Hogwarts Raven

Chapter 128: 127: Loops and Impossible Miracles
The huge clock on the wall was ticking every second.

The Ouroboros pattern on the back of Ian's hand, which had appeared out of thin air after he came out of the Hogwarts dungeon, was also flashing, with a breathing-like frequency that seemed to perfectly match the silent passage of time.

November 30th.

This was the last day of December, a date that Ian should have experienced a few weeks ago, but now it appeared before him again as if time had gone back.

"This is a horror unfolding of Run Lola Run, Seven Days, Groundhog Day, Happy Death Day, Terror Cruise, Edge of Tomorrow, Source Code, and 50 First Dates!"

Ian's heart suddenly stopped for a moment, and then began to beat wildly in his chest. He looked a little disheveled, and his face was full of the kind of horror that only appears when staying up late to watch horror movies.

It was as if I had really seen a ghost.

once Upon a time.

Ian has seen many movies about time travel. To be honest, he really likes movies and has thought about how cool it would be if he could encounter something similar.

however.

Just like Ye Gong's love for dragons and college students' love for gourds, these are just things said jokingly. When things happen unexpectedly, Ian really doesn't feel happy at all.

"I won't be stuck in this cycle for centuries, will I?" Ian was really starting to get panicked. Anyone who woke up from sleep and encountered such a strange thing would certainly find it hard to remain calm.

His knowledge reserve is actually not small, but as mentioned before, due to the constraints of the Department of Mysteries on the wizarding world, there are not many in-depth books related to time in Hogwarts, which means that Ian's knowledge reserve certainly does not cover much content related to time.

He asked Morgan questions frantically in the hazy fantasy, wasn't it because he really didn't understand? Who could have thought that he would encounter such a huge problem when he turned around and returned to the mortal world.

"Mr. Morgan's [Hourglass of Destiny] might be able to help me, but I can't do it now even if I want to! The little wizard couldn't help but pat his forehead.

"Why must my Christmas be so mysterious and absurd!?" The air around him was still dead silent. In the dim corridor, only the fire on the wall flickered. The temperature should have been a little warmer than Christmas, but at this moment, the little wizard only felt the bone-chilling cold.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Christmas isn't even here yet." Silly Barnabas looked confused in the picture frame. He totally didn't understand why the little wizard outside was visibly panicking.

Isn't it just cleaning the toilet?

The toilets at Hogwarts are much easier to clean now than those in the Middle Ages!

"Isn't it Christmas now?" Ian saw the exact date on the wall clock, but he still didn't give up and hoped that the school clock had been destroyed by the Weasley twins.

only.

Things would never develop in the way the little wizard wanted.

"Did you fall asleep in the house? I understand that you want to get your Christmas presents quickly, but it's still several weeks away."

Silly Barnabas looked at Ian with increasing confusion.

"I was so sleepy! Damn it! It was Salazar Slytherin who caused me so much trouble!" Ian's face turned pale, and he looked at the Ouroboros mark on the back of his hand.

Ian didn't believe that all this was not caused by Salazar Slytherin. The pattern on the back of his hand had never disappeared since it appeared.

When this pattern first appeared on the back of his hand, Ian felt a little uneasy, but he didn't expect that his sixth sense was right!
The Ouroboros, also known as the tail-biting snake, is a symbol that has been passed down since ancient times. It roughly looks like a snake swallowing its own tail, resulting in a peculiar circular shape.

It means infinity and cycle.

This symbol has always had many different symbolic meanings. It is a common symbol in religion and mythology, and it has an extremely important position in alchemy.

"Perhaps I should have expected that I would be tricked like this!" Ian didn't know why Slytherin was "selected". He only knew that the founder who lived a thousand years ago must have liked to annoy people.

It won't happen sooner.

No attack at night.

It happened on Christmas Day.

What a bad taste!
"Although it was indeed Slytherin who designed the bathroom, your need to clean the toilet has nothing to do with him." Silly Barnabas still seemed to think that Ian's behavior was all related to Snape's punishment.

Cleaning the toilet drove the little wizard insane... Silly Barnabas might not be a real fool, but it is obviously impossible to expect him to guess the truth.

Not to mention a portrait.

