chsdbacks Chapter 128, Section 127: Cycles and Impossible Miracles
Chapter 128, Section 127: Cycles and Impossible Miracles
Chapter 128, Section 127: Cycles and Impossible Miracles
The huge clock on the wall ticked away, second by second.
The ouroboros pattern that had appeared out of nowhere on the back of Ian's hand after he came out of the Hogwarts dungeons was also flashing, its frequency like breathing, seemingly perfectly matching the passage of time.
November 30th.
This is the last day of December, a date that Ian should have experienced a few weeks ago, but now it seems as if time has reversed and is presented to him again.
"What kind of terrifying plot twist is this, like Run Lola Run, Suddenly Seven Days, Groundhog Day, Happy Death Anniversary, Triangle, Edge of Tomorrow, Source Code, or 50 First Dates?!"
Ian's heart stopped for a moment, then began to pound wildly in his chest. He was somewhat disoriented, his face filled with the kind of terror that only appears when you stay up all night watching horror movies.
It was as if I had really seen a ghost.
once Upon a time.
Ian had seen many movies about time travel. To be honest, he really enjoyed the movies and had thought about how cool it would be if he could experience something similar himself.
however.
Just like Lord Ye's love of dragons and college students' love of gourds, these are all just empty words. When things happen unexpectedly, Ian really can't feel happy at all.
"Am I going to be stuck in this cycle for centuries?" Ian was genuinely starting to panic. Anyone would find it hard to remain calm after waking up to something so bizarre.
His knowledge base was actually quite extensive, but as mentioned before, due to the Department of Mysteries' restrictions on the wizarding world, there weren't many in-depth books about time at Hogwarts.
This means that Ian's knowledge base certainly doesn't include much information related to time.
He frantically bombarded Morgan with questions in his dreamlike state, precisely because he didn't really understand him. Who could have imagined that returning to the mortal world would lead to such a colossal problem?
"Mr. Morgan's 'Hourglass of Fate' might be able to help me, but I can't make it even if I want to now!"
The little wizard couldn't help but pat his forehead.
"Why does my Christmas have to be so bizarre and absurd!?" The surrounding air remained deathly silent.
The dimly lit corridor was only illuminated by the flickering firelight on the walls. The temperature, which should have been a bit warmer than at Christmas, only made the little wizard feel a chill to the bone.
"What nonsense are you talking about? Christmas isn't here yet." Barnabas looked completely bewildered in the picture frame, utterly unable to understand why the little wizard outside was visibly panicking.
It's just cleaning toilets.
The toilets at Hogwarts today are much easier to clean than those in the Middle Ages!
"Isn't it Christmas already?" Ian saw the exact date on the clock.
However, he still refused to give up and hoped that the school's clock had been destroyed by the Weasley twins.
only.
Things never went as the little wizard wished.
"Are you still half asleep in the house? I understand you want your Christmas presents as soon as possible, but there are still several weeks until Christmas."
Barnabas looked at Ian with increasing confusion.
"What the hell am I sleeping like this! Damn it! Salazar Slytherin is the one who's got me in deep trouble!" Ian's face was a little pale as he looked at the ouroboros mark on the back of his hand.
Ian would never believe that all of this was not Salazar Slytherin's fault; the pattern on the back of his hand had not disappeared since it appeared earlier.
When the pattern first appeared on the back of his hand, Ian felt a chill run down his spine and was quite uneasy.
Unexpectedly, his sixth sense was right!
The ouroboros, also known as the biting snake, is an ancient symbol that roughly depicts a snake swallowing its own tail, resulting in a peculiar circular shape.
It implies infinity and a cycle.
This symbol has always had many different symbolic meanings. It is a common symbol in religion and mythology, and holds an extremely important position in alchemy.
"I should have expected to be tricked like this!" Ian didn't know what Slytherin's purpose was in "choosing" him; he only knew that the founder from a thousand years ago must have liked people who were insulated.
It won't happen if it doesn't occur earlier.
It doesn't flare up at night.
It just so happens to occur on Christmas Day.
What a perverse sense of humor!
"While it is indeed a Slytherin-designed washroom, your need to clean the toilet has nothing to do with him." Barnabas still seemed to think that Ian's behavior was entirely related to Snape's punishment.
