Hogwarts, 1994.
Gryffindor Common Room, the dormitory where Harry was staying.
Two hours had passed since he had saved Sirius and returned to the Castle. It was well past midnight, but Harry lay in bed, unable to sleep.
The sound of Neville's light snoring echoed in his ears. He turned his head to look at Ron in the bed next to him, who tossed and turned once again.
Ron was clearly not asleep either. The rat Scabbers, whom he had raised and grown deeply attached to, had turned out to be a short, fat Wizard—and a shameful traitor at that. This was hard for him to accept, and he had been tossing and turning all night, unable to sleep.
"Ron," Harry whispered.
Ron turned over again, facing Harry, and muttered.
"I don't think we'll be getting any sleep tonight."
"Then let's chat. Keep it low; don't wake Seamus and the others," Harry said quietly.
Afterwards, both fell silent.
Many things had happened that day, but when it came time to actually talk about them, they didn't know where to start.
After a long while, Harry spoke softly.
"When I was casting the Patronus Charm, I heard my mother speaking to me."
Ron didn't think much of it.
"Didn't you hear your mother's voice before, when those Dementors appeared at the Quidditch Pitch?"
Harry shook his head.
"It's different. Back then, I heard her voice as an observer. This time, it felt like she was right beside me, talking to me."
"What did she say to you?"
A look of sadness appeared in Harry's eyes.
"She told me to live a good life."
Ron weighed his words carefully and mused.
"I can understand how much you miss your family, Harry, but... no matter how you heard your mother's voice, it's actually just what your heart wanted to hear..."
"I know what you mean." Harry lay on his back, staring blankly at the dormitory ceiling. "But that voice really sounded like it was ringing right in my ear."
Ron didn't pay much attention to what Harry said. Just as he had said himself, he could understand Harry's feelings, but he didn't believe what Harry had heard was real.
"I'm more curious about where Professor Cavendish and Snape went. Why did they suddenly disappear?"
Harry was brought back to his senses by Ron's question, and he shook his head, equally puzzled.
"I don't know either, but Professor Cavendish will definitely be fine. The one who might actually be in trouble is Snape."
Ron naturally understood what Harry meant. He covered half his face with his quilt, trying hard to suppress a laugh.
"I hope Snape is alright."
...
The edge of the Forbidden Forest.
Three hours ago, at the location where Sherlock and Snape had vanished.
The quiet, empty meadow suddenly had two figures appear, as if a frame had been forcibly inserted into the scene!
Sherlock gasped for air, lying weakly on the lawn. He gazed at the star-filled sky, the towering Castle in the night, and the dense Forbidden Forest. Although his body was exhausted, he felt incredibly relaxed.
They were back!
From Madam Selwyn's words, he had figured out the purpose of that stone tablet.
It could use the magic within magical substances to erase their influence and existence.
And it was that Goblin-made time-turner that had brought Sherlock and Snape to 1977; it didn't belong to that point in time to begin with.
The direct impact was only on Sherlock and Snape, who had travelled through time with it. As long as it was erased, the impact it had on this timeline would be reversed.
Returning Sherlock and Snape to their starting point.
The only thing to consider was whether the time-turner itself had enough energy to reverse time like this.
Now it seemed Amy's intuition was correct, and Sherlock had won his gamble. Since the time-turner could still self-repair and had the ability to continue taking them on future time travels, the energy it contained must have been sufficient.
"Wh-where are we?"
A trembling voice sounded beside him.
Sherlock recognised it as Snape's voice. Because he was so relaxed, he didn't hear the fear and anxiety hidden within it.
"Have you forgotten after only three months? This is Hogwarts before we left."
"We... are back?"
"Of course." Sherlock said cheerfully. "I just don't know if it's still the same night we left."
Snape walked up to Sherlock, looking devastated.
He showed none of Sherlock's joy, as if he had lost something of the utmost importance.
"Why didn't you tell me beforehand!"
He suddenly roared through gritted teeth.
Sherlock stared blankly at Snape's expression, suddenly realising something was wrong.
"You didn't manage to give that magic notebook to Lily?"
"I gave it to her." Snape clenched his fists, his unwillingness and loss evident. "But I was just about to..."
Sherlock looked at him suspiciously.
"Since you gave it to her, what are you upset about?"
Snape couldn't say it, because what he was about to do would violate his agreement with Sherlock.
