Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 300 Unexpected Incident on the Return Trip
"I knew it was risky to wander outside as a werewolf on a full moon night, violating the rules Dumbledore set to protect me and others, but I was so attached to the taste of friendship that I couldn't give it up."

"After returning to Hogwarts, the guilt in my heart became even more unbearable. I had failed Dumbledore's trust."

"I hesitated for a long time, wanting to tell Dumbledore about the Animagus, but I could never make up my mind. Melvin also tried to persuade me several times, but I was too cowardly."

"I tried to convince myself that Sirius was able to get into the school because he learned dark magic from Voldemort, and that it had nothing to do with the Animagus."

"In a sense, Severus was right about me all along. He strongly opposed my teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts and repeatedly reminded Dumbledore that I was not trustworthy."

"..."

Lupin revealed the long-hidden truth, took a deep breath, and exhaled with a sense of relief, as if his weak and sickly body had eased somewhat.

Snape said nothing, remaining silent.

The three students didn't know what to say, so they could only stare down at the campfire.

Time passed slowly, and the bonfire burning on the terrace of the Astronomical Tower cast a red glow on people's faces. The flames, created by magic, did not crackle like burning firewood. A cold wind blew from time to time, and the sky gradually darkened.

"I plan to take Peter to the Auror and turn myself in..."

Looking into Harry's familiar green eyes behind his glasses, Sirius seemed a little guilty and said in a hoarse voice, "Once I clear my name and have the warrant removed, perhaps I can come to see you legitimately, Harry."

Harry was just feeling touched when he heard Snape's habitual retort: ​​"Why should I let you take it? You didn't catch this rat."

His tone was cold, and his question carried a hint of sarcasm.

Snape's words had a magical power; a few casual sentences could incite anger and hatred.

Harry raised his head and glared at Snape. There were five Gryffindors and one Slytherin on the field. He was not afraid of Snape at all. With confidence, he stood tall.

“You…” Sirius Black held Peter’s wand, gripping the handle tightly.

The last time he sneaked into the castle, this was the man who used dark magic to scratch his arm, almost causing him to bleed to death.

This time, he impersonated Harry riding a Firebolt to deceive him, and even used Veritaserum and Legilimency to mess with his mind, leaving him still dizzy and with a throbbing pain in his temples.

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Lupin cast a spell to make the campfire burn brighter, then gently advised, "Don't argue. Overturning the case isn't that simple. This isn't an emergency. The Department of Justice won't use truth serum or Legilimency during trials. If Peter refuses to admit anything and there's no other evidence, you'll be in jail for a long time."

“And…” Lupin sighed, then hesitated.

The Ministry of Magic is now in Fudge's control, and the minister has a falling out with Dumbledore, so he's happy to use old cases to annoy them.

"Let's relay this to Dumbledore first and hear what the headmaster has to say."

Sirius was speechless at the calm and reasonable arrangement.

Snape didn't refute, staring at Peter, who was curled up in the snow, groaning but not daring to make a sound, his eyes shimmering with a deep, dark depth.

"so be it!"

Hermione's tone was light and cheerful, and she seemed very enthusiastic. She removed the gold necklace from her collar and fiddled with the timer on it: "There's still an hour until the banquet starts. We'll have the results when we get back to the future!"

The timer possessed an incredible magic; its hands ticked as they turned. Peter lay in the snow, feeling the countdown perfectly synchronized with his heartbeat. He suddenly remembered that the people in front of him had returned from a few hours later, and they were now going back to the future.

At this moment, Harry and Ron should be in the underground office, Hermione should be guarding the school gate, and Lupin should be alone in his room recovering from his illness.

The rat tied up and waiting to be slaughtered would soon become a stinking dead rat. Peter opened his eyes wide and stared intently at the timer. He didn't want to just sit and wait to die. He wanted to escape alive!
The Animagus have been exposed, and there's no way to escape the castle using conventional methods, but the power to travel through time is something even Dumbledore can't catch.

“Animagus…”

Peter used his remaining strength to activate the transformation, then immediately reverted. The strips of cloth wrapped around his body tightly bound the rat, but were stretched to the point of tearing by the obese middle-aged wizard. The tattered cloth cut into the bloody wounds on his body, but the rat had already broken free.

