There was a second phase?
Smoke was still rising from the bottom of the charred rubble pit, and the air was filled with the pungent smell of ozone.
A few steps away, from behind the boulder shelter, came the soft sound of gravel scraping against each other.
Hermione clearly saw the professor as her savior, and cried out with a mixture of tears and relief:
"Vale teaches--"
However, before he could finish speaking, he was ruthlessly interrupted.
Gavin, standing in front of the stone steps, didn't even turn his head; he simply flicked his Wand back with his right hand.
Boom!
A dull, grinding sound suddenly rang out.
Two huge broken rocks that had been shaken off the side of the bunker suddenly rose up and fit perfectly into the gap between the boulder and the half-wall, turning the entire bunker into an airtight stone niche.
Gavin's staff tip gently touched the crevice in the rock.
A silent "Muffliato" spell was precisely embedded in the stone wall, completely isolating Hermione's second half of her shout, along with Draco's weak breathing, behind the heavy rock.
What followed was not something they could listen to.
In case the negotiations break down and we need to cover up the crime, having two fewer eyewitnesses means I can pretend to be clueless in my elective class tomorrow.
Where did the professor go? I don't know.
Perhaps he wasn't tough enough and was cursed to death.
A few steps away, Elliott Vale watched quietly as he completed this series of skillful and efficient closing moves. His grey-blue eyes showed no surprise, but rather a hint of appreciation.
"A very interesting little Spell."
Then, the substitute professor of the Ancient Runes raised his right hand and lightly swished his Wand at his side.
A semi-transparent, invisible barrier silently spread along the damp lake shore, completely sealing off the pebble beach where the two were, preventing even the slightest sound of wind or Magic fluctuations from reaching the path above.
The two sides had a great understanding.
One locked the witness in a dark room, while the other welded the arena doors shut.
Gavin turned around, the hem of his Black Robes brushing against the pebbles at his feet. He narrowed his eyes slightly, his tone revealing neither joy nor anger:
"Professor Vale, what did you mean by that just now? I didn't quite understand."
"Hehe." Professor Vale chuckled. "Don't play dumb. I already know. You don't belong here. Am I right?"
"Not part of this area?" Gavin still feigned ignorance. "I don't understand."
Vale stood on the other side of the charred lightning crater, his dark gray Robes motionless in the cold night wind.
He didn't rush to attack, but instead gazed at the black-haired youth opposite him through the wisps of smoke, and slowly spoke:
"About ten days ago, on a Monday noon in the second week of September, I was on duty at the Department of Mysteries on the ninth basement level of the Ministry of Magic when something strange happened there."
Gavin's eyelashes twitched almost imperceptibly.
Monday noon of the second week of September?
That was after Potions Class.
It was on the Hogwarts Astronomy Tower in the main world that he activated the Time-Turner in front of Dumbledore, resulting in him being stunned by a devastating explosion and falling into this world's timeline.
Vale's voice continued to ring out unhurriedly on the lakeshore:
"At 12:45 that day, thousands of clocks in the Time Hall, which never stop running, all stopped at the same second."
He raised one hand and gestured the outline of a circle:
"In the center of the Time Hall stands a towering Crystal Clock Dome, which seals a localized cycle of time. A Hummingbird repeatedly transforms between egg and adult form to monitor the stability of the British Time Stream."
"But in the instant the clock stopped, a second Hummingbird's silhouette squeezed out from the same eggshell inside the Crystal Clock Dome, nearly shattering the bell jar on the spot."
What does this have to do with me?
Gavin's expression remained unchanged as he casually replied.
"It sounds like your department's equipment needs servicing."
"If it's a common instrument malfunction, then it has nothing to do with Hogwarts."
With a cold expression, Vale took out the palm-sized, ancient Copper Disc again from the pocket of his Robes:
"But each of the Calibration Master Clock in the Time Hall monitors a specific magical core area of Britain."
