If she hadn't known about Ethan's strength, Hermione would have thought he had lost his mind.
Or maybe he was just boasting to trick her?
"Research... the power of time? Is that even possible?"
"Why not?"
Ethan pointed at the Time-Turner hanging around Hermione's neck.
"Since such a tool has been created, it proves that time can be 'touched' to a certain extent. Since it can be touched and used, isn't it normal to want to utilize this power more effectively?"
"Well, I guess that's true."
Hermione opened her mouth, but found that she couldn't refute Ethan's words at all, and could only nod in agreement.
"But... can it really succeed?"
"If you don't try, how will you ever know?"
Everything is like that. If you don't try, you'll never know the result.
Just like earlier, when he sensed the time energy dissipating from Hermione, if he hadn't tried to manipulate those fluctuations, he probably still wouldn't know why he hadn't made any progress in the area of time.
Because he tried, he gained something. Of course, he could have gained nothing at all.
But if he had done nothing and let the energy dissipate on its own, he definitely wouldn't have discovered anything.
With a lead in hand, Ethan now had the motivation to continue his research. In the eyes of others, it seemed like he had suddenly become passionate about studying, repeatedly crushing his classmates' confidence, Ethan could easily complete any class, and no matter what kind of test the professors set, he always scored full marks.
He performed so well that some professors, unaware of the real reason, even suggested that Ethan apply for a 'graduation exam' and directly enter advanced classes next semester.
However, Dumbledore refused, citing Ethan's young age. After all, Ethan's apparent age was only around thirteen or fourteen. If he entered advanced classes next year, he could graduate by sixteen at the latest, which was indeed a bit too young.
The professors were persuaded and stopped bringing it up. But as the semester neared its end, Dumbledore sought Ethan out again.
And when he found Ethan in Snape's private laboratory, he was immediately stunned by what Ethan was doing.
"This is..."
Ethan stood in front of a table. On it was an apple with a bite taken out of it. His right hand was extended, palm facing the apple, while green magic rings circled around his forearm. These magical energies formed layers of mysterious circles, and the core of the largest one seemed to be held in Ethan's hand.
As he rotated his hand, the apple on the table began to undergo magical changes. One moment, it turned into a whole ripe apple, then into an unripe green state.
When he rotated his hand the other way, the green fruit turned back into a ripe apple, then into the bitten one, then one with many bites, and eventually, a completely eaten core.
Reversing again, this time Ethan significantly increased his speed. The fruit didn't stop at the green state but turned into the appearance of a newly formed fruit.
At this point, Ethan suddenly paused, as if unable to continue. The magic on his arm fluctuated violently, as though it might collapse at any moment.
Seeing the danger, Dumbledore immediately took out his wand, ready to help Ethan stabilize the runaway magic.
He had been standing there watching for a while and now understood what Ethan was researching.
Time.
This was a domain full of endless mystery and taboo, even among wizards. Because it could easily cause irreversible and terrifying consequences, wizards' exploration of the field of time remained very shallow. Although tools like Time-Turners could be mass-produced, almost no wizard truly understood their principles.
Not only did they not understand the principles, but even in their use, wizards were extremely cautious. Most only used Time-Turners to go back a very short time. Beyond that, they didn't dare explore other functions—such as going to the future, or farther back into the past.
Because too many complications arose. For instance, if one went too far into the past, returning would be a problem. Returning to a recent point in time, they could simply wait it out, but if they went too far back, they might die of old age before reaching the original timeline. Even if they survived, the aging would still be irreversible.
And that was the most acceptable problem. Others included accidentally creating time branches, destroying key timelines leading to time fluctuations or even collapse, getting trapped in time fragments, or even erasing oneself from existence.
Despite the extreme dangers, there were indeed a few who dared to invest in this research. But because it threatened the entire world, the Ministry of Magic maintained very strict control over it.
Dumbledore had some guesses about Ethan's background, regardless of whether those guesses were accurate. So, even after seeing someone research such dangerous things, he didn't immediately stop him.
