novelnext Chapter 151 Staying up late at night
Chapter 151 Staying up late at night
Chapter 151 Staying up late at night
Late at night, a torrential downpour struck Hogwarts, the terrifying amount of rain as if a hole had been torn open in the sky.
Boom~
The thunder in the sky tore and surged, and lightning raged high in the sky, illuminating the night into day.
If someone possesses sufficient spiritual perception and carefully observes the terrifying scenes in the sky, they might even discover the cacophony of lightning tearing through the heavens and the terrifying flames burning above the clouds.
In fact, even without it, when people look up at the sky, above the torrential rain, they will see the dark sky tinged with an eerie red, like a long river of dark lava hanging in the sky.
"This is exactly like hell!"
Several drenched young wizards huddled under the eaves, and Ron shrank back as he watched this scene.
"I can feel something terrible happening." Goyle seemed to be frightened by something, and began to tremble, his chubby face full of terror. "Draco, I feel an evil force, not the kind of evil of dark magic, but the purest kind of evil."
Draco frowned and looked at Crabbe beside him.
Crabbe nodded gravely. "Very evil, a demon is howling!"
"How ridiculous!" Hermione scoffed. "If you had taken your history of magic classes properly and read the textbooks carefully, you would have found that there are no demons in this world."
"You're the ridiculous one!" Draco looked at Hermione with some annoyance. "You have no idea what kind of power pure-blood wizards possess. You can say Goyle and Crabbe are a bit dim-witted, but there are some magical areas where you'll never be as good as them!"
"Heh~"
Hermione sneered, not wanting to argue with these three fools. She looked up at the sky, narrowed her eyes, and said, "Whether you believe it or not, I can sense Professor Lockhart's presence."
"!!!" Ron was reaching out to catch the rainwater from the eaves when he heard this and quickly pulled his hand back.
"I agree with Hermione's guess!" Harry nodded vigorously.
Draco chuckled sarcastically, "What brilliant idea has our savior come up with this time? Surely he can't just say it's intuition again, can he?"
The reason they're still here so late tonight is that Professor Lockhart put them in the same adventure group, and they're arguing about whose opinion to listen to.
Harry's trio and Draco's trio—none of them trusted the others.
Draco believed that Harry always had a mysterious intuition, and then he was particularly convinced that this intuition was correct.
That's absolutely ridiculous.
Rather than trusting intuition, it's better to trust the "spiritual intuition" that is inherent in the blood of Goyle and Crabbe, these two "pure" individuals.
Anyway, Draco thought this was more reliable.
They each began to seek out supporters.
Harry and his friends found Neville, Ginny, and their twin brother.
Draco and his group attempted to persuade Luna and Cedric, who also believed in "spiritual perception."
But in reality, everyone else had their own pride and didn't think that the two trios had that much authoritative leadership.
So the two groups of three agreed to a duel, setting out to speedrun through the adventure chamber on the edge of the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night to see who was better.
However, before they could even reach the secret chamber, they were forced back by a terrible downpour.
A terrifying, mysterious force seemed to be raging amidst the torrential rain, causing all the young wizards to instinctively resist entering this mysterious place that seemed to possess some kind of powerful will.
To paraphrase their Professor Lockhart, this is not your adventure; you must be more careful in deciding whether to get involved.
"Then let's compete in this!" Ron suddenly spoke up, grabbing the flying broom beside him and pointing to the sky. "Let's go up there and see if it's a demon or Professor Lockhart!"
He didn't actually agree with Hermione's judgment. Although he knew that Professor Lockhart had the ability to manipulate the heavens, the terrifying scene before him was different from the magic that Professor Lockhart had used to heal everyone's mind and body. One was light, and the other was darkness. The difference was too great.
He didn't really trust Harry's intuition. Harry always yearned for adventure and danger, and his intuition would always lead everyone to the most dangerous situations, so everyone would easily embark on adventures.
But he was so steadfast in protecting his two friends.
Regardless of right or wrong, he simply stood by their side, protecting them.
He is a true Gryffindor, a warrior of unwavering will, a warrior who charges forward, and a warrior who protects his comrades.
He looked at Draco and the others with pride. "Do you dare?"
Ron knew without turning around that Harry and Hermione would stand firmly behind him, coldly watching Draco and the others, even though the adventure ahead would be so dangerous.
"What's there to be afraid of!" Draco grabbed a flying broom and laughed with his two goofy buddies beside him. "Looks like these Gryffindors haven't had enough of being taught a lesson at the Quidditch pitch yet, and they're planning to challenge us."
Gore straightened his burly body, looking at the three little chicks with an arrogant expression. "Then I'll defeat you one more time!"
Harry was already red-hot. "Draco, remember this! You always lose! Understand?"
Crabbe and Goyle exchanged a glance, chuckled, and joined Draco in a mischievous laugh. "He's getting impatient."
Harry immediately drew his wand, wishing he could kill these guys on the spot.
Fortunately, he calmed down, panting, and looked at Ron and Hermione beside him, who had already firmly grasped their flying brooms and wands.
So he said, "Alright, let's have a competition. I'll count down: one, two—"
Before he could even shout "three," Draco and his two companions had already soared into the sky, hurtling swiftly towards the torrential rain.
"They always do this!" Ron cursed from the side, flipped onto his flying broom, and looked at Hermione with some concern. "This game is actually unfair, except that you're not a Quidditch player."
