"How is that possible?" Dumbledore drew the Elder Wand and examined it carefully.
Grindelwald only glanced at it from the side and already knew that it was indeed the genuine Elder Wand.
After all, he had possessed that wand for a long time.
But since the Elder Wand was clearly in Dumbledore's hand, why had the other Grindelwald been holding one as well?
At that moment, Grindelwald finally understood why he had been at a disadvantage in the clash of spells earlier.
It was not that his magical power was weaker than the other's, but that the other Grindelwald had the Elder Wand.
Grindelwald clenched his fists and carefully replayed the brief duel in his mind.
That powerful and familiar magic could not be mistaken. The wand in the other Grindelwald's hand had truly been a genuine Elder Wand.
"Although I don't know what's happening, I now understand that this matter probably has nothing to do with you," Grindelwald said in a low voice.
Dumbledore nodded. "Our priority now is to prevent this from happening again. We don't know where these people are coming from, but this problem is extremely serious."
"Right now they only appear for a second or two before disappearing. Who knows if tomorrow these people who resemble us might appear for much longer?"
"I certainly don't want to see a second Grindelwald appear in this world."
Grindelwald sighed as well. "Damn it. I don't want to see a second or third Dumbledore appear in front of me either."
At this moment, Dumbledore noticed that Wade beside him was wearing a thoughtful expression.
"Have you thought of something?" Dumbledore asked.
"Actually… I have considered a possibility. But as you said, we need to resolve this situation first. Once it's dealt with, we can discuss it properly," Wade replied.
"Easy for you to say! We don't even know why this is happening. How are you going to solve it?" Grindelwald said irritably.
Wade looked at the multicolored vortex above the tent and then said, "Move the dark creatures out of the tent."
"No!" Grindelwald said stubbornly. "It hasn't been completely proven that the dark creatures are the cause."
Educational reform was an essential part of his plan. He could not allow it to collapse before it even began.
Dumbledore said coldly, "Grindelwald! Isn't the situation obvious enough already? The longer these dark creatures remain gathered together, the more frequently these incidents will occur! During the day, there were only hallucinations. Now at night, those hallucinations have become reality. Are you not concerned at all?"
Wade glanced again at the vortex above the tent, which was slowly growing larger at an almost imperceptible rate, and said calmly, "Professor, we can't delay any longer. Since he refuses to move the dark creatures away… how about this? We divide them and store them in several different locations."
Wade's suggestion made both Dumbledore and Grindelwald's eyes light up.
If these strange events were indeed caused by too many types of dark creatures gathering together and creating a chaotic magical field, then separating them and reducing that magical field would indeed be a workable solution.
After all, before these dark creatures had been brought here, nothing so strange had ever occurred.
"Alright… everyone, get to work!" Once he was certain that his interests would not be harmed, Grindelwald made a swift decision.
The supporters immediately rushed into the tent.
Before long, large and small packed crates began floating out of the tent behind them.
"Sir, how should we divide them?" one of the supporters asked.
"Separate them according to the original year levels," Grindelwald said in a low voice. "The dark creatures meant for first years go that way, the second years go this way… keep two hundred meters between each group."
The supporters worked efficiently. In no time, each group carried crates containing dark creatures and quickly scattered in different directions.
Dumbledore immediately felt the chaotic magical field weakening rapidly.
He turned to Wade. "Well?"
Dumbledore could not see the flow of magic and could only rely on his senses, so he wanted more precise information from Wade.
"Further apart. Ideally five hundred meters," Wade said after carefully observing.
Grindelwald did not ask further questions and immediately relayed the order, increasing the distance between groups from two hundred meters to five hundred.
Once everyone reached their positions, Wade saw that the multicolored vortex that had formed earlier was gradually dissipating.
"Looks like it worked," Wade said.
Dumbledore also sensed the change. Although the dark creatures still carried their own dark magical power, the chaotic magical field had completely disappeared.
Everyone remained where they were for quite some time, and the strange occurrences from earlier did not happen again.
In other words, those bizarre phenomena had really been caused by that chaotic magical field.
Grindelwald had the supporters rebuild tents where they stood to contain the dark creatures before seriously asking Wade, "What exactly is going on? What did you think of earlier?"
