Chapter 8: The Madness Outside the Bookstore
"Phew..."
Lyra let out a soft breath, carefully glancing back at Ollivander's Wand Shop.
"Rest assured, Miss Hamilton." Lupin, standing beside her, smiled faintly. "Mr. Lovegood won't chase after you."
"It's... it's not Mr. Lovegood..." Lyra muttered under her breath.
It was the perceptive Miss Lovegood who scared her more... If she remembered her face, it would be troublesome once school started...
Eek!
The mere thought of having to become a professor to dozens of little wizards like that made Lyra instinctively feel faint.
Even for the sake of Lord Grindelwald's mission, such a sacrifice was...
"Let's go to Flourish and Blotts next," Lupin, unaware of Lyra's thoughts, said as they walked. "Durmstrang's textbooks might be a bit different from Hogwarts'."
"Mm... mm..."
Lyra thought about it and felt that, aside from Durmstrang, probably no other school would list books like An Introduction to the Dark Arts and Using Dark Magic Against Your Enemies as required textbooks...
Soon, the two arrived at Flourish and Blotts. But the scene before them... made Lyra instinctively take several steps back.
"Make way! Make way!"
"I was here first!"
"Mr. Lockhart! Mr. Lockhart!"
The place was a sea of people. A massive crowd of wizards was gathered here, all of them shouting excitedly at the young man standing at the bookstore's entrance.
He... he's Lockhart?
Lyra pressed her lips together, looking at the handsome young man with a head of magnificent golden hair.
My future colleague is this popular...? He really does seem to be a famous author... Lyra thought, glancing at Lupin.
Only to find Lupin's expression was impassive.
Just as I thought. Mr. Lupin is not a fan of his...
"Well, this is a bit of a problem," Lupin muttered. "I didn't expect Mr. Lockhart to be holding his new book signing here."
"Th-Then should we go... somewhere else?" Lyra asked in a small voice.
She naturally had no desire to enter that crush of wizards. Those excited people could probably flatten her into a sheet of parchment.
"Mm..." Lupin nodded. "Let's go to..."
Before he could finish his sentence, a new commotion rose up from behind them.
"It's Mr. Lockhart!"
"Mr. Lockhart is here!"
A large group of newly arrived wizards rushed over excitedly. They subconsciously assumed Lupin and Lyra were also Lockhart fans, and before the two could react, the crowd had surrounded them.
"M... Mr. Lupin!" Lyra had just reached out to grab Lupin's sleeve when they were separated by several overeager fans.
"Hamilton..." Lupin's voice was swallowed up by the surging tide of wizards.
As the wizarding world's most outstanding author in recent years, Lockhart had a massive fanbase. These excited fans had brought the entire of Diagon Alley to a standstill, especially this section by Flourish and Blotts.
Lyra instinctively tried to get away, but the dense crowd pressing in from all sides made her face pale, and she had no idea which way to go.
"Move it! You people at the front!" Lyra heard a wizard behind her shout. "I want a photo with Mr. Lockhart!"
"I... I'm not..." Lyra stammered, trying to explain, but her voice was drowned out by the noise the second it left her lips.
"Please, everyone, don't be excited!" Lockhart's voice, in contrast, cut through the din quite clearly. "There are still plenty of signed books."
"The first thirty fans can all get one!"
"What?! Only thirty?" Lyra heard the wizards next to her mutter anxiously. The limited number of signed books only made them more frantic.
In an instant, the surrounding wizards surged madly in Lockhart's direction. Lyra felt nothing but people—arms, legs, backs... Even her ears were pressed flat against the side of her head.
She was like a piece of ham in a sandwich, completely and tightly enclosed.
And the human current was carrying her inward with it.
"I... don't want..." Lyra tried her best to struggle, but as more people pressed in, her face grew paler and paler.
Her petite frame was no match for the adult wizards. She was wedged beneath several of them, without even enough space to raise her hands.
I'm... I'm going to be drowned!
Lyra felt like she couldn't even breathe. She tried with all her might to escape through a gap in the crowd, but her efforts were futile.
But just as she felt she was about to pass out, her surroundings suddenly became empty.
"Gasp... gasp..." Suddenly able to breathe fresh air, Lyra heaved great breaths. Her already tattered robes had been torn in the chaos, revealing the shirt underneath and her pointed ears.
At this moment, however, she had no time to worry about her appearance. She just wanted to gulp down fresh air and get away from those insane wizards.
She leaned against a wall, walking for a long time. Only when all the surrounding wizards had disappeared did she finally let out a long breath.
As she gulped in the fresh air, she finally felt like she was alive again.
Too... too terrifying...
Lyra's pointed ears twitched subconsciously.
Do Mr. Lockhart's fans have to go through this every time? This has to be more dangerous than being a member of the Zauberpartei and fighting Aurors, right?
Lyra thought this as she looked around...
Where am I?
Having never been to Diagon Alley, she had no idea where this was... Was this still Diagon Alley?
Diagon Alley was narrow, but it was much wider and brighter than this place.
It was clearly midday, but this alley was exceptionally dark. And... Lyra twitched her nose slightly.
She could smell something strange.
It stinks... Did I end up in some Dark wizard's criminal den?
This place was a bit too unsafe... Lyra, wandless, had no desire to stay in a place like this. She instinctively turned to leave.
But suddenly, her pointed ears twitched. She heard a noise not far away.
"What's a little girl like you doing here alone?" It was a gruff man's voice.
Lyra quickly shrank back, only to realize the man wasn't talking to her.
"Looking for things." The voice that replied was a bit familiar. Lyra froze, then recognized who it was.
It was Miss Lovegood... the perceptive Luna Lovegood.
"There's nothing here for a little girl like you," the gruff voice said viciously. "This is Knockturn Alley..."
"It's not a place you should be!"
As his words fell, Lyra heard the sound of running and a struggle from around the corner of the alley.
Oh no!
Lyra immediately understood what was happening... Some Dark wizard must have targeted Miss Lovegood...
I have to save her!
But... I don't have a wand!
"Let go of me!" Luna's voice came again, followed immediately by a pained scream from the man with the gruff voice.
"You bit me!"
"Petrificus Totalus!"
The sound of the spell cut through the air. Lyra had no more time to think. She dashed toward the sound.
As she rounded the corner, a middle-aged man holding a wand and a girl, stiff as a board, came into view.
Miss Luna, with her silver-blonde hair, was frozen in place by the spell, unable to move.
Seeing this, Lyra took a deep breath and shouted with all the volume she could muster: "Stop! Let Miss Lovegood go!"
"What?" The response was a confused voice. The middle-aged man looked up, staring at Lyra for a second. "What did you just say?"
His expression was puzzled. It seemed he genuinely hadn't heard what Lyra said.
"I... I said... l-let... let go..." Being questioned like this, more than half of Lyra's momentum vanished. She shrank back and said, "Let go of Miss Lovegood..."
"..."
"What are you mumbling about over there?" The Dark wizard, still unable to hear her, looked annoyed. He raised his wand and aimed it at Lyra.
"Tell it to my spell!"
"Petrificus Totalus!"