Creak!
The wooden door with two brooms engraved on it was slowly pushed open.
Hoffa heard light footsteps coming from downstairs. He hesitated no longer, edging toward the gap in the window and carefully peeling back the old-fashioned shutters.
The rusty metal latch of the window made a faint scraping noise, causing Hoffa's foot to tense instinctively, his nerves stretched taut.
He never would have imagined that just this morning he was leisurely studying at Hogwarts, and by evening, he would be gambling with his life in a high-stakes showdown against a dark wizard.
Fortunately, the sound of the window didn't catch the attention of the man below.
The footsteps downstairs grew louder, accompanied by the rustling sound of someone moving.
The person was searching.
Hoffa gestured toward the window, signaling the goblin to go first.
The goblin immediately grabbed onto the window ledge and stepped onto the wooden beam outside the tavern.
Hoffa followed, jumping out onto the beam as well.
At this point, they were over three meters above the ground. For an 11-year-old boy and a goblin barely half his height, this was already quite high.
Bang!The sound of a door opening echoed behind them.
Hoffa spun around sharply, but it wasn't their room—it was another.
He let out a sigh of relief, exchanging a glance with the goblin.
The goblin pointed downward, then at himself, spreading his arms wide.
He meant to jump down first and catch Hoffa when he followed.
Hoffa nodded.
The goblin leapt off the beam and landed softly on the ground below with a faint thud.
The silence behind them lasted a few seconds.
Then Hoffa heard the footsteps from the staircase growing louder and closer.
There was no time to hesitate. Hoffa immediately jumped.
Luckily, the goblin was strong enough to catch him without making any noise.
Just as Hoffa left the beam, the door to the room they had been in moments earlier was flung open. A tall man strode inside. He scanned the room and quickly spotted the open shutters.
He walked to the window in large strides, bending down to peer outside.
Below, a thick mist obscured everything.
There was nothing to be seen.
...
Not a single sound could be heard. The air was as thick as butter, making it hard to breathe.
Hoffa and Indor covered their mouths and noses, silently pressing themselves against the sign of the Two Brooms Inn, standing amidst the dense fog, not daring to make a sound.
The inn's sign blocked the line of sight from above.
Both of them had felt the sharp, icy gaze of the man from earlier. It was the kind of gaze only someone who had killed countless others could possess.
After scanning the area for a long time, the hooded figure finally withdrew his sharp head.
Indor nodded to Hoffa, and the two began to move slowly along the wooden wall like moles.
Hoffa didn't dare use a Disillusionment Charm. For one, his magical energy hadn't fully recovered; for another, he couldn't be certain whether the magical fluctuations from the spell would expose their position. He didn't want to make matters worse.
Hogsmeade wasn't large, but it wasn't exactly small either. The Honeydukes shop and the Two Brooms Inn were separated by at least five streets.
It was Hoffa's first time in the village, and he was far from familiar with the place. After leaving the vicinity of the Two Brooms, he could only rely on memory to head toward Honeydukes.
With the thick fog clouding the area, he had to stop every few steps to ensure he was heading in the right direction.
Along the way, they passed a few fainted pedestrians scattered in twos and threes. Some shop doors were wide open, their owners also unconscious—victims of the poisonous gas in the air.
But Hoffa was like a clay Bodhisattva crossing a river, struggling to save himself, let alone care for others.
They hadn't gone far when the two of them skidded to a sudden halt.
Standing ahead of them, with his back turned, was a tall figure. Nearly two meters high, he held a wand and a lantern, searching the area.
Fortunately, there were a few empty wooden barrels nearby. They hid behind them, covering their mouths, not daring to make a sound.
No sooner had they concealed themselves than the tall dark wizard turned around.
The figure, cloaked in black robes, walked past Hoffa, the hem of the robes dragging on the ground with a faint rustling sound.
Hoffa caught a glimpse of the wizard's wand—it was thick and long, almost capable of serving as a melee weapon.
As the man reached a corner, he raised his lantern, illuminating the area.
Luckily, Hoffa and the goblin barely reached his waist in height, and with the fog shrouding everything, they went unnoticed.
When the man moved farther away, Hoffa whispered as softly as he could.
