Hogwarts: Even Voldemort Can't Stop Me From Studying-Chapter 588 - 194: Ministry of Magic Unspeakable
"So... Carrel... Carrel has already..."
Hermione touched the recovered Time Turner, unable to utter the word ’dead’.
Vid nodded.
The two leaned against the corridor, watching the classmates strolling and sunbathing on the lawn, remaining silent for a long time.
No matter the closeness of their relationship, the sudden departure of a classmate from this world still feels abrupt and sad. Moreover, Carrel used to get along well with Hermione and the others; his affable nature was popular in Gryffindor.
So even though Hermione discovered the Time Turner missing when she woke up in the infirmary, feeling as though the sky had fallen, she could no longer harbor any blame at this moment, only sadness for him.
But this feeling couldn’t be shared with others, because the existence of the Time Turner must remain a secret.
"I don’t know how to say it, but I... I know he was wrong, but I understand him, do you understand, Vid?"
Hermione said quietly, "If it were me... if I were in his place... I might have made the same choice..."
Vid didn’t reply, staring at the distant forest, his mind flashing back to the cold corpse in the morgue.
At that moment, Vid felt a deep awe for the power of time, for the Time Turner.
The Time Turner can let them go back in time but cannot reverse cause and effect; it seems to be an inherent part of causality itself.
Just like Carrel’s desire to change the past is essentially his future; to save his mother, he himself must face that end.
Vid rubbed his arms and turned to Hermione, "Want to play in the maze for a while?"
"Play?" Hermione frowned, "I have a paper on Animagus to write, and Professor Flitwick also asked me to compose a counter-spell for a curse..."
The mere mention of assignments made her anxious, usually she would rush back to start flipping through books, but today she lacked the energy.
Hermione bit her lip, looking at Vid, who then tilted his head toward her and raised an eyebrow, as if to say, "—And?"
Hermione exhaled a long breath, dropped her shoulders, and said, "To hell with assignments! Let’s go!"
Vid laughed.
The two approached the maze, where today Professor Trokka was on duty, sitting on Hagrid’s tall chair, looking like a child who had sneaked onto an adult’s seat.
Professor Trokka was originally staring at a few Tree-Protector Lofas on the shrub, lost in thought, but hearing footsteps, looked down and said, "The previous group will be out in five minutes, you’ll have to wait... oh, you two."
Seeing Vid and Hermione clearly, Professor Trokka smiled, "Not going to Hogsmeade?"
"No," Hermione sighed, "I’m too busy." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
"Professor, we want to go to a higher difficulty area," Vid said.
"Just the two of you?" Professor Trokka asked.
"Yes," Hermione asked, "Is that okay?"
"It’s possible, just make sure to signal if you run into danger. You both know Spark Magic, right..." Professor Trokka paused mid-sentence, tapping his head, sighing, "What am I saying, you obviously do."
"Do you have something on your mind, Professor Trokka?" Hermione asked.
"No... of course not..."
Professor Trokka sighed while speaking.
—Besides his nephew being a fugitive who could be anywhere, worrying about his vampire identity being exposed, and dreading whether the curse of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor has extended to his unlucky nephew, he certainly has no other worries.
"Oh, those kids left early, you can go in now."
Professor Trokka tapped the shrub wall with his Magic Wand, and suddenly an arched entrance appeared. Vid and Hermione each took a Tree-Protector Lofa and hung it on themselves, then drew their Magic Wands and entered the maze.
The walls on both sides slowly moved, and after a moment, an entryway appeared on the once sealed-off section on the left, leading to a more dangerous area.
Although it was said to be more dangerous, it was actually just more traps, more puzzles, and more harmful Magical Creatures. Recently, the school had even placed enlarged, aggressive Poppets in the maze.
Custom category; Aslan Magic Workshop can provide special discounts.
Of course, the enlarged bugs are indispensable, as they have now become a hallmark of Hogwarts’ maze game.
Avoid the hidden traps on the ground, solve the puzzles, push aside the rocks, and enter the hidden path.
A Kappa lurking in the pool suddenly stretched out its palm, trying to grab Vid’s ankle. It was instantly hit by the glow of a spell, screamed, and burrowed into the murky muddy water.
A giant mantis leapt down from above, Hermione screamed, and with a flick of her magic wand, she blasted the creature into halves.
A rustling sound suddenly came from all directions, as a large swarm of ants crawled from both ends of the maze, with some climbing over walls, approaching along the top and sides of the shrubs.