Ian estimated that even if he went to find Snape and Professor McGonagall now and told them that he had traveled back from the future, Snape, Professor McGonagall and the others would think he was talking nonsense.

"The use of the time converter follows a trace, but my experience obviously has no trace." Ian has read many books related to the experience of using the time converter.

He is very clear.

The reason why he traveled through time was not the power of the time converter, but another more profound magic. This is also why Ian had those other wild guesses.

"There is no magic that has been passed down..." Ian looked at the pattern on the back of his hand, and recalled what the bronze eagle head had said before: Slytherin had been studying some kind of power in the Chamber of Secrets.

It seems now.

"What he studied was actually time travel, and he actually came up with something!" Ian couldn't imagine that a mark left behind a thousand years ago could allow him to reverse time. It really subverted the wizards' understanding and control of the power of time.

Can Mr. Morgan do this?

Ian found it difficult.

"Maybe I didn't travel through time, um, I was just sleeping in bed..."

Such a thing was absolutely beyond Ian's expectations. He really wanted to believe that what was happening now was just an absurd dream of his.

"Crack~"

Ian slapped the picture frame fan.

"Does it hurt?"

He asked the confused and frightened Barnabas who quickly stepped back.

"Are you stupid!"

Silly Barnabas was just about to ask what kind of pain the portrait felt when he found that Ian started to take out the paint for painting the portrait. He quickly covered his face in horror.

"Pain! It hurts too much!"

Silly Barnabas' acting is very lifelike, which may be related to the fact that he has been beaten by the troll all the time and knows very well how to show pain. At this time, Silly Barnabas would rather turn around and wake up the sleeping troll than add some unspeakable things to his portrait. All the portraits of Ian's "zombie dog" have been heard of.

"Then I'm not dreaming..." Ian actually pinched the back of his hand secretly, but he still adhered to the method of diversified argumentation to rule out unlikely possibilities.

Dreaming is definitely not a dream.

Ian still didn't want to accept the outrageous fact.

"Is it possible that I also have the blood of a prophet?"

Ian's attempt to escape from reality was indeed a bit too strong. He knew that the prophet could see and feel the future, and the weeks he had experienced before might not be his first prediction.

It’s like the Grim Reaper is coming... bah, bah, bah, there’s no Grim Reaper coming. It’s just like those mysterious prophets in some biographies who can always feel what will happen in the future in a “sneak peek” way.

"It's reasonable to some extent, but our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor doesn't have the strength to predict every detail a few weeks in advance, right?"

Ian looked at his personal panel and found that the proficiency he gained through learning in the last few weeks was still there, but who could say that someone who was in the midst of a prophetic illusion could not hone his memory?

"I might even have traveled to a parallel universe!" The young wizard knew that these were just his extravagant hopes and fantasies. The biggest possibility was that he was influenced by Salazar Slytherin's magic. He sighed and took out his wand, wanting to verify whether Slytherin's time magic could reset the entire universe.

This is not a difficult task.

All it takes is a magic that I just learned.

"Call the gods to protect you!"

Ian directly released the [Patronus Spell], and countless silver lights gushed out from his wand, and finally slowly gathered into the image of a teenage girl.

"Fortunately, the blurred illusion doesn't seem to be affected."

Ian breathed a sigh of relief. The fact that Ariana could be revealed successfully meant that the ring he put on the girl still existed. At least the time in the hazy illusion had not been reset.

This way.

Not only did he see clearly the limitations of Slytherin's magic, but Ian might also be able to survive for seven days and then seek help from his teacher in the hazy illusion.

"I just don't know whether I will keep looping on the same day or between now and Christmas." Ian hoped that the latter would be the case.

Just as Ian was thinking about how to deal with the situation.

"You actually have a human-shaped patronus!" Silly Barnabas had been watching Ian's seizure in the picture frame. When he saw the condensed light and shadow, he immediately made an unbelievable sound.

"Oh! My God! A humanoid patronus like you will probably go down in history just like the invincible Andros!" Silly Barnabas' exclamation was not without reason. After all, in all these many years of wizarding history, it has never been heard that someone's patronus is actually another person.

"My patron saint is more powerful than the giant patron saint of Andros." Although Ian felt a little uneasy, he still refuted the portrait on the wall.

