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This wasn't a dream.
Even so, Ian was still struggling to accept the absurd reality unfolding before him.
"Could it be that I have a Seer's bloodline?"
Ian's attempt to rationalize the situation was growing increasingly desperate. He knew that true Seers had the ability to perceive glimpses of the future, and the strange déjà vu of the past weeks suggested that this wasn't the first time he had experienced these events.
Much like the arrival of the Grim Reaper— no, no, not the Reaper. It is more like those cryptic Seers described in magical biographies, the ones who foresaw events by living through them firsthand.
"That would almost make sense, but predicting every single detail weeks in advance? Even our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor isn't that powerful."
Ian glanced at his personal notes. All the knowledge and skills he had honed over the past few weeks remained intact. But then again, who was to say that memory couldn't be retained even inside a prophetic illusion?
"Or maybe I've somehow fallen into a parallel timeline!" He knew full well that he was grasping at straws. The most logical explanation was that he had been ensnared by Salazar Slytherin's magic. Sighing, he pulled out his wand, determined to test whether Slytherin's time magic had the power to reset reality itself.
This wouldn't be a difficult experiment.
It only required a spell he had recently mastered.
"Expecto Patronum!"
A surge of silver light burst from Ian's wand, swirling and solidifying into the shape of a teenage girl.
"At least the Twilight Realm remains unchanged."
Ian exhaled in relief. The successful manifestation of Ariana confirmed that the ring he had given her still existed. If time in the Twilight Realm remained untouched, then Slytherin's magic hadn't rewritten everything.
That, at least, was something.
Not only did this reveal the limits of Slytherin's magic, but it also meant Ian could endure the seven-day cycle and eventually seek help from his mentor in the Twilight Realm.
"I just don't know whether I'm stuck in a single-day loop or a repeating cycle leading up to Christmas." He fervently hoped it was the latter.
As Ian weighed his next move, an incredulous voice interrupted him.
"You have a human-shaped Patronus?!"
Barnabas the Barmy, the portrait who had been silently observing from his frame, suddenly gasped in astonishment at the radiant figure before him.
"Merlin's beard! A human Patronus! This will be recorded in history alongside the legendary Andros the Invincible!" Barnabas's shock was understandable. In all his years hanging in Hogwarts, he had never once heard of a wizard producing a Patronus in the shape of another person.
"My Patronus is far more powerful than Andros' giant specter," Ian retorted, despite the anxious weight pressing on his chest.
The time loop was unsettling, but it had not yet plunged him into true despair. As long as the world didn't descend into chaos, Ian believed he could figure out a way to set things right. After all, Salazar Slytherin, a founder of Hogwarts, wouldn't have created a time trap purely to torment a single wizard from the future... would he?
Even if— hypothetically, Slytherin had harbored sinister intentions, there were countless other ways to wreak havoc. Ian could list at least three hundred different curses more effective than trapping someone in a temporal cycle.
"'The Chosen One'… That eagle said something about being chosen… Could this time loop be a test? If so, what am I meant to accomplish in order to pass it and break free?"
Ian frowned in deep contemplation as Ariana's spectral glow cast dancing reflections on the walls around him.
Then, the Patronus spoke.
"Ian, I'm washing fruit. Have you returned to the mundane world?" Ariana floated lazily through the air, her voice filled with the casual curiosity of a mischievous sprite.
She drifted curiously through the dimly lit corridor, her gaze sweeping over the ancient staircases and railings. This school- Hogwarts, is the place she had longed to see for so long, and she was finally here, and she could explore it at last.
"It's even grander than I imagined." After floating about in wide-eyed wonder, Ariana returned to Ian's side, her expression alight with excitement.
"Forget about Hogwarts for now, Ariana; I think this time I've really run into a ghost!" Ian said urgently, noticing the puzzled look on her face.
Seeing her confusion, he quickly clarified, "I mean it! It's different from when I was a child. The so-called ghosts I saw back then weren't real, but this time, I've actually been tricked by one! A real one!"
Ariana blinked, her fingers instinctively reaching for the spectral sword at her waist, the very one that materialized when she took on her Patronus form.
"Do you need me to deal with some ghastly specter?" She asked, her voice brimming with eagerness rather than fear.
"Pandro said I'm quite powerful in this state. I might not just handle spirits— I could probably take down a dragon if I had to." It seemed Pandro had been filling her head with rather dangerous confidence.
"Merlin's beard! What in the name of all magic is happening?!" Barnabas, still gawking from his portrait, had not yet recovered from his shock.
"Your Patronus spoke! It can actually talk!" The usually unflappable portrait was practically hanging out of his frame in sheer disbelief. "That's not normal, little wizard— something about you is very wrong!"
"..."
Ian raised his wand and, with Ariana in tow, quickly jogged away from Barnabas's portrait. If this Hogwarts was some kind of alternate magical reality, he had no intention of witnessing the terrifying sight of Barnabas crawling out of the frame like some cursed creature from a horror story.
"Let's find Dumbledore!" Ian decided, changing course toward the Owlery.
He recalled that on this particular night, Albus Dumbledore was supposed to be engaged in a heated— if absurd— wrestling match with Aberforth up in the Owlery. Faced with such a bizarre and pressing magical dilemma, Ian's first instinct was to seek out Hogwarts' Headmaster.
And that, surely, was the right call. After all, Dumbledore's knowledge of obscure and powerful magic far outstripped Ian's own limited experience.
Besides—
With Ariana at his side, he felt a little more hopeful. Maybe, with her cheering him on, Dumbledore would not only solve the mystery of the Ouroboros mark on Ian's hand but might even humor her by answering a few advanced Arithmancy problems while he was at it.
"Wait, aren't you supposed to be presenting me as a Christmas gift?" Ariana asked, tilting her head in confusion. Ian had mentioned something about her making an appearance, but he hadn't exactly explained the situation properly.
She turned her attention to the multitude of owls nesting above. "So many of them!"
"He's not here!" Ian muttered in frustration. His luck wasn't holding— Dumbledore was nowhere to be found, and the Owlery was eerily silent, as if whatever had transpired earlier had already come to an end.
Only the owls remained, blinking at the two intruders in mild curiosity. The silver glow of Ariana's form reflected in their keen eyes, making her presence seem all the more otherworldly.
"I seem to recall you saying Albus became the Headmaster of Hogwarts," Ariana mused. "But surely he wouldn't choose to live in a tower full of owls?"
She glanced around at the perches, unimpressed. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course, but it doesn't exactly command authority, does it?"
"..."
Ian knew that Ariana lacked a great deal of common sense when it came to the everyday wizarding world. It hadn't been particularly noticeable in the Twilight Realm, but here, in the real world, the gaps in her understanding became much clearer.
Well.
That, and the fact that he'd told her they were going to find Dumbledore, yet had brought her to the Owlery in the dead of night instead.
(To Be Continued…)