This happened so fast that only Snape, who was casting the spell, noticed it, while the other four were gathered in a circle, holding the gold chain in their hands, preparing for the upcoming time travel.

Peter lunged at the little witch, but Snape reached out to stop him. In the instant the dazzling golden ripples bloomed, everyone touched the necklace.

"Om..."

An unimaginable magical force enveloped the entire terrace. The Astronomical Tower suddenly disappeared, the horizon became blurred, and the outline of the Forbidden Forest in the distance became indistinct. It was as if the water of the entire Black Lake was pouring into them. Their bodies were dragged backward by an invisible force, and the feeling of weightlessness made their heads spin and their blood flow accelerated.

All sounds disappeared, and the whole world became quiet.

"Is it...successful?"

Peter looked around at the unfamiliar scene. It was clearly not Hogwarts Castle. He didn't know where he was, but he felt no joy at escaping, because those troublesome guys had followed him.

Snape, Lupin, and Sirius approached slowly, facing different directions, surrounding the young wizard. The adult wizards, with their heightened senses, felt something was wrong; their hearts felt as if they were being gripped by an invisible hand, making it hard to breathe.

"call……"

Puffs of white steam billowed from his mouth and nose.

Harry looked down at the goosebumps on his hands, then looked up again. Before he knew it, a cold white mist had enveloped him.

"Where is this?"

Hermione clutched the gold necklace tightly; the gold dust in the timer lost its color and became dull, as if damaged by the accident just now.

This time travel was originally a simple return trip. They came from a few hours ago, and even without the converter, they could return after waiting for five hours.

But Peter and Snape joined in midway, and the two wizards from the past stumbled into the tunnel leading to the future, causing the tunnel to collapse.

She vaguely recalled Professor McGonagall's instructions when she received the converter.

...On the upside-down wooden candlestick, candles glowed softly, and on the desk beneath them, steaming orange pumpkin juice sizzled.

In the office of Professor of Transfiguration at Hogwarts Castle, across the old desk, an hourglass flowed quietly in the candlelight. Hermione stared at the small box in Professor McGonagall's hand, speechless and lost in thought.

The magical artifact that allows one to travel through time and space is requested by the professor and specially approved by the Department of Mysteries of the Ministry of Magic. Only extremely outstanding students can use it to assist their studies. Hermione's mind was filled with Professor McGonagall's explanation, and her eyes were dazed.

From receiving her Hogwarts acceptance letter to taking electives in her third year, the Muggle-born witch had become accustomed to the wonders of the magical world. However, when she touched these magical artifacts that could easily change the world, Hermione felt like she was still that naive Muggle.

“I’m giving you the Time-Turner not because of your excellent grades, but because you are careful enough, Hermione.”

Professor McGonagall's voice remained as steady as ever: "Gryffindor children are not lacking in the courage to take risks, but very few understand when courage is needed and when restraint is necessary."

Hermione lowered her head, feeling slightly guilty.

In their first year, they confronted the troll head-on, ignored warnings to approach the forbidden corridor, ventured into the underground passage, and chased after Quirrell in search of the Philosopher's Stone. In their second year, they investigated the Basilisk and broke into Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets...

Hermione herself also felt that she was not a good student who followed the school rules.

"There are a total of five elective courses in the third year. Among them, the Muggle Studies course has been specially adjusted in terms of class time so that it will not conflict with other courses. When using the converter at other times, you need to pay attention at all times and be careful."

Professor McGonagall placed the box containing the necklace on the table and pushed it toward Hermione. The timer had markings, and at the center of the pointer was a delicate little hourglass with gold sand flowing inside.

What should I be careful about?

"This is not a shortcut for cheating, don't use it for exams, don't use it to rush homework on Monday mornings, and it's not a toy for entertainment, don't use it to sleep in, read books, or play Wizard's Chess. Disregarding time will cost you dearly."

Professor McGonagall paused briefly: "Time doesn't pave the way for you. It can't change anything. It just takes you back to the past. You go back, but you can't change the outcome. That predetermined outcome already includes you."

“It sounds like a philosophical question… a time paradox,” Hermione said thoughtfully.

"You can only go back five hours at most. Don't let your past self see you, and don't let others see two of you at the same time. Not because of fear, but because any small accident could lead to disaster."

