Then, everyone's expression froze.
They heard the howling sound of the Obscurus again.
This time, the black beast charged at the wizards.
Dumbledore sighed and waved his magic wand, blasting away a large portion of the Obscurus.
The black mist suddenly contracted, burrowed into the ground, and the stones on the ground cracked and shifted. Soon, the Obscurus emerged from another side, its black tendrils reaching toward the panicked Fudge.
Beams of magic shot toward the Obscurus once again, but this time, they seemed sparse and scattered.
Scrimgeour looked at his dying subordinates, then at the tense battlefield not far away. As he prepared to withdraw his wand and abandon the treatment, a figure suddenly appeared by Apparition.
"Leave her to me."
Madam Pomfrey said, quickly taking over the treatment of the wounded.
"Madam Pomfrey!" Several young Aurors exclaimed in surprise.
Over ninety percent of the staff at the British Ministry of Magic had attended Hogwarts, and unless they were particularly old, almost everyone had been treated by this lady.
Scrimgeour let out a sigh of relief, turned around, and also moved to deal with the Obscurus. At the same time, he ordered the few Aurors who could still move:
"You lot, stun all the Muggles in this damned place for me, whether they're women or children, leave no one out!"
"But…" The young Aurors hesitated a bit.
[Wizards cannot use magic against Muggles]—This is a written law.
Though most wizards didn't actually abide by it too strictly, these young ones treated it as an inviolable rule.
"Do you want to get shot?" Scrimgeour roared furiously: "Move! I'll take all the responsibility!"
"Yes… yes!"
The young Aurors rushed out, starting to search for Muggles who seemed relatively intact, and once found, they would immediately cast the Stunning Spell.
Even if the person was already unconscious or even dead, the young Aurors meticulously cast spells.
...
After the gunshots, Vid immediately returned to the window and saw the chaos in the distance.
Several Aurors were wounded, needing treatment, and they had to spare some to deal with Muggles, leaving the manpower to handle the Obscurus stretched thin.
The Obscurus had gotten clever too, no longer charging into the wizards' encirclement and staying well away from Dumbledore, only occasionally attacking lone wizards at the fringes or going to slaughter Muggles on the island.
Like smoke from heavy industrial pollution spreading everywhere, it became the perfect camouflage for the Obscurus, and no one could figure out where its core was.
People were more afraid of the Obscurus escaping—its powerful destructive force in a city would be immeasurable, and more importantly, it would seriously breach the Confidentiality Law.
Decades ago, an Obscurus (Credence) caused a series of damages on the streets of New York in the United States. Although the entire city's Muggles' unpleasant memories were erased using venom mixed with rainwater, no one could ensure that everyone forgot the experience or that every photo capturing magic was destroyed.
—What if someone disliked getting wet? What if someone found those memories exciting and interesting instead of bad?
The current Magic World is like the ostrich in the story burying its head in the sand, pretending magic hasn't been exposed, fooling itself into believing everything is normal and refusing to hear any contrary voices.
Moreover, with the rapid evolution of Muggle communication media, completely hiding an event of massive destruction caused by an Obscurus is hundreds of times more difficult than before.
The only consolation is that for now, the creature is focused on this island, and hasn't intended to escape to wreak havoc elsewhere.
...
"What's wrong with Mabel?" Hayley asked worriedly, clutching the bed sheet tightly: "Is she hurt and you find it inconvenient to tell me?"
"Mabel is not hurt." Vid pointed outside the window: "She's right there."
The little girl immediately wanted to sit up from the bed but suddenly clutched her chest, showing a pained expression.
She paused for a moment, but still got up and leaned against the window to look outside.
She saw the ruined buildings, the rolling black mist, wizards holding magic wands, and soldiers fallen to the ground. Such a scene, which would make an ordinary person question their worldview, fell into Hayley's eyes like a not-very-exciting baseball game broadcast.
She stared for a while, then turned to Vid: "I didn't see Mabel!"
Vid looked into those eyes, clear as could be, paused for a moment, before saying: "That black mist is Mabel—she, due to past pains, gave rise to the Dark Creatures Obscurus, and Mabel, as its host, is engulfed in the black mist."
Hayley widened her eyes, looked at Vid for a moment, then turned to seriously observe the Obscurus.
Vid didn't know if she believed him or not, but waited a moment before speaking again: "I hope you can help awaken her humanity—otherwise, when an Obscurial reaches a certain level of emotional and mental state, it will completely lose control, transform fully into an Obscurus, and never be able to return."
"Awaken?"
Hayley seemed a bit unsure, but she clenched her fist, stepped on the window sill, stood up, opened the window, and took a long, deep breath.
Vid watched her climb up: "…?"
He initially planned to persuade Hayley and then take her to a closer spot, but seeing Hayley already open her mouth ready to shout, Vid quickly cast an Amplifying Charm.