Accompanied by a series of heavy footsteps, Avada saw a burly man—built like a solid wall, with eyebrows thicker than his eyes—round the corner from the far end of the corridor. A trace of barely concealed fury pressed down between his brows. He strode down the hallway and descended the stairs at a rapid pace. When he brushed past Avada, the gust of wind he kicked up nearly blew his hair askew.
'Parkinson… that should be the one from the Sacred Twenty-Eight, right?' Avada thought to himself. 'Then he must be one of the twelve members of the Board of Governors—and Pansy Parkinson's father?'
"Ken?"
An aged voice suddenly entered his ears, startling him badly. "Professor Dumbledore?"
"Your concealment still needs improvement."
Dumbledore's voice seemed to cross a corridor dozens of meters long and reach only Avada's ears, without disturbing Mr. Parkinson, whose footsteps could still be heard fading away. "If you're curious, come over."
'Voice transmission?'
Avada thought in mild amazement as he dispelled the Disillusionment Charm. His body was very honest as he headed toward the Headmaster's Office. Turning the corner, he indeed saw the familiar stone gargoyle—and the even more familiar figure standing before it.
Dumbledore's expression was as calm as ever, as though the storm of furious accusations from earlier hadn't affected his mood in the slightest.
"You're up quite early, Mr. Ken," Dumbledore said with a smile. "If Madam Pomfrey were to hear of it, she might not be very pleased."
"Cough."
Avada coughed awkwardly. Seeing that Dumbledore didn't seem inclined to ask why he had come here so early, he asked instead, "Professor, who was that just now?"
—In any case, Dumbledore certainly knew about the Room of Requirement, so saying it out loud wouldn't be a problem.
"That was Mr. Robert Parkinson," Dumbledore explained. "He is also one of the twelve members of the Hogwarts Board of Governors. Just last night, his daughter—Miss Pansy Parkinson, a second-year Slytherin student—fell into a coma like the previous victims. So he came to see me early this morning."
"He also intends to transfer Miss Parkinson to St. Mungo's for treatment, and I hope the Healers there can offer a better solution."
"And the investigation team he mentioned…" Avada asked cautiously.
"Having more people investigate is never a bad thing."
Dumbledore's tone was remarkably calm. "Rest assured, they shouldn't interfere with your normal lives. It won't have much impact on you. Their focus is mainly on me… according to his intentions, during the investigation period they don't seem to plan on letting me properly carry out my duties as Headmaster."
"I'm sorry, Professor."
Avada lowered his head, feeling somewhat guilty. "It seems my prophecy was wrong—I didn't manage to help you after all…"
"Time itself is mysterious and unfathomable, and the future even more so. Even the greatest Seers cannot guarantee the absolute accuracy of their foresight."
Dumbledore smiled as he comforted him. "Besides, you at least foresaw that danger would arise this year, which allowed me to prepare additional portraits in advance. They will be able to play a greater role during the investigation."
"Oh, Professor—speaking of time…"
A sudden spark of inspiration flashed through Avada's mind, and he spoke on a whim. "When I was reading the book you gave me over the holidays, I saw mention of a device called a Time-Turner. It can allow the user to go back into the past, correct?"
—This wasn't something he made up. Nicolas Flamel's alchemical notes really did mention Time-Turners, even listing their principles and general construction process in detail—only missing specific parameters. Of course, Avada didn't understand a single bit of it yet.
"That's correct."
Dumbledore nodded. "In fact, if you had chosen every subject in your electives this year, you would have had a chance to receive a Time-Turner to ensure your studies. However, its usage restrictions are extremely strict, with countless detailed clauses…"
"Mr. Ken, are you suggesting that we could use a Time-Turner to return to the time of the incident, personally observe the victim's condition, and perhaps even directly identify the culprit?"
"That's exactly what I mean."
"An excellent idea."
Dumbledore visibly brightened. "Thank you for bringing me such a wonderful suggestion, Mr. Ken… However, I must still remind you that time is one of the least understood and most mysterious fields in the wizarding world. If you attempt to make use of time, you must remain cautious at all times and strictly obey the rules—those are lessons learned at a terrible cost by those who came before us."
"For example, a Time-Turner must never be used to go back more than five hours. Otherwise, chaos is extremely likely to occur. So applying for a Time-Turner now to investigate Miss Parkinson's case would probably be too late. The Ministry of Magic's control over Time-Turners is exceptionally strict, and the application process alone takes several days…"
"Then is there anyone else in the school who currently has a Time-Turner, Professor?"
"Regrettably, no."
Dumbledore gently shook his head, though his expression bore no resemblance at all to the word "regret."
"The previous Time-Turner user was Percy Weasley. However, he has already completed twelve OWL examinations and is now in sixth year, so the Time-Turner has naturally been returned to the Ministry of Magic."
"And there are virtually no precedents for using Time-Turners to investigate cases. After all, wizarding society has many convenient ways to uncover the truth, and Time-Turners are far too dangerous… But they just happen to suit Hogwarts' current situation."
"Perhaps the next time—or the time after that—a coma incident occurs, we can use this method to uncover the truth."
Dumbledore's mood looked excellent at the moment; even his tone carried a hint of liveliness. "I must return at once to write to the Ministry of Magic. But before that, I also intend to award Hufflepuff twenty points, to thank Mr. Ken for his valuable suggestion."
"Thank you, Professor."
Seeing that Dumbledore looked eager to turn around and head straight back to the Headmaster's Office, Avada wisely refrained from lingering. "Then I'll head back now, Professor?"
"Mm. Remember to get plenty of rest, and don't forget Madam Pomfrey's instructions."
"Yes, Professor. Goodbye…"
In truth, Avada was also quite puzzled by Time-Turners.
The time he had entered the river of time, what he saw—whether history or the future—was almost always a composite of all possibilities exhaustively combined. Even after confirming his own temporal position, countless timelines could still converge or diverge from it, making it impossible to obtain any concrete information.
'So how exactly does a Time-Turner allow its user to precisely return to a past they themselves experienced?'
'It's probably the same principle behind how Seers can accurately foresee the future… There's still far too much I don't understand. For now, I'd better avoid entering the river of time again…'
Just thinking of that indescribably magnificent sphere of light made Avada's heart tremble uncontrollably. He really didn't want to face that thing a second time.
What's more, he didn't even have the ability to locate the river of time on his own. He could only do it under the guidance of Professor Trelawney's mental power, so he was still a long way from being a qualified Seer.
'In any case, the coma incidents probably aren't something to worry about anymore. With Dumbledore personally using a Time-Turner, plus the twins' Marauder's Map and the Board of Governors' investigation team… even if I were the culprit, there'd be a pretty good chance I'd be dragged out into the open.'
(End of Chapter)