A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

“I know,” Felix said, “he just wanted to borrow his fireplace.”

Kreacher bowed deeply. "My master told me to try my best to meet your request, and," his voice became more emotional, "I have read the biography of Master Regulus, it is very well written... the young master's reputation has not been tarnished..."

"I'm glad you like it."

……

Felix made it back to his office without incident. A dark figure lunged at him. He instinctively tried to dodge, but couldn't. Valen was gripping his clothes tightly.

"Haw!"

It looked at him with displeasure.

“Oh, Valen, let me catch my breath…” Felix clutched his chest. Valen jumped off him, put one hand on his hip, pointed at Felix with the other, and continued to berate him.

“I’m sorry to have worried you,” Felix grinned. “But I need your help with something. Call Severus over, but be careful not to make a scene.”

Valen looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Go."

After a while—

"What have you done now?" Snape looked at him with disgust.

“I was a thief, and my master found out and chased me. I barely managed to escape,” Felix said lazily, sprawled on the sofa. His attire was bizarre; he was wearing pajamas but a top hat.

Snape stared at him with a strange expression, speechless for a moment. After a long while, he slowly and sarcastically said, "Then I'll have to listen carefully. I really can't guess who the owner is, to make you look so disheveled."

“A wealthy family,” Felix casually changed the subject, “Severus, do you have any of those potions that unlock potential?”

Chapter 479 Pre-match Scenes

"Unleash potential?" Snape looked at Felix with a probing gaze, crossing his arms. "What will you use it for?"

"I'm a safety officer, I can't go out looking like this, it would be too embarrassing."

Snape stared at him for a moment, then asked softly, "When I go to Diagon Alley to buy medicine next time, I won't see your wanted poster, will I?"

Felix stroked his chin. “It’s hard to say… Don’t glare at me, okay, I’m just kidding. The truth is I’ve gone too far in my research on magic,” he explained seriously.

But Snape didn't believe it at all. The next second, Felix's face was covered with magical runes, and Snape watched in astonishment.

What kind of potion do you want?

“Of course, the best kind, the kind that I can fight someone after I finish drinking it,” Felix said with a smile. “How about a 50% discount since I’m your student?”

Snape frowned. "That potion has serious side effects."

“I can accept it,” Felix said earnestly. “Severus, I need it.”

After a moment of silence—

"Just you wait!" Snape said menacingly, waving his sleeve.

“Thanks, Professor.” Felix waved with a smile behind him.

……

“Hermione Jane Granger!” Mr. Granger shouted, his anger rising at his daughter peeking in from outside the door.

“Oh, Father…” Hermione entered from outside, while the other warriors and their families watched with great interest. She shuffled in, looking at Mrs. Granger pleadingly.

Mrs. Granger waved her hand, looking on with an expression of anticipation. "I'm waiting for your explanation too."

"How about," Hermione tentatively suggested in a low voice, "I'll take you for a walk around the campus?"

The Grangers stared at her simultaneously, and Hermione stammered as she finished speaking: "It must be very strange for you to come here for the first time, right? I've made some preparations, I'm sure you'll like them..."

"You mean by 'preparation' you're talking about is leaving your parents out of the room for most of the day?"

"I need to take the exam," Hermione whispered in protest.

Mr. Granger looked furious, and Mrs. Granger gave her a mocking look. "I heard that warriors don't have to take exams? It was Harry, the friend you've been 'helping,' who told me that. You're not trying to hide from us, are you?"

Hermione was speechless.

It took Hermione quite a while to calm her parents down. They first toured the castle, then strolled around the Black Lake. Along the way, they ran into Harry and Sirius. Sirius tried his best to chat with the Grangers, but it wasn't very effective; they couldn't join in the conversation about Quidditch, duels, or adventures.

When Sirius vividly described how he dealt with a giant monster, he didn't receive admiring looks or questions about the details, but rather blank stares and wariness.

Before the atmosphere reached its lowest point, Sirius finally found a common topic.

"Don't worry, there won't be any danger. They're the favorites to win! And they have a safety officer... Felix Heap, you know him too? We met at the Leaky Cauldron? Great! I know him very well..."

Harry felt something was strange; Hermione had been glaring at him angrily while the adults were talking.

He crept closer, "What's wrong?"

Hermione turned her head away and refused to speak to him.

……

"Three Silencers were knocked unconscious? So that person's target was actually the Department of Mysteries?" Fudge asked from behind his desk.

“That’s right, he stole all the hourglasses, and the crystal glass dome lost most of its energy…” said the Auror in charge of the investigation. The three Silencers who had been knocked unconscious stood silently behind the Auror, heads bowed and saying nothing.

Fudge twirled the quill pen, and after a while, he looked up.

"What do you think that person's purpose is?" He looked at the three silent figures. "Time travel? Changing history?"

“Don’t worry, Mr. Minister, there’s nothing he can do,” Saul Crocker said impatiently.

"Why?" Fudge stopped writing with his quill. "He took so many hourglasses... just hourglasses?"

“That’s right!” Saul Crocker was glad he understood. “That man only had an hourglass, not a complete time-twister.”

"What if he finds a broken time-twister outside and fixes it—"

"Impossible, no one can do that! Every time converter that is scrapped has been confirmed by the Silent Ones multiple times and is simply beyond repair. We have tried for hundreds of years without success, which has led to fewer and fewer time converters remaining... It is even more impossible for an outsider to do it."

