I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 192 Silly girl, run!!!

"I thought you had a good relationship with the centaurs." Owen looked up at Hagrid with an expression that said it was perfectly natural for him.

"I'm only on good terms with a few of them," Hagrid explained. "Centaurs don't like humans, most of them don't. I can only strike up a conversation with a very few, like Ronan and Ferenczer."

"But—no matter how good our relationship is, they won't tell me where the centaurs' settlement is."

"I had no idea they had a castle in the forest."

"Uh—" Owen scratched his head, a look of realization dawning on him. "No wonder Dumbledore sent Sirius Black as a diplomat, instead of you!"

Then, he looked with disgust at the naked, indecent centaurs on the city wall.

He's fine if he's alone; he doesn't mind showing as much skin as he wants.

But this time, Luna is with him!

The little girl is only thirteen years old!

Looking at those centaurs, each one was big and burly, their bodies covered in huge muscles, and each one exuded the aura of a true man.

Compared to his frail appearance and perfectly integrated abdominal muscles, it's like a thin veil!

I'm so envious!

Irving sighed once again.

Envy was already drooling from the corners of my mouth.

If only my buddy had that kind of physique.

Unfortunately, he hated physical exercise the most.

"Look over there!" Luna suddenly exclaimed, her silver eyes piercing through the darkness and landing on a man lying on the ground, also hiding behind an oak tree.

"Peter Pettigrew?" Owen followed her gaze and indeed saw that familiar, living figure.

He was sticking his rear end out, surging forward, seemingly hesitant to approach the centaur's territory.

But because they were burdened with a certain mission, they had to get even closer.

"What am I doing?"

In the distance, he was talking to the Godfather of Dogs about something that seemed to be a very heavy topic, and neither of them looked too good.

Each of them was serious and tense.

At this moment, Peter Pettigrew, who was not far from them, had already poked his head out.

"Uh—I have to remind myself!" Irving said casually.

Then, to his astonishment, Luna picked up a stone from the ground and threw it straight out.

"Wow, are you really that reckless?"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Ouch!!!"

Fortunately, the first one didn't hit him directly. It just hit the city wall, knocked off a piece of stone, and by sheer coincidence, hit him on the head.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"It hurts a lot, okay?"

"Irving complained over here."

Then—before he could even raise his hand to stop her, the little elf simply waved his wand.

The levitation spell, combined with a peculiar gravitational pull, directly grabbed another stone and then swiftly and accurately threw it away.

"Again?"

"Are you sick in the head?! Why aren't you opening your mouth?! What kind of stone are you throwing?!"

His loud shouts could be heard from the foot of the city wall.

"Run!" Owen immediately grabbed Luna and scurried into the woods.

Hagrid, still somewhat bewildered, wasn't so lucky.

He was shocked because it was the first time he had ever witnessed time travel, with two different versions of Irving appearing in his field of vision.

Just as he was lost in thought, a fiery spell swept across the horizon.

The flames instantly ignited the area where Hagrid was located.

"Can you ask me first before you make a move next time?" Owen said irritably. He dragged Luna to a ravine, and the two hid in a deep pit, surrounded by the sound of burning dry branches and leaves.

"I'm a little anxious!" The little elf stared with its round eyes and its two rabbit ears swayed, instantly extinguishing most of the anger in Owen's heart.

"I've heard Harry talk about Peter Pettigrew. He's a despicable guy who framed Sirius Black. And he killed over a dozen Muggles. He's even worse than Fudge!" she said.

"This is a good opportunity. If we can—you can, the past you—capture him, then not only can we clear Sirius's name, but we can also make this murderer receive the punishment he deserves."

"Although—but. I—" Owen was persuaded by Luna, and perhaps he really should think of a way to save Peter's life.

Recalling when he used Peter to lure the dead, it seems that he did not actually see Peter die directly.

In other words, his death was not observed.

This creates room for maneuver.

"That's true, but all I can say is I'll do my best." After a moment, Owen nodded solemnly, looked Luna in the eye, and said calmly, "Catching him was just a side effect. If we encounter any danger, I will absolutely prioritize our safety and yours."

"."

The little elf's beautiful eyes gleamed; she didn't speak, but simply watched him quietly.

After a while, as the atmosphere gradually became somewhat ambiguous.

They were suddenly interrupted by hurried footsteps nearby.

Yes—Hagrid.

His face was dark, as if he had been burned.

His clothes were a mix of black and yellow.

The beaver leather boots on his feet also smelled burnt.

Even his beard was missing a piece.

