Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world

Chapter 97: Hyperdimensional Maze and 3.5-dimensional Creatures

Today is Saturday, but the whole Hogwarts is completely different from before.

In the past, the castle would become very lively every Saturday.

The younger students who usually stay in their dormitories or the library, scratching their heads over their homework and papers, as well as the older students who are busy with their schoolwork, will all walk out of the castle on this day.

Or gather a few friends and play with giant squids in the Black Lake - this is usually something first and second graders do.

Or you can hold your lover's hand and go to Hogsmeade to visit the candy house and the three broomsticks. Occasionally, there will be a circus performing in Hogsmeade on weekends. Hogwarts students who usually have Sickles in their pockets but have nowhere to spend them are the ideal targets for harvesting.

But such scenes will gradually disappear in March every year, especially when Easter approaches, classrooms and libraries will once again become popular places for students to check in.

If students were asked to choose the least popular holiday of the year, Easter would definitely take first place.

All because of the damn exam!

Lower grade students, mainly fourth grade and below, will be busy preparing for the promotion exams in June. Higher grade students, such as fifth grade students, will start OWLs (Ordinary Wizarding Levels), and seventh grade students will take NEWTs (Final Wizarding Levels).

All in all, since March, the only ones who have free time at Hogwarts are the sixth graders - they have already passed their OWLs and are in the process of further study. In theory, even if they slack off, it will not affect their progress to the seventh grade.

On his way to the fourth floor of the castle, Vaughn met several fifth-grade students who were walking hurriedly. The huge academic pressure made them speak in a hurry and at an extremely fast speed.

"...Merlin, I still have 26 reference books to read, and there are only two months left. What should I do?"

"I'm almost there too. Damn it, why can't wizards or Muggles escape exams?"

"Muggles are better off. At least the test results won't lock down their future. But NEWTs are different. If you want to find a decent job after graduation, NEWTs test results are the only indicator."

"But I really can't hold on any longer. Speaking of which, can I repeat seventh grade?"

"It seems possible, but I advise you not to do that. As long as you can pass one of the 12 subjects, you can graduate successfully... It's not possible that you will fail all 12 subjects, right? As far as I know, no student in the history of Hogwarts has ever achieved such a feat!"

Vaughn, who passed them, had a blank expression on his face.

They had no idea that within two years, a student would accomplish such a feat. Unfortunately, that student was a member of Slytherin.

Yes, that's Marcus Flint.

A legendary figure in the future who has to repeat a grade because he failed all his courses!

Before the time travel, there was an old saying in Vaughan's hometown: Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao will appear.

Just as he remembered Flint, Vaughn met him at the fourth floor entrance.

He looked very enthusiastic, and his ugly, troll-like face revealed a stupid smile that was impossible to look at directly. "Mr. Vaughn Weasley, have you had time to come back for training recently? The whole team is eagerly looking forward to your return. We have developed several new tactics to deal with Ravenclaw. We guarantee that they will be miserable and have a smooth journey for you!"

Well, Vaughn had to admit that there was no one in the world who was completely useless. At least Flint had some talent for flattery.

After casually dismissing Flint, whose enthusiasm was even a little flattering, Vaughn couldn't help but suggest to him before leaving: "Flint, if you could pay a little more attention to your studies, I would appreciate your efforts even more. For example, can you at least pass one course? Can you do that?"

Flint was a little confused, his slightly parted lips revealing his buck teeth.

He didn't understand...

Vaughan had to be more straightforward: "What I mean is, if you don't want to bring shame to Slytherin House one day because you fail all the exams, and then be thrown into the lair of the Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest by me, then you'd better start studying harder now!"

After saying that, he waited patiently for a while. After a full 12 seconds, Mr. Flint finally reacted and his expression turned into horror.

Seeing that his long reflex arc had finally worked, Vaughan politely said goodbye: "Please consider my words carefully. I don't want to see you on the Quidditch team in my third year. That's it. Have fun!"

Of course, after spending a few months together, the Slytherin students who were already familiar with Vaughan's style knew this.

This eccentric from the Weasley family, the more polite he behaves, the more he loses patience with someone or something.

Not to mention how anxious Flint looked with his pale face.

Vaughn went all the way to the fourth floor, passed through the vertical downward corridor entrance guarded by Lu Wei, and came to a huge and empty room.

This place is where the magic stone mechanism was originally placed.

Of course, now that those mechanisms have been removed, Dumbledore has arranged it to be a transit station for the new mechanism locations.

An ordinary wooden door stood in the middle of the room, and there was nothing else.

Vaughn, who had been here several times before, was not surprised. He walked straight to the wooden door, grasped the door handle, and said the password:

"Sizzling Bee Candy!"

