The Pacifist Necromancer of Hogwarts

Chapter 333 Time Turner

It was a rainy Saturday. Heavy rain crashed into the Black Lake, and the strong wind blew broken branches and grass leaves against the castle's bricks. Several unfortunate owls were dizzy and hit the windows, breaking bones, and were sent to Madam Pomfrey by the students who picked them up.

The Albacore Tuna Club also canceled its merman language practice activities by the Black Lake due to the weather, and the students could only sit in the castle hall to polish sheep horns and cow bones - from the generous elves' kitchen - to prepare as gifts for the mermen.

"Good morning, Professor Anthony. I didn't expect to see you in the library at this time," Professor Flitwick said cheerfully, tilting his head to look at the titles of the books in Anthony's arms, "The Secret of Time and... oh, Honeydukes's merchandise list?"

Anthony smiled and nodded, "Yes, Professor Flitwick. I was planning on going to Honeydukes, but I forgot to consider the weather."

Last night, at the last moment Anthony wanted to be with his pet—that is, when he was peacefully resting under his covers—the cat kindly jumped into one of the boxes that had been left unlocked. After a series of eerie scratching and rubbing noises, this morning Anthony found a slimy cat skeleton covered in pink crumbs and syrup next to his pillow, along with a box of what was presumably the body of coconut ice cream.

After clearing out the coconut ice cream coffin, he decided to use the remaining two boxes as decorative furniture for the room, and he was relieved to finally find that he could buy some novelty snacks.

"Yes, yes, it's awful weather today!" agreed Professor Flitwick. "I'm glad there's no Quidditch match! I was going to go to the Three Broomsticks for a drink and a chat with some friends, but it's raining so hard that I thought we'd better sit down in a chair and read a few interesting books." He floated two or three ridiculously thick books off the shelf (Madam Pince was staring at him sternly), and then glanced alertly at the book in Anthony's arms. "Have you taken an interest in time magic recently, Professor Anthony?"

"No, not really," Anthony said. "Technically, I'm just curious about what the Time-Turner is all about. Did you know that there will be students using Time-Turners next semester?"

Professor Flitwick said cheerfully, "I know that there are students who use a Time-Turner every term. But I see what you mean, Professor Anthony. Is this the first time you've come across a student who uses a Time-Turner?"

He raised his wand, letting the book float beside him, and walked out the door with Anthony.

"Yes, Hermione Granger next term," said Anthony. "If I were still teaching third years, she would be my student. She's taking Muggle Studies, Divination and Arithmancy at the same time. Unbelievable."

"Miss Granger is very enthusiastic about learning," Professor Flitwick praised, "and she is a very talented witch." He suddenly took a few steps back, bent down to look at the books in the bottom row of the bookshelf on his side, pulled out two more books, glanced at the table of contents of each, and put one of them back on the bookshelf pickily, then turned around and followed Anthony who was waiting for him.

"I mean, a Time-Turner still sounds incredible," Anthony explained. "I've always known it existed. Minerva told me. I also knew better than to try to understand it logically, but the Muggle part of me, the vast majority of me, is screaming that it can't be true." He smiled at Madam Pince standing in the doorway and showed the title of the book. "Just borrow this one, Madam Pince."

Madam Pince looked at it and nodded.

"Four of these, Irma," said Professor Flitwick. "I like your hat, it has a lovely peak. Was it made by Madam Malkin?"

"It's Tofan Clothing Store," said Madam Pince with a straight face. "Thank you for the compliment, Filius, but you should have returned 'The Origin and Evolution of Spells' and 'A Study of Italian Wizarding Customs' two days ago. By the way, 'Spells and Counterspells', 'Spells Without Curses', and 'One Thousand and One Consequences of Miscasting Spells' are due in three days, and 'The Invention and Application of Fine Spells' is due in four days."

Professor Flitwick smiled and said, "Okay, Irma. I'll have Guppy bring it to you as soon as I get back."

Madam Pince looked at him distrustfully for several times, and only after Professor Flitwick's repeated assurances did she reluctantly agree to let him borrow the four books first.

"I don't think Irma likes me very much," said Professor Flitwick. "It may be because I gave Albus some books to read before, and he now has several of them in his office... but those books don't really fit in the library anyway... Where were we talking about? Oh, right, the Time-Turner. What do you think is wrong with it?"

