Zuo Si leaned forward slightly with a curious look in his eyes.

Because the Department of Mysteries of the British Ministry of Magic adopts the "Unspoken Man" system, all the cutting-edge magical research has no paper records and is entirely recorded in the brains of the relevant project leaders.

When he is about to retire, he will extract all of this memory through the Pensieve and hand it over to his successor, and completely forget it himself.

In other words, everything that happened in the Time Hall, as well as past records of the use of time reversal spells, are entirely in Professor Crocker's mind.

No one else in the Ministry of Magic, including the Minister himself, knew.

As for the information released to the outside world, 80% of it has been heavily deleted and processed, and will not reveal any core secrets at all.

Professor Crocker nodded solemnly: “Yes, a very, very terrible accident.

Although I cannot reveal the specific process and details to you, I can tell you that the witch did not simply time travel once, but at least fifty times.

And almost every time the time span is more than thirty years.

The ultimate reason for this result was not that she killed anyone when she traveled through time, but that she revealed major events in the future to herself, her parents, grandfather, and ancestors at different points in time.

This idiot, who has no logical thinking ability at all, is eager to change the decline and decay of his family in this way.

You know, if someone goes back in time and wants to change something that has already happened, they usually won't succeed.

Because no matter what you do, there will be all kinds of accidents and coincidences, causing the things you want to change to eventually turn into their original results.

In the Hall of Time, we call this phenomenon Divine Asylum.

That is, everything that has happened on the timeline is protected by a great force that we are unknown to us and will not be easily changed.

But the problem is that if someone continuously creates destruction on a timeline related to himself, it will cause a terrible chain reaction.

It's like if you throw a stone into a lake, it will only create one ripple which quickly disappears, but if you throw multiple stones at the same time, the ripples will collide with each other.

No one knows how it works, or how it works behind the scenes.

But one thing is certain, that is, no matter the past, present or future, everything should change because of this.

In order to deal with the disaster caused by the witch, fifteen people from the Department of Mysteries of the Ministry of Magic died, and three people disappeared inexplicably.

If Muggles are included, the population affected exceeds 100,000, and a small town with hundreds of years of history was completely wiped off the map.

Fortunately, this has only happened once so far, otherwise I don’t know what the world would be like.”

nervous!

anxiety!

fear!

It was not difficult to see from the expression on Professor Crocker's face how incredible the threat posed by this incident, which was simply downplayed by the wizarding world, was.

What's more, this incident was also the turning point when the Ministry of Magic made a 180-degree turn in its attitude towards time reversal spells.

Before this, any competent wizard could study the spell and time travel at will.

But after that, the Ministry of Magic introduced a series of laws to ban all of this from all aspects.

Not only that!

Even the time reversal spell had completely disappeared from various books and notebooks.

Even Hogwarts, the top magic school in Europe, has no records of this.

The strictness of its control far exceeds that of the three unforgivable curses and advanced black magic such as Fiendfyre and Horcruxes.

"I see! No wonder after this incident, the Ministry of Magic used an almost unreasonable and tough attitude to erase the existence of this spell." Zuo Si touched his chin with a thoughtful expression.

As someone who has mastered the time reversal spell, he is of course very aware of the amazing destructive power contained in this spell.

Just a little bit of in-depth development has already produced such terrifying magic as [Reversal of a Thousand Years], so its huge potential is self-evident.

The only problem is that the spell is too complicated and not structurally stable at all.

Neither Zuo Si nor Professor Crocker, who has studied this spell for almost a lifetime, is sure that they can control it 100%.

The Time-Turner is a castrated version of this spell that removes the core part of the spell that allows free control of time, and only seeks to be able to briefly return to the past.

"There is nothing we can do about it. Apart from the Hall of Time, there is no other place in the world where we can safely study time reversal spells. But now, the barrier in the Hall of Time has collapsed for unknown reasons, so all related research has to be stopped. If nothing unexpected happens, the Ministry of Magic will not restart this project."

When saying this, there was a hint of regret and loneliness in Professor Crocker's tone.

After all, he had studied time magic all his life, but in the end he even lost his workplace, so it was inevitable that he would feel a little desolate.

However, Zuo Si, the culprit, obviously did not feel guilty at all. Instead, he continued to ask with great interest: "Since you have been studying time magic all your life, you should be very familiar with all the precautions for time travel?"

Crocker smiled bitterly and responded, "I can't say I understand it, but after so many years of research in the Time Department of the Department of Mysteries, we have summarized some rules."

