In the underground grotto permeated with toxic pollen.
The students were enveloped in protection, scattered in groups of two or three all around.
Inside the magic array that dulled the senses.
Even standing back-to-back, it was difficult to perceive each other's presence.
Luna, Michael Corner, and Neville Longbottom happened to be grouped together.
They were stepping through puddles, moving forward with extreme caution.
"I-I want to go home..."
Neville said with a mournful expression, trembling like a leaf.
After five years of growth, he was larger and had filled out a bit more.
But under his grandmother's feeding.
His weight remained quite considerable.
Shaking like this, Michael felt as if the ripples of his flesh could transmit all the way over to him.
"Aren't you a member of the Enlightenment Society?" Michael said helplessly. "You're a Gryffindor, too! Don't be such a coward!"
"B-but... I only know how to grow plants. Even now, I can't cast a single spell without a wand..."
Neville lowered his head, his face ashen.
It was as if he could already see a future where he failed Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"Ugh—"
Michael forced himself to pat Neville's broad back.
He was getting a little impatient with Neville's stammering behavior.
...Honestly, I'm not close with this "Plant Brain" either.
Michael thought to himself.
With such a shrinking personality, plus his love for plants, why wasn't he sorted into Hufflepuff in the first place?
Just then.
Luna, who had been leading the way, suddenly stopped.
She tilted her head slightly.
On her porcelain-white face, her blue eyes gazed toward a specific spot.
"What's wrong?" Michael asked hurriedly, glad for the excuse to stop talking to Neville.
"Oh, it's nothing much..."
Luna spoke, her voice still as ethereal as a song.
Accompanying her words.
Specks of light, like moonbeams, slowly emerged around her body.
Strands of her blonde hair floated upward.
Her entire face became holy and elegant.
While they were dazed.
Luna continued, "It's just that someone has come to 'welcome' us."
As soon as her voice fell.
Michael froze, then his eyes suddenly widened!
The next second—
"Avada Kedavra!"
A terrifying green light shot toward them!
It struck the shield Luna had raised her hand to conjure!
Crack!
The shield shattered on impact.
The curse collided with the protective barrier set by Ethan, then shattered and dispersed.
Everything.
Happened in the spark of a flint.
Amidst the shocked stares of Michael and Neville.
Luna tilted her head and said regretfully, "My magic power still can't withstand the Killing Curse."
"Hmm, I need to keep working hard."
It was only then.
That the other two finally reacted and realized what had happened!
———Enemy attack!!
"Dark Wizards are here!"
Michael screamed in terror, subconsciously reaching for his wand.
But he grabbed empty air.
After a pause, Michael's expression twisted instantly!
———Damn it! I forgot none of us brought our wands!!
How is this any different from going to your girlfriend's house without bringing "that"?!
Unfortunately.
The other side seemed to have realized this as well.
"Hey, hey~ No way? You guys really didn't bring wands? Haha, I thought it was a joke!"
Rough and vicious laughter rang out from the darkness.
Accompanied by the sound of soles stepping on the water's surface.
Several figures appeared before the three of them.
When he saw the massive disparity between the enemy and themselves.
Michael's heart skipped a beat.
Two large words floated into his mind———————
It's over.
Michael thought: Damn it... I haven't even got a girlfriend yet... Ethan stole them all!
Hearing that last sentence.
Luna's ears twitched slightly.
Her clear blue eyes seemed to be covered with a layer of chill.
The magic power around her body seemed to surge a bit more violently.
The leading Dark Wizard was slowly revealed in the light.
When he saw Neville's face clearly.
He paused slightly.
His eyes widened, and then he suddenly shouted as if pleasantly surprised:
"Ha! You're Longbottom's son, right? How could I forget such a familiar face?"
He grinned, and under Neville's stiff gaze, said intoxicatedly:
"Ah, ah, I still remember how melodious their screams were. You don't know, do you? Your parents were crying and begging in the end."
"Oh~ Begging us to kill them."
Neville's breathing became rapid.
He stared blankly at the Dark Wizard, his face completely pale.
"Neville?"
Michael frowned.
He didn't know the specifics of what happened.
But instinctively, he shielded his classmate behind him.
In the dead silence.
The leading Dark Wizard bowed theatrically.
His razor-like gaze fixed tightly on Neville, articulating every word:
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Rabastan Lestrange, belonging to a glorious Pure-blood family."
"I am also one of the Death Eaters who used the Cruciatus Curse to torture your parents into madness."
Neville's body trembled violently.
The Dark Wizard's voice echoed in his blank mind:
"Heh, compared to your parents, you really are a soft egg."
