"I thought you were dead!"
Cassandra covered her mouth with both hands while tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.
Seeing Lucas standing there perfectly alive, smiling awkwardly as usual, made her emotions collapse completely.
The dark expression on Lucas's face finally relaxed a little.
Then, with a grin, he pulled an iron pot out from behind his back.
"Your Reparo really was impressive," he said seriously. "I wasn't lying earlier. Look—even the Killing Curse couldn't get through it."
Cassandra stared blankly at the iron pot in his hands.
There was a small blackened hole in the centre where the Killing Curse had struck, but the curse itself had failed to penetrate completely.
Only then did she realise what had happened.
When Lucas tackled her earlier, he had secretly used black mist to pull the iron pot beneath his robes and position it directly in the path of the curse.
Technically, no magical defence could block Avada Kedavra.
But physical objects could.
As long as the curse failed to strike a living target directly, it lost effectiveness.
Still, what Lucas had done was unbelievably dangerous.
If he had misjudged the angle even slightly…
If the curse had pierced through the damaged metal completely…
The consequences would have been unimaginable.
Lucas looked down at the battered iron pot thoughtfully.
"Looks like I'll need to keep this thing forever now," he said happily. "It literally saved my life."
Suddenly, his body stiffened slightly.
Cassandra had thrown herself forward and wrapped both arms tightly around him.
Lucas blinked in surprise.
His robes quickly became damp from her tears.
"Of course you have to keep it!" Cassandra's voice trembled badly. "It didn't just save your life… it saved mine too…"
Lucas smiled helplessly before gently patting her back.
"Alright, alright. I'll keep it forever."
Then he added reassuringly:
"Don't worry. As long as Nagini and I are here, nobody's going to hurt you."
Because his mental age was far older than his physical body, Lucas genuinely treated Cassandra like a frightened child while comforting her.
He didn't notice anything strange about her behaviour at all.
After all, she was only eleven.
And Lucas definitely wasn't some weird child-obsessed creep.
Unfortunately, Cassandra herself was thinking very differently.
Girls matured emotionally earlier than boys already.
And now this boy had literally risked his life to block the Killing Curse for her without hesitation.
What girl wouldn't be affected after experiencing something like that?
Meanwhile, Lucas continued comforting her with the patience of an adult soothing a child.
Which eventually earned him a huge eye-roll from Cassandra instead.
Then suddenly—
"AAAAAH! LET ME GO!"
A scream erupted outside the tent.
Lucas immediately pulled away from Cassandra and rushed outside.
Nagini had returned.
Currently, the giant snake had a blood-covered man pinned to the ground beneath her massive coils.
"Hiss… (Only one enemy. I already captured him.)"
"Hiss… (Excellent work. Thanks, Nagini.)"
The captured man froze completely when he saw Lucas casually speaking Parseltongue with the enormous snake.
His face instantly turned deathly pale.
Parseltongue.
In his understanding, every Parselmouth in history had been a terrifying dark wizard.
And he had just attempted to assassinate one using Avada Kedavra.
The man instinctively tried Apparating away.
Then he immediately remembered his wand was gone.
Without a wand, he couldn't Apparate at all.
Fortunately for his sanity, he hadn't actually seen the Killing Curse hit Lucas directly earlier. Otherwise, discovering that someone survived Avada Kedavra at point-blank range probably would have terrified him into madness.
"Marcus?!"
Cassandra hurried out of the tent and instantly recognised the bloodied man on the ground.
Lucas crossed his arms with interest and stood beside Nagini to watch the show unfold.
So this was Marcus.
The suspicious butler.
Looks like I won't need to wash my hair upside-down after all, Lucas thought smugly.
He already understood the situation without needing further explanation. Cassandra had obviously been lured to Albania deliberately by this man.
"Marcus," Cassandra demanded angrily, "you tricked me into coming here just to kill me?! Why?!"
Marcus trembled violently while keeping his head lowered.
For several seconds, he didn't answer.
"It seems," Lucas said mildly, "that you still haven't understood your current situation."
He casually rested one hand on Nagini's scales.
"My Nagini is still hungry. If you refuse to speak, I suppose feeding you to her would solve that problem nicely."
Marcus immediately looked toward Nagini in absolute horror.
"I-I'll talk!" he stammered desperately. "Someone paid me! They hired me to find a way to kill Cassandra!"
"Who?!" Cassandra shouted. "Who paid you?!"
"I… I don't remember…"
Marcus's voice shook violently.
"After the deal was made, they cast a Memory Charm on me and erased everything about their identity. All they left behind was the order to kill you… and a huge amount of Galleons."
He swallowed hard before continuing.
"I brought you to Albania intending to use the werewolves to get rid of you quietly…"
Cassandra's expression became colder and colder.
"Marcus," she said softly, "our family always treated you well."
Her voice trembled slightly.
"I can almost understand you wanting to kill me for money."
Then her eyes reddened again.
"But Vanessa and Delia… they always treated you like family. Why did you let them die too?"
Marcus's body shook violently.
"That was an accident!" he cried immediately. "I never intended for them to die too! Those werewolves didn't keep their word!"
He desperately lowered his head toward Cassandra.
"Please forgive me… I-I had no choice! I needed money…"
"Crucio!"
"AAAAAAHHHH!"
Marcus instantly collapsed screaming across the ground.
Lucas's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
Because the person who cast the curse wasn't him.
It was eleven-year-old Cassandra Vole.
....
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