Chapter 246 - 246: Another Time Shift

Words : 1903 Updated : Oct 13th, 2025

How…could it possibly be the 25th? His last memory was clearly from the 19th—he distinctly remembered performing a final round of divination before going to bed. But after just one night of sleep…it was suddenly the 25th? Where had the five days in between—December 20th to 24th—gone? Did I lose my memory? Or…did I time-travel five days into the future? "Waaah!" Just then, a shadow darted into Edward's arms with a strange cry. Startled, he stumbled back several steps. "Hahaha! Miss Lilith pulled it off again!" Lilith turned smugly toward Audrey and Susie, who had just walked over. But Audrey quickly noticed the unease in Edward's expression. She stepped forward, concerned. "What's wrong, Edward?" "What day is it today?" he asked grimly. "December 25th. Christmas," she replied, puzzled. "Did you…see me over the past few days?" "Of course. We've been together every day. We even went to France and spent Christmas Eve at Sirius' place." She reached out to feel his forehead. "Did you wake up all groggy or something?" Edward took a deep breath. "But my memory…still stops at the 19th." "What?" Audrey's eyes widened. "I remember going to sleep on the night of the 19th. Then the next thing I know—it's the 25th. I have no memory of anything from the 20th to the 24th." "That's impossible! We were clearly…together the whole time…" Her pupils trembled mid-sentence. "Then…the person who's been with me these past few days…wasn't you? Then where did you go?" "I don't know. My head is full of questions. I have no idea what happened." "No doubt about it!" Lilith declared confidently. "That was definitely Edward!" Susie opened her mouth as if to say something, but hesitated and held back. Edward thought for a moment, then asked, "On December 20th…did the Death Eaters and goblins attack Hogwarts?" "Yep! Not just them—there were also Dementors and some giants. Thankfully, Professor Dumbledore was well prepared and quickly repelled them. You were the one who killed Barty Jr., remember?" "I killed Barty Jr.?" Edward frowned. "What about Voldemort? Did he show up?" Audrey nodded. "Yes. Voldemort managed to sneak into the room with the Philosopher's Stone somehow. You caught him while he was trying to steal it…but unfortunately, he escaped." "I caught Voldemort but still let him escape?" It wasn't arrogance—Edward genuinely couldn't understand how the current version of Voldemort could have escaped once he'd been caught. "And then?" "And then that incident came to an end. Although Professor Dumbledore missed the Ministerial Election Conference that day, he submitted solid evidence the next morning proving Fudge's collusion with the Death Eaters. He was brought to trial. After discussions within the Ministry and Wizengamot, the election was rescheduled to the first week after the Christmas holidays." "I see…" Edward fell into thought for a moment. "Come on. I need to speak with Professor Dumbledore." Audrey grasped his finger anxiously. "Edward, don't worry. Everything will be alright." Lilith chimed in brightly, "Everything will be okay, Edward!" "…Mhm." —— [Eighth Floor—Headmaster's Office] The moment Dumbledore saw the pair, his face lit up and he brought out two beautifully wrapped presents. "Oh! Merry Christmas~ These are handpicked just for you—I hope you like them…What's wrong?" "Professor, I think…something very strange has happened to me." Edward got straight to the point. "I've lost all memory from after the 19th." Dumbledore immediately put the gifts aside and leaned forward, adjusting his glasses. "Oh…this is…" "I clearly remember going to bed on the night of the 19th. But today is already Christmas, and I can't recall a single thing that happened in between. It's like I skipped straight from the 19th to the 25th." "Could someone have cast a Memory Charm on you?" Edward shook his head. "My divination results ruled that out. It wasn't a Memory Charm." "That is strange…" Dumbledore laced his fingers together atop the desk. "Have you tried dream divination?" "I'll try now." Edward took out the necessary materials and quickly set up the ritual. "Everything I experienced between December 20th and 24th." As he finished the incantation, Edward closed his eyes and slipped into a dream state. What greeted him was a pitch-black mirror. Within it, faint outlines of two black doors could be seen. Other than that—nothing. No sights. No sounds. He waited patiently, but the image never changed. He couldn't tell if the divination had failed. Reluctantly, Edward withdrew from the dream state and opened his eyes. "How did it go?" Audrey squatted beside his leg, her expression worried. "All I saw were two black doors—nothing else." "Then how about I try Telepathy, and connect directly with your mental body?" "Alright." A few minutes later, Audrey's attempt at Telepathy ended in failure as well—Edward's mental body remembered nothing. Edward thought for a moment, then turned to Dumbledore. "Professor, do you think Legilimency might work?" Dumbledore shook his head. "I don't believe so. Legilimency allows one to view another's memories. But if you don't possess those memories yourself, how could I possibly see them?" The room fell into silence. After a long moment, Edward forced a faint smile. "Maybe we should just leave it for now. It's not like missing a few days of memory is going to impact me too badly. I can head over to Audrey's world—maybe there, I can consult some powerful individuals for help." "No." Dumbledore shook his head solemnly. "What's most crucial now is understanding