Chapter 398

Chapter 398: Chapter 398

In 321 AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine I issued an edict establishing Sunday as an official civic day of rest throughout much of the Roman Empire.

The seven-day week had existed long before Constantine’s reign, but his decree helped formalize its place within Roman public life. As Christianity spread across Europe, the weekly cycle became increasingly embedded in society, shaping when people worked, worshipped, studied, and rested.

Even after the Western Roman Empire collapsed, the Migration Period transformed Europe, and Viking raids swept across its coasts, the seven-day rhythm endured.

In medieval England, monasteries served as some of the most important centers of religion and education. Their routines followed a strict liturgical calendar, with worship, study, manuscript copying, and manual labor arranged around a repeating weekly cycle anchored by Sunday.

The four founders of Hogwarts had grown up within that society, so they naturally adopted the same basic structure when organizing their school.

To them, dividing time into seven-day weeks was perfectly ordinary, and resting on Sunday required no particular explanation.

Thus, after being thrown a thousand years into the past, Lynn welcomed his first Sunday at the newly founded Hogwarts.

Morning sunlight reflected from the Black Lake and streamed through his window, scattering shimmering patterns of light across the stone floor.

Lynn lay in bed and stared at the ceiling for quite some time before finally sighing, sitting up, and rubbing the lingering sleep from his eyes.

Since he had nothing else planned for the day, he decided to visit the founders’ office and see how Ravenclaw’s research was progressing. Perhaps there was something he could do to help.

He crossed several corridors, climbed flight after flight of stairs, and turned through one corner after another. The castle was unusually quiet, with only the sound of his footsteps echoing across the stone floors.

Occasionally, one or two students passed him. They would offer a slight nod in greeting, and Lynn would respond in kind.

When he finally arrived outside the office, he heard the faint murmur of voices from within.

The room’s soundproofing enchantments muffled the conversation too thoroughly for him to understand what was being discussed. He could only distinguish a few scattered fragments.

"No..."

"Listen to me..."

"I don’t agree..."

It sounded like an argument.

Lynn raised his hand and knocked gently.

Knock. Knock, knock.

The voices inside immediately fell silent.

"Come in," Hufflepuff called from beyond the door.

Lynn pushed it open and entered the office.

Ravenclaw and Slytherin sat opposite each other, and neither looked particularly pleased.

Hufflepuff had positioned herself between them, leaning slightly forward with one hand resting on Ravenclaw’s arm and the other on Slytherin’s shoulder, apparently preventing their disagreement from escalating any further.

Lynn scratched his head.

"What happened to them?"

Hufflepuff shook her head and sighed.

"It’s nothing serious. We merely have different opinions concerning certain school affairs."

She paused, then turned toward Lynn.

"By the way, Mr. Lynn, how does the Hogwarts of this era compare with the school you know?"

Lynn froze for a moment.

He began recalling everything he had witnessed during the past week.

Students regularly drew their wands and fired spells at one another in the corridors over the slightest disagreements. They could be chatting peacefully one moment and dueling the next.

Some students were beaten black and blue, others wandered around covered in soot from magical explosions, and a few were blasted into walls so forcefully that their classmates struggled to pull them free.

In the common rooms, Lynn had overheard students casually boasting about the hexes they had used on one another the previous day.

During breakfast in the Great Hall, he had even heard one student ask how to cast the Cruciatus Curse in a way that would inflict the greatest amount of pain.

What astonished him most was that the student sitting beside that person had offered a serious and detailed answer.

After considering all of this, Lynn chose the most tactful description he could manage.

"In my era, casting spells in the corridors is forbidden, unauthorized dueling is prohibited, and students certainly aren’t allowed to use the Cruciatus Curse casually."

A thousand years later, using the Cruciatus Curse on another person could earn someone a life sentence in Azkaban.

At the Hogwarts of this era, however, students treated it like an ordinary offensive spell. Some used it as casually as they might cast Densaugeo or Rictusempra.

The corner of Hufflepuff’s mouth twitched.

Her gaze moved from Lynn to Slytherin, who had personally used the Cruciatus Curse on more than one occasion. It then shifted toward Ravenclaw, who had also cast it while fighting intruders.

"I meant..." Hufflepuff cleared her throat. "Are there any differences in how the school teaches and motivates its students?"

Lynn considered the question.

In terms of ordinary lessons, there did not appear to be much difference.

Then he remembered something.

"House points."

Hufflepuff tilted her head.

"House points?"

She repeated the unfamiliar term as though attempting to determine its meaning.

Lynn nodded and briefly explained the system.

"Every student is sorted into a house after enrolling. Each house has its own hourglass filled with gemstones that represent its accumulated points. Professors award points when students answer questions correctly, perform well, or do something worthy of praise. Points are deducted when students break school rules or behave poorly.

