"Just how many years in the future are you from?"
As the words fell, the Wooden Cottage suddenly grew so quiet that they could have heard a pin drop.
Ariana and Aberforth stared at Dumbledore with their mouths open, clearly unable to wrap their heads around it.
What did he mean, how many years in the future?
What was the eldest Dumbledore talking about?
Hermione narrowed her eyes slightly. Dumbledore's question had caught her completely off guard.
After a moment of silence, Hermione spoke again:
"Seventy years."
The two younger Dumbledores: ???
Why did these two keep talking about things they couldn't understand?
Unlike the other two, Dumbledore merely nodded calmly, as if he had expected this all along. A flicker of confirmation passed through his eyes.
"So the extremely precious alchemical artifact you need Nicolas Flamel to repair is a Time-Turner."
Hermione sighed. Talking to clever people certainly saved effort, but there was such a thing as being too clever. It made her feel as though she had no secrets left.
"That's right," she admitted freely, stretching. "But I'm curious. How did you figure it out?"
"For the past twenty years, Gellert and I have never stopped searching for you."
Dumbledore pulled over a chair and sat down.
"We called on countless contacts and searched almost the entire Wizarding World, but found no clues."
"There wasn't a single trace of you anywhere in the world. That defies reason. If someone has existed, they must leave some trace behind."
"Unless..." Dumbledore leaned forward. "That person doesn't exist at all."
"Or rather... doesn't belong to this era."
Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"Just from that?"
Dumbledore continued, "Gellert has always believed that you possess an extremely advanced form of Space Magic that can block all means of tracking, but I had a