"Oh? If a thief from the future uses time magic to come to the present and steal something, and the owner uses time magic to go back to the moment when the item was stolen, and the two travelers who are not supposed to be at that time point meet each other, what will happen?"

Zuo Si went around in circles for a long time and finally raised the question that had been bothering him.

In fact, he had long thought of using time magic to go back to the moment when the scroll was lost and intercept the thief directly.

But considering that the time continuity in this world is stronger than other time and space, and there are more "pitfalls", so I never choose to take action.

Professor Crocker was stunned by such a "weird" question. He lowered his head and thought for a long time before he finally said in an uncertain tone: "Two time travelers meet? I have never encountered such a situation before.

However, based on previous experience, there are only a few possible outcomes for a situation like this.

First, the two sides went to war, and one of them killed the other, which did not alarm anyone, and then it had a certain impact on the entire timeline, but it was not drastic; second, the same war broke out, and one of them killed the other, but it alarmed many people, especially the owner of the lost money met his past self, which would have a very drastic impact and even lead to changes in certain results in the future.

Third, the two sides did not go to war, and the thief voluntarily handed over the stolen goods in exchange for not being punished. This situation will not have any impact on the timeline. "

"What if the thief is also the owner from the future?" Zuo Si continued to ask, touching his chin.

After all, in order to travel through time, one must fully understand all possible situations and consequences.

"If this is the case, then the most likely scenario is that the owner went back in time and discovered that the thief was actually himself, thus forming a new time loop, and there would not be two time travelers."

This time, Professor Crocker gave the answer without even thinking about it.

He is indeed an expert who has studied time magic for a lifetime and is well aware of the situations that may arise in time travel.

"Time... is such an interesting force. Thank you very much for taking the time to help me solve my puzzle."

After getting what he wanted, Zuo Si stood up and ended the conversation.

Crocker smiled and responded, "You're welcome. Anyway, I can't do any research now. If you can enter the Ministry of Magic and take up the baton, I will be very happy to hand over the secrets in my mind and spend my old age in peace."

"Haha, forget it. I'm not interested in working in the Ministry of Magic. It's a pure waste of time and life." Zuo Si said with undisguised contempt in his tone.

How should I put it…

Looking at the world from a modern perspective, the British Ministry of Magic still exists only because there are relatively few wizards and they basically do not require much care.

Otherwise, ruling the country with such an inefficient organizational form will inevitably cause a series of serious economic and social problems, and it is estimated that it can only be compared with those black uncles in Africa.

Professor Crocker had worked in the Department of Mysteries his entire life, so of course he knew what kind of people the senior bureaucrats in the Ministry of Magic were like, so he just smiled, shook his head, and turned away.

In his eyes, this was just a manifestation of youthful vigor.

He didn't even pay attention to the thick layer of dust that had accumulated on the ground because no one had cleaned it for a long time. Without saying a word, he waved his wand and used the time reversal spell.

moment!

The scene before my eyes began to twist and reverse at a speed indescribable, and in the blink of an eye it all suddenly stopped.

"Father, where are we?" Phoenix asked, tilting his head.

Probably because he was born not long ago, he is curious about everything around him.

"We took a short time trip and went back to the past almost half a year ago. Remember, no matter what you see or what happens in a while, don't act rashly. Because you are not yet born at this point in time, so no matter what you do, it will have a certain impact." Zuo Si explained patiently.

"I understand." Phoenix agreed without hesitation.

Just like that, the man and the bird disappeared from the spot in an instant.

The next second...

They appeared directly at the gate of the castle located deep in the mountains.

Zuo Si lowered his head and glanced at his watch to confirm that it was the right time. He quickly raised the corners of his mouth and muttered to himself: "Come on, let me see who you are and what your purpose is."

Before he finished speaking!

He then saw a guy who looked exactly like him running out in a hurry.

This person looked very nervous, and he was holding a magic wand tightly in his hand. It was obvious that he was planning to use Apparition to escape immediately after escaping the castle's influence.

But unfortunately, before he could run far, he saw Zuo Si standing not far ahead.

"You...why are you here?!"

The thief's face suddenly changed and his whole body was shaking slightly. He was obviously very scared.

Zuo Si smiled and asked, "You can go back to the past, so why can't I? Don't forget, from the moment you stole the scroll, you were actually exposed to my sight.

As long as this time node exists, I can travel back at any time and catch you.

But to be honest, I never expected that the thief would be you, dear Master Draco Malfoy.

If you don't mind, could you tell me where you got the hair, nails, or skin scraps from me to mix with the Polyjuice Potion?

