Chapter 410

Chapter 410: Chapter 410

Lynn rubbed his eyes with his left hand. When that didn’t make the scene feel any more real, he rubbed them again with his right.

His eyelids reddened beneath his fingers, and a thin layer of moisture gathered in his eyes—not because he was overcome with emotion, but because the streams of light within the temporal passage had nearly blinded him.

He didn’t care about the discomfort.

His gaze remained fixed on the castle ahead, its walls gleaming silver beneath the moonlight.

"Hogwarts!" Lynn’s voice rang through the night. "I’m fucking back!"

He kicked off with tremendous force, blasting two shallow craters into the ground and sending dirt and gravel flying.

His body shot forward like an arrow released from a bow. With a sharp whoosh, he crossed a vast distance in an instant, leaving a blurred afterimage behind him.

He couldn’t wait another second.

He desperately wanted to see his long-lost pets. Perhaps they had even missed him during his absence.

Of course, that was probably nothing more than wishful thinking.

Within seconds, Lynn crossed the open grounds outside the school gates and entered Hogwarts.

His feet struck the stone floor with a dull thud.

Lynn drew a deep breath.

The air carried the familiar scent of burning candles, exactly as he remembered it.

He entered the corridor.

Portraits lined the walls on both sides. Some of their occupants were dozing, others were chatting, and a few were practicing magic.

Lynn paid them no attention.

He was far too excited to notice the strange expressions the painted figures wore when they saw him.

Without slowing, Lynn scanned the passing students for a familiar face.

The first—unfamiliar.

The second—also unfamiliar.

The third, fourth, and fifth...

He didn’t recognize any of them.

Lynn’s heart sank, and his pace gradually slowed.

He looked around once more.

Students filled the corridor, talking, laughing, and fooling around. Some discussed tomorrow’s Quidditch match, others argued over the correct pronunciation of a spell, while another group shared sweets recently purchased from Honeydukes.

Every face belonged to a stranger.

Lynn came to a complete stop.

The excitement that had burned inside him only moments ago began cooling little by little.

He lowered his gaze and stared at the cracks in the stone floor for a long moment.

Then he took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and began analyzing the situation.

He didn’t recognize a single student in the castle.

That could only mean the people he knew either hadn’t been born yet or were already dead.

There was no need to overthink it. His journey through time had deviated from its intended destination.

Once again, Lynn faced that painfully familiar question.

What year was it?

He moved to the side of the corridor and leaned against the wall, quietly studying the students passing by.

After a while, his gaze settled on someone.

It was a tall boy roughly Lynn’s height. His dark-brown hair was slightly curly and gleamed with a chestnut sheen beneath the candlelight.

He had a long face, a slightly upturned chin, and a prominent nose.

The boy wore a dark-blue robe with green embroidery around the collar. The embroidered design depicted a snake.

Slytherin.

Several books were tucked beneath his arm with their spines facing outward. Lynn caught sight of their titles:

Advanced Principles of Transfiguration.

Standard Potions Formulas.

An Outline of the History of Magic.

Lynn stepped away from the wall and blocked the boy’s path.

The boy stopped abruptly, startled by Lynn’s sudden appearance, but quickly recovered his composure.

His gaze swept across Lynn’s face.

Before he could ask who Lynn was, Lynn spoke first.

"Hello. I’m a sixth-year Hufflepuff student. You may not have seen me before, but that doesn’t matter."

A friendly smile appeared on Lynn’s face.

"You can call me Lynn."

The boy’s eyebrows twitched.

"A sixth year? How have I never seen you before?"

Lynn ignored the suspicion in his expression.

"I’m currently conducting a practical exercise assigned by a professor. You’ll receive ten Galleons for every question you answer correctly. Are you interested?"

He pulled a handful of glittering Galleons from his pocket and weighed them in his palm.

The gold coins gleamed beneath the candlelight and clinked crisply against one another.

The boy stared at the coins for a moment before looking back at Lynn’s exceedingly "sincere" face.

"Hmm..."

After considering the offer, he nodded.

"All right."

Lynn’s smile widened.

"First question. Who is the current Headmaster of Hogwarts?"

The boy’s expression immediately became peculiar.

His eyes clearly conveyed what he was thinking.

You claim to be a Hogwarts student, yet you don’t know who the Headmaster is?

"Phineas Nigellus Black."

Phineas Nigellus Black.

Lynn silently repeated the name.

He had heard it before.

More than a century later, a portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black would hang in the Headmaster’s office.

He was widely regarded as the most unpopular Headmaster in Hogwarts history, without exception.

His portrait hung beside those of the other former headmasters and headmistresses, but Phineas behaved very differently from the rest.

While the others slept, read, or chatted within their frames, Phineas complained.

He complained that the students were disobedient, that the professors were irresponsible, and that Dumbledore had turned the school into a complete mess.

Once, when Lynn visited Dumbledore’s office, he heard Phineas muttering from his portrait, "In my day, students bowed whenever they saw the Headmaster. Students nowadays behave as though the Headmaster doesn’t even exist."

Dumbledore had been drinking tea at the time. Without even raising his head, he calmly replied, "Phineas, your day ended a very long time ago."

Lynn had found the exchange amusing then.

Now, he couldn’t laugh.

He had originally considered asking the current Headmaster for help, but Phineas Nigellus Black’s reputation wasn’t exaggerated.