"However, your parents were also two idiots. They wouldn't submit to the great Dark Lord, so they deserved to end up like that."
"Alright, enough nonsense."
"Let's send you on your way to join them——————Avada Kedavra!"
In that instant.
Looking at the life-stealing green light flying toward them.
Michael's legs felt like they had taken root in the ground; he couldn't move.
No... don't...
He didn't want to die so miserably just because of an "extracurricular activity"!
Who... who can save me—
Just then!
Bang!
A powerful force shoved Michael away from behind!
"Urgh!"
He fell into the water, the cold piercing his bones.
He looked up.
His astonished gaze saw the curse shatter the protective barrier on Neville's body.
Glass-like fragments danced in the air.
Refracting glittering points of light.
Neville stood amidst these points of light.
He straightened his spine, which was usually hunched from low self-esteem and timidity.
That round face showed an iron-clad determination for the first time!
With a voice that was slightly trembling, yet full of anger and fearlessness, he roared:
"Don't you dare... talk about my parents like that!!!"
Neville suddenly raised his hand, his eyes flashing with a flame-like brilliance!
He shouted:
"Stupefy!" (Hunhun daodi)
Boom!
A blinding red light burst from Neville's fingertips!
Like a furious bull, it slammed head-on into the bewildered Dark Wizard, Rabastan!
No, impossible!
Wandless magic... How could this brat, who still smells of mother's milk, master such high-level magic?!
"Ah!"
With a miserable scream.
Rabastan was blasted away!
He flew backward with a thud, smashing into a stone pillar.
His body twitched twice, then slid down limply.
He didn't move again.
"Rabastan?!"
The other Dark Wizards screamed, staring at this scene in astonishment!
They simply couldn't believe their eyes!
A Death Eater was actually knocked unconscious by a student without a wand?!
T-This... how is this possible!!
Michael lay on the ground.
dumbfounded.
Finally, he muttered:
"Holy shit, worthy of a Gryffindor..."
Exploding with power at the critical moment, that is brave!!
"Haa, haa, haa!"
Neville panted violently.
His eyes were gradually climbing with strands of blood-red.
The pollen traveled up his nasal cavity and into his blood.
Igniting and amplifying the emotions in his heart.
Magic danced endlessly at his fingertips; in his heart, there was only anger, like a sea of fire burning everything to ash.
In his mind.
Images of his parents in the hospital kept flashing.
A voice full of bewitchment rang in his mind:
[Kill... kill them...]
"For... to avenge Mom and Dad..."
[Hehe, yes... come on, don't you know that spell...]
Neville's arm trembled as he slowly raised it.
The crimson light was gradually stained with a frightening, ghostly green.
"N-Neville?"
Michael called out in a small voice.
He suddenly felt that the current Neville was a little scary.
[Come on, say the spell! Anyway, the opponents are Dark Wizards who have killed countless people———————]
Neville: "A... Avada Ked—"
Hum!
An invisible fluctuation suddenly shocked the area!
It choked off Neville's unfinished curse and instantly flushed out the bewitching poisonous mist filling the space!
"Ungh?!"
Neville's body trembled.
His eyes cleared up instantly.
He collapsed to the ground, recalling what he was about to do just now, and thick fear surfaced in his eyes.
The Three Unforgivable Curses were not only forbidden because their damage was irreversible.
It was also because they were "Dark Magic."
For an ordinary person's soul, every time it was used, it would be corroded once.
Eventually.
One would turn into a monster that only seeks slaughter.
Just like... these Death Eaters.
Neville was terrified: "G-God... what was wrong with me just now?"
The Dark Wizards were also bewildered.
They had been knocked to the ground by that gust of wind.
Shocked and angry, they shouted: "Who's there?!"
Answering them was a spreading purple mist.
Crack, crack.
A layer of white frost rapidly condensed on the puddles.
Gulp.
The Dark Wizards swallowed their saliva, raising their wands vigilantly, looking toward the center of the mist.
Splash, splash...
The sound of faint water ripples came.
In the tense atmosphere.
In the darkness, a point of golden light gradually appeared.
As if.
It was an anglerfish in the deep sea, luring its prey.
Splash, splash...
A small wooden boat slowly emerged from the mist.
A figure, an old woman whose entire body was obscured by a black cloak, looking like a Dementor.
She held a lantern with a withered, thin grey arm.
She lifted a face that was shriveled and wrinkled like a walnut, her lightless, grayish-white pupils staring at them.
Grinning, she revealed a row of sharp teeth like a fish.
She laughed hideously with a raspy voice:
[Are you... good children?]
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