The strong smell of barbecued collagen in the air indicated that his beard had been sizzled by the fire.

Upon seeing Owen, Hagrid first released Tooth from his arms, then, with a dark expression, was about to shout a reprimand—but in the instant he opened his mouth, his eyes caught sight of Luna beside him. The little bunny wiggled its ears, stared with innocent silver eyes, and after exchanging a glance with the elfin-like girl, Hagrid's anger subsided.

Fine, I'll give this kid some face!

"Don't start fires in the forest anymore!" he said sternly.

"Otherwise, besides losing points, I'll also tell your dean about this!"

"Uh—" Irving nodded quickly upon hearing this.

Completely ignoring the fact that they were on the other side of the forest.

The fiery flames he created continued to relentlessly devour the forest.

Even when he traveled back in time, the firelight did not disappear.

The fire is still burning.

Who knows how many trees the flames will eventually devour?

What a sin! What a sin!

In the Forbidden Forest, besides the various magical animals that are quite valuable, the most valuable things are probably the trees.

After all, Hogwarts is here, so there are very few poachers.

There are many ancient trees in the forest, some hundreds of years old, and even some thousand-year-old living trees exist, and there are quite a few of them.

Those trees are important materials for making wands, flying brooms, or other precious magical items.

A wand made of thousand-year-old oak is incomparable to a wand made of hundred-year-old oak in terms of the power of its spells.

Every year Ollivander would give Dumbledore a sum of money, and in return, Dumbledore would receive some precious timber that Hagrid had cut down from the forest.

The Forbidden Forest is practically the castle's cash cow!

"Okay, I'll definitely pay attention in the future!" Irving nodded and replied with great certainty.

The thought that he might have burned thousands of Galleons made Irving's heart ache terribly.

I caught my breath.

The voices of my past self and Sirius Black faded into the distance.

In the end, it was almost nothingness.

They walked away.

"What are we going to do?" Hagrid asked.

"Capture that Blood Ancestor!" Owen replied.

That's their goal.

"That monster sucked a part of Professor Lupin's soul, causing him to fall into a deep coma and now lie in the Hogwarts infirmary!" he said.

"What?" Hagrid's eyes widened. "Lupin was attacked? Why are you only telling me now?"

"He was attacked by a monster. He did it to protect me—and Lavender of Gryffindor. Besides, what difference does it make whether we say it sooner or later?" Owen retorted.

A faint hint of apology emanated from his tone.

In fact, Professor Lu Ping's injury was his fault again.

He was too relaxed.

If he had been more cautious back then

But considering his age, no one would criticize a fourteen-year-old.

Even with his previous feat of single-handedly fighting hundreds of Dementors, people would say that he had done his best this time.

But only Irving himself knew later.

He didn't try his best at all.

If he really did his best, no one would get hurt.

"Our only goal now is to capture that Blood Ancestor," Owen said in a heavy tone.

"Hand him over to Dumbledore or Nick Flamel and see if they can study him and get that monster to spit out Professor Lupin's soul power."

"This is the only solution I can think of."

"Then let's catch her!" Luna clenched her little fist and said solemnly.

The three exchanged a glance.

Although Hagrid didn't know what Owen meant by "blood progenitor," he was determined to do everything in his power to save Professor Lupin's life.

"Okay, then let's—"

He hadn't finished speaking.

Just as he was getting up, a heart-wrenching scream suddenly interrupted him.

Then, the attention of the three people present was drawn to the scream.

Irving quickly climbed out of the pit.

I looked up and gazed at the centaur castle in the distance.

Suddenly, a large group of strange-looking evil creatures appeared from the east side of the castle.

They have the heads of all sorts of animals, but the bodies of monkeys.

They swayed and dangled on the branches like monkeys, quickly invading the centaur city.

The centaur traps that only exist on the ground are completely ineffective against these creatures.

Before the centaurs on their complex patrol could react, they were struck by the monster's hideous and terrifying maw.

Then, the centaur began to convulse, his muscles twitching wildly, as if the fat under his skin was being sucked away.

Then, at a speed visible to the naked eye, like a deflated balloon, it became thinner and thinner.

In the end, he was so thin that only bones remained.

The centaurs were still alive at this point.

But what awaits them is only that their flesh and blood are devoured, and their souls are sucked away.

"Ah~~~ Ah!"

A series of mournful screams rose and fell, the centaurs wailing silently, until their withered faces were reduced to skeletal bones, and a ball of silver light was drawn from their bodies and swallowed whole by those abominable monsters.

"Oh my god!!!"