Scrubbing the toilet drove the little wizard insane... Barnabas might not be a real fool, but it's obviously impossible for him to guess the truth.
Let alone a portrait.
Ian estimated that even if he went to Snape and Professor McGonagall now and told them that he had traveled back from the future, Snape and Professor McGonagall would think he was talking nonsense.
"The use of time converters is traceable, but my experience is obviously untraceable." Ian had read many books about the experience of using time converters.
He is very clear.
The reason he traveled through time was not due to the power of the time converter, but rather to another, more profound form of magic.
This is also why Ian had all those other wild guesses and speculations.
"Magic that has not been passed down—..."
As Ian looked at the pattern on the back of his hand, he recalled what the Bronze Eaglehead had said about Slytherin having been researching some kind of power in the Chamber of Secrets.
Looking at it now...
"He actually studied time travel, and he actually managed to create something!" Ian found it hard to believe that a mark left a thousand years ago could allow him to reverse time. It was truly too far-fetched for wizards to understand and control the power of time.
Can Morgan do that?
Ian thought it would be mostly difficult.
"Maybe I didn't travel through time, well, I was just sleeping in bed—"
This was completely unexpected for Ian, and he really wished he could believe that what was happening was just a ridiculous dream.
"Snap!"
Ian slapped the picture frame fan.
"Does it hurt?"
He asked the idiot Banaba, who looked disgusted and was so frightened that he quickly backed away.
"Are you stupid?!"
Just as Banaba was about to ask what pain a portrait could cause, he noticed Ian starting to take out the paint for the portrait, and he immediately covered his face in alarm.
"It hurts! It hurts so much!"
Barnabas's acting was so lifelike, probably because he had been constantly beaten by the trolls and knew how to portray pain. At this moment, Barnabas would rather turn around and wake up the sleeping trolls than have anything indescribable added to his portrait. He had heard about all the portraits of Ian's "zombie dog".
"Then I'm not dreaming—" Ian secretly pinched the back of his hand, but he still adhered to the method of multiple arguments to rule out unlikely possibilities.
It's definitely not a dream.
Ian was still somewhat reluctant to accept the absurd truth.
"Is it possible that I also possess the blood of a prophet?"
Ian's attempt to escape reality was a bit too much. He knew that prophets could see and feel the future, and the few weeks he had experienced might have been his first prophecy.
It's like Final Destination—"-Pshaw, no Final Destination. It's more like those mysterious prophets in biographies who can always sense what's going to happen in the future through "previews."
"It's somewhat reasonable, but predicting everything in detail weeks in advance..."
Even our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor isn't that strong, is he?
Ian looked at his personal panel. The proficiency he had gained through learning over the past few weeks was still there. But who could say that someone in a prophetic hallucination couldn't hone their memories?
"I might even have traveled to a parallel universe!" The young wizard knew, of course, that these were just wishful thinking and fantasies; the most likely explanation was that he had been influenced by Salazar Slytherin's magic. He sighed and took out his wand, wanting to test whether Slytherin's time magic could reset the entire universe.
This is not a difficult task.
All you need is a spell you just learned.
"Protect the Gods!"
Ian immediately unleashed the Guardian Charm, and countless silver rays of light surged from his wand, eventually coalescing into the image of a teenage girl.
"Fortunately, the illusionary realm doesn't seem to have been affected."
Ian breathed a sigh of relief. The fact that Ariana was able to appear in person meant that the ring he had placed on the girl was still there, and at least time in the illusion had not been reset.
In this way...
Not only did Ian see clearly the limitations of Slytherin's magic, but he might also be able to endure seven days and then seek help from his teacher in a dreamlike state.
"I just don't know if I'll keep looping the same day, or if it will loop between now and Christmas." Ian hoped that he would be facing the latter.
Just as Ian was pondering a solution,
"You actually possess a human guardian spirit!" Dumb Naba had been watching Ian's erratic behavior from within the picture frame.
Upon seeing the condensed light and shadow, he immediately exclaimed in disbelief.
"Oh my god! You, a human guardian deity, will probably be remembered in history just like the invincible Andros!" Barnabas's exclamation was not without reason. After all, in all the years of wizarding history, there had never been a case of someone's guardian deity being someone else.
