Night fell black as ink.
Across the vast sky, dark clouds stacked layer upon layer. Lightning occasionally threaded through them, heralding the coming storm.
The dim yellow streetlights gradually went out.
Under this starless, moonless night, all of Surrey seemed shrouded in thick darkness.
Residents wandering the streets returned home, drawing their curtains tight. Even the dogs in their yards were brought inside.
The streets fell deathly silent inside and out.
This was an unspoken consensus among Surrey's residents. The streetlights symbolized warmth and peace—the Shelby Family's silent promise to Surrey's people.
The Shelby Family would light the way home for every resident, driving back the malice from the dark world.
When the streetlights went out, it meant the Shelby Family had business to handle. If you didn't belong to the dark world, go home and enjoy the light that was yours.
The Shelby Family would never disturb anyone willing to work hard for an honest living...
"Hey, boy!"
"Did you hear what I said!"
"Marge doesn't know about you freaks..."
At Number 4 Privet Drive, Vernon Dursley was impatiently laying out instructions for a few days from now.
However, Harry stared blankly out the window. This made Vernon Dursley's expression increasingly irritable.
"Damn it, I said what are you looking at..."
Before he could finish cursing, Harry raised his hand toward the window, reminding him calmly: "Uncle Vernon, the streetlights went out."
"What?"
Vernon Dursley instinctively looked where Harry pointed. Seeing the pitch darkness outside, his previously irritable expression vanished instantly. In its place came barely concealed tension and urgency.
"Oh my God!"
"Petunia, Dudley!"
"Quick, draw the curtains—the streetlights are out!"
Hurried footsteps sounded upstairs. Vernon Dursley rushed toward the living room window.
Halfway there, he spun around to glare at Harry, barking harshly: "Boy, what are you standing there for!"
"Get to the kitchen and draw those curtains! Lock the door!"
"Don't just stand there like an idiot—move! Or I definitely won't sign that permission slip for Hobbit Village!"
"It's Hogsmeade..."
Harry muttered helplessly, then walked into the kitchen and pulled down the window shutter...
To get Uncle Vernon to sign the Hogsmeade permission slip, he'd been compromising for days. He really didn't know when this would end...
The moment the shutter fell completely, brilliant lightning suddenly tore through the clouds, illuminating all of Surrey for an instant. Immediately after, thunder boomed through the cloud layers. Wind howled continuously.
Rain the size of beans poured from the sky.
As the downpour rapidly intensified, dense, urgent drumming sounded on the roof and windows...
"Darling, are you asleep?"
Mrs. Granger tiptoed into Hermione's bedroom, holding a glass of warm milk.
Seeing her daughter still standing at the window, staring absently at the torrential rain outside, she couldn't help laughing softly.
"Alright, dear."
"Drink this milk, then you should sleep."
"Your father just finished talking with Arthur."
"The Shelbys aren't making any big moves. John just needs to handle some private business tonight. Tiger and the others are still at the pub playing cards..."
As she spoke, Mrs. Granger walked to Hermione's side, smiling teasingly as she pinched her daughter's cheek.
"Tiger?"
Hermione snapped back to attention.
Her round eyes showed both the slight embarrassment of being caught and desperate attempts to hide her guilt.
"No, I wasn't waiting..."
"I mean..."
"I just wanted to watch the rain!"
With that, Hermione turned toward the window, trying to avoid Mrs. Granger's all-knowing smile.
She didn't realize the reflection from the night and glass exposed the lingering blush on her face and her flustered eyes completely.
"Alright, alright."
Mrs. Granger's lips curved slightly. She patted her daughter's messy hair and turned toward the bedroom door.
"Remember to drink the milk."
"It'll help with your little... deficiencies."
With that meaningful tease, the door closed. Hermione glared indignantly at the door.
In that split second, a brilliant bolt of lightning pierced the clouds, suddenly striking down, splitting the black night sky in two.
The rainy night outside brightened for an instant, then quickly returned to dense darkness.
Deafening thunder followed immediately.
Mrs. Granger's startled cry rang out downstairs. The glass buzzed and rattled.
However, Hermione wasn't frightened at all. Instead, she pressed herself against the glass, eyes suspiciously fixed on the depths of the rain curtain.
In that instant when lightning flashed, a savage, terrifying yet strangely familiar figure had flickered at the edge of Hermione's vision, like a strange ghost appearing in the rainy night.
She seemed to have caught it waving at her in some inexplicable manner...
When she blinked again to confirm, the pitch-black rainy night was utterly silent. No trace remained.
As if that instant had been an illusion.
Unreal and false.
"Venom?"
Hermione blinked in confusion.
But the next second, she shook her head with slight disappointment. "No... not Venom..."
That strange, bizarre figure had purple skin with lightning-like patterns faintly flickering across it. Tentacles like dreadlocks sprouted from its head...
Though only for an instant, she was certain—that wasn't Venom.
Because compared to Venom's natural violence and defiance, that purple figure seemed more rebellious. When it waved at her, there was a trace of casual laziness.
Recognizing that familiarity and warmth, Hermione had a pretty good guess.
Most likely John, that playboy.
"I knew that wasn't an Obscurus!"
Suddenly remembering how Tiger had brushed her off back then, Hermione's cheeks puffed up involuntarily.
She'd stupidly researched so much material, worried this guy would be hurt by an Obscurus...
Miss Know-It-All flopped onto her bed in frustration, pounding her pillow as if venting.
"Liar!"
"Liar!"
Like lightning fallen from the sky and lingering on the ground, the rain curtain suddenly dropped. Wind howled again.
John stood at the crossroads, body leaning slightly forward. Indescribable shock burst from him.
"What the fuck!"
"What the hell is this thing!"
Looking at the real, deep night around him, he exaggeratedly widened his eyes. His savage, terrifying symbiote face showed a trace of adorably dazed confusion.
In these short five minutes, he'd seemingly become lightning itself, running through all of Surrey.
Streets and houses became blurred and distorted. Branches and leaves blown down by the wind fell like slowly descending phantoms.
He could clearly see every raindrop falling from the sky. He could hear Mrs. Granger's startled cry stretched out in slow-motion time, becoming low and distant.
His thoughts had become extraordinarily sharp during these five minutes. Every detail was captured and quickly analyzed in his mind...
His violent heartbeat was still accelerating.
But this wasn't from tension or fear—it was because he thoroughly enjoyed this feeling of exceeding limits.
John knew his speed had surpassed ordinary human boundaries. He seemed to have become master of this world, able to freely travel through the cracks in time.
Everything around him was slowing down. This sensation both excited him and made him feel a trace of loneliness...
"Tiger, you damn little bastard!"
"I fucking love you!"
"Oh God, I can't believe it..."
"You should've given me this thing ages ago!"
In the pouring rain, the tall, slender purple symbiote suddenly raised its head, releasing a strange howl full of wild satisfaction.
But just then, a cool, lazy voice slowly sounded in John's mind, carrying a hint of disdain.
"If possible."
"Darling, I'd prefer you call me Agony."
The roar cut off abruptly. John froze in place, his mouth gradually opening wide.
The voice in his mind was like a summer evening breeze—smooth, pleasant, mixed with elusive temptation...
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