How did you know how to enter the doomsday bunker? Most importantly, how did you gain the ability to travel through time? Who instructed you to do this?

With the help of the art of true knowledge, Zuo Si effortlessly saw through the thief's true identity hidden under the polyjuice potion.

I have to say, this result is really surprising.

Although he had made many guesses about the thief's identity before, such as Voldemort, Professor Crocker, and even himself from the future.

But I never thought that it was Master Malfoy who did it.

Malfoy, who was still thinking, was obviously nervous about being recognized at a glance. He tightly grasped the sealed scroll he had just stolen and shouted in a trembling voice, "Don't come over here! If you come over here, I will release the monster sealed here!"

"Hahahaha! Dear Malfoy, do you know what is sealed in the scroll?" Zuo Si couldn't help laughing.

Obviously, he didn't think the other party had the ability to open the seal.

What's more, now that we have the Phoenix God to support us, it doesn't matter even if the evil god Atropal is released.

"Whatever it is, it must be enough to pose a threat to you." Malfoy said viciously.

Zuo Si raised his arm and made a gesture of invitation: "What are you waiting for? Let's get started! Believe me, if that thing is released, the first person it will target will definitely not be me, but you who hold the scroll. What's more, since I can seal it once, I can naturally seal it a second and third time."

Master Malfoy visibly hesitated.

Because he had no idea what was sealed in the scroll, and what the consequences would be once it was released.

The tense nerves and huge psychological pressure caused the young man to sweat profusely, and his eyes revealed struggle.

But at this moment, the effect of the polyjuice decoction disappeared.

After a short while, Draco changed from a teenager who looked exactly like Zuo Si to a middle-aged man who looked to be in his early forties.

"Wow! This is unbelievable. Dear Malfoy, what on earth makes you take such a risk at this age?" Zuo Si widened his eyes in surprise.

He originally thought that the Draco Malfoy in front of him should be about sixteen or seventeen years old, and was forced to take on this dangerous task due to the threat from the resurrected Voldemort.

But now it seems that the situation is much more complicated than expected.

You know, it's not surprising that teenagers in their teens and twenties dare to take risks, but if a middle-aged man with a family and children chooses to take risks, there must be a reason behind it.

"I'm sorry, I can't say anything."

Malfoy pursed his lips and forced out a smile that was uglier than crying.

"Have you been coerced? Has your family been kidnapped? Or has something happened in the future that made you want to use the monster sealed in this scroll to save the situation?" Zuo Si narrowed his eyes and asked tentatively.

But Malfoy just shook his head: "Don't ask, I really can't say anything. I know that I can never be your opponent, so if you want to kill me, then do it."

"Kill you? No, no, no, I won't kill you." Zuo Si walked up to him, snatched the scroll that sealed the evil spirit, and waved his hand bluntly. "You can leave now. Go home and don't think about this thing again. Believe me, no matter what happens in the future, releasing it is not a wise choice."

"Just let me go? Are you sure?" Malfoy seemed completely unable to believe what he heard.

"What else? You refuse to tell me what I'm asking you, and I don't want to kill you, so I can only let you go." Zuo Si deliberately shrugged his shoulders with an embarrassed look on his face.

Through several hidden detection spells just now, he discovered that a mark was branded on Malfoy's soul.

Maybe it's some kind of sign, or maybe it's a magical contract...

In short, if you push them too much, it will most likely damage their soul or even cause them to collapse.

Besides, this incident will happen at least 20 or 30 years later, so there is no need to be too anxious.

Malfoy had a very complicated expression on his face. After a full minute, he finally said, "Thank you! Counting this time, I owe you four lives."

"It sounds like we'll get along well in the future?" Zuo Si raised his head and stared at the other person with interest.

"Pretty good. You're even my son's godfather." Malfoy said with a hint of emotion in his tone.

For the next ten minutes or so, the two chatted about daily life.

At least that's what it looks like.

When the effect of the time magic ended, Malfoy instantly disappeared from this point in time.

From the moment he was pulled away, Zuo Si judged that he was traveling through time using a time converter, not a time reversal spell.

"Father, why don't you let me read his memory directly?" Phoenix asked in a very puzzled tone.

"Because there is no need for that. In fact, during our conversation just now, Draco Malfoy has revealed some information to me in an obscure way. Next, what I have to do is to sort it out and figure out what happened."

After saying that, Zuo Si also waved his wand and cast a time reversal spell to return to his normal time node.

(End of this chapter)