Kidnapping a child is an art form. Kidnapping a child with an adult soul? That requires a masterclass.
Caractacus Burke tried everything from outside the protective barrier. He even taught Rey several Dark Arts spells, including a technique to transform into black mist for flight, hoping to lure the boy out.
Rey accepted these rare and powerful spells with a grin, his heart blooming with joy at the free knowledge. But as for stepping outside? Not a chance.
Caractacus Burke finally snapped.
He flew into a rage, his withered staff cracking against the invisible dome, sending ripple after ripple across the transparent shield.
Cheating an old man might be morally questionable, but scamming a Dark Wizard? Rey felt zero psychological burden.
Burke pounded on the barrier like a madman. The commotion was terrifying; for a moment, Rey actually worried the shield might shatter.
But the Founders' magic held true. No matter what Burke tried, the barrier merely trembled, its integrity never diminishing by even a fraction.
Dawn broke.
Exhausted and hysterical, Caractacus Burke was forced to give up. Before the sun fully rose, he turned and shuffled away, looking desolate and defeated.
If one didn't know he was a dangerous Dark Wizard, his lonely, retreating figure would have looked like nothing more than a pitiable old man.
However, Rey only saw the surface. As Burke turned to leave, a twisted smile crept onto his face.
Once you learn these dark spells, you will inevitably understand their benefits.
Burke spoke these words only in his heart.
Rey had learned the magic. Therefore, he wouldn't be able to resist the temptation of power. He would gradually step further into the realm of the Dark Arts.
A young wizard with a seed of dark power already inside him was the perfect vessel.
Burke believed that in a few years, he would get his wish: a true, pure Dark Wizard would come looking for him. When that time came, his grand plan could truly begin.
Burke couldn't break the protective charm, but he had successfully planted a seed in the boy's soul.
The sun was coming up. It was time to go.
His body hadn't fully recovered, and it wasn't wise to reveal himself in broad daylight yet. Moreover, he didn't know when the powerful wizard who cast the barrier would return. Running into them now would be a disaster.
So, he left temporarily. He would wait for the boy to master the dark spells, confident that Rey would eventually scour the world to find him.
After all, Burke was likely the only person left in the world who knew such pure, ancient Dark Magic.
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Both sides had their own agendas. Rey felt smug about scamming a few high-level spells from the old man.
Rey felt no repulsion toward the Dark Arts. Although he knew the magic was tempting him, he couldn't resist the urge to learn it.
Magic is neither good nor bad, Rey reasoned. It's just a tool. The result depends on how you use it.
He felt no evil presence, no corrupting darkness. The spell that turned the body into mist was just that—a thick black fog. There was nothing inherently wicked about the mechanics.
And the spells were surprisingly easy to learn, with impressive power. Since Rey couldn't Apparate yet, the ability to fly as mist was incredibly convenient. It was the ultimate escape card.
After Burke left, Rey spent some time studying the spells. Before he knew it, the sky was fully bright.
"I wonder how the rescue mission in London is going?"
Rey stood up, gazing toward the distant city.
He was still wary that the old man might be lurking just out of sight, so he didn't dare step a foot outside the barrier.
Anyone who could teach such high-level flight magic was powerful—maybe not on the Founders' level, but certainly leagues above Rey. Caution was the better part of valor.
London looked quiet in the distance. It seemed the rescue hadn't concluded yet. Breaking people out of a city dungeon clearly wasn't a simple task.
At 10:00 AM, the sun was high in the sky. Still no movement from London.
Bored, Rey paced around Stonehenge. He was getting impatient. If he wasn't afraid of Burke waiting in ambush, he might have used his new mist-flight spell to fly over and take a look.
But shortly after that thought, a pillar of white light erupted from the wasteland about five hundred meters away.
The light was thick and blinding. It spread rapidly across the ground, forming a perfect circle over a hundred meters in diameter. Intricate magical runes glowed within it.
It was a pre-drawn teleportation array.
With a final tremor of light, the Four Founders appeared, along with fifty or sixty other people.
"They're here!" Rey thought.
Among the crowd were about twenty adults; the rest were children.
Most of the adults were injured. The children looked emaciated and yellow with hunger. Few wore anything but rags.
The injured adults supported each other, while the able-bodied ones herded the children, running desperately toward Stonehenge.
But just as they appeared, a squadron of knights on horseback burst out from the direction of London, followed by a horde of armed soldiers.
---
To hunt down the escapees, London had deployed the army.
Seeing the crisis unfold, Rey felt helpless but knew he had to do his job. He placed both hands on the massive stone pillar. The moment the refugees got close enough, he would pour his magic into the stone to activate the Stonehenge portal.
The rescued wizards sprinted toward the stones, but Godric Gryffindor and the other three founders stopped and turned around.
They were preparing to hold off the Muggle army.
Their wands slashed through the air in perfect synchronization. A shimmering wall of light rose rapidly—a protective barrier.
After erecting the first wall, the four retreated a short distance and cast another transparent shield. The two barriers stood like walls of pressurized air.
However, the charging knights didn't seem to care about the magic. They didn't slow down. They slammed straight into the first wall.
"They're just ramming it? Are they suicidal?!"
Rey's jaw dropped wide enough to fit an apple.
In his memory, when Voldemort's army attacked Hogwarts in the movies, anyone rushing the protective wards was disintegrated into ash.
He expected these knights to vanish into dust, leaving nothing behind.
But the scene Rey imagined didn't happen.
Amidst the screaming of men and horses, the front row of knights crashed. Half of them actually broke through the barrier. The others hit it like a brick wall.
Horses collapsed, bones shattering. It was a gruesome sight. But the knights behind them didn't stop. They charged over their fallen comrades, slamming into the weakened shield again and again.
The air wall shattered.
The unlucky ones in the front were trampled to death or crippled, but the sheer momentum of the Muggle army was terrifying. Incredibly, they smashed through the second barrier just as brutally.
Now, nothing stood between them and the wizards but open ground. It was time for close combat. The knights raised their longswords, ready to slaughter.
And the fleeing refugees were still over a hundred meters away from the safety of Stonehenge.
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