But he was still extremely unwilling. If only he had spoken out about the future and told Lily everything, she would have forgiven him. Yet, at the very last moment, he had been brought back!
"You weren't thinking of breaking our agreement, and then got stopped by me at the last second, were you?"
Sherlock easily analysed why Snape was acting this way; nothing else would have made him break down like this.
Snape was embarrassed and angry. Looking at Sherlock's face now, he found it unbearable and annoying.
In the end, he couldn't hold back, rushed forward, and began scuffling with Sherlock.(TN: Hilarious)
"It was just a little bit more! I was about to tell Lily everything!"
Sherlock struggled to pry his face away, pushing upwards, using his height and reach advantage. This way, Snape's hands could only flail in front of his own face, unable to hit him.
"You wanted to break the agreement, and now you have the nerve to be righteous! What did we agree on back then? If we couldn't find a way to change history in two years, we'd think of something else. And you didn't even last three months before you were going to tell Lily everything!"
"Don't give me that! You just wanted to use that agreement to keep me in check! You never intended to help me save Lily!"
"Damn it! You ungrateful wretch! If I didn't want to help you, what was that notebook I gave you? I was risking my life in the Ministry of Magic, helping you come up with a plan, and this is what you tell me!"
Under normal circumstances, Snape was definitely no match for Sherlock.
But Sherlock had been exhausted, entangled with Death Eaters all night, and could barely stand, so he naturally couldn't overpower Snape.
Plus, Snape was a shut-in himself. Without using wands, neither could cause any effective damage to the other.
Their main form of attack was still grabbing each other's throats while verbally attacking one another.
Just like that, rolling around on the grass, they didn't know when they had gotten close to Hagrid's hut.
Fang, who was tied up in front of the door, heard the commotion and barked at them from a distance.
Hagrid, who was also unable to sleep in his hut because he had successfully saved Buckbeak, was startled by Fang's barking.
He picked up his little pink umbrella, walked out of the door in his pyjamas, and in the moonlight, immediately saw Sherlock and Snape choking each other like children fighting.
"Who are you! How did you get into Hogwarts?"
Hagrid frowned, pointed his wand at them, and shouted.
Hearing the voice, Sherlock and Snape finally stopped.
They had been scuffling for a long time, but apart from being covered in grass clippings, neither of them had a single scratch.
"It's me, Hagrid, don't be nervous." Sherlock panted to Hagrid.
But the wariness on Hagrid's face didn't relax at all; he still held up the little pink umbrella.
"Who are you? Your voice sounds a bit familiar."
Snape stood up from the ground, and Sherlock grabbed his robes for support and stood up too.
"Take out the Potion that washes off the mask."
Snape made a sour face, pulled two vials of Potion from his pocket, threw one to Sherlock, and then walked silently towards the Castle alone.
"Stop!" Just as Hagrid was about to stop Snape, he was blocked by Sherlock.
"It's us, Sherlock and Snape."
He poured the Potion over his face, wiped his robes casually, and revealed his true face.
Hagrid's eyes widened like ox eggs as he looked at him.
"Sherlock!"
Then he turned to look at Snape's lonely and dishevelled back.
"That's Snape! Why did you turn into these people? And you were fighting just now?"
Sherlock used his wand to change his hair back to its original state.
"That's a long story, but it's nothing serious." He said vaguely, then bid Hagrid farewell. "I'm going back now. You get some rest too."
Although Hagrid was still shocked and didn't understand why Sherlock and Snape would dress up as other people in the middle of the night and fight like Muggles on the grass, he didn't ask further and shook his head.
"I can't sleep tonight, so I might as well take this time to go to the Forbidden Forest and clean up Miss Hilke's family's graves. According to tradition, she'll be coming to sweep the graves during the day today."
Sherlock didn't pay much attention at first, nodding as he walked forward.
"Oh, right. Last year I brought her to see you. Her family is buried in the Forbidden Forest, and one of them seems to be named John Watson..."
As he said this, he suddenly froze.
Hagrid, who had just picked up his tools and was holding Fang, was baffled to see Sherlock suddenly turn into a statue.
"What's wrong with you?"
Sherlock didn't answer him, just unconsciously mumbling a few names over and over.
"Amy Butler, Eddie Butler, Vera Hilke, Amy Butler..."
A light gradually ignited in his eyes.
"Amy, Vera!"(TN: Tessio, good spot.)