181: Chapter 181 The Fourth Blank

"Did you sleep well last night, Mr. Potter?"

Dumbledore stood at the corner of the corridor, holding a silver sweet box in his hand. Allen had just come from the direction of Potion Class, clutching three essays to his chest, his face paler than the Dungeon walls. Draco stopped behind him, Pansy grabbed his sleeve, Nott closed his notebook, and Zabini stuffed the sweet box back into his pocket.

Allen looked up, "Never slept better, Principal."

Draco almost choked. Pansy was used to kicking people under the table, and she hadn't changed that habit in the hallway, her toe landing directly on Draco's instep. Draco gritted his teeth and forced himself to swallow his words.

Dumbledore looked at the faint red mark under Allen's nose, "The Dungeon is damp; it's rare to sleep well there."

"When you're tired enough, you can sleep even if the wall collapses."

"Young people should always get more sleep." Dumbledore opened the sweet box, inside lay a few lemon sherbets, "Care for one?"

Allen glanced at it, "Thank you, I'm afraid it'll stick to my teeth."

Zabini whispered from behind, "He's even guarding against candy."

Nott didn't reply, but his pen tip was already pressed against the cover of his notebook. Dumbledore's appearance was too well-timed. The time-turner had been activated last night, the commotion in the Great Hall hadn't settled this morning, and now he was intercepting them in the hallway in the afternoon; the Principal had clearly caught a scent.

Dumbledore tucked the sweet box back into his sleeve, "The Castle was quite busy last night. Dementors, the Black Lake, Buckbeak, and an escaped convict. Did you hear any commotion?"

"What we heard most in the Slytherin Dungeon was Draco cursing."

"I was cursing you because you were having a nosebleed and still writing." Draco blurted out, only realizing after he'd said it that Dumbledore had heard him too.

Dumbledore looked at Draco, "When a friend is willing to curse, it often means he cares a great deal."

Draco's face stiffened, "Professor, I was just maintaining the cleanliness of the common room."

Pansy turned her face away. Zabini bit into the candy, his shoulders shaking slightly.

Allen pressed the essays closer to his chest, "If the Principal wants to ask about last night, I went to sleep early and woke up late, Draco was very noisy, and Nott recorded a lot of boring things."

Nott looked up, "I can testify that some of the content was indeed boring."

Dumbledore smiled, but his gaze didn't leave Allen. "The strange thing is, the Castle's time structure developed an extra fold last night. Very small, very short. Usually, a time-turner leaves a closed trace, but last night there was an extra branch."

Footsteps in the corridor faded. In the distance, a painting poked its head out, only to be pulled back by the Fat Knight.

Draco's hand pressed against his cuff, Pansy's gaze shifted from Dumbledore to Allen, and Zabini stopped chewing his candy.

Allen looked up, "Time structure?"

"A complicated term." Dumbledore said, "You can think of it as a piece of parchment that has been folded; there should have only been one crease, but in the end, there was an extra faint mark."

"Hogwarts staircases also move around a lot."

"Staircases don't touch time."

"Professors do." Allen replied quickly.

Dumbledore was silent for a moment. That silence wasn't oppressive, but it made Draco want to drag Allen away. He would rather go to Professor Snape's office to hand in ten essays than stand in front of Dumbledore listening to Allen talk back.

Dumbledore rested his hand on the railing, "How much do you know about time-turners?"

"Hermione Granger has a very full schedule. Professor McGonagall trusts her. Neither Harry nor she slept well last night."

"You observe very closely."

"The whole school is watching them. Black flew away, the Dementors withdrew, Lupin resigned. When there are many people, the answers are often on the dining table."

"And what about you?"

"I was cutting bread at the dining table."

Dumbledore looked at him. Allen also looked at Dumbledore. Half a corridor separated the two, sunlight slanting down from the high windows, illuminating the floor tiles. The depths of Allen's eyes were excessively clean, like a classroom cleared out in advance.

Dumbledore didn't cast a spell, nor did he raise his wand.

This was more troublesome than Legilimency.

Allen was very clear about this. Legilimency would hit a partition, leaving behind traces of the other party's failure. But Dumbledore only asked questions, using logic to force one to open the door. Every sentence was light, yet the landing point was accurate.

"Mr. Potter." Dumbledore said, "In your father's line, there are a few instances of time affinity in the family records. Very rare, and very dangerous."

"The things my father left me usually come with trouble."

"Trouble can also protect people."

"It can also kill those who get close."

Draco finally couldn't help himself, "Principal, Allen still has to go to Professor Snape's office to hand in essays this afternoon. He's already almost asleep."

Dumbledore turned to look at him, "Mr. Malfoy, you are very brave today."

Draco's face darkened, "I was just reminding him of his coursework schedule."

"Very good. Being able to prioritize coursework after Black's escape—Hogwarts needs this kind of stability."

Zabini muttered, "That doesn't sound like a compliment."

Pansy lowered her voice, "Shut up."

Dumbledore looked at Allen again, "Take care of yourself, Mr. Potter. Time does not like to be pulled, and neither does space."

Allen nodded, "Thank you, Principal."

Dumbledore walked past them, his robes brushing the floor, without stopping. When passing the staircase, he turned back to look one more time.

"If one day you find a door open, don't be in a rush to go in."

Allen looked back, "Some doors have been open too long; other things will come in."

Dumbledore paused for half a second, then left.

After the footsteps faded, Draco grabbed Allen's sleeve, "You almost admitted it just now."

"Admitted what?"

"Doors, time, creases. Any one of them is enough for Snape to lock you in his office."

Nott opened his notebook, "Dumbledore did not use Legilimency. Keywords: extra fold, branch, family time affinity, door. Judged as the fourth blank collision."

Pansy stared at the end of the corridor, "He noticed last night."

"Noticed the crease." Allen pulled his sleeve back, "Didn't find the person."

Zabini handed the sweet box to Draco, "Eat it, you need it more now than you did this morning."

Draco slapped the sweet box away, "I need him to go to sleep."

"Hand in the essays first." Allen walked forward.

"You still dare to go to Professor Snape's office?"

"He's the one who punished me."

"You just finished talking to Dumbledore about time creases!"

Allen stopped at the staircase, looking back towards the Third Floor.

In the future cross-section from last night, that old forbidden corridor still lingered in his mind, the blue light from the door crack sinking to the edge of his vision.

"That's why I have to hand it in on time."

Nott put away his pen, "A normal student would be afraid of a Professor first."

"A normal student also wouldn't write the time-turner, Black's escape, and the blue door in the old forbidden area on the same page of a file." Zabini said.

Allen walked towards the Dungeon stairs, "Then don't let normal people see it."

Inside the Portable Space, the void tail tip pressed down on the ebony box. The cracked pocket watch lay silently, the gold thread crossing half the surface. Peter in the cage pressed against the thin wall, shrinking deeper after hearing the name Dumbledore.

Allen wrote in his consciousness: Dumbledore noticed the branch. No pressure applied. Fourth blank collision ended.

The void tail tip pointed at the three characters "No pressure applied," and the silver pupil looked at him coldly.

Allen changed the line: No public pressure applied.

The Black snake then moved its tail away.