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Glenn tossed a tactical suit to Draco, gesturing for him to put it on. With two quick dual spells, he knocked out Goyle and Crabbe and wiped their memories of the encounter.
Draco: "...Bloody hell."
"So that's why I've been feeling so strange these past nights! Sometimes I wake up lying on the ground with those two, and now I know why!" he exclaimed indignantly.
Good news: The mystery that had been bothering him for ages was finally solved.
Bad news: The culprit was the one who told him.
Ignoring Draco's resentful glare, Glenn headed to the Great Hall first, where he had arranged to meet Neville and Draco.
Neville arrived shortly after, already dressed in the tactical suit Glenn had given him earlier, armed and cloaked.
"How's your spell mastery coming along?" Glenn asked, glancing up from checking his equipment as he sensed Neville's arrival.
Neville's expression turned bitter. He had only managed to learn the casting methods but couldn't guarantee success every time. He answered truthfully.
When Draco arrived and overheard the question, his face darkened as well. He wasn't much better off than Neville, though slightly more competent—enough to feel a bit smug. Just as he was about to mock Neville, Glenn interrupted.
"Let's go. We're heading to the Forbidden Forest."
"The F-Forbidden Forest?!" The two turned pale as sheets. They never imagined they'd be going there tonight.
"Glenn, is this where you usually train at night?" Draco thought back to the times he had been knocked out and had his memory wiped by Glenn. A chilling realization dawned on him.
And it seemed very likely to be true!
Glenn nodded, confirming his suspicion.
Leading the way, Glenn entered the Forbidden Forest, with Neville and Draco trailing nervously behind. The two kept glancing around, as if some monster might leap out from the shadows at any moment.
And perhaps it wasn't just their imagination—they could feel something watching them.
Glenn noticed it too. With a flick of his wand, he cast a charm on both of them, and they immediately felt a cool sensation spreading through their bodies.
"Invisibility Charm?" The two, being from pure-blood families, quickly recognized the spell.
Glenn didn't reply, instead following up with a perception-blocking charm for added security.
After a series of twists and turns, they finally managed to shake off their pursuers.
"Stay here. I'll find your target for tonight," Glenn instructed before vanishing from their sight.
"L-Longbottom, what do we do now?" Draco, trembling, stood back-to-back with Neville, raising his wand in alert.
"What else can we do? Wait for Glenn," Neville replied, the life-and-death situation temporarily setting aside their usual animosity.
"Rustle... Rustle rustle rustle!" Strange noises suddenly came from the distance, growing louder and closer.
To their horror, Glenn was sprinting toward them—with a massive creature in tow.
As the beast came into view, its full form was revealed.
An Acromantula?!
"What the bloody—" Neville, who rarely swore, couldn't help himself this time.
They had been far too naive.
"I'm such an idiot, truly," Draco muttered, regretting signing that Unbreakable Vow and joining this insane training.
Once the Acromantula was brought to the designated spot, Glenn swiftly turned around. In an instant, he disabled all eight of its legs, blew apart half its body with a Blasting Curse, and used the blade at the tip of his staff to extract its venom sac.
The Acromantula let out a pained screech, its walnut-sized brain unable to comprehend why the prey it had been chasing had suddenly become so powerful.
Neville and Draco stood dumbfounded. This was a Class Five X dangerous creature, and yet it had been so easily crippled?!
Glenn turned to them, his expression calm. "The rest is up to you. Kill it, or it'll be you who dies." With that, he disappeared.
Neville and Draco: !!!!!
After its initial pain subsided, the Acromantula's eight red eyes scanned its surroundings. Not finding the terrifying human, it focused its attention on the two young wizards standing together. Letting out a piercing shriek, it dragged its mangled body toward them!
Draco, jolted by fear, quickly dodged to the side to avoid its charge. Neville, however, froze in place, his legs refusing to move.
As the creature bore down on him, Neville bit his lip hard, steeling his resolve. He raised his wand and began casting spells.
"Im-Impeding Barrier!" Under the pressure of imminent death, a silvery light struck the Acromantula, significantly slowing its charge.
But it wasn't enough!
"Legs Lock and Freeze!" Just as the Acromantula was about to reach Neville, Draco finally cast the Leg-Locking Curse. He had no choice but to save Neville—if Neville died, he'd be next.
There was no way one person could defeat such a monster