"My guardian deity is far more powerful than Andros's giant guardian deity." Despite feeling somewhat uneasy, Ian still retorted to the portrait on the wall.
While the time loop was unsettling, it wasn't enough to drive him to despair or terror. As long as everyone didn't turn into zombies, Ian felt there was always a way to restore order. After all, Salazar Slytherin, as the founder of Hogwarts, wouldn't have deliberately left behind a time spell just to kill a young wizard from a later era, would he?
Even if Salazar Slytherin were truly a wicked old man, he would have many ways to kill someone; Ian could list over three hundred curses.
Why did Salazar Slytherin have to trap people in a time loop?
"Chosen, the eagle said this is being chosen—perhaps the time loop is some kind of test? But what problem do I need to solve in this test to gain recognition and break the loop?" Ian frowned and pondered, while Ariana, appearing as a guardian deity in the human world, illuminated the surroundings.
"Ian, I'm washing fruit. Have you returned to the mortal world?" After Ariana appeared, she floated around in the air with curiosity, like a dancing elf.
She wandered curiously through the dimly lit corridors, past the ancient railings and staircases. The girl was finally about to have the chance to see this school she had always longed for.
"It's much bigger than I imagined." After circling around, Ariana floated back to Ian, expressing her heartfelt amazement with an excited expression.
"Forget about Hogwarts for now, Ariana, I think this time it really is a ghost encounter!" Ian noticed the rather strange expression on Ariana's face.
He quickly and earnestly explained, "It's real, unlike the fake ghosts I saw when I was a child. This time, I was tricked by a real old ghost!"
In response to Ian's words.
Ariana was a little confused.
However, she still gripped the sword at her waist, which would materialize out of thin air when she was in her guardian deity form. "Do you need my help to deal with some terrible evil spirit?"
Instead of feeling scared, the girl seemed rather eager to try.
"Pandero said I'm incredibly powerful in this state, perhaps not just as an evil spirit, but I can even help you slay dragons." It's safe to say that Pandro may have given Ariana some bad habits.
"My God! What's going on?!"
The image of Banaba on the wall continues to emit incredulous gasps.
"She spoke! Your guardian spirit spoke! She can actually communicate with you!" This was definitely not something to be surprised about; feeling incredulous, the silly Banaba tried his best to stick his head out of the picture frame.
"What's wrong with your guardian spirit, little wizard! Something's wrong with you!" Dumbnaba's face was pressed against the picture frame, and his mouth was making quite a racket.
Ian, wand in hand, quickly scurried away from the portrait of Barnabas with Ariana. What if they were in the Hogwarts alternate universe? Barnabas might crawl out of the frame like Sadako, and he didn't want to see anything that would frighten him and his friends.
"Let's go find Dumbledore!"
Ian hurriedly ran towards the owl hut.
He remembered that Albus Dumbledore was engaged in a passionate hand-to-hand combat with Aberforth Dumbledore in the shack that night, and when faced with such a thorny problem, his first thought was to seek help from the headmaster of Hogwarts.
This line of thinking is definitely sound. After all, Dumbledore's magical abilities and understanding of unknown forces are far superior to Ian's, a half-baked magician who has only recently begun studying magic.
Moreover.
With Ariana cheering him on, it's likely that not only will he be able to solve the puzzle on the back of Ian's hand, but he might even be able to create a miracle by having Dumbledore solve some advanced math problems!
Aren't you going to put me in a gift box?
Ariana also has a naive side, which is related to Ian not explaining to her what happened. She only remembers that Ian said he wanted her to be a guest star for Christmas.
"So many owls."
Ariana floated directly into the owl hut.
"They're not here!" Ian was indeed a bit unlucky; he couldn't find the two centenarians in the owl hut, which was now shrouded in a post-event silence.
No one is empty.
Only a flock of owls that never sleep at night turned their heads to look at the little wizard and his Patronus. There was no way around it; Ariana, composed of silver light, looked quite dazzling at that moment.
"I remember you said that Albus became the headmaster of Hogwarts. I don't think he would live in the same room as the owls, would he?"
"Of course, I'm not saying it's bad, but living here doesn't seem quite dignified enough?" Ariana teased the owl before turning to look at Ian.
