The Butcher of Hogsmeade

Chapter 135 A Trip to the Future and Back

Shen Hou looked at the earnest Professor Crocker, then at the thoughtful Dumbledore, and finally at Millison Barnard, who shared his bewilderment. He took a deep breath and helplessly spread his hands towards the Silent Ones: "Didn't I say my English isn't very good enough to do your reading comprehension questions?"

"Alright, let me explain in more detail." Professor Crocker was a little slow to realize that not everyone had Dumbledore's knowledge and comprehension. "My latest guess is that Mr. Shen, you may actually be from our time, but for some unknown reason, you were sent to 2026, spent some time there, and then came back."

"Impossible!" Shen Hou categorically denied. "In 2026—no, I should say more than twenty years into the 21st century, from kindergarten to university, my memories of that period are crystal clear. Even if you say wizards have memory-related magic, is it possible for someone to implant a complete twenty-year period of memories into another person, even down to details like exam scores and rankings?"

Millison was the first to shake her head: "I've never heard of such powerful memory magic. What about you, Professor Dumbledore?"

"Unheard of, not now, and probably not in history."

Dumbledore's words were clearly more persuasive than anyone else's, greatly boosting Shen Hou's confidence.

Professor Crocker shook his head. "I didn't say your memories were fake. You may have lived in the 21st century for more than twenty years, but that doesn't mean you were born in the 21st century. The person who forged your life story wouldn't need to implant twenty years of false memories; they only need to forge—well—a birth certificate and a family? That's not difficult for a wizard. That might explain why Professor Dumbledore spent two weeks trying to find your parents, who are theoretically in elementary school right now."

Shen Hou stared in disbelief: "So, you're not just trying to deny my memories, but to deny my entire life of the past twenty-odd years? What could have driven you to such a crazy idea?"

Professor Krueger seemed oblivious to Shen Hou's sarcastic remark, instead genuinely believing it to be an academic discussion. He earnestly explained, "The initial reason is that you bear absolutely no trace of the power of time. Anyone who has used a time converter to travel back in time, and thus remains in a period that doesn't belong to them, will bear traces of the power of time, but you don't. Therefore, I have a bold guess: could it be that you're not in the wrong time period, and 1981—or rather, 1980 before that—is the time you should normally exist in?"

"To put it simply, you believe that Mr. Shen did not travel back forty-six years and arrive at the wrong point in time, but rather that he was someone who had traveled to the future and returned to his correct point in time?" Dumbledore's summary was simple and clear.

"That's one way to put it." Professor Krock nodded repeatedly, then emphasized, "All of this is just speculation, a hypothesis that can reasonably explain Mr. Shen's condition, but no conclusive evidence has been found yet."

Dumbledore then asked, "Were your recent thirty-odd experiments also aimed at verifying the possibility of time travel to the future?"

"Yes."

"That's impossible!" Shen Hou's attitude remained resolute. He couldn't accept that his life of the past twenty-odd years had been completely negated. "Besides my personal experiences, I don't only have one set of parents; I have other relatives, and I have a hometown. Who can fake so many things?"

Professor Crocker spoke slowly and deliberately, with absolute rigor: "Compared to implanting twenty years of memories, and experiencing time travel without retaining the power of time—things that are magically impossible—what you've described, while complex and difficult, are not entirely impossible. All I can do is try to eliminate the impossible."

"I don't want to hear anymore, and don't bother with any 'try your best,' Professor Krock; tell me your conclusion after you've ruled out all the impossibilities! I feel that there must be other, more reasonable, and more acceptable truths besides completely negating my life of the past twenty-odd years," Shen Hou said firmly.

Unlike the silent man who was obsessed with the study of time, Shen Hou was different from all other wizards. He had more complex and varied speculations about his current situation, rather than focusing solely on narrow factors such as "magic" and "time".

All those time-travel novels and TV dramas weren't watched for nothing.

Perhaps because he was resisting Professor Krock's conjecture, he began to pace around the room, unconsciously moving away from the direction of the Silent Man, but unknowingly walked to the water tank. Just like in the past when he was in the aquarium and the restaurant, he put one hand on the water tank and looked inside.

Just then, the water in the tank suddenly began to surge, making a "whooshing" sound. The "brain in the tank" suddenly floated to the surface, and many tentacles connected to the back of the brain rose high, swaying and stretching in mid-air, like the forked tongue of a snake used to sense its surroundings, quickly and accurately wrapping around Shen Hou's wrist.

"Watch out." Dumbledore stepped forward to shield everyone behind him, and at the same time swung his wand and struck the tentacle hard; the tentacle retreated with lightning speed, and the brain in the vat seemed to be frightened by the old wizard, quickly diving back underwater.

"Are you alright?" Dumbledore pulled Shen Hou back.

"It's nothing, it's just—" Shen Hou hesitated, staring blankly at the water tank.

"What?"

"I felt like it was trying to talk to me just now—"

"How could that be? It doesn't even have a mouth, and it's not even a real living being; it was created by the Department of Mysteries to study the consciousness and soul of wizards. It actually helped me a lot just now; I mean, it gave me the opportunity to entangle Lukewood with the Time-Turner when the attack happened," Professor Crocker explained to everyone.

"Is this yet another secret experiment that can't be known to the outside world?" the Minister asked, half-jokingly and half-sarcastically. "Everyone says that the Department of Mysteries is the only Ministry of Magic agency that the Minister of Magic can't interfere with."

"Administrative interference in magical research has happened more than once before, and the consequences haven't been good." Professor Kroc seemed oblivious to the sarcasm, his eyes fixed on the brain in the vat. "It seems it doesn't like us. Let's leave this room!"

Upon exiting the rotunda, Shen Hou saw that Scrimgeour had also arrived at the Department of Mysteries and was standing not far from the elevator, discussing the case with Barty the Elder. Some voices drifted over: "The Ministry of Magic can't Apparate, but it can Teleport—it might be a Portkey—Lukewood helped—during the escape—"

Upon seeing the Minister of Magic emerge from the rotunda, both of their eyes lit up. They complained to Millison, "Minister, the Silent Ones won't allow us to enter the Department of Mysteries to investigate the scene; they only permit us to stay between the elevator and the entrance—"

The minister interrupted her two subordinates directly: "Do you think I can order the Department of Mysteries to do this? Their agreement to hand over the mole to the Auror Office for interrogation is the only thing we can do within the system."

Barty and Scrimgeour were both speechless, and then looked at Dumbledore, who was having a pleasant conversation with Professor Crocker, but the latter seemed oblivious and ignored them.

As for Shen Hou? He had already slipped away while the big shots were talking.