As the correct command was recited, the doorknob turned by itself and the door opened. What appeared in front of Vaughn was not the other half of the room blocked by the door, but a long corridor.

The corridor was so dark and deep that it seemed as if there was no end in sight.

Although it was not dim, the light coming from nowhere illuminated everything.

What creates the illusion are the walls, floors and ceilings of the corridor, which are covered with intricate kaleidoscope-like geometric patterns.

Dumbledore, dressed in a light pink pajamas, was the only person of different color in the entire corridor. He crossed his hands in front of his abdomen, obviously waiting for Vaughn.

Seeing Vaughan come in, he smiled and said, "Ah, dear, how's Hagrid's dragon? You didn't dissect it, did you?"

"Don't worry, it will definitely live longer than you."

"That's really comforting. Minerva told me last night that she was full of praise for your Vanishing Charm. I rarely see her praise a student so highly, but since it was you, I think it's reasonable. Of course, she would never have thought that you made a dragon disappear."

"Huh? Are you threatening me?"

"No, no, no, it's a compliment. I'm glad you're considerate of your friends. The truth is, even if you had let Minerva see the dragon yesterday, she wouldn't have punished you. Instead, she would have come to me. Your vanishing spell saved me a lot of energy explaining myself."

Vaughan snorted. "If I had known earlier, I should have let Professor McGonagall find out. Let her see how many school rules her beloved headmaster had broken in order to test the Savior."

Dumbledore coughed dryly and finally didn't dare to continue. If he continued, it would involve some entanglements that he tried his best to avoid.

He opened his arms, looked around the corridor covered with kaleidoscopic patterns, and said cheerfully, "Let's see how the new agency is going."

The patterns in the corridor are composed of countless regular and symmetrical designs. These visual illusions from Muggles make people feel that the space is being torn apart and moving just by looking at them.

And Vaughn knew that this corridor, or this level, was indeed movable!

As Dumbledore clapped his hands, the entire corridor seemed to "come alive" in an instant. The floor, walls, and ceiling followed symmetrical geometric patterns. The walls and the ground were like moving hypercubes, constantly undulating, flipping, and changing.

In a blink of an eye, the corridor changed from a straight line to a cross.

And this movement is still going on. The entire corridor, everything within sight, is like building blocks moving on their own, sometimes piling up into walls and blocking the way ahead.

Sometimes it retreats into a hexagonal or octagonal cavity, opening up a new way forward on a dead end.

Sometimes it flips inside out, instantly transforming into a completely new space...

There is movement every second, and every second in the corridor gives people the illusion that it is completely different from the previous second, as if they have been transported to another space.

Dumbledore clapped his hands again, and the geometric pattern on the ceiling flipped back, revealing a hollow space.

The ground beneath him and Vaughn's feet also rose at the same time, and a hexagonal platform with an ever-increasing base rose from the ground, passing through the ceiling, rising higher and higher, until the two of them could overlook the true appearance of the corridor -

A huge cube, like a Rubik's Cube, composed of hundreds of small cubes, rotates in a vast space that seems to have no end.

"It's spectacular, isn't it? Your new design, the hyperdimensional maze..."

Looking down at the huge cube, Dumbledore sighed, "Fortunately, this is Hogwarts, a castle that has existed for a thousand years. In addition to the great wisdom of the Big Four, outstanding wizards of all generations have also tried to renovate and transform it."

"For millennia, no one knows its true size or how many rooms it contains. Even as the principal, I'm far from understanding it... What you see before you is only a small portion of it that I've accessed through my authority."

Vaughn nodded. "Well done! This hyperdimensional maze finally looks a bit hyperdimensional."

Talking about this, Dumbledore became curious: "Speaking of which, why do you call the new mechanism a hyperdimensional maze? What does hyperdimensional mean?"

Vaughn, who was looking at the cube below, smiled and replied:
"That's what Muggles say. The Muggle scientific community believes that the universe has many dimensions, but humans can only directly observe and measure three dimensions: length, width, and height. Dimensions beyond this range are called hyperdimensions."

Dumbledore was confused. "Humans can only observe and measure length, width, and height? How do you define that?"

"For example, let me explain it from a two-dimensional perspective. For example, if I draw a square on a piece of paper, from a two-dimensional perspective, the square should be a closed space. However, humans, as three-dimensional creatures, can directly see the inside of the 'closed' square."

"The same concept applies. Now, imagine a cube-shaped box placed in front of you. Before you open it, you can only measure its length, width, and height, but the interior is unobservable and unmeasurable. If there were a four-dimensional being, then they could directly see into the cube, because space is readily available to them."

