Chapter 151: Not Sleeping in the Middle of the Night
It was late night, and a torrential downpour lashed Hogwarts. The sheer volume of rain was as if a gaping hole had ripped open in the sky.
Boom!
Thunder tore and surged in the sky, lightning rampaged high above, occasionally illuminating the darkness as if it were day.
If one possessed enough spiritual awareness and carefully observed the terrifying scene in the sky, they might even notice that where the lightning tore and roared, dreadful flames also burned above the clouds.
In fact, even without keen perception, people looking up at the sky would see the gloomy heavens tinged with an eerie red, like a dark river of molten lava hanging in the firmament, even above the pouring rain.
"This is exactly like hell!"
A few drenched young wizards huddled under an eave. Ron shrank his head, looking at the sight.
"I can feel something terrible happening." Goyle seemed frightened by something, beginning to tremble, his chubby face filled with terror. "Draco, I feel an evil force. Not the evil of Dark Magic, but the purest kind of evil."
Draco frowned, looking at Crabbe beside him.
Crabbe also nodded with a solemn expression. "Very evil. The devil is roaring!"
"How ridiculous!" Hermione scoffed from the side. "If you had paid attention in History of Magic class and diligently read your textbooks, you'd know there are no demons in this world."
"You're the ridiculous one!" Draco looked at Hermione with annoyance. "You have no idea how powerful pure-blood wizards truly are. You can say Goyle and Crabbe are a bit silly, but in some magical fields, you'll never measure up to them!"
"Hmph~"
Hermione sneered, not wanting to argue with these three idiots. She looked up at the sky, narrowing her eyes. "Believe it or not, I can feel it. This is Professor Lockhart's aura."
"!!!" Ron, who was reaching out to catch raindrops from outside the eave, quickly pulled his hand back upon hearing that.
"I agree with Hermione's guess!" Harry nodded vigorously.
Draco chuckled mockingly. "Does our Savior have some grand insight again? You can't possibly say it's just a 'hunch' again, can you?"
The reason they were still out here in the middle of the night was that Professor Lockhart had grouped them into the same adventure team, and they had been arguing over who to listen to.
Harry's trio and Draco's trio couldn't convince each other.
Draco believed that Harry always had some mysterious intuition and then stubbornly insisted that this intuition was correct.
That was simply too ridiculous.
Rather than trusting intuition, it was better to trust the "spiritual perception" imbued in Goyle and Crabbe, these "pure-hearted" ones, by their bloodline.
Anyway, Draco thought that was more reliable.
They began to seek their own supporters.
Harry and his group found Neville, Ginny, and the Weasley twins.
Draco's group tried to persuade Luna and Cedric, who also believed in "spiritual perception."
But in reality, the others had their own pride and didn't believe these two trios had such authoritative leadership.
So, the two trios agreed to a duel, vowing to quickly clear the "adventure Chamber of Secrets" at the edge of the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night to see who was superior.
However, before they could even reach the Chamber's location, they were forced back by the terrifying downpour.
Within the storm, a dreadful mysterious force seemed to rage, making all the young wizards instinctively resist entering this mystery, which seemed to possess a powerful will.
To use their Professor Lockhart's words, "This is not your adventure. You must be more cautious about whether to interfere."
"Then let's compete at this!" Ron suddenly spoke. Seeing everyone looking at him, he firmly grasped a broomstick beside him and pointed towards the sky. "Let's go up there and see whether it's demons or Professor Lockhart!"
He didn't actually agree with Hermione's judgment. Although he knew Professor Lockhart had the ability to control the weather, the terrifying scene before them was different from the magic Professor Lockhart had cast before, which healed everyone's minds and bodies. One was light, the other dark; the difference was too great.
He also didn't quite trust Harry's intuition. Harry always yearned for adventure, yearned for danger, and his intuition always led everyone into the most perilous situations, making it easy for everyone to fall into adventure.
But he was so steadfast in protecting his two companions.
Right or wrong, he just stood by their side.
He was a true Gryffindor, a resolute warrior, a courageous warrior, a warrior who protected his comrades.
He looked proudly at Draco's group. "Do you dare?"
Ron didn't need to turn around to know that Harry and Hermione would also stand firmly behind him, staring coldly at Draco's group, even if the coming adventure would be so dangerous.
"What's there to be afraid of!" Draco grabbed a broomstick and chuckled to his two silly friends beside him. "It seems these Gryffindors haven't been taught enough of a lesson on the Quidditch pitch and plan to compete with us again."
Goyle straightened his robust body, looking at the three little "chickens" before him with an arrogant expression. "Then let's defeat you again!"
Harry was fuming. "Draco, remember this! You lose every time! Understand?"
Crabbe and Goyle exchanged glances, chuckling mischievously with Draco. "He's agitated."
Harry immediately drew his wand, wishing he could just finish them off right then and there.
Fortunately, he took a deep breath and calmed down, seeing that Ron and Hermione beside him had already gripped their broomsticks and wands firmly.
So he said, "Alright, let's compete. I'll count, one, two—"
Before he even shouted "three," Draco's trio had already shot into the sky, rapidly heading towards the stormy curtain.
"They always do this!" Ron cursed, swinging onto his broomstick. He looked at Hermione with some concern. "This competition isn't really fair; you're the only one not a Quidditch player."
Hermione proudly lifted her head. "Don't underestimate me!"
