Chapter 287: 0286 Killing Night
"Hagrid, I don't want to leave!" Harry's voice was resolute, his grip on his wand firm as he faced the looming threat. His eyes, filled with the fire of determination, met Lupin's.
"If my dad were here, he wouldn't want me to be a coward."
Snape sneered, but Sirius glared at him angrily.
"You don't understand, Harry!" Lupin's voice was tinged with anger and desperation. "This is not like the petty conflicts you have with Malfoy at school. This is real battle. Do you know what it means? You will see lives of enemies or friends wither in front of you. You will see hot blood splatter on your face from those gruesome wounds. You will hear cries more terrifying, far more terrifying than any dementor's howl. This is not something any young wizard can bear."
"But–" Hermione's voice quivered with fear, yet she found the strength to speak. "Harry defeated an inferi last year. Professor Watson always encouraged us to face real danger. He believed it would help us grow."
Lupin's response was choked with emotion, his beliefs clashing with the harsh reality they faced. "I don't deny Bryan's words, but I just think it's too radical!"
"Go back to school, Potter–" Snape's command cut through the tension, his tone irritatingly familiar, yet it held a gravity that underscored the severity of their situation. "This isn't the Quidditch pitch where you can play the hero."
Harry's glare at Snape was fierce, but it was met with an unfathomable depth in Snape's eyes, a darkness that seemed to swallow all his anger without a trace.
"Listen to me, all of you–"
At the final moment, Hagrid made up his mind. He spoke in a voice that only they could hear.
"We'll break through together. Sirius, you take the kids on your motorbike and go back to the castle. Once you escape, these werewolves won't be able to do anything to the rest of us!"
"What are you planning?"
Greyback finally lost his patience. He made a gesture, and in the surrounding woods, nearly hundreds of werewolves, who he had brought to deal with the Golden Viper, revealed themselves from the trees. Although these werewolves still looked like humans, the savagery and ferocity in their eyes made the young wizards who had never seen war shiver.
"Attack!" Hagrid suddenly roared, and Lupin immediately raised his wand and shot a brilliant firework into the deep and unfathomable night sky.
"Damn bastards!"
When Lupin's distress signal went out, Greyback finally reacted. After a mournful howl, his form underwent a drastic change.
In an instant, Greyback disappeared, replaced by a werewolf with grey fur covered in sharp spines. It was only slightly shorter than Hagrid, and its eyes were incredibly sinister and bloodthirsty. The Werewolf Greyback howled at the blood moon in the sky, and his howl seemed to be a signal, as the surrounding werewolves howled one after another!
"Oh God, we're doomed–"
Ron looked desperate, his legs about to give way, but Hagrid lifted him up with one hand and shouted, "Charge!"
Hagrid threw Ron to Lupin and took the lead in the charge. At this moment, several werewolves, unable to contain their desire to attack, had already reached Hagrid. In Harry's terrified gaze, Hagrid swung his hand, and the leading werewolf's head deformed, flying more than ten feet in the air before falling to the ground.
Hagrid immediately kicked out, accompanied by a bone-cracking sound. The second werewolf's mouth sprayed blood, and Harry, with his excellent visual perception, could even see the broken ribs piercing through the werewolf's skin, suspended in the air—the creature was surely dead.
In the next moment, many things happened at once.
Greyback suddenly pounced into the air, baring his sharp teeth at Professor Lupin. The murderous smile made Hermione scream, and Lupin, holding Malfoy, took a step forward and thrust his wand forward like a fencing move.
"Protego Maxima!"
A faintly visible barrier bloomed in front of Lupin with a gentle breeze, blocking Greyback's leap just in time.
Snape's face turned icy. He swung his wand down, and in a flash, Harry seemed to hear the sound of a blade being unsheathed. The five or six werewolves charging at Snape collided with the high-speed flying blades.
Flesh flew, and the stench of blood filled the sky.
This cruel scene had an unparalleled impact on the worldview of the young wizards in the greenhouse. Not to mention Ron, at one moment, even Harry felt his legs go weak. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He couldn't imagine that Snape, who was usually in the dark and damp dungeons, accompanied by disgusting frog brains and bat livers, could be so powerful.
Sirius was facing no fewer werewolves than any of them, and his wand was still in Snape's hands.
In the midst of the continuous howling of the wolves, Sirius's body suddenly grew taller, transforming into a large black dog the size of a black bear. Facing the werewolves leaping at him, he charged forward with an equally imposing posture. The sound of their heavy bodies colliding made one's blood run cold.
Since entering Hogwarts, Harry, Hermione, and Ron had faced and dealt with many crises together.
Those legendary experiences were something that most adult wizards couldn't experience. But for the battle in front of them, Harry had to admit, they were all powerless.
Painful wails, desperate eyes on the verge of death, blood-red flowers blooming and withering before their eyes.
Sirius roared as he wrestled with several werewolves. This created an opening in the constantly moving formation, and a werewolf missing an ear took advantage of this opportunity to charge at the group.
"Expelliarmus!"
Harry instinctively raised his hand and cast a spell, but the red light of the Disarming Charm clearly hit the werewolf, only grazing the fur of the earless werewolf and flying past, having no effect on him!
Roar!
