“Do you remember the murder case I mentioned in my last letter?”
“In just the past five days, two more similar cases have occurred, and the victims were all pure-blood Wizards.”
“The killer’s modus operandi is extremely similar: brutally severing the victim’s head and placing an object brought by the killer beside the head.”
“Of the three murders that have occurred so far, the objects placed at the crime scenes by the killer were a emerald pendant box, a black sapphire ring, and a golden cup.”
“We’ve already had them appraised; the gems and gold on these items are all fake, cheap goods. However, they were all among the five items that appeared when Lord Voldemort died.”
“News of this serial killer case has been reported by The Daily Prophet, and now people are going crazy, spreading rumors that Lord Voldemort might be resurrected and return.”
“We Aurors are too busy to spare much time right now. So Weilan, I suggest you subscribe to a newspaper from now on, so you can keep up with the latest news outside.”
Weilan thought for a moment, returned to the dormitory, took some money from what he had earned selling stationery these past few days, and before heading to the library, turned to go to the Hogwarts owlery.
He selected an owl, tied the money bag and the corresponding subscription letter to the owl’s leg.
“Hoo-hoo-hoo,” the owl hooted a few times, flapped its wings, and flew into the sky.
...
At the library, Weilan almost wrote Ron’s homework along with his own.
He met Hermione there, who was diligently studying various magic books.
Weilan walked past her lightly, afraid of disturbing the diligent girl.
Weilan studied in the library until evening.
Estimating that it was about time, Weilan went to Dumbledore’s office.
“Sherbet Lemon.”
After the correct password was given, the two gargoyle statues jumped aside, revealing the spiral staircase behind them.
Weilan ascended the stairs and politely knocked on the door at the top of the staircase.
“Come in.”
Dumbledore’s gentle voice came from behind the door.
Weilan pushed the door open and saw Dumbledore sitting behind the claw-footed desk.
Today he wore a dark brown robe, half-moon spectacles perched on his crooked nose, and a pair of blue eyes gazed at Weilan.
On the desk in front of him, a large crystal ball was placed.
The base of the crystal ball was engraved with circles of Ancient Runes, and inside the crystal ball, many milky-white substances slowly rotated.
“To borrow this, I had to expend quite a bit of goodwill,” Professor Dumbledore said.
Dumbledore tapped the crystal ball with his wand:
“Queen Maeve’s relic, I borrowed it from her descendants.”
“Before Hogwarts was founded, Queen Maeve was the one who trained Wizards in Ireland.”
“That was a period when ancient magic was prevalent, and Queen Maeve specifically created this item to test the aptitude and talent of her apprentices.”
“You can understand it as… similar to the Sorting Hat, except it’s much older than the Sorting Hat, and it’s only applicable for Ancient Runes tests.”
At Dumbledore’s signal, Weilan gently placed the palm of his right hand on the crystal ball.
The milky-white substance in the sphere flowed more rapidly, transforming into various strange shapes. Weilan felt the blood throughout his body also heating up and boiling with it.
Dumbledore intermittently chanted spells that Weilan did not understand. The Ancient Runes on the crystal ball’s base lit up from bottom to top.
When all the Ancient Runes on the base were lit, the substance in the crystal ball gradually solidified into a single word—
“Tempus.”
Weilan was startled.
This word means “time” in Latin.
And he had just recently speculated that his golden finger was very likely related to time.
Dumbledore gazed at the crystal ball and slowly announced the answer:
“It’s ‘Time’.”
“Weilan, in some ways, you are very lucky.”
Weilan’s lips and tongue were dry; he didn’t know how to respond.
“Very good talent, but unfortunately born at the wrong time.”
Dumbledore propped his forehead with his right hand.
“Now, all secret knowledge related to time magic is locked away in the Ministry of Magic’s Department of Mysteries, strictly forbidden from being circulated to the outside world.”
“But if you expose your bloodline identity to the Department of Mysteries… it’s highly probable that you will lose your freedom from then on.”
“Let me think, where else can you find knowledge about time that you can learn?”
Weilan had considered this question a few days ago, so he directly told Dumbledore his answer:
“Professor Dumbledore, I believe ancient hidden ruins are very likely to contain relevant knowledge.”
Dumbledore acknowledged him, saying:
“There’s a very small probability, but ancient ruins are extremely dangerous. If you discover an entrance, you must not enter on your own.”
“Tell me the entrance, and if I find anything inside, I will tell you when I come out.”
“By the way, how is your detective agency coming along?”
Weilan informed Dumbledore of the current progress and promised that starting next week, they would begin gathering information about the areas surrounding Hogwarts.
After bidding farewell to Dumbledore, Weilan’s tasks for the day were all complete.
He could return to the Gryffindor common room— *grumble, grumble*.
His stomach made an uncooperative sound.
Oh well, I’ll go to the Great Hall to eat something.
On the long tables in the Great Hall, there was very little food left.
Weilan drank a cup of pumpkin juice and ate two sweet jam biscuits. As he was about to leave, Luna suddenly sat down beside him.
Weilan stretched his neck and noticed that the food on the Ravenclaw long table had not been finished.
“Uh… you shouldn’t sit here. This is the Gryffindor table.”
“It’s okay. I just want to tell you something, and I’ll leave soon.”
Luna’s large eyes were fixed on Weilan.
Weilan recalled that during their first meeting at the start of the term, in Dumbledore’s office, Luna had also stared at him like that, making him very uncomfortable.
Now that time had passed, Weilan also knew that Luna was a good girl, except for her slightly strange personality.
So he smiled and asked Luna:
“Why do you keep staring at me like that?”
Luna looked a bit dazed, but her large eyes never left Weilan’s face for a moment:
“I think you look very much like a brother I met when I was little.”
Weilan thought for a moment:
“But there are many people in this world who look alike, and childhood memories are mostly not very clear.”
“No, that’s not right.”
Luna seemed to be pulled back to reality from a dream by this sentence, and she said in an incredibly serious tone:
“You not only look alike, but your temperaments are also very similar.”
“Oh?” Weilan became interested. “How are our temperaments similar?”
“Both of your temperaments make me feel powerful and reliable.”
Luna tried to describe the feeling to Weilan:
“It’s just, not the kind of power that makes people afraid, but the kind of power that makes people feel at ease.”
“But I’m not very strong,” Weilan corrected her. “Many Aurors are much stronger than me, like Harry’s father, James.”
“No, the strength I’m talking about is a feeling. It’s that kind of person who remains calm in the face of danger, always composed…”
Weilan’s eyebrows raised high, but he wasn’t carried away by Luna’s praise.
He believed that Luna’s description of him was partly from his mature and steady demeanor as an adult in his previous life, and partly from the passively active 【Charming Demeanor】 skill.
Weilan didn’t take what Luna said to him to heart.
He also encountered a ravenously eating Ron in the Great Hall. The latter had been running around all day and was clearly starving.
“Hi, Ron.” Weilan greeted him. “Are the posters all put up?”
Ron, his mouth full of food, nodded at him.
After Ron had swallowed all his food, he began to tell Weilan about his experiences traveling through the villages these past two days:
“The money was enough, and the route was planned in advance. I just had to do a lot of walking; I didn’t really need to think much.”
“But after running around for these two days, I found something not so good in Croft County to the south.”