, the turning point would arrive completely without warning.
Late that night.
Everything was silent.
When the young wizards had all fallen asleep, Lai suddenly opened his eyes in his Ravenclaw dormitory.
He quietly sat up.
Creak.
The bed frame gave a faint groan.
"Hm?"
Dawn, who had been so bored that he had started counting stars, heard the noise. He swallowed the words "one thousand three hundred and twenty-fourth" and turned around in surprise.
In his field of vision—
Lai first cast a spell to block out all sound. Then he used the Disillusionment Charm to conceal himself before quietly leaving the dormitory and stepping onto the constantly shifting staircases.
Was he heading for the Room of Requirement?
Dawn, who was automatically following beside him, raised an eyebrow.
He immediately identified Lai's destination, and all the boredom and fatigue that had built up inside him vanished.
Instead, he became intensely interested.
So there was still a chance to obtain some additional information before this dream ended?
Dawn immediately perked up.
The journey went smoothly.
Although the castle at midnight occasionally echoed with the furtive sounds of other students wandering the halls after curfew, those scattered noises only made the night seem even quieter.
Soon—
Lai stopped.
He arrived on the eighth floor and glanced at the tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy behind him.
Then he began pacing along the corridor, quietly repeating:
"I need a room filled with miscellaneous objects... I need a room filled with miscellaneous objects... I need a..."
His voice drifted through the empty corridor.
After the third repetition—
A doorknob suddenly appeared in the wall.
Lai stopped, casually grasped it, pushed the door open, and stepped over the creaking piles of objects into the enormous room.
Junk was piled everywhere.
Even though the trio had already taken some of it away, there was still no visible reduction in the mountains of objects.
Lai looked around.
He didn't pick anything up.
Instead, as though he had come here with a specific destination in mind, he walked around the mountains of junk and stopped in front of a half-length statue.
Then he simply stood there and stared at it.
Behind him, unseen by anyone, Dawn narrowed his eyes.
A quiet laugh escaped him.
His suspicions from earlier that day had been confirmed once again.
He knew this statue very well.
It was precisely where the Ravenclaw diadem had once been hidden.
Since Lai knew about it and had deliberately returned to inspect it, then bringing Harry here had indeed been part of a larger plan.
Dawn slipped his hands into his sleeves.
At this moment, he once again remembered the altered memories inside Dumbledore's duplicate concerning the diadem.
Harry had entered the Room of Requirement and seen the diadem. His scar had then begun to ache violently, causing him to call Dumbledore. That was how Voldemort's Horcrux had been discovered.
What a perfect fit.
Wasn't it?
So—
What he had seen during the day was the version of the past that had already been altered by the previous World Correction?
Dawn narrowed his eyes.
But—
There was still something that bothered him.
Regarding the World Correction surrounding the diadem, his original theory had been that someone had traveled back into the past and caused the change.
Yet in the dream he had just witnessed, the person who had led Harry to the Room of Requirement was entirely Lai.
There had been no visitor from the future.
Could it be that the person who traveled through time had gone back to an even earlier point, with the effects of their actions having already taken place?
And Lai bringing Harry near the diadem was merely one consequence of those changes?
That was the only explanation Dawn could come up with.
Various theories swirled chaotically through his mind, tangled together like an impossible ball of yarn.
The frustration was so intense that he almost wanted to crack open his own skull and look inside.
He took a deep breath.
"Calm down... Calm down. Think carefully. Don't rush."
Dawn murmured to himself as he pressed his index finger against his temple.
Following the timeline, he began reorganizing everything he knew.
In his view, the true history should have unfolded like this.
Lai was born, encountered Merlin, entered Hogwarts Castle, and then, because of some unknown event, experienced a World Correction that transformed him into Dawn.
Into himself.
Afterward, he had experienced the series of events he remembered.
Then, sometime not long ago, someone had traveled into the past and altered history, causing discrepancies in his memories concerning Ravenclaw's diadem.
After going through the broad sequence of events, Dawn rubbed his chin.
The most important part—
Naturally, was the point where Lai and himself had been transformed into one another.
He suspected that this might have happened during his first-year Christmas, in those days that had vanished from his memories.
Hmm.
But it was also possible—
That it had happened during the World Correction at the Harris residence, when he had been researching the transformation of magical creatures and had suddenly found himself inside the pyramid.
Thoughts continued emerging one after another.
But before he could choose between the two possibilities, he instinctively shook his head.
He couldn't be so presumptuous.
After all—
Not every World Correction was something he could perceive.
What if the "transformation" had happened during a correction he had never noticed?
"Fuck!"
Three different possibilities had already emerged.
Dawn cursed darkly under his breath, becoming increasingly irritated.
It was like an endless series of nested boxes.
This kind of wild speculation was meaningless.
For all he knew, it wasn't even impossible that he had only been transformed from Lai into Dawn yesterday, with a whole brainful of unfamiliar memories stuffed into his head.
