The Butcher of Hogsmeade

From the first light of dawn until full daylight, Dumbledore finally returned. Accompanied by James, the old man walked steadily and slowly. If it weren't for his distinctive pointed hat and long robe, he would have looked much like an old man taking a stroll in the neighborhood park.

This illusion lasted for less than a minute. When Dumbledore sat down across the table from him, Shen Hou had already completely forgotten about the old man taking a stroll.

Although the old man wore a smile and had a kind expression, he exuded a quiet strength that made Shen Hou sit up straight, as if facing a formidable enemy. What puzzled Shen Hou even more was that, upon closer inspection, the old man seemed vaguely familiar.

Perhaps it was because the old man's appearance last night was so forceful and memorable? Shen Hou muttered to himself, quietly waiting for the other party to speak.

"Before I came, I had already heard about you from Gideon," Dumbledore's voice was calm and powerful, as rhythmic as his walk. "But before I entered, I heard you had discovered a new problem? Could you tell me more about it, Mr. Shen?"

Shen Hou opened his mouth, then suddenly felt a little lost: "I...I don't know how to say it."

"I understand, your experience is indeed very bizarre, and it's difficult to sort things out in a short time; would you like to hear my advice?"

"Of course, I'd love to."

"My suggestion is, start from the beginning." Dumbledore's suggestion was so simple it was almost a truism, but his tone had a calming power. "Think back to the last thing you did, the last person you touched, the last thing you made, before all these strange events happened to you, while you were still at home; then, start with that thing, that person. You said it was sometime in 2026?"

"Yes, 2026, the New Year holiday—I'm talking about the Chinese New Year…"

"Yes, I know about the Chinese New Year. Your traditional calendar is a bit different from ours." Dumbledore controlled the pace of the conversation, giving timely positive feedback and encouraging Shen Hou to continue.

"That day... hey, it felt like yesterday to me!" Shen Hou sighed. "I played some games at home for a while, got a little tired, and leaned back in my chair for a nap. You know, I just closed my eyes and dozed off for a bit, and when I opened them, I was in that Pighead Bar, and I rolled out of the fireplace."

"Do you remember anything unusual that happened between your nap and when you woke up? Maybe it was a dream, or did you hear any sounds?" Dumbledore pressed.

Shen Hou tried hard to recall: "I didn't dream, it's just... before I woke up I felt my body suddenly fall, like I was falling upside down from a height, and then I was startled awake."

Dumbledore frowned slightly, as if he had encountered something even he couldn't understand. Shen Hou cautiously asked, "Has anything like what happened to me in your magical world before? Like suddenly crossing half the Earth, or... crossing half a century?"

"Large-scale space travel is not uncommon, and many wizards undertake such journeys, including quite a few that require crossing the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans. However, that requires a pre-built Floo network, which is not simple. As for time travel..." Dumbledore paused slightly, "The wizarding world does have methods for time travel, but this behavior is extremely dangerous and strictly limited; given the current laws and research in the wizarding world, time travel spanning forty-six years is unimaginable."

Upon hearing this, Shen Hou couldn't help but ask curiously, "What's the largest span of time travel you've ever done?"

"At most five hours."

"Oh, that's quite a difference..." Shen Hou was astonished; five hours and almost fifty years are vastly different, no wonder people couldn't explain it.

"Only five hours?" Sirius, who had been silently listening, suddenly interjected, "I've heard that someone once successfully traveled back five hundred years?"

Dumbledore looked over: "Where did you hear that from?"

"I can't remember clearly, it seems to be a story I heard when I was little, told by my family. What, is this story fake?"

"No, it's true, but very few people know about it now unless they've seriously studied the history of magic. In fact, the history of magic is far too vague about this story; the internal records of some large families are much more detailed." Dumbledore's words immediately piqued everyone's interest.

"Like the Black family?" Sirius's tone was both excited and contemptuous.

"Yes, just like the Black family."

"So, what exactly happened, five hundred years of time travel?" Sirius seemed unwilling to continue discussing the Black family and urged them to get back to the main topic.

"Strictly speaking, it was a magical experiment accident, not planned time travel," Dumbledore said solemnly. "The witch Eloise Mintelbeth traveled from 1899 to 1402 and stayed there for five days, causing a series of disasters. Her actions in the past altered part of history, causing some people who should have existed to disappear from history because they were never born; after returning to the correct point in time, 1899, she aged rapidly and died, her body resembling a mummified corpse that had been preserved for five hundred years. It was after this event that experiments and practices related to time travel were strictly limited."

Shen Hou was deeply shocked, and a heavy unease rose in his heart: "You mean, I could also cause a similar disaster, just like that witch named Ashworth?"

"Yes, that possibility cannot be ruled out." Dumbledore looked directly at him, his gaze calm and profound.

"Because I participated in the battle?"

"That's not all. If you really did travel through time from forty-six years in the future, then every person you met and every thing you did yesterday could potentially change 'history'; of course, for us, that's 'the future'."

The group remained silent, not out of fear or anything else, but simply because they had suddenly received too much information, some of which was difficult and obscure, exceeding their comprehension and causing their brains to be unable to process it.

"Why does it have to be a disaster? Can I think of it this way: if Mr. Shen Hou hadn't come yesterday, I would have been killed by the werewolves by now, or at least seriously injured?" James asked, feigning nonchalance.

"If he hadn't been here yesterday, we wouldn't have needed to be distracted protecting a 'Muggle'... no, I should say a guy pretending to be a Muggle," Alastor retorted fiercely. "So, is it because he came that you weren't hurt, or is it because he came that you might have been hurt? It's hard to say!"

"At least..." Sirius chimed in, echoing James's optimism, "Forty-six years later, wizards and Muggles haven't gone to war, and the Void's ambitions and insane plans haven't been realized yet. Isn't that good news? Of course, that's assuming he's not lying... You're not kidding us, are you? You really are coming forty-six years from now, right?"

Shen Hou paused for a moment, then asked blankly, "Who is 'you know who'?"