At the very moment the Crystal Clock Dome appeared with two images, the mother clock corresponding to the Hogwarts campus suddenly trembled violently without warning, and a strand of unfamiliar Time Sand, which did not exist in the Department of Mysteries' files, flowed out of thin air from its base in reverse.
Vale looked down at the Copper Disc in his palm and said, word by word:
Professor Croaker of the Time Hall immediately concluded that an "outsider" who did not belong to this time period had accidentally fallen into Hogwarts through a time rift.
Gavin stared at the Copper Disc in his hand, raising an eyebrow slightly:
"Since you knew about the stowaways entering Hogwarts more than ten days ago, and I've been at the school for so long, even attending your classes, how come you only just now identified me?"
The response time on this broken Copper Disc is ridiculously slow. Is it using dial-up internet from the London General Post Office?
"Because we initially thought that the illegal immigrants had fallen in with their bodies inside."
Vale raised his grey-blue eyes and calmly answered his question:
"It wasn't until I secretly investigated the school for several days without finding anything that Professor Croaker reminded me of another possibility—"
"If only a soul smuggles in and finds a place to reside, then the original body is naturally an airtight lead box. As long as you don't use excessive Magic, your body will shield you from all soul fluctuations that don't belong here."
"Back then, even if I pressed the Tracking Copper Disc to your face, the pointer wouldn't move an inch."
So that's how it is.
Gavin nodded. No wonder the professor hadn't noticed him when they were practically face-to-face in the library.
Gavin's physique was a huge help.
"But that lead box won't help you for long."
Vale's gaze slowly moved downwards, past the charred crater, and landed precisely on Gavin's hand hanging by his side.
Outside the wide sleeves of the Black Robes, the gray-black, stiff, and bloodless knuckles stood out starkly in the night. At this moment, half of his palm had begun to turn black.
Vale looked there, his voice low:
"A body only recognizes its own original soul."
"To this body, you are ultimately an alien soul that fell in from a rift in time. The longer you stay, and the greater the power you forcibly invoke, the more intense the conflict between soul and body will become, causing this body to rot and decay little by little, starting from the fingertips, as if it were being corroded by the deathly aura of a wandering spirit."
"Until just now, you went all out to kill Bellatrix, pushing this body to its absolute limit."
"The rejection of the alien spirit tore through that barrier, Otherworldly Time Stream aura lurking deep within your soul leaked out. Only then did the Copper Disc in my hand finally light up."
Gavin glanced down at his gray-black fingertips, his face remaining expressionless, but his heart sank slightly.
Just as he had guessed in Lupin's office—
It is a rejection between the soul and the body.
Professor Lupin had initially attributed this to the lingering deathly aura left from contact with a ghost, but this professor from the Department of Mysteries, though unaware that he shared the same face Gavin, inadvertently provided him with the final conclusion—
As long as a foreign soul occupies another person's body, even if the two bodies look exactly alike and have the same name, they can never be perfectly compatible, and sooner or later the body will rot away.
But if that's the case, the same problem remains—
Why did he experience no rejection whatsoever when he woke up in London five years ago?
Is it because the rules of the two worlds are different? Or does that body have some unresolved connection to him?
Or perhaps, it's the possibility he least wants to see—
Five years ago, when he crashed into that body, he had unintentionally crushed and devoured the original child's soul, even concealing the physical form from him?
But now is clearly not the time to delve into it.
We need to deal with this professor first.
Gavin raised his eyes and used Legilimency on Professor Vale.
He had expected to encounter ordinary Occlumency, and was even prepared to use his strength to break through them directly.
There was absolutely no resistance.
He went straight in.
But it was completely empty, devoid of any thought, just like --
His own Occlumency is exactly the same.
Gavin's heart skipped a beat.
A master.
This guy on the other side is definitely not an ordinary person.
Almost simultaneously, Professor Vale across from him had already tucked the Tracking Copper Disc back into his pocket and slowly drew his Wand from his right hand.
