Harry returns from Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 455 Harry's Praise

"How about it?"

Hermione was breathing heavily, and her free hand reached haphazardly behind her, gripping Ron's wrist tightly.

"Nothing."

Ron was not panicked by his arachnophobia. In fact, the attack by the four giant eight-eyed spiders had just awakened the fighting spirit hidden in his heart.

Finally, he didn't forget to spit on the ground.

"Once I get out of here, I'm going to kill Harry with my own hands! With my own hands!" he said angrily to Hermione. "What happened to the promised one giant spider? Why do we have to fight four at the same time?"

“Let’s look on the bright side,” Hermione said, steadying her breath. “At least he didn’t make us deal with forty at once, did he?”

Ron choked.

It seems... Hermione's words make some sense.

Indeed, if we look at it this way, Harry is relatively humane—at least he didn't make them deal with a sea of ​​spiders at the same time.

Four of them? For him and Hermione right now, it's a piece of cake.

Suddenly, Ron became alert.

"Watch out," he growled.

Immediately afterwards, two figures leaped out of the jungle and pounced on the two.

"Protego!"

Hermione reacted quickly, immediately casting an armor spell in front of the two of them.

The giant spider crashed into the invisible barrier with a dull thud.

But the last spider, and the most cunning one, had already dangled from the "tree branch" above their heads, its chelicerae stabbing straight at Hermione's nape!

In a moment of crisis, Ron and Hermione displayed unparalleled teamwork.

There was no need for them to exchange words; Hermione suddenly crouched down, her wand pointing upwards:

"Arresto Momentum!" (Shock absorption and speed reduction)

The spider's descent suddenly slowed.

At almost the same time, Ron abandoned all the complex incantations and roared with all his might:
"Depulso! (Retreat the enemy three feet!)"

The powerful thrust blasted the suspended giant spider away, sending it crashing heavily against the wall in the distance with a dull thud.

But from the front, two other spiders had already closed in again.

"Winguardium Leviosa!" In the nick of time, Hermione did not choose to prepare a powerful attack, but instead used the Levitation Charm to manipulate a huge piece of broken wood on the ground to block the path of the spider's attack.

The two spiders bumped into the wood, becoming dizzy and disoriented.

Ron then turned around and cast a spell.

"Confringo!" (Thunderous explosion)

The Explosive Curse exploded on the head of one of the spiders, the shockwave knocking it to the ground. Its legs twitched, and its head was blown off, clearly indicating it was not going to survive.

At this point, the battle reached its climax.

The two stood back to back, breathing heavily, beads of sweat sliding down their foreheads.

The light of the incantation flickered rapidly in the dim light, intertwining with the hissing of the giant spider.

They no longer used single spells, but began using intricate combinations:
Hermione created a muddy puddle with Clear Water, and Ron immediately cast a Freezing Charm, causing one of the giant spiders to slip; when another tried to attack from the side, Hermione's Madness Charm temporarily threw it into confusion, causing it to indiscriminately attack its own kind...

Finally, after a fierce battle that felt like an eternity, the last eight-eyed giant spider was pulverized by Ron's precise blow, its thick belly exploding open.

Seeing the colorful mess scattered all over the ground, Ron plopped down on the floor, panting heavily, but his face was filled with unbelievable excitement: "We...we did it! Hermione! We took down four eight-eyed giant spiders!"

Hermione nodded emphatically and sat down next to him. Her hair was disheveled and her robes were dusty, but her eyes shone brighter than ever before.

The two rested and kept watch for a while. When they emerged from the forest, they were greeted with enthusiastic applause.

Everyone applauded and cheered for the two of them wholeheartedly, even Draco was no exception—although he didn't cheer, his applause was still very loud.

"How was it?" Hermione asked, head held high, looking at Harry with pride.

"Pretty flashy," Harry commented, "but all show and no substance, it's useless—I really don't understand why you used such a... flashy combination of spells? Freezing Charm + Clear Water, are you fighting or flirting?"