Although the time loop was disturbing, it was not to the point of making him desperate and fearful. As long as everyone did not turn into zombies, Ian felt that he could always find a way to set things right. After all, Salazar Slytherin, as the founder of Hogwarts, would not leave behind a time magic just to trap and kill a young wizard in the future, right?

Even if Salazar Slytherin is really a bad old man, there are many ways to kill people. Ian can list more than 300 curses.

Why does Salazar Slytherin let people get stuck in a time loop?

"Chosen, the eagle said it was chosen... maybe the time loop is some kind of test? But what problems do I need to solve in this test to gain recognition and break the loop?" Ian frowned and pondered in his heart. Ariana, who appeared in the world as a guardian angel, illuminated the surroundings.

"Ian, I'm washing fruits. Have you returned to the mortal world?" After Ariana appeared, she floated around in the air curiously like a flying elf.

She walked curiously through the dim corridors, ancient railings and stairs. The girl finally had the opportunity to see this school that she had longed for so much.

"It's much bigger than I thought." After wandering around for a while, Ariana floated back to Ian, expressing her heartfelt admiration with an excited look and a tone of amazement.

"Don't worry about Hogwarts for now, Ariana. I think this time we've really encountered a ghost!" Ian saw a rather strange expression on Ariana's face.

He quickly explained seriously, "It's real, and it's different from when I was a kid. The ghosts I saw when I was a kid were fake, but this time I was tricked by a real old ghost!"

Facing Ian's words.

Ariana was a little confused.

However, she still held the sword at her waist that would appear out of thin air after she became a patronus, "Do you need my help to deal with some terrible evil spirit?"

Instead of feeling any fear, the girl seemed eager to try.

"Pandro said that I am very powerful in this state. Maybe I can not only kill evil spirits, but also help you slay dragons." It can only be said that Pandro may have let Ariana develop some bad habits.

"Oh my God! What is going on!"

The silly Barnabas on the wall was still exclaiming in disbelief.

"It's talking! Your patronus is talking! She can actually communicate with you!" It was definitely not the case of seeing something strange. The silly Barnabas, who felt unbelievable, tried his best to get his head out of the frame.

"What's wrong with your patronus? Little wizard! Something's wrong with you!" Silly Barnabas pressed his entire face against the picture frame, and the shouting in his mouth sounded quite noisy.

"..."

Ian raised his wand and took Ariana with him, trotting away from the portrait of Barnabas. If the world they were in was the other side of Hogwarts, Barnabas might crawl out of the frame like Sadako, and he didn't want to see any scene that would scare him and his friends.

"Let's go find Dumbledore!"

Ian hurried in the direction of the Owl Shed.

He remembered that on that night, Albus Dumbledore was having a passionate physical fight with Aberforth Dumbledore in the shed. When faced with such a difficult problem, the first person he wanted to seek help from the headmaster of Hogwarts was.

There is definitely nothing wrong with this idea. After all, Dumbledore's magical attainments and understanding of unknown forces are definitely much better than Ian, a half-baked person who has just been exposed to magic for a short time.

Besides, with Ariana cheering on, I don't think it's impossible for him to help Ian solve the puzzle on the back of his hand, or even let Dumbledore do some difficult math problems!
"Aren't you going to put me in the gift box?"

Ariana also has a silly side, which is also related to the fact that Ian did not explain to her clearly what happened. She only remembered that Ian said he wanted her to make a guest appearance as a Christmas gift.

"Lots of owls."

Ariana floated right into the Owlery.

"They're not here!" Ian was indeed unlucky. He didn't find the two centenarians in the Owl Shed. The Owl Shed was now plunged into silence.

No one is empty.

Only a group of owls that didn't sleep at night turned their heads and looked at the little wizard and his patronus. There was nothing they could do because Ariana, who was made up of silver light, looked quite sparkling at this moment.

"I remember you said that Brother Albus became the headmaster of Hogwarts. I don't think he would live in the same room with the owls, right?"

"Of course, I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but living here doesn't seem very dignified enough?" Ariana teased the owl and turned to look at Ian.

"..."

Ian knew that Ariana lacked a lot of common sense about the mortal world. She didn't feel it when she was in the hazy fantasy, but it was obviously revealed when she returned to the mortal world.

