Chapter 272: The Age of the Four Founders (Edited)

"That's what divination is all about!" Hermione exited the classroom happily.

Tom: (?"?)

It felt like he had been in a math class, and by the time Professor Vector said the class was over, he felt exhausted; this class did nothing but arithmetic, and he was dizzy.

But Hermione enjoyed it.

"Come on, we have to get to Muggle Studies!" She waved the clock in front of Tom's eyes; it was now 9:56, and they had to time-travel in 57 minutes.

By then, they were the only two left in the classroom. Professor Vector finished the class and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye, as if she had wheels under her feet.

When the minute hand jumped to 57, Hermione turned the Time-Turner.

Time began to reverse.

It was another painful flight, and this time Tom found himself with Hermione outside the Arithmancy classroom.

"Quick!" Hermione had planned it and pulled Tom towards a broom closet in a corner.

"I actually guessed before the class started that we would hide in this broom closet." After Hermione closed the door behind her, Tom whispered in her ear, the warmth tickling Hermione's ears and making her blush.

"Guess... Did I close the broom closet door?"

Hermione: !!!

"Tom Yodel!" Hermione angrily growled in a low voice. She didn't think Tom would have the audacity to go to such lengths, to treat time in such a cynical way.

"Alright, alright... that's one point I still have in mind, I didn't lock the door..." Tom calmed Hermione down a bit, then leaned his ear against the closet door, listening to the movement outside.

When a person is angry, even though they can't kill a tiger with a shovel, it's alright to increase their heart rate and breathing. The broom closet was a closed space, so it soon became a bit stuffy inside, and a fragrance lingered at the tip of Tom's nose.

"Hermione, are you wearing perfume? Why does it smell so good?"

"I'm not wearing any!" Hermione shot Tom a displeased look, and silence fell between the two.

Once silent, all the sounds in the closet were amplified, and Tom could faintly hear the sound of running water.

"Hermione, did you..."

"Did you hear a strange noise?" Hermione also heard the odd sound.

That's when Tom noticed a faint glow on Hermione's chest; Hermione reached in, felt around a bit, and pulled out a small bead emitting a dim golden light.

"It's Menes' gift!" The source of light on Hermione's chest was the same Time-Turner that Menes had given them. Tom received an hourglass, and Hermione received a goldfish.

Initially, the goldfish had been asleep, motionless inside the bead, not making any sound. Now, stimulated by something, the goldfish awoke from its slumber and swam around the bead, emitting a pale golden light and causing a sound of water.

"Did the temporal distortion startle it?" Hermione guessed, "How do we make it stop? Do you speak Ancient Egyptian?"

Tom: "You really hold me in high esteem..."

"So, what now?" Hermione didn't want to go to class with a strange sound.

"Well, we could do this actually." Tom took out the hourglass from his chest, and upon seeing it, the goldfish became even more animated.

"We haven't used it since we got it," Tom said, a little excited. "It seems like the goldfish wants to go back in time."

The temporal fluctuations caused by the Time-Turner had awakened the goldfish and made it jump at the opportunity; the beads made by Menes had enough space inside for the goldfish to live, but it wasn't as spacious as a pond yet. The goldfish was naturally active, and when it awakened from its sleep, it wanted to move.

"But..." Hermione gritted her teeth, feeling a bit intimidated by this, but she had to yield to the goldfish's determination not to give up. "We'll take a look after crossing and come back!"

"No problem!" Tom pulled the small plug from the center of the hourglass.

The moment the plug was removed, the goldfish detached itself from the bead and appeared in Tom's hand, dragging him and Hermione into the long river of time.

The broom closet disappeared from Tom's sight, as if he had actually fallen into a river. When the top layer of the hourglass finished dripping, the goldfish returned to the bead, and Tom "jumped" out of the river of time, landing in a barren meadow.

He struggled to get up and was greeted by an open meadow; the terrain around him seemed to be on a cliff, the light around wasn't very bright, indicating either dawn or dusk.

"Where is this?" Hermione asked from the side, "Are we going back?"

Tom shook his head and continued walking a few hundred meters to the edge of the cliff. Looking down, everything became clear.

Below the cliff was a familiar lake.

"This is..." Hermione gasped, covering her mouth.

"Yes, it's the Black Lake," Tom looked back at the empty cliff, "This is how Hogwarts was before it was created."

On the shores of the Black Lake stood a dense forest. Before Hogwarts was created, the Forbidden Forest was much larger than it is today.

Tom saw flocks of birds flying from the forest, circling the lake, and either landing on the water or just skimming the surface before flying back to the Forbidden Forest. He spotted a few deer drinking at the shore, along with hundreds of wild bison, horses, and goats scattered along the bank, enjoying the lush water grasses of the lake.

A silvery-white shadow emerged from the edge of the Forbidden Forest, followed by some golden orbs—a unicorn with its foals. It walked calmly to the lake's edge, lowered its noble head, and savored the water of the Black Lake. A few foals played at the shore.

In the distant mountains, the cry of a beautiful dragon echoed. It was the first time Tom heard the cry of a dragon, and with it, all the animals on the shore—except for the unicorns—raised their heads in alertness and surveyed their surroundings.

Another flock of birds took flight from the forest.

As soon as the roar of the dragon subsided, a second, third, and fourth roar followed... It seemed that there were more than one fire-breathing dragon living in the mountains. Tom assumed the species of fire-breathing dragon was likely the Welsh Green Dragon. It was the least problematic of all fire-breathing dragons and one of the two native to Britain.

At that moment, several figures emerged from the edge of the Forbidden Forest, catching Tom's attention.