So, the three of them also followed, riding their broomsticks into the torrential rain.
It proved that Hermione's broomstick handling was indeed a step below everyone else; she performed mediocrely in that regard. Even though she had extensively researched the magical mechanisms of broomsticks and various related information, the disparity still existed.
She actually understood the reason herself. She had listened carefully to Professor Lockhart's lessons and could analyze the cause.
Because she resisted this foolish act of flying on a broomstick from the bottom of her heart. This resistance stemmed from the negative image of evil witches flying on brooms ingrained in Muggle culture, as well as Muggles' inherent discrimination against wizards, deeming such ancient practices utterly foolish.
So, clearly, Hermione noticed that most wizards who received Muggle education from childhood, whether Muggle-born or half-blood, performed very poorly in Quidditch.
It was just as Professor Lockhart had said: if you don't embrace it, it won't choose you.
Fortunately, this wasn't a Quidditch match.
This was a more complex adventure, testing many more skill areas. Hermione skillfully cast Bubble-Head Charms and Lightning-Shielding Charms (that could deflect typical lightning strikes) on her two companions. She waved her wand, casting Slowing Charms at Draco's group, who were chasing in the distance.
Even though her speed wasn't as fast, and her broomstick wasn't as agile, when it came to aerial combat, she was still the most striking presence among them.
Adventure is always the most dangerous thing.
As the young wizards soared tens of thousands of feet into the sky, they began to implicitly agree not to attack each other, beyond the basic Disarming Charm. Otherwise, falling from the sky would mean irreversible death.
Professor Lockhart's adventure classes had brought them not only courage but also much wisdom concerning battle. They quickly plunged into the clouds, where the lightning was so terrifying that everyone had to slow down, wary of the lightning that could strike at any moment.
They soon realized they had done something foolish: they currently had no ability to withstand lightning.
Not to mention "Fiendfyre!"
Crabbe excitedly shouted, "Above the clouds is Fiendfyre! I can feel it!"
Hermione's face changed. Fiendfyre was a terrifying Dark Magic. It was said that if it burned to a certain intensity, it would become completely uncontrollable. And if there truly was Fiendfyre above the clouds, this Fiendfyre covering the entire sky would probably burn Hogwarts to ashes!
"We need to find Professor McGonagall or Professor Dumbledore as soon as possible! This is no laughing matter!" Her expression was incredibly grim.
"It's too late!" Harry nervously hovered his broomstick, looking up at the faintly moving gigantic fire monsters in the clouds. "It has already fully formed!"
Not just the three of them, Draco and Goyle also looked somewhat pale.
Only Crabbe excitedly shouted, "It's Professor Lockhart! It must be Professor Lockhart! What a magnificent Fiendfyre Charm! Merlin's beard, if my father saw this spell, he would surely weep!"
He frantically spurred his broomstick, charging towards the clouds, seemingly not at all worried about being burned to death.
"Vincent!!!" Draco screamed, "Come back!"
But his shouts couldn't influence Crabbe's decision at all, so he had no choice but to curse and urge his broomstick to give chase, attempting to pull this idiot back.
Goyle also quickly followed behind.
"Merlin's pigtails!" Ron exclaimed, "Are they all insane?"
Just then, he noticed Harry also bravely flying towards Crabbe, lowering his body, trying to go faster.
So he and Hermione also quickly followed in pursuit.
Soon, the surrounding clouds began to grow scalding hot. They felt as if they had entered an extremely terrifying stream of hot steam. Even with so much rain around, they felt a frightening dryness.
Lightning surged, tearing and scorching the sky, emitting an extremely strange, burnt air smell that was suffocating.
"We can't get any closer!" Hermione shouted. "The steam here will cook us alive!"
Not just her, but everyone else also felt a stinging sensation on their skin as if it had been burned.
"Stupefy!" Ron could no longer endure the heatwave and began casting offensive spells at Crabbe in the lead.
He tried to make the madman stop, so Harry, who had now surpassed Draco and Goyle, could save the guy.
Hermione also began casting Freezing Charms at Crabbe. Draco finally reacted, waving his wand to make snakes appear in the air, trying to entangle Crabbe.
This clearly worked!
In the chaos, amidst the pouring rain and thunder, Crabbe's body suddenly stiffened and he fell from his broomstick. Harry sharply swung his broom and dove, grabbing Crabbe's collar.
But Crabbe was too heavy, and the immense force caused Harry's broomstick to plummet sharply, almost dragging him off.
Draco finally arrived, flying below Crabbe and using his broomstick to support Crabbe's body, embracing his silly friend.
He looked at Harry with a complicated expression, but Harry was merely sitting on his broomstick, somewhat exhausted and panting.
Just then, the surrounding lightning rapidly surged, wildly sweeping away the scalding steam around them.
They were as if in a calm zone in the middle of a terrifying hurricane, with the surrounding gales, scalding steam, and lightning creating a terrifying scene, as if falling into it would instantly tear them apart.
"Look!" Goyle pointed upwards. They saw that above the circular opening, as if torn in the sky, Fiendfyre was also swept aside.
Everyone looked up in unison, faintly seeing a tall figure floating in mid-air, waving his wand, merging lightning, fire, and scalding steam with a floating book before him.
It was—Professor Lockhart!
"Children, not sleeping in the middle of the night. Be careful, you might not grow tall," Professor Lockhart looked down at them in the eye of the hurricane, a brilliant smile on his face.
....
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