how you lost those memories. Aren't you worried this could happen again?" Edward's fingers clenched. "I…I asked Mr. Grindelwald once. When we were discussing the side effects of overusing dark magic, he mentioned memory deterioration as one of the possibilities. Maybe it's because I've used too much dark magic recently?" "Memory deterioration and complete memory loss are two very different things." Dumbledore pondered for another half minute, then hesitantly pulled open a drawer and took out a small, golden, gleaming timepiece. "This was found a few days ago by Scrimgeour in Fudge's office when the Ministry detained Cornelius." Edward's eyes lit up—a Time-Turner! He hadn't forgotten how instrumental it had been the last time against Ince Zangwill. That time when he'd impersonated Voldemort at the Ministry to scare Fudge, he'd originally planned to snag a few Time-Turners while he was at it, but Umbridge had gotten wind of it and moved all the devices ahead of time, which ended up getting stolen by a group of dark wizards. Edward had assumed he'd never see one of these again. "Perhaps you could use this to go back five days and witness what happened with your own eyes," Dumbledore continued. "But I must remind you again—those who meddle with time will eventually be played by it." He added seriously, "The moment you use a Time-Turner, you become part of the past. You're not there to change it—but to fulfil it." "I understand." Edward carefully accepted the golden Time-Turner, inspecting it closely. Lilith's eyes widened. "Edward, this is the thing you used last time—you just whoosh, vanished right in front of Miss Lilith! I waited in the same spot for days!" Worry appeared on her face. "You won't do that again this time, will you?" "I won't, Lilith." Edward patted her head. "Edward, can I go back with you this time?" Dumbledore immediately interjected, "Audrey, I know you're worried about Edward, but in matters like these—the fewer people involved, the safer it is." "…Alright." She nodded and didn't press further. "Edward, do you want me to tell you what happened on the 20th? It might help your actions once you go back." "No. The less I know about the past, the fewer limitations I'll have after returning. Because anything I haven't heard of can be treated as something that hasn't happened yet." He turned to Dumbledore. "Professor, is there anything you specifically want me to do?" Dumbledore thought for a moment. "Follow your spiritual intuition." "…Understood." Audrey pressed her lips together and said seriously, "Then I'll wait for you to come back!" "Mm." Edward took a deep breath, gently turned the dial on the Time-Turner—this time, unlike in that world, it didn't get stuck at the two-hour mark. He rotated the knob, setting the time to the afternoon of the 19th. Then he looked at Audrey and Dumbledore. "See you in a minute." Tick. He let go. In the next instant, he felt himself rapidly hurtling backwards through time. Blurred cloud-like shapes flashed past his eyes, and something pounded furiously in his ears. His body felt as though it were being stretched infinitely, then pulled back into an endless black hole. Until finally, in one fleeting moment, the chaotic reverse-flow of time began to slow. At last, with a crisp ding, the flow of time around him fully stabilised. Edward's first reaction was to check the Time-Turner in his hand—no damage at all. He was still in the Headmaster's Office, but the time had reverted to the afternoon of the 19th—the day Dumbledore had been absent all day. "Better change appearances first." There were plenty of Hufflepuff students who, despite having been around for years, barely left an impression—just a vague familiarity, the kind where you couldn't even recall their names. Edward transformed into one such student's appearance, then threw on the Invisibility Cloak and made his way to the Hufflepuff common room. At this moment, his past self should've just received Lucius's message, Apparated away to share the news, then returned to the dorm. He'd eat in the common room at dinner, play with Lilith for a bit, and around 9 PM, do another round of divination before going to bed. Edward used [Open Door] to enter the room next to his dorm. The students who usually stayed there had all gone home for the holidays. Ten minutes later, he heard faint sounds from inside his room. He used a coin for divination and confirmed that his past self had returned. So Edward quietly stayed in the adjacent room, waiting—if it was time travel that brought him to the 25th, then his past self should vanish sometime tonight… But Audrey had said they'd spent the next few days together. That ruled out the possibility of someone disguising themselves as him…which meant… Could it be that after the past version of himself disappeared, he took his own place? So, did he…replace himself? And if he and Audrey had shared some intimate moments during that time…did that mean he'd cuckolded himself? SLAP! At that thought, Edward smacked himself hard on the head. Now's not the time for that kind of nonsense! Get your head out of the gutter, Edward! There was another possibility, of course—that there had been no time travel, and it was simply a case of memory loss. In that case, he'd have to stay close to his past self over the next few days until he could figure out how he'd lost his memories. This was already feeling way more complicated than dealing with Ince Zangwill. ——— [Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.

Chapter 246 - 246: Another Time Shift

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