"At the end of the academic year, the house with the highest score wins the House Cup."

Lynn paused before explaining the system’s broader purpose.

"This means competition between students is no longer limited to proving, ’I am stronger than you.’ Instead, they begin thinking, ’My house is better than yours.’ It encourages them to work for collective honor rather than pursuing only their individual interests."

As Hufflepuff listened, her eyes grew steadily brighter.

She turned toward Ravenclaw.

Rowena remained seated with one hand supporting her head while the fingers of her other hand tapped lightly against the table. A faint, knowing smile had appeared on her lips.

The moment Lynn finished speaking, Ravenclaw clapped her hands in delight.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Lynn turned toward her and discovered that the woman who had been glaring coldly at Slytherin moments earlier was now beaming with satisfaction.

Slytherin, by contrast, looked utterly dejected. His shoulders had slumped, and he resembled an eggplant that had been left outside in the frost.

Lynn stared at them in confusion.

He had no idea what had just happened. They had been arguing moments ago, yet a few words from him had left one delighted and the other thoroughly defeated.

Noticing his bewilderment, Hufflepuff smiled.

"We were discussing how to create a healthy system of competition among the students of Hogwarts."

She gestured toward Ravenclaw.

"Rowena argued that we should motivate students through points and collective honor. Salazar believed those ideas were too abstract and that direct punishment would produce better results. They spent the entire morning arguing, but neither could persuade the other."

Hufflepuff looked back at Lynn.

"The house-point system you just described is almost identical to Rowena’s proposal."

Ravenclaw’s smile did not diminish. She leaned back in her chair, folded her hands over her knees, and fixed Slytherin with a triumphant gaze.

"Salazar," she said, her voice carrying a trace of teasing, "it appears my proposal is more popular with the students after all."

She placed particular emphasis on the word students, making it sound as though her victory had been decided not by personal preference but by public opinion.

The corner of Slytherin’s mouth twitched.

He released a cold snort, rose from his chair, and walked toward the door without offering another word.

A moment later, the door closed behind him with a heavy thud.

Lynn remained where he was, still trying to process what had happened.

Hufflepuff waved a hand in front of his face.

He blinked and returned to his senses.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

Lynn shook his head.

"Nothing. I was merely wondering whether my arrival is the reason Hogwarts established the house-point tradition that continued for the next thousand years."

The question immediately silenced two of the most powerful witches of the age.

Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw exchanged a glance.

The smile remained on Ravenclaw’s lips, but it had stiffened as she contemplated the implications. Hufflepuff’s brow furrowed slightly, and her expression became deeply conflicted.

If Lynn had introduced the house-point system because he remembered it from the future, yet the system only existed in that future because he had introduced it in the past, then where had the idea truly originated?

Seeing the atmosphere become increasingly strange, Lynn gave a dry laugh and hurriedly changed the subject.

Since he was already trapped in this era, worrying about every potential time paradox would accomplish nothing.

"Professor Ravenclaw, how is your research on my Time-Turner progressing?"

Ravenclaw emerged from her thoughts.

She stood, walked to her desk, and opened one of its drawers. After retrieving the Time-Turner, she returned and handed it to Lynn.

The device had been reassembled and no longer resembled the collection of damaged parts he had given her.

The cracks across its outer casing remained, but they had been filled with a silver-white substance resembling liquid metal. Most of the runes were still intact, though their glow had faded considerably.

The miniature golden hourglass within the device remained covered in fractures, but it no longer appeared ready to collapse at the slightest touch. Ravenclaw had encased it in a thin, transparent film that held every fragment securely in place.

"There is a genuine possibility that it can be repaired," Ravenclaw said.

Her voice remained composed, but Lynn could hear the confidence behind her words.

For the first time since arriving in the past, he could clearly see a path home.

His eyes immediately brightened.

"I can help you gather and prepare most of the materials required for the restoration," Ravenclaw continued. "However, there is one thing I am afraid I cannot provide."

"What is it?" Lynn asked urgently.

"Ancient Magic."

Ravenclaw deliberately slowed her explanation to ensure he understood every word.

"To restore the core of the Time-Turner, the burned runes must be reawakened with Ancient Magic. Ordinary magic cannot accomplish this. Those structures have become exceptionally fragile, and conventional magical power would crush them completely.

"Only Ancient Magic can reignite the runes without destroying what remains of them."

"Ancient Magic..." Lynn murmured.

His brow furrowed as a familiar memory surfaced in his mind.

"I remember Professor Slytherin mentioning that I seemed to possess some kind of Ancient Magic."

Ravenclaw nodded.

"Yes," she confirmed. "You possess that power."

---

Happy reading! Be sure to leave a review!!!

The story has reached its epilogue on my P@treon. Join now to read ahead!

P@treon: patreon.com/mrfanfiction140