Chapter 249: Chapter 249: Time-Turner (Edited)
With Menes' promise, Tom could naturally make a request. He pulled out a scroll of parchment from his pocket and handed it to Menes.
"This is the method I found to make a Time-Turner. Can you create such an object here?"
Menes didn't answer right away. Instead, he took the scroll of parchment and held the golden ball in his hand, shaking it while reading the words it contained. It seemed that the ball could translate not only sounds but also words.
"A Time-Turner?" Hermione's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing Tom's request. She had seen that parchment before: it was a reward that Tom had received in Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. She hadn't thought that Tom would want Menes to help him make something like that.
However, Hermione thought that if it could be done, it would be an astonishing alchemical artifact.
"Very well." Menes read the parchment Tom had given him and nodded as if it were a trivial matter for him.
"Have you taken two vials of the Time Sands from my pyramid?" He calmly poured himself a glass of beer, which seemed more like fermented barley gruel to Tom. "Bring it."
After taking the Time Sands from Hermione and Tom, Menes directed another glance at the two of them, gestured towards the pond in the Great Hall, and a bubble of water spewed out from the golden fish floated up. When the bubble was floating in front of him, he asked the catwoman to grab two gold chains and place them on his table.
He grabbed the bubble with his hand, the liquid water was like gel in his hand, soft but not dissipating, and he passed the gold chains through the water ball to make a necklace. He set the necklace aside and then casually combined the sands from the two glass vials and "squeezed" the bottles to form an hourglass with a small valve in the center to control the flow. A chain was also threaded through this hourglass to make another necklace.
As the chain was being threaded, there was a flash of light in the hourglass.
All of this was done without a wand, and Tom and Hermione were left speechless: Menes' wandless spell was astonishing to them. To them, this wandless spell was a masterpiece. For Tom, it wasn't difficult to perform a wandless levitation spell, but he couldn't perform a wandless transfiguration spell and solidify a water ball. And if Tom was correct, he hadn't seen any extra movements, but Menes had already made the Time-Turner.
"Take it." He let the two necklaces float towards Tom and Hermione. "Turn the hourglass upside down, and the golden fish will traverse time and start moving backward in time. When the sand in the top part finishes, the golden fish will stop. At this point, you have to turn the hourglass again, and when the sand in the bottom part finishes, the golden fish will bring you back to the original point in time..."
Tom and Hermione: !!!
This Time-Turner looked impressive!
Hermione thought it was an interesting design, and the fact that it could travel through time was a bit mysterious, while Tom was delighted that the Time-Turner Menes had made for him was not the same as the ones in the Ministry's collection. The Ministry's Time-Turners were designed to turn back time one hour per revolution, up to a maximum of five hours; beyond that, the risk of time travel increased significantly. And the Ministry's Time-Turner couldn't recover itself after traveling. If it has been used three times, it would have to wait for three hours. If one wants to return earlier, they just have to adjust the valve to let the sand filter through the hourglass a little faster.
Both types of Time-Turners have advantages and disadvantages.
The Ministry's Time-Turner was easier to use and had a more precise range. Tom's Time-Turner had more freedom and a broader range for traveling back and forth, and most importantly, it was Tom and Hermione's personal Time-Turner. The one from the Department of Magic was public, and each use had to be reported.
Furthermore, Menes was a very skilled alchemist. Tom took the Time-Turner and realized: it was a Time-Turner! An object that touched the realm of time! Its creation required a very deep and complex magic.
And Menes had made it by hand?
In the face of Tom's gaze, Menes seemed pleased. "It is a skill inherited from my lineage. Alchemy is like an instinct for my clan, but it seems that my descendants have tried to summarize the mysteries of alchemy..."
So it's a gift, then it's fine, goodbye! There was truly nothing Tom could do against a prodigy.
After obtaining both necklaces, Tom thought for a moment and gave Hermione the one with the golden fish water globe, while he put on the hourglass necklace himself.
"Let's try it," said Menes as he finished his tasks and began recommending the food on the table. Menes then treated the two men to a warm welcome and a wide variety of specialties. They stayed for a few days before departing.
Before leaving, Tom looked at Menes.
"I will not reveal this place to the outside world." He promised Menes seriously that he would keep his mouth shut.
"Don't do it!" Menes stopped, "Life here is very boring day after day. It's good to have new people here to keep me busy."
"Why don't you go out and take a look?"
Menes merely smiled at this question and did not answer. Tom immediately understood that Menes' form of immortality came at a great cost, a cost that prevented him from leaving his own temporal loop.
"Well, before I change my mind, please come back!" Menes gestured invitingly, and it was clear that he was somewhat reluctant to let them go, after being exposed to so many new and exciting things in the past few days that he didn't even want to let them go.
Tom and Hermione ventured into the pond, as they had done before, and returned to the pyramid with the help of the golden fish. They then resurfaced through the mechanism at the end of the pyramid.
By that time, Dr. Hunter had already left the city.
The floor mechanism returned to its original state. Tom took the cat statue from the mechanism and found two camels in the ruins, leading them out of the Sahara.
They returned the way they had come, back to Aswan. The cat statue had only been rented as collateral, and now they returned it to its rightful owner, as it wouldn't be honorable to do otherwise with a family heirloom. But when they arrived at the night market, they found the shop empty, even the owner had changed. According to the new owner, it seemed that the father and son had made a fortune and had sold the shop overnight...
Since the original owners had disappeared, the cat statue naturally passed into Hermione's hands as the creditor.
Tom placed the statue in Hermione's arms, looked at the sunset in the sky, and said, "Now that this is over, it's time for us to return to London."
