บท 41: The Return of the Dark Lord (I)

Over a thousand miles away from the ruined Nurmengard Castle, the Hogwarts Express was whistling its way toward the Hogsmeade Station.

It was already well past evening. Dark, rainy clouds claimed the sky overhead, promising rain and thunder. There was little to no wind now, but you could feel its presence as the cold kissed your neck now and then.

For a moment, it was quiet.

Then, right at the top of the train, above the clouds, a giant portal opened up.

From the portal, the undead Zouwu leaped out, carrying Merlin's Staff in its belly. As the elephant-sized magical creature began falling, the Staff rattled against his bones. Just as it crossed the clouds, though, the Zouwu opened its bony maw and spat the Staff out.

Everything that happened next, happened simultaneously and inevitably.

CRACK!

Scores of cracks resounded together as if a giant thunderbolt had slithered through the clouds. The only unfortunate thing was that, as Merlin's Staff was still free-falling, the locations of several Apparations varied considerably.

Being the closest to the Staff, Madam Villanelle apparated right next to it.

She wasn't alone when the mass Disapparation had occurred, though. The undead Graphorn appeared right underneath her, falling in tandem with her.

The presence of Graphorn under Madam Villanelle wouldn't have mattered much in any other scenario. However, the undead Zouwu was right at the top of her now. The moment it saw the reincarnated Witch of Endor, the green, ghostly fire furiously in its empty eye sockets. With great force, it slammed its bony paw at her, trying to rip her to death.

Madam Villanelle, though shocked and out of her element, still showed brilliant wandwork, casting a protection charm in a split second non-verbally. A wandless spell wouldn't have been able to hold back the force of such a giant creature.

Boom!

Despite the exquisite magic, Zouwu's paw landed on the magical shield as if a giant truck had struck it.

Madam Villanelle's wand hand almost snapped. Her wand slipped off her grip, getting thrown away like a broken twig. As if that wasn't a disaster already, the shield broke away the moment it lost the magic supply. Zouwu's bony fingers rebounded against the breaking shield.

The same happened to the dark-skinned, blue-robed witch.

Oh, shit!

Squelch!

Graphorn's golden horn ran right through her stomach from the back.

Madam Villanelle's eyes lost focus for a moment as she coughed out a monstrous amount of blood, red streams running down Graphorn's bones, dripping into its ghostly, fiery eyes.

Then, as they fell together, the dying witch's gaze landed on the sky and saw all the surviving Unspeakables falling, along with Grindelwald. The undead Swooping Evils were already clawing at them, biting their flesh and memories.

She had no other choice.

I am leaving it to you… Dumbledore, Madam Villanelle thought, bringing out the Book. She only hoped that the thrice-damned Inferi didn't have any more of those skulls left in his arsenal.

From the book, over a dozen Hippogriffs came crying out.

Two Hippogriffs instantly slammed into the undead Zouwu and Graphorn, hurling them away from the witch using their massive talons. Then one of the Hippogriff flew under her and let her land on her back. It slammed its wings against the air, pausing the bleeding, free fall.

The rest of the Hippogriffs flew toward the Unspeakables and Grindelwald. With the Bounded Field still valid, they were all bound to fall to their death, if not mortally wounded by the Swooping Evils first.

When they were planning it all, none of them had even cared to think that the Lord of Azkaban would turn their trap against them.

As Madam Villanelle took her last conscious breath, her vision finally turned away from the sky to earth.

Her heart gave out instantly along with all clarity in her eyes, her mind going dark.

Several hundred meters under the bleeding witch were Ekrizdis and Dumbledore, flying and still locked into a blinding magical duel. The undead Dragon was circling them, breathing fire on the Headmaster.

And right under them, falling like a long, rotting meteor, was the undead Basilisk, the Phoenix, Fawkes, still clawing at its face.

"Ha… ha…" Ekrizdis laughed maniacally.