The less Lynn interacted with him, the better.

He certainly didn’t expect a man who continued complaining after death to help solve a problem like, "I traveled here from more than a century in the future."

"Thank you."

Lynn placed ten Galleons in the boy’s palm, their golden surfaces shining beneath the candlelight.

"Second question: What year is it?"

The boy’s expression became even stranger.

"1891."

1891.

Lynn quickly calculated the difference.

He had come from 1996.

He was now one hundred and five years too early.

His expression remained unchanged as he took out more Galleons.

"Final question. What is your name?"

"Elias. I don’t have a surname."

Lynn’s eyebrows rose slightly.

"Very good."

Lynn handed Elias the remaining Galleons.

The corners of Elias’s mouth curved upward as he looked at the pile of gold coins.

"For something that earns money this easily, I should be the one thanking you."

His fingertips brushed Lynn’s palm.

Both of them froze.

Lynn’s pupils contracted sharply.

A faint power had flowed from Elias’s fingertips.

It wasn’t strong. The sensation was as delicate as a thin thread brushing across his palm.

But Lynn recognized it immediately.

Ancient Magic.

Elias raised his head at the same moment.

Their gazes locked.

"Ancient Magic?!"

They spoke in unison.

Their voices echoed through the corridor, attracting the attention of the passing students.

Some stopped to stare curiously. Others quickened their steps and pretended they hadn’t heard anything. A few glanced over, shook their heads, and muttered, "Young people these days."

Lynn ignored them.

His gaze remained fixed on Elias.

Only one thought occupied his mind.

Hadn’t Ravenclaw told him that the talent for Ancient Magic was extraordinarily rare?

Then what was this?

He had stopped a random student to ask a few questions, only to discover another wielder of Ancient Magic?

This was Ancient Magic, not a weed growing beside the road!

Lynn had spent five years at Hogwarts in his own time and encountered countless students, yet he had never even heard of another person capable of wielding Ancient Magic.

Now, in 1891, he had stopped a random boy, asked three random questions, and discovered the truth through a random touch.

The probability was so absurdly low that Lynn felt all his mathematical studies had been for nothing.

Elias wasn’t much calmer.

He stared intently at Lynn as questions raced through his mind.

Who was this person?

Why could he wield Ancient Magic?

Where had he come from?

What was his true identity?

If Lynn hadn’t appeared relatively harmless, Elias might already have drawn his wand and cast the Killing Curse.

The two remained silent for a moment.

"Well..." they began simultaneously.

"You go first," they said together.

"I’ll go first."

Silence descended again.

They stared at each other, neither willing to speak.

Eventually, Elias broke the stalemate.

"I think we need to find somewhere private and have a proper conversation."

Lynn nodded.

"I agree."

They exchanged another glance before turning simultaneously and walking toward the other end of the corridor.

...

They crossed the grounds outside the castle gates and followed the gravel road toward Hogsmeade.

The village gradually came into view beneath the moonlight.

Its low houses, winding streets, and signs swaying in the night wind were similar to those Lynn remembered, yet subtly different.

The Three Broomsticks stood near the center of the village, occupying a two-story building constructed from wood and stone.

Lynn pushed open the pub door.

The hinges released a long creak, and the mingled aromas of malt, honey, and roasted meat drifted toward him.

It was another familiar scent.

Only a handful of customers occupied the pub, scattered in small groups throughout the room. Some conversed quietly, others drank alone, and a few dozed beside the fireplace.

A young woman stood behind the bar, polishing a bottle of rum.

Hearing the door open, she raised her head. Her gaze passed over Lynn and Elias before returning to the bottle in her hands.

"Good evening. What would you like?"

"Two butterbeers," Lynn replied.

The young woman nodded, set down the rum, and retrieved two glasses from a shelf.

Lynn and Elias chose a secluded corner at the back of the pub.

A flickering oil lamp stood upon the small wooden table. The surrounding firelight made the pub feel warm and comfortable.

The two sat opposite each other.

Lynn leaned back in his chair with his hands resting on his knees and studied Elias’s face.

Elias folded his arms and examined Lynn in return.

They stared at each other for several seconds before Lynn finally spoke.

He didn’t bother concealing the truth.

Beginning with Hogwarts in 1996, Lynn explained how he had been sent back to the era of the Four Founders and how his attempt to return home had brought him to 1891 instead.

He told Elias about the Time-Turner, the temporal passage, the storm, the explosion, and his fall from the collapsing tunnel.

His explanation was concise, but he omitted none of the essential details.

Elias listened without interrupting. Occasionally, he nodded or frowned. At other times, he raised his butterbeer and took a sip.

When Lynn finished, Elias remained silent for a moment before telling his own story.

He was an orphan raised in a London orphanage. He didn’t know who his parents were and had only received his Hogwarts acceptance letter that year.

Despite entering Hogwarts directly as a fifth-year student, he had adapted well and even made several friends.

Elias was telling the truth.

Lynn could sense it.

Even so, it was difficult to imagine the words "fifth year" and "new student" applying to the same person.

"Can you still return to your own time?" Elias asked.

Lynn shook his head.

"The Time-Turner hasn’t been invented yet."

He paused, lifted his butterbeer, and took a sip.

"The only solution I can think of is to find somewhere isolated from the rest of the world and wait out the next hundred and five years."

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