The years of welding at Hogwarts

Amelia Bones nodded to Scrimgeour's suggestion and said, "I'll leave this matter to you to arrange."

Minister Bones' orders were issued one after another. Although it was already late at night, the entire Ministry of Magic was still busy.

Just when everyone thought that this lengthy meeting was about to end, Amelia was silent for a long time and ultimately did not say the word "adjourn".

"In addition to the orders I just issued, we have another very important matter to deal with."

Her eyes swept across the faces of everyone present.

"We need to invite Professor Dumbledore back to take charge."

Chapter 258 Resurrection Stone

No one in the office raised any objection to Amelia Bones' proposal.

On the contrary, they all felt that this proposal was the most appropriate option for the current situation.

Originally, Dumbledore directly appointed Amelia Bones as the next Minister of Magic to succeed him. Those officials in the Ministry who had sufficient ability and qualifications to support them in competing with Amelia for the position of Minister were somewhat dissatisfied with Dumbledore's approach.

But after hearing the news of Voldemort's resurrection, the thought of competing for the position of Minister of Magic in their hearts immediately disappeared.

Although the position of Minister of Magic is good, it also depends on whether you have the luck to do it, right?

When Voldemort was wreaking havoc, the position of Minister of Magic was a high-risk job.

Not to mention that the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts was changed every year, but during the First Wizarding War started by Voldemort, which lasted for a full eleven years, the Minister of Magic changed three times.

Some of them died because of their open imaginations, while others died because of their open hearts.

Regardless of how they died, none of them retired from office alive; they all died in assassination by Death Eaters.

In terms of mortality rate alone, during those eleven years, the mortality rate of the position of Minister of Magic was much higher than that of the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

After all, even if the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts was cursed by Voldemort, at least its mortality rate was not 100%. At least there were a few seriously injured people who survived, right?

If it weren't for the news of Voldemort's return, they might have had some objections to Amelia Bones in their hearts.

But now...

I won't go to hell, whoever wants to go can go.

If the sky falls, there is Amelia Bones, the tall minister, to support it. They just need to watch quietly from behind, ready to be a fence-sitter at any time.

Of course, it would be even better if Dumbledore could come back and take over the Ministry of Magic.

It's not easy to be a fence-sitter. At least it's not easy to get along under Voldemort. Even some loyal Death Eaters may be killed by Voldemort for no reason.

Only with Dumbledore, the stabilizing force of the British wizarding world, can their safety and interests be guaranteed to the greatest extent.

only……

Where on earth did Dumbledore go?

The answer to this question has remained a mystery ever since Dumbledore disappeared from the wizarding world.

Of course, this only applies to those people in the magical world who do not know the truth.

For some people who know Dumbledore's past, his whereabouts are not difficult to guess.

There were only a few places Dumbledore could go.

The first location is the former residence of the Dumbledore family in Godric's Hollow, but since Ariana's death, Dumbledore has never set foot in the place that broke his heart.

The second place to go is Nurmengard Castle where Grindelwald is imprisoned. There have always been rumors in the wizarding world that Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald are actually a couple.

But this claim has never been confirmed.

The only person who has heard Dumbledore admit this fact is Ah

Apart from Bufoss, there were only the two brothers from the Scamander family.

But no matter which of these three people, they would not reveal such insignificant things to the outside world. Of course, it does not count if they read it themselves using Legilimency.

Apart from the two places mentioned above, the only place Dumbledore could go was the home of his alchemy partner, Nicolas Flamel, the most authoritative alchemist in the world today.

Even if there are three possible locations, a group of people sitting in an office discussing it won't be able to come up with anything.

Nurmengard Castle has been closed for decades. The forbidden area hidden by the heavy magic set up by Dumbledore himself is not so easy to find.

Not to mention the whereabouts of Nicolas Flamel. This old man who lived for more than 600 years began to live in seclusion more than 300 years ago. Except for some particularly good friends, no one could disturb his seclusion.

After a brief conversation, Amelia Bones decided to personally visit Theseus Scamander, the former head of the Auror Office in the Ministry of Magic and old man Newt's brother.

Instead of running around like a headless fly, it would be better to find someone who is close to Dumbledore and ask about the situation.

……

Spider End Alley.

After the Battle of London, this already dilapidated neighborhood became an abandoned place that even homeless people would not visit.

This is actually a good thing for the local ecological environment.

Without any traces of human activity, the dirty river that runs through the neighborhood has never been so clean.

The factories on both sides of the river that had been reduced to ruins by the Lizardmen no longer discharged sewage, fish were rarely seen in the river, and the already lush and messy grass on the river bank had grown to the point where even small animals had difficulty getting in.

In this deserted neighborhood, only the exquisite villa located in the center of the block remains in its original appearance.

Standing on the bare ruins is such an incongruous mansion, which feels like a crane standing out among chickens.

In Snape's study, Noah was playing with an old-fashioned pocket watch with great interest. This thing looked like an antique from the 1930s or 1940s, or even older.

Opposite him, Snape was holding an inconspicuous black stone in his hand. The rough matte black surface, plus the seemingly randomly carved lines on its surface, made the stone look not like the Resurrection Stone, one of the three legendary Deathly Hallows. Instead, it looked like a slightly strange stone picked up from the river.

Although it is a bit rare, in terms of value, just looking at the appearance, it is worth at most ten pounds.

Snape stared blankly at the Resurrection Stone in his hand for a long time, while Noah, who was sitting opposite him, also stared silently at the Time Converter in his hand. Neither of them had any intention of breaking the silence.

Until the end, Noah, who had already understood the general structure of the time converter, spoke first and took the initiative to break the awkward silence in the room.