Ok.

It might also have something to do with the fact that Ian said he would take her to see Dumbledore, but ended up bringing her to the Owlery in the middle of the night.

"Your two brothers were fighting here before." Ian reviewed his memory. It was probably the time when he crawled out of the underground palace and entered the Room of Requirement.

In fact, it has been quite some time since Ian spied on the two brothers fighting.

Ian also witnessed the twins being discovered while wandering at night, as well as the exchange between Snape and the traitor Quirrell, and then entered the secret passage in the abandoned bathroom on the second floor. In a few hours, let alone a fight between centenarians, even a man and woman in their early twenties who were passionate about sex should have died down long ago.

"I'll look for it."

Ian was not able to find Dumbledore on the Marauder's Map. He did see Grindelwald, but the Marauder's Map showed Gilderoy Lockhart.

The professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts was still staying in the office. Judging from the movement frequency of the small black dot, it was obvious that he was walking back and forth in the office and had not slept.

Asking Grindelwald for help is also an option.

but.

Dumbledore is definitely the most suitable candidate - Ian has seen the old man's memories, even if it is just the tip of the iceberg, and he knows that the old man has done crazy research on time, life and death.

In comparison, Grindelwald's focus on knowledge is completely different. Moreover, the most important thing is that in order to find Grindelwald and get help, Ian needs to conceal everything related to the Twilight Zone.

After all, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor didn't know that Ian had such ability. If he wanted to explain what happened to him without mentioning the hazy illusion, he had to make up a bunch of lies.

"Could it be that our good brother has returned to Hogsmeade with Aberforth?"

There was probably nothing wrong with Ian's address. After all, as a good friend of Ariana, even if he didn't round it off, he could be considered an equal to Albus Dumbledore.

"Hogsmeade?"

Ariana tilted her head in mid-air curiously.

"Yes, your brother Aberforth seems to live in Hogsmeade Village... Let me see, I remember there are several secret passages in the school that lead directly to Hogsmeade Village." Ian searched on the Marauder's Map and found that there were actually quite a few secret passages leading to Hogsmeade Village.

In addition to the Whomping Willow that many people are familiar with.

There is also a secret passage behind the statue of the hunchbacked witch. This is a secret passage connecting Hogwarts and Honeydukes, and it is also the secret passage that Harry often uses when he sneaks to Hogsmeade Village.

It is located in the Gunhilda Corridor in Gosmoor on the third floor of Hogwarts Castle.

To enter the secret passage, you need to hit the hunchbacked one-eyed witch statue with your magic wand and recite the "separate left and right" spell, then the hunchback of the statue will open to reveal a stone slide.

"The third floor is closest to us, but I think I should go to another place first." After putting away the Marauder's Map, Ian did not go to the secret passage immediately.

"You look pretty busy today..."

Ariana obviously didn't realize Ian's situation. She tilted her head, but didn't urge Ian to take her to see her relatives. She just asked in a concerned voice.

"Can I help you in any way?"

Girls always prefer to consider others.

"Probably not for now... I have to cancel the Patronus spell first, and then I'll contact you later?" Ian stopped casting the spell after Ariana nodded.

The shining silver light gradually disappeared in the Owl Shed. He had no choice but to leave the eighth floor and go downstairs. The twins who had wandered around at night were still downstairs receiving punishment from Filch.

"This thing keeps flashing. It's really annoying to look at." After Ian walked out of the Owl Shed, he looked at the Ouroboros pattern on the back of his hand, which had no meaning of "off screen" at all.

"Even if there really is a test, you have to give me some hints."

Ian ran towards the basement. As the old saying goes, the person who tied the bell must untie it. He felt that he might need to return to the underground palace. After all, the Ouroboros pattern that was obviously the culprit came from there.

In the bathroom on the second floor.

"It's you! It's you, the murderer!"

At this point, Myrtle had just witnessed Ian speaking Parseltongue. She finally dared to stick her head out of the toilet, and saw Ian running into her "private ghost room" again.

"Plop~"

The frightened ghost went back into the toilet. Ian did not explain his innocent thoughts to her. He found the faucet with the Ouroboros relief and started to study it.

