49: Chapter 49 The Strange Movements of the Portable Space

The lights in the dormitory were out, and the glimmer of the Black Lake rippled against the walls.

A rustling sound came from behind Draco's bed curtains.

"Potter, are you asleep?"

Allen leaned against the headboard, his fingers resting on his blackthorn wand.

"Almost."

Draco pulled his bed curtain open a crack.

"What did you mean earlier in the Common Room when you said Granger was trouble?"

"Exactly what I said."

"Don't try to brush me off with that."

"She reads books, asks questions, and keeps Harry from doing stupid things."

Draco scoffed.

"Keeping Potter from doing stupid things? You hold him in high regard."

"It's not high regard; it's that he's harder to manipulate."

Crabbe poked his head out from under his covers.

"Manipulate who?"

Draco turned his head.

"Go back to sleep."

Goyle also rolled over.

"I'm not asleep either."

Draco gritted his teeth.

"Then go to sleep together."

Allen tucked his wand into his sleeve.

"Don't mention the Troll tomorrow."

Draco looked at him.

"Are you warning me again?"

"Quirrell will be watching Harry, Snape will be watching Quirrell, and the Professors will be watching everyone who was running around last night."

Draco paused for a moment.

"Including you?"

"No one knows I was running around."

"Do you have to be so insufferable?"

"You asked."

Draco pulled his bed curtain shut.

"If Snape asks, I'll say you came back with us."

Allen looked toward his side.

"You won't need to say anything this time."

"You'd better make sure of that."

"Mm."

Crabbe asked in a low voice.

"So, can we still talk about Weasley fighting the Troll tomorrow?"

Draco replied from behind his curtain.

"No."

Goyle added.

"Then what should we talk about?"

"Talk about the History of Magic homework."

Crabbe immediately shut his mouth.

The dormitory returned to silence, with the sound of water echoing from the pipes in the distance.

Allen waited until the breathing of the other three had steadied, then raised his hand to close his bed curtains.

The Void swam over to the stone slab inside the Portable Space, its silver slit pupils gazing outward.

Allen whispered.

"Come in."

He pressed his blackthorn wand against his palm, and the boundary of the space opened inward.

The next moment, the sensation of the bed vanished, replaced by a smooth stone surface under his feet.

The ebony box sat in the corner, with the cracked pocket watch resting inside, blue light seeping through the cracks.

The Void circled the stone slab and tapped its tail tip against the edge.

Allen swept his gaze across the surroundings.

"One hundred and fifty square meters."

The Void raised its head.

"Before last night, it was one hundred and thirty-one."

The snake tail tapped again.

Allen walked to the boundary and reached out to touch the grayish-white wall of the space.

"That incident with the Troll increased it by nineteen square meters."

The Void flicked its tongue.

"It's not just recovery after depletion, nor is it accumulation from sleep."

He turned to look at the parchment on the stone slab.

On it were written: Halloween, Troll, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Quirrell.

Allen picked up a quill and dipped it in ink.

"First strike: deflected the club."

The Void's tail tip landed next to Hermione's name.

"Second strike: the sink collapsed."

The snake tail moved to the word "Troll".

"Finally, severed the magic connection in the back of the neck; the Troll fell unconscious."

The Void watched him without moving.

Allen wrote three lines on the parchment, then stopped.

"That's not right."

The Void's tail tip tapped against the stone surface.

"If it were just me using the space ability, it should have grown this quickly during previous training."

He put down the quill.

"But when I practiced moving knuts in the dormitory, I got so tired I developed a fever, and it only expanded by six square meters."

The Void swam toward the ebony box and coiled up beside the cracked pocket watch.

Allen watched that faint blue light.

"Hogwarts' spatial field is useful, but it's not the whole reason."

The snake tail lightly tapped the edge of the watch box.

"Don't rush; we can't touch time yet."

The Void raised its head, its silver slit pupils turning toward the distance.

Allen followed its gaze.

A mist was flowing at the edge of the space, not in the direction of the Castle's underground, but further to the west.

Allen frowned.

"The Forbidden Forest?"

The Void's tail tip landed on the stone slab once.

"Do you sense the scent of death, or a spatial rift?"

The Void swam to the boundary and circled along the grayish-white wall.

Allen followed.

"Slow down."

The snake didn't stop; its tail tip pointed west, its body pressed close to the boundary.

Allen reached out and pressed his hand against the spatial wall.

The noise from the outside world was muffled in the distance, leaving only a low echo.

"Trees, damp soil, blood."

The Void raised its head.

"Not now."

The snake tail tapped once.

"Later."

Allen pulled his hand back.

"There are Unicorns behind the Forbidden Forest."

The Void didn't respond, just stared at the boundary.

"Lord Voldemort will go there to drink their blood."

The snake's body tightened, and its tail tip landed next to the words "Quirrell".

"You think it's him too?"

The Void flicked its tongue.

Allen walked back to the stone slab and picked up the quill again.

"Last night, the Troll deviated from the original outcome, and Hermione almost died."

The nib of the quill landed.

"I stepped in to correct the outcome."

The Void swam to his feet.

"Harry and the others are still alive, and they are still tied together."

He wrote the word "Correction" on the parchment.

"So the spatial growth isn't just because I altered the timeline."

The Void's tail tip tapped lightly.

"It's also because I kept the deviation within an acceptable range."