Dumbledore also looked over, clearly wanting to hear Wade's explanation.
Wade glanced at the grass beneath him and then sat down cross-legged.
Seeing this, Dumbledore and Grindelwald simply sat down on the ground as well.
Wade did not keep them in suspense and said directly, "I think these identical people may come from parallel worlds, or in other words, parallel universes."
The reason Wade had thought of parallel worlds was because of his own experience of transmigration.
He had come from the original Earth to this Earth. Could that not also be considered another parallel world?
At that moment, Dumbledore and Grindelwald exchanged a glance, both seeing the confusion in the other's eyes.
"What do you mean?" Grindelwald asked.
Wade then remembered that the theory of parallel worlds had only been proposed by Muggle physicists in the 1950s.
Given the current era, it was not surprising that Dumbledore and Grindelwald did not know about it.
Wade thought for a moment and said, "To make this concept easier to understand, let me first give you an example similar to this theory. You should both know what time travel is, right?"
Grindelwald nodded. "Of course. At present, the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic even has a room dedicated to the study of time. What, do you think the ones we encountered earlier were ourselves from different points in time?"
"No, listen to the rest first," Wade said.
"Alright, go on."
"I want to ask, if someone makes a mistake while traveling through time and accidentally changes something in the past, what would happen?" Wade asked again.
Dumbledore replied, "There was indeed such a case in the past. A time traveler suffered an accident while using a Time-Turner and was sent back several centuries. When she finally returned to the present, her body had aged as if centuries had passed."
Dumbledore continued, "Moreover, because of that accident, many people who should have existed simply disappeared. It seems that she changed certain events in the past, causing many people who were supposed to exist never to be born. It was a disastrous mistake."
Wade nodded and tapped the ground with his wand.
The patch of grass before him immediately transformed into sand.
Using his wand, Wade drew a straight line in the sand. At the left endpoint of the line, he marked the number "1," and at the midpoint, he marked the number "2."
Wade continued, "Let's assume these two points are moments in time. Her time travel began at point 2 and returned to point 1. Normally, following the natural course of history, time at point 1 would eventually progress to point 2. But after the accident…"
Wade drew a slanted branch from the space between points 1 and 2, then added another straight line along that branch, parallel to the original one.
On this new line, at almost the same position as point 2, he marked another point labeled "3."
"After the accident, the timeline changed. Instead of reaching point 2, it now leads to point 3. Many things have changed."
"For example, at point 2 on the timeline, Tom is studying at Hogwarts. But after the change, Tom, who should have been born, was never born. That means Hogwarts at point 3 has no Tom."
"Hogwarts at point 2 and Hogwarts at point 3 are otherwise the same. Professor Dumbledore is there, Professor McGonagall is there, and the students in each House are the same. In other words, aside from the absence of Tom, the world of the timeline at point 3 is almost identical to the world at point 2."
"But precisely because Tom is missing, the timelines containing points 2 and 3 become two worlds that are extremely similar yet still different."
"Because of the change in the past, Tom does not exist in timeline 3, but in timeline 2, Tom still exists."
"If that time traveler knew Tom, then when she returned to the present, she would still remember him."
"This also means that while timeline 3 exists, the original timeline containing point 2 would not disappear."
"It would simply mean that in timeline 2, that time traveler may never have traveled back to the past."
"Wow..." Dumbledore said, "I ..think I understand your meaning. In our timeline, Tom exists, while in another timeline he does not. These are two possibilities, which results in two worlds that are similar yet different."
Grindelwald seemed to understand part of it as well, but he said nothing and simply continued looking at Wade.
Wade continued, "Since different timelines can produce similar worlds, similar people, and similar events, then… can we consider the possibility that outside our world there may also exist worlds that resemble ours, yet still have differences?"
"You mean… the one I encountered just now was another version of myself from a different world?" Grindelwald asked.
"Yes. Do you remember what was different about the two additional Bests who appeared?" Wade asked.
Dumbledore said, "Their hair colors were different. And the newly appeared Grindelwald was still holding the Elder Wand. In other words, in that world, Grindelwald had not yet had the Elder Wand taken from him by me. That is the difference between similar worlds."
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