When they saw Dumbledore, Harry and Hermione were stunned for a moment, and they both burst into speech at the same time.
“Professor, Black is being wrongly accused, we saw Peter Pettigrew!”
“He is Ron’s rat. In the Hall, he said everything!”
“Peter Pettigrew took control of Ron. Last night, he framed Professor Lupin, and today he was still preparing…”
“Peter Pettigrew died; he has been killed in the Forbidden Forest by the Acromantulas…”
But Dumbledore held up his hand to stem the flood of explanations, his light blue eyes, carefully looking at Evan through his semi-circular glasses.
“I already know what you're telling me, please listen to me now, and I beg you will not interrupt me, because there is very little time, Cornelius and the Aurors are coming to Hogwarts, they are likely to arrive at the castle at any time.” Dumbledore said quietly, “In fact, you've done very well this evening, but there is not a shred of proof to support Black's story, except your word, and the word of four twelve, or thirteen-year-old wizards will not convince anybody.”
“But Peter Pettigrew…”
“Twelve years ago, a street full of eyewitnesses swore they saw Sirius murder Pettigrew. I myself gave evidence to the Ministry that Sirius had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper."
"Peter Pettigrew did not die at the time, Professor! We can prove it, his body is still in the Forbidden Forest, in the Acromantulas' territory.”
“It’s too late, Evan! By the time we find his body, it will be too late!” Dumbledore turned to Evan. “We don’t have time, the Dementors have already asked for it. The Ministry of Magic agreed to directly execute Black.”
“But…”
“Without Pettigrew, alive or dead, we have no chance of overturning Sirius's sentence, nor can we stop the Dementors. No one will believe Black.”
“But you believe us.”
"Yes, I do," said Dumbledore quietly. "But I have no power to make other men see the truth, or to overrule the Minister of Magic…"
Hearing this sentence, Harry and Hermione’s faces became pale, especially Harry. He stared up into the grave face and felt as though the ground beneath him were falling sharply away. He had grown used to the idea that Dumbledore could solve anything.
Just now, when he heard Evan say that Peter Pettigrew was dead, he had expected Dumbledore to pull some amazing solution out of the air. But no… their last hope was gone!
Evan didn’t talk, looking at the calm Dumbledore, he knew that he would definitely have a way to turn things around; otherwise he would not have been there this evening.
“In fact, we are not out of opportunities. What we need," said Dumbledore slowly, and his light blue eyes moved from Harry to Hermione, "is more time."
“More time?! Harry repeated, his expression was confused, and he didn’t know what Dumbledore meant.
Evan suddenly thought of it, Hermione’s Time-Turner.
No wonder that he had been feeling strange all night. From the moment Harry and Hermione rushed into Professor Lupin's office, history had changed. He met Harry and Hermione from the future in normal time flow.
Evan became confused. He couldn’t understand how the Time-Turner worked. If they change their history with time travel, then the time and space before the trip will not exist, creating a paradox in this trip, and a contradiction between history and time.
If they caught Peter Pettigrew and saved Black before, then they wouldn't have needed to use the Time-Turner to go back to the past at this point in the future; if they don't return to the past, they will naturally not be able to change history.
Evan shook his head and he felt like he was in a vicious circle.
But it's not the time to think about it, he is going to include the Time-Turner in his magic research. However, he didn't see related books in the library. He can only ask at the Flourish and Blotts Bookseller shop to see if they can help him find something.
While Evan was thinking about these things, Hermione's eyes became very round. She clearly understood what Dumbledore meant and said with surprise, "Oh…"
"Now, pay attention," said Dumbledore, speaking very low, and very clearly. “Miss Granger, you know the law, you know what is at stake… You must make sure that you can’t be seen, especially by yourselves. You…must…not…be…seen!”
Hermione nodded, nervously touching the necklace on her chest.
Harry didn't have a clue what was going on. Dumbledore had turned on his heel and looked back as he reached the door.
"I am going to lock you in. Now, it’s five minutes to midnight!” Dumbledore consulted his watch, “Miss Granger, six turns should do it, I wish you good luck!”
"Good luck?" Harry repeated as the door closed behind Dumbledore, he said in amazement "Six turns? What's he talking about? What are we supposed to do?"
He saw that Evan and Hermione had left their beds, and Hermione was fumbling with the neck of her robes, pulling from beneath them a very long, very fine gold chain.
“Evan, Hermione, what are you doing?” Harry said confused.
“We will explain to you later, come here now,” Hermione said urgently.
“Quick, we must hurry up!” Evan also followed.
He saw Hermione’s nervous face and subconsciously held her cold little hand.
Hermione turned and smiled at Evan.
Upon hearing the urging of the two, Harry hurried toward them.
He saw Hermione holding the chain out, with a small tiny, sparkling hourglass hanging from it.
“Here!” Hermione had thrown the chain around Evan and Harry's necks, asking breathlessly, "Ready?”
Evan nodded, and Harry was completely lost. He hurriedly asked, “Hold on, what are we doing?”
Before he finished his words, he saw Hermione turn the hourglass over six times.
In the blink of an eye, the dark ward dissolved!
Harry had the sensation that he was flying very fast, backward. A blur of colors and shapes rushed past him, his ears were pounding.
He tried to yell but couldn't hear his own voice. And then he felt solid ground beneath his feet, and everything came into focus again. He was standing next to Evan and Hermione in the deserted entrance hall and a stream of golden sunlight was falling across the paved floor from the open front doors.
Harry was surprised to see the familiar scene around him. He didn’t understand how it was just midnight, and now it became daytime. What did Hermione and Evan do?!
“What happened, where are we?” Harry hurriedly turned his head to Evan and Hermione.
"In the past!" Evan replied softly. "We've gone back in time!"
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T/N: Hey there this is Translating_Wizard. I hope you like the story so far and are happy with the releases, I just posted the chap 236 in Patreon! If you’re interested in supporting me and reading more chaps hit the button below ^^
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