NOTE: Images relevant to all fighting scenes, including Character Images, are available on Patre0n. Hope you guys will take advantage of the 25% Discount.
If you do, I will highly recommend to access backlog chapters (at least Kai's fighting scenes) to have a look at the images. It will be a vastly different experience.
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A few moments before,
In the dungeons, Dumbledore, Minerva, and other Professors waved their wands, warding off the incoming rows of werewolves.
Finding the 3rd floor's corridor empty and secured, the Headmaster had directly apparated to the dungeons. As only he had the authority to do so, none got wiser about his whereabouts.
It also saved him time, letting him assist the professors and preventing the beasts from reaching dormitories.
A few werewolves were lying here and there, tied with magical ropes.
However, the sheer concentration of the incoming ones was so great that it overwhelmed even the best wizards and witches of Hogwarts.
As if that wasn't enough, suddenly, a dozen more werewolves came charging at them, snarling and reeking.
"Oh, Dumbledore!" Professor McGonagall gasped.
Professor Flitwick took a few tiny steps back, gritting his teeth, his mustache flaring from rugged breathing. Professor Sinistra was bleeding, her left hand hanging limp. Professor Sprout had lost consciousness, exhausting herself beyond measure. Hagrid was also with them, his fists wrapped under many layers of tapestry.
Yet, when they saw the wave of werewolves charging at them, their eyes shook.
This was it, they thought. The end.
Dumbledore's fingers tightened around the Elder Wand, his eyes flashing between blue and black.
For once, he thought of decimating all these creatures. He had the power to do so.
Yet, a part of him, a part that still remembered his old self, told him that behind the creatures could be innocent people, unaware of what they were doing now.
Perhaps, the perpetrator behind this infestation knew that, too.
Is that why he chose werewolves?! Dumbledore thought, guessing the identity of the enemy. Who else could it be other than Yellow Warlock or Voldemort?! Lord Ekrizdis was too proud to use such deep, manipulative tactics anyway.
I still lack control over my newly gained powers. If I used it carelessly, the collateral damage, and loss of lives, would be too high to ignore.
The Headmaster looked at the fear on his colleagues' faces and knew there was only one way to handle this situation. "Get behind me!" he shouted.
With a wave of his wand, Dumbledore created a water-like dome around the battling Professors.
Booom!
The wave of the werewolves slammed into the dome, created ripples, but failed to penetrate it.
Unfortunately, it also gave them a direct path leading to the dormitories. Madness coursing through their brains and eyes, the beasts kept charging, running toward the place that the teachers had been guarding with their very lives.
"Dumbledore…" Minerva mumbled, her face losing color.
The Headmaster turned around and looked at the stunned teachers and smiled. "The barrier will remain in effect for quite some time. I will be back shortly."
"You…"
Professor Flitwick had just realized what was happening when the Headmaster disappeared, following a crack.
*
*
Slytherin Common Room
Dark, orangey light oozing out of the pumpkins levitating midair fell upon the greenish lamps and chairs, giving the colors an ominous touch.
The greenish tinge falling into the room, because of a part of it being under the lake, also couldn't lift the spirits of colors.
Lots of low-backed black and dark green button-tufted, leather sofas; skulls; and dark wood cupboards also didn't help the cause.
Tapestries featuring the adventures of famous medieval Slytherins felt lifeless.
And the grand atmosphere it possessed had never felt colder.
Many students had holed themselves up in their beds. A group of Slytherins were still in the Common Room, though, many of which were there only because of one girl.
Daphne Greengrass came running up from the girls' dormitory.
Darcie's eyes fell upon her and her pupils visibly trembled. The shadow on her friend's face looked darker than the Common Room's.
Daphne ignored the frowns and cold eyes of the older students and approached Darcie.
"Hermione's not there, either," she told Darcie. "I knew something was wrong. I heard Draco making fun of her that she was crying in the bathroom. But I thought she must have returned to the dorm to get ready for the Halloween feast. I…"
Darcie held Daphne's hands and squeezed. "Don't worry. It…"
Boom!
The entire Common Room quaked, tremors running through the marbled floor.
The students panicked.
"What was that?!" a fifth-year asked, taking out his wand.
"Did they… break the wall?!"
"Impossible!"
The entrance to the Slytherin Common Room was located behind a bare stretch of stone wall in the dungeons of Hogwarts Castle.
A password was required to enter it; whereupon a passage was revealed leading to the common room.
"A few werewolves can't break the wall," a sixth-year said calmly. "It's quite thick…"
Then they felt it.
It was as if a herd of Hippogriffs was coming toward them, the floor shaking with their steps.
The students' faces paled instantaneously. Some of them, including the fifth and sixth years, just ran for their rooms, forgetting all spells.
"Darcie…" Daphne mumbled and then realized… her friend wasn't standing next to her anymore.
Darcie approached the Common Room's door, looked over her shoulder, and smiled at Daphne. "I will bring her back," she said, her voice calm and powerful. "Believe me."
"Darcie!"
The young Malfoy opened the door and closed it behind her.
Through the momentarily opening, the remaining students barely saw the hint of approaching blackness…
… the snarling sound deafening their ears even after the door had closed.
*
*
The Long Passageway,
Darcie stood outside the Common Room's entrance and looked at over a dozen werewolves.
The passage was long, cramping the beasts, and slowing them down. But it wasn't long enough to keep them from charging at her.
Darcie's gaze fell on the wall behind the snarling blackness. It had vanished.
Someone has opened the wall from outside, Darcie realized. A deliberate attempt to…
It didn't matter, anymore. Darcie knew whoever had opened the door must be a professor as only the Slytherin knew the passwords and all of them were inside the dormitories, except Hermione.
Her hand reached for the wand but then paused.
Wand magic would need gestures, Darcie thought, her poisonous, green gaze shifting from one werewolf to another. These things won't give me enough time to wave it. Sigh!
Forget about waving the wand, the beasts wouldn't even let her think properly to cast Wandless or Non-verbal Magic.
Facing the vile odds, seeing no hint of holding the werewolves much less going past them, Darcie smiled.
She took two vials out of her pockets, flicked off their corks, and emptied their contents.
Tink-Tink!
The empty vials rolled on the floor as Darcie let out a magical breath, feeling the power coursing through her. From her toes to her head, every inch of her muscles squirmed.
Darcie took a deep breath and let it out, her eyes gaining a blue tinge.
She took off her robes and tie, and rolled her sleeves up.
It was then the crack resounded next to her.
Professor Dumbledore and Darcie Malfoy looked at each other, stunned.
Both of them were just too smart to not realize what was happening, making them smile.
"Professor," Darcie nodded at the Headmaster.
"Ms. Malfoy," Dumbledore nodded back, eying the empty vials on the floor. "Shall we?"
Darcie stepped forward, cracking her knuckles with a grin. "Try not to hold me back."
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100 Power Stones: +1 Bonus Chapter