The phoenix resting on the olive branch opened its eyes, flapped its beautiful wings, and flew onto Dumbledore's shoulder. It let out a low cry like a song, and its body burst into flames.
It didn't take long for the flames to reach Dumbledore, who was now practically on fire, though his face remained calm and without a hint of pain, and his robes were intact.
The next moment, the flames expanded, then collapsed and vanished, along with Dumbledore and the phoenix…
By the time the flames had died away, Dumbledore was in the outskirts of the city, where there was nothing but dirt and scrub.
Dumbledore glanced around, got his bearings, and headed for the empty meadow.
Vaguely, he sensed that something was hindering him. He took a few steps forward, and the space around him changed. A vast courtyard appeared before him.
In the centre of the courtyard was a strange, living-looking house, with windows that looked like eyes looking out over Dumbledore's body, occasionally shaking its massive frame, and thick white smoke coming from the chimneys, giving it a lively appearance.
As Dumbledore approached, a square passage with jagged spikes on both sides opened up in front of him.
However, the Great Yard opened its mouth wide, allowing the white-bearded old wizard to enter its body.
It was not Dumbledore's first visit, and he entered without a trace of fear, vaguely aware of hot air on his face, a roaring fire burning nearby, the rising heat warming the interior of the house…
The entire right side of the hall was lined with bookshelves, and a large number of books were densely packed together. Some parchments with symbols and patterns were scattered on the floor.
A group of small, chattering alchemical creatures had somehow found their way to his feet, and Dumbledore had to be careful where he put his feet so as not to step on them…
"Albus? What brings you to visit me all of a sudden?"
At this moment, an old voice sounded.
Dumbledore turned to see Nick Flamel coming out of the back room.
Compared to the last time they met, Dumbledore was keenly aware that Nick's condition was worse.
His wrinkled face was so pale that it was almost bloodless. His thin body made one worry that the wind would blow him over. Only his bright and intelligent eyes were still dazzling.
"It's been a long time, Nick!" said Dumbledore.
"Yes, it's been over a year, hasn't it?" Nick joked, waving away the Alchemy creatures gathered around Dumbledore's feet.
"I don't think you'd want to talk to me unless it was important, so let's go inside!"
"As you know, I've always had a lot of work to do, dealing with naughty children… and of course, sometimes a lot of other trouble to deal with outside of work…"
Dumbledore's skin was hideously thick, and his face did not change under Nick's teasing.
When he entered the back room, Dumbledore was surprised to find that it looked very different from the last time he was there, as it resembled the drawing room of a Muggle home.
There was a television set, a fridge, an oven, and other household appliances, all of which appeared to have been enchanted, and Dumbledore could easily sense that they were alchemical props.
"Surprised?" Nick Flamel smiled at the look of astonishment on Dumbledore's face.
"That's right!" Dumbledore nodded.
Nick Flamel spoke with feeling.
"These Muggle-made things are very interesting and always give me a lot of inspiration…
It seems that there are some benefits to living a long life, especially in the past hundred years when the world suddenly became interesting and not as monotonous as before…"
At this point, Nick Flamel felt sorry that he could no longer see the future beyond…
"By the way, Albus, did you come to see me about that man?" Nick Flamel quickly composed himself and got down to business.
Dumbledore shook his head, then placed a damaged Time-Turner on the table and said, "No! Lord Voldemort has been behaving himself lately. I do not know where he is hiding, but there has been no news."
"Do you have a way to fix it?"
Nick Flamel looked at it for a while, noting the fine cracks in the Time-Turner.
"It's damaged so… thoroughly! How on earth did you do it?"
"As it happens, I was wondering…" Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.
"Um… let me see!" Nick Flamel picked up the Time-Turner and examined it.
Though it was not tested with tools, it was enough to give Nick Flamel a general idea of what it was.
"The precise cause of the damage was the frequency and intensity of the use of the spell that exceeded its limits…" Nick Flamel said, placing his wand against the Time-Turner and casting an unknown charm.
The golden hourglass turned over, and the sand slowly trickled down, draining nearly a third of it before it stopped. After a long time, the hourglass turned back to normal.
"It looks like the user used it to travel back in time to three months ago, and stayed there for a long time," Nick said with certainty, and was about to continue his analysis when he looked incredulous, as the golden hourglass moved again.
"How is this possible?!"
"What is it, Nick?" Dumbledore asked curiously.
"No wonder… no wonder it was damaged so thoroughly," Nick Flamel muttered to himself before explaining.
Due to the astonishing power of time, the Time-Turner was protected in order to prevent any accidents from happening to the holder of the Time-Turner.
The safe time limit was five hours, and beyond that the thing became unstable, easily triggering a protection mechanism that sent the user back to where they came from.
Normally, the longer the backtracking, the more unstable the time converter becomes and the harder it is to hold it for long…
However, the holder was left stranded for two months!
Nick Flamel did not know how this was done, but he was certain that the Time-Turner must have been damaged after that.
However, the holder somehow managed to keep the Time-Turner going, draining the last of its magic…
"Albus, can you tell me who owned this Time-Turner?" Nick Flamel asked, looking at Dumbledore with interest.