Kael finally understood now why Nicolas had remained so unhurried after Dumbledore disappeared, and why, when Kael decided to use the Time Turner, he could prepare everything needed in an extremely short time.
He hadn’t just used one month, but almost three; from that point on he’d already started preparing to repair the Time Turner.
And why he insisted that Kael be the one to use the Time Turner and go back, without considering Professor McGonagall at all.
It was likewise because Nicolas had known long ago; he was very clear that this time it was Kael who went to rescue Dumbledore, and even succeeded, so he ignored Professor McGonagall’s suggestion and even personally went to Hogwarts to make sure Kael could get the Time Turner.
“Ink… Thunderbird Quill… these count as prohibited trade goods, so let’s not take them out for now.”
“The Re’em Horn, on the other hand, I can split in half and sell to the Quidditch Boutique; they should be very willing to pay a high price to acquire such rare materials.”
Kael sat beside the table, leisurely sorting through his spoils from this trip—mainly because there wasn’t anything else to do at the moment.
Although Dumbledore had drunk the Magic Potion Nicolas prepared and recovered his lost memories, his physical condition before had been far too poor, so to be safe Nicolas still took him for further examination.
Now the large house contained only Kael, and beside him a small mountain of various materials.
All of these were things he’d bought a hundred years ago; once he returned to Diagon Alley and resold them, he could make at least ten times his money.
That was only because many of them were prohibited trade items and hard to move—for example the Thunderbird Quill. Products like that had been banned from sale twenty years ago; it would be very difficult to sell them through official channels.
Of course, that only applied to official channels.
It took Kael half an hour to sort everything out.
If the price of using the Time Turner weren’t so steep—almost one Philosopher’s Stone for a single trip—then just arbitraging these materials between the two sides would itself be a pretty good job.
Oh, and these…
Kael looked over again at those “local specialties” Willie Tom had “given” him.
Most were useless joke items, very monotonous in content and far less varied than modern ones, not worth much at all.
But after all, these gadgets were also products of the last century, so they barely counted as antiques and had some collectible value; maybe he could sell them at a high price to Fred and George.
After another while, Nicolas and Dumbledore finally came out.
Kael turned his head and saw that Dumbledore’s face had at last regained a bit of color.
“Thank you for bringing me back,” he said as he walked over. “I must apologize for my recklessness.”
“No need, Professor,” Kael waved his hand, cutting him off,
“We both know that what you did wasn’t recklessness, it was inevitable. There’s no way you could just do nothing.”
“Yes, you’re right,” Dumbledore nodded helplessly.
Let him watch Arianna die in front of him again?
He couldn’t do it.
Even if he had to do it again, he would still make the same choice—though dragging Kael into it left him feeling somewhat guilty.
“Fortunately, everything’s been resolved nicely.” Kael stood up and pointed at the valuable items beside him. “And I’ve gotten a decent reward as well. Now we just have to wait another two months, and the whole matter will come to a perfect close.”
Kael was referring to the moment when he himself would use the Time Turner.
Dumbledore was fine now, but there were still two Kaels in this world, which meant he was still under the Time Turner’s influence.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Nicolas suddenly said. “During this period I’ll help you prepare another kind of Magic Potion to make sure your thinking isn’t affected later.”
“Another Magic Potion…” Kael asked. “Is that that raspberry juice thing?”
“Strictly speaking, it’s called an Awakening Potion,” Nicolas said with a smile. “More than two months isn’t exactly a short time. Without the Awakening Potion’s help, your mind will gradually be affected by time. It won’t be too serious, but the feeling certainly won’t be pleasant.”
Kael shrugged, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Nicolas was right; he remembered that at the time he had been a bit off. Specifically, he’d kept making mistakes he really shouldn’t have made, as if his IQ had gone offline.
That was the effect brought by time: it would subconsciously reject everything that shouldn’t exist—like him, a person from two months in the future.
But he and the Kael of this moment were the same person, so that rejection would act on the other as well, causing mental confusion.
The longer it lasted, the more obvious the rejection became.
As for the Awakening Potion… according to Nicolas, the function of this potion was like another form of the Iron Armor Spell, blocking that rejection.
“Need my help?” Kael asked.
“No, and you probably don’t have the time anyway,” Nicolas said with a smile. “But if possible, it’d be best if you could find the time to bring me some Knotgrass. My stock here is running low.”
“Ah… no problem,” Kael nodded.
If it were other Herbs—Ruta Graveolens, Dittany, Mandrake and the like—he could take them out right now. But Knotgrass, he really didn’t have any in his trunk.
Not because it was precious; mainly its smell was a bit pungent, so he hadn’t planted it in the trunk, and very few Magic Potions ever needed it.