Chapter 146: A Past That Can Never Be Returned To
Old Snape plunged forward, driven by an unyielding determination free of regret.
Lockhart, however, wasn't so thoughtless. With every step, he meticulously observed every subtle change around him, guarding against potential dangers.
"Look, we have footprints." He glanced back, noticing faint, multicolored footprints appearing in the darkness. "I felt it earlier; this potion has been stimulating our minds, making our inner selves release something."
"According to you, this thing probably needs a lot of our participation to fully form, right?"
"I predict there'll be some changes soon!"
As his words fell, those footprints suddenly lit up, their myriad colors casting an eerie glow throughout the black passage.
"Watch out!" Snape's expression turned grim, and he gripped his wand tightly.
But here, the magic they once wielded seemed to have lost its meaning. A howling gale, like a flood, surged from the direction they had come, rendering all their defensive spells useless.
Bang!
The fierce wind slammed into them, completely extracting what was hidden within their souls.
Snape grunted, his face suddenly turning pale, as he stared at the Patronus doe that abruptly appeared before him.
He had a vague, terrible premonition.
"No~"
He cried out in horror, "Don't!"
Yet, the terrible thing still happened.
As the gale pulled relentlessly, he let out a piercing howl. The powerful magic within him resisted the soul-tearing force, but he was utterly helpless, watching in horror as the Patronus doe rapidly tore itself away from his soul.
Then the doe was swept away by the gale, swiftly flying into the distance of the dark passage.
"No! Lily!"
Snape screamed in terror, his voluminous wizard's robes billowing, transforming into a black shadow that quickly chased after the Patronus doe.
A Flying Charm, a Flying Charm faster than a broomstick, propelled by his immense magic, reached its extreme speed.
The wind howled.
Lockhart pulled off the wizard's robe hood that was vigorously flapping against his face, trying his best to open his eyes, which were stinging painfully from the wind.
Just then, a pair of cool, small hands reached out, gently smoothing his hair that was wildly flapping in the wind. He turned his head and saw the Vengeance Fairy.
She too had been squeezed out of his mind by this seemingly unending torrent of wind, and was now conjuring a blade of grass to tie his hair back.
Lockhart extended his wand and cast an intricate Bubble-Head Charm on his face, finally feeling somewhat relieved.
He looked at the Vengeance Fairy with some confusion, and at the Patronus horse and the vicious werewolf beside her, blinking. "Why don't I feel our connection being torn apart?"
"Strange!" Lockhart looked around, vaguely seeing Snape's figure chasing the Patronus doe, getting further and further away. "I can feel it; his soul really did tear apart!"
"Perhaps..."
The Vengeance Fairy also looked up. "He holds something in his heart that doesn't belong to him, that's why it's so easily stripped away."
Makes sense.
He didn't even need to mention his own situation with the Patronus horse. Just his soul contract with the Vengeance Fairy, a magical creature, was surely not as inherently stable as the integral, two-sided relationship one had with their Patronus. Yet, he wasn't affected.
Furthermore, Lockhart could feel that he and Snape were experiencing the same effects from this bizarre potion. There was no indication that Snape was being specifically targeted.
"I have to go check!"
He climbed onto the horse's back, had the Vengeance Fairy sit behind him, and quickly chased in Snape's direction.
The werewolf also tried to get on the horse but was kicked away by a hoof. It could only curse and grumble, following behind on all fours.
"Hurry!"
The Patronus's speed was too slow. Seeing the distance between him and Snape growing, Lockhart waved his wand, quickly casting a Flying Charm.
Boom!
A powerful surge of air hit them. The horse neighed loudly, its body levitating. Harnessing the power of the gale, its speed instantly transformed into a silver streak of light.
"Wait for me~~~" The werewolf cried out, running behind for a bit, then despairingly saw Lockhart, riding the horse, instantly appear far in the distance.
"!!!" It roared in fury, its eyes suddenly widening. It transformed into a puff of black smoke, pulled by the faint connection to Lockhart, and was swept into the gale.
It was like a kite, tumbling in the strong wind.
"Wai—" It cried out in terror. "Wait... slow... down..."
"Faster!" Lockhart's Flying Charm was clearly no match for Snape's. Anxious, he began to try and urge the Patronus Charm to change.
Then, the werewolf despairingly saw the damned horse suddenly grow a pair of enormous wings, quickly unfurling and flapping, its speed increasing again. "Ahhh...ahhh..."
After an unknown duration of flying like this, it suddenly felt a jolt. The tearing force ceased, and it could finally touch solid ground, quickly tumbling and transforming back into a werewolf.
It shook its dizzy head vigorously, looking left and right, and finally spotted Lockhart.
They were stopped in a patch of faint light within this windy passage.
Lockhart's expression was complex as he looked at the images swirling in the faint light. It was the scene of him going to Urquhart Castle to deal with the Dark magical creature, the Vengeance Fairy—he was lying on the ground, looking hopefully at the Vengeance Fairy on the burning stake.
