read my new story:
Hogwarts : He Starts by Deconstructing Avada Kedavra...
Hogwarts, my partner is Tom…
Magical energy collided in mid-air, showering sparks everywhere.
Even the dark night was illuminated by these strange bursts of light.
Rey lay slumped over the unicorn's back, struggling desperately.
As the beautiful figure before him blurred and faded, his struggles grew more frantic.
Helena's silhouette fell, struck down by a bolt of magical lightning.
Rey felt as if his heart were being twisted in a vice. No matter how hard he tried, his body refused to move. Everything he was "seeing" was just a hallucination as he fought the Sleeping Charm.
"No... NO..."
Rey screamed internally. No matter how much he denied it, the image of Helena falling played out in his mind, relentless. Especially that last look back—filled with longing and reluctance—it tore his heart to pieces.
"ARGH...!"
With a roar like a wounded beast, Rey bolted upright.
The moment he saw Helena hit by Caractacus Burke's spell in his mind, he snapped. His dormant body surged with adrenaline, forcing him to sit up unconsciously from his lying position.
Now sitting up, his consciousness cleared. Only then did he realize that everything he had just experienced might have been a nightmare.
Maybe. Or maybe not. Rey wasn't sure if what he saw in the dream was just a replay of reality.
Looking at his surroundings—familiar yet strange—Rey's brain seemed to crash. He sat there, dazed.
Hagrid's wooden hut. He was sleeping on Hagrid's massive wooden bed.
The fire beneath the cauldron in the fireplace burned brightly, lighting up the entire cabin and driving away the deep chill. Rey could hear the patter-patter of the heavy rain washing over the hut outside.
Of course Rey knew where this was.
He had been here before, even cooked a pot of excellent beef soup for Hagrid right in this room.
BANG!
With a loud thud, the wooden door was pushed open, and Hagrid walked in.
He was only halfway through closing his umbrella when he spotted the awake Rey. A look of surprise and joy washed over his face, and his booming voice filled the room. "Oh, Merlin's beard! You woke up so fast!"
"It's good that you're back. Do you know? I thought I'd never see you again, little guy."
"It was my failure. Not only did I fail to protect you, but I let the vampire who infiltrated Hogwarts escape."
Hagrid's voice was loud, his joy impossible to hide. Since Rey's disappearance, he had clearly been drowning in guilt.
Now that Rey was back, he couldn't be happier, chattering away endlessly.
"Hagrid, could you step aside for a moment?"
An aged but spirited voice sounded from behind Hagrid.
"Oh, Professor Dumbledore. Sorry, I got a bit too excited."
Hagrid immediately turned and moved aside from the narrow doorway. Dumbledore, dressed in his night robes, walked into the hut.
---
Dumbledore's white beard was tied in a neat knot. He wore a nightcap, spectacles perched on his nose, and a nightgown that dragged on the floor. Despite the torrential rain outside, there wasn't a single wet spot on him.
It was late at night. Dumbledore should have been resting, but Hagrid must have summoned him.
Rey, missing for over three months, had suddenly returned. This was a major event for both Hagrid and Dumbledore.
"Why am I here, Professor Dumbledore?"
Rey covered his face with his right hand. He was still reeling from the nightmare of Helena being killed and knew nothing of how he arrived here.
"Hagrid tells me Firenze, a centaur warrior, brought you back," Dumbledore replied, walking to the bedside and observing Rey's poor mental state.
"Firenze... the centaur warrior..."
Rey repeated the name in a low voice. Neither Dumbledore nor Hagrid interrupted him.
taking a deep breath, Rey finally recalled the scene where Helena sent him away to save his life. Another realization dawned on him: traveling back a thousand years wasn't a dream. And returning here wasn't a dream either.
Then... seeing Helena killed... was that a dream?
Helena put him on the unicorn... and now he was back?
Helena...
Unsure and afraid to think further, Rey buried his head in his hands again. His pained expression confused both Dumbledore and Hagrid.
"My boy, what have you been through?" Dumbledore asked with concern.
"Nothing, Professor. My memories are just a bit chaotic."
Rey rubbed his forehead, his expression pained. His answer to Dumbledore wasn't an excuse; it was the truth.
Memories flashed and tumbled in his mind, chaotic and thick like glue.
Dumbledore could see at a glance that Rey's mental state was incredibly fragile.
Excessive consumption of mental energy often resulted in this kind of instability.
Dumbledore pressed his index finger against Rey's forehead and whispered a simple incantation.
A cool stream of energy flowed from Dumbledore's fingertip into Rey's mind.
Rey's mind, which had felt like burning sludge, instantly cooled and cleared. The chaotic, flying memories settled down.
Sleep is the fastest way for a person to recover mental strength. The spell Dumbledore used would guide Rey naturally into a deep sleep, helping him recover faster.
"Hagrid, take good care of him. Until we find the vampire who infiltrated Hogwarts, let him stay here."
Seeing Rey fall asleep peacefully, Dumbledore stood up and instructed Hagrid.
"Yes, Professor. I understand," Hagrid nodded.
"I'll come back tomorrow at noon. He should be recovered by then."
With that final instruction, Dumbledore left the hut.
---
For ordinary people, the best way to recover mental energy is sleep.
For wizards, there is another option similar to sleep: meditation.
Dumbledore's spell was a guide, leading Rey into a deep meditative state.
This not only helped restore his spirit but also allowed him to organize his chaotic memories within his mental world.
As the cool magical energy entered his body, Rey quickly found himself in his own mind palace.
It used to be a modern metropolis bordering an endless wasteland, separated by a purple-black curtain of light.
That was what his mental world should look like. But what Rey entered now was different.
The purple-black curtain was gone. The city lay in ruins. The sky was choked with black fog, letting only slivers of sunlight through.
The once clearly defined worlds were now a broken wasteland. Perhaps this was caused by the disappearance of the barrier.
Staring at this strange, ruined version of his mind, Rey felt lost.
The modern metropolis represented his own magical energy. The space beyond the purple-black curtain represented the dark magic.
As for where the curtain came from or why it vanished, Rey had no clue.
Now, the ruined city was filled with various colors.
Black, white, purple... and dark gold.
So many different colored energies filled the collapsed cityscape. It felt like walking through a post-apocalyptic world after a massive earthquake.