And the facts proved that Dumbledore's 'trust' wasn't misplaced. Just as the time-infused magic was about to collapse, threatening to cause a disaster, Ethan slightly increased the output of his divine power and forcefully suppressed the out-of-control magic.
This suppression did cause a backlash, but with his current physique, he could fully withstand it. If it had been a normal wizard, it could have resulted in severe injury.
After stabilizing the situation, Ethan slowly withdrew the time magic from his arm. As the magic faded, the apple on the table gradually disappeared, as if it had never existed.
Dumbledore quickly walked over, carefully examining the spot where the apple had vanished, then looked at Ethan.
"Is there anything unusual?"
"Don't worry. The only unusual thing is that the apple has been completely erased from the timeline."
Time was that dangerous. And whether the apple had been erased, never existed at all, or was trapped in a time fragment, Ethan wasn't sure. Even though he was the one who cast the spell, he couldn't give an exact answer.
"If I had known you wanted to research this, I definitely wouldn't have let Snape give you the Time-Turner."
Ethan shook his head, giving Dumbledore a helpless answer.
"Even without the Time-Turner, I could have reached this point in my research."
What truly helped him grasp the key was Hermione's use of the Time-Turner. After realizing that every object had its own unique timeline, he understood that operating on the concept of time meant connecting to that object's timeline. The next step was to research how the Time-Turner connects to the timeline, and then apply that principle to other things.
This process was very troublesome. The Time-Turner connects the user to their own timeline.
Ethan, however, needed to connect objects to their respective timelines. That meant he had to play the role of the Time-Turner himself. Even more complex, he wasn't acting as a passive tool like the Time-Turner, but as a controller who could freely 'see' the past and future trajectories of the object.
As he progressed, the Time-Turner's role became smaller and smaller. He began recalling the rules and powers within the Eye of Agamotto, or the Time Stone, and integrated these new insights into his experiments. That's why his casting looked similar to using the Time Stone.
Combined with the blood samples of those creatures from the world of Edge of Tomorrow, Ethan's ongoing research into the time-related rules within them made his achievements at this level almost inevitable.
The only regret was that he was certain his ability to manipulate time—similar to the Time Stone—could only be used in this world and the Marvel Universe. That was because he had come into contact with the time rules of the Marvel Universe and the Harry Potter Universe. For other worlds whose rules he didn't understand, using time-based operations would be very difficult.
Of course, as his understanding of these rules or this power deepened, these issues would gradually stop being problems.
Looking at Dumbledore, who was still standing nearby, the mention of the Time-Turner suddenly made Ethan think: there was no need to go through all this trouble to deal with Voldemort. He could just go back in time and knock him out with a stick. Wouldn't that be simpler?
Then he thought again. That would only kill Voldemort, but it wouldn't fundamentally improve the general situation of the wizarding world. It might even make things worse.
"Are you planning to change history?"
"Just a few minor events from the past decades. Nothing serious enough to be called history."
After a brief moment, Ethan had recovered. His powerful self-healing had already returned him to normal, which Dumbledore noticed as well, further confirming his initial judgment about Ethan.
"But I've thought about it. Doing that wouldn't truly change the current state of the magical world. It's better to let that guy come back to life and draw out the people who should've been cleaned up a long time ago."
Hearing this, Dumbledore secretly breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Ethan wasn't planning to mess with the past using time power.
"Oh, you didn't come all the way here just to talk about the Time-Turner, did you?"
"No, I wanted to ask if you'd be willing to represent Hogwarts in the Triwizard Tournament, so I came to get your opinion."
"Me?"
Ethan pointed at himself, and Dumbledore nodded, confirming he wasn't joking.
"I'm not old enough, am I?"
Dumbledore's expression turned extremely complicated at that moment. Even Snape, standing beside them, looked like he wanted to say, "That joke isn't funny at all."
(To be continued.)