Harry has a sharp tongue, but his critiques are always spot-on.

“But we stopped the spider—” Hermione retorted, unconvinced.

"If you were facing hundreds of spiders, this combination would be acceptable, because it acts like a trap, slowing down their movements," Harry continued sharply. "But you're facing two spiders, so why not use a powerful spell like Shatter?"

Upon hearing Harry's words, Ron and Hermione lowered their heads.

Harry's words made a lot of sense, and neither of them could refute them.

“Alright, we can talk about your questions when we get back.” Harry lowered his head, saved the video on his phone, then looked up and continued, “Who’s next? The Longhorn Water Serpent—who was it again?”

“Me,” Ginny listlessly raised her hand, “and Malfoy—that’s what the two of us have to deal with.”

Harry glanced at Draco, who looked very enthusiastic, and thought to himself, "Don't be fooled by your cheerful smile now. I hope you'll still be smiling when you face the longhorned water snake later!"
The longhorned water snake he chose this time is a special species captured in the United States. This species of longhorned water snake has a gem on its forehead that can emit a low warning sound, and the part cut off from its horn can be used as a cane core.

Furthermore, the gem on the forehead of this long-horned water snake is said to grant the ability to become invisible and fly.

Therefore, it is also the most famous and precious of all longhorn water snake species.

The longhorned water snake also has intricate connections with the Ifamoni Magic School.

In 1620, Isolt Thayer befriended a long-horned water snake that lived near the Greylock Mountains.

She could understand the water snakes and later named one of the schools after the long-horned water snake when she founded the Ilfamoni Magical School.

Later, Isolde and her husband James Stewart used a fragment shaved from the horn of this long-horned water snake as the core of the first wand produced in America, and made wands for their adopted sons Chawick and Webber Boot.

“Alright,” Harry cleared his throat and said, “follow me now—we’re going to a place where we can fight the longhorned water snake.” They followed Harry and walked on, and soon they came to a swampy wetland.

"No?" Draco was somewhat taken aback. "How come there's everything here? I'm starting to wonder if there are extreme environments like volcanoes or the ocean floor here."

"The Room of Requirement, isn't that amazing?" Harry chuckled. "Alright, I'm leaving now—get ready, the longhorned water snake could attack you in ten minutes!"

After saying that, Harry left, leaving the two of them behind.

The swamp landscape was incredibly realistic, and the air was filled with the smell of decaying aquatic plants and a peculiar fishy odor, much like the smell of something rusting.

Muddy puddles were scattered all around, surrounded by twisted dead trees and dense reeds, resulting in extremely low visibility.

Draco pursed his lips, a few strands of his usually impeccably blond hair dampened by the moisture and clung to his forehead.

His eyes were wary, but he didn't forget to say something to Ginny.

“Listen, Weasley,” he said in a low voice, his wand sweeping warily across the water, “I hope you don’t hold us back—Harry won’t be lenient with who we are when he releases this thing.”

He had originally planned to say something nice, but for some reason, it just went wrong as soon as he opened his mouth.

All I can say is... this thing is probably something you're born with.

Ginny didn't look at him; all her attention was focused on perceiving her surroundings.

She held her wand firmly, her eyes sharp as an eagle's.

“Mind your own business, Malfoy. Instead of complaining, think about how to deal with that ‘treasure’ on its forehead,” Ginny said sarcastically.

Just then, a deep, humming sound, as if coming from the depths of the water, rang out.

The voice wasn't loud, but it carried a soul-stirring resonance that made both of their hearts involuntarily tighten.

They knew that it was definitely the sound of a longhorned water snake.

In the center of a large pool directly in front of us, the water surface silently breaks open.

A slender head covered in dark green scales slowly rose.

This long-horned water snake was quite large; its body above the water was probably more than ten feet long, so it's not hard to guess how long the part hidden underwater must have been.

Its cold, yellow, vertical pupils locked onto the two of them, and what was most striking was the gem in the center of its forehead that shimmered with an unusual luster, and the incredibly hard-looking horn above the gem.

