After rolling dozens of meters, Hoffa finally came to a stop on the slippery hunting grounds, lying sprawled on the grass. Rain pelted down on his face, but he didn't mind at all.
On the contrary, he felt an immense sense of relief, as though a heavy burden had been lifted.
This sensation didn't come from his surroundings but from within. For the first time, Hoffa felt truly alive.
The storm clouds and pouring rain above gradually subsided as his mental force field dissipated.
In the distance, a large bird swooped down and landed beside him. It rubbed its head affectionately against Hoffa's neck.
It was Maya.
Lying on the grass, Hoffa reached out and gently stroked her head. In a soft voice, he said, "Thank you. Without you, I wouldn't have known what to do."
Maya let out a soft chirp.
At that moment, a figure stumbled up the slope from afar.
"Hey, Hoffa? Where are you?"
Maya raised her head and called out.
Agleia spotted him and rushed over.
Perhaps the rain had made the grass too slippery, or maybe the intense ups and downs of the day had left her unsteady on her feet. She tripped mid-run and tumbled down the slope, rolling until she slid right past Hoffa, her face pressed against the muddy ground, utterly disheveled.
Despite his aching head, Hoffa couldn't help but grin. The movement pulled at his muscles, sending pain shooting through his ribs, but it felt worth it.
It was all so real.
Agleia scrambled to her feet, wiped the mud from her face, and slapped Hoffa playfully in irritation, though she couldn't completely hide her amusement.
Finally, she knelt beside him. "What happened here!?"
Lying on the grass and cradling Maya's head, Hoffa turned to her with a smile.
"Nothing much, just a little insight into transfiguration."
"A little insight?" Agleia crossed her arms and pouted, clearly unimpressed.
Propping himself up on his elbows, Hoffa said, "Quick, go check on Miranda and Dumbledore for me."
Seeing that Hoffa wasn't seriously hurt, Agleia stood up, ready to head back to the pitch.
But before she could, Miranda appeared, supporting Dumbledore as they descended from higher ground.
Maya gave a soft chirp in Hoffa's ear, flapped her wings, and departed from the hunting grounds.
Dumbledore glanced at Hoffa lying on the grass and the group of magical creatures unconscious in the distance from an electric shock. A flicker of surprise crossed his face, but he nodded at Hoffa after a moment.
Then, he gently nudged Miranda toward Hoffa, signaling that he didn't need her assistance.
Dumbledore walked over to the collapsed dark wizard and the magical creatures, waved his wand, and caused the ground of the hunting grounds to rise up. Stone figures emerged from the earth and bound Schmidt and his pets tightly.
With that, Dumbledore led the stone figures away from the grounds.
Miranda hesitated, standing motionless with her head bowed, avoiding Hoffa's gaze.
Agleia, however, stomped angrily toward her, starting with an unsteady shuffle before breaking into a determined stride. She finally lunged at Miranda, grabbing her by the neck and shaking her furiously.
"My Quidditch match! My game! Why did you have to cause trouble today of all days? Couldn't you have waited just one more day!?"
Miranda mumbled, "I'm sorry."
"Sorry? Do you even know what it means for a first-year to win the Quidditch Cup!?" Agleia shouted, shaking Miranda so hard her glasses fell to the ground.
"I'm sorry," Miranda repeated in a quiet voice. "You can try again next year."
"Next year!? Second year!?" Agleia was livid, stomping in frustration as she limped around the field.
"Second-year Seekers are a dime a dozen! But a first-year Seeker? That happens once in centuries! A first-year winning the Quidditch Cup has never happened! There's no second chance for this kind of glory!"
Watching the two girls from a distance, Hoffa didn't bother to get up. He simply let himself fall back onto the grass.
The dark clouds scattered, allowing sunlight to pierce through and warm his face.
But Hoffa's moment of relaxation was short-lived as Agleia, still fuming, dragged Miranda back to him.
"Talk to him yourself!" she snapped, crossing her arms and standing to Hoffa's right.
Lowering her head, Miranda walked over silently and helped Hoffa up. She leaned close and whispered, "I'm sorry."
Hoffa gave her a surprised look but said nothing.
With the rain gone and the clouds dispersed, Miranda paid no mind to the puddles on the ground. She sat down beside Hoffa, on his left.
For the first time, the three of them sat together on the ancient Hogwarts hunting grounds, gazing out at the lush green Scottish hills in the distance.
And for the first time, they had a genuine conversation as friends.
Aglaia:
"What's going on with your family? Ever since the first day of school, things between you and your grandfather have seemed off."
Hoffa sighed. "It's… a legacy of past issues."
Miranda spoke slowly, her tone calm.
"Our family is an immigrant family. We came to Britain during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. To the German wizarding community, we're traitors, deserters, cowards. But to the British wizarding community, we're outsiders, interlopers, even spies."
She continued in that steady voice:
"My father always wanted to return to his homeland. When he met Grindelwald, he was captivated by his charisma and became one of his loyal followers."
"But my grandfather didn't feel the same. He had been through many wars and believed that order was above all else, so eventually…"
Hoffa patted the back of her hand and shook his head, silently telling her not to continue.
Miranda smiled faintly and, after a moment of silence, added,
"Actually, Aberbay was quite good to me. After my parents died, he took me to many countries, trying to help me make new friends."
Hugging her knees and staring straight ahead, Miranda spoke as though addressing the scenery, but Hoffa knew she was talking to him.