"I deceived you then." Lockhart looked at the scene with mixed feelings.
"I'm finally starting to understand what this regret potion is." He turned to the Vengeance Fairy behind him. "You could actually regret it now. I guess this..."
He didn't finish his sentence. A pair of cool, small hands embraced him, and the Vengeance Fairy pressed her little face against his back, softly saying, "I stopped caring long ago."
"..."
Lockhart sighed. "I never know how to repay these debts of deception. Life is truly too complicated sometimes."
Well, except for little Tom. He felt no psychological burden deceiving him at all.
"Give me a name!" the Vengeance Fairy said.
"Hmm?"
"Little Golden has a name, but I don't," the Vengeance Fairy's voice was soft and gentle, yet held an unyielding firmness. "We're family. You have to give me a name."
"A name, huh..." Lockhart scratched his head, feeling a bit of a headache. "I'll think about it properly after this is over."
When he named the three-armed Dark magical creature Little Golden Fur, it was because he treated it like a pet, like a cat or a dog. Now, he lived with these companions like family; he truly couldn't just treat them as pets.
"Hmm, that's fine. Take your time thinking; I can wait." The Vengeance Fairy seemed very happy.
Then, onwards!
Lockhart urged the Patronus horse again. "Let's go!"
But then, the horse turned its head to look at him. "I want a name too!"
"Little Horse!" Lockhart rolled his eyes, then looked at the werewolf, who was staring at him eagerly like a dog. "Little Wolf!"
The werewolf glared at him unhappily. "You could be more perfunctory. Why do you have to think carefully about the Vengeance Fairy's name? Do you believe I'll kill you!"
"You can't kill him; you're just a part of him," the horse retorted, tossing its flowing mane. "I like the name Little Horse; it's friendly."
"My goodness, you traitor!" The werewolf roared, but only got a mouth full of wind, because it was pulled up again, becoming a kite in the sky. "Wait... wait... slow... down..."
No.
It couldn't slow down at all.
Along the way, faint glows constantly flickered past, and within those glows surged past scenes.
Little Horse flapped its wings, continuing to chase in Snape's direction, and even began to communicate with Lockhart. "As a mind-creature, a Patronus, I can clearly tell you that Severus's Patronus has a big problem."
Lockhart was a little confused. "Shouldn't Patronus Charms all be pretty similar, born from the beauty and joy in one's soul?"
Little Horse chuckled. "I can see things you can't. You might not know, Professor McGonagall's Patronus is a group of cats, notice, a group." (Based on the original book's setting.)
Lockhart gasped in surprise. "A group?"
"Yes, a very unique state," Little Horse explained. "Dumbledore's Patronus is a phoenix, powerful, but in an extremely terrible state. It self-incinerates and self-resurrects every day, sometimes dying several times a day, depending on his mood."
In fact, everyone's Patronus was so different.
Because every mind was so different.
"Every mind has its own characteristics. For example, you are a solitary soul, like a rootless duckweed," Little Horse flapped its wings. "You crave companionship, you crave to be protected, so Little Wolf and I were born here, making it easier for us than other Patronuses to have the ability to communicate with ourselves."
Just then, an angry roar came from behind. "I'm not Little Wolf! I'd rather not have such a stupid name!"
Little Horse cackled mischievously. "Do you want to go faster?"
Lockhart's eyes lit up. "You can fly faster?"
Little Horse shook its head. "No, you can!"
It simply slowed down to allow Lockhart a better state to cast. "Dumbledore taught you, Mind Communication. You can use that!"
"The pursuit between minds sometimes has no spatial distance, only the distance between heart and heart."
"Fortunately, Snape genuinely considers you a friend, and you genuinely consider him one too."
"Try it. Perhaps I can appear right next to his Patronus in an instant!"
Good idea!
Lockhart's eyes lit up. He quickly waved his wand, chanting the incantation, "Mind Communication!"
Whoosh!
He suddenly felt a speed so great his thoughts couldn't keep up. His mind went blank for an instant, buzzing as if stretched into an infinitely long thin line.
The thin line rapidly recoiled, and he had already appeared behind Snape.
"That's not right, is it?" Little Horse looked back at Lockhart, puzzled. "I was supposed to go next to that deer, wasn't I? How did I end up here with Severus?"
Lockhart's expression subtly shifted, and the corner of his mouth curled upwards. "I know what the answer is!"
A regret potion, huh.
Existing in such an interesting way.
He looked at Snape, flying headfirst in front of him, and shouted, "Severus, do you want a wife or not?!"
"!!!" Snape abruptly turned and glared at him fiercely.
"Did you see the past scenes in those lights just now? We're chasing the direction of the past!" Lockhart shouted. "You're going the wrong way! You can never go back to the past; you can only go to the future. Your deer is in the future!"
He pointed to the direction behind him. "You're running the wrong way!"
....
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