Christian looked at this middle-aged white woman dressed very elegantly.
"What happened to the previous owners of this house?"
"Why should I tell you?" she replied. "Now, please leave my property before I get law enforcement involved," Christina grunted, but there was no hesitation in his actions; he used the Confundus Charm.
"Why don't we start with an introduction?" said Christian.
"My name is Elizabeth Knight."
"Mrs. Knight, can you tell me what happened to the former owner of this house?"
"Oh, no problem," she said with a smile. "A pretty dreadful tale — almost deterred me from buying this piece of property." Christian's heart skipped a beat.
"The young child's mother disappeared, and her body was found more than a year later," said Elizabeth. "Poor child, he was devastated. He became depressed, and two years later, he took his own life. Coincidentally, it was on this exact day, May 14th."
Christian's body trembled. He tried to control himself and asked, with a slight hoarse voice, "What about the aunt?"
"From my investigation, she drowned herself in alcohol and drugs to cope with the situation; she died from an overdose four months ago."
'Breathe in, exhale, breathe in, exhale — remember, this is not my timeline,' repeated Christian in his mind. "What about his other family?"
"I don't know about them," replied Elizabeth.
"Do you know the location of their graves?"
"Yes, it's a cemetery not far from here," replied Elizabeth before giving him the address.
"Do you mind driving me?"
Christian sat in the back of the seat, lost in his thoughts. He could not calm down despite rationally knowing that these people were just another version of himself in another timeline. Ten minutes later, he reached his destination and headed to his grave. He saw two people already there and acted swiftly to cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and Elizabeth.
'Is that Aunt Arielle and Uncle Sullivan?' He was not sure because they were so drastically different. Arielle was so thin that she could be described as bony. Sullivan had lost his left arm, and his confident atmosphere was gone. He clenched his hand, his nail breaking his skin and drawing blood.
'Will the people in my timeline face a similar fate if I'm missing?' Although the situation seemed different, Christian had a nagging feeling that things might play out the same in his timeline. 'No, I must return home — no matter what.'
He took one last look at Aunt Arielle and Uncle Sullivan. He wanted to show up to meet them, but he debated whether giving them hope before disappearing would be more cruel. Furthermore, what if he could no longer leave after getting attached to them? The guilt he would feel for causing them more harm would crush him.
Christian returned home and used a broom to fly instead of driving, since it was faster. He left a message for Rodolphus before using the Floo Powder to teleport to the Ministry of Magic.
'Right about now, most manpower is focused on the Battle of Hogwarts, leaving a power vacuum in many important places. I must prepare if Rodolphus fails or Odin's Eye never works.'
Christian had used human transfiguration to increase his height to that of an adult, and he wore a hood. He looked around and saw a few people. He approached someone.
"Excuse me, can you help me?"
"Imperio," said Christian silently before doing the same for more than a dozen wizards. He also instructed the people he controlled to cast the Imperius Curse, which allowed him to control the remaining 30 people in the Ministry of Magic. He led everyone to the ninth floor of the Department of Mystery, stunning the few remaining Unspeakables who were not participating in the final battle or had quit their job during Voldemort's control of the Ministry.
'Ultimately, Odin's Eye is an artifact that manipulates space and time. If I cannot rely on it to reach home, I'll do it myself,' thought Christian, his eyes extremely focused to the point it was scary. As soon as he arrived, he ordered his Imperius Army to cast Shrinking Charm to reduce these rooms into small houses that the palm could hold.
Christian did not know whether this plan would work, but he was willing to try anything. Luckily, he succeeded—except for the Love Room, which they could not even open—as more than 30 wizards cast the spell, drastically increasing its effect. He did not know why the Love Room failed, but that did not matter for now. He placed the shrunken rooms inside his bag of holding and would later restore them to their original size.
'The war should be over or almost over, so there should be more time,' thought Christian as he headed to his next destination: Gringotts. He did not know what kind of artifact Odin's Eye needed to activate, but he knew a place to get as many varieties of ancient or modern artifacts as possible.
Christian used the same tactic. He had his 30 wizards quietly approach the Goblins before putting them under the Imperius Curse. He instructed them to look for anyone who broke free from the spell and knock them out.
The next step was to deactivate the Anti-Apparition Jinx in Gringotts before these goblins led the 30 wizards to the vaults with the most treasures. Christian did not care for Galleons or money, so he tasked them with taking all books or artifacts. Luckily, he had a few more bags of holdings, and they could now Apparate to their destination.
Christian could say he was lucky. Gringotts was still suffering from the aftermath of Hermione's releasing their dragons, allowing this operation to proceed almost perfectly. However, one of the wizards came to tell Christian that Aurors had appeared in Gringotts and confronted some of their people.
"So, soon?" muttered Christian. He had stolen many artifacts and books from Gringotts when he discovered these goblins would keep everything in the vaults if their owner died, and no one from their families claimed the vault after 50 years. However, his gain was still the tip of the iceberg compared to hundreds of years of the Goblins' accumulation.
Christian stopped his Imperius Curse, freeing everyone under his control and leaving only one person to Disapparate him from Gringotts. Then, he also freed that person after erasing some of their memories.
"You're here," said Christian, looking at Rodolphus, who was waiting.
"Yes," replied the Death Eater before handing him a bag and a wand.
"Did you take all the books?"
"What about the Gryffindor Sword?"
"It disappeared when I approached it."
Christian grunted. He told Rodolphus to take the library books, steal the sword, be invisible, and wait for the perfect time to disarm the elder wand from Harry's hand. What he wanted most of these things was the sword, since it could be the key to activating Odin's Eye and returning home.
Christian felt a connection and a sense of incongruity as he held the Elder Wand. The connection was likely because his wand was made of the same material, and the incompatibility was because he was not the master.
"Expelliarmus!" Rodolphus flew into the distance, crashing on the ground. "Now, that's better." Christian could feel he had complete control of the Elder Wand. He looked at the wand but did not feel any different, so he tried several spells.
"It's indeed more powerful than my wand, but not the point of being called an item created by Death itself," commented Christian. He then looked at Rodolphus.
"You have one last value," said Christian before pointing the elder wand at him: "Obliviate." He wiped out every memory and thought in the Death Eater's mind, leaving him blank. As he expected, all the layers of Rodolphus's mind disappeared, leaving one, and through Legilimency, Christian saw a slightly dim white ball.
'Is that his soul?' His eyes shone brightly as he swiftly observed.