Hermione proudly raised her head. "Don't underestimate me!"
So the three of them followed suit, riding their flying brooms into the torrential rain.
As it turned out, Hermione's skill in controlling a flying broomstick was indeed inferior to everyone else's; she performed only moderately well in this aspect. Even though she had studied extensively about the magical mechanics of flying broomsticks, the gap remained.
She actually understood the reason herself; she had listened attentively to Professor Lockhart's lectures and could analyze the cause.
Because she deeply resisted this foolish act of flying on a broomstick. This resistance stemmed from the negative image of evil witches flying on broomsticks in Muggle culture, as well as the inherent prejudice Muggles have against wizards, believing that this ancient practice was simply stupid.
So it's quite obvious that Hermione can see that most wizards who received a Muggle education from a young age, whether they are Muggle or half-blood, perform very poorly in Quidditch.
Just as Professor Lockhart said—if you don't get close to it, it won't choose you.
Fortunately, this is not a Quidditch match.
This is a more complex adventure that tests skills in more areas. Hermione skillfully casts the Bubble Head Charm and the Lightning Repellent Charm on her two friends, and waves her wand to slow down Draco and his companions who are chasing her in the distance.
Even though she wasn't that fast, and even though her flying broom wasn't that agile, she was still the most eye-catching person among them when it came to aerial combat.
Adventure is always the most dangerous thing.
As the young wizards soared into the sky, they began to tacitly avoid attacking each other or using the most basic disarming spells, otherwise, once they fell from the sky, death would be irreversibly revealed before them.
Professor Lockhart's adventure course not only instilled courage in them, but also a great deal of wisdom about combat. They quickly rushed into the clouds, where the lightning was so terrifying that they had to slow down and be wary of the lightning that could strike at any moment.
They soon realized they had done something foolish—they no longer had the ability to fight the Thunder.
Not to mention "Fiercefire!"
Crabbe shouted excitedly, "There's Fiery Blaze above the clouds! I can feel it!"
Hermione's expression changed. Fiendfire is a terrible dark magic. It is said that if it burns to a certain intensity, it will completely get out of control. If there really is Fiendfire above the clouds, this Fiendfire that fills the entire sky will probably burn the entire Hogwarts to the ground!
"We need to find Professor McGonagall or Professor Dumbledore as soon as possible, this is no joke!" Her expression was so serious.
"It's too late!" Harry nervously hovered his broomstick, looking up at the vaguely moving silhouettes of enormous fire monsters above the clouds. "It's fully formed!"
Not only the three of them, but Draco and Goyle also looked pale.
Only Crabbe shouted excitedly, "It's Professor Lockhart! It must be Professor Lockhart! What a magnificent Fiendfyre spell! Merlin's beard! If my father saw this magic, he would definitely cry!"
He frantically propelled his flying broom upwards toward the clouds, seemingly without a care in the world that he would be burned to death.
"Vincent!!!" Draco yelled, "Come back now!"
But his shouts had no effect on Clark's decision, so he had no choice but to curse and urge his flying broom to chase after the idiot, trying to pull him back.
Gore quickly followed behind.
"Merlin's twin ponytails!" Ron exclaimed. "Have they all gone mad?"
But then he saw Harry flying towards Crabbe just as bravely, lowering his body in an attempt to get faster.
So he and Hermione quickly followed after them.
Soon, the surrounding clouds and mist began to scorch, as if they had stepped into an extremely hot steam. Despite the abundant rain around them, they felt an even more terrifying dryness.
Lightning surged and tore through the sky, scorching it and releasing an extremely strange, acrid smell of burning air that made it hard to breathe.
"We can't go any closer!" Hermione yelled. "The steam here will boil us alive!"
Not only her, but everyone else also felt a burning stinging sensation on their skin.
"He collapsed!" Ron could no longer withstand the heat and began casting spells at Crabbe, who was at the front.
He was trying to stop this madman so that Harry, who had already surpassed Draco and Goyle, could save the guy.
Hermione also began to cast a freezing spell on Crabbe, and Draco finally reacted, waving his wand to make snakes appear in the air in an attempt to entangle Crabbe.
This clearly works!
In the chaos, amidst the torrential rain and thunder, Crabbe's body suddenly stiffened, and he fell from his flying broom. Harry swung his tail and swooped down, grabbing Crabbe by the collar.
But Crabbe was too heavy, and the immense force caused his flying broom to plummet, almost pulling him off the broom.
Draco finally arrived, flew below Crabbe, used his flying broom to brace Crabbe's body, and then hugged the silly guy tightly.
He looked at Harry with a somewhat complicated expression, but Harry just slumped on the flying broomstick, panting, seemingly exhausted.
Just then, the surrounding lightning surged rapidly, sweeping wildly and directly dispersing the scalding steam around them.
They were as if they were in the calm zone in the middle of a terrible hurricane, with the surrounding gale, scalding steam, and lightning creating a terrifying scene, as if falling in would instantly tear them apart.
"Look!" Gore pointed upwards, where a cylindrical opening appeared to have been torn open, and Fiery Flame was also thrown aside.
Everyone looked up and could vaguely see a tall figure floating in mid-air, waving a magic wand and manipulating lightning, flames, and scalding water vapor, which merged with a book floating in front of him.
That's Professor Lockhart!
"Kids, staying up so late at night, you might not grow tall," Professor Lockhart said, looking down at them through the eye of the hurricane, his face beaming with a bright smile.