The Butcher of Hogsmeade

Chapter 132 The Traitor Within the Bureau of Mysteries

Upon hearing Professor Crocker's words, almost everyone instinctively looked around, except for Dumbledore, who remained unmoved, his gaze fixed on the Silent Man: "There are only six of us in this room. I assured you, no seventh person will hear or see what is happening here. So, are you implying that the traitor also time-traveled and will inevitably appear in the room at some point?"

"Ah, it is indeed a comforting thing to converse with a wise man, Professor Dumbledore," Professor Crocker exclaimed sincerely, his gaze never leaving the pocket watch in his hand. "If I am not mistaken, the traitor will appear in this room in two minutes and forty seconds, right in our encirclement."

"You're not kidding, are you?" Fabian spoke his first words since joining the Department of Mysteries. Although he was skeptical, he, Gideon, and Shen Hou instinctively gripped the handles of their wands.

"Of course not—there are still two minutes and nineteen seconds left—eighteen—seventeen—"

Dumbledore interrupted Professor Crocker's countdown: "Since there are still two minutes left, I might as well use that time to ask one more question: Was the traitor who is about to arrive here sent by you from the time of the attack?"

"Obviously, of course," Professor Krock said.

"But to my knowledge, all the research on time throughout history has gone back to the past; there has never been a case of traveling to the future."

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"To be precise, it's not that there's a lack of relevant research, but rather that there haven't been any successful cases," Professor Krock corrected. "Or to be more accurate, there haven't been any successful cases before me, but relevant research has already been conducted."

Dumbledore's eyes suddenly brightened, and he pressed, "So, you've made a breakthrough in time travel?"

"You could say that, and I'd be happy to share my research findings with you, but—" Professor Krock pointed to the pocket watch in his hand, "Time is almost up. Shouldn't we focus on our upcoming guest first? Besides, after this trip, our traitor will soon become part of our research."

"Ah, yes, that's right," Dumbledore said happily, becoming the first to pull out his wand, looking much more enthusiastic than the few young people beside him who were still in a daze.

Time ticked by, and Professor Crocker did not continue the countdown, but the atmosphere became inexplicably tense, and even Dumbledore showed a rare look of concentration.

Suddenly, the air in the room was gently disturbed by an invisible force; the dust on the floor moved without wind, and then a figure materialized silently into view. There was no popping sound, no spatial movement whatsoever; it was more like someone had suddenly broken free of an illusion spell and revealed themselves.

The newcomer wore the robes of the Silent Ones, but his face was covered by a Death Eater's metal mask, and the pulled-up hood concealed his hair color, making it impossible to identify him.

Until his figure was fully revealed, the Death Eater seemed oblivious to the changes around him, staring blankly at the metal chain wrapped around his wrist. Only when his wand flew out of his hand and towards Dumbledore did he suddenly wake up and look up, only to find himself surrounded by a group of people.

"you----"

"Petrify them all!" Dumbledore's voice was so soft it was like a greeting of good afternoon. The Death Eaters' expressions of astonishment froze completely on their faces, and they slammed their fists on the floor with a loud thud.

"Let's see who he is." Fabian stepped forward, pulled down his hood, and then removed his mask, revealing greasy gray hair and a face full of pockmarks.

Professor Crocker sighed softly after recognizing the face: "August Lukewood, I'm not surprised at all."

"Why?" the minister asked.

"Because all morning, until the attack, his behavior was the most unusual," Professor Crocker said. "During the hours I hid in the Time Hall, I went over the events of the morning repeatedly. He was one of the very few people who had the opportunity to close the entrances to the Department of Mysteries and the Rotunda, preventing other Silents and Ministry of Magic staff from entering to provide immediate assistance."

Millicent looked at Dumbledore, pointed to the person on the ground, and asked, "Slytherin?"

"Please do not view students of any particular house with prejudice, Madam Minister." Dumbledore did not answer directly. "Slytherin House has produced many outstanding wizards who have made remarkable contributions to the wizarding world."

"How do the number of those outstanding wizards compare to the number of dark wizards and Death Eaters? Are they more or less?" the minister pressed.

Dumbledore shook his head helplessly: "You are now the Minister of Magic, madam."

"So what? I say what I think, there's nothing to hide." The minister looked down at the Silenced traitor, her eyes filled with contempt and anger. "Anyway, even if I didn't say this, these pure-blood lunatics wouldn't show any respect to the Ministry of Magic or to me."

Professor Crocker did not participate in the argument between the two. He bent down and removed the metal chain from Lukewood's wrist; attached to the chain was a delicate time-change device shaped like a toy spinning top, which had been rolled up in the sleeve of his robe and was therefore not visible.

Dumbledore's attention was also drawn to it.

"Is this the time converter that can travel to the future?"

"Yes." Professor Crocker raised the time converter, pointing it at the magic lamp above his head; the light pierced through the hourglass on the converter, illuminating every detail inside and out.

"You must have modified it, but I can't see it at all," Dumbledore said.

"It's not easy at all—I'm referring to the transformation process." Professor Kroc gently turned the hourglass, making it flip continuously. "The power of time has been completely exhausted, just as I calculated. If I said ninety minutes, then it's ninety minutes."

"It sounds like you've conducted more than one experiment?"

Professor Krock nodded calmly and smiled, saying, "Two months ago, when I conducted my first experiment, the calculated results deviated from the actual outcome; the journey, which was supposed to take five minutes, became nine minutes and seventeen seconds. The second time, I reduced the error to..."

The deviation was 47 seconds every five minutes; the third time it was reduced to 13 seconds—this was the thirty-fourth experiment, finally achieving a perfect accuracy across 90 minutes.

"You've conducted thirty-four unprecedented magical experiments, and no one else knows? This isn't what we agreed on. I thought you were researching long-term time travel—" The Minister of Magic was horrified. "Why change your research direction? And do you know how much risk these experiments involve?"

"Of course I knew, so I strictly followed the rules of time travel and did not do anything to violate them, even knowing that I was about to face a dangerous attack."

Professor Kroc remained calm.