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Chapter 1135: The Ministry of Magic in the Future
🕑 Added 2024-06-07 11:22:47 +0000 UTCWhen the red chain disappeared, the oath was fulfilled, and Riddle and Delphi let go of each other's hands.
Things were getting more interesting. Horcruxes could use the magic here, which meant they could continue to disguise themselves.
No matter what Riddle was planning, Evan decided to follow Delphi to get a better understanding of the current state of the Wizarding World.
Opposite him, Delphi, who had always been nervous, secretly breathed a sigh of relief and put down her wand.
"This can ensure the most basic trust between us," she said with satisfaction, glancing at Evan with some unease. "You’ll abide by this agreement, won’t you?"
"Don't worry, my dear cousin won't just watch me die for breaking an oath," said Riddle.
"Exactly!" Evan nodded. He would, however, close his eyes by then.
"Since we are now allies, I think we can get to know each other better," said Riddle. "I have many questions. Regarding the Time-Turner, what is the information you just mentioned? Why does the Ministry of Magic not have any Time-Turners? And how do you plan to save your father? What happened to him?"
This guy was obviously more enthusiastic than before after knowing that Delphi was his descendant.
"This matter needs to be explained from the beginning..."
"Hold on, we'd better talk somewhere else," said Evan. "You don't plan to discuss this here, do you?"
"We should leave quickly. If people from the Ministry of Magic find us, it will be a big problem," Delphi said.
The three of them returned to the first room, the walls rotated. Delphi mastered the method of breaking the Ministry's magic.
She chanted a spell, and a ball of light shot from the tip of her wand and landed on the stone door of the corridor leading to the lift.
“This way!" She waved her hand and went over to open the door.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Evan lowered his voice and asked, "A Horcrux can make an Unbreakable Vow with others?"
"As you can see!" Riddle stressed. "I told you, I am a special Horcrux."
“What will happen if you break the Vow? Just to be clear, if we do find the Time-Turner, I won't give it to her, especially to let her go back and save her father..."
"If I break the Vow, then under the effect of the magic, this physical body of mine will be destroyed."
"Be more specific!" Evan looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean by 'this body'? What happens after it's destroyed?"
"The form you see now will be destroyed, and I will just reconstruct another one," said Riddle. "To me, it's just a loss of some energy. The key is the soul in the ring. You should keep that ring safe. I don't want to stay in this unfamiliar time."
Even if he wanted to stay, Evan wouldn't feel comfortable leaving him here.
According to Riddle, the price for breaking his oath was minimal to him.
Evan couldn't help but feel sorry for Delphi. Riddle, like himself, had no intention of actually helping her accomplish this task.
"Alright, what are you going to do next?" Evan asked quickly, "make friends with your daughter?"
"I hope to know as much as possible about this future before going back," Riddle paused, looking at Delphi expressionlessly. "As for her saying that her name is Riddle, I have never acknowledged that."
He didn’t need to acknowledge it; she already called herself Riddle!
Evan couldn't guess what this guy was planning, but as long as he controlled the Horcrux itself, there would be no problems.
As for the future, Evan was also curious about what had happened.
But unlike the past, from the perspective of time magic, the future was subject to change.
What they saw now might not actually happen. It was better to say it was a possibility among countless timelines.
While Evan and Riddle were whispering, Delphi looked back at them, not knowing what they were thinking.
There was no one in the dark corridor. The rumble of the lift at the end of the corridor could be heard. Many people were using it. Through the slit in the lift, Evan could even hear the bustling noise coming from the Atrium upstairs. It sounded like hundreds of people talking at the same time.
"Why is it so noisy?" he asked.
"What's so strange about that?" Delphi replied. "The Ministry of Magic is always like this during the day."
"It's daytime now?"
"Yeah," Delphi nodded, looking at them doubtfully.
"The thing is, the two of us broke in last night without registering," Evan explained. "Delphi, you understand what I mean, right? It’s best if no one sees us, especially since Tom is still wearing his school robes. It's too conspicuous!"
"That's not a big deal. Hogwarts is on summer vacation, and some students do come to the Ministry of Magic," said Delphi. "I don't know how you two got in, but when we leave, just follow me, and be as natural as possible. Once we get to the fireplace, we can use the Floo Network to leave. If anyone asks, you can say you came in with Frank Bole from the Muggle Liaison Office. He’ll cover for us."
This guy should be Delphi's internal agent at the Ministry of Magic, but what was the Muggle Liaison Office?
Evan had never heard of this department. He knew that the office related to Muggles was Mr. Weasley's Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. It was affiliated with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and was responsible for dealing with wizards misusing Muggle objects. It was a very neglected office.
The lift ascended quickly, and the Ministry of Magic Atrium of eighteen years later appeared in front of them.
What appeared in front of Evan was a hall with a complex structure.
It was completely different from the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic that Evan remembered. It was twice the size of what he was familiar with.
In the center stood a gleaming golden fountain, its statues different from what he remembered, with water jets shooting up to a height of thirty feet.
Water splashed around, casting shimmering spots of light over the polished wooden floor and walls.
At the highest point directly above the fountain, higher than anywhere else, was a semicircular silvery sphere.
Evan couldn't discern its exact purpose, and he felt that his eyes couldn't take in everything.
With the fountain and silvery sphere as the center, and on the outside of the four walls were escalators that spiraled upward, criss-cross, and were constantly moving.
Wizards stood on each escalator, taking them to different floors above.
After reaching their destinations, with a flash of green light, the wizards vanished into their respective offices.
Along the escalators, Evan noticed a constantly changing dynamic scene, the main source of the noise he had just heard.
In the Ministry he was familiar with, that area consisted of windows of various departments, enchanted by the Magical Maintenance Department to display different weather each day. Now, it was a massive glass wall, showing constantly shifting scenes, resembling an electronic screen.
This enormous glass wall seemed to serve a similar function. Evan thought wizards wouldn't extensively use Muggle technology, so the ever-changing scenes were likely driven by magic, or perhaps a blend of magic and technology.
Currently, the screen was displaying news about the repeal of pure-blood supremacy laws, interspersed with interviews of various wizards.
