Chapter 257

Harry didn't know what conclusion she had reached, but he had a strong feeling that it wasn't far off from his own. The book and Dumbledore both spoke of a single timeline, and how the Universe was always consistent with itself.

It wasn't exactly hard to see what it all implied.

"Novikov's Self Consistency Principle does more than validate the existence of Time Travel doesn't it?" he said, a soft tremble in his voice showing as he verbalized his worry, "It…it validates the existence of Fate."

He only got a grave nod as a reply.

"Bu-but it can't be true, can it? What does this mean for our free will? Do our choices even matter if everything that happens is actually meant to happen? Are there actual beings out there that are writing out our future, unborning anyone who tries to break the plan? Does this validate the existence of a God?" Harry's voice only got more and more panicked as the questions started piling up in his head.

"You're getting carried away Harry," Perenelle said as she gently rubbed his back, "Calm down. This is not a proven Truth. It's just a theory. And as little as we know about Time Magic, there is a good chance that it is not even correct."

"It's widely accepted though, isn't it?" Harry asked worriedly, "Dumbledore believes it."

"Albus can be wrong Harry," Perenelle sternly scolded, "He has been many times. Do not fall into the mistake of believing him to be infallible. You of all people should know better."

"But still," Harry muttered, feeling a bit chastised, "Fate…"

Perenelle sighed, before looking at him straight in the eyes.

"The reason Novikov's Principle is widely accepted is that it explains the properties of Time Travel as we know it. It is just a conjecture. Time magic is one of the least understood types of magic out there, and when we discover more about it, we will discard this Principle and move on to a new one," she said surely, "Magic, much like science, is ever evolving. Sometimes even more so. Nothing is fixed. You have to remember that if you are going to delve into it."

Harry stared at the book in her hands for a second before nodding, "I should probably focus more on the life around me than half-formed theories about obscure magic shouldn't I?"

Ping!

For knowing when to stop focusing on disturbing theories that may or may not be correct, you have gained +1 Wis.

Ping!

For debating about complex magic and theories with someone way above your knowledge level, take +1 Int.

"That's the spirit," Perenelle said, patting his back as she got off the armrest of his chair. "Now get up. You need to have lunch before you and Nicholas head over to the Ministry to give your statement."

Harry pushed himself onto his feet with a grumble, "Why didn't they take statements while they were holding us in the Courtroom for half a bloody hour yesterday?"

"You can ask them when you get there. Now put those books back and come downstairs soon," Perenelle replied as she walked out of the room, leaving Harry with a pile of books to replace into the shelves.

It turned out that the 'Statement' was a fairly routine process that every person present in the Courtroom that day had to come to.

As soon as Harry and Nicholas; secretly accompanied by Hedwig inside Harry's pocket; had arrived at the 2nd Floor where they were told to go to, they had been quickly and efficiently ushered by two Aurors into a massive waiting room lined with rows upon rows of benches, upon which sat dozens of Wizengamot members, impatiently grumbling their complaints to each other.

The waiting room had only one other door, which was presumably the Interrogation room. A constant stream of people entered and left the room, which probably meant the Aurors were just as eager to get this entire thing over with as the people they were interrogating.

Harry and Nicholas were pointed to sit down on a bench for two and were told to wait for their turn. Occasional mutters and curious looks towards him and his guardian from passing Wizengamot members aside, the entire thing was rather boring.

Twenty full minutes and over fifty rounds of rock-paper-scissors with Nicholas later, Harry's turn came.

The interrogation went pretty smoothly, probably because the spindly looking middle-aged man who was the Interrogator seemed to be glancing at Harry's scar and stuttering over his words a bit too much to actually ask Harry any actually relevant or pressing questions. The entire thing was rather easy and was over in only ten minutes, and soon Harry was out of there.

And then came Nicholas's turn.

As the older man disappeared behind the door of the Interrogation room for what was no doubt going to be a long while, Harry prepared himself for a boring quarter hour of waiting with the only respite being the quiet conversations he could have with Hedwig in his mind.

What he wasn't prepared for was someone clad in dark robes to slide into Nicholas's seat beside him.

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