Chapter 333 Time Converter

This Saturday is a rainy day. The heavy rain pounded into the black lake, and the strong wind rolled up the broken branches and blades of grass, lashing against the stone bricks of the castle. Several unlucky owls stumbled into the window and suffered broken bones, and were delivered to Madam Pomfrey by the students who picked them up.

The Albacore Tuna Club also canceled the mermaid language practice activities by the Black Lake due to the weather. The students could only sit in the castle hall and polish horns and ox bones - from the kitchen of the generous elves - to prepare as gifts for the mermaids. .

"Good morning, Professor Anthony. I didn't expect to see you in the library at this time." Professor Flitwick said happily, looking up at the titles of the books in Anthony's arms, ""The Mystery of Time" and... Oh , Honeydukes product list?”

Anthony smiled and nodded: "Yes, Professor Flitwick. I originally planned to go to Honeydukes, but I forgot to consider the weather."

Yesterday in the middle of the night, when Anthony least wanted to have anything to do with the pet—that is, while he was sleeping peacefully under the covers—the cat kindly jumped into one of the boxes that had been forgotten to be closed. After a series of eerie scratching and rubbing sounds, Anthony found a slimy blob of a skeletal cat covered in pink bits and syrup next to his pillow this morning, as well as a box of what was presumably the body of a coconut sorbet.

After clearing out the coffin of coconut sorbet, he decided to use the two remaining boxes as decorative furniture in the room. At this time, he was finally relieved to find that he could buy some novel snacks.

"Yes, yes, the weather is terrible today!" Professor Flitwick agreed. "I'm so glad there's no Quidditch match! I was planning on going to the Three Broomsticks for a small drink and a chat with friends. But it's raining so hard, I think we'd better sit down in our chairs and read some interesting books." He floated two or three ridiculously thick books off the shelf. (Mrs. Pince was serious.) (staring at him), and then glanced at the book in Anthony's arms shrewdly, "Are you interested in time magic recently, Professor Anthony?"

"No, not exactly." Anthony said, "Strictly speaking, I'm just curious about what the time turner is. Do you know that there will be students using time turners next semester?"

Professor Flitwick said happily: "I know that there are students who use time turners every semester. But I understand what you mean, Professor Anthony. Is this the first time you have met a student who uses a time turner?"

He picked up his wand, let the book float beside him, and walked out the door with Anthony.

"Yes, Hermione Granger next term," said Anthony. "If I were still teaching third year, she would be my student. She chose Muggle Studies, Divination and Arithmancy at the same time. It's unimaginable. ”

"Miss Granger is very enthusiastic about learning." Professor Flitwick praised, "and she is a very talented witch." He suddenly took a few steps back and bent down to look at the books in the bottom row of the bookshelf beside him. , took out two more books from it, each glanced at the catalog, and carefully stuffed one of them back into the bookshelf, and then turned around to follow Anthony who was waiting for him.

"I mean, the Time-Turner still sounds unimaginable," Anthony explained. "I always knew it existed, Minerva told me about it. I also knew better than to try to understand it logically, but I The Muggle part of me, the vast majority of me, stubbornly screamed that this couldn't be true." He smiled and showed the title to Mrs. Pince, who was standing at the door. "Just borrow this book. , Mrs. Pince.”

Mrs. Pince glanced at it and nodded.

"These four, Irma," said Professor Flitwick. "I like your hat. It has a beautiful peak. Is it Madam Malkin's work?"

"It's an extraordinary clothing store." Mrs. Pince said with a straight face, "Thank you for your compliment, Filius, but you should still read "The Origin and Evolution of Curses" and "A Study of Italian Wizarding Customs" two days ago. ” is back. By the way, “Spells and Counter-Spells”, “Charms Without Charms” and “One Thousand and One Consequences of Wrong Spells” are due in three days, and “The Invention and Application of Fine Charms” It’s also due in four days.”

Professor Flitwick said with a smile: "Okay, Irma. I'll ask Gubby to bring it to you as soon as I get back."

Mrs. Pince looked at him distrustfully for several times, and then with Professor Flitwick's repeated assurances, she reluctantly agreed to let him borrow these four books first.

"I don't think Irma likes me very much." Professor Flitwick said, "Maybe it's because I showed Albus the books before, so several of them are now kept in the principal's office by him... But those Books are not suitable for keeping in libraries... Where did we come from? Oh, what do you think about the time turner?"