A faint, chilling silvery-blue light quietly shone at the tip of his staff.
He looked at the pale-faced boy opposite him and, in the cold, unyielding, and businesslike tone characteristic of the Department of Mysteries's Unspeakable, issued his final ultimatum:
"You do not belong here, Outsider. The Department of Mysteries will never allow any foreign object that has fallen from the Time Rift to remain in this world."
"Continuing to occupy this body will not only cause this physical form to be completely destroyed by the rejection between the spirit and flesh, but it will also disrupt this timeline."
"Before things escalate to an irreparable state, don't resist in vain. Let me personally remove you completely from this body—as long as you cooperate obediently, I can assure you that the original child will survive safely, and the entire process will be painless for you."
Hehe.
It must never be allowed to remain in this world.
Completely peel off and wipe it clean?
You won't feel any pain at all?
Gavin, went over those words in his mind's eye, the last trace of warmth completely fading from his eyes.
Isn't this just painless euthanasia?
In his own world, he had heard of them long before Cordelia almost donated him to the Department of Mysteries, and had even had a brief encounter with these Unspeakable in Black Robes.
In the mouths of these research fanatics who treat human lives as experimental consumables, the so-called "painless removal and erasure" is simply a desire to humanely destroy themselves.
What truly ignited a murderous glint in Gavin's eyes was the timing of the man's appearance.
He'd been dealing with Bellatrix for so long, and Professor Vale had just been hiding behind the broken wall thirty paces away, watching two third-year students nearly get tortured to death by Death Eaters, without lifting a finger the entire time?
What a clever scheme!
Gavin's grip on the Hawthorn Wand tightened slightly. He slowly raised his eyelids, glanced at the charred corpse at the bottom of the crater at his feet, and said in an icy voice:
"Could it be that you deliberately lured this crazy woman on the ground here as well?"
The temperature in the air seemed to drop several degrees.
Professor Vale paused slightly, then subconsciously followed his gaze to Bellatrix at the bottom of the pit, frowning as he said:
"No, it was just a coincidence."
"The Azkaban fugitives breaking into the school wasn't part of my plan. You had already made your move when I arrived, but I happened to discover you after you used magic."
"Yeah?"
Upon hearing this answer, Gavin nodded noncommittally.
"Then I'll spare your life for now."
The air by the lake was still for a moment.
Professor Vale was taken aback at first, his gaze sweeping over Gavin's calm yet youthful face, and he couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle.
"You now--"
Professor Vale raised his Wand, about to say something—
His voice suddenly caught in his throat!
A few steps away, in the charred shadows at the bottom of the rubble pit, a strange orb the size of a peach was silently and slowly rising, passing through the lingering blue smoke, and quietly floating to Gavin's side.
At first glance, the thing looked like a shimmering white ball of light left behind by the first-grade "Lumos" staff.
However, unlike the other sphere, the ball of light did not emit any gentle illumination. Instead, blinding purple-white electric light crackled and pulsed inside, ionizing and scorching the humid air within a three-inch radius.
The physics community in the past debated this for over a hundred years without reaching a conclusion.
Some say it's a microwave standing wave cavity between the clouds and the ground; others say it's a retinal hallucination induced by a strong magnetic field; and science fiction has even gone so far as to describe it as a macroscopic "macro-electron."
Because a pure electric arc detached from a thundercloud cannot survive even 0.1 seconds in the air, and high-speed cameras on Earth are completely blind to the intense light and electromagnetic pulse of a lightning strike, they naturally cannot capture what happens at the bottom of the lava crater after the lightning strike.
It wasn't until he finished unleashing the Rage of the Heavens and bent down to dissipate the remaining electricity at the bottom of the pit that he inadvertently saw the scene through his still-present Super-Sensory Charm.
