According to Nicolas Flamel, even though a hundred years have passed, the Time-Turners now available from the Department of Mysteries are still not complete.
The power of time is too mysterious and unpredictable, and it has been difficult for wizards to fully grasp it from ancient times to the present.
If time energy is misused without full understanding, the most likely thing that will happen is that the timeline will completely collapse, just like Heloise Mintubble, the silent person in the late 19th century, and she herself will die in the long river of time.
For this reason, the Ministry of Magic had to impose various restrictions on the use of time-turners to ensure that no major accidents like what happened back then would occur in the timeline.
However, the Department of Mysteries is reluctant to abandon this huge treasure of time energy and wants to continue advancing its research on time energy.
Therefore, they need more time travel samples for deduction.
It was precisely because of this need that the Unspoken Man of the Department of Mysteries came up with the idea of using young wizards to increase research samples.
Those young wizards with good character and academic performance have been guaranteed by the professors and headmaster of Hogwarts and are determined to be good students who are willing to abide by the rules and obey school arrangements. This can ensure that they can use the time-turner within the strict regulations to the greatest extent possible.
Of course, it is not enough to rely solely on the self-awareness of the young wizards and the guarantee of the professors.
The Ministry of Magic made a second insurance for this: a one-hour reversal spell was applied to the time converter to increase stability during use. The number of times the hourglass on the time converter was turned corresponded to the number of hours the young wizard could go back to the past. Each turn could go back one hour.
The time converter can be rotated up to five times, which means it can go back a maximum of five hours.
Five hours is the maximum amount of time that the Department of Mysteries' time chamber can go back to ensure the stability of the timeline.
It has been calculated that within five hours, the timeline's self-healing ability can restore most of the changed events and make those events logically self-consistent.
In addition, because the young wizards have not yet fully developed, the magic power in their bodies usually has not naturally grown to its peak level. Taking these wizards back in time can save a lot of time and energy.
Therefore, giving young wizards access to the time turner is a good idea that kills two birds with one stone!
But the Silent People could never have imagined that there would be such an unreasonable professor in Hogwarts who would actually steal the Time Converter from his own students...
Dracula leaned against the bookshelf in his office, chuckled as he played with the time-turner in his hand, then stretched out his slender index finger and casually moved the hourglass in the metal ring of the time-turner pendant five times.
The next moment, although he was still leaning quietly against the bookshelf without any movement, he felt like he was flying backwards very quickly.
All sorts of misty shapes passed before Dracula's eyes; at the same time, it felt like something was knocking violently in his ears, even to the point of making him feel a little annoyed.
So he blocked some of his senses and turned his head to look at the scene outside the window.
Dracula vaguely saw that the blue sky outside the window was changing like a fast-forwarded movie, with countless magnificent clouds floating rapidly.
Gradually, the sun hanging high in the sky retreated silently, gradually setting at the end of the Black Lake in the distance, and was blocked by the low hills of the Scottish Highlands, leaving only a circle of golden flashes.
The bright sky gradually dimmed, and the stars quietly pushed away the white clouds, occupying the sky that should have been illuminated by the sun.
After a long while, the mist in the lake disappeared and the knocking sounds in my ears stopped.
Dracula held the time-turner in his left hand, pushed open the door of his office with his right hand, walked into the corridor, and looked out at the scene of Hogwarts in the distance.
It was just dawn, and at the end of the Black Lake, a golden light broke through the curtain of stars, quietly illuminating the darkest moment of the day.
The sky was still dark, and this was the time of the day that Dracula enjoyed the most.
There is no dazzling sunlight, nor eternal darkness; a best balance is achieved between light and darkness.
Dracula, who belongs to this time period, should be standing on the shore of the Black Lake, admiring the giant squid in the lake and the games played by the little wizards in the Slytherin common room all night long...
Dracula excitedly put the time-turner into his pocket, then jumped directly over the railing in the corridor, ready to fly to the Black Lake to give his past self a surprise.
However, as he was jumping, Dracula suddenly saw the black and red cloak fluttering behind him, and he couldn't help but fall into deep thought...
If I were to meet my past self wearing this iconic outfit, wouldn't I be recognized instantly
It was no big deal that his past self went against the image of the hooded man he had seen before. Dracula didn't care about complicated things like the laws of time. But if his past self discovered in advance that it was his future self who traveled back to fight with him, that would be a big deal.
Dracula understood that with his own sensitivity, as long as his past self discovered even the slightest clue, he would immediately understand the truth of the matter.
In this way, he could also guess the various kinds of magic he would use and take precautions against them.
Even though the desire to fight with myself would not change, if my past self knew that the attacker was myself, the fun of this sneak attack would immediately be reduced a lot.
Not only that, Dracula has already fought once and has the advantage of foreknowledge of his past actions.
If his past self discovered the truth, he would definitely change his strategy to deal with the enemy. If one move affects the whole body, then the advantage of foresight would most likely disappear.
Without the advantage of foresight, and unable to use his signature magic that would expose himself, nor the spooky wooden wand that he had become so familiar with, Dracula might really lose to his past self under such disadvantages.
This was something he could not accept at all.
It's so embarrassing to lose to my past self!
Dracula looked up at the sky and saw that the golden light at the end of the Black Lake in the distance was slowly moving upwards. Knowing that there was not much time left before dawn, he couldn't help but feel a sense of urgency in his heart.
He casually summoned a dark moon and teleported to Madam Malkin's clothing store in Diagon Alley, ready to pick out a set of clothes that could hide his identity.
The plump Madam Malkin was as dedicated as ever. She got up early in the morning and came to the shop. She was humming a song while sorting out the various wizard costumes in the shop, looking very relaxed.