"The mark was not left here, it must have been planted inside the underground palace." Ian did not find any traces of magic, which could of course be due to his low level.

"Open!"

However, Ian was more inclined to believe that he was "cursed" in the underground palace. Well, he finally found an appropriate name for this pattern that was imprinted on the back of his hand like a maggot on the tarsal bone.

"Kakaka~"

As Ian spoke in Parseltongue, the faucet with the relief began to twist, and suddenly countless mechanical sounds were heard one after another.

soon.

The entire washbasin sank into the ground as it descended, revealing a special secret passage that Ian was already familiar with. He entered the inky black hole without hesitation.

The fluorescence on the wand illuminated the road under his feet. With the help of the lighting magic in his hand, Ian walked down the stairs and relived the more than 40 minutes of journey he had taken.

The familiar air was dull, and the familiar environment was old. Crimson candles began to light up on the rock wall, which was completely different from the dark blue that Ian had seen when he first entered.

"There are changes..."

Ian walked to the end of the corridor. The candles on the wall were all crimson red. He entered the underground palace again and saw Slytherin and Hufflepuff hugging each other.

And the huge dragon skeleton in the middle of the underground palace.

"Could it be that it's because of my bad taste that I was made fun of by Slytherin?" Ian raised his wand and pointed it at the two huge stone statues and cast a spell.

"Shidun is dispatched!"

Ian felt that he should believe in all metaphysics that could be believed, and regardless of whether it was because of the manipulation of the stone statues or not, he still moved the two stone statues back to their original positions.

There was a loud noise in the underground palace, and when the two stone statues were reinserted into the stone wall where they had originally been, the thousands of candles that had turned crimson suddenly flickered slightly.

There was a constant flicker of light and darkness in the underground palace for a moment.

Change is fleeting.

"Thank God, I finally see someone... Little wizard, where is this place?"

suddenly.

A disheveled man emerged from the huge dragon bone, which scared Ian. He quickly pointed his wand at the man who suddenly appeared.

The green light on Ian's wand was extremely creepy.

"Mr. Prince! You can't kill your professor!" The man who came out saw the green light on Ian's wand, his expression full of tension and incredible surprise.

He saw Ian's hands were shaking.

I thought Ian was just too nervous and inexperienced.

"Don't be nervous, Mr. Prince. I think we just met not long ago, right... Well, it should be these few days, but I feel like you've grown a lot taller."

"Am I confused? No, it was a few days ago, or maybe last month, could it be last year?" The man muttered to himself while being puzzled.

He seemed to be somewhat mentally unstable.

Ian's hands were still shaking.

"How can this be……"

His voice was shaking even more violently than his hands - Ian's performance was certainly not due to nervousness or inexperience, he just couldn't suppress the huge waves rising in his heart!

"Except your weapons!"

Ian's wand flashed a red light, and then the man who secretly put his hand on his waist not only had his wand fly high, but the whole person was also thrown out and hit the keel.

"Ahem! I don't mean to attack you! I want to extract my memory and store it! You can see that my memory is very confused now."

The man lay on the ground coughing madly.

"Impossible... This is really impossible..."

After Ian put down his wand, his hands were still shaking slightly.

"I also want to say that the power of your magic...is also...impossible..."

He looked up at the little wizard who was slowly walking towards him. The tremendous magic power in that spell just now made him feel an unparalleled sense of terror.

"Professor Ronnie Erich...you can't be alive." Ian's expression and eyes were extremely complicated, and he tried his best to suppress his trembling voice.

No wonder his mood swings are so drastic.

after all!

This is a person who has been dead and has no complete body, but now he is standing here alive! Seeing the blank expression of the former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in front of him.

Ian's gaze turned to the stone statue sitting in the wall, leaning forward and emitting green light. The statue's deep green eyes seemed to be looking at him.

"Salazar Slytherin!"

There was an indescribable complexity and shock in Ian's soft whisper.

He was trapped in a time loop, but it was more than just a time loop. The mysterious founder who lived thousands of years ago had not only set foot in the field of playing with time.

The wizard did another thing that should have been impossible - he used his power in this underground palace to perform a miracle of resurrection right before Ian's eyes!

It's like showing off one's skills.

I don’t know what the deep meaning is…

(End of this chapter)