Specks of pink light, like tiny, dazzling gems, scattered in all directions. The pink starlight particles seemed to answer a summons, quickly spreading over Dylan and the two boys beside him.
Then, within that dreamlike pink glow, their figures gradually blurred. Their once-clear outlines faded away, quietly melting into the surroundings.
"This is a new wand-flash charm I've been working on. With this kind of special effect, my spells pack an even bigger punch."
Dylan was not actually lying.
He had noticed that if he did not trigger these visual effects when casting, it always felt like something was missing.
But whenever he let the pink starlight particle effects flow freely with his spellcasting, everything felt smoother, and the power of the spell went up a bit as well.
He suspected this was a hidden benefit of wand customization.
After all, the System had only said that spending Galleons would let him reskin his wand.
It had not said the spells' power would stay exactly the same afterward.
Because of that discovery, Dylan had the urge to sink all his money into beautifying his wand.
Still, he worried that if the wand looked too over-the-top, the professors would start peppering him with questions whenever they worked together.
So he planned to save the heavy experimentation for the short breaks or summer and winter holidays, when he would be working on spells alone.
"Blimey…" Ron stared at his own hand, which looked like it had vanished, utterly stunned.
Dylan could even pull off a spell this advanced?
Were they all really first-year Hogwarts students?
Harry stuck his head out to glance down the corridor.
"That looked like Professor Snape just now. He was heading… probably for the fourth floor."
He hesitated. "What would Professor Snape be doing up there?"
Dylan glanced upward.
If Snape had a chance at the Stone…
"I want to go see," Harry suddenly said.
"Hm?" Dylan was surprised. "Seriously? You're not worried Hermione might run into the troll?"
Harry froze.
"Enough. If Professor Snape catches you doing something this dangerous, he'll have your hide."
Dylan did not want to argue about it. Striding forward, he said, "My Disillusionment Charm still isn't stable. It could drop at any time. We'd better hurry."
Ron looked from Dylan to his own nearly invisible hand. "Not stable?"
Then what did stable look like?
He pursed his lips.
Maybe Hermione had not been entirely wrong about him…
The two boys quickly followed Dylan.
They entered the classroom corridor.
Dylan immediately frowned.
"What a disgusting stench."
A sharp, nauseating odor clawed at his nostrils and pushed straight up into his sinuses.
"Buddle-Head Charm!"
Another burst of pink starlight particles flashed, and a transparent bubble formed around Dylan's head.
At the same time, the reeking air was pushed out through the film.
"Hey, what spell was that?" Ron gaped.
"I literally just said its name," Dylan replied, already rushing into the girls' bathroom.
Inside, a massive, ugly troll was facing away from him.
It lumbered slowly along in front of the stalls, huge body swaying as it moved. Its big nose kept poking up to the doors, sniffing hard at whatever was inside, as if searching for something.
Dylan's eyes narrowed.
The crash of the bathroom door slamming open startled the troll. Its sluggish movements froze, and it whipped around. When its round, bronze-bell eyes landed on Dylan, they bulged even wider.
"Roooaaar!"
"Who are you calling, your mum?"
Without hesitation, Dylan snapped his wand up.
"Crucio!"
The tip of his wand erupted in a spray of brilliant pink starlight particles that shot straight toward the troll.
In an instant, pink radiance wrapped its enormous body.
The moment those soft-colored particles sank into its flesh, the troll's furious expression froze, then twisted into raw agony. It let out a howl of unbearable pain.
"Arrrgh!"
Its thick limbs flailed wildly, hammering its own chest again and again as if it could somehow beat the torment out of itself.
By then Harry and Ron had caught up behind Dylan. When they saw the troll, both of their faces went slack with shock.
"What spell was that?"
"A Soul-Piercing Curse," Dylan said offhandedly.
Then, taking advantage of the troll's disorientation, he raised his wand again.
"Incendio!"
At the same time, he spoke silently in his heart:
Fiendfyre Curse.
As one of the six max-level Dark spells he commanded,
he did not actually need a wand for Fiendfyre at all.
Nor did he have to say the incantation out loud.
So Harry and Ron only heard him shout "Incendio."
In the next instant, Dylan's wand spewed out another torrent of blinding pink starlight particles.
The particles swirled together like living things, spinning faster and faster until they formed…
a pink fluffy bunny.
"Squeak squeak!"
Fire crackled.
The rabbit's whole body burned with fierce flames. Its ears stood straight up, and its ruby-like eyes glowed with an eerie light. Its mouth opened wide, revealing sharp, flame-tipped fangs.
The troll actually jumped at the sudden sight of the flaming pink rabbit.
Its heart was already spasming with pain—
and then the rabbit lunged at it.
A distinctly human terror flashed across its face.
Boom!
The pink fiery bunny bit down on the troll's neck and latched on.
The starlight-fire that made up its body seared the troll's skin, sizzling as flesh burned. The reek of scorched meat mingled with the troll's own stench.
Without the bubble over their heads, Harry and Ron caught the full blast of it. Their Adam's apples bobbed once—
and they both turned aside to retch.
"Urgh!"
Dylan's eyes narrowed.
"Incendio!"
Avada Kedavra.
His wand tip spat out another pink fluffy bunny, this one much smaller and, at a glance, far cuter.
It moved incredibly fast.
Before Harry and Ron had even finished vomiting, it had already streaked to the troll's shoulder.
"Squeak-squeak."
The little pink starlight bunny cocked its head,
then kicked off and dove straight into the troll's skull.
"Roo—"
The troll's scream stopped dead.
Its body froze. The light went out in its eyes as its life drained away like a receding tide.
Boom.
The enormous body hit the floor with a crash that shook the entire bathroom.
Only then did Ron come back to his senses. He wiped his mouth with one hand and stared, eyes bulging.
"Merlin—did a pink fluffy bunny just kill a troll?!"
(End of Chapter)
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