The resonance of the three incomplete runes vanished in an instant. But the lightning that tore from the ground to the sky still illuminated everything around it with a stark, brilliant flash.
Inside the castle, Harry was walking at night under his Invisibility Cloak, mainly to monitor Snape, when he also saw the fleeting bolt of light. Surprise flashed in his eyes, the jagged afterimage of the lightning still lingering on his retinas.
"Was that thundering?" he whispered. "But how can it be from the ground to the sky? Is that the small greenhouse in that direction? Could it be related to Char?"
Hearing Harry's words, Ron shook his head repeatedly, immediately denying the possibility. "Impossible. There's no such thing as artificial lightning. Such advanced magic, even the professors have never heard of anyone being able to use it, let alone Char. Harry, you must be seeing things. It's late and we're tired, so our eyes must be playing tricks on us."
At Ron's insistence, Harry also gradually felt relieved. "Really… then I must have been seeing things."
And at this moment, Char fell to the ground in a rather undignified heap, gasping for breath. The mental exhaustion brought on waves of throbbing pain in his temples, but this did not affect his cheerful mood. Just now, he had controlled lightning with his own power. Even if it was impossible to compare with the lightning in nature that is powerful enough to destroy everything, it was still lightning. The great power of nature was initially under his control. The feeling was simply… cool.
A moment later, the throbbing pain in his temples gradually subsided. His eyes focused. Then, Char's gaze fell on the system panel. "Five nodes," he thought. "Although it was a stretch, I finally completed it. We are very close to completing the basic structure of the magic rune. The progress of ancient weather magic should have also been greatly improved."
And when he saw the changes on the system panel, a hint of surprise flashed across his eyes. The black iron sheen on the ancient weather magic words did not grow as expected. Instead, the growth had become slower and slower. Up to now, the black iron luster had only covered less than half. This puzzled Char. It was clear that only the last two nodes were missing to complete the basic configuration. Why was the introductory progress so much worse than expected?
His thoughts turned. He considered a possibility. "Could it be that an introduction to ancient weather magic, in addition to constructing seven nodes to complete the basic configuration, has other requirements?"
Thinking of this, he came to Sprout Island again to ask the troll priest, Sirius. He released the lightning once more in front of him. Sirius's eyes showed awe when he saw the lightning tearing through the air. Magic related to lightning was extremely powerful in ancient magic, even above the magic of the God of Fire. It seemed that Char had received a very remarkable magical inheritance. It was only when Char asked if it felt that this magic was missing some key factor that Sirius was stunned for a moment, hesitant.
"Well… it seems like something doesn't feel right? But I can't really tell." He hesitated for a long time, but Sirius couldn't tell what was wrong. After all, his ancient fire magic was only obtained from a broken bloodline inheritance. It was good enough to be able to use it. To really study the underlying issues about magic words, Sirius really didn't understand.
A flash of disappointment crossed Char's eyes. He was also concentrating, thinking. "What's missing?" He then asked Sirius to demonstrate ancient fire magic for him. Even after observing it carefully for a whole night, Char couldn't find the problem either. Frowning, he no longer dwelled on this issue. Maybe if he changed the place and thought a little differently, he could figure it out. "Let's go back to Hogwarts first. I still have classes to attend."
He returned to Hogwarts. It was time for breakfast. He walked towards the Great Hall, but along the way, the young wizards who saw him all looked frightened and pale. The entire castle seemed to be shrouded in a terrifying atmosphere. When Char walked into the hall, he also discovered that the students at the four long tables seemed to have no appetite. Even if the sky were to fall, you would still have to eat breakfast first. But for the first time, no one used a knife or fork. Instead, they were all reading newspapers. From time to time, some people could not help but retch.
