Roger's Road to Immortality

Dumbledore had given Minerva McGonagall a task: keep a closer eye on Roger.

He hoped that by gaining a deeper understanding of Roger's inner world, he could better guide him onto the right path.

Tom Riddle's tragedy had happened once. He did not want to see it happen again.

Professor McGonagall, however, did not intend to approach this task like an intelligence agent conducting covert surveillance. In her view, for children burdened with heavy thoughts, communication was the only proper path.

Those so-called concealments "for your own good" would only make their hearts drift farther and farther from yours. Only openness and honesty could bring people closer together.

Only by becoming someone they genuinely trusted could one hope to untie the knots in their hearts.

So, after confirming that Roger was far more mature than the average young wizard, Minerva McGonagall planned to discuss some deeper subjects with him.

For example, his plans for the future.

Professor McGonagall had helped him greatly, both at the funeral and later when answering his questions about magic. So when it came to questions he saw no need to keep secret, Roger naturally chose to be frank.

"I won't join the Ministry of Magic, and I won't return to Muggle society. I want to study magic."

"Barring any surprises, I'll devote much of the rest of my life wholeheartedly to the study of magic. I want to understand everything there is to know about it," Roger answered.

Professor McGonagall could tell that Roger was not giving her a perfunctory answer. He was utterly serious, and this was not the sort of aspiration children voiced out of admiration, like "I want to get into the Ivy League" or "I want to be a scientist or a movie star."

He truly intended to make the study of magic the central theme of his life.

"Why?" Professor McGonagall asked instinctively, somewhat puzzled.

Normally, most people wanted success and fame. They wanted to become someone extraordinary.

Even children who wanted to become scientists generally aimed to become great scholars like Einstein, remembered throughout history and inventing all sorts of remarkable things.

They were not simply fascinated by knowledge itself, wanting only to learn more and uncover the mysteries of the world.

That was why Roger's answer took Professor McGonagall by surprise.

"Because I don't want to die." Roger gave Professor McGonagall a gentle smile.

"What?" Minerva McGonagall was even more confused by his answer.

"Professor, do you like this world?"

Before Minerva McGonagall could answer, Roger continued, answering his own question. "I like it very much."

"After thousands of years of slash-and-burn farming, human civilization has finally entered the fast lane of development."

"In just three hundred years, three industrial revolutions have transformed the world beyond recognition."

"By studying the logic behind how the world works, even Muggles can command wind, fire, lightning, and electricity, making the sun bloom upon the earth."

"Changes in the forces and relations of production have freed minds from their shackles. Capitalism, communism, constitutional monarchy... all kinds of new ideas of civilization are flourishing."

"Movies, television, comics—everyone has the chance to present their inner world for the whole world to appreciate."

"The present is already this wonderful. The future will surely bring even more interesting things."

"And this is only what lies beneath our feet." As he spoke, Roger raised his head and gazed at the clear sky.

It was as though he wanted to see beyond that blue expanse, into somewhere farther away.

"Compared to the entire universe, the Earth we inhabit is less than a drop in the ocean."

"There are nearly four hundred billion star systems in the Milky Way, and nearly two trillion galaxies like the Milky Way in the universe. Beyond the universe, perhaps there are other universes."

Roger said perhaps, but he was certain that universes beyond this one existed. After all, he himself was a visitor from another universe! On the flight back to the United Kingdom after the war ended, Roger had actually been somewhat lost as he sat aboard the plane.

Having escaped the mire of hell and welcomed peace, what he felt was not happiness, but emptiness. Like those veterans who could not reintegrate into society after years of war, Roger did not know where to take his next step.

With his "foresight" of the future, he could easily acquire vast wealth. With his ability to sense danger in advance, achieving extraordinary feats that would leave his name in history would be as easy as eating or drinking. The Roger of the past might have become addicted to such things.

Wealth and glory, luxury cars and beautiful women, fame throughout the world—if he could possess all that, the Roger from his previous life would probably have laughed himself awake from his dreams.

But after dancing with death again and again, amid blood and fire, Roger had come to understand.

Everything was illusory. Only being alive was truly precious.

No matter how much one possessed, after a few decades, it would amount to nothing more than a handful of ashes.

And no matter how he struggled, even with the ability to pass through a hail of bullets without a single leaf touching him, even with wealth that could rival a nation's, he could not resist the mighty power of time.

Just as he had been hesitating over whether to lose himself in the mortal world, numb himself, and deceive himself, the wizards who had come to arrest him arrived at his door.

The appearance of the wizards disrupted all of Roger's original plans, but it also gave his lost heart a direction once more.

He wanted to watch oceans turn into mulberry fields, to see how human civilization would leave its home planet and venture into the sea of stars, to explore the boundaries of the universe's expansion and contraction.

He wanted to see stars die, witness the infinite possibilities of life, the heat death brought by increasing entropy, how the universe was born, and what breathtaking sights lay beyond it.

"I want to see all the wonders of this world. I want to encounter countless fascinating souls. I want my figure to appear in one wonderful story after another."

He wanted too much. He did not want every possibility, everything he had never seen, everything he had never obtained, to vanish with his aging self into the torrent of time.

Like tears lost in rain.

"Human life is far too fragile. A single cheap bullet is enough to take it away. And even if a prophet like me can evade those malicious rounds, I cannot evade the bullets fired by 'time.'"

"I don't want that. So I made my choice."

He did not want to die. He wanted to live forever.

And in the magical world, that was not impossible!

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Nicolas Flamel, the owner of the Philosopher's Stone, had lived for more than six hundred years.

That path existed, and perhaps he could go even further! Minerva McGonagall looked into Roger's eyes, which seemed to reflect the stars and shimmer with dazzling light, and could not speak for a long while.

"Professor." Roger withdrew his gaze from the heavens and looked at Minerva McGonagall.

"Aren't you curious? Don't you want to see with your own eyes just how far wizards, Muggles, and humanity can ultimately go?" Roger asked in a deep, enticing voice.

"Infinite time means infinite possibilities. Give a monkey infinite time and a typewriter, and the probability of it typing out Hamlet is nearly one hundred percent. Give wizards infinite time and magic, and perhaps... perhaps wizards may gain the power to reverse everything, erase all regrets, and obtain everything they desire."