The Butcher of Hogsmeade

"I never knew there were so many time converters still in existence." The minister's expression was calm, but her tone was full of emotion.

Crocker raised his right hand, extended his index finger, and placed the fingertip on the glass dome. His tone was both an answer and a recollection: "Although there is no explicit rule, the Department of Mysteries has been trying to recover the Time-Turner ever since the Alois Mintab incident in 1899. Not only us, but also the Ministries of Magic in various countries—I mean departments with similar functions to the Department of Mysteries—have reached a great deal of understanding on this issue."

"Have they all been taken back?" Piastrelli pressed.

"Who knows?" Crocker raised a finger, a faint glint of light visible at the tip, as if it had been picked out from a glass case. "Before the nineteenth century, research into time travel was a popular field, and many wizards participated in it; even today, who knows if some pure-blood family's warehouse, or some black market counter, still has one or two time-tamperes hidden away? These things aren't that big."

The Director of the Department of Magical Accidents and Disasters paled upon hearing this: "Doesn't that mean there's a possibility of another time travel accident happening at any moment?"

"There's no need to worry too much. It's one thing for the time converters to be lost, but it's another whether they can still be used now. Although we haven't recovered all the time converters yet, most of the power that can be used for time travel has been brought under the control of the Mysterious Affairs Department." Kroc carefully observed the light spot on his fingertip, then slowly turned around and looked at Shen Hou.

"The...power of time?" Piastrelli asked, puzzled. "What is that?"

"This is it." Kroc showed the light at his fingertips to everyone, but before they could see it clearly, he flicked it lightly and sent it flying toward Shen Hou.

Although the entire room was enveloped in a similar light, strangely, this specially selected light was neither absorbed nor buried. Instead, it consistently attracted everyone's attention, circling around Shen Hou several times, passing through his body a few times, and finally returning to Kroc's hand.

"What's going on?" Shen Hou felt a chill run down his spine; ignorance is not necessarily fearlessness. In certain environments, the unknown is more likely to trigger panic, just like he was feeling now.

Kroc's gaze was deep as he looked Shen Hou up and down. He didn't speak immediately, but instead turned around and sent the light in his hand back into the glass dome before slowly saying, "You don't have the power of time."

"What?"

"I said, you don't have the power of time within you." Kroc repeated, then explained, "A person who is time-traveling will definitely have the power of time residing within them. It's not just magical items like time converters; their body and mind will also be eroded by the power of time."

"What exactly is the power of time?" Dumbledore had been silent and focused on observing since entering the Time Hall, and this was the first time he had spoken.

Krock shook his head: "I don't know how to explain it. It's just a concept I came up with myself, not a widely accepted or disseminated academic term. I used it to forcefully explain the effects of time on people and things, and their external manifestations. But one thing is certain, and has been verified by numerous experiments: a person who travels through time will inevitably be affected by the power of time, and will inevitably resonate with the light inside the glass case. Obviously, we didn't see any resonance just now."

"Is the light inside the glass dome the power of time?" Dumbledore asked again, his gaze burning with a thirst for research and exploration.

"No, they might be seen as carriers of the power of time, rather than the power itself." Kroc shook his head, a self-deprecating smile on his face. "Don't ask me what the power of time is anymore, I don't know; I've only observed related phenomena and found some tricks to influence them, but I can't understand it."

The minister grew impatient with the conversation between the two "professors" and loudly interrupted them: "Let's put aside the academic discussion for now, gentlemen. We should focus on the pressing matter at hand. Professor Kroc, what exactly do you mean by saying that this gentleman doesn't possess the power of time? Can it be interpreted as you concluding that he is not a time traveler?"

The director of the Department of Magical Accidents and Disasters immediately chimed in, "So, the alarm is off, and he won't cause a magical accident?"

"I didn't say that," the Silent One shook his head slightly. "I can only say that, with the currently available means, we cannot find any evidence of time travel in him. But I cannot guarantee that this will negate the possibility of an accident or disaster."

"Merlin's beard! You are a man of silence, not an administrator. Please don't try to fob me off with bureaucratic rhetoric, Professor Crocker," Millison Barnold couldn't help but complain. "You are the Ministry's most knowledgeable expert on time travel, and I need your professional judgment to support my decisions."

"In the face of time, no one dares to claim expertise, nor is anyone qualified to make judgments." Kroc ignored the Minister's predicament and complaints. "Why could Alois Mintab alter history, while we couldn't use a time-tamper to avert tragedy? Her alteration caused many people to 'not be born,' but if these people weren't born, how would anyone know they should have existed? Since Alois aged five hundred years rapidly after returning to the correct timeline in 1402, why didn't she become an infant, or even an embryo in a pregnant woman's womb, or simply disappear during the five hundred years of backtracking? Such a famous magical accident, after eighty years of research, still leaves many mysteries unsolved. So, who dares to say they understand the power of time?"

"Are we just helpless and forced to stand here and spout nonsense?"

"No, if we just want to know whether he is a time traveler or not, there is an even simpler way, but the verification process will take a little time." Kroc had his back to the glass dome and was facing the others.

"What method?" Millison pressed.

"Since he claims to live forty-six years in the future, let's ask him what will happen in the future. He has only been around for less than a day, has not met many people, and has had a limited impact. Some major events that will happen in the future may still occur."

Millison sighed in exasperation: "Is this all the solution you, as a time research expert, could come up with?"

Kroc laughed and said, "Many things are not complicated to begin with."

Piastrelli seemed to have thought of something, and suddenly his interest surged. He looked at Shen Hou eagerly: "That's right, why don't we ask the future god... whether the Death Eaters have been wiped out?"

Shen Hou couldn't help but roll his eyes: "Sorry, I can't answer that question."

"Why, why didn't you come from...?"

"Yes, I came from 2026, but I don't know what happened in the wizarding world in 1980 because I was a complete Muggle back then. Just like Muggles in 1980, how many of you do you think knew what happened in the wizarding world in 1930? Although I've only been in the wizarding world for less than a day, I already know that you have a 'Law of Secrecy'."