The Return to Hogwarts

2023-05-28

Residual power of a special kind?

Harry and Hermione exchanged bewildered glances, unsure of what Dumbledore was trying to say.

However, Dumbledore, who had just seemed so eager, suddenly became cautious. He stared at the white ceiling in silence for a moment before asking a question as if talking to himself.

"According to Miss Granger, the Marauder's Map has always been in your possession, Harry. How do you think it ended up in Mr. Malfoy's hands?"

Harry was a little confused. They were discussing how to save Sirius, so why was Dumbledore suddenly so interested in this map?

"At Christmas--"

Hermione stared into Dumbledore's deep blue eyes, trying to find something in those bright eyes to confirm her guess.

"Malfoy once barged into the Gryffindor common room with Mr. Filch. Well, we got into a bit of trouble, if Scabbers—I mean, Peter—had been with Malfoy back then—"

Hermione asked in a low voice,

"Harry, after that, did you make sure the Marauder's Map was always with you?"

“No—” Harry immediately shook his head, proving his innocence, “I haven’t used it in a while—”

"It seems we've finally figured out one thing—"

Dumbledore gave Hermione an approving look and nodded, saying, "Then there's another question. The Marauder's Map that Remus has and the one that Mr. Malfoy has are now combined. But since Sirius and the others didn't make a second map back then, what about the map that Remus has?"

This is indeed a perplexing question; at least Harry has no clue whatsoever.

“Professor Dumbledore—” Hermione’s breathing became shallow as she stared at Dumbledore and called out softly.

Dumbledore glanced at the door, and his speech quickened again.

“Some questions we can only answer ourselves, Miss Granger. It’s a very dangerous mission, but if we succeed, oh, I think you will obviously succeed, won’t you? You might save more than one life tonight.”

Harry's mouth was slightly open, glancing between Dumbledore and Hermione, unable to join their conversation at all.

"But, Professor—"

Hermione clutched her collar nervously, her voice trembling, but Dumbledore stood up abruptly. He took out his wand and waved it, and a gentle breeze suddenly rippled through the tightly closed room. Harry and Hermione both felt as if something had entered their bodies.

"A little insurance measure--"

Seeing the two children's confused looks, Dumbledore quickly said, "It can prevent your names from appearing on this wondrous map—"

Harry was completely confused and could only cover his eyes as he looked at Hermione, who was tightly pursing her lips.

“If you’re unsure what to do, Miss Granger, I suggest you stick to the old path. Good luck.”

Dumbledore left the map on Harry's sickbed, hurriedly left the room, and closed the door.

"Good luck?" Harry stared wide-eyed at Hermione. "But we're discussing how to save Sirius Black, what can luck do for us?"

After Dumbledore left, Hermione immediately fumbled around in her collar and, after a moment, pulled out a long, thin gold chain.

Hermione grabbed the Marauder's Map and stuffed it into her pocket, then draped Harry's Invisibility Cloak, which was on the bedside table, over her arm and said urgently,

"Come here quickly, Harry, we don't have much time to waste."

Harry walked over blankly, staring at the glittering little hourglass hanging from the gold chain, wondering what it was for.

"Come--"

Hermione put the chain around Harry's neck as well. "Ready?"

"What are you doing?" Harry was baffled. He thought they were being incredibly stupid. Professor Lupin's life was hanging in the balance, Sirius was on the verge of death, Ron was still unconscious, and Hagrid was in a coma. But Dumbledore had left without saying a word, and he and Hermione were fiddling with a souvenir.

Hermione turned the hourglass four times.

The brightly lit hospital room suddenly disappeared. Harry felt as if he had boarded a suddenly accelerating knight bus, and the powerful inertia pulled him backward. Except for Hermione, the colors of the scenery on both sides quickly became blurred, and it seemed that many figures were hidden in the blur. He tried to see his surroundings clearly, but his dizzy head and throbbing eardrums made it impossible for him to see anything.

Hermione seemed to be doing alright, as if she had gotten used to the pain, but Harry was screaming because of his throbbing eardrums and dizzy brain, but inexplicably, he couldn't hear his own screams at all.

Then, he suddenly felt his feet touch solid ground again, and everything around him became clear again.

They were still in that hospital room, but it was pitch black; someone had turned off the lights sometime ago, and the noise outside had disappeared.

Harry looked around blankly, and when his gaze swept over the clock hanging on the wall, his expression suddenly turned to astonishment, because the hour and minute hands on the dial clearly showed that it was still a little while until ten o'clock.

"9:40--"

Hermione put the Invisibility Cloak on them, and she muttered anxiously to herself.

Where are we at this time?

"Perhaps they're still in the lounge attending a celebration--"

Harry had a vague idea of ​​what was going on, but he couldn't believe his own guess.

"Oh, yes, that's it!"

Hermione called out softly, then grabbed Harry and rushed out of the ward.

At this moment, Mrs. Pomfrey had finished her rounds and was comfortably flipping through a magazine and listening to songs on the radio in her small room. She probably had no idea what trouble she would face in a few hours.

"What exactly is going on here?!"

