From Repairing Stone Bricks to Turning Back Time

Dumbledore—the famous Dumbledore—sat at the head of the long table, and no one could read any emotional fluctuation on his face.

Of course, that might also have been because his beard was so long that it completely covered the lower half of his face.

All of Hogwarts's professors sat around the long table, their expressions solemn. No one spoke. They waited for Dumbledore to begin. The atmosphere in the ancient room was somewhat stifling.

"I trust you all felt it two days ago."

The old man spoke slowly. His voice was energetic, and his words were exceptionally clear—the complete opposite of what one might expect from his age.

"To be frank, I cannot determine what person—or thing—released those Magic Power fluctuations."

"After much discussion, careful speculation, and communication, we still have no way of knowing what it was. However, one thing is certain."

"After speaking with the headmasters of magical schools and law enforcement agencies around the world, I can confirm that this phenomenon was global. Beyond that, however, we still know nothing."

He made a gesture.

"If anyone present has any theories, please feel free to voice them. We need discussion, and we need to pool our wisdom, do we not?"

After a long silence, Dumbledore saw his longtime colleague, Professor Minerva McGonagall, speak.

The woman wore a pointed black hat and looked both dignified and elegant. She cleared her throat and said, "I believe it was a message, some sort of invitation. I could sense from those fluctuations that It bore no malice—at least, not for now."

She had used the pronoun "It," a term commonly used in the magical world to refer to deities.

Madam Pomfrey spoke as well. Her voice had always carried an air of rigor.

"Although I cannot perceive the message within those fluctuations as clearly as Professor McGonagall, after conducting physical examinations on all the students yesterday, I reached a conclusion as well."

She solemnly nodded to her colleagues. "Those fluctuations had no effect on them. Some young wizards even experienced a slight increase in their Magic Power due to that unusual stirring."

"Severus, what are your thoughts?"

Dumbledore suddenly asked the gloomy man seated to his right.

He had greasy black hair hanging behind his ears, and he wore black from head to toe. Thanks to his appearance and attire, he gave off an intensely oppressive air.

Moreover, his voice truly matched his appearance—low, yet carrying a strange precision.

"At the very least, it was not him."

As the words were coldly tossed from his mouth, the temperature in the candlelit meeting room seemed to drop. Apart from Dumbledore and Severus, who had spoken, everyone's expression changed.

Dumbledore made another gesture, signaling for him not to continue.

The old man rose to his feet, his gray robes dragging across the floor.

Dumbledore spoke again with an air of unquestionable resolve. This time, he was far more solemn.

"In truth, everyone, I can sense the exact meaning of the message within those fluctuations."

"As Professor McGonagall said, it was indeed an invitation."

"The location is Estaing, France. I shall depart tomorrow to investigate it. I do not know how long I will be gone, so I hope that during this time, each of you will fulfill your duties and manage every aspect of Hogwarts properly."

He paused, some unknowable emotion brewing in his eyes. After a while, he continued, his tone frighteningly slow.

"If I have not returned within a week, the position of headmaster will be handed over to Minerva McGonagall."

He nodded to Professor McGonagall, then announced, "Meeting adjourned! Everyone, please get some rest. It is already late."

With that declaration, the meeting ended, and he seemed to relax as well. The others left the meeting room in twos and threes. Only McGonagall, Severus, and Dumbledore—who had somehow produced a bag of candy and was eating from it—remained where they were.

"You really intend to go?" Severus suddenly asked with a gloomy expression.

"Of course. If someone invites you somewhere, how could you refuse? One cannot be rude, after all."

Dumbledore gave him a playful wink. Severus Snape turned away, rose without a word, and left.

Professor McGonagall looked at the old man anxiously. "But we do not know whether it is him, or someone else."

"Do not worry, Minerva. I have already confirmed that my old friend is still sitting safely in Nurmengard. And as for Tom, I do not believe he possesses such power either. Otherwise, he would be the one sitting here now!"

Dumbledore said with a cheerful smile, his tone lively.