Dawn's brows knitted tightly together.
He knew that if he truly wanted to determine where the transformation had occurred, he could only wait for the dream to continue until it showed him a scene connected to that turning point.
Or—
He could simply use the Time-Turner to repeatedly travel backward through time and search for the boundary between Lai and himself.
At that thought, Dawn paced several steps.
His expression shifted between uncertainty and determination, while one hand unconsciously tightened around the Invisibility Cloak hidden beneath his clothes.
Actually, ever since his second year, when he first discovered that something was wrong with his memories, Dawn had considered returning to Christmas and investigating the matter personally.
It was only because he feared being subjected to another brutal World Correction that he had abandoned the aggressive plan after careful consideration.
But now that he had the protection of the Invisibility Cloak—
Perhaps the plan could actually be carried out safely.
Dawn clicked his tongue, still unable to decide what would be best.
Moreover—
Thinking about it this way revealed another contradiction.
Under the World Correction, Lai had clearly been replaced by Dawn.
And it wasn't some minor alteration... It was a complete, fundamental change that had left no trace behind.
Then why—
When events surrounding Lai were altered, would those changes still affect memories connected to Dawn?
His current memories concerning the diadem were already false.
What possible meaning could there be in making something false even more false?
"Could it be the special nature and interconnectedness of time?"
Dawn's head began to ache again.
Fine.
It seemed that even though Lai had finally taken an action containing more information, Dawn would still inevitably return to reality carrying a head full of questions.
Dawn gave a humorless snort.
"That should be enough, right?"
Suddenly!
A quiet voice rang out in the darkness, abruptly interrupting Dawn's tangled thoughts.
He raised his head.
Under the faint light of the moon, he looked toward Lai, who stood in front of him with his arms folded, his mouth moving as though he were speaking to someone.
Dawn knew what was happening.
Lai had begun speaking with Merlin again.
Unfortunately, Dawn could only infer the other side of the conversation from Lai's words. There could easily be inaccuracies in his reconstruction.
Dawn felt a little disappointed.
But—
He never could have imagined—
That in this room containing only the two of them, a completely unfamiliar voice would suddenly drift through the darkness.
It sounded like the dry, hoarse voice of an elderly man.
"Thank you, Lai. This is enough. I can already sense that my connection with this world has grown a little stronger."
!!!
Dawn's eyes widened instantly.
This...
This was—
Merlin's voice?!
How could that be?!
Wasn't he supposed to be unable to hear it?!
Dawn hurriedly looked around, searching for the source of the voice.
But beneath the moonlight, there were still only two shadows in the room.
His own.
And Lai's.
Before he could figure it out—
Lai sighed.
"What a nuisance. I really never thought I'd live to see the day when I had to babysit someone.
Heh. Speaking of which, when you served King Arthur back then, don't tell me you had some impure motives?"
"Partly for that reason."
The elderly voice came from nowhere, carrying a faint, wistful quality.
"But it cannot be denied that he truly conquered me with his honor and courage, making me willingly offer him my assistance—"
"All right, Grand Sorcerer!"
Lai clicked his tongue and rudely interrupted him before he could continue reminiscing about the past.
"I was only asking. I don't actually want to hear about all those ancient stories."
He found a stool amid the piles of junk and sat down. His slightly reddened eyes glimmered faintly in the darkness.
"At this point, you should explain the whole story to me, right?"
"Ah, naturally."
Merlin didn't seem offended by Lai's impolite tone. His voice remained calm and peaceful.
"So, Lai, what exactly do you want to know?"
"Everything!"
Lai's voice rose slightly.
He seemed particularly interested in prying into other people's pasts and secrets.
After thinking for a moment, he continued:
"I remember that during the Sorting Ceremony, you told me you'd once been a student of Slytherin, right?
"Why don't we start there?"
"Slytherin..."
The elderly voice sighed faintly.
He did not contradict Lai.
With the weight of a thousand years settling into his voice, he slowly began recounting his story among the piles of junk.
"Lai, I don't know what you think of the wizarding world today, but a thousand years ago, the world was far less peaceful than it is now.
Back then, my magical outburst was discovered by one of my neighbors, who reported me to the village.
I nearly ended up being beaten to death in some forgotten corner where no one cared.
At the critical moment, it was Professor Slytherin who saved me.
He brought me to the castle that had only just been founded and enrolled me in Slytherin House.
Although I was technically just another student at the time, professors were scarce in those days.
In all honesty, it would not be an exaggeration to call me one of Professor Slytherin's direct disciples.
And in that castle, I spent seven years of my youth.
Even though those years were often accompanied by bloodshed and war, I still remember them as a beautiful period of my life."
When he reached this point, Merlin suddenly paused.
"But I never expected that when I came to exist in this era a thousand years later, I would witness the four of them parting ways."
He had wandered off topic without realizing it.
But Lai didn't interrupt him.
Neither did Dawn.
