Harry Potter: Dudley From LOTM - 352

Chapter 352: Time-Turner

"I promise," Dudley said, nodding.

Seeing that, Hermione did not say anything more. She slowly reached up to her neck and took off a delicate pendant.

It was a tiny golden hourglass, beautiful and finely made.

Dudley had noticed it before and had sensed the magic lingering on it, but he had not thought much of it, assuming it was just a magical trinket Hermione had bought for herself.

"This is a Time-Turner," Hermione said bluntly.

"Time-Turner?"

The moment Dudley heard the name, his expression hardened.

Hermione had not yet explained what it could do, but from the name alone, he could already guess.

"Yes. I got it from Professor McGonagall on the first day back. The reason I can attend two classes at the same time is because of this," Hermione said.

"After I finish one lesson, I use the Time-Turner to go back to before it began, then go to the other class instead. That is all there is to it."

Having said that, she looked far more at ease.

"Such a miraculous artefact," Dudley murmured.

His gaze fixed on the Time-Turner in Hermione’s hand.

The power to turn back time. Even in the Beyonder world, he had never heard of anything quite like it.

Of course, that might simply mean he had not yet encountered that level.

But time was too powerful, too frightening. If it could truly be reversed at will, there was very little in the Beyonder world that could not be undone.

"Are there no limits?" he asked.

"There are," Hermione said. "Using it drains my magic, so I cannot turn it too many times in a row. And I absolutely cannot let two of me appear at the same time. That would cause... extremely serious consequences."

"Forgive me, Dudley. I promised Professor McGonagall I would not tell anyone about this," she added, guilt in her voice.

"I understand," Dudley said. "But why did Professor McGonagall never mention it to me at all?"

He frowned.

He was, after all, top of their year. If this thing existed to help with study, McGonagall should at least have raised it with him. Instead, she had kept silent and even told Hermione not to tell him. It puzzled him.

"The Time-Turner belongs to the Ministry," Hermione explained. "Professor McGonagall wrote them a lot of letters, sent them all kinds of records to prove I am a model student and would never use it for anything except lessons. Only then did they agree to lend me one."

"I see," Dudley said quietly.

If it was Ministry property, that would make more sense.

Given his current standing with the Ministry, they would sooner throw him into Azkaban than hand him control of time. He was lucky they were not already looking for excuses to arrest him.

"Yes. Professor McGonagall did mention that you might have had a chance in future," Hermione went on. "But after what happened over the summer, there was almost no way they would approve one for you. So she decided not to say anything."

"It is fine. You have explained, that is enough," Dudley said, nodding.

"May I see it?" he asked.

Hermione hesitated, then slipped the Time-Turner from its chain and passed it to him.

"One turn is one hour," she said.

Dudley cradled it in his palm and let his senses brush over the magic bound into the delicate frame.

It was exquisitely made. The power coiled inside it was intricate to the point of being dizzying. Even with just a light touch, he could feel layer upon layer of enchantments, many of them beyond his current understanding.

Holding the Time-Turner between thumb and forefinger, he let a trickle of Spirituality flow into it.

At once, he felt it tremble in his grasp, as if struggling to wrench itself free.

"What is going on?" Dudley said, glancing at Hermione.

Was it resisting him because it did not recognise him as its owner?

"I do not know," Hermione said. "Oh, wait. Professor McGonagall did say that some very powerful wizards cannot use Time-Turners at all."

"What does that mean?" Dudley asked, taken aback.

"According to her, a Time-Turner is basically a kind of transport tool," Hermione said. "It moves a person from the current point in time to, say, three hours earlier."

"For that to work, the 'load' has to be light enough. Otherwise the Time-Turner cannot move it easily."

"That 'weight' is like the wizard’s strength. Or their magic," she went on. "The stronger a witch or wizard is, the harder it is to move them. For truly powerful ones, their magic alone makes the process extremely difficult. And if someone like that were to disturb time, the damage they could do would be terrifying."

"That is why Time-Turners are mostly used in very controlled situations, like extra classes. That is the only reason I was allowed one at all."

"I see," Dudley said slowly, looking down at the hourglass.

He could feel it recoiling from him. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that it feared him.

If he so much as turned it once, the artefact might very well shatter under the strain.

On reflection, that was probably for the best. If things like this could be used freely to rewrite history, powerful wizards would be able to do whatever they liked.

Suppose Voldemort had taken a Time-Turner with him the night he went after Harry’s family. Or had one of his followers carry it. If, after failing, he had simply gone back and tried again—again and again—who could possibly have stopped him?

The entire world would have plunged into chaos long ago.

The wicked could twist the past to their liking. So could the righteous. In the end, the fabric of the magical world itself would rip apart under the strain of a thousand competing timelines.

Dudley did not experiment further. He handed the Time-Turner back to Hermione.

"Make good use of it," he said. "But do not run yourself ragged."

"Study within your limits. You are already outstanding."

"Not compared to you," Hermione said, flushing.

"Do not compare yourself to me. It is pointless," Dudley said.

His strength came from living two lives and from inheriting Beyonder powers from another world. That was how he had climbed so far, so fast.

Everything Hermione had achieved, she had earned by sheer effort. There was very little overlap between them.

"I just want to learn as much as I can. And I enjoy it," Hermione said with a small smile.

Dudley let the matter drop.

He trusted her to know where her own limits lay.

If this were that other Beyonder world, he thought, he would have introduced Hermione to the Church of Knowledge long ago. She was perfectly suited to it.

She might even have ended up as one of its high pontiffs.