Fudge looked at him suspiciously.

“It’s true,” Saul Krock said with increasing confidence, this was his area of ​​expertise. “And another thing, the stolen hourglass was very low on energy, and I guess the person realized that, which is why they risked staying there all night to replenish their energy—”

"So?" Fudge asked impatiently.

“Of course it failed.” Saul Crook spread his hands. “No one can learn this technique in one night. So the energy inside naturally dissipated…”

"But if the hourglasses weren't working, why did that person take them all?" Fudge asked, staring with his bull-like eyes.

“Minister, trying to figure out what criminals are thinking isn’t my area of ​​expertise; I can only make judgments based on my professional knowledge,” Saul Crook said with a shrug. “The only problem is that the Department of Mysteries’ security system isn’t good enough; it needs an upgrade.”

“Thank you, Kroc,” Fudge interrupted him. “I will consider it, but you must understand that the department is currently short of funds. If there are any new donations, I will consider you first.”

Silence fell over the office.

After a long while, Fudge asked with a very hesitant expression, "Did you see what that person looked like?"

Bode and Saul Crook shook their heads. They had only seen Felix after he used Polyjuice Potion. The two of them still found Fudge's expression a little strange, fearing that he might suddenly pull out his wand and hit them.

“You, you should have seen something, right? By then, the time limit for compound decoctions must have passed,” Fudge asked somberly.

The third silent man said awkwardly, "I was distracted; that person used a despicable trap..."

Fudge lowered his head and flipped through his testimony. "A fireball falling from the sky, burning debris? Yes, certainly despicable enough."

"..." The silent person lowered their head and remained silent.

Fudge continued flipping through the report. "When I looked down, I was attacked. I only saw a pair of feet... a pair of feet?" He looked up. "Do you remember what those feet looked like? What were their features?"

The silent man shook his head. "I'm sorry, Minister, I don't remember very well."

“I don’t think so,” Fudge smiled slightly. “At least we can get a vague outline, can’t we? For example, whether the footsteps are light and quick, belonging to a young person?”

……

In the evening, the young wizards ate their meal in the Great Hall with great excitement, waiting for the start of the third event.

“Fudge, you’ve brought a lot of people with you today,” Dumbledore said gently.

“I think it’s necessary. The Ministry of Magic has just been attacked,” Fudge said in a low voice. “I have to be prepared.”

"Ah, I see," Dumbledore said softly, a look of regret on his face.

“By the way,” Fudge looked around, “where’s Professor Hyp?”

"Maybe something's holding you up?" Dumbledore said with a smile.

Fudge glanced around; everyone was eating. He wiped the sweat from his brow, hesitated for a moment, and finally made up his mind. "Dumbledore, I need your help. According to the Aurors' investigation, that lone wolf is terrifyingly powerful, even, perhaps, no less powerful than that person whose name cannot be mentioned!"

Dumbledore gave a perfectly timed look of confusion.

“Dumbledore, I know we have disagreements on some issues—”

“It’s not a controversy,” Dumbledore said.

“You—what?” Fudge looked at him, bewildered.

“That’s not a point of contention, Fudge,” Dumbledore said patiently. “Your hesitation will cost us a lot of time—”

"Alright, Dumbledore," Fudge said irritably. "That's the point. I've already backed down by sending an Auror squad to investigate the Albanian forest. We'll have results soon. Now I want to talk about something else!"

He slammed his hand on the table, causing the forks on the plate to jump around.

Several headmasters from other schools in the audience looked over, puzzled. Fudge made a hasty, apologetic gesture. Once the others had turned away, he leaned closer and whispered, "Dumbledore, I need to discuss with you how to deal with a dangerous criminal who brazenly broke into the Department of Mysteries and stole the Time-Turner hourglass and decades' worth of stored energy. Good heavens, what an evil deed!"

Dumbledore looked at him calmly. "Excuse me for speaking frankly, Fudge, but you don't seem to be in any hurry at all."

"Of course I'm worried! What if he wants to rewrite history? What if he's on the Mystic's side and reminds him on the day the Mystic loses his power?" Fudge's temper was about to get out of control again. "You should know what serious consequences that could cause!"

Dumbledore's expression turned serious.

“That’s it,” Fudge wiped his sweat and continued, “So I’d like to ask for your help. We have the same goal, and I assure you, as long as the investigation team brings back strong evidence, I will issue a warning to the public.”

Dumbledore paused for a moment. "What leads do you have?"

“Of course,” Fudge said excitedly, “He spent the night at the Ministry of Magic, trying to steal energy… He must be exhausted, and he was also injured by an Auror. It’s a pity we couldn’t find his blood at the scene… In any case, such an injury cannot be healed in a short time, which is why I was curious about Professor Hyp’s situation. Of course, I don’t suspect him; I’m just cooperating with the investigation—”

Dumbledore's expression grew increasingly serious, while Fudge, believing his plan had succeeded, was beaming with joy. Just then, a man walked in from outside the Great Hall.

Fudge stared at the man, while Felix, his face flushed and radiant, showed no signs of injury. He had even changed into a tuxedo and pulled out a chair to sit in an empty seat not far from them.

Fudge's face turned bright red.

“It seems Felix isn’t the one you’re looking for. He’s in excellent condition. This outfit reminds me of the ball six months ago. If there had been music, I have no doubt he would have been the star of the show…” Dumbledore closed his fingers, looking at Fudge’s face with interest.