"Many places," Anthony said. "Even if we don't consider various scientific experiments, just from the simplest daily life, suppose I conducted a test in class, explained the questions, and left the test paper to the students. Miss Granger stuffed the test paper into her bag, and then went back an hour to attend the divination class... At this time, will there be a test paper from the future in her bag? Is there a memory from the future in her mind?"

"I think so," said Professor Flitwick sharply. "And there's nothing unreasonable about it, Professor Anthony."

"But this completely disrupts the definition of the past and the future, Professor Flitwick," said Anthony. "For Miss Granger sitting in the Divination classroom, the Muggle Studies test is the past, but for her and her classmates who just walked into the classroom, it should be the future that has not yet happened. Isn't this - just in theory - very convenient for cheating? Wouldn't the holder of the Time Turner be able to get full marks in any exam? They just have to look at the message from their future self." "In fact, in theory, the Time Turner is not suitable for cheating," said Professor Flitwick. "Countless magical experiments have proved that the Time Turner is indeed a dangerous thing, and it can indeed cause the boundary between the past and the future to be slightly blurred..."

Anthony manually put quotation marks around Professor Flitwick's words "slightly blurry". He always felt that this weird thing called time magic could make everything a mess and make things easily slide into fatalism.

Professor Flitwick continued, "…but it cannot make any major changes to the future. Its danger mainly lies with the user. The user must undergo a series of certifications and tests, and must be very careful not to see another self at any time, nor to try to change what has already happened, otherwise the person will disappear in magic. Among the students who can get the Time Turner, no one will take such a risk to cheat."

Anthony sighed deeply. Raindrops banged on the windows in the corridor, water poured in through the window cracks, dripped onto the ground, and spread over a large area.

"what happened?"

“It’s worse,” Anthony said. “It sounds completely fatalistic… and a very strong fatalism.”

Professor Flitwick said puzzledly: "But fate does exist. The reason why divination exists is because of fate, and the centaurs' astrological divination..."

Anthony shook his head. "No, Professor Flitwick, the thing is this: at any moment, people can go back to the past, and people from the future can also come back to the present. The existence of people from the future represents a certain future, accurate to every minute and every second, and there will be no changes... This is completely different from 'I see doom approaching you'."

Several students passed by them, hearing Anthony's affected ethereal tones as he imitated Professor Trelawney, and glanced at them curiously.

Anthony deliberately turned his head and met the eyes of one of them. The other person immediately greeted him and Professor Flitwick stiffly, and walked away quickly with his companion in a panic, as if doom was approaching them.

Professor Flitwick waited until all the students disappeared at the stairs before smiling and saying, "I see. No, Professor Anthony, although some scholars do agree with your description, the mainstream view in the magical community still believes that the future is not completely certain. Albus has clearly pointed out that it is people's choices that determine the development of things - that is, what the future will look like."

"But the Time-Turner..."

"In fact, that's why the Time-Turner's use is so restrictive. Aside from a few research Unspoken people, only a handful of students are authorized to use a Time-Turner, and what they can do with it is restricted in various ways," said Professor Flitwick, letting a few books bounce in the air as he walked up the stairs. "A friend of mine - someone with inside information, but only for academic discussion - mentioned that this is to avoid excessive time locks."

"Hmm...that makes sense."

Professor Flitwick further explained: "As long as there are no people coming back from the future, the future is uncertain. Class times are very regular, and several students attending classes at the same time in different classrooms will have very little impact on the future of others. In addition, students must sign a lot of guarantees and swear not to tell others that they have a time turner."

Anthony asked in confusion: "If it's so troublesome, why don't you just stop letting students use the Time Turner? It sounds like, in addition to being used for advanced magical research, its biggest use is to produce some students with crazy schedules and multiple certificates, with very dangerous side effects."

"That's true, Professor Anthony. But sometimes, all it takes is a good reason to convince people to do something that doesn't seem reasonable."

Anthony asked, "And what's the good reason?"

Professor Flitwick replied solemnly, "The Ministry wants to see that what the Department of Mysteries produces is of some use. The Time-Turner was a huge investment."

"A strong case," Anthony said.

(End of this chapter)