The just-awakened Sterling unexpectedly inhaled a large mouthful of potion. He fumbled for the glass wall and punched—a cascade of glass shards nearly showered onto Padma, who'd been preparing to open his container.
Terry, who'd pulled Padma back just in time, wiped away cold sweat and handed Sterling a large towel.
The other three beside him were already wrapped tightly in towels, sitting in a row drinking cold remedy potions. After soaking so long in preservation potions kept at constant low temperature, then emerging into near-summer weather, the temperature shock made catching cold all too easy.
Sterling took the towel, wiping his still-dripping hair, and activated his magical sight toward Harry.
His "story" had returned.
Harry Potter's disappearance incident had finally, truly ended.
But some problems remained... Like Harry's complete Hero Magic, Hermione and Ron's engravings, and the extremely attention-grabbing deep red "web" shrouding Hogwarts—visible since he'd first opened magical vision.
Previously Sterling had seen threads that were basically stationary—or relatively stationary relative to their bearers. Currently only two exceptions existed: first was Harry Potter's opening ceremony stunt, his threads distributed to other young wizards in the hall; second was Harry confined to the Mirror's Utopia, threads born on him absorbed into that construct.
Why always Harry? Why is this guy so special?
Sterling's eyes circled Harry once, then looked toward Terry. Just about to speak, his attention was drawn to a dark-glowing wound on Terry's arm.
"Dark Magic wound? Voldemort really came for Harry?"
Sterling shook his head almost immediately. "No, no professors present... Plus, if it was truly Voldemort, it should've already triggered the bracelet's emergency protocol."
"So, an upperclassman? Slytherin or Ravenclaw?"
Terry felt Sterling's tone was off, like he had a spell stuck in his throat ready to fire...
Right, his gaze was also wrong.
So he quickly waved his hands defensively. "All Hogwarts students were affected by Voldemort—becoming very irritable and losing rationality. Plus that upperclassman ultimately didn't beat me; he just landed a sneak attack when I was careless. Rather than focus on this, you need to calm down."
He rummaged through the potions cabinet behind him for a Calming Draught, tossing it to Sterling while pointing at the nearby clock.
Only after draining the entire bottle did Sterling belatedly notice the second heartbeat pulsing at his chest—currently sunset time.
"Amato, Animo, Animato, Animagus..."
After reciting the incantation four or five times consecutively, that voice gradually diminished to near-nothing.
Just opening his eyes, Sterling met Hermione's and Terry's somewhat worried gazes.
Terry spoke first: "Why has your Animagus preparation lasted so long? I've read several reference books—basically it lasts about three months; afterward it either succeeds or requires a restart. Most crucially, last month Hogwarts already had thunderstorm weather."
"Missing the thunderstorm, Animagus should fail and no longer produce effects!" Hermione supplemented, holding a Transfiguration textbook she'd found from somewhere.
"Moreover... your bodies remained here all along. Logically, even if you maintained the sunrise-sunset spell-reciting habit there... it shouldn't work..."
Sterling frowned—he also felt something was strange about this... However, his intuition insisted there was no problem.
Then it should be fine, right?
"Never mind this for now—I'll consult Professor McGonagall later. Right now I'm most concerned with—Terry, if all Hogwarts students were affected by Voldemort... Where's Professor Dumbledore? Still not back? In all these months, he hasn't returned even once?"
"Regarding this, I think I can explain."
The door pushed open. A visibly angry Dumbledore strode in with steps far too energetic for someone his age.
"Harry, and Terry, Hermione, Ron—could you please leave for a moment? Harry, don't go far—we may still need a conversation later."
Several people nimbly filed out one after another—mainly because Dumbledore's face was truly the darkest they'd ever seen, making even Ron, who'd wanted to be cheeky, behave himself.
Dumbledore was indeed extraordinarily angry.
Initially he'd locked onto the highest magic reaction location and rushed over without looking too carefully. Just now, walking all the way here, he'd discovered the true scale of this chaos!
He'd originally thought this was an all-out war between Gryffindor and Slytherin—though that hadn't yet occurred during his tenure, it couldn't be called "unprecedented."
The result? Even Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had been implicated—Ravenclaw had even caused greater damage than Gryffindor!
Their extensive magical research, plus the dueling techniques Flitwick occasionally taught, had made Ravenclaw the main destructive force in this riot.
Four-house melee! This was undoubtedly the scene the Founders most desperately wanted to avoid, and also Dumbledore's greatest pain point.
Originally, after the war years, Voldemort's influence had created rifts between Slytherin and the other three houses. Now? Dumbledore no longer needed to worry about that particular problem.
All four houses' relationships had completely broken down.
"Professor Dumbledore, this trip you took—"
"Sterling, please postpone these matters for a moment. I want to confirm something with you."
Dumbledore gazed sincerely at Sterling, those aged eyes actually revealing a trace of pleading.
"Through certain methods, I learned you might possess certain means of achieving effects similar to the Hour-Reversal Charm—magic that can change the past?"
"Hour-Reversal Charm?" Sterling hadn't heard of this obscure spell. Dumbledore slapped his forehead, immediately explaining.
"This is a spell enabling people to return to the past—the knowledge has long been lost, only existing on an alchemical creation called a Time-Turner. But it cannot change established past events."
"And you... Sterling, can you do it?"
Reversing the past?
Sterling was stunned—such magic actually exists? But even counting those Thirteen Magics, he possessed no magic with such effects.
His currently mastered most rule-breaking magic was "Witness of the Author," which could modify and write reality.
Only Origin Magic had qualifications ranking above the Thirteen Magics.
But it only manipulated the present. Sterling was about to shake his head when, seeing the blue light intensifying in Dumbledore's eyes, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind—he modified the present, so shouldn't the past have to make way for the present he'd anchored?
So Sterling nodded slowly. Dumbledore smiled with genuine delight.