I, Hogwarts Second Time Around.

Chapter 367 A Battle with Both Sides Moving Back and Forth

Amidst the torrential rain, thunder roared loudly.

However, this did not stop the woman's voice.

She seemed very excited, her eyes shining, "My son is your classmate."

"He would often bring back animated photographs and tell me about Hogwarts. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Owen Sanchez from their house. Oh—the legendary figures of the magic school."

"Ah—" I ran into someone I know.

Harry scratched his head and then asked, "And who is your son?"

"Justin, Justin Finley," the woman said. "He says he has many friends at the academy, and his father and I have always worried that he might face discrimination in the wizarding world, after all, he comes from an ordinary family."

"You're Justin's mother!" Harry and Ron exclaimed, their eyes widening in surprise.

They had heard Owen mention that the Justin family was very powerful in the Muggle world, belonging to the top families in Britain, almost reaching the highest level that ordinary people could climb.

Because above them are the real elites, such as prime ministers and members of parliament.

Compared to the Justin family, Hermione's family, a middle-class family in London, could only be described as destitute.

Harry's aunt's family was considered slightly better off than extremely poor.

This kind of family can hardly be called an "ordinary family"!

"Hello, hello." Harry extended his hand and shook hands with Justin's mother.

"What a coincidence!" he said.

Upon learning that the woman before them was Justin's mother, the others also stepped forward to shake her hand.

Hermione was the last one.

Because she had been thinking about the problem.

After the distant Muggle artillery barrage ended.

The wizards should have launched their attack, but—how should I put it?

There's an Arabic proverb that says you shouldn't get angry easily, because once you get angry, you'll unleash your true abilities, and others will know that you're really bad at everything.

This war not only exposed the strength of Muggles, but also the strength of wizards.

From the Muggle's perspective, the wizards' role in this war, while not exactly turning the tide, was better than nothing.

Even without wizards, the Muggles could handle this war on their own.

The only difference is that Muggle processing might cause some monsters to slip through.

This has caused some trouble.

This lackluster performance by wizards could have an irreversible impact on both worlds in the future—it might lead some Muggle governments to consider taking control of the Ministry of Magic, thus creating conflict.

Although Hermione knew very well that there was a reason why wizards performed so poorly on such a large battlefield.

Modern wizards are trained in spellcasting from a young age. A wizard might never encounter large-scale war magic in their entire life; Durmstrang Institute of Witchcraft and Wizardry is the only institution in the world that still teaches war magic. This results in wizards being extremely limited in their methods and lacking sufficient experience in dealing with large-scale battlefields.

After this battle, the world order will inevitably be reshaped.

As a member of the wizarding community, Hermione finds the stubborn, disdainful, and inflexible pure-bloods within her community quite annoying, but she also has to maintain the dignity of the wizarding community when necessary.

Because respect only exists between equals, she couldn't let the British Prime Minister think that wizards were just a bunch of magicians!

"Are you Hermione Granger?"

After a brainstorming session, like a leader, Hermione, having regained her composure, went up to greet Justin's mother.

And then she said her name.

Justin's mother immediately became interested.

She looked delighted, reached out her hand, and shook hands with Hermione for a long time.

"Oh! I watched your match, a magical video. I watched the whole thing as if I were there, it was amazing, like it was happening right next to me," she said excitedly. "You were so cool fighting those magical puppets."

Perhaps it was just her imagination, but Hermione saw a deep sense of envy in the mother's eyes.

Well—everyone says which young person hasn't dreamed of being a hero.

Don't young girls often dream of being heroes?

In Britain—whether it's "The Lord of the Rings" or the "Naniel" series—the dream of magic is deeply rooted in the hearts of every child who has heard these stories.

They, too, had dreamt of magic.

Like the protagonists in those stories, we must overcome all obstacles and be strong and fearless.

As they gradually realized that magic was right before their eyes, many hearts that had been clouded by darkness began to shine again.

"Thank you." The sudden praise made Hermione a little embarrassed.

"Your parents must cherish you like a precious gem." As she spoke, Justin's mother suddenly looked dejected. "It's a pity that my silly boy is probably not good enough for a girl as outstanding as you."

"ε=(ο｀*))) Sigh," she sighed, and after Harry and Ron looked on with disbelief and began to worry about Justin's safety next semester, she smiled again.

Then, in a very familiar tone, she continued, "Do you have friends? I mean, female friends as wonderful as you. Oh—can I call you Hermione?"

"Ding ding ding." Justin's mother was a little too enthusiastic, and she was also quite strange, which made Hermione a little overwhelmed.

