Time flew by, and finally came the day when Hogwarts allowed students their first visit to Hogsmeade.
Professor McGonagall collected the Hogsmeade permission forms with her usual efficiency. Harry's desperate request for her to sign his form was firmly refused, leaving him standing there with slumped shoulders.
"Come on, Harry, forget about that damn permission form—let's just sneak into Hogsmeade," Ron suggested with characteristic recklessness.
"No, Ron. School rules aside, you have to remember that Sirius Black is still out there," Hermione warned, her voice tight with concern.
"Alright, I'll wait for you guys in the castle," Harry said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Meanwhile, in the bustling village of Hogsmeade, Aiden had a mission: helping his two perpetually grumbling roommates satisfy their sweet tooth at Honeydukes.
Stepping into the legendary candy shop, Aiden was immediately overwhelmed by an assault of sweetness so intense he could barely choose where to look first.
"Extra-large chunks of creamy almond candy, pink coconut ice, brown honey toffee, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, jelly slugs, fizzing whizzbees, strawberry ice, creamy chocolate balls, blow-your-mind lollipops..."
The shopkeeper's voice seemed to float through what felt like a paradise of confections, making Aiden momentarily dizzy with possibilities.
"Oh, child, and of course there are hundreds of types of chocolate too," the elderly shopkeeper beamed at him.
"Give me one of everything you just mentioned, with extra coconut ice, please," Aiden said, pulling out a handful of Galleons.
Carrying a magically expanded suitcase filled with sweets, Aiden returned to the castle with a satisfied smile, already anticipating the delighted sounds his roommates would make.
The Hogsmeade episode passed quickly, and these third-year veterans soon became indifferent to the novelty after a few visits.
On Monday morning, Aiden gathered his books and a carefully preserved vial of Professor Lupin's blood, preparing to head to the Room of Requirement to test his latest hypothesis.
Turning a corner in one of the castle's more remote corridors, he collided with Hermione, who had seemingly materialized out of thin air.
"Ow!" Hermione tumbled to the stone floor. "Who's there? Are there really people even in such a remote place?"
"Hermione?" Aiden said, having witnessed her entire time-traveling process with his enhanced perception.
"Oh, Aiden! Hello, I just came here to..." Hermione scrambled to her feet, preparing to explain.
"I know—you used a Time-Turner," Aiden said, his lips curving into a knowing smile.
"How did you know?" Hermione asked, her eyes widening in surprise.
"Because I'm the Time-Turner maintenance technician. When you need yours serviced, Professor McGonagall always hands them over to me," Aiden explained casually.
"Wow, could you possibly..." Hermione's thirst for knowledge immediately stirred.
"No," Aiden refused with ruthless efficiency.
Turning toward the Room of Requirement, Aiden spotted another figure lurking in the shadows—a sneaky mind reader he knew all too well.
"Astoria," Aiden sighed, holding his forehead.
Astoria said nothing, simply lifting the Time-Turner hanging around her neck and giving it a meaningful shake.
As a higher sequence being, Aiden immediately understood what she was implying. He shook his head firmly.
"Abusing that thing will definitely interfere with the natural order of time. If Time-Turners were really so useful, the Department of Mysteries wouldn't limit them to being learning tools for young wizards."
"Oh," came Astoria's disappointed voice.
"Come on, little miss, let me test your recent progress instead," Aiden said, pushing open the door to reveal a fully equipped dueling room.
"I couldn't ask for more," Astoria replied, revealing the metal ring on her finger with a confident smile.
Aiden raised his hand, and three beams of light shot out in rapid succession. Astoria darted left, dodging two and blocking the third with a hastily cast defensive spell.
"Your defensive magic is too loose, and what would you do against a saturation attack?" Aiden critiqued.
His magical power swept out like a hurricane, sending the practice dummies scattered around the room flying in all directions.
In the air above, more than a dozen magic circles opened simultaneously, each one flickering with an ominous blue-black glow at its center.
The next moment, dense beams of light covered Astoria's position completely.
The saturation attack stirred up massive clouds of dust, punctuated by the sharp sounds of offensive and defensive magic colliding and canceling each other out.