Ian knew that Ariana lacked common sense about the mortal world. She didn't realize it when she was in the illusion, but it became apparent when she was in the mortal world.
Ok.
It might also be related to the fact that Ian told her he would take her to Dumbledore, but instead took her to the Owl Shack late at night.
"Your two older brothers were fighting here before." Ian recalled his memories; it was roughly the time when he crawled out of the dungeon and entered the Room of Requirement.
It had actually been quite some time since Ian had spied on the two brothers fighting.
Ian then witnessed the twins being discovered while out at night, and the conversation between Snape and the traitor Quirrell, before finally entering the secret passage in the abandoned second-floor bathroom. In just a few hours, even a young couple in their early twenties, let alone a fight between centenarians, would have long since cooled down.
"Let me look for it."
Ian couldn't find Dumbledore on the Marauder's Map he pulled out. He did see Grindelwald, though the Marauder's Map showed him as Gilderoy Lockhart.
The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor remained in his office; judging from the frequency of the small black dot's movement, he was clearly pacing back and forth and not sleeping.
Seeking help from Grindelwald is also an option.
but.
Dumbledore is absolutely the most suitable candidate—Ian has seen the old man's memories, even if it's just the tip of the iceberg, and knows that the old man once studied time and life and death madly.
In contrast, Grindelwald's focus on knowledge was completely different. Moreover, and most importantly, finding Grindelwald for help required Ian to conceal everything related to the Mystic Realm.
After all, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was unaware of Ian's ability, and he would have to fabricate a bunch of lies to explain what had happened without mentioning the illusionary realm.
"Could it be that our good brother went back to Hogsmeade with Aberforth?"
Ian's form of address is generally acceptable. After all, as Ariana's good friend, even if he doesn't round it up, he can be considered an equal to Albus Dumbledore.
"Hogsmeade Village?"
Ariana tilted her head curiously in mid-air.
"Yes, your brother Aberforth usually lives in Hogsmeade Village—let me see, I remember there are several passages in the school that lead directly to Hogsmeade Village." Ian searched the Marauder's Map and found that there were actually quite a few secret passages leading to Hogsmeade Village.
Besides the well-known "Hit-Man Willow".
Behind the hunchbacked, one-eyed witch statue is also a usable secret passage. This is a secret passage connecting Hogwarts and Honeydukes, and it's the one Harry often used to sneak into Hogsmeade Village.
It is located in the Gondilda Corridor of Gothmoor on the third floor of Hogwarts Castle.
To enter the secret passage, you need to tap the hunchbacked, one-eyed witch statue with your wand and chant the spell "Separate left and right." After that, the statue's hunchback will open to reveal a stone slide.
"The third floor is the closest to us, but I think I should check out another place first." Ian put away the Marauder's Map but did not immediately head to the location of the secret passage.
You seem to be quite busy today.
Ariana was clearly unaware of Ian's situation. She tilted her head, but instead of urging Ian to take her to see his family, she asked in a concerned voice.
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
Young girls always prefer to think of others.
"Not for now—I need to cancel the Guardian Charm first, and then contact you again later?" Ian stopped casting the spell after Ariana nodded.
The shimmering silver light gradually faded into the owl hut. He had no choice but to leave the eighth floor and go downstairs.
The twins who went out at night are still down there receiving Filch's punishment.
"This thing keeps flashing, it's really annoying to look at." After Ian walked out of the owl hut, he looked at the ouroboros pattern on the back of his hand, which had no intention of being "off".
"Even if there is some kind of test, you should at least give me some hints."
Ian ran towards the basement. As the saying goes, the one who tied the knot must untie it. He felt that he might need to return to the underground palace, since the ouroboros pattern, which was clearly the culprit, came from there.
The washroom on the second floor.
"It's you! It's you, you murderer!"
At this moment, Myrtle had just witnessed Ian speaking Parsley, and she had barely dared to peek out from under the toilet when she saw Ian run into her "ghost room."
"Thump~"
The terrified female ghost scurried back into the toilet. Ian had no intention of explaining his innocence to her now; he found the faucet with the ouroboros relief and began to examine it.
"If the mark wasn't left here, it must have been planted inside the underground palace." Ian couldn't find any traces of magic, which could also be due to his lack of skill.