At least what he witnessed this time was not any of the hypotheses mentioned above, nor was it some kind of macro-electron, but rather the most concrete physical reaction:
When lightning strikes and melts silicate rocks on the ground, the nano-silicon vapor generated by the high temperature is rolled into a vortex ring in the shock wave backflow, tightly wrapping the residual electric arc inside and continuously oxidizing, emitting light and releasing energy.
However, in nature, these newly formed tiny light vortices are extremely unstable, and only by chance out of millions of lightning strikes can they maintain the balance between air pressure and ionization.
But for some reason, perhaps it was influenced by the magical environment of Hogwarts.
The arc of lightning from the previous strike didn't dissipate immediately; instead, it continued to flicker at the bottom of the crater.
Gavin certainly couldn't miss out on something this good.
Gavin can't conjure Lightning Magic out of thin air yet, but his casual use of nature's unfinished products happens to be right up his alley—
He used Levitation Charm field to gather and hold together the few clumps of ready-made steam arcs that were about to fall apart at the bottom of the pit, maintaining the balance of the spherical airflow. Then, he inserted a wisp of high-energy ionizing staff Lumos to continuously ionize the internal gas and prevent the arcs from recombinizing and extinguishing. That one-in-a-million natural miracle became a ready-made killing move in his hands.
Vale's sneer froze instantly, his pupils shrank to pinpoints, and he blurted out:
"This is?"
Gavin stood in the chilly lake breeze, his bangs flying wildly, his dark eyes reflecting the blinding flashes of electricity dancing beside him, his tone as if announcing a pop quiz:
"The second phase of the Rage of the Heavens, Ball Lightning."
"My accidental discovery will just be a good test of its power on you. Prepare to be unleashed, Professor."
The very second the last word fell, Gavin flicked his Wand forward slightly in his right hand.
Zzz--!!
The ball of electric light floating beside him instantly tore through the air, leaving a trail of afterimages, and shot straight at Vale's chest, skimming close to the ground.
Vale's expression changed drastically, and he instantly felt a chill run down his spine.
The man who had just witnessed Bellatrix being charred by lightning while hiding behind the broken wall didn't hesitate for even half a second. He pushed off the gravel and retreated rapidly, while simultaneously pulling a tiny crystal ring with a brass base from his Robes sleeve with lightning speed. He then tossed it back at the incoming ball of lightning.
Buzz!
The crystal ring opened in mid-air, transforming into a semi-transparent miniature bell-shaped light curtain that perfectly enveloped the Ball Lightning that was halfway through its trajectory.
The next second, an extremely bizarre scene unfolded--
The Ball Lightning struck the bell-shaped light barrier. The violent purple-white arc of electricity had only expanded three inches outward when, with a short crackling sound, the entire ball of lightning unexpectedly retreated along its original trajectory, shrinking back into the peach-sized ball of light.
Immediately afterwards, it exploded three inches again, and was forcibly rewound and started over in the next microsecond.
It explodes, shrinks back, explodes again, and shrinks back again.
The same forked purple arc of electricity, the same ear-piercing ionization explosion, was trapped inside that miniature time clock jar less than a foot wide, endlessly repeating the same moment before the explosion, and was abruptly suspended in mid-air, unable to move forward even an inch.
Time Hall High-Risk Accident Containment Artifact--
Time-Flow Loop Clock.
With a single move, he trapped the terrifying, unknown lightning orb into a time loop. Vale could even catch his breath, his right Wand flicked rapidly in the air like a viper's tongue.
Two solid, silver-blue Ancient Runes chains shot out from the tip of the staff, avoiding the boy's vital points, and aimed directly at Gavin's right wrist and ankles, one above and one below. Clearly, they intended to take advantage of the few seconds that the lightning orb was sealed to disarm and bind him first.
Gavin his left foot on the gravel, his body gliding half a step away from the strong wind that brushed against the chains, but his dark eyes didn't even glance at the two chains. His gaze was fixed on the miniature bell jar in mid-air that kept replaying the moment of the explosion.
Is this the Time Hall of the Department of Mysteries' signature skill?