"I have to remind you that what the Resurrection Stone summons back are not the real souls of the dead, but only a false projection of their souls in the world of the living."

"Although they also have all the memories of their previous lives and have their own thoughts and emotions like a real living person, once they are summoned for a long time, they will eventually become extremely pessimistic due to the different rules between the human world and the world of the dead."

Having said that, Noah put down the old pocket watch in his hand, rested his elbows on the table, and leaned forward slightly.

"I have to warn you, the holders of the Resurrection Stone all end up in a bad way."

"Because of their excessive yearning for the deceased, they long for a true resurrection but cannot get it."

Noah's tone was extremely serious. Even when he was discussing the future of the wizarding world with Professor McGonagall, Noah had never used such a serious tone.

"At the same time, because the summoned person is discouraged and sad, the holder of the resurrection stone will always be in a state of extreme suffering."

"To summon, or not to summon."

"The torment between the desire to see the deceased again and the wish for the deceased's soul to rest in peace ultimately drives the holder of the Resurrection Stone mad."

As Noah finished speaking, the room returned to silence. Only the slight breathing sounds of the two people proved that the people sitting in the room were not two lifeless sculptures, but two living people.

Snape's pair of black eyes, which had been calm due to the brain occupation technique, finally revealed a somewhat complex light.

A tangled mess of thoughts rolled around in his mind.

After a long time, he finally raised his head slightly and looked at Noah.

“Is there a way…”

At this moment, Snape's voice was very different from his usual lifeless and toneless voice. It was actually hoarse with a slight choke.

“Is there a perfect way to let Shirley truly experience the taste of maternal love instead of only facing the illusion of false sadness?”

He gently placed the Resurrection Stone in his hand on the table in front of him and pushed it in the direction of Noah.

But Noah didn't even look at the Resurrection Stone. He just shook his head slowly and said, "I don't know.

I don't know what level of perfection you are talking about. "

"If you only want to resurrect Lily Evans, physically and mentally, just as she was before she was killed by Voldemort..."

Noah spoke slowly.

Although his hands were placed on the table, Snape's fingers were still visibly trembling with excitement.

"Is there any way?"

"Yes, and more than one, but..."

Snape was excited for less than a second before he choked on the "but" that Noah uttered.

As we all know, what comes after the "but" is the real focus.

"but what?"

"Everything in this world has a price, Severus."

Noah sank his whole body into the soft backrest of the armchair, his fingers constantly fiddling with the chain of the time converter in his hand. "The biggest feature of magic is exchange. What you gain, you lose something in return."

"Just like when we cast a spell, we essentially pay for the magic power and in return we get the final result of the spell."

Before Noah could finish his long speech on the nature of magic, Snape interrupted him impatiently, "If your price is one life for one life, I can exchange my life for it."

Snape's answer was decisive and resolute, without any hesitation at all.

Noah was not at all surprised by the answer from the most infatuated man in the magic world.

But if only things were as simple as one life for another.

"Resurrection is not such a simple matter. You want to rescue a soul that has passed away for more than ten years from the underworld, and then rebuild a perfect body for her that allows her to walk in the world of the living. How can the price you have to pay be comparable to your own life?"

Noah rarely refrained from sneer-scorning at Snape's naive ideas.

He simply tapped the table lightly. "The price of completing this entire resurrection ceremony will be extremely painful. The only question I'm curious about is whether you have enough courage to make this decision."

Snape was about to answer when Noah raised a hand.

"I can neither decide nor predict what price we will pay in this process."

"But I can intervene through magical means and decide who, for example, the world itself, will bear the cost of resurrecting Lily on our behalf."

Noah raised his eyebrows, and a hint of indifference to life appeared in his eyes.

This problem is like the Flashpoint paradox in the DC universe next door, where Barry Allen saves his mother's life by traveling back in time to stop the Reverse Flash.

Even so, when he returned to the original point in time more than 20 years later, he had a happy and complete reunited family.

But the end result of this was that the two powerful races, Amazon and Atlantis, fought each other, and at the same time, humans, a third party who stood on the sidelines and watched, were also dragged into the fight.

In addition to making the whole world pay for his act of saving his mother, Barry Allen also paid the price with his own speed force.

With Noah's means, he could certainly use a more gentle method to exchange for Lily's life, but even Noah could not predict the price to be paid.

Therefore, the most crucial question now is whether Snape has enough courage and can be cold-blooded enough to use millions of people in the wizarding world as bargaining chips to make a deal with the god of death.

If Shirley hadn't been there, Snape might have given Noah a positive answer without hesitation.

Without Shirley, this world without Lily Evans has no meaning to Snape. It is just another hell.

but……

Shirley's appearance has filled the void in Snape's heart left by Lily's death.

If Noah's method is followed, whether Lily can be resurrected is just an illusory promise. Even if Noah can really do as he said, who can guarantee that the painful price he mentioned will not eventually affect Shirley?

Before leaving the room, Noah patted Snape's shoulder, "Think about it, Severus."

"You still have Shirley, don't make a rash decision."

Yeah, he also has Shirley...

Snape sank into the armchair with a slightly dejected expression.

With the sound of the door lock being reset, Noah disappeared into the study.

Snape's deep black eyes stared blankly at the Resurrection Stone on the table for a long time. Finally, he made up his mind, sat up straight, and grabbed it in his hand.

He carefully held the Resurrection Stone in his hand, took a deep breath to ease the tension in his heart, and then turned the Resurrection Stone in his hand three times.

An obscure wave emanated from the Resurrection Stone...

Chapter 259 Time Turner

A dark wave spread from the Resurrection Stone. Snape's eyes stared straight into the void in front of him, but nothing happened.

"This is... Severus?"

A slightly suspicious voice came out without any sign