She said softly,
"I can understand his pain, his ideals. But after Grindelwald revealed the truth to me, Aberbay cast a Memory Charm on me. He didn't trust me. That, I can't forgive."
Aglaia gasped audibly.
"A Memory Charm?"
Miranda nodded. "Yes."
Hoffa listened silently, offering no further comment. Instead, he asked,
"And Miller?"
Miranda's voice was steady as she explained:
"I know about Miller. In fact, his existence was my hope. I once wished that one day, I could pass my life over to him and free myself from the past I detest so much."
Her candidness left Aglaia wide-eyed.
"There are many things I didn't want to face, so I left them to him. He's like my brother. Whenever there was something I couldn't bring myself to do, he would do it for me."
"Like tormenting me?" Hoffa grinned.
"Yes," Miranda admitted without hesitation.
"And killing the dodo, informing on others, and so on. I'm not shifting the blame. What he does is no different from what I do. If judgment day comes, I'll face it with him."
"Can you control him?" Hoffa asked.
"I hadn't tried to communicate with him before. Maybe I had already given up. But after today, I'll try to talk to him, just like you said I should."
She confessed everything so openly.
Hoffa found her both intimidating and oddly refreshing.
But the future is long, he thought. If he could defeat Miller once, he could surely do it again. At this moment, he no longer feared the challenge.
He shifted slightly, and the ache in his body reminded him of how battered he was. Hoffa sighed.
"Could you two help me back to the school? I think I need to spend a couple of days in the hospital wing."
The two girls each took one of Hoffa's arms and helped him to his feet.
Suddenly, Aglaia exclaimed,
"Hoffa! Your eyes! What happened to your eyes?"
"My eyes? What's wrong with them?"
Miranda waved her wand, conjuring a small prism from water droplets and holding it in front of Hoffa.
He looked down and was startled to see that his irises had changed from their usual dark brown to a pale gold, just like a Thunderbird's.
"What…!?"
Hoffa paid no mind to the two girls nearby or to the pain coursing through his body. He quickly broke free from their support and began frantically checking himself over.
Thankfully, it seemed like nothing else had changed.
"Do you have any idea what's going on?" he asked his friends, hoping for an explanation.
Aglaia sighed. "I don't know. This kind of thing is almost unheard of. But you're incredibly daring—transforming into a magical creature is something very few wizards would ever attempt."
She continued, "The fact that only your eyes have undergone an irreversible change is a very mild side effect. Honestly, you should thank your Thunderbird friend."
"What do you mean?" Hoffa asked, puzzled.
Aglaia explained, "Normally, Animagus transformations are limited to non-magical creatures. Transforming into a magical creature brings with it many unpredictable consequences because a wizard's magic and the inherent magic of magical creatures are fundamentally different.
Even transforming into a regular Animagus is incredibly challenging, let alone becoming something like a Thunderbird.
But during your transformation, your friend responded to your spirit and came to your side, transferring part of its abilities and magic into your body. That's what enabled you to complete the transformation. Otherwise, who knows what might've happened—it would've been completely unpredictable.
After all, you're the first wizard in history to transform into a magical creature."
With the help of his two friends, Hoffa returned to the school, heading straight for the hospital wing.
The hospital wing was overcrowded, with many students being treated by Madam Rainer for inhaling the toxic fumes of the Venom Pouch Leopard.
In the sterilization room, Hoffa took a bath and carefully inspected himself—especially certain "forbidden areas." Fortunately, aside from his eye color changing (and perhaps his fingernails seeming slightly sharper, though that could've been his imagination), there were no other changes.
Since Hoffa wasn't seriously injured, Madam Rainer simply assigned him a bed and left him alone.
The wing was filled with injured students, though no one suffered fatal injuries thanks to the timely arrival of the storm. Most of them looked pale, with bluish complexions and bouts of vomiting.
Meanwhile, those seated in higher positions and unharmed were gossiping non-stop. Everyone claimed they'd seen a mysterious large bird flying across the sky.
Some said it was an eagle. Others speculated it was a strange unknown spell. A few even suggested it was someone's Patronus.
The theories varied wildly, but no one could confirm what it was. The scene resembled a group of Muggles discussing UFOs.
However, the true summoner of the storm sat quietly in the corner, listening to their wild speculations.
At first, Hoffa felt a secret sense of satisfaction. But as time went on, he got used to it.
That said, he had no intention of letting others know he was already an Animagus. If word got out, he'd have to register with the Ministry of Magic, which would undoubtedly bring more trouble.
Aside from his two friends, Hoffa told no one.
Even though he could transform into a Thunderbird, it required a massive amount of magical restoration potions to sustain.
Instinctively, Hoffa knew other Animagi didn't face the same issue. They only transformed into ordinary animals, whereas he had to expend a tremendous amount of magic and energy to alter the very nature of his magical essence to become a magical creature.
If he calculated based on St. Mungo's price of 20 Galleons per vial of secondary magic recovery potion, each transformation would cost him about 100 Galleons.
It was an absurdly expensive process.
Although having a potion prodigy like Aglaia as a companion meant he wouldn't have to worry too much about potion supplies for the foreseeable future, Hoffa still decided it was best to avoid transforming unless absolutely necessary.
For one, money didn't grow on trees. Secondly, he had a nagging feeling that if he transformed too often, he might truly, irreversibly turn into a birdman.
And that was a terrifying thought.
(End of Chapter)
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