In a critical moment, Sirius desperately shook off a werewolf biting his hind leg and pounced on him like a madman. He bit the back of the earless werewolf's neck, throwing him away. But immediately after being thrown off, the werewolves that had just been shaken off surrounded Sirius again, each biting one of Sirius's four legs and retreating in different directions, seemingly intending to tear Sirius apart!
"No!"
Harry shouted, about to rush forward, but he suddenly noticed Sirius's gaze. In those gray eyes, there was a resolute determination.
Roar!
Sirius howled at Harry again, and Harry couldn't understand, but he understood that Sirius didn't allow him to charge forward. He was ordering him to retreat.
Although Sirius and Professor Lupin hadn't finished explaining everything looking into those determined eyes, Harry finally believed at that moment—Sirius was innocent. The one who killed his parents was Ron's rat, that man named Peter Pettigrew!
Time seemed to stand still at this moment. Apart from Hagrid leading the way forward, Lupin and Snape also noticed the danger Sirius was facing. However, Greyback's interference prevented Lupin from freeing himself, so he could only stare at Sirius about to be torn apart.
Snape's pale cheeks twitched suddenly. No one knew how complex his internal struggle was at this moment, how much pain he had overcome. In any case, he withdrew his wand and aimed it at Sirius, ready to lend a hand.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Just before Snape's wand fell, above the noisy battlefield, a sharp cry overwhelmed all the noise on the battlefield. Death, wielding its scythe, nestled in the dismal green light, suddenly appeared above Sirius's head!
A green light, which seemed to come from nowhere, shot past Harry's eyes. In the horrified gaze of everyone, it gradually approached the stiffened Sirius!
In a life-or-death situation, Harry, who was closest to Sirius, couldn't react because he was in trouble himself. It felt like a burning hot branding iron was forcefully pressed against his scar, causing intense burning pain and the sudden surge of a woman's scream in his mind. Harry fainted, his body uncontrollably going limp.
Snape was the only one who could save Sirius, but his attention was momentarily drawn to the fallen Harry, causing him to miss the best opportunity to act.
Remus looked desperate, and Sirius facing the Grim Reaper's scythe, had a look of relief in his gray eyes as if a long exhausting journey was finally coming to an end.
'James, Lily….. I'm sorry I couldn't avenge you, and Regulus, forgive me for not being able to give you a decent funeral. And Harry, I couldn't fulfill my duty as your godfather—'
In his final moments, a tear slid down Sirius's cheek.
Crack!
Rocks flew and the green light dissipated!
Just as the Killing Curse was five feet away from Sirius, the moment the Grim Reaper's scythe was about to fall, a stone wall suddenly grew from the soft ground. In the blink of an eye, it blocked the approaching Killing Curse and also sent the two werewolves attacking Sirius flying.
The chaotic battlefield fell silent for a moment, and everyone couldn't understand how that scene had just happened.
"Was it you who saved me?"
Sirius, having thrown off the werewolves that clung to his limbs, stood up panting. He looked around and only saw Snape's wand pointed at him. After a moment of silence, he nodded at Snape.
"It wasn't me--"
Snape said through clenched teeth, not eager to take credit for this save.
But his self-denial was taken as modesty, because the adult wizards present here knew about Snape and Sirius's long-standing grudges, and they all thought Snape was just being shy.
"Anyway, Severus--"
Lupin patted Snape's shoulder, gasping for breath, and gratefully said, "Thank you for saving Sirius."
Snape couldn't move his hand in time to avoid Lupin's pat, but when he heard Lupin's words of gratitude, his face turned completely red, as if he had been insulted.
'Who cast that Killing Curse just now?' Everyone had the same thought in their minds, and they had almost the same answer.
But the crazed werewolves didn't care about that. Under the influence of the approaching full moon's magic, one werewolf after another fell into madness. The werewolves charging at them from all directions formed an almost impenetrable wall.
"Don't just stand there, run!"
Hagrid roared low, clearing a path for them. But he himself was trapped, with several werewolves hanging onto him, biting and tearing at him. This also triggered Hagrid's ferocity. After a dragon-like roar, Hagrid grabbed the throats of two werewolves with his hands and used them as weapons to kill in all directions!
"Go!"
Snape tossed Sirius's wand back to him, then, with a dazed Harry tucked under his arm, roughly pushed the bewildered Hermione.
In this critical moment, Lupin finally started to take action. He swung his wand widely, and the tip of the wand flashed continuously. Three blue curses exploded in the chests of several werewolves, and those werewolves were thrown into the air, howling in agony. When they fell back to the ground, they were already lifeless.
"Shameless traitor!"
Greyback roared thunderously, his sturdy limbs gripping the ground. In the next second, he turned into a phantom, crashing through Remus's conjured barrier and rolling into a tangle with him, and rushed out of the place protecting Harry and the others.
"Remus!"
Sirius shouted, wanting to rush to save Remus, However, he himself was also the main target of the werewolves, and he was tired of dealing with the endless stream of werewolves rushing up to him.
Roar! What he saw next, Harry bet he would never forget it until his death!
A terrible roar sounded, and Lupin's head elongated, his body grew, his shoulders arched, and fur sprouted on his face and hands, his fingers turning into sharp claws. Professor Lupin stood on two feet like a bear, entangled with Greyback, their mouths tearing at each other, and with every swipe of their claws, a string of bright red jewels flew from their opponent's body.
Harry stood there in a daze, forgetting to move.
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