"Oh!"

Dumbledore made a short sound and said nothing more. Vaughn said with a smile, "Don't you understand? It's okay. Wizards generally lack logical thinking ability. It's normal that you can't understand or imagine it."

“…I feel like you’re mocking me.”

"No, don't talk nonsense. In fact, in my opinion, wizards can barely be considered 3.5-dimensional creatures. We can observe the inside of the cube box without opening it through magic, not to mention that there are many other magics that can do the same."

With that, he continued to observe the cube while Dumbledore thought.

After a moment, Dumbledore asked, "So, Vaughan, in your opinion, legendary wizards are not considered four-dimensional beings?"

"Of course not. Let me use a two-dimensional perspective as an analogy. Suppose I draw a little person on a piece of paper. It has life. To it, the white paper is its world. It can't see beyond the white paper. If I put a ball on the white paper at this time, what do you think it sees?"

Dumbledore thought for a moment, then realized, "It can only see the shadow cast by the ball on the paper..."

"Yes," Vaughn nodded. "It can only see the projection of the ball, a dark, round mass. The same is true when a fourth-dimensional being descends upon a third-dimensional being. Assuming some kind of fourth-dimensional being really exists, even if it appears before us, we'll only see its projection."

"Like that little man on the paper, our vision cannot extend beyond the world we live in. When we look at higher-dimensional beings, it's like a blind man touching an elephant. We can only observe part of them, not the whole picture... Actually, I have a rather crazy idea. Do you think the description of higher-dimensional beings is very similar to the soul?"

Dumbledore is a legendary wizard, but he obviously exists in this world, not just a "shadow" or a hand hanging in the air.

Therefore, he is definitely not a four-dimensional creature.

Listening to Vaughan's last words, Dumbledore's blue eyes were a little absent-minded. Yes, it was indeed a bit similar.

As we all know, the soul disappears after death.

That is certainly not total destruction - the existence of ghosts can prove that at least the souls of wizards will continue to exist after their death - but the fact is that for thousands of years, no wizard has found out where the soul goes after death.

He had been curious before, but couldn't find the answer.

It was not until Vaughn's words that he suddenly realized that after death, the soul would go to a higher dimension. Therefore, three-dimensional Muggles and 3.5-dimensional wizards could no longer see them.

Vaughan smiled as he watched Dumbledore lost in thought.

Vaughn felt that apart from his system, the biggest difference between him and other wizards was his way of thinking.

Other wizards basically grew up in a purely magical environment, even those from Muggle families were no exception. Starting from the age of 11, the most important growth period of their lives was almost completely occupied by magic.

This also led to the fact that after adulthood, all wizards, regardless of whether they were pure-blood or Muggle, began to think away from the Muggle scientific system.

Vaughn is different. In his previous life, he received a complete and scientific higher education, and his values ​​had long been fixed. After traveling through time, even though he accepted the wonders of magic, his way of thinking never changed.

This gave him his current unique perspective - using Muggle theories and magic to reference and collide with each other!
The reason why he brought up the topic of dimensions was because he did so deliberately. As his study of magic became more and more in-depth, he began to slowly try to combine the materialistic theories of Muggle technology with magic to explain many "obvious" yet difficult to understand problems between each other.

Of course, this kind of thing cannot be accomplished by an individual, and Vaughn needs help.

There are two types of helpers. One is a real assistant who can understand his ideas and assist him in research without hindering him.

At the moment, Hermione is the most suitable candidate in this regard. It’s not that the others are not suitable, but they still need training.

Like Fred and George!

The other kind of helper is actually more like a teacher or a pioneer, who can lead him into the most advanced and cutting-edge areas of magic while also helping him navigate pitfalls and make mistakes...

There was no doubt that he was targeting Dumbledore.

Vaughan has never been one to suffer a loss. Last time, Dumbledore took advantage of his soft spot and used both emotion and reason to make him the troublemaker between Harry and Tom.

Although he finally agreed out of personal choice, he still felt uncomfortable with the feeling of being manipulated.

Vaughn considered himself a narrow-minded person, and usually took revenge on the same day. Although Dumbledore was very tactful and the relationship between the two was far from reaching the level of hatred, if there was a chance to kick Dumbledore into a big hole, Vaughn would not refuse.

What has Lao Deng always cared about the most?
Death and Resurrection!
He cared not for himself, but for Ariana and Harry... Vaughan still remembered that in the original book, Dumbledore had held the Resurrection Stone for a long time, and he personally admitted that he was "a fool", "wanted to drag the Sleeper back", and "seized the Hallows at the wrong time and for the wrong reasons."