Chapter 250: Chapter 250: Dumbledore, you bastard! (Edited)
Tom placed the newspaper back on the table, which had the following headline in bold: "8 Dead! Professor Hal Hunter from the University of Sheffield is to blame."
There were other newspapers on the table, most of the front-page headlines also related to Dr. Hunter: "Ancient Egyptian Ruins Unveiled, Fractured History Could Be Mended," "17 Gold Artifacts, Professor's Thrilling Adventure with Pregnant Girl," "Blood-Stained Gold"...
"Lately, Dr. Hunter has been going through a rough time," lamented Tom. Dr. Hunter had returned to England a few days before them, and his thrilling adventure and the valuable artifacts he had brought had created a sensation that shook the entire archaeological community, while the deaths of six security company employees and two students had put Dr. Hunter in the center of public opinion.
Tom was glad that the press hadn't picked up on him and Hermione, which had saved him a lot of trouble.
"Tom, breakfast is ready~," Hermione said, coming out of the kitchen wearing an apron and holding a plate.
Tom's face twitched unnaturally twice, "Actually, you can do all this work..."
"No, let me do it!" Hermione cut off Tom sharply, "This is my house, and it's my duty to prepare breakfast, so don't say another word!"
Tom grabbed the fork, placed the burnt omelet on the charred toast, and crowned it with two equally burnt bacon strips. He felt like he was going to the grave.
When Tom and Hermione returned to London, the Grangers were still on vacation in France... so it was natural for Tom to stay at Hermione's house. The security situation in London had deteriorated lately, and it wasn't safe for Hermione, a girl, to live alone in such a big house. Hermione also offered to take care of Tom's breakfast. Having tasted Hermione's cooking, Tom was more than determined to take on the responsibility of cooking lunch and dinner.
While Tom struggled to finish his sandwich, Hermione sat across from him with a bowl of cereal.
"I want to go to Regent Street today," she said, toying with her cereal bowl with the spoon, "I need to buy new clothes for the school year."
"Sure." Tom knew Hermione wanted him to accompany her.
"Who do you think is better, Aristoc, Levante, or REX?" Hermione suddenly threw out a question.
Tom: !!!
The three are famous hosiery brands in Europe and America.
Levante is a renowned hosiery brand founded in 1969 in the Mantua region in northern Italy and is an icon of Italian design, always leading Italian hosiery design. It symbolizes the luxury and quality of French products and is recognized as one of the most important luxury brands in the hosiery sector worldwide. Aristoc, on the other hand, is the oldest hosiery brand in the UK. It was founded in 1920 and is known as the "aristocrat of hosiery."
"Ah, well, I don't know much about it. What do the three stores sell?" Tom's eyes shifted for a moment, hesitating to give a positive response to the question.
This nonsense couldn't fool Hermione, who chuckled softly, "Really? I can see you quite like-"
Before Hermione's teasing could continue, the news anchor on the television came to Tom's rescue: "This is a brief message from the news station. Yesterday afternoon at three o'clock, Folsom Prison convict Sirius Black took advantage of his outdoor hour to climb up the canopy to the prison wall and escape."
Sirius Black, male, born on November 3, 1959, 174 cm tall, black hair, gray eyes, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1980 for causing an explosion that killed 12 people.
The public should be aware that Sirius Black is armed and extremely dangerous. A hotline has been set up for the public to report any suspicions."
At the same time, a thin face appeared on the TV screen.
Hermione covered her mouth and exclaimed, "Oh my God, he caused an explosion that killed twelve people! How horrifying."
At that moment, the news anchor's face returned to the screen, broadcasting other news: "Home Secretary Jim Hacker..."
Tom turned off the TV.
"Are you still going to Regent Street? You know Sirius hasn't been arrested yet, he could be anywhere-"
"But you can protect me, right?" Hermione lightly kicked Tom twice, "Crack! Pop - two, and you have this maniac killer subdued and arrested."
"It's not that simple." Just then, an owl flew in through the window, dropped a rolled-up newspaper into Tom's hand, and then perched on the table with a small leather bag in its claws.
Tom's eyes lit up, and he immediately handed the uneaten toast to the owl.
Owl: ⊙▽⊙
Owl: Thank you for your kindness, but duck doesn't have...
Tom: Take it!
He suddenly pushed the toast into the owl's beak and quickly put some copper Knuts into the leather bag before sending the owl out of the house.
Tom unfolded the Daily Prophet brought by the owl, pointed to a photo on the front page, and asked Hermione to look at it.
[The Most Dangerous Man: Sirius Black]
"Looks like the newspaper editor didn't consider You-Know-Who as a man," Tom quipped. "'The Most Dangerous Man,' how would Grindelwald and Voldemort feel about that?"
"The fugitive, a wizard."
Hermione: ...
But not even a lurking mad killer could deter Hermione from going shopping on Regent Street.
As Tom sat on the small sofa eating frozen yogurt and watched Hermione sift through piles of clothes, he felt like he had made the right decision to go out today.
At that moment, Hermione sat down next to him with a pair of black nylon stockings.
"What do you think of these stockings? I think they would create an elegant vintage look with a tulle skirt, and those black heeled boots I was looking at, and this little hat, but the nylon stockings are too stretchy..."
Tom swallowed and was about to say something when a soft, familiar voice exploded in his ears.
"Very keen eye, Miss Granger, but there might be a better choice at Madame Malkin's."
Oh! Tom nearly jumped; he knew the owner of the voice all too well—it was his charming Headmaster: Dumbledore!
He looked toward the source of the voice, and there he was, Dumbledore with his traveling cloak and pointed hat, looking at him with a kind face.
There was only one thought in Tom's mind at that moment: Dumbledore, damn it!
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