"We need to change direction. He's blocked our path."
The goblin nodded, trembling.
Hoffa rubbed his face, trying to calm his racing heart. He thought to himself that if he managed to survive this ordeal, he'd make sure to master silent casting before venturing out again.
They switched directions twice more.
Hoffa spotted a shop with its door wide open. It was a quill shop called The Scholar's Nook, specializing in feather pens.
From inside came the sound of something being dragged.
Then, a tall man emerged from the shop, dragging the unconscious shopkeeper. He laid the unconscious figures on the ground in a row, his wand glowing as he inspected each one carefully.
Damn it, another one! Hoffa cursed inwardly.
Another change of direction—when would they finally reach Honeydukes?
Pulling Indor along, Hoffa turned to take a new route. But just as he took a step forward, a strange sensation crept over him.
Something had suddenly coiled around his arm.
Looking down, Hoffa saw a creature perched on his arm. It had blue-green wings and a form that was somewhere between a reptile and a butterfly. Its head tilted as it stared at him with cold, vicious eyes.
Indor noticed the strange thing clinging to Hoffa's arm and screamed the moment he recognized it. "Shake it off, Hoffa! That's a Quenywing Demon—it feeds on human brains!"
The butterfly-like reptile on his arm opened its gaping mouth with lightning speed, its razor-sharp tongue darting toward Hoffa's head.
Hoffa barely had time to swing his arm, unable to fully avoid the attack.
In the blink of an eye, Indor snapped his fingers. A powerful magical pulse shot from his fingertips, a silver light streaking like a bullet toward the Quenywing Demon.
Boom!
The creature was struck mere centimeters from Hoffa's face, smashing into the wall behind them. It exploded into pieces, blue-purple blood splattering everywhere.
Hoffa, narrowly escaping disaster, felt no relief.
Instead, his face turned ashen.
Everything was exposed.
Behind him, the tall hooded man shot to his feet, letting out a sharp cry.
"Hier, er ist hier!" ("Here! He's here!")
At the shout, the tallest hooded figure in the middle of the street spun around, shaking out his robes.
A swarm of Quenywing Demons burst from beneath his cloak with a deafening flurry of wings. They spread out in all directions, surrounding Hoffa.
"Run!" Indor yelled.
At this point, hiding was utterly pointless.
Hoffa didn't think twice and bolted.
As he ran, he pounded his arm, shouting:
"Disler Dissimulant!"
Hoffa vanished into the mist, evading the first wave of Quenywing Demons.
But his act of invisibility was witnessed by the black wizard behind him.
The dark wizard reacted swiftly, throwing his cloak open once again.
A silver-furred monkey appeared on his shoulder. It squinted into the fog, scanning the area, and then raised its arm.
Screeching shrilly, it pointed directly toward the direction of Hoffa's invisible sprint.
The black wizard moved, his cloak billowing under the moonlight.
At the same time, two more dark wizards began converging rapidly.
Hoffa could feel the black wizards closing in on him at an alarming speed, panic flooding his mind.
They could see through his stealth!
What should I do?
Disaster struck again. While sprinting, Hoffa stumbled over an unconscious passerby without warning.
Behind him, the dark wizard raised his wand high.
A dangerous green light shot out from its tip, streaking directly toward Hoffa, who lay prone on the ground.
Was this the end?
No!
Thanks to the masked woman, Hoffa had experienced life-and-death trials in her illusions.
Now, biting his lip, he forced himself to calm down in an instant.
With a sudden leap, he kicked off the wall and rolled away just in time, narrowly avoiding the curse.
The green spell struck the wall, corroding it rapidly and leaving a gaping hole. Acidic liquid dripped to the ground with a hissing sound, the spell's destructive power terrifying.
Hoffa barely had time to catch his breath before another wizard raised his wand.
A massive gray serpent materialized out of thin air, opening its bloody maw and lunging straight for Hoffa's head.
Silent but incredibly fast, it was nearly impossible to evade.
And then—
A deafening crash erupted.
A silver suit of armor plummeted from the sky, landing heavily in front of Hoffa.
Raising its shield, it faced off against the gray serpent.
The sound of teeth grinding against steel was excruciating. But that was only the beginning.