Could we extract time from that small segment of space and trap it within a continuous local loop?
This is really--
Marvelous!!!
He was initially slightly disappointed.
When he discovered those tiny vortexes of light at the bottom of the pit, they had already taken shape. He hadn't had time to see clearly how the scattered arcs of electricity and the steam from the rocks initially locked together into a sphere step by step.
As a result, the kind-hearted Professor Vale actually brought him an "infinite slow-motion rewind machine" on the spot.
Inside the bell jar, the moment each burst of purple-white electric arcs and nano-silicon vapor was forcibly rewound and retracted back into the sphere of light was precisely the complete process of the Ball Lightning coalescing from nothing into form, replayed frame by frame in his Super-Sensory Charm perception.
In just two seconds of endless looping, he managed to completely understand the formation process of Ball Lightning.
Moreover, Gavin Gavin's body, the flaws in this portable magical artifact were blatantly obvious.
It only confined time within the half-foot space inside the enclosure, while the brass crystal ring maintaining the boundary remained obediently in the normally flowing physical space.
Even more remarkably, each time the Ball Lightning was stuck and rewound inside the bell jar, it occurred precisely at the peak of the most violent detonation of the silicon-based plasma just emerging from its shell.
The power of this small ball had already diminished slightly, but now—
On the other side, Vale's attack on the chain missed. Just as he was about to change his move and lock the chain again, he used the momentum to continue retreating and increase the distance between himself and the dangerous bell-shaped barrier.
Gavin withdrew his gaze from the bell jar, looked up at him, and spoke politely and sincerely:
"Thank you, Professor, but that's enough for now."
Vale paused slightly, his heart skipping a beat.
What are you thanking me for?
Before he could even process this abrupt thank you, Wand's right wrist Gavin, had already hooked back from afar:
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
Within the Consciousness Space, the solid, iron-like white Whirlpool began to spin rapidly.
The Levitation Charm, honed through countless trials, instantly split into two invisible, immense forces—
A force slammed into the outer wall of the brass crystal ring in mid-air, which was not protected by the time loop. At the moment when the electric ball reached its peak power, it tore the boundary of the artifact that maintained the local loop, causing it to tilt and collapse. Another force tightly locked onto the Robes around Vale, forcibly pulling the retreating man back half a step towards the lightning ball that had just broken free.
Click!
The miniature bell jar shattered with a crash, and the rubble beneath his feet carved two deep furrows, abruptly halting Professor Vale's retreat.
That fatal half-step pull back meant that the Ball Lightning, which had just escaped the time loop and was stuck at the peak of its most violent detonation, was already right in front of his nose.
Vale's pupils contracted sharply. With nowhere left to retreat, he could only grit his teeth and use all Wand Magic to swing his wand, instantly creating three layers of thick, silver-gray shields engraved with Ancient Runes in front of him. At the same time, he twisted his body sharply to the right, avoiding his heart!
Boom--!!!!
The moment the Walnut- sized Ball Lightning struck the first layer of the shield, the high-pressure plasma and violent electric arcs exploded.
A blinding flash of purple-white lightning instantly engulfed half of the broken wall.
With two crisp cracking sounds, the first two layers of ancient Ancient Runes shield didn't even last half a second before being torn to shreds by the violent electromagnetic shock.
The third layer of the shield dented and Transfiguration violently. Although it narrowly blocked the most critical frontal explosion for Vale, the rampant purple and white arcs of electricity still poured in through the crack in the shield, slamming into his left shoulder and collarbone.
Bang!
Vale grunted, his body thrown backward by the shock, his back slamming heavily against the broken stone wall behind him, sliding down to his knees along the base of the wall.
The left half of his dark gray Robes was charred and torn, a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, and his right hand, which was holding the Wand, was convulsing violently from the high-voltage current, leaving half of his body temporarily paralyzed.
Once Gavin makes a move, he has no habit of giving his opponent a chance to breathe.
