We Won't Be Captured into Azkaban by the Ministry of Magic, Will We?

"If I accidentally break it, Professor Dumbledore won't fire me for it, will he?" Hermione was devastated when Ivan failed to come up with a solution.

Hermione nearly burst into tears at the thought of having to pay a large amount of Galleons to the Ministry of Magic and possibly implicating Professor McGonagall, who had vouched for her…

"Don't worry, it won't!" Yvonne tried to comfort him.

"Besides, they should be punishing me! You had nothing to do with this… You overused the Time-Turner to help me. I'll explain it to them!"

Understanding that the damage to the Time-Turner was due to the system, Ivan would not hold Hermione, an unsuspecting witch, responsible.

Hermione, however, did not appreciate the gesture, glaring angrily at Ivan, believing herself to be responsible for the Time-Turner's destruction!

However, Hermione's slow anger soon turned to worry, and she pursed her lips and asked fearfully, "We're not going to get caught in Azkaban by the Ministry for breaking something so important, are we?"

"How is that possible?" Ivan asked, shaking his head and pretending to be relaxed.

"I'll just pay you some Galleons. You know I made thousands of Galleons from Lockhart last year. That should cover it!"

"And I'm a recipient of the Order of Merlin and an underage wizard. The Ministry won't do anything to us."

Despite her words, Ivan wasn't so sure.

The method of making a Time-Turner seemed to have been lost, which meant that every Time-Turner was extremely precious, and he had no idea how much it was worth, or if he had enough Galleons…

Ivan was able to confirm that the Ministry of Magic could not simply take two underage wizards to Azkaban over a Time-Turner.

"In any case, let's go to the Headmaster's office and ask Professor Dumbledore," Ivan said rather helplessly.

Ivan did not want to see Dumbledore if he could help it. After all, Dumbledore had many secrets, and Ivan did not feel comfortable meeting him.

However, they could not ignore the Time-Turner. They had classes tomorrow.

If they missed a few classes in a row, one of the professors would definitely report their absence to Dumbledore, so there was no way to hide it, and they might as well admit their mistake.

What if his apology was sincere and Dumbledore let it go?

Hermione, of course, had no objections. Professor Dumbledore was the only option left!

On the way to the Headmaster's office, Yvonne reminded Hermione that she would insist that the two of them had used the Time-Turner too often due to their passion for learning.

After all, using the Time-Turner to return to the past without permission was no small matter, and the Ministry of Magic would definitely hold him accountable for it.

Perhaps the Ministry might even link this to the attack on Borgin and Burkes and investigate further, then fire him or take him to Azkaban…

"But will the Ministry really believe us when we say that? What if they try to use truth serum on us?" Hermione was suspicious, and to say that she was too passionate about her studies would be…well, she couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Don't worry, the Ministry of Magic doesn't use Veritaserum all the time, and we're not prisoners, so…well, even prisoners don't use it that easily! So if we show some strength beyond our age, we can convince them!" Ivan explained.

In fact, Ivan had always found some of the Ministry's practices to be very confusing, such as the use of Veritaserum as a weapon of interrogation, but the Ministry rarely used it.

During the last Wizarding War, when large groups of Death Eaters were able to get away with it simply by insisting that they were under the control of the Imperius Curse, the Ministry of Magic never intended to use Veritaserum.

The same could be said of Lord Voldemort's return. A few drops of Veritaserum could tell that Harry was telling the truth, but Fudge and the Ministry would not use it!

Some political factors may have played a role, such as the fact that many of the escaped Death Eaters came from illustrious backgrounds, and that the pure-bloods who were imprisoned were diehards.

Another example is Fudge's attempt to play the ostrich and refuse to believe in Voldemort's return, although it is clear that Veritaserum cannot be used freely.

Since he did not have to drink Veritaserum, Ivan was not worried that his words would be exposed. The method of making a Time-Turner had been lost for centuries, and it was unlikely that anyone at the Ministry would be able to tell how the Time-Turner had been used prior to its destruction.

Even with his Level 6 Alchemy skills, he was only able to make a rough estimate as to how the Time-Turner had been damaged by overuse, how it had been overused, and how far back in time it had gone.

On the way to the Headmaster's office, Ivan colludes with Hermione in her confession, and by the time he reaches the front door, the lie is out of place.

Considering Hermione's lack of skill at lying, Ivan told her to keep her mouth shut when she went in, and to leave the Ministry and Dumbledore to him.

When they arrived at the Headmaster's office, they were stunned by the sight of the giant stone beast guarding the door.

"Oh dear, we didn't get a chance to ask the Headmistress what the password was." Ivan smacked his head. He had been so busy trying to come up with an excuse that he had forgotten to ask a professor about the password.

"Sizzle honey?"

"Toffee fingers?"

"A cockroach pile?"

…

Ivan tried them out one by one, but when he got to the cockroach pile, the beasts shook violently and began to spin slowly upward with a dull noise, finally revealing the hidden staircase.

"How did you guess, Ivan?" Hermione asked, looking at him in surprise.

"I've been to the Headmaster's office a few times before and found that Professor Dumbledore usually uses sweets and drinks as his password, so I decided to give it a try. It seems I'm in luck!" Ivan explained with a smile before striding inside.

Hermione was suddenly enlightened, and then annoyed with herself for not thinking of this earlier…