"Hey—my blockhead, why doesn't he invite his classmates over? Preferably female classmates—a cool girl—sigh—if I have another daughter, what are the chances she'll be a wizard?"

The more this mother spoke, the stranger her words became.

After listening for a while, everyone finally understood her idea.

At first, Harry thought his mother was just worried about Justin's other half, but later he realized that his mother didn't actually want to find a daughter-in-law at all, but rather a witch girl to be her daughter.

She pulled Hermione aside and talked on and on for several minutes.

Ultimately, she was exhausted from falling into the water, and once her energy was depleted, fatigue overwhelmed her. Otherwise, she could have had a long talk with Hermione.

Finally, the rescued Muggles were assigned to rooms in the ship's cabin, and Justin's mother went to rest, allowing Hermione to finally break free.

"Hmm—Justin's mom, she's really—interesting." The twins looked at Hermione with a mischievous grin. "Hermione, you don't have a godmother, do you? How about we fulfill her dream?"

"?"

Granger's Professor McGonagall-esque cold gaze fell upon the twins.

The two men immediately burst into hearty laughter.

Amidst laughter and playful banter, they then began to seriously steer the sailboat.

As for Harry and Ron...

They—they dared not laugh.

My cheeks were a little sore from holding it in.

Harry could only try to counteract his current happiness by constantly recalling the difficult times he had spent learning spells on the Isle of Giants.

Seeing the two people's faces contorted in a comical way, I dared not laugh out loud.

Hermione's lips involuntarily began to curl upwards.

But she quickly suppressed that emotion.

She took a deep breath. Hermione's expression returned to normal.

"Harry—how's your practice on Origin Magic going?"

After settling the Muggles in, the sailboat was now very close to the wizards' battlefield.

They could even see the Aurors' command ship not far away—that luxury cruise ship.

"Ah!" Harry was stunned by the sound.

magic?

Hmm—he really wanted to say that if Owen's Creation Star Rain was a world-destroying meteor shower, then what he cast was just throwing stones into a small pond.

He's only been learning for a few days!

Being able to create a nebula by waving a wand is already a testament to his extraordinary talent!

"Just enough to create a small patch of nebula."

"Where's Ron?" Hermione asked again.

"I'm about the same." Inspired by Owen's spectacular, godlike performance, Ron has been putting in a lot of effort to learn the spell these past few days.

However, the progress is not ideal.

too difficult.

"Really?" Hermione rubbed her head. "That's enough to make a big splash."

"What do you want to do?" Harry asked, puzzled. "Hermione, you don't want to go to the battlefield, do you?"

"I don't want to right now."

Hermione's answer relieved Harry slightly.

She's really becoming more and more like a Gryffindor.

Harry's throat bobbed unconsciously. He thought back to his first year—even in his second year, Hermione was still the obedient girl who constantly talked about the Hogwarts rules and worried about her house sorting every day.

In the blink of an eye, she became the heir to Gryffindor, and then she became incredibly audacious, taking a copy of the Hogwarts school rules and violating every single one of them.

The stark contrast before and after left Harry with no choice but to blame all the blame on Owen!

"But maybe in a little while."

"."

Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, and then both saw helplessness in each other's eyes.

Hermione—she's not the Hermione she used to be.

She was seriously led astray by others.

"boom!"

In the distance, the battle between the wizards and the ominous signs has begun again.

This time, the ominous sign seemed to have realized that it cannot win by sheer numbers.

After the flesh and blood are reconstituted.

The newborn ominous creatures were much larger and had grown several arms.

The frequency of the flames of corruption being thrown has increased dramatically.

It's also faster.

Other arms broke off the ominous horns from their bodies to use as weapons, transforming them into ancient beasts that roared as they charged at the wizard.

"Everyone—be mindful of your spellcasting frequency."

In the air, the commander riding a broom, with the blessing of a loud voice spell, spoke throughout the entire sea.

"Maintain a sustained offensive against the enemy and compress the battle lines."

This is a commonly used tactic by wizards, and it works very well against dark wizards.

Generally, after gaining the upper hand, they would cast spells in succession, like a Muggle line army, coordinating with their teammates to maintain a constant output of spells against the dark wizard, keeping him overwhelmed and continuously narrowing the encirclement in the process.

Humans are not machines—even the most powerful dark wizards can make mistakes in such intense battles.

Even a dark lord like Voldemort wouldn't choose to fight head-on against an Auror's tactic. Instead, he would unleash large-scale spells like Fiendfyre to disrupt the enemy's formation and then defeat them one by one.

Now, facing these familiar ominous legions.

The wizards began to find it easier to deal with them.