When the dust finally settled, Astoria was hunched over in a defensive crouch, having minimized her attack surface while surrounding herself with the smallest possible defensive shield.
"Are you trying to kill me?" Astoria complained, coughing from the dust.
"I did reduce the power," Aiden said, spreading his hands with mock innocence.
"So, do you understand where your problems lie?" he asked.
"Too dependent on defensive magic," Astoria reflected, brushing dust from her robes.
"Mm-hmm, what else?" Aiden raised an eyebrow expectantly.
"Comprehensive defense wastes too much magical power. I should use my ability to predict attacks and concentrate my magic in the specific areas being targeted," Astoria said, pouting slightly.
"But your sequence is higher than mine—I can't read your attacks at all," she added with frustration.
"Come here," Aiden beckoned.
"What's wrong?" Astoria asked, leaning her head closer.
Without warning, Aiden flicked her forehead with his finger.
"Ow! What are you doing?" Astoria crouched defensively, holding her head.
"The feeling you have facing me now is actually similar to what I experience when facing the Deep Realm King—I also can't predict the opponent's movements. So please, clever Miss Greengrass, think about what we can do in such situations," Aiden said, his eyes narrowing with teaching intent.
"You mean—intuition?" Astoria had a flash of inspiration.
"Yes, little miss. This is the most powerful weapon belonging to us wizards—the incredible intuition derived from our pure minds."
Aiden nodded approvingly, his expression showing that his student was finally getting it.
"As extraordinary beings, we feel and use the power of the mind like fish swimming in water. All we need is a little gentle guidance."
Aiden's voice became ethereal, and under his direction, Astoria began to feel her own mental power flowing.
Astoria closed her eyes, and in the darkness behind her eyelids, she sensed a trace of light flowing through her consciousness.
While Astoria was immersed in exploring her inner mind, Aiden quietly raised his staff. A thin beam of light shot out toward her.
Without opening her eyes, Astoria gently tilted her head. The beam passed harmlessly by her cheek.
"I did it!" Astoria's face lit up with pure joy.
Then she felt a coolness on her cheek, followed by a sharp sting of pain.
She reached up and touched the spot—her fingers came away with a smear of red.
"Aiden Prewett!" Astoria charged forward, foolishly preparing to engage in hand-to-hand combat with a dreamwalker.
She was immediately suppressed by Aiden's single hand.
"Don't struggle. Let me cast a healing spell on you, otherwise how can you go out and see people looking like this?"
Aiden held down the squirming Astoria with one hand while using his wand to cast Episkey with the other.
The magical repair was instantaneous—the wound on Astoria's face disappeared completely.
Exhausted from struggling, Astoria sat directly on the dusty floor, no longer caring about maintaining her ladylike appearance.
"Look at you—not acting like a proper young lady at all," Aiden complained.
"You think whose fault this is!" Astoria glared fiercely at him.
"Alright, enough playing around. Report on the situation with the Twilight Hermit Society," Aiden said, settling down beside her.
"We've gathered many neutral wizarding families and scattered dark wizards. I won't list the specifics since you're too lazy to remember them anyway," Astoria began, giving him a pointed look.
"Your innovative ideas from before have been handed over to the Department of Mysteries and implemented in Prewett's shops. In some industries, your reputation probably rivals James Watt's contribution to the steam engine."
The slacking dragon lowered his head sheepishly at her assessment.
"And on the Muggle side, the Peaky Blinders have basically controlled London's underground world and have already established connections with quite a few political families."
After briefly summarizing the situation, Astoria looked at Aiden expectantly, waiting for his next instructions.
"Mm, continue lying low while expanding the organization's influence as much as possible," Aiden decided.
"Aiden, what's the point of gathering dark wizards? Their burned-out brains can't do anything except bring chaos," Astoria asked, genuinely confused.
"What if I need exactly that—chaos?" Aiden said meaningfully.
"You want to..." Astoria's eyes widened as understanding dawned.
"Senior Tom's influence is far too small. Using just Britain as a stage—isn't that unworthy of the title Dark Lord?"
Aiden spread his arms wide, and his dragon's shadow seemed to cover the entire dueling room, dark and imposing.
"You people..." Astoria looked at Aiden with a mixture of reverence and concern, finally understanding the true scope of his ambitions.