"Whew..."
Lyla let out a soft breath, carefully glancing back at Ollivander's wand shop.
"Don't worry, Miss Hamilton." Mr. Lupin stood beside her, smiling faintly. "Mr. Lovegood won't chase after us."
"No... not Mr. Lovegood..." Lyla mumbled softly.
That sharp, perceptive Miss Lovegood scared her far more! If the girl remembered her face, it would be terribly troublesome when the term started. Ugh!
Just thinking about having to become a professor to dozens of such observant young witches and wizards made Lyla feel instinctively dizzy.
The sacrifices I make for Lord Grindelwald's mission... "Next, let's head to Flourish and Blotts," Mr. Lupin said, completely unaware of Lyla's internal struggle. "Durmstrang's curriculum is quite different, so you'll need to see what textbooks Hogwarts uses."
"Mm... mm..."
Lyla thought about it carefully. Besides Durmstrang, probably no other academy listed books like Into the Dark Arts and Destroying Your Enemies with the Dark Arts as mandatory reading.
Soon, the two arrived at Flourish and Blotts, but the scene before them... made Lyla instinctively stumble backward.
"Make way! Make way!"
"I was here first!"
"Mr. Lockhart! Mr. Lockhart!"
The street was packed shoulder-to-shoulder with a massive crowd of witches, all excitedly screaming at the young, dashing man posing at the bookstore entrance.
He... he is Lockhart?
Lyla pursed her lips, staring at the handsome wizard with a magnificent head of golden blonde hair.
Is my future colleague really this popular? He truly seemed to be a famous author.
Lyla glanced at Mr. Lupin, but found his expression completely flat and unimpressed.
Ah. Sure enough, Mr. Lupin is not a fan... "This is a bit troublesome," Mr. Lupin mumbled, frowning at the mob. "I didn't realize Mr. Lockhart would be holding his new book signing today."
"Then should we go to another... another place?" Lyla asked softly.
She naturally had zero desire to wade into a sea of crowded, screaming strangers. Those rabid fans could probably squash her flat into a piece of parchment.
"Hmm..." Mr. Lupin nodded in agreement. "Let's go down to—"
Before he could finish, a loud commotion erupted behind them.
"It's Mr. Lockhart!"
"Mr. Lockhart is right there!"
A fresh wave of newly arrived witches surged excitedly down the alley. Assuming Mr. Lupin and Lyla were also fans trying to get a glimpse of Lockhart, the newcomers practically stampeded them before either could react.
"Mr. Lu... Mr. Lupin!"
Lyla frantically reached out to grab Mr. Lupin's sleeve, but a wedge of excited fans violently shoved them apart.
"Miss Hamilton...!" Mr. Lupin's warning shout was instantly drowned out by the surging tide of witches.
As the most high-profile celebrity in the wizarding world, Gilderoy Lockhart had an insane number of devotees. The crazed fans had packed Diagon Alley to a complete standstill, turning the area around Flourish and Blotts into a claustrophobic nightmare.
Lyla instinctively tried to fight her way out of the crowd. Her face was pale with panic, but she had nowhere to go amidst the dense throngs of crushing bodies.
"Move it! You in front!" a large witch behind Lyla bellowed. "I want a photo with Mr. Lockhart!"
"I... I'm not..." Lyla stammered, desperately wanting to explain. But her tiny voice was swallowed by the deafening clamor the moment it left her lips.
"Ladies, please! Don't get too excited!" Lockhart's booming, theatrical voice somehow carried clearly over the noise. "There are still plenty of signed books!"
"The first thirty fans will receive a free copy!"
"What?! Only thirty?!" The witches surrounding Lyla panicked. The limited supply made them lose their minds entirely.
Suddenly, the mob surged forward, violently shoving toward the bookstore doors. Lyla was hit from all sides. Elbows, knees, shoulders... there were limbs everywhere!
She was trapped like a piece of ham in a sandwich, completely paralyzed. The human current dragged her helplessly forward.
"I... no..." Lyla struggled with all her might, but as more and more bodies pressed in, her panic skyrocketed.
Being so petite, she was no match for the full-grown witches. She was pinned beneath several larger women, without even the space to raise her hands to defend herself.
I... I'm going to be trampled to death!
Lyla's chest burned; it was becoming impossible to breathe. She threw her entire body weight into a desperate lunge, squeezing through a tiny gap between the rioting fans.
Suddenly, she popped out the other side.
"Hoo... hoo..." Lyla collapsed against a brick wall, violently gasping for fresh air.
Her already tattered, decades-old robes had been torn open during the stampede, revealing her undershirt and the tips of her pointed ears. But she had no time to care about her appearance; she just wanted to breathe.
Still leaning against the rough brick wall, she stumbled blindly forward until the deafening screams faded into a dull roar.
Too... too terrifying... Lyla's pointed ears trembled instinctively.
Did Mr. Lockhart's fans riot like this every time?! Dealing with them was far more dangerous than fighting trained Aurors alongside Grindelwald's army!
Catching her breath, Lyla finally looked around. Where am I?
Having never actually explored Diagon Alley, she had no idea where the stampede had pushed her. Was she even still on the main street?
Although Diagon Alley was cramped, it was bright and bustling. This side alley was exceptionally dim, shadowed, and narrow.
Lyla twitched her nose slightly. She could smell something foul.
Stinky... Had she stumbled into a Dark Wizard's criminal hideout?
This place felt incredibly unsafe. Without a wand, Lyla had no desire to linger in such an ominous alley. She instinctively turned to run back toward the crowds.
Suddenly, her pointed ears twitched. She heard movement just around the corner.
"Little girl, what are you doing down here all alone?" a hoarse, threatening male voice rasped.
Lyla quickly shrank back into the shadows. Wait, he isn't talking to me.
"Looking for something," a young, dreamy voice answered.
Lyla froze. The voice sounded oddly familiar. A second later, she recognized it.
It was Miss Lovegood. The terrifyingly perceptive Luna Lovegood!
"There's nothing down here for a little girl to find," the hoarse voice sneered maliciously. "This is Knockturn Alley..."
"It's no place for a child!"
As his words fell, Lyla heard the sudden scuffle of boots and a frightened struggle from around the corner.
Oh no! Lyla immediately understood what was happening. A Dark Wizard had targeted Miss Lovegood! She had to save her!
But... I don't have a wand!
"Let go of me!" Luna cried out.
Immediately following her shout, the hoarse man screamed in pain. "Ah! You little brat, you bit me!"
"Petrificus Totalus!"
The sound of the spell echoing off the brick walls spurred Lyla into action. Without thinking, she bolted around the corner.
In the gloom of the alley, she saw a ragged middle-aged wizard holding a wand, and a young girl frozen stiff like a board. Miss Luna had been paralyzed by the Full Body-Bind Curse!
Seeing this, Lyla took a deep breath, puffed out her chest, and shouted with the loudest, most authoritative voice she could muster.
"Stop! Let go of Miss Lovegood!"
"What?" The man looked up, utterly confused. He paused, staring at the petite, trembling Lyla. "What did you just say?"
His eyes were blank, as if he genuinely hadn't heard a word she said.
"I... I said... let... let go..." Demanded to repeat herself, Lyla instantly lost all her bravado. She shrank back against the wall. "Let go of Miss Lovegood..."
"..."
"What are you babbling about?!" The Dark Wizard, still unable to hear her mumbles, scowled impatiently. He raised his wand directly at Lyla.
"Talk to my spell!"
"Petrificus Totalus!"
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