Neither Hagrid nor Luna had ever witnessed such a cruel scene.

The little elf's face turned deathly pale instantly.

Her steps were unsteady, and her legs felt weak.

It wobbled precariously, as if it were about to fall over.

Owen quickly steadied her, leaning her against his shoulder. Then he reached out and covered her eyes, preventing her from witnessing the bloody and horrific scene.

"What kind of monster is that?" Hagrid stared in disbelief, his eyes bloodshot as he looked at the horde of creatures sweeping out of the forest.

“Deadborn!” Owen replied. “Monsters that can devour souls, somewhat like Dementors, but they are immortal. No magic can completely kill them; the only thing that works is the Eternal Flame, the Ancient Flame.”

"The eternally burning flames will cause them to forever sink to the edge of life and death, eventually exhausting all their power, and these monsters will naturally disintegrate."

"Ignore them," Owen said cruelly. Let alone these centaurs, even a large group of wizards facing such monsters, what could they do besides apparition to escape?

Rescuing the horsemen will only endanger yourself as well.

He had promised Luna.

He would protect her if they encountered a dangerous situation.

"Since the centaurs are unwilling to ally with Hogwarts, we have no obligation to save them. These monsters appeared in the forest months ago, but they refused to tell us. Now they've brought this upon themselves, and they have no one to blame but themselves," he continued.

But what he didn't notice was that the more he talked, the more serious Hagrid's face became.

"Besides, we can't save them. Those monsters are unkillable. We have no choice but to run away."

"Is that so?" Hagrid said in a deep voice.

Before his eyes, countless centaurs were dying as their souls were extracted.

As a ranger at Hogwarts.

He couldn't stand the scene.

Having said that, he picked up his huge crossbow and charged into the centaur's battlefield like a madman.

"Hagrid, wait!" Owen quickly tried to stop him when he saw this.

But how could he possibly stop a giant over ten feet tall?

"I knew it! I knew it!" Irving complained angrily.

Then he turned to Luna and reminded her, "Hold onto Sirocco. If anything happens, don't worry about us, just leave!"

"I'm begging you."

With that, he bid farewell to his best friend from both his past lives, and then followed Hagrid into the battlefield.

In his first playthrough, he killed many people.

Many wizards his age died under his wand.

Even Harry Potter and Hermione didn't survive in the end.

Although Voldemort was still defeated by Harry.

He had clearly switched the positions of all the Soul Weapons beforehand, and he was also carrying one of his Soul Weapons with him.

But in the end, those Horcruxes were still found, destroyed, and their traces erased one by one.

The room he owned was also destroyed by Hermione in an accident.

All of this seems to be caused by an invisible hand called fate.

The threads that are pulled hold the fate of everyone in their hands.

Even so, he didn't lose in his first playthrough.

He killed Granger and Harry.

That world will eventually follow the path of darkness, and one day, a new Dark Lord will be born.

By then—there will be no Dumbledore, no savior!

But—no matter how bad things got, he never laid a hand on Luna.

Because only she knew that it wasn't him who was sick, but the world.

This is why Irving cares so much about her.

They are true friends.

A friend who sees right through you.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

But some things are destined to be wishful thinking.

For example, Hagrid would not abandon the centaurs.

Luna wouldn't abandon him, just like she would run away alone!

"Clang!"

The sound of a crossbow bolt piercing the air shot out from the forest, pinning a monster straight to a tree.

"clank!"

Then came the second arrow, and the third arrow.

The powerful arrows even pierced through trees and split rocks.

Kyrie Irving's eyelids twitched uncontrollably!

This power is comparable to that of an anti-machine sniper rifle!

he guessed.

Unfortunately, no matter how powerful Hagrid's crossbow bolts were, they didn't do much damage to the monsters.

The impact only slowed their pace; as for damage—it was negligible.

"Damn it!" the giant cursed.

As Irving said, his attack was completely ineffective.

"Crushed to pieces!"

"Torn apart!"

Then he drew out a spell and quickly recited two spells.

Two streaks of red and gray magic swept past, striking one of the Deadborn Ones.

But the damage—not even as much as the crossbow bolts, which at least slowed them down, but the spell couldn't even slow them down.

"Obstacles are numerous!"

"Obstacles are numerous!"

"Obstacles are numerous!"

Owen followed behind him, throwing out what was perhaps the most useful spell: the Barrier Charm!

This was the only spell he had discovered that could work on the Deadborn.

Although it only slows down the pace.

After defusing the crisis, Irving leaped high into the air.

