Chapter 6: Professor Laomai Also Wants to Compete in the Revival Match

Roger’s thoughts were actually quite simple. He merely believed the world was fascinating, and as both an observer and participant, he was unwilling to leave before he had seen enough and experienced enough.

A person’s lifetime is limited, and the years richest in creativity, learning ability, and energy are but a few. Many outstanding scientists produced their most significant research achievements in their youth.

Roger was absolutely not going to waste those precious seven years at Hogwarts.

So he chose to be frank.

Roger did not think there was any particular risk in what he was doing.

The pursuit of longevity is an idea most people have entertained.

In the wizarding world, this is hardly taboo.

There are few who, like Nicolas Flamel, have lived more than six hundred years and remain alive to this day.

But many have used their powerful magical abilities to extend their lives into their one or two hundreds.

For example, the former headmaster of Hogwarts, Armando Dippet, took office at around 200 years old.

What is truly forbidden is achieving longevity through dark magic means.

For instance, the creation of Horcruxes, which requires cruel and ruthless methods.

As expected, Professor McGonagall did not have any strong objection to Roger’s desire for longevity; her concern lay elsewhere.

“Roger, the continuation of life follows a certain traceable path, but resurrection is an absolute taboo,” Professor McGonagall said seriously, her face marked by solemnity and a hint of sorrow.

“To grant wizards infinite time and magic might... perhaps allow them to overturn everything, erase all regrets, and obtain all their desires.”

This remark stirred something within Professor McGonagall.

It also made her worry whether Roger intended to violate the greatest taboo of the wizarding world—bringing the dead back to life!

It was only natural for her to think this way.

Because she knew Roger had lost so much on the battlefields of the Middle East, witnessing countless deaths.

Professor McGonagall had even helped organize the funeral for Roger’s parents.

Seeing her expression, Roger knew she had misunderstood.

But he did not deny it, instead continuing, “Resurrection is impossible, that much I am clear about. But what truly counts as death?”

“In ancient times, death was when the heartbeat ceased; in modern medicine, brain death is considered the end; but for wizards, death means the dispersal of the soul.”

“The definition of death changes as technology advances and as our understanding and ability to influence the world evolves.”

“Perhaps one day, as long as a trace of a person remains in history, and someone still remembers them, that person is not truly dead. Wizards might even be able to retrieve those they wish to save from the river of time.”

If earlier Professor McGonagall was merely moved, now she was genuinely startled, her footsteps involuntarily halting.

For Roger’s words touched upon a taboo even greater than resurrection.

Reversing time itself!

Noticing Professor McGonagall’s increasingly sharp gaze, Roger chuckled softly.

“Professor, don’t look at me like that. I value my life and would never undertake such extremely risky endeavors.”

“What I mean is, as long as one lives long enough, one can patiently await the continual progress of civilization. In the future, there will surely be one or even many who would stop at nothing to save their regrets. All I need to do is plant trees and flowers, then quietly watch them bloom and wither. When the peach and plum trees grow thick and bear fruit, I’ll just pick some fallen ones.”

It was like a modern person who doesn’t know how to make a cellphone traveling back to ancient times and gaining immortality. By spreading the concept of the cellphone and some ideas of modern science, after three or five hundred years, people might be able to use cellphones. If a few hundred years aren’t enough, a thousand years surely will be.

This process doesn’t even require him to do much actively. There will always be smart people who take the initiative.

Roger would plant ideas upstream in the timeline, and harvest downstream. Naturally and simply, without needing to complicate matters.

All he had to do was preserve every technological advancement, ensuring that these achievements were not lost to history, preventing people from endlessly reinventing the wheel.

People often say a thousand years is too long, urging to seize the day because ordinary people can only fight for the present moment. But for the immortal, time becomes something entirely different.

...Of course, all this is far in the future. Roger did not know if he would ever achieve such longevity.

Most Hogwarts graduates do not engage deeply with magic after graduation; at best, they learn some spells to become wand-wielding ‘magical technicians’ or ‘magical enforcers.’ Only a very few continue on the path of magical research, which shows how challenging mastering magic truly is.

His conversation with Professor McGonagall was merely casual chatter sparked by the topic of life planning.

For now, what mattered most was to first learn magic.

Unfortunately, after leaving the Middle East and spending some time imprisoned in Britain, Roger forgot one thing.

He thought he was merely chatting idly while walking, like a boy in the dormitory after lights out, so talking nonsense was harmless.

But in Minerva McGonagall’s eyes, it was anything but!

Minerva McGonagall never forgot that Roger was a seer.

Unlike the mysterious Divination professor Sybill Trelawney, Roger was closer to that man who almost changed the wizarding world—Gellert Grindelwald—a powerful seer capable of accurately foretelling the future!

A joke? Nonsense?

In McGonagall’s heart, she leaned more toward wondering if this young seer had truly predicted something.

Would the magic that rescues people from the river of time really be born in the future?

Filled with many regrets herself, McGonagall, who had just intended to warn Roger about the taboo and dangers of reversing time, found herself momentarily distracted.

It was no wonder she thought this way. Both soul and time manipulation are advanced fields of magic, not something a novice who doesn’t yet know a single spell could approach.

If a soul’s presence means one is not dead, then this hinted at the dark magic secret of Horcruxes.

Why would Roger know these things? Besides being a seer, what other explanation could there be?

Time quietly slipped by during their idle talk.

When Professor McGonagall came back to her senses, they were already standing at the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron.

Roger stood beside her, his eyes shining with eagerness for the magical world.

Wands, spellbooks, and all the knowledge of the wizarding world—the things he had dreamed of were just behind the Leaky Cauldron.

That place was Diagon Alley, the greatest trading center for British wizards.

But as their feet crossed the threshold of the pub, the once lively tavern, filled with many patrons, instantly fell silent to the point that one could hear a pin drop.