As Harry climbed to the third floor, he finally couldn't help but ask.

"We've gone backwards in time. Phew, with this time converter—"

As Harry and Hermione rushed upstairs, they spotted Percy, who was also climbing the stairs. He seemed to be in a good mood, humming a song to himself. It appeared he had finished his patrol of the castle and was heading back to his dormitory to rest.

Hermione stopped talking, and after Percy was out of their sight, she grabbed Harry's hand and ran wildly down the third-floor corridor.

"I got it from Professor McGonagall on the first day back to school last semester. I used it to attend all my classes this year. Professor McGonagall made me swear not to tell anyone. She wrote a lot of letters to the Ministry of Magic to get me one. She had to prove to them that I was a model student and would never use it for anything other than my studies. I turn it upside down and then I can rewind a period of time, so I can attend several classes at the same time, you get it?"

If Harry hadn't already experienced so many unexpected events tonight, he would have definitely expressed his amazement at this thing called the Time-Turner.

"Oh--"

Just then, Hermione suddenly slammed on the brakes, stopped in her tracks, and looked at an office with its door wide open in the hallway with surprise.

"He actually forgot to close the office door—"

Hermione whispered, but then realized she shouldn't make any noise, so she covered her mouth again.

This was Professor Lupin's office, but he wasn't actually there. Harry suddenly remembered that Professor Lupin should be on his way back after washing up, and he confirmed this from the map Hermione had opened.

"Speaking of which, how did you discover that Professor Lupin was... a werewolf?"

Of all the things that surprised Harry tonight, Professor Lupin's werewolf identity definitely ranks in the top three. Back in the Forbidden Forest, Harry didn't have a chance to ask Hermione how she discovered this secret, but now, he couldn't help but be curious.

"Remember, Harry? Professor Lupin taught us how to deal with the Boggart in our first lesson. When the Boggart faced Professor Lupin, he turned into a moon. Later, he would take a few days off every month, which always puzzled me. But before Christmas, I previewed the Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook and saw the introduction to werewolves—"

Hermione cautiously poked her head into Professor Lupin's office, but there was no one there.

On the Marauder's Map, Professor Lupin has already appeared on the fourth-floor staircase on the other side, while at the location of the Gryffindor Tower, Ron and Harry's names are intersecting with Percy's.

"That's strange--"

Hermione said hesitantly.

"What's wrong? Is something the problem?"

Harry quickly asked, while Hermione pointed to the Gryffindor common room, her tone full of confusion.

"See, Harry? We were lured out of the common room by Peter Pan. Look, we're coming downstairs now, but Peter's name isn't on the map."

Chapter 306 The Original Path

2023-05-29

Harry craned his neck, his eyes fixed intently on the map Hermione had spread out in her hand, and then he discovered that this wasn't the only strange thing.

As it approached ten o'clock, they were chasing Scabbers downstairs, but the map only showed their names; Scabbers wasn't in the castle. Instead, at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Harry saw Hagrid crouching in his cabin, while Sirius Black and Crooked the Lynx were in a small square on the map.

Behind the house, near the Forbidden Forest, the names of Malfoy and Peter were faintly visible.

"There's no time to think about that, Harry."

Hermione suddenly closed the map, grabbed Harry's hand, and rushed into Professor Lupin's office. After leaving the map behind, she hurriedly tugged at his sleeve and squeezed out through the crack in the door.

"The map Professor Lupin has—" Harry said, quite puzzled, "was it left to him by us?"

"Isn't this obvious? Dumbledore has made it clear enough."

Hermione said irritably. Harry wanted to ask something, but the sound of hurried footsteps coming from the other side of the stairs and Professor Lupin appearing on the other side silenced him.

Even though they knew they couldn't see each other, Harry and Hermione's hearts were still pounding with nervousness. Hermione, in particular, had memorized hundreds of prohibitions related to time magic before receiving the hard-won Time-Turner from Professor McGonagall, and had read countless cases throughout history of wizards causing serious accidents due to the misuse of the Time-Turner.

Judging from the sequence of events, they arrived here unharmed, but Hermione still couldn't suppress her nervousness.

What happened next was so extraordinary that even Harry, who was used to the wonders of magic, could only describe it as wondrous.

He saw Ron and himself appear in his field of vision at the same time, just a few dozen feet away from them, as they hurriedly chased after Scabbers, who had flashed past in their sight. Then, Hermione grabbed their collars and pulled them behind the tapestry.

Harry instinctively held his breath as Professor Lupin slowly approached. Harry looked at Professor Lupin sadly, worried about what was about to happen, but even without Hermione's reminder, he knew how serious the consequences would be if he did it.

Click——

Professor Lupin, looking exhausted, closed the office door, and immediately Harry, Harry, and their two companions rushed downstairs from behind the tapestry.

Harry and Hermione, both under the Invisibility Cloak, remained motionless, quietly waiting for what would happen next.

Just half a minute later, the door in front of Harry and Hermione was suddenly opened, and Professor Lupin appeared, clutching the parchment. His expression was completely different from when he went in; there was no trace of his previous laxity.