Its body shimmered with a strong white light, attracting the attention of all the dead beings.

He was like Zeus's messenger, possessing unparalleled power, and landed in front of the centaur's castle.

"Get out of the way!" he roared.

The centaurs around them were stunned by the power and retreated silently.

He then quickly crouched down and plunged his wand into the ground.

Then a surge of immense magical power erupted.

He unleashed a powerful transformation technique.

"Stop right there!!!"

In an instant, magic covered several acres of land, then seemed to seep into the ground like a large amount of water.

In an instant, the land began to rise and fall, like the surface of the sea.

The waves surged and churned.

That incredible magic covered the entire forest in front of the city.

The living earth turned into a swamp, dragging everything in, from trees to the dead. Stepping into it was like entering quicksand.

Irving—single-handedly altered several acres of terrain.

"Oh my God!"

"Incredible!"

"Was that a miracle?"

Whether it was the centaurs on the city wall or the centaur warriors guarding the city below, they were all dumbfounded, staring blankly at the child standing in front of them.

Although he was a boy, his eyes reflected the divine.

The divine can roam the abyss, and those who see the abyss are like mayflies.

All they could do was marvel at the power of the gods; there was nothing else they could do.

—Over there, the god in the centaur's eyes slowly raised his magic wand.

Like a conductor, Irving suddenly waved his hand, and the land, like ocean waves, instantly slammed the dead beings who were trying to break through into the sea of ​​mud.

"Merlin's beard!"

Hagrid swore this was the last time he would be shocked.

Although this makes him seem very childish, but—good heavens! What can I say!

A fourteen-year-old child!

Fourteen years old!!!

He turned acres of land into a muddy sea; what could be more outrageous than that?

It can cast this level of polymorphism.

The first image that popped into his mind was Dumbledore.

In his limited understanding, only Dumbledore himself could cast magic of this level.

This is reminiscent of Irving's age.

Hagrid was certain that even Dumbledore, at the age of fourteen, could not have done what Owen was doing now.

No wizard could do that.

This child surpassed his predecessors, walking on a path that no one had ever walked before.

"I said, stop right there!!!"

The Deadborn were more difficult to deal with than Irving had imagined.

He turned the land into a swamp and then stirred it up, like a typhoon rising from the sea.

Hold the monster firmly in place.

They were not allowed to leave the very center of the swamp.

Even so, the monster continued to struggle.

They were even more ferocious than he had imagined; they began trampling their own kind and charged at him like hunting dogs.

Seeing this, Irving shouted.

His entire body's magical power erupted once again.

Sweat poured down his forehead.

My eyelids are trembling.

A warm sensation flowed from my nose.

It dripped straight onto the ground.

Then, the earth roared in fury.

"Multiple freezes!!!"

The sound, like a roar emanating from a gritted throat, echoed across the earth.

In an instant, an extremely cold temperature spread from the soles of Irving's feet.

It looked like dry ice had been poured onto the ground.

Pure white mist rose up.

Then, rapidly, at a speed visible to the naked eye, it began to sweep across the entire muddy sea.

Mist rose.

The icicles are like master sculptors, carving each wave of the muddy sea into lifelike detail.

Those seemingly real but actually fake waves are like dancing spirits of swords, their swaying waists and every frown and smile as beautiful as blooming flowers.

If its color were more vibrant, instead of a dull yellow, it would certainly be a flawless work of art.

However, the ice crystals could not control the unborn for long.

Irving knows.

He's just stalling for time.

They're just stalling for time.

"Irving!"

In the jungle on the other side, the stubborn girl had no intention of escaping alone.

She crossed the frozen earth.

He tripped and fell without warning, then quickly got up.

The kitten broke free from her arms, its heavy paws lashing out with sharp claws that dug into the ice as it raced toward its owner.

"Irving".

This time, the girl's voice trembled with an inexplicable spasm, and a tear rolled down her cheek from her silver eyes and fell to the ground.

It froze instantly.

The boy, who was already in a daze, seemed to hear the girl calling him.

He suddenly turned around.

Gray eyes, filled with a weary urgency.

Suddenly, he smiled.

A smile played on his lips.

He flashed Kyrie Irving's signature smile.

Then, stammering and slightly open, he cried out, "Run! Silly girl!"

Then—the ice crystals on the ground instantly turned into fragments.

The glistening ice, like tears, dripped onto the ground, its crisp sound echoing through the forest.

Amidst the cacophony, the boy's voice was remarkably clear.

"Silly girl!"

"Run!!!"

(End of this chapter)