Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 112 Solving Cases with Superpowers?

With a series of heavy footsteps, Avada saw a burly man, as imposing as a wall, with eyebrows larger than his eyes, emerge from the depths of the corridor, a barely concealed anger lurking between his brows. He strode down the corridor and down the stairs, the gust of wind he stirred up almost blowing Avada's hair askew as he passed by.

'Parkinson...is he one of the Twenty-Eight Sacred Races? Then he must be one of the twelve school board members, and also Pansy Parkinson's father?' Avada thought to himself.

"Ken?"

An aged voice suddenly reached his ears, startling him: "Professor Dumbledore?"

"Your concealment skills need improvement."

Dumbledore's voice seemed to travel across the dozens of meters of corridor directly into his ears, and only he could hear it, without disturbing Mr. Parkinson, who hadn't gone far and could still hear his footsteps: "Come over if you're curious."

"Secret telepathy?"

Avada, somewhat surprised, dispelled the Disillusionment Charm and walked obediently towards the Headmaster's office. As soon as he turned the corner, he saw that even more familiar figure in front of the familiar stone beast. Dumbledore's expression remained perfectly calm, as if the previous furious outburst had had no effect on his mood whatsoever.

"You're up very early, Mr. Ken. Mrs. Pomfrey might not be happy if she heard about it." Dumbledore smiled at Avada.

"cough."

Avada coughed awkwardly, and seeing that Dumbledore didn't seem to intend to ask why he had come so early in the morning, he asked, "Professor, who was that person just now?"

—However, Dumbledore certainly knew about the Room of Requirement, so it wouldn't be a big problem if he said it.

"That was Mr. Robert Parkinson."

Dumbledore explained, "He's also one of the twelve members of the Hogwarts Board of Governors. Just last night, his daughter, Miss Pansy Parkinson, a second-year Slytherin student, also fell into a coma like the other students before her, so he came to see me early this morning. He also plans to transfer Miss Parkinson to St. Mungo's for treatment, and I hope the healers there can offer a better solution."

"What about the investigation team he mentioned earlier..." Avada asked tentatively.

"It's never a bad thing if more people come to investigate."

Dumbledore's tone was quite calm: "But don't worry, they shouldn't disturb your normal lives. It won't have much of an impact on you. It's mainly targeting me... According to him, they don't seem to intend to let me perform my duties as headmaster during the investigation."

"I'm sorry, Professor."

Avada lowered his head with some guilt: "It seems my prophecy was wrong, and I wasn't of any help to you..."

"Time is inherently mysterious and unpredictable, and the future is even more uncertain. Even the greatest prophet cannot guarantee that his predictions will be correct."

Dumbledore smiled and comforted him, "Besides, at least you foresaw the danger this year, which allowed me to prepare more paintings in advance, which will be of greater use during the investigation."

"By the way, Professor, speaking of time..."

Suddenly, Avada had a flash of inspiration and blurted out, "When I was reading the book you gave me during my vacation, it mentioned a device called a 'time converter' that allows users to travel back in time, right?"

—This wasn't something he made up. Nicolas Flamel's alchemical notes did indeed mention a time converter, even listing its detailed principles and general manufacturing process, just missing the specific parameters to be seen in the blueprints. Of course, Avada couldn't understand a thing of it right now.

"That's right."

Dumbledore nodded. "In fact, if you had chosen all your elective courses this year, you would have had the opportunity to obtain a Time-Turner to ensure your studies. However, its use is extremely limited, with countless detailed terms and conditions… Mr. Ken, are you suggesting that we could use the Time-Turner to go back to the time of the incident, to personally observe the victim's condition, or even directly identify any potential killer?"

That's exactly what I meant.

"Great idea."

Dumbledore visibly delighted: "Thank you for such a brilliant suggestion, Mr. Ken... However, I must remind you that time is one of the least known and most mysterious realms in the magical world. If you attempt to use time, you must always be cautious and remember the rules, which are lessons learned at a terrible cost by those who came before you."

"For example, the time reversal of a time converter must not exceed five hours, otherwise it is very easy to fall into chaos. So it's probably too late to apply for a time converter now to investigate Miss Parkinson's. The Ministry of Magic has extremely strict control over time converters, and it will take several days to get one..."

"Does anyone else in the school possess a time-tamper, Professor?"

"Unfortunately, we don't have any."

Dumbledore shook his head slightly, but his expression showed no trace of regret: "The last user of the Time-Turner was Percy Weasley, but he has completed his twelve OWLS exams and is now in his sixth year, so the Time-Turner was naturally returned to the Ministry of Magic."

"Moreover, there's almost no precedent for using a time-turner to investigate cases. After all, the magical world has too many convenient ways to obtain the truth, and a time-turner is far too dangerous... but it just happens to be suitable for Hogwarts' current situation. Perhaps next time, or the time after that, when a coma occurs, we can use this method to find out the truth."

Dumbledore seemed to be in a great mood, even his tone was lively: "I have to go back and write to the Ministry of Magic right away, but before that, I plan to award Hufflepuff twenty points as a thank you for Mr. Ken's valuable advice."

"Thank you, Professor."

Seeing that Dumbledore seemed eager to turn around and head back to the headmaster's office, Avada wisely refrained from further inquiries: "Then I'll head back now, Professor?"

"Yes, remember to get plenty of rest, and don't forget Mrs. Pomfrey's doctor's orders."

"Okay, Professor, goodbye..."

In truth, Avada was quite puzzled by the Time-Turner—when he entered the river of time, what he saw, whether history or the future, was almost entirely a combination of all possibilities. Even after confirming his current point in time, countless timelines could still converge or diverge, making it impossible to obtain any information at all.

So, how exactly does the time converter allow users to accurately return to their past experiences?

"It's probably the same principle as how fortune tellers accurately predict the future... There's still so much I don't understand. But for now, let's not enter the river of time again..."

The mere thought of that magnificent orb of light, beyond description, made Avada's heart tremble uncontrollably. He never wanted to face that thing again.

Moreover, he doesn't have the ability to find the River of Time on his own; he needs Professor Trelawney's mental guidance. Therefore, he is still quite far from becoming a qualified diviner.

"However, there shouldn't be much to worry about regarding the coma. With Dumbledore personally using the Time-Turner, plus the twins' Marauder's Map, and the Board of Governors' investigation team, even if I were the murderer, there's a good chance I'd be caught..."

(End of this chapter)