Albus Dumbledore's old, wrinkled face paled. Space cracked around him as he conjured thousands of mirror shards and shot them toward the Lord of Azkaban, immediately flying downward to prevent what was going to happen.

Alas, the Grand Wizard forgot one little thing.

"Hahaha!" Lord Ekrizdis let out a rotten laugh. "Oh, the things mortals forget… when concerned about children."

The Inferi didn't even put up a protection charm. He just let the mirror shards hack at his undead body, simultaneously attacking the enemy with a killing curse.

The Hebridean Black also put its fire-breathing maw between the train and the old wizard.

Dumbledore had to stop. "No…"

Under the wide eyes of the Headmaster, the over 60-foot-long Basilisk slammed on the Hogwarts Express right in the middle.

BOOM!!!

Presently,

"Ekrizdis… you blithering, fucking fool!"

Black had picked up on the Lord of Azkaban's presence the moment he had apparated in the sky along with the others. Even if he had failed to sense the Inferi, he couldn't have ignored the voice banging in his ears.

-Help me, Lord Yellow Warlock!-

Black was donning the DEATH's Artifact on him right now. The Yellow Cloak was invisible and it resonated his magical signature with the Timeline's, making it impossible for anyone to tell if was a Contestant, Item, or an in-world Character.

It also let Ekrizdis contact him if they were near to each other.

Black's dark eyes blazed with fury as he cursed the Inferi. Around him, Harry, Ron banged against the compartment's walls as the entire train derailed, rolling away from the tracks, skidding and screeching against the earth. As Draco and his goons were standing in the corridor, they had rolled farther down the line, disappearing from sight.

The only fortunate thing about this disaster was that there were Cushioning Charms cast on the train in case such an impossible event ever happened.

When the train finally came to rest, its belly exposed like a giant lying on his one side, Black gritted his teeth and pretended to fall.

"Ugh!" The boys stood up, groaning, holding their heads and backs.

"What happened?!" Harry exclaimed, trying to find his glasses.

Black picked them up for him and handed them over.

"Thanks."

"Let's go out through the windows," Black suggested, crawling himself up over the vertical seats.

Ron and Harry followed him.

When they came out, the sky was laden with green, red, and blue flashes as if fireworks were going on. Right over them, a skeletal dragon was flying, spitting purplish fire now and then. They saw two black and white foggy silhouettes, and more flying creatures high in the sky, sounds of bangs and booms reaching their ears.

Before they could make sense of this scene, the three boys jerked again.

Hissssssssssssss!

Cry!!

Ron's jaw dropped, his face going blue in terror.

Harry stepped back in horror too, as if he had understood the hiss and pure malice it meant to inflict on others.

Black saw the Basilisk and narrowed his eyes. He looked left and right. More and more students were coming out of the windows and doors now. Most were shaken, but it was a miracle that none looked injured.

Unlike Ron and Harry, Black acutely picked up on everything happening around him.

First, he saw the undead Zouwu and Graphorn. Then he saw Madam Villanelle, blood seeping out of her like gullies. His gaze landed on Ekrizdis, Dumbledore, and the dragon, all locked into a sensational, magical battle. Beyond them, Black saw the Swooping Evils, the Unspeakables, and…

… Gellert Grindelwald.

Black's anger had reached its greatest height as the Ad Infinitum calculated the course of events.

It was then Black sensed the last thing in play.

Merlin's Staff… and the Bounded Field it was maintaining around the train and below the clouds.

-Help me!-

Ekrizdis' rattling cry reached Black's ears.

The thing was… neither Black nor Kai could do anything about this situation now. Because helping Ekrizdis meant going against Dumbledore. Going against Dumbledore meant attacking him. And attacking Dumbledore meant he must use Timeline's Applaud.

So, yes.

Black's anger was oozing out, reaching unknown heights. But not all of it was directed against Ekrizdis.

The conclusion was so obvious that he didn't even need the AI to process it.

Black gritted his teeth as both he and Kai thought of the same thing.

The Timeline… the bitch played us.

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