"In many places." Anthony said, "Even if we don't consider various scientific experiments, just speaking from the simplest daily life, suppose I conducted an in-person test in class, explained the questions, and left the test papers to Student. Miss Granger stuffed the test paper into her schoolbag and went back to an hour ago to attend the divination class... At this time, would there be a test paper from the future in her bag? A memory from the future?"

"I think so," said Professor Flitwick sharply. "And there's nothing unreasonable about it, Professor Anthony."

"But this completely disrupts the definition of the past and the future, Professor Flitwick." Anthony said, "For Miss Granger sitting in the Divination classroom, the Muggle Studies test is the past, but for Miss Granger who just walked into the classroom For her and her classmates, that is a future that has not yet happened. Isn't this - just in theory - very convenient for cheating? Can't the holder of the Time Turner get it in any exam? Full marks? All they have to do is read the message from their future self.”

"In fact, from a theoretical perspective, the time turner is not suitable for cheating." Professor Flitwick said, "Countless magic experiments have proven that the time turner is indeed a dangerous thing, and it can indeed lead to the past. The boundaries with the future are slightly blurred..."

Anthony manually put quotation marks for Professor Flitwick's "slightly blurry". He has always felt that weird things like time magic can turn everything into a mess and make things easily slip into fatalism.

Professor Flitwick continued: "...but it cannot cause huge changes in any future. Its danger is mainly to the user. The user must go through a series of certifications and tests, and must be very careful not to use it at any time When you see another self, you can't try to change what has happened, otherwise the person will disappear under the magic. No one who can get the time turner will take such a risk. "

Anthony sighed deeply. Raindrops pounded on the windows in the corridor, and water poured in through the cracks in the windows, dripping onto the ground and spreading over a large area.

"What's wrong?"

"It's worse," Anthony said. "It sounds completely fatalistic... and a very fatalistic one at that."

Professor Flitwick said puzzledly: "But fate already exists. The reason why divination exists is because of fate and the centaurs' astrological divination..."

Anthony shook his head: "No, Professor Flitwick, the thing is like this: at every moment, people can go back to the past, and people from the future can also return to the present - the existence of people in the future means that A certain future, accurate to every minute, will not change at all... This is completely different from 'I see doom approaching you'."

Several students passed by them, hearing Anthony's artificial ethereal tone as he imitated Professor Trelawney, and glanced at them curiously.

Anthony deliberately turned his head and met one of the people's eyes. The other person immediately greeted him and Professor Flitwick cautiously, and walked away quickly with his companions in a panic, as if bad luck was approaching them.

Professor Flitwick waited until all the students disappeared at the top of the stairs, then smiled and said: "I understand. No, Professor Anthony, although some scholars will agree with your description, the mainstream view in the magic community still believes that the future is not completely certain. . Albus clearly stated that it is people's choices that determine the development of things-that is, what the future will look like."

"But the time turner..."

"In fact, this is why the conditions for using the Time-Turner are so harsh. Except for a few silent people in charge of research, only a few students are authorized to use the Time-Turner, and what they can do with it is also restricted. All kinds of restrictions," Professor Flitwick said, letting a few books bounce in the air and follow him up the stairs. "I have a friend who has some inside information, but it is only for academic discussions. As mentioned, this is to avoid excessive time locking.”

"Hmm...that makes sense."

Professor Flitwick further explained: "As long as there are no people who come back from the future, the future is not certain. Class time is very regular, and several students who appear in different classrooms at the same time will also have an impact on the future of others. Very small. In addition, students must sign a bunch of guarantees and swear not to tell anyone else about their possession of the time-turner.”

Anthony asked in confusion: "If it's so troublesome, why don't you just stop letting students use the Time Turner? It sounds like, apart from being used for advanced magic research, its biggest use is to produce some students with crazy class schedules and multiple certificates. Comes with very dangerous side effects.”

"You're right, Professor Anthony. But sometimes, all it takes is a good reason to convince people to do something that seems unreasonable."

Anthony asked, "And that good reason is?"

Professor Flitwick replied seriously: "The Ministry of Magic hopes to see something useful from the Department of Mysteries. The research on the time turner cost a lot of money."

"A strong reason," Anthony said.