The next moment, Dracula in black and red robe suddenly appeared in the store, scaring her.
"Who... who are you? Are you a... robber?" Madam Malkin raised her wand tremblingly and pointed it at Dracula.
Then she saw Dracula's long silver hair and handsome and weird face.
Her face immediately relaxed and even turned a little rosy. "Ah, sir, I guess you are not a bad person."
She put her wand down and looked at Dracula out of the corner of her eye.
"Well, hurry up, give me a hooded cloak that I can wear now." Time was running out, and Dracula said racing against time.
"Ah, are you in a hurry?" Madam Malkin asked in surprise. "If you were a handsome and tall clothes hanger like you, you would look the most handsome in a custom-made wizard robe... although you would definitely look good in any clothes."
"Stop talking nonsense and get me a set of clothes that fit me. I need them urgently." Dracula interrupted Madam Malkin's flattery irritably and quickly ordered, "It would be best if it can cover my whole body so that others can't recognize me at all."
"Uh... huh?" Madam Malkin's eyes widened.
She was starting to get a little scared again.
What kind of person is this? Why would he want to hide his image? Is this a dark wizard who is about to go out and commit murder? After he gets the clothes, will he kill me to keep it secret
It's no wonder that Madam Malkin is timid. A man in black appeared in her shop before dawn. As soon as he came in, he demanded a set of clothes that could cover his entire body and make him unrecognizable. He couldn't wait for a moment. Who wouldn't be scared
Of course, if that person is handsome, it might make the fear less severe...
"What are you still standing here for? Go find it quickly." Dracula impatiently took out a large bag of gold galleons from his pocket, which was cast with the traceless stretch spell, and threw it on the counter of Madam Malkin's clothing store. "Is this enough money?"
"That's enough!" Madam Malkin smiled brightly when she saw the weight of the bag of gold galleons. "That's enough to buy all the clothes in our house!"
"Then go quickly and remember my requirements!" Dracula said coldly.
"Okay!" Madam Malkin nodded and went happily to find clothes for Dracula.
As for whether this is a dark wizard who is about to commit a crime
Stop kidding! Such a handsome man, he is also so rich, why does he have to do bad things
Driven by her ability to make money, Madam Malkin acted very quickly.
In less than two minutes, she used magic to take out a gorgeous red wizard cloak from the warehouse. The cloak was embroidered with intricate patterns and had a large hood on the back that could completely cover her face.
In addition to this cloak, Madam Malkin also thoughtfully prepared matching gloves, shoes, masks and linings for Dracula, so that no skin on Dracula's body would be exposed.
Dracula changed into a gorgeous red cloak in the fitting room with satisfaction, put on a mask and gloves, and stood in front of the fitting mirror to take a look.
Sure enough, the hooded man I saw before appeared in front of me again.
"Dear guest, your temperament matched with this dress makes you look like a leader in the magic world!" said the fitting mirror flatteringly.
Mirrors in the magical world are all like this. They always like to talk to people looking in the mirror and point out their image problems.
It's different in clothing stores, where mirrors prefer to compliment people and urge them to pay.
Dracula glanced at the fitting mirror, wondering how this mirror could see his temperament and appearance when he was wrapped so tightly...
Ignoring the dressing mirror that was trying to make small talk and Madam Malkin who was waiting outside and wanted to chat with him for a few more words, Dracula walked straight out of Madam Malkin's clothing store and left Diagon Alley under the dark moon.
Then, he picked up a pine branch at random on the high ground where Hogwarts was located and stuffed a strand of his own hair into it to make a simplified version of the magic wand.
Dracula originally didn't want to use a magic wand, but this simplified version of the wand turned out to be inconvenient to use.
However, wizards in the entire magical world are more accustomed to using wands to fight. There are probably very few wizards like Dracula whose wandless spellcasting level is higher than their fighting level with wands.
If he put down his wand and could reach the top level of a great wizard just by casting spells without a wand, then the Dracula in the past would have realized the problem without even thinking about it.
Fortunately, Dracula had gained a lot of experience in wand making from studying Ron's ash wand that fired spells backwards, so this makeshift wand was not completely unusable...
The starlight slowly faded, and the golden light at the end of the Black Lake gradually filled the entire horizon.
Before the end of dawn, Dracula, wearing a gorgeous red cloak, finally caught up with the duel between his future and past selves.
He waved his thickly gloved hand over his ordinary wand—
A deep red blade of light shot towards the silver-haired figure who was watching the scenery by the lake.
He had to admit that there had indeed been a hint of murderous intent in his heart.
Dracula wants to try and see what effect will this have on his present self if he really kills his past self...
However, the figure by the lake became alert the moment the murderous intent emerged, and suddenly turned sideways to avoid the attack.
The tip of the light blade narrowly brushed past his throat and flew into the water without stopping, splitting the lake in two in an instant. The dividing line drawn by the air on the lake surface did not disperse for a long time.
On the dividing line, many fish were cut into two parts, and the cut surface was as smooth as a mirror.
"How many years have passed..." The figure by the lake turned over his palm and looked at the slender fingertips with a dazed look.
There was a drop of bright red blood on his pale fingertips, and that drop of blood seemed to be emitting a strange luster.
"It's been so many years since I last felt what it feels like to be hurt." He gently licked the blood from his fingertips, revealing two side teeth on the corners of his mouth.
"Then I want to know who you are?"
Dracula didn't say anything, just stood there quietly.
He was worried that once he opened his mouth, even if his voice changed, his experiences from ancient times to the present would have shaped his unique way of using words and language habits, which would be easily discovered by his past self.
So, Dracula proved his intention with his actions—
He slowly raised the wand in his hand, which was so ordinary that it couldn't be more ordinary.
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