The two of them existed in different dimensions, each carrying their own thoughts, yet both listened quietly as Merlin slowly unfolded the story of his past.
"Back then, Hogwarts' education wasn't nearly as comprehensive as it is today.
Because the school was newly founded, the students did learn certain subjects together, but the four founders placed greater emphasis on encouraging young wizards to pursue whatever interested them.
And I became deeply fascinated by the power of time.
To me, it was the greatest force in the world. Birth, aging, sickness, death, the flourishing and withering of all things—everything was deeply connected to it.
So, using a Time-Turner I obtained from Lady Ravenclaw, I conducted quite a few experiments."
Merlin's voice drifted through the room.
When he reached this point, he fell silent for a moment, his tone carrying an indescribable melancholy.
"Unfortunately, I was too young back then. I lacked sufficient reverence for either magic or time. I believed I could toy with time.
But in the end, it was time that toyed with me."
"Wait!"
Lai interrupted curiously.
"What exactly did you do? Why are you skipping over the experiment?"
"Now is not the time to tell you."
Merlin spoke softly.
"Lai, it is far too early for you to come into contact with something like that.
Given your personality, you would only be tempted into making the same mistake I did and become trapped within it.
That would not be a good thing."
His warning was sincere.
Dawn, however, merely curled his lips in disdain.
Lai thought for a moment.
Then, surprisingly, he gave a reluctant nod.
"All right. If that's your judgment, I'll respect your decision."
He didn't dwell on the subject.
Instead, he continued asking:
"Then what happened afterward?
When you said that time toyed with you, do you mean you traveled into the past and ended up in the era of King Arthur?
If you ignore the details and only consider the broad outline, then yes."
Merlin sighed.
"But, Lai, it was far from that simple!"
He paused for a long while.
When he spoke again, his voice had become exceptionally solemn.
"Traveling through time was only a minor matter.
More importantly, I discovered that I was gradually becoming disconnected from the world."
"Disconnected?"
Lai didn't understand.
"What do you mean?"
"Simply put, after arriving in the era of King Arthur, I discovered that I was gradually disappearing.
The things I had done would be attributed to other people.
I could have conversations with many people, only for all of them to forget me in the blink of an eye."
Merlin continued explaining:
"After that, more and more people became unable to see me, unable to hear my voice.
Even the number of things I could physically touch grew smaller and smaller.
Until finally, I would become a real existence that no one could perceive—a phantom eternally wandering in the shadows of history."
The elderly voice carried a trace of sorrow.
Lai merely rubbed his chin.
"Wow. That really does sound miserable. Being abandoned by the world and all that.
So what's the solution?"
He asked:
"There has to be one, right? After all, according to historical records, you existed and were observed for quite a long time."
"Follow destiny."
Merlin answered.
"Follow the course of history and become an agent who advances fate. That allows you to deepen your connection with the world."
The Grand Sorcerer explained:
"Take King Arthur, for example~
Although my initial connection with him was indeed the result of a strange twist of fate, while helping him become King of Britain, I discovered that my gradual disappearance was beginning to reverse."
"No wonder!"
Lai suddenly understood.
"You had me interact with Harry and help him discover Voldemort's Horcrux because you wanted to follow the course of fate?"
"Exactly."
Merlin admitted it without hesitation.
"After learning about the prophecy concerning Voldemort and the Chosen One in this era, I knew that their confrontation was the destiny of this age."
Lai narrowed his eyes as he digested the information.
Then he casually teased:
"Then why don't you go help Voldemort? That's destiny too. And he's also your fellow Slytherin student."
Merlin answered solemnly:
"If possible, I would rather stand on the side of what is called justice.
Being a Slytherin does not mean being a Dark wizard. The current castle has far too many misconceptions about that house."
Lai nodded noncommittally.
But after fully digesting what Merlin had said earlier, he suddenly noticed something that didn't make sense.
"Wait! Didn't you say that King Arthur's destiny strengthened your connection with the world?
Then why are you now back to being an existence that no one can perceive?"
"Lai, do you really think erasing the effects of time is that easy?"
Merlin sighed.
"After King Arthur's story came to an end, I failed to find the next thread of destiny. Once again, I became disconnected from the world."
Merlin was practically incapable of refusing a question.
Lai rubbed his chin, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Then that's strange, isn't it?"
"Why is it that I can see you and even hear you?"
He had begun questioning the seemingly miraculous gift that had fallen into his lap.
The only response was a hoarse laugh drifting through the air.
Merlin spoke with amusement.
"Didn't you say it yourself when you were young? That I was your cheat ability, or some old man living inside your body to guide you?"
"Yes."
Lai shrugged without expression.
"If that were really the case, things would be much easier for me. But obviously, that's not what is happening."
His voice gradually deepened.
"So tell me. Why am I connected to you?"
"Because you are special, Lai."
Merlin's voice drifted through the darkness. "You are a child born within this world, yet you do not exist within its destiny."
___________
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