"Open!"
However, Ian is more inclined to believe that he was "cursed" in the dungeon. Well, he finally found a fitting name for the pattern on the back of his hand that resembled a bone-like sister.
"Click click click~"
As Ian spoke in his Parsleyan voice, the faucet with the relief began to turn, and countless mechanical sounds rang out in succession.
soon.
The entire sink sank into the ground as it descended, revealing a special secret passage that Ian was already familiar with. Without hesitation, he crawled into the pitch-black hole.
The glowing light from the wand illuminated the path beneath Ian's feet. Using the light from the illumination spell in his hand, Ian descended the stairs, reliving the forty-minute journey he had previously taken.
The air was familiar and heavy, the surroundings familiar and old. Crimson candles began to light up on the rock walls, a stark contrast to the deep blue Ian had encountered when he first entered.
"There have been changes."
Ian walked to the end of the passage, where all the candles on the walls were deep red. He entered the dungeon again and saw Slytherin and Hufflepuff embracing each other.
And in the very center of the underground palace, there is an enormous dragon skeleton.
"Could it be because of my wicked sense of humor that I got pranked by Slytherin?" Ian raised his wand and cast a spell at the two giant stone statues.
"Stone blocks deployed!"
Ian felt that any superstitious belief that could be credulous should be considered, regardless of whether it was related to controlling the statues.
He still moved the two stone statues back to their original positions.
A loud noise came from the underground palace, and when the two stone statues had been re-inserted into the stone wall where they were originally, the thousands of candles that had turned into deep red candles suddenly flickered slightly.
The light and shadow flickered intermittently within the underground palace for a moment.
Changes happen in an instant.
"Thank goodness, I can finally see people—little wizard, where am I?"
suddenly.
A disheveled man emerged from the massive dragon skeleton, startling Ian. He quickly pointed his wand at the suddenly appearing figure.
The green light emanating from Ian's wand was incredibly eerie.
"Mr. Prince! You can't kill your professor!" The person who emerged saw the green light on Ian's wand and his expression was filled with tension and disbelief.
He saw that Ian's hands were trembling.
They thought Ian was too nervous and inexperienced.
"Don't be nervous, Mr. Prince. I think we just met not long ago—well, it must have been just these past few days. But you seem to have grown quite a bit taller?"
"Am I getting it wrong? No, it was just a few days ago, or maybe last month, or even last year?" the man muttered to himself, puzzled.
He seemed to be acting strangely.
Ian's hands were still shaking.
"This—how is this possible—"
His voice trembled even more violently than his hands—Ian's performance was certainly not due to nervousness or lack of experience; he simply couldn't contain the raging storm churning within him!
"Disarm you!"
Ian's wand flashed red, and the man who had secretly placed his hand on his waist was not only sent flying high into the air, but was also thrown into the dragon's skeleton.
"Cough cough cough! I don't mean to attack you! I want to extract and store my memories! You should be able to tell that my memories are currently very chaotic."
The man lay on the ground coughing violently.
"Impossible. This is really impossible."
Ian's hand was still trembling slightly after he put down his wand.
"I'd also like to say that the power of your magic—again—is impossible—"
He looked up at the little wizard slowly approaching him. The immense magical power in that spell had given him a sense of terrifying power that was hard to match.
"Professor Ronnie Ehrlich... you can't possibly still be alive." Ian's expression and eyes were extremely complicated, and he tried his best to suppress the trembling in his voice.
No wonder his emotions fluctuated so drastically.
after all!
This is a person who was supposed to be dead beyond recognition, and now he's standing right here, alive and well! The former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in front of him looked utterly bewildered.
Ian's gaze shifted to the stone statue that was leaning forward, radiating green light, sitting in the wall. The statue's deep green eyes seemed to be staring back at him.
"Salazar Slytherin!"
Ian’s soft voice carried an indescribable complexity and shock.
He was trapped in a time loop, but it was more than just a time loop. The mysterious founder, who lived a thousand years ago, had ventured into the realm of manipulating time.
This wizard accomplished another impossible feat—using his power within the dungeon, he performed a miracle of resurrection before Ian's eyes!
It's as if they're showing off their skills.
And yet, I wonder what deeper meaning it holds.