Ariana was Dumbledore's lifelong nightmare. Even when he was dying, he was still thinking about the person he wanted to resurrect.

Harry is his concern for the world, the poison bait he left behind because he was worried that no one would be able to check Voldemort after his death, and the person he feels the most guilty about.

Dumbledore himself could face death calmly, and even said that "death is another great adventure", but he was obviously unwilling to impose his ideas on Ariana and Harry.

So he spent the last few years of his life trying to study death and resurrection, trying to resurrect Ariana, trying to make Harry's life foolproof.

Unfortunately, it ended in failure, so he had to arrange for Draco and Snape to kill him, which eventually led to Snape being killed by Voldemort.

Vaughn didn't want to see that kind of ending, nor did he like the so-called destiny, so he wanted to take Old Deng with him.

Of course, it is reasonable for Lao Deng to test the waters and help explore the way before taking off!

"As a man over a hundred years old, I feel like you're smiling with ill intentions, Vaughn."

"Illusion. I'm just glad that you seem to be somewhat interested in my crazy idea. This means that the possibility I proposed is not just a fantasy."

"Hmm..." Dumbledore trembled his beard and said vaguely, "Don't jump to conclusions. Everything still needs to be studied and verified."

Seeing his hesitation, Vaughn did not continue to press him. Time was long and he had plenty of patience to lure Old Deng into the trap.

He then said, "According to Muggle theory, four-dimensional creatures have another distinct characteristic: they can manipulate time and space. To them, time and space are like length, width, and height to us: intuitive and clear, they can increase or decrease them at will!"

Dumbledore was stunned. "...Isn't this the main reason why you believe wizards are 3.5-dimensional creatures?"

"Yes."

In the wizarding world, any adult wizard who has received formal education can perform the Untraceable Extension Charm and Apparition.

Wizards have unlimited space at their disposal.

As for time...

Dumbledore controlled the platform to descend and returned to the corridor. He took Vaughn through one hexagonal hole after another in the wall and came to an enclosed building complex.

That should be part of the castle. I don't know when it was built, but it has obvious military features - the structure of inner and outer walls. The outer wall is relatively narrow, mainly to prevent the enemy from breaking through. Behind the outer wall is a large open space, filled with a large number of stone houses and streets.

The inner city wall has wide walkways and circular towers, and some living fossil warriors are patrolling back and forth with weapons in hand.

Excluding the living fossil warrior, the castle that Dumbledore had intercepted looked normal, until Dumbledore raised two fingers and shook them.

Swish!
This moment was like the curtain changing in a stage play or the transition in a movie, and Vaughn only felt a flash before his eyes.

The castle was still the same castle, but everything had changed. A huge fireball flew through the air, and a huge fire started on the city wall. The raging flames licked the rough wall and rose into the sky.

Parts of the city wall collapsed, rubble and flames crushing the original stone guards underneath, and the streets were blocked.

Before Vaughan could make out what was going on, Dumbledore shook his finger again, and with another swish, the scene before him switched again.

This time it was still the same city wall, but the fire had been extinguished, the broken walls had moved to another position, and only the walkway on the inner city wall was flat.

Vaughn pointed to the straight, wide, unobstructed walkway along the city wall and said, "In two months, when Norbeta grows up, we can guard it there and let it spit fire at the walkway to its heart's content."

“…You are so cruel!”

Dumbledore smiled as he spoke, "But I have to say, this level is the most amazing one for me. You're a genius, Vaughn. You spread the levels and puzzles across different time periods, connecting all the elements with time travel. I'm sure Harry and the others will have an unforgettable summer!"

"You're not bad either, Albus." Vaughan also praised, "I just came up with the idea, and you're the one who made it happen. How did you do it?"

"I made some minor modifications to the time-turner, allowing it to rotate between several fixed frequencies so that Harry and the others can accurately arrive in the correct past."

"Of course, our dear Minerva also contributed. In one part of the game, she meticulously prepared a chess game that was even more perfect than the last one. Those living fossils were the chess pieces."

The big and the small looked at each other and smiled.

Then Dumbledore took out a necklace from his bosom. The pendant of the necklace was a golden hourglass. He handed it to Vaughan, but did not loosen his hand holding the necklace.

"You can take a look at it, but you can't take it away. I don't think you're mentally ready to face another version of yourself!"

Vaughn paused as he was about to take the golden hourglass.

Then, under Dumbledore's gaze, he slowly retracted it.

"You're right, I wasn't prepared."

Vaughn knows himself very well. He has always been a relatively self-centered person. To be honest, even if he is mentally prepared, he doesn't know how he will react if he suddenly sees another self.

So, it’s better not to play with the time turner!
(End of this chapter)