James and the others could only watch as the enraged gray wolf bared its fangs and charged at Lockhart.
Don't die, please don't die.
Gary's heart sank as he watched Lockhart sitting motionless on the ground.
If Lockhart died here, none of the five of them would have a good outcome. Not to mention the punishment they would face, just the guilt would be unbearable for Gary.
If he and Alfrina had stopped Lockhart in the common room, would they not have reached such a dangerous point?
Gary was quite disgusted with Lockhart. Although they hadn't interacted much, his arrogant and self-important personality, coupled with the trouble he caused, had left a very bad impression on Gary.
But this disgust was just disgust. You could isolate him in front of classmates, treat him as invisible by not communicating with him, or resent him for losing fifty points for the house, which jeopardized the House Cup this year. But in the face of life and death, these were all minor matters.
He really disliked Lockhart, and before that, he had disliked Snape and Sirius, but he had never had the thought of anyone dying.
Lockhart shouldn't die.
Gary was a bit timid when things happened and somewhat indecisive in making decisions, but he always believed himself to be a good person, perhaps not that good, but at least very kind.
Don't die, please don't die.
The vine wood glowed crimson, and three more Shield Charms appeared in front of Lockhart.
The gray wolf broke through the first one like a hot knife through butter, then the second, finally stopping before the third Shield Charm. It was propelled far away by the energy released by the Shield Charm, landing on the ground.
On that side, James and Peter quickly pulled Sirius and Lockhart to a safe area. The gray wolf seemed stunned by the reflective force of the Shield Charm, shaking its head as it slowly got up.
At this moment, Gary felt his wand heating up. The heat emanated from the groove at the tail end, and as the temperature steadily rose, it became scalding to the touch, forcing him to quickly let go of the wand.
The wand fell into the low weeds, and Gary quickly bent down to search for it.
Now the wand was not just emitting light; Gary could see that it was cracking within the blood-red glow.
"Is your Shield Charm that strong?" Alfrina finally breathed a sigh of relief as the situation calmed down, walking over to Gary and asking with a serious expression.
...It was just a coincidence. When I practiced before, it didn't have such power.
Gary had no time to deal with Alfrina; he was staring intently at the wand in the grass. He subtly turned his body, blocking Alfrina's line of sight so she wouldn't notice anything amiss.
"..." Alfrina gave him a meaningful look. She naturally didn't believe Gary's nonsense. Few Wizards in the magic world could instantly cast three consecutive Shield Charms with considerable power, and Gary was explaining it as a coincidence. She pouted, feeling displeased.
On one hand, it was because Gary wasn't telling her the truth, and on the other hand, because Gary's mastery of magic was too high, which made the competitive Alfrina unhappy.
Gary, at this moment, naturally had no time to attend to Alfrina's emotions. The wand on the ground began to undergo an astonishing transformation; the vine wood that originally encased the wand core started to shatter and disintegrate, revealing a fiery red inner core.
Gary felt that this change in the wand was somewhat related to the anomaly during Christmas. The wand's inner core slowly melted and devoured the wand's outer layer. This process was very slow and would probably take some time.
Book 69 New
He picked up a broken twig from the ground and put it in his pocket. In the darkness, the broken twig and the wand were difficult to distinguish. He stood up and moved closer, blocking the faint glow from the wand.
The gray wolf got up from the ground and began circling them, creating a tense atmosphere and searching for weaknesses.
The six people were now huddled together, wands pointed at the gray wolf.
It knew that the objects these little ones held were not easy to deal with, but it didn't matter; there was plenty of time. As long as it found a weakness, it could deliver a fatal blow.
Alfrina looked up at the sky, just waiting for the dark clouds to cover the moon again.
Lockhart finally calmed down after two failed attempts, cowering in the middle of the group, not daring to face the gray wolf.
James no longer bothered to cause him trouble. He was a smart man, and combining it with the events of the past few days, he knew that Lockhart asking him for the secret passage to Hogsmeade was definitely for something in the Shrieking Shack. But the situation was urgent now; they had to stand united against the threat. James planned to deal with Lockhart after they returned.
"Let's slowly move towards the village," Alfrina whispered. They couldn't keep this up. Relying on the cloud above them was clearly unrealistic, and their energy was limited. If they maintained a high-intensity state of alert, they might not be able to sustain it.
The few people nodded, forming a circle and walking step by step down the hillside. Before leaving, Gary quickly bent down and picked up the wand from the ground. The wand had already lost its glow, but it felt a section thinner when held. Looking closely, the wand was now entirely red, standing out strikingly compared to everyone else's black wands.
The gray wolf clearly didn't want to give them a chance to call for help. It lunged to block them as they moved, forcing James and the others to attack it with their wands. However, under the moonlight, most of these wounds healed instantly.
To dodge the gray wolf's pounces, the few people also had to change their retreat direction. Sirius had a sprained ankle, Lockhart couldn't help much, and the remaining four had to look after the two of them while guarding against the gray wolf's attacks.
Gary was forced to act a few times, but he used the magic within his body, not what was stored in his wand.
He didn't dare to try it easily, unsure if the current wand could still cast spells on its own as before, so he had to do it himself.
With Lockhart's previous experience, the few people no longer used the Obstacle Curse, instead using Exploding Charms to block the gray wolf. This Exploding Charm could cause significant damage to the gray wolf's body. The drawback was that their mastery of this level of magic was average, and the effects produced were merely passable, unable to inflict fatal damage on the gray wolf illuminated by the moonlight.
As time passed, the magic of the few people rapidly decreased, yet they had only moved a little over a hundred steps. The dim village was still far away, and this gray wolf accelerated its attack rhythm, clearly not wanting to give them a chance to recover their magic.
The few people's nerves were constantly taut, but they still made a small mistake. As Peter retreated, he accidentally tripped over a stone on the ground, falling backward, and his wand tilted towards the sky.
A glint flashed in the gray wolf's eyes, seizing this precious opportunity, and it accelerated, charging towards Peter.
At this moment, the magic within Gary was no longer enough to support him casting another Shield Charm. Alfrina and James completely drained their magic, finally managing to cast two extremely fragile Shield Charms. Sirius, enduring the pain, cast two Obstacle Curses.
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