Inside the ebony box, the blue light of the cracked pocket watch flickered.

Allen looked over.

"You understood too?"

The Void coiled back beside the box.

"The original path cannot be completely shattered."

He flipped the parchment over to the back.

"If it's shattered, we'll lose our reference for what comes next."

The snake tail landed on Harry's name.

"Harry cannot die."

The tail tip moved to Hermione's name.

"Hermione cannot die either, at least not now."

The Void raised its head.

"Same for Ron."

Allen wrote the words "The Trio".

"As long as they are alive, trouble will naturally gravitate toward them."

He stopped writing and looked at the paper.

"I just need to set a few hooks on the side and wait for them to bite."

The Void's tail tip tapped twice.

"Are you reminding me not to get too close?"

The snake didn't move.

Allen moved the quill tip next to Quirrell's name.

"Quirrell already suspects someone is interfering."

The Void swam to the boundary and looked back at him.

"But he can't find them."

Allen circled the name "Quirrell".

"What's on him is even more troublesome."

The Void flicked its tongue.

"Lord Voldemort's remnant soul is more sensitive to touches on the soul and malice."

He looked down at his own hands.

"His probing today entered the interlayer."

The Void swam back, its tail tip tapping at Allen's feet.

"It didn't leave a trace."

Allen hummed.

"But the consumption was not small."

He walked to the edge of the space and raised his hand to conjure ten knuts.

The knuts floated up, lining up in a straight line.

Allen said softly.

"Move one foot to the left."

The knuts moved in unison.

"Scatter."

The ten coins dispersed in different directions.

The Void looked up, watching.

"Gather."

The coins returned to their original positions and landed gently on the stone surface.

Allen picked one up and placed it in his palm.

"Smoother than before."

The Void's tail tip tapped against the spatial wall.

"The boundary is stable."

He looked at the one hundred and fifty square meters of open space.

"And it can hold more things."

The Void swam toward the ebony box.

Allen walked over and looked at the cracked pocket watch through the lid of the box.

"Don't rush me."

The snake tail swept across the edge of the box.

"I know, the time side is the real door."

The Void raised its head.

"Touching it now would break my body."

Allen closed the box lid tightly.

"Space comes first."

He returned to the stone slab and spread out the parchment.

"The rules can be tentatively set."

The Void coiled up beside him.

"Deviate from the original timeline to create controllable risks."

The snake tail tapped once.

"Step in to correct the outcome and maintain the general direction."

The tail tip tapped again.

"The laws of space receive feedback, and the fusion speed accelerates."

The blue light of the cracked pocket watch shone half an inch through the crack in the box.

Allen watched it.

"Are you satisfied with this conclusion?"

The Void didn't move.

"I'm not entirely satisfied either; there's too little evidence."

He put down the quill and picked up another piece of paper.

"We need more nodes."

The Void's tail tip moved to the record of the Philosopher's Stone.

"We cannot touch the Philosopher's Stone too early."

The snake tail landed on the words "Third Floor".

"That is Dumbledore's trap; moving too early will draw him here."

The Void swam toward the Forbidden Forest direction.

"We can watch the Forbidden Forest."

Allen nodded.

"But not now."

The snake turned back.

"The body can't take it."

He pressed his hand against his chest, where a dull pain from overexertion last night still lingered.

"I have to stay awake for classes during the day; I can't push myself too hard at night."

The Void's tail tip patted the stone slab lightly.

"You don't believe me?"

The snake looked up at him.

Allen folded up the parchment.

"I trust the limits of my body."

He looked toward the boundary.

"But opportunities don't wait for anyone."

The Void swam to his shoes, blocking his path.

Allen looked down.

"You've learned to block people now?"

The snake tail didn't move.

"Fine, we won't go to the Forbidden Forest tonight."

The Void moved aside.

Allen sat down by the stone slab and stacked the Halloween record and the Trio record together.

"The next step is to let them continue investigating Nicolas Flamel."

The Void's tail tip landed next to Hermione's name.

"She will find out."

Allen put the paper into a hidden compartment beside the box.

"But it's too slow."

The snake raised its head.

"We need to give it a push."

He took out an old book and flipped to the Alchemy table of contents.

"There are clues in the Library."

The Void's tail tip tapped on the paper.

"It can't be too obvious."

Allen closed the book.

"Of course."

He looked toward the western mist on the spatial wall.

"Only if Granger finds it herself will she believe it."

The Void flicked its tongue.

"Nott will watch them, Draco shouldn't do anything rash, and Harry will be responsible for drawing attention."

He wrote the three names on a new piece of paper.

"I am responsible for controlling the deviation."

The spatial wall expanded slightly by an inch, then stabilized.

Allen watched that edge, suppressing the fatigue in his eyes.

"This path is viable."

The Void coiled back beside the ebony box.

"From now on, every node must be accounted for."

The snake tail rested on the edge of the parchment.

"We can deviate, we can correct, we can make them think everything was their own doing."

Allen put away his wand.

"That is the only way to be safe."

The sound of the Black Lake returned to his ears, and the entrance to the Portable Space closed behind him.

Allen lay back on the bed; no one spoke outside the curtains.

Draco tossed and turned in his sleep, vaguely cursing Potter.

Allen closed his eyes.

"Controllable deviation."

In the space, the Void raised its head, its silver slit pupils looking toward the Forbidden Forest.

Allen's voice lowered.

"Starting from next time."