After all, they were all elite wizards. At first, facing an unknown enemy and unknown attack methods, it was inevitable that they would be at a disadvantage. However, once they became familiar with the opponent's attack rhythm, given the wizards' agility, this kind of fire magic was still easy to dodge.

"You're getting better!" Theseus finally smiled.

After a whole day, we finally saw a glimmer of hope for victory.

The wizards skillfully used transfiguration to manipulate the seawater, creating bubbles that enveloped the flesh and blood during the intervals between the resurgence of the ominous signs.

Isolation, imprisonment!

This magic is somewhat similar to Dumbledore's Water Prison Curse, but it is much simpler and more brutal; they are purely transfiguration spells.

However, the water prison cast by hundreds of wizards working together was still quite spectacular.

Countless bubbles began to form on the sea surface, resembling detached planets.

Each planetary bubble contained four or five ominous creatures and a large amount of flesh and blood.

In the blink of an eye, there were thousands of such planetary bubbles.

Looking at it from a distance, it's quite spectacular.

It felt as if we had stepped into some alien planet.

"call!"

"very good!"

Sirius Black constantly Apparates to assist the Aurors in their containment work.

"Blake!" At that moment, a wizard dressed in strange ethnic clothing landed beside him. The man rode a flying broom and spoke in a strange, emphasized English.

"The support troops from Africa will arrive soon."

This man is the Auror Commander of the South African Ministry of Magic.

South Africa has many connections with Europe, and they have door keys that allow direct access, so it's faster to get there.

"Understood—now all that's left is the follow-up work."

After finding a way to deal with these monsters, Sirius seemed much more relaxed.

"Get their men into the fray, then quickly clear the twisted flesh from the sea. Whew—hopefully the whole area won't need cleaning!"

He continued.

Beyond that curtain, the orange-yellow sea is extremely acidic. If this level of acidity were left in the Mediterranean, it would absolutely devastate the fishing industry.

The Ministry of Magic will certainly require that this acidic substance be thoroughly cleaned up.

Rather than redoing the work later, let's take advantage of the large number of people and solve all the problems at once.

However, these are things to consider after the war.

Right now—the main priority is to deal with these ominous legions.

As Sirius pondered, he couldn't help but look at Professor McGonagall in the distance, who had single-handedly transformed into dozens of enormous bubbles.

No wonder he's the headmaster of Gryffindor, he's so smart!

Yes—this method of isolating flesh and blood was invented by Professor McGonagall. After observing the process of limbs reassembling underwater, she immediately thought of this method.

This is the sea, making water prison isolation very convenient.

Of course—it was George and Fred who actually came up with these great ideas for Professor McGonagall. The two of them were selling a magical sparkling water in the castle—the bubbles were so big that they could completely envelop a young wizard.

The little wizard inside the bubble, as if freed from the constraints of gravity, hopped and skipped wherever he wanted.

They can fly high into the sky or play on the lawn.

However, Professor McGonagall was concerned about what would happen if the little wizard bubble that flew high into the sky suddenly broke or was maliciously destroyed.

Not every young wizard who falls from the sky is lucky enough to have a professor or senior wizard nearby who can cast a shock-absorbing and speed-stopping spell.

Falling from that height would be fatal.

So she confiscated George and Fred's product and warned them not to sell it in the castle.

Now—it is those bubbles of memory that have given Professor McGonagall the idea of ​​the water dungeon.

She had just been thinking that if the twins' bubbles were more solid, they wouldn't even need to cast spells at this point; they could simply use their bubbles to trap the monsters, which would be much more convenient.

Hmm—I have to admit, the two Weasley kids do always manage to come up with surprisingly good solutions to certain problems.

Sirius withdrew his gaze.

More bubbles rose up before our eyes.

The entire sea area seemed to be separated by a ring of safe houses.

The battle seems to be getting back on track.

until--

"Clearing the sea requires professional wizards, and those guys in the Calamity Reversal Office have to do some work, right?" the South African wizard joked, bringing a little relief to the tense battlefield.

"That's true." Sirius nodded. "This acid looks quite strange; ordinary spells probably won't be very effective at clearing it."

"Professional matters should be handled by professionals."

"Oh—right, keep asking when the reinforcements will arrive. We haven't seen anyone yet, and we're under a lot of pressure."

"Hmm—Cort? Cort?" Sirius called out a few times, but seeing no reply from beside him, he subconsciously turned his head to look.

Then—his pupils trembled in shock.

He saw that the African sorcerer named Colt had a dagger stuck in his chest.

The dagger was plunged into his back, and he seemed to be petrified. His skin turned a stone-like silver-gray, his eyes were lifeless, and his mouth was slightly open, as if his soul had been taken away in an instant.