Although he had just said he would spare the other person's life, he has now gone back on his word.
The Unspeakable's methods are indeed very strange; if he makes a mistake, he could very well end up in a mess.
Before the lightning had even dissipated, the boy's figure had already stepped over the pebbles and closed in.
Gavin flipped his left hand, and the black Whirlpool in his Consciousness Space stirred accordingly.
He no longer held back.
Call!
A thick, cold, pitch-black liquid Obscurus surged from his palm, instantly transforming into a long, narrow, and sharp black blade. It skimmed across the scorched ground, instantly closing in on the wall, ready to subdue the heavily injured Vale first.
The incomparably sharp, Black Blade tip pierced straight towards Vale's throat.
Vale pressed his back firmly against the cold, broken wall, staring at the dark blade so close to him, his pupils trembling violently.
"This is... Obscurus?"
He instinctively tried to stop it, but his right arm, paralyzed by the electric current, couldn't lift in time.
Just as that Black Blade was less than half an inch from his throat—
Sizzle!
A thin arc of purple-white electricity, lingering at the wound on Vale's left shoulder, suddenly flickered again, shooting along the torn collar into his collarbone. Combined with the terrifying Magic suppression from the Obscurus in front of his nose, it instantly pierced through and severed the high-level Human Transfiguration he was maintaining.
A very subtle ripple of Transfiguration spread across Vale's face without warning.
Gavin's gaze was initially fixed coldly on the other man's Adam's apple.
But in the next instant, illuminated by the afterglow of the electric arc, the facial bones and muscle lines of the blond man in front of him suddenly and gently collapsed and receded inward.
The prominent Adam's apple vanished without a trace, and the strong, lean male jawline narrowed rapidly.
His once neat, dark gold short hair had shed its Transfiguration disguise and transformed into a waterfall of shimmering silver-gold hair, cascading down the shoulder line of his wide, loose, dark gray men's robe.
A woman's face, pale from injury yet still gentle and resilient, appeared beneath the tip of the Black Blade.
Buzz--
Gavin's pupils dilated suddenly for a moment!
This is?--
The left wrist, extended forward, was abruptly stopped in mid-air just a fraction of an inch before the blade pierced the skin of the opponent's throat.
A sharp gust of wind ruffled the silver-gold strands of hair that fell across the woman's forehead, but it did not harm her in the slightest.
Gavin stared intently at the face so close to his, his breath catching in his throat.
He stopped, and it certainly wasn't because this face bore any resemblance to Cordelia's.
The instant he clearly saw the long, silver-gold hair and the expression in the eyes, a scene etched deep in his memory suddenly crashed into his mind—
On the Wales coast, in a vast, pure white Consciousness Space.
The woman, who also had long, silver-gold hair and wore a plain old robe, was floating a few inches above the water.
At that moment, she smiled and walked to the other side, and together with him, they each took one of Cordelia's hands, braving the roar of the black Whirlpool behind them, and step by step pulled the desperate girl to the front of the white Whirlpool.
Finally, she gently placed Cordelia's hand on the back of his, her body shimmering like starlight from her fingertips to her shoulders, and softly said to him:
Please take good care of her for me.
Elizabeth Rowle!
The mother who had long since passed away in his world, who had helped him save Cordelia with her life and the "Love Magic"—
That was the only time he ever teared up.
It was her?
He just now--
Did they almost cancel Gavin in this world?
Gavin's mind went blank for a rare half-second, and his previously icy killing intent shattered instantly without leaving a trace.
It felt like you were doing everything you could to wipe out a hacker who had invaded your lab, only to find that the person sitting across from you was the very same professor who had signed off on your doctoral degree.
People saw him off at graduation; he saw them off on their journey.
Gavin suddenly clenched his five fingers.
The long, narrow Black Blade pressed against the woman's throat instantly turned into a wisp of smoke, retracting into her palm and disappearing without a trace.
