It was clearly still midday, yet inside the Forbidden Forest it was so dark that one couldn't see their own hand in front of their face. Only the faint chirping of insects could be heard in the gloom.
"Lumos!"
With a soft incantation, a bright sphere of light flared from the tip of Wade's wand. He gave it a small flick, and the glowing orb floated gently upward, hovering three or four feet above his head—like a giant incandescent bulb suddenly lit in the darkness of the forest.
The boundless shadows were instantly pushed back. Towering ancient trees emerged from the thick darkness, their gnarled roots coiling across the ground like sleeping serpents—one careless step could easily send someone sprawling.
From a nearby tree, a dozen slender vines silently crept toward Wade. The sudden light startled them; they recoiled at once, twisting away like frightened snakes.
Then, all at once, the hairs on the back of Wade's neck stood on end—pure instinct screaming danger.
He spun around, and his wand cut through the air in a blazing arc!
At that same instant, a spider the size of a horse leapt down from the treetops, its eight eyes glinting coldly in the glow. Its black, bristly legs spread wide as it lunged straight for him!
The spell struck before it could land. A surge of golden-red fire erupted with a whoosh, engulfing the enormous spider in an instant.
Flames raced wildly across its fur-covered body, and its hard shell cracked and popped under the heat. The Acromantula shrieked in agony, thrashing and rolling on the forest floor.
"Fire! Fire!" it screamed. "The fire burns me!"
From beyond the reach of the light came a chorus of clicking sounds. Two slightly smaller Acromantulas scuttled out from behind the trees. They pounced on their burning companion—but instead of trying to save it, they tore it apart!
A swarm of smaller spiders—some the size of fists, others as large as hounds—rushed out from the woods, swarming over the corpse in excitement. The air filled with the sickening crunch-crunch of feeding.
Then, from deeper in the shadows, came heavier footsteps. Several massive Acromantulas emerged from the dark, surrounding the young wizard on all sides. Their fangs clicked eagerly, as if anticipating a grand feast.
…
On the Quidditch stands, the spectators who witnessed this scene had gone pale. Many of the younger Hogwarts students—those who had once dreamed of sneaking into the Forbidden Forest—now felt their legs go weak with fear.
"Breeding… breeding that many Acromantulas… that's illegal, isn't it?"
A young brown-haired wizard stammered.
"Oh, the creatures in the Forbidden Forest all developed naturally," said Professor Kettleburn—the retired Care of Magical Creatures teacher—with a cheerful grin. "Having such a large colony of dangerous species so close to the school has always been… a bit of a problem for us!"
The young wizard: "…" Liar! As if Dumbledore couldn't deal with a bunch of monsters like that!
"Can that boy handle them? There are so many of those spiders," a Bulgarian wizard said to the person next to him. "Maybe he'll be eliminated right at the start?"
"That boy is Wade Grey of Hogwarts," the other replied. "He's one of the favorites to win the championship."
"Damn it!" someone exclaimed, slamming their fist on the railing. "Who could've guessed Wade Grey would be the first to be eliminated? If I'd known, I'd have bet on someone else!"
Fred gripped Fiona's hand tightly and said in a trembling voice. "Don't worry… there are professors patrolling the forest… Wade will be fine…"
…
"Human! The little human wizard!"
"He used fire! Cursed fire!"
"Kill him!"
"Eat him! Eat him!"
The spiders shrieked furiously, closing in step by step around Wade. But their advance was slow—their many legs hesitated, trembling with fear of the flames.
Ordinarily, Acromantulas didn't fear fire—certainly not to this extent.
But ever since that one dark night when their colony was nearly wiped out in an inferno, their simple minds had come to associate fire with one thing—death.
So even though the small wizard before them looked tender, weak, and delicious, the fact that he could summon fire filled them with dread.
Suddenly, one of the larger spiders raised its abdomen and spat a thick jet of sticky silk toward him. Wade flicked his wand lightly, and the webbing rebounded harmlessly away.
"Is that all you've got?"
He sounded almost disappointed. From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the blue recording bird hovering nearby and sighed softly.
"Sorry, Hagrid."
He didn't know if Hagrid was watching the live broadcast, but either way… even if the half-giant wept into Fang's fur later, Wade couldn't afford to hold back.
Still, he would never understand Hagrid's affection for these monstrous spiders.
As the surrounding Acromantulas began spewing venom and silk in unison, Wade raised his wand sharply and shouted:
"Incendio Maxima!"
A torrent of gold-and-red fire, laced with hints of blue, burst from the wand's tip—like a coiling dragon of flame that spun in a circle and surged outward in a blazing wave!
Wade's fire spells had once been refined under Dumbledore's guidance—and personally taught by Grindelwald himself. Even a simple Incendio became something extraordinary in his hands.
The searing flames exploded outward from Wade's position, devouring everything around him in an instant. The spiders shrieked—high, piercing sounds—as their eyes burst one after another in the heat, and their bodies turned black and brittle before collapsing into ash.
The air reeked of burning oil and charred chitin; black smoke coiled upward between the trees, crackling faintly with the sound of sizzling flesh.
After only a few seconds, the roaring blaze vanished as suddenly as it had come. The ground around him was scorched bare. The spiders were nothing but blackened husks, frozen in their final moments of agony.
Their remains continued to crumble in the lingering heat. A gust of wind swept through, and they disintegrated completely—falling away as wisps of gray ash.
…
The stands were silent.
Just moments ago, people had been worrying that Wade Grey wouldn't even have time to fire a distress signal. And now, in the span of a heartbeat, the only figure left standing in the Streaming Mirror was the slender boy himself.
Several Hufflepuff students clapped hands over their mouths, faces pale. From the Ravenclaw stands came the heavy thud of books dropping to the ground; some students even dropped their telescopes in shock.
In Gryffindor's section, after a brief stunned pause, the Weasley twins were the first to erupt into loud, triumphant cheers.
Over in Slytherin's seats, however, the silence was palpable. A few students recalled past quarrels with Wade Grey and suddenly felt as if they'd narrowly escaped death themselves.
Scattered applause began to rise—then grew into a roaring wave that shook the entire arena.
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⭐Harry Potter: Becoming a Study God (HP:BSG)- 200+ Chapters
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