"Apparition!"

The moment Sirius saw Colter die, he Apparated away from where he stood.

He watched helplessly as Colter's body fell into the water from dozens of feet away.

"A blade as thin as a cicada's wing, as if pieced together from scales—is it the messenger of divine skin?"

A dagger immediately reminded Sirius of the great enemy he had long forgotten.

"Damn it, how could I have forgotten about this monster!"

Sirius cursed.

But the assassinations wouldn't stop because of his curses.

The number of shadowy enemies was unknown; only their faint outlines could be discerned in the heavy rain.

They frantically and silently took away the wizard's soul.

one two three.

No one was aware that their colleagues were being hunted down relentlessly until the floating bubble, deprived of its owner's magical power, began to collapse on a massive scale. Only then did everyone realize something was wrong.

"What's going on?" Theseus's expression changed instantly. His previous relaxed mood vanished, and his nerves tensed up once again.

As the supreme commander, he had the broadest perspective.

Therefore, it can be clearly seen that some wizards were waving their wands one second, but the next second, they suddenly trembled all over and then fell stiffly into the water.

There wasn't even a scream.

Bizarre and insane.

Many people were talking to their companions when suddenly their faces froze, and then they fell into the water and died.

All that death leaves for the living is the狰狞 (zhengning, meaning ferocious or hideous) expression of the deceased at the moment of their death.

"What's going on!"

"What's going on?!"

An unknown fear spread, the battle situation took a sharp turn for the worse, and the lines collapsed in an instant.

The advantages that had just been established vanished.

The wizard kept retreating.

The bubbles no longer supply magic to sustain them.

A large number of bubbles fell back into the sea, and the ominous signs were freed once more.

With such a vicious cycle, how could the wizard not be defeated?

"It's a curse! It's the curse of the sea god!"

Because they couldn't find the enemy.

The eerie deaths quickly shattered the psychological defenses of many wizards.

Especially African sorcerers.

The wizards, who came from Egypt, Libya, and South Africa, possess all sorts of strange and wonderful curses and magic in the lands they live in.

Take the pyramids as an example: How many years have the Egyptian Ministry of Magic and Gringotts been mining them?

However, new magical curses occasionally appear on the pyramids, curses that have disappeared from history and have never been seen by modern wizards.

In addition, their teaching methods already contained a lot of witchcraft and spirit-related elements.

Believing in the curse of the sea was the first thing these wizards could think of.

On the sea, Sirius was extremely anxious.

He pressed the wand against his neck.

The spell was cast with a loud, clear voice.

He then took a deep breath and shouted, "This is not a curse!"

"This is not a curse!"

"This is an enemy that can become invisible. Everyone is divided into two groups. One group uses the ability to instantly reveal their true form, while the other group is responsible for continuing to imprison them in the water prison."

Pay attention to the silhouettes in the rain. Don't panic. Look carefully; you'll clearly see figures moving about. They will attack with a poisoned dagger that can break through armor spells. They can also use black and white fire magic.

"Note that this monster is immune to seven deaths. To kill it, you must kill it seven times in a row. It will only be completely killed on the eighth kill."

"So, the tactics remain the same: bind it in the water prison. Don't try to kill that monster; we don't have time. Capture it, imprison it!"

Sirius's voice rolled across the sea.

The next second, it caused a huge uproar among the wizards.

Invisibility—a dagger that can break through the Iron Armor Curse, capable of using black and white flame magic that will either kill or cripple anyone who touches it, and must be killed seven times before it will die completely—By Merlin!

What kind of monster is this?

How could such a monster appear in a magical world?

On the sea—some people tried to remain calm, some wanted to evacuate, and some wanted revenge.

Bloodshed and rage intertwine, weaving together a maddening picture of hell.

"Oh no—it's one of those invisible monsters, the God-Skin Messenger!"

Inside the sailboat, Miss Granger, who was observing the enemy situation in the distance through the ship's magical binoculars, immediately named the monsters.

"What do we do then—they can't handle it!" Ron said anxiously.

"No—the wizard just didn't react for a moment," Hermione said seriously. "We can handle a few of them, do you think the Aurors can't defeat them?"

They were simply unfamiliar with this kind of monster.

Moreover, this is on the sea, where dealing with those creatures is much easier than on land. Using the seawater, we can quickly defeat those monsters.

"But—by the time they realize what's happening, the casualties will be—" Harry hadn't finished speaking when he saw Hermione rush out of the cabin with her wand drawn.

"Hey! Wait! Hermione!" Harry knew exactly what she was up to.

He knew her too well after four years of friendship.

(End of this chapter)