"Horned Water Serpent!" Draco exclaimed, drawing his wand with lightning speed. "Petrificus Totalus!"

The spell was cast on the horned water snake, but nothing happened.

As a level 5X magical creature, its scales are full of resistance to spells.

But Draco's spell clearly angered the horned water serpent, which let out a long roar towards the sky.

"It's going to become invisible!" Ginny reacted incredibly quickly. The instant the gem on the horned water snake's forehead began to flash intensely, she shouted, "Thunder Explosion!"

The Explosive Spell didn't hit the water snake directly, but rather struck the surface of the water in front of it.

The huge splash and impact clearly interrupted its concealment process, causing the gem's brilliance to momentarily falter.

“Not too bad.” Draco managed to squeeze out what could be a compliment—though he wanted to say something even better—while quickly waving his wand: “Petrificus Totalus!”

The spell's light shot towards the snake's head, but the horned water snake was incredibly fast. It suddenly tilted its head, and the petrification spell grazed its horns, leaving only a large patch of gray-white on the dead wood behind it.

The horned water snake let out an even sharper hiss, and dangerous lightning began to gather at the tip of its long horns.

At the same time, part of its massive body surfaced.

"Merlin's bitter tea seed!" Draco exclaimed. "Just how big is this thing?!"

"No time for that!" Ginny shouted anxiously. "I'll distract it, you find a chance to deal with its horn or the gem! Don't let it disappear, I don't want to get pierced through!"

After saying that, she moved quickly and fired several harassing spells in succession, successfully drawing the water snake's main firepower.

An arc of electricity shot out from the corner, grazing the spot where she had just stood, scorching the ground black.

Draco seized the opportunity and unleashed a cutting spell, striking the water serpent's long horns.

However, the Longhorn Water Serpent is, after all, a Level 5X dangerous creature, and its fighting instincts are clearly far superior to those of ordinary magical creatures. It seemed to have anticipated the danger, and its massive body twisted with incredible agility. The Longhorn narrowly avoided the magical beam of light, but was struck on its body, only having a few hard scales shaved off.

Its yellow, vertical pupils turned angrily toward Draco, and the gem on its forehead lit up again.

Its massive body began to blur, as if it were about to merge with the surrounding moisture.

"We can't let it become invisible!" Ginny shouted anxiously. "Don't just stand there! Reducto!"

A bright, dazzling light shot from the tip of Ginny's wand and struck the horned water serpent's body.

With a loud bang, a huge wound was blasted into the body of the long-horned water snake.

Clearly, as a natural-born master of the Smash Charm, Ginny was highly skilled in this spell, enough to pierce the scales of the longhorn serpent.

Draco didn't just stand by and watch; he unleashed a dark spell that struck Ginny's ruptured wound.

This curse was definitely not a good thing, at least that's what the spectators thought—because the longhorned water snake's movements suddenly became incredibly slow, and its originally pink wound turned black.

Immediately afterwards, Draco demonstrated his keen eye as a Seeker, and an extremely swift Slicing Spell, like a thin silver line, precisely sliced ​​across the tip of the long, pale horn of the Water Serpent!
A small, gleaming white horn tip, seemingly imbued with some kind of low hum, fell down and landed in the muddy water.

At the same time, the long-horned water snake hissed, glanced at them with its bright yellow vertical pupils, and slowly sank its massive body into the swamp.

The ripples spread slowly, and the long-horned water snake had disappeared.

"Where's the snake?" Draco asked in astonishment.

“Be careful…” Ginny remained vigilant, continuing to look around, trying to find traces of the long-horned water snake.

However, they waited for a long time but did not find any trace of the long-horned water snake.

After a while, Harry appeared beside them.

"Well done." He chuckled approvingly at the two of them. "I should say, you two did a much better job than the previous group—of course, I didn't expect you to actually kill the longhorned water snake, just to test your adaptability..."

(End of this chapter)