He appeared completely unconcerned. But only he himself knew what he truly thought. Professor McGonagall shook her head, rose, and left as well. Only the white-haired, white-bearded old man remained in the meeting room, eating candy.

His expression was calm.

Dumbledore moved quickly. His ability to act was terrifying.

Early the next morning, the old man—the strongest white wizard of the age—used Apparition with his Elder Wand and arrived in Estaing. This beautiful village lay in the French countryside, surrounded by mountains and water, with enchanting scenery.

The old-fashioned houses with pointed roofs had suffered almost no damage and still retained their antique charm. He had to admit that at first glance alone, he had nearly fallen in love with the little place.

But he had come here on serious business, not to sightsee.

Dumbledore released his Magic Power and began searching the village. It was not until his third sweep that he discovered a tiny irregularity. Like a single hair on a bedsheet, it would have gone unnoticed without close inspection.

He walked toward it.

The pedestrians coming and going on the street paid him no attention, allowing the tall old man with a waist-length beard to wander freely.

He arrived at the location and found himself before a villa. Just as he raised his hand to ring the doorbell, the scene before him abruptly changed, and he entered The Void.

It felt as though he stood at the center of the universe. Celestial bodies revolved around him, glittering enchantingly. Even Dumbledore was captivated by the sight for a moment. He tried to cast a spell with his Elder Wand, but the instant he took it out, the wand vanished.

A young voice said, "Ah, interesting. This is the first enchanted wand I have seen that is somewhat different."

"Who are you?"

Dumbledore quietly prepared to cast wandless magic, but the young voice laughed again and changed the subject. "Never mind that for now, old gentleman. You are the first person to arrive here, and I would like to congratulate you for that."

His words left Dumbledore somewhat dumbfounded and rather amused. He did not know what this person intended, but soon, he saw the celestial bodies begin to rotate—the young voice spoke again.

"Please forgive my slight rudeness, but that is simply my nature. You successfully saw through the illusion and found this place. You have passed the first test, but there is still a second."

"A test?" Dumbledore smiled with curiosity. "There should be a reward after passing a test. Sir, may I ask whether there is one? If possible, I hope the reward will be my life and freedom."

The young voice burst into laughter. "A sense of humor—an uncommon quality. Remaining calm and composed before an unknown existence is also a valuable quality. Very well, sir. You wish to know the reward for passing the test?"

He became serious.

"The reward is a brand-new path."

As his voice fell, one of the rotating celestial bodies flew before him.

Dumbledore's gaze was drawn to the spinning white star. Although he did not wish it, that inexplicable attraction pulled him in like honey. He could not look away, and he did not even know why.

The surroundings began to blur, leaving only that star in his vision. The next second, he found himself on an empty plaza floating in the sky.

"What is this...?"

"Just as I said. A small test, old gentleman."

A young man stood with his back to him, hands clasped behind him, posture perfectly straight. He was tall, and his black hair was tied into a ponytail that hung down his back.

"I passed?"

"Yes. You passed."

A thought surfaced in Dumbledore's mind. He asked, "Then what if I had failed?"

The young man turned around and nodded at him with a mischievous smile. "I do not wish to tell you."

Pale, thin, handsome—those were Dumbledore's first impressions. Yet in the next second, he ignored all of them and stared fixedly into the young man's eyes.

Those eyes—

They seemed to contain starlight itself. A single glance gave one the illusion that one's soul was being drawn away.

Apparently noticing this, the young man smiled helplessly and snapped his fingers. Dumbledore noticed a black shadow flash between his fingers.

He said gently, "My apologies. Since this is a world of souls, the illusion I cast upon myself has failed."

Dumbledore spoke as if joking. "So your eyes really do look like this?"

"Ah, yes. As I advanced along the path of magic, my body underwent some minor changes. This is one of them. Left with no choice, I cast a long-lasting illusion on myself."

"Enough about that. Oh, I have not asked your name yet. My name is He Shenyan. And yours?"

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."