Professor McGonagall stared into her eyes and said, "When you have time, you can go to the library and look up information about time converters. It records many disasters caused by disregarding time."

“I’ve read some information about it… and I thought it was fiction.” Hermione said shyly.

"Any other questions?"

Hermione thought for a moment, then looked up: "The Time-Turner can only go back to the past, not to the future?"

Professor McGonagall nodded, her expression turning serious: "The past is closed, with stable magical anchor points, or coordinates in Melvin's words. The future is open and dynamic. Your choices right now will create different futures. Countless choices lead to countless futures. The Time Converter cannot determine the anchor point of the future."

Hermione shrank back: "So what happens if you go to the future... Has anyone in history tried it?"

“There was a witch named Eloise Mintab, a silencing person in the Department of Mysteries, who once used a time converter to travel back in time during an experiment, but died because the return time was set to be more than a few hours overdue.”

Professor McGonagall said softly, “Elois had to repeatedly use the damaged converter to return to her original point in time, shuttling back and forth between the past and the future. When she finally returned to the present, her Silent colleagues recorded that she had been trapped for five days in 1402, but her body had aged five centuries and suffered irreparable damage, ultimately dying at St. Mungo's Hospital. Her time travel altered the fates of many people in the past and future who were connected to her…”

"Can I know exactly what the change is?"

“At least 25 Mintab family wizards have disappeared from reality, and investigations show they were never born. In addition, there are some worrying signs that time itself has been distorted; the experiment took place on a Tuesday and lasted for 50 hours, but two days later on Thursday, it lasted only four hours.”

Hermione held her breath and exclaimed, "Why is this happening?"

"I don't know. When she returned to reality, she was already very old and her speech was slurred. The therapist who took care of her recorded a few words. The mutated people speculated that the time converter got lost and couldn't find its way. She may have been trapped in the ruins of some collapsed spacetime for five centuries."

……

The banquet was still ongoing.

In the main seating area of ​​the auditorium, the half-giant lay sprawled on the outermost table, snoring loudly, his body reeking of alcohol marinating into his flesh.

On the other side sat the principal and several deans, two elective course professors, Melvin, and Trelawney, who loved sherry and raised and lowered his glass but never got drunk.

Students chased each other back and forth in the aisle, the twins constantly passing by, making a racket. Each time they passed, they would steal a jug. There was also mead and eggnog in front of them, and they even stole brandy and whiskey from Hagrid. But at some point, all they could take was butterbeer and pumpkin juice.

There was no lights out or curfew on Christmas dinner day. Based on the experience of the previous two years, the students could keep making noise until the early hours of the morning. Lupin was not there, the trio quietly slipped away, and Snape did not say a word. Tonight's dinner was not lively enough.

Dumbledore's corny jokes were collectively boycotted, Professor Flitwick's jokes were finished, and Melvin's Muggle jokes were in limited supply and sold out half an hour ago. Accompanied by Hagrid's snoring and clinking glasses, the main seat seemed a bit deserted.

At this moment, Dumbledore turned his head to look at Snape and said with a smile, "The portrait of Lady Delis tells me that you came to my office before the dinner party. I was dozing in the inner room and did not hear the knocking... You haven't said much tonight. Now can you tell me what you wanted to see me about?"

"not the right time yet."

Snape said casually, glancing at Melvin beside him, then at the Gryffindor table, his gaze sweeping around before he nonchalantly looked away.

The trio had been gone for fifteen minutes, so it was clear they hadn't just gone to the restroom together.

Dumbledore and Melvin exchanged a glance, vaguely guessing from the clues that something was happening, related to Sirius Black, and perhaps also to the Time-Turner, but they weren't sure what it was.

Melvin, recalling the information Hermione had mentioned and the clues he had seen on the Marauder's Map that afternoon, held his wine glass thoughtfully.

As he was speculating about Hermione and the others' adventure, Snape cast his gaze at him again from a short distance away.

Melvin put down his glass, looked up to meet that gaze, glanced at the Potions professor, then at the Gryffindor table, and gave a questioning look.

Snape nodded expressionlessly.

"..."

Melvin understood, but not entirely, and got up to leave, pondering.

(End of this chapter)