Char frowned and came to his seat. Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott were trembling beside him. Only when they saw him coming did they seem to feel a little safer, and they all grabbed his sleeves involuntarily, as if this could keep some scary things away. He looked at the things in front of them. They were all copies of the Daily Prophet. As for the front-page headlines, they were indeed partial reports on the missing persons incident. It could be seen that the photos and text descriptions given were quite restrained. Compared to the first-hand information he got from Tonks, this had already deleted most of the creepy details. But in the eyes of the young wizards, it was still more terrifying than the scariest horror story they had ever seen. After all, ghost stories are fake as soon as you close the book. But this horrific incident was actually happening, and no one knew when it would end. Some young wizards trembled, fearing that the murderer would sneak into Hogwarts. Maybe they would be taken to this dining table in the Great Hall and eaten while they were sleeping. Others were worried about their parents, especially those whose homes were not far from where several crimes had occurred, afraid of seeing their parents appear in the reports.
Even Char, at this time, also frowned, looking quite solemn. The speed at which things were deteriorating was a little beyond his expectations. He had thought the Ministry of Magic could keep the matter under wraps for a few more days. Why couldn't they cover it up today? Given Fudge's style, there was only one possibility: something big must have happened. The news could no longer be blocked. This led to the news being leaked through the Daily Prophet first, letting the people know a rather "mild" version of the news. Maybe there was more explosive news to come.
He glanced at the teachers' table warily. Indeed. The professors' expressions were extremely solemn, worried. Professors of some marginal subjects who were not very strong had expressions of fear on their faces that were similar to those of the young wizards. Dumbledore was nowhere to be found and did not appear in the Great Hall. Char's heart sank. He was already 70% to 80% sure of his guess.
Just at this moment, another owl flapped its wings and delivered a letter to his location. He took a look and saw Tonks's signature again. He took a deep breath and opened the letter. What caught his eye were a few hastily written lines.
"A full team of Aurors, seven in total. They're all dead. Only three bodies were found. We've increased our manpower, now in groups of ten. Even the retired Aurors have been called out. Mad-Eye Moody is here too. We are trying our best to find any trace of that thing. But don't tell others. The situation is probably not optimistic."
Even though Char had already guessed it must be something very serious, he never expected this matter would be so big. The wizarding world is not that big, and the death of one person can become hot news that many people discuss for a while. Not to mention that it was an Auror who had died. Last time, an elite Auror died, and this time, a whole team of seven. Eight Aurors had died in battle. It was not difficult to imagine how panicked the people in the magical world would be after hearing this news.
Even Char, at this moment, felt a growing sense of urgency in his heart. Compared to the same period in the original story, the current Quirrell was no longer on the same level of danger. Although Dumbledore would definitely strengthen the defenses in the castle, one couldn't be afraid of ten thousand things, just prepared for one. He couldn't put all his hopes on Dumbledore. He had to speed up his growth. As for the ancient weather magic, he had already felt its power. Even with the basic structure of the magic rune not completed and his attainments not even at the Black Iron level, it could unleash the power of last night. One could imagine what the scene would be like after entering.
"What's missing?" he frowned in thought. He just still couldn't figure out what key factor it was. While he was thinking, breakfast was almost about to end in this depressing atmosphere. The whole Great Hall was filled with gloom. Even the enchanted ceiling reflected the weather outside: the usual dark cloud cover of the northern Scottish Highlands at this time of year. The ceiling of the Great Hall had been cast with weather magic, and the sky above was exactly the same as the sky outside. Whether the sun was shining or the sky was overcast, it could be reflected truthfully. And at this time, in the dark clouds, a flash of lightning shot out, illuminating the entire hall. The already frightened little wizards screamed one after another. Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott, the two little girls from his house who were beside him, screamed and grabbed his arms, feeling like their hearts were about to burst out of their throats.
And Char watched the lightning flash across the ceiling. The trace of it still remained on his retina. His eyes gradually lit up. That fog in his mind, at this moment, was torn apart by the lightning. He seemed to understand what was missing from his ancient weather magic and runes.