The lift door slid open and a neutral female voice announced "Department of Mysteries" as Saul, along with two other Unspeakables, stepped out. He always found the black stone corridors a bit oppressive, yet they undeniably possessed a certain elegance.
"Are you attending our joint meeting this week, Croaker? The Space Chamber team is working on a fascinating experiment regarding time effects near space distortions, which we wanted to share with you," his fellow Senior Unspeakable, Gareth Greengrass, said as they walked down the corridor.
Each team in the Department of Mysteries was led by a Senior Unspeakable. He headed the Time Room team, while Greengrass led the Space Chamber team. They had a weekly meeting where each team would update the other on projects of mutual interest, given the deep connections between space and time magic in certain scenarios.
"Can't," Saul sighed, "Broderick has called me to his office."
The last time, Broderick had wanted to discuss for five hours - five hours! - everything the Time Chamber knew about time loop objects.
This wasn't an unknown phenomenon.
You travel back in time an hour, give your past self a pen - without meeting yourself, of course. Your past self keeps it and travels back in time an hour later and gives it to his past self. Voilà, you have a time loop object: A pen that exists only in this eternal loop, never created and never ceasing to exist. A fascinating topic, but one that the Unspeakables of the Time Chamber frustratingly knew very little about.
"Yeah, I've been there... our esteemed Head of the Department called me in two weeks ago to investigate the existence of alternate worlds. I think he read about the Muggle multiverse theory in some book and decided the Space Chamber should look into it. Naturally, we found nothing - Bode isn't the first wizard to chase that idea."
Since his accident two months ago, Broderick Bode - Head of the Department of Mysteries and his friend of nearly 14 years - had become strangely active and deeply invested in their research. He regularly summoned Senior Unspeakables to assign research tasks to their teams. It wasn't just him and Greengrass. Broderick had also taken a keen interest in the work of the Love Room, the Death Chamber and the Brain Room. The Keeper of the Hall of Prophecy was the only Senior Unspeakable left out. Saul wasn't sure whether to pity the man or envy him.
After bidding farewell to Greengrass, he knocked on Broderick's office door and entered upon hearing a "Come in" from his direct superior.
"Saul, come in!" Broderick greeted, gesturing towards a chair opposite his desk. "I have a fascinating case to discuss with you and I want your opinion."
Saul took a seat as an old house-elf, dressed in a maid's outfit, appeared with a soft pop to set up scones and tea. Hadn't this elf been much younger recently? Perhaps she had encountered a time distortion. He tucked this observation away as he waited for Broderick to continue.
"Thank you, Dolly… Now, Saul, I've come into possession of some highly unusual memories belonging to a Muggle named Alexander Ashworth," he began.
Saul could only frown. "A Muggle's memory, Broderick? How is this relevant to us?" he asked, hoping his old friend wasn't turning eccentric like some brilliant wizards were known to do.
"Don't worry, my friend. This memory is certainly magical. Let me continue: The Muggle, Alexander Ashworth, according to his memories, lived in a world where a writer named J.K. Rowling published several books about Harry Potter, set in Magical Britain. They were immensely popular worldwide - even adapted into movies - and he was a fan of the franchise."
"Well, the memories are obviously fake. I would have heard about such a massive breach of the International Statute of Secrecy," Saul scoffed. "They must have been planted there by some wizard. Muggle-baiting and an offence against the Statute of Secrecy, sure, but nothing that concerns us."
"Ah, but here's the catch: The Muggle died and found himself back in time in 1943, his mind trapped in the first Horcrux of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, a diary. And our Muggle, Mr. Ashworth, had much knowledge about the future not found in any book. From what really happened to the Philosopher's Stone in 1992 to the existence of the other Horcruxes. Fascinatingly, after spending nearly 50 years in the diary, he changed the timeline described in the story he read. For example in the Harry Potter books, he knew, I would have been placed under the Imperius Curse by Lucius Malfoy in 1995 and died shortly after, but…"
"But Lucius Malfoy died in 1993," Saul finished the thought for him. "So, you think this Muggle, after dying in a world where the Statute of Secrecy was obviously not enforced and magic might not have even existed, was reborn in a different world - our world?"
If this were true, it would be monumental. Proof that other worlds exist!
"Was this why you pestered Greengrass about the Muggle multiverse theory? You should call him here - he knows much more about space magic than I do," Saul continued.
"But Greengrass and his team gave me very convincing arguments against the existence of other worlds and timelines. So, I studied the memories in detail again. All the memories of reading the books, fanfictions, watching the movies and encountering references to the characters and plot in popular culture - they're perfect. Even the most skilled Occlumens wouldn't be able to fake them, which is why I initially believed in their authenticity…"
"But," Broderick continued after a pause, "the connection to the rest of the memories was created by mind magic. Someone took these seemingly flawless memories about another world and inserted them into Mr. Alexander Ashworth's real memories. This was certainly done by a genius Occlumens, but the connection is still fake."
A long silence followed as Croaker processed this information. If one assumed that different worlds didn't exist, as Greengrass argued, what were they left with? A Muggle soul finds itself in the past in a Horcrux of the Dark Lord and for some reason, someone has inserted these strange memories into him... just for them to end up here with the Head Unspeakable, who then called the Senior Unspeakable of the Time Chamber.
"The memories," he realized, "they're a time loop object." His mind worked quickly. „Someone inserts them into the Muggle, his soul travels 64 years into the past and then they somehow survive to the present just to end up here. And like any time loop object, their origin will never be known… That's a wild story."
"But one I've also come to the conclusion is true," Broderick concluded. Well, mystery solved. Saul loved magical mysteries like this. He had been a Ravenclaw, after all.
But then another question surfaced. "Who travelled back in time to do this? And why?" His mind flickered to the case of Eloise Mintumble, the Unspeakable who had travelled from 1899 to 1402 - only to age centuries upon her return and die shortly after. "A wizard or witch would age 64 years to go back to 1943. And they would have had to bring the diary here first, insert the soul inside, replacing the Dark Lord's soul fragment - a very dark ritual would be necessary for that - and then take it back to 1943 with the diary. That's 128 years of lifetime…" His thoughts trailed off as another possibility occurred to him.
House-elves lived over two hundred years.
His stomach dropped.
A sudden, terrible feeling gripped him. His breath caught as his eyes snapped to Bode's face.
"You figured it out pretty fast," Bode mused and suddenly Saul realized he couldn't move or use his magic at all.
"Yes, I sent Dolly back in time to collect the diary Horcrux," he revealed, placing a black diary on the table. "Then I engineered the death of Alexander Ashworth - just as in the time loop memories - using the Imperius Curse and collected his soul with this," he continued, setting a Tsimshian Soul Catcher on the table next to the diary. It was one of the most illegal items in the world. If the ICW found out that something like this was in the Department of Mysteries… he didn't even want to imagine it.
"And now, after inserting the time loop memories into the Muggle's memories, I will replace Tom's soul fragment with Alexander's soul and send the diary back to August 1943, when Tom Riddle left it in the Chamber of Secrets during the summer holidays."
Saul Croaker, of course, knew why Bode was telling him this: He wouldn't leave this office alive.
You would need a human sacrifice in a blood ritual, similar to the Horcrux creation ritual, to replace Voldemort's soul fragment in the diary. He hadn't done the Arithmancy, but he was sure Bode had.
But why was Bode – his friend for 14 years – going to kill him like this?
"You haven't figured that out yet?" Bode said slightly bemused - probably reading his surface thoughts with Legilimency. "The real Broderick Bode died two months ago…"