[No one can change time, but a wizard can use time to change themselves.
Remember: the very act of changing history is itself part of history.]
Sean took out the Time-Turner, along with a book explaining the rules for using it.
On the title page, the yellowed paper presented that maxim.
He studied it thoughtfully, then ran through all the rules again in his head.
For example: never let anyone see you.
That was also what Professor Dumbledore had warned Hermione and the others.
And: you can only go back five hours at most.
That line was bolded in red, with several cases listed to explain why.
Those cases especially drew Sean's attention—he had always understood one thing: the deeper your understanding of magic, the more control and power you could wield.
Knowledge and wisdom were a wizard's greatest wealth.
What interested him even more was that these examples came from the Department of Mysteries.
That place concealed the most profound secrets of magic: the mind, death, prophecy, time, love…
As a Hogwarts student, Sean had almost never encountered any information about the Department of Mysteries. Their work was strictly confidential.
The people who worked there were called Unspeakables—no one knew where they worked, and no one knew what they did.
Beyond that, the Department of Mysteries had enormous autonomy. It was the only department in the Ministry that did not have to answer to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
They could even ignore the Minister's interference. Rodolphus Lestrange, for instance, had once tried to shut it down, and failed.
[Despite all the fantasies people have, even in the magical world, time travel can only be achieved in a limited way.
The subject is wrapped in the highest secrecy—the Department of Mysteries is investigating—but magic seems only able to take you so far.]
"So far," huh? Sean thought. Was that where the five-hour limit came from?
[The following is by Saul Croaker, who spent his life studying time magic in the Department of Mysteries.]
Sean read on:
[According to our current investigations, the maximum safe return is approximately five hours, and does not cause serious harm to the traveller or to time itself.
We have been able to seal individual Hour-Reversal Charms within small enchanted hourglasses. These can be worn around the neck of a witch or wizard, and rotated according to the number of hours the user wishes to revisit.]
The faded text introduced a spell Sean had never heard of: an Hour-Reversal Charm.
That, then, was the Time-Turner's operating principle.
As for who invented the spell, the Department of Mysteries offered no real explanation.
The text returned again to the five-hour restriction:
[All attempts to reverse time beyond a few hours resulted in catastrophic injury to the witch or wizard involved.
Since Eloise Mintumble became trapped in 1402 for five days in 1899, all such experiments have been abandoned.
We now know that upon her return, her body had aged five hundred years, and due to irreparable damage, she died shortly after we successfully brought her back, at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
More importantly, those five days in the distant past caused massive upheaval in the lives of everyone she encountered, drastically altering their life paths—so much so that no fewer than twenty-five descendants were "never born" in the present and vanished.
Finally, in the days after Madam Mintumble's recovery, worrying signs appeared suggesting that time itself had been disturbed by so severe a breach of its laws.
The Tuesday following her reappearance lasted a full two and a half days, while Thursday rushed by in four hours.
The Ministry went to great lengths to cover the incident, and since then, those who study time travel have been bound by the strictest laws and punishments.]
Killing the user, causing unimaginable effects on other wizards, even warping time itself…
These were the historical examples the Department of Mysteries used to show every Time-Turner user just how terrifying time magic could be.
Sean memorized them, then silently repeated the Department's final warning:
"Most people in the wizarding world would be surprised to learn that Time-Turners are usually used only to solve the most trivial scheduling problems, and never for anything more important.
Because, as Saul Croaker said: 'Just as the human mind cannot understand time, it cannot understand the harm that will be done if we meddle with its laws.'"
Then he quickly turned the hourglass three notches.
The bright Hope Nook vanished. Sean felt himself flying backward at breakneck speed.
Blurred colors and shapes streaked past, his ears swelling with pressure, no sound reaching him—
Then his feet struck solid ground, and everything snapped back into focus.
He was standing inside Hope Nook, alone at the table. Thin morning mist drifted in through the open door.
He had returned to five o'clock in the morning.
At this hour, Hogwarts was still fast asleep.
It worked—
Sean examined the Time-Turner closely.
Of course, wizards couldn't truly understand time magic… but if that was so, then where had the Hour-Reversal Charm come from in the first place?
Holding that question—and staying cautious—Sean began using every moment to its fullest.
…
For four straight weeks, Sean became even harder to pin down.
During that time, another Quidditch match took place: Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff.
Early that morning, the weather was clear and bright, with a gentle breeze.
"The perfect weather for a Quidditch match!" Wood declared enthusiastically at the Gryffindor table as he piled extra scrambled eggs onto everyone's plates. He even went over to the Ravenclaw table to bring some for Harry. "Eat up, Harry. You need a proper breakfast."
Lately, Harry hadn't been able to balance Hope Nook training with Quidditch practice. He instinctively searched for the black-haired boy.
But the instant he looked, his pupils widened.
Sean was sitting at the table reading—yet the figure that flashed past outside the Great Hall windows… that was Sean too.
Harry rubbed his eyes hard, dumped his tray, and ran to the doorway, but the figure was already gone.
That afternoon, Harry headed toward Gryffindor Tower, grabbed his Nimbus Two Thousand, and merged into the bustling crowd streaming across the grounds.
But his thoughts were still back in the castle, chasing that vanishing silhouette.
When he pulled on his scarlet robes in the changing room, the only thing that steadied him was his absolute confidence that they would win.
~~~
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