The serpent's eyes turned blood-red in an instant, its body swelling grotesquely before it exploded.
Boom!!
The violent explosion illuminated the dark night, flames mingling with strong winds to scatter the mist.
The silver armor bent over, shielding Hoffa from the blast. Its shield and back were utterly destroyed by the serpent's detonation.
Hoffa was left speechless, stunned by this unprecedented magic.
Indor stood at a distance, pointing his trembling finger and gasping for breath.
"Run! What are you waiting for?!"
Hoffa snapped back to reality, his face pale.
Once again, Indor had saved him.
Wasting no time, Hoffa scrambled to his feet, tumbling forward.
Behind them, the dark wizard spotted Indor and immediately shifted his focus.
In the sky, the Quenywing Demons locked onto the ground-dwelling goblin.
Like bullets, they shot toward Indor.
Not daring to linger, Indor snapped his fingers, attempting to Apparate away.
But the dark wizard was quicker. With a wide and forceful gesture, he swung his wand.
A golden lightning bolt burst from its tip.
The dark wizard let out a fierce shout!
The golden lightning entwined Indor directly, forcibly pulling him out of his Apparition attempt.
Indor barely had time to cast a protective spell, shielding himself from the swarm of Quenywing Demons. But under the power of the golden lightning, he was rendered completely immobile!
Schmidt: "Es gibt noch andere. Lasst nicht ihn fliehen/gehen!" (There's another one. Don't let him escape!)
His voice was cold and emotionless.
The silver monkey leaped from Schmidt's shoulder, climbing swiftly onto another wizard's head. Meanwhile, the other two dark wizards resolutely pursued Hoffa in the direction of his escape.
The wizard with the silver monkey blocked Hoffa's path to Honeydukes, as though he could foresee Hoffa's route.
After narrowly escaping death, Hoffa bit down hard on his lower lip until he tasted blood.
He was now completely calm.
With a muttered spell, he canceled his Disillusionment Charm.
Stealth was useless—so long as that peculiar monkey was around, sneaking was impossible and only drained his magical reserves.
Indor was already restrained, and the path to Honeydukes was sealed off. Hoffa was trapped in a desperate situation.
But now wasn't the time to give up. He quickly sorted through his remaining options in his mind.
There was no escaping this place by conventional means; the power gap was too wide. But he still had (2/3) of his Spell Shard system.
With no other choice, he decided to gamble it all.
Looking at the 45% exploration progress of Hogsmeade in his mental map, Hoffa's gaze became resolute.
The two dark wizards behind him, seeing him dispel his invisibility, thought he was frozen in fear. Smirking coldly, they approached him with long strides.
But the silver monkey perched atop their heads seemed to sense something. It began squealing loudly, leaping up and down.
The monkey's cries made the two dark wizards immediately alert.
Hoffa didn't hesitate. He bolted.
He had figured it out—the monkey possessed some kind of bizarre foresight ability. He couldn't afford to move with a clear objective anymore.
Instead, he began changing directions randomly, his movements utterly unpredictable.
Sometimes he used his invisibility spell; other times, he canceled it. His actions were completely illogical.
The monkey atop the dark wizard's head became utterly confused by Hoffa's chaotic movements, hopping about in frustration.
Despite the chaos, Hoffa's actions had a purpose.
His eyes scanned the shops around him, darting into each one he passed and jumping out through a window.
Dervish and Banges Store
[Hogsmeade Exploration Progress – 46%]
Quality Quidditch Supplies
[Hogsmeade Exploration Progress – 47%]
Gladrags Wizardwear
[Hogsmeade Exploration Progress – 49%]
Behind him, the two wizards were completely bewildered by Hoffa's behavior. His erratic actions had exhausted their patience.
One of the wizards raised his wand high, unleashing a torrent of roaring flames that streaked through the night toward Hoffa.
Suddenly, Hoffa stopped running.
He had spotted the sign for the Hog's Head Pub in the distance, but he no longer needed to approach it.
Inside his mind—
Ding!
[Hogsmeade Exploration Progress – 50%]
You have gained one-third of a Spell Shard.
Spell Shard (3/3)
You can now upgrade any spell ability.
(End of Chapter)
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