He took a half step back, looking at the silver-blonde woman leaning against the broken wall, wrapped in a dark gray men's Robes that was clearly too big for her. His lips twitched slightly, and he tentatively spoke in a low voice:
"... Mrs Rowle?"
Elizabeth Rowle, leaning against the broken wall, clutched her charred and numb left shoulder with her right hand, her tense body visibly relaxing for a moment.
Seeing the deadly Black Blade dissipate in the last half inch, and hearing that name, she was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously blurted out:
Do you know me?
More than just acquaintances.
Gavin muttered something to himself, but simply nodded outwardly:
"I—uh, the owner of this body, and your daughter are... good friends."
Elizabeth paused slightly, a memory flashing through her mind of her daughter's anxious expression as she clung to her sleeve in the Great Hall half an hour earlier, before she realized what had happened.
She glanced down at the long, silver-gold hair that had slipped down her shoulder, shook her head with a wry smile, and when she spoke again, her voice had returned to its gentle, slightly hoarse feminine tone:
"I thought my Human Transfiguration would be enough to last all night."
Before she could finish speaking, her gaze fell on Gavin's left hand, which had just withdrawn the black mist. Her gray-blue pupils were filled with disbelief, and even her breathing quickened.
"Is that... Obscurus?"
Gavin didn't hide anything and nodded. "That's right."
"You actually managed to use the Obscurus as a weapon and control it to this extent?"
"It's very simple, can't you do it?"
It's really simple, just incredibly difficult.
"..."
Elizabeth resisted the urge to roll her eyes, but couldn't hide her shock.
She had also suppressed Cordelia's Obscurus outbursts; if her own daughter had been Obscurial of that caliber, she might have been dead long ago.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but shake her head with a wry smile:
"Teaching Ancient Runes at Hogwarts is truly a high-risk profession. I didn't believe it at first, thinking it was nonsense, but I never expected that in just a few weeks, I would almost die."
Gavin glanced down at the charred wound on her left shoulder, raising an eyebrow with a strange expression:
"Mrs Rowle, if I heard correctly, you just said you would 'completely peel away and erase' me, and even thoughtfully assured me that 'I won't feel the slightest pain'?"
Elizabeth was startled, and gasped as she endured the throbbing pain in her shoulder muscles from the electric shock. She looked at his left hand, which had just retracted the Black Blade, and then at the charred crater on the ground caused by the Ball Lightning. A look of mixed amusement and exasperation appeared on her face.
So that's why I got beaten up?
She leaned against the broken wall and slowly straightened up, glaring at him with annoyance.
"If the Department of Mysteries really wanted you dead, a whole squad of Unspeakable with kill warrants would have come tonight. Why would I, alone, have to endure the Transfiguration to teach you a lesson?"
"So what do you mean?--"
"When I said 'strip you away and erase you completely,' I meant using the instruments in the Time Hall to safely detach your soul from this child's body, then find a way to send it back to where you originally came from, and incidentally remove the repulsive death energy from this body—otherwise, do you want to watch this body continue to rot?"
Gavin: "..."
Gavin felt that the other person's spoken English ability in class—no, in English class—must be a "T".
Elizabeth raised her hand to rub her numb left shoulder, and her sleeve slipped down a bit, revealing a silver bracelet on her wrist that had been cracked by electricity.
Gavin's gaze lingered on the bracelet for a moment.
He had seen this before.
In his original world, Cordelia had worn something similar, and later Cordelia told him that it was a protective Legilimency cost 10,000 Galleon.
Gavin was speechless for a moment.
So the blankness in my mind just now wasn't because the opponent was so powerful, but simply because the Rowle family had too much money to buy protective gear.
He was on high alert for nothing, thinking he had encountered some super expert.
Gavin expressionlessly tucked his Hawthorn Wand back into his Robes.
"I have a question."
Gavin looked at her, somewhat helplessly.
"Isn't it against confidentiality regulations for your Department of Mysteries to even provide a clear explanation?"
Elizabeth's chest heaved with anger as she rubbed her still-numb left shoulder.
"Are you implying that it's my fault for attacking right away?"
"Anyway, it's not my problem. The wording of your Department of Mysteries's official documents really sounds like you're going to drag someone back to the lab for dissection."
Gavin looked at the other person, as if suddenly remembering something, and said again:
"Now I understand why you are called the Unspeakable."
"Why?" Elizabeth asked instinctively.
"It's definitely safer for you not to speak."
"..."
Elizabeth turned her head away, not wanting to acknowledge him, but at the same time, she subconsciously glanced again at the still-smoking crater from the electric shock, and let out a long sigh.
"Professor Croaker told me to be careful before he left, saying that anyone who can traverse timelines is no ordinary person, but it seems he underestimated you."
With the misunderstanding cleared up, Gavin didn't waste any more time and went straight to the core issue:
"Since you just mentioned that you could separate me and send me back, can we begin now?"
Elizabeth shook her head, raised her Wand, and gently tapped it on her charred sleeve, barely stopping the bleeding. Her expression turned serious again.
"The Tracking Copper Disc can only be used for location tracking. To truly send your soul away, we need something else. First, we need to determine exactly what happened to you and how you ended up in this space-time."
She paused, glanced sideways at the charred body of Bellatrix at the bottom of the pit, then looked around at the rubble-covered beach ravaged by the thunderstorm:
"Besides, you caused such a commotion by the Black Lake tonight. Before we leave, we need to see Dumbledore and explain the situation to him."
Gavin's brow furrowed instantly.
See Dumbledore?
He had been in this parallel world for over a week, and the reason he was being so careful in everything he did was because he didn't want to have a direct confrontation with Old Dumbledore in this world.
First of all, Dumbledore in my own world is a terrible guy, so who knows if the one in this world is the same?
Furthermore, he is now a "smuggler" possessing someone else's body, and he trusts himself more than anyone else.
Finally, and most importantly, is Gavin--
The first Muggle-born wizard to be sorted into Slytherin was bullied in the school for two years, Dumbledore never once intervened.
If he hadn't appeared, Gavin might have also lost his life after Cordelia died in this world due to the Obscurus.
This made Gavin instinctively want to avoid the principal.
He wasn't sure what role Dumbledore played in the whole thing.
Was Gavin's college placement related to him? Why was he so indifferent to Gavin?
Or perhaps, the most terrifying possibility is--
Was all of this part of his plan?
Therefore, Gavin hesitated subconsciously and confirmed:
Now?
Elizabeth did not look at him.
The woman slowly raised her head, her gaze passing over Gavin's shoulder, looking up at the night sky above Black Lake where the clouds had just been torn apart by lightning.
Following her gaze, Gavin's heart stirred slightly. He vaguely heard a clear and melodious phoenix cry carried on the night wind high in the sky, instantly suppressing the scorching Phoenix Song on the lake shore.
A bright, warm, golden-red light pierced through the thick fog above the Black Lake, rushing rapidly from the horizon high above the castle.
Elizabeth, facing the night breeze, said softly:
He's already here.
Gavin watched the rapidly approaching golden-red flame in the sky, his eyes slightly narrowed, lost in thought.
After a while, he suddenly whispered a phrase in his mind:
Gavin.
In the Consciousness Space, Gavin, who was still squatting by the river watching the commotion, paused for a moment:
"Ah?"
Gavin's voice was calm:
I will get justice for you.
Gavin blinked, looking completely bewildered.
"What?"
Gavin no explanation.
He slightly raised his head, facing the increasingly bright golden-red firelight in the night sky. His right hand, hidden in the wide sleeve of his Black Robes, rested its fingertips on the Hawthorn Wand again, while simultaneously sensing the Dual-Core Drive his body.
Dumbledore is Dumbledore.
If they really went all out, it's hard to say who would win.