Time flows, every moment passing by.
But what exactly is time, there is no definitive answer yet. Muggle science has its definitions of time, and wizarding magic has its own understanding of time as well. Roger knows a little about both theories concerning time.
Although the principles weren't entirely clear, Roger did have some practical operational data in his hands.
Most of the books Professor McGonagall lent to Roger were theoretical studies and data reports. Among them was an internal Ministry of Magic research report published a long time ago.
Having acquired absolute memory, Roger, relying on his recollection, used his magic to reprint the book.
Transfiguration, once mastered, is truly incredibly useful.
"1899: Summary of Time Travel Experiments."
In the report, the author from the Department of Mysteries described in detail that none of those who had undertaken extremely long-duration time travel in the past had survived.
After multiple tests by the experimental personnel, the safe limit for time travel was within a few hours.
Of course, this safety was relative.
In reality, it wasn't that short-duration travel was risk-free, but rather that when the journey was too short, the impact you caused wouldn't be amplified too much by the chaotic butterfly effect of vast stretches of time. As long as you didn't intentionally cause trouble, the possibility of being backlashed by the power of time would be reduced.
Simultaneously, the Department of Mysteries also verified through experiments that directly casting time-space related spells, such as the Hour-Reversal Charm, was not the optimal choice for time travel.
The casting of the spell itself could be influenced by the caster's distracting thoughts. It was fine when casting minor spells like the Levitation Charm, where minor errors caused by distracting thoughts might not even affect the completion of the spell.
But time-space related spells were different; these were truly a case of "a miss by a hair's breadth leads to a thousand miles of error!"
Encapsulating time-space related spells into a magically enchanted artifact and making it an alchemical item was the best way to use these unstable magics. Well, the result they developed at that time was the Time-Turner.
At the end of the report, the author mentioned the great disaster the Department of Mysteries had caused 'this year.'
In 1899, Eloise Mintable was trapped in 1402 for five days. When she returned to the present, her body had aged by five centuries, causing irreparable damage. She soon passed away at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
Not only that, but during those five days she spent in ancient times, she severely interfered with everyone she encountered, drastically rewriting their lives. At least twenty-five of their descendants vanished from the present, becoming people who 'never were born.'
This was only the consequence that the Ministry of Magic had observed. Who knew if, because she had moved a wooden stake five centuries ago, more Muggles had silently 'disappeared' without anyone knowing.
This report had no further content afterward.
Because since 1899, extremely long-duration time travel had become a taboo for wizarding civilization. At least hundreds of legal prohibitions were specifically established for time travel, and the related experiments by the Department of Mysteries were permanently halted, and it remained so even now, nearly a hundred years later in 1991.
...It was impossible to not stop. Even top wizards like Dumbledore couldn't withstand the backlash from upstream on the timeline. What if someone had a screw loose and rewrote the past, messing up the entire world? The chaotic nature of time was too strong. Sometimes, just moving a chair or breaking a horseshoe could completely alter the timeline.
No one wanted to disappear. If anyone dared to play games with this, then don't blame the world's strongest wizards and the five major powers of Earth who had obtained the intelligence for a collective "heart-to-heart" talk with you! The Ministry of Magic had always been in contact with the British government, and it was similar for other countries. The secrecy laws were for the majority of people. The true upper echelons of Muggle society had always known about the existence of wizards.
While looking at the report Roger had just freshly printed and listening to Roger's explanation, Harry couldn't help but turn back to look at him, "...According to you, then, reversing time to save my parents is completely impossible?!"
Seeing Harry's expression that seemed to say, 'Are you kidding me?', Roger smiled and shook his head, "No, quite the opposite. The path to salvation lies within this report."
"It's known that time travel itself causes the traveler to age faster. So, if one could achieve immortality, wouldn't that negate this side effect?"
"Altering established facts that have already happened in the past would cause unpredictable consequences for the future. Therefore, we won't alter them; instead, we'll complete our actions within the 'dead corners of time'."
As he spoke, Roger gave an example.
"For instance, your heartbeat has now stopped, and your body has died. This is an established fact that has been observed. If it were rewritten, it would lead to the destruction of the 'timeline that continued based on your death,' and time would flow in another unknown direction."
"Then I can utilize a 'dead corner of time and space'."
"When I have the ability in the future to reshape the bodies of dead souls, I will return to 'this moment,' deceive the perception of my present self, take your soul, and revive you. At the same time, I will completely 'freeze' your body and consciousness in a spatial rift that I create using Space Magic, which only I can open."
"I will return to the future and awaken your revived consciousness in the future, bringing you out of the 'time-space seal capsule' called a spatial rift. Throughout this process, not a single aspect of the past will be changed, nor will anything be brought from the past to the future, minimizing the backlash from time and space."
"Of course, if you were to actually put this into practice, the problems you would encounter would certainly be more numerous, more complex, and more difficult than this example I've given."
"But this is indeed a way to solve the problem."
Roger said this to Harry.
Harry's parents' bodies had long since decayed, and their souls were nowhere to be found. To revive them, time travel was indeed the easiest among many methods.
Harry's pupils lit up for a moment, but then quickly dimmed.
He remembered that his parents were killed by Voldemort. If he wanted to do what Roger described, he would at least need the ability to deceive Voldemort's perception and cause trouble right under his nose.
...Was that even possible? Not to mention the immortality that he didn't know how to achieve.
"Don't worry about immortality. If I achieve any results, I'll help you with it... Of course, it won't be free."
"You just need to consider how you will reverse time. This is very difficult, and you might have a long road ahead, perhaps measured in centuries."
"But having a little hope is better than having none, isn't it."
Roger patted Harry on the shoulder, "In short, you now have a general understanding of the difficulties involved. If you still want to pursue this path, come find me tomorrow, and I'll give you a reading list."
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