The Tree-Protector Lofa on Vid’s shoulder covered its eyes with its little claws, as if it couldn’t bear to watch the cruel scene that was about to unfold.
"Don’t worry." Vid lifted it up and placed it in his pocket, saying, "A bit of fire will solve it."
He shook his magic wand, preparing to use a flame curse he’d recently researched, but Hermione stepped in front of him.
"Wait, Vid." Hermione said, "Let me try first!"
Vid hesitated, then said, "Um, okay."
Hermione pointed her magic wand: "Petrificus Totalus! Incendio! Defodio! Expelliarmus! Reducio! Reducio!"
Ants flew away one after another. Initially, Vid was worried about Hermione’s ability to respond, but then he noticed her fierce determination seemed to have completely forgotten fear, solely focused on attacking.
Vid blocked ants from other directions, freely casting spells, watching the rows upon rows of ’enemy troops’ being blasted away, as his suppressed mood seemed to ease.
After the ants, they encountered beetles as big as hounds, sneaky Red Caps, packs of rats, and a Devil’s Snare suddenly jumping out from the shrubs.
Upon exiting the maze, although their clothes were considerably dirty, the expressions on their faces clearly became much more relaxed.
The Tree-Protector Lofa jumped off their shoulders, grabbing parchment with its little claws, quickly jotting down the scores the two could gain from this ’level challenge.’
"Seems the game indeed cheers people up?" Professor Trokka laughed as he registered the scores, saying, "You are both excellent students, but balancing work and rest is also important."
"It doesn’t matter, rest time is like water in a sponge, squeeze a bit and there will always be some." Hermione said, trying to hold on.
"Listen, child, you should put down those endless books and go back to get a good night’s sleep." Professor Trokka frowned and said, "Look at your dark circles, draining yourself like this isn’t a good thing."
"I know... actually, after this semester ends, I plan to drop two courses..."
Hermione hadn’t finished speaking when she heard someone beside her say, "It’s great that you think this way... but since you’ve decided, why not change your schedule now?"
Vid turned his head and saw it was a tall man in a black robe speaking, his complexion was the kind often hidden from daylight, pale, with a serious expression, his blue eyes somewhat dazed, seemingly unfocused.
He glanced at the top of the man’s head, slightly furrowing his brow.
Professor Trokka stepped down from his high chair and asked, "Sorry, and you are?"
"This is Mr. Broderick Bode from the Ministry of Magic." Professor McGonagall appeared subsequently, introducing in a stiff tone, then said, "Miss Granger, Mr. Bode has business with you."
"Alright... okay." Hermione said, feeling a bit uneasy.
"What business?" Vid asked, "If it’s related to Carrel... Mr. Bode, perhaps you should find me."
Bode’s gaze shifted to Vid, seeing the young boy pull a part of the gold chain from his clothes, his eyes flashed.
"Vid Gray?" He nodded and said, "I’ve heard, you’re also one of those involved, you may join."
They came to a small lounge next to the maze, where Bode straightforwardly said, "Miss Granger, did your Time Turner get lost earlier this morning?"
"Yes." Hermione gritted her teeth and said, "Carrel knocked me out and stole my Time Turner."
"But he didn’t cause any major impact on history." Vid added.
"Yes, thank Merlin, thank Chronos (God of Time)." Bode said expressionlessly, "He didn’t arbitrarily change known history, which is the reason I’ve come to school to find you instead of bringing you all to the trial."
"Please watch your words, Bode." Professor McGonagall said displeased, "Miss Granger is an extremely earnest and diligent student, and her goodwill and trust towards her classmates are not mistakes! As for the erring Carrel... he died a year ago in time, and he also cautiously avoided interfering with time."
The witch tried hard to suppress her sorrow, arguing for her student, Hermione thanked her with a glance.
"Actually, the impact is already present, it’s just that most people haven’t noticed."
Bode said coldly, "The Ministry of Magic detected that today’s time will be shorter than normal by about thirteen minutes, tomorrow by seven minutes, the day after tomorrow by two minutes and thirty-seven seconds... until two weeks later, this time distortion will reduce to 1.8 nanoseconds. At that time, the disturbance in time will gradually calm down."
"Considering the possible detrimental consequences of such behavior, Miss Granger, I’m afraid you cannot continue to keep your Time Turner, this is a decision endorsed by most Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries."