"That is quite long, but never mind."

He Shenyan smiled and clapped his hands. The sunlight overhead instantly vanished, turning into a pitch-black night without stars.

He snapped his fingers again, shattering a stone brick in the center of the plaza. Thus, this peculiar meeting officially began.

Pointing at the brick, he asked, "Mr. Dumbledore, without using a wand, do you have any way to restore this shattered stone brick?"

"I can try."

Out of courtesy, Dumbledore did not sound overly confident.

He was filled with confusion and intense curiosity over the things the young man had shown him—but at the same time, he understood that none of this was something a wizard could accomplish.

For a moment, Dumbledore even thought this might be a god's joke.

The tall, sturdy old man extended his right hand, Magic Power rapidly gathering in his palm. It had been a long time since he had tried so seriously to cast such a basic spell. A few seconds later, he shouted, "Reparo!"

The shattered bricks reformed into their intact state.

He Shenyan applauded and nodded. "Impressive, Mr. Dumbledore. You did the best possible under limited conditions. However, I will reveal to you an entirely different possibility."

After he finished speaking, he casually pointed, and the stone brick Dumbledore had just restored returned to its shattered state.

Dumbledore discovered in shock that this had not been done through any spell form he recognized.

He Shenyan noticed his astonishment and smiled. "It is nothing remarkable. Please watch."

Dumbledore carefully watched his outstretched right hand, long and strong. With a casual point of his finger, an amount of Magic Power equal to that used for Reparo surged forth. But what he did next made Dumbledore's eyes widen.

He saw He Shenyan use that tiny amount of Magic Power to turn back time on the stone brick in an instant—it first returned to the state after Dumbledore had restored it, then to the state after He Shenyan had shattered it with Magic Power, and finally to the state it had been in when it first appeared.

No trace of Magic Power remained. It was merely an ordinary stone brick.

Dumbledore was dumbstruck.

"Do you understand now?" He Shenyan asked with a smile.

"You... you, how did you do that? Please forgive my rudeness."

Dumbledore was somewhat incoherent. After noticing this, he tried to recover his composure. He Shenyan did not care in the slightest. Smiling, he pulled Dumbledore over, and the two of them crouched down.

Pointing at the stone brick, He Shenyan patiently explained, "That simple spell you just cast works by using Magic Power and intent to return an object to how it looked at a certain moment in your memories."

"You may not fully understand what I mean, because this concerns the nature of magic. But when you used that spell, you must have seen its effect many times. It resembles time reversing, does it not?"

Dumbledore nodded blankly.

He Shenyan continued, "That is right. That is the truth behind this spell, Mr. Dumbledore!"

"And this is what I wish to reveal to you—think about it. If merely using Magic Power to make an object become the intact form you remember can produce an effect resembling time reversal, then why not simply make time reverse directly?"

He Shenyan raised his right hand and wrote a word in the air with his index finger. It was the very Reparo incantation Dumbledore had shouted earlier. He took that black magical incantation and kneaded it together.

A black sphere of Magic Power appeared in his palm. He shattered another stone brick and threw the sphere onto it. The black sphere vanished in a flash of light, and the stone brick became whole again.

He continued, "You see, even without using any profound applications, I can simply alter the spell's operating mechanism, provided you understand the nature of magic well enough."

Dumbledore looked up at He Shenyan with a dazed expression. After a long while, he asked, "What is the nature of magic?"

The Mage answered with a smile, "It is miracle. Anything that should be impossible, yet happens anyway—that is a miracle."

He pulled Dumbledore to his feet, extended one hand, and offered a handshake.

Dumbledore did not take his hand immediately. He still looked deeply shaken. "Um, sir, what do you mean by this...?"

He had even instinctively begun using honorifics.

He Shenyan raised an eyebrow and said with a fair bit of humor, "I would like to teach at your Hogwarts Academy of Magic—what do you think?"

He returned the honorific.

A moment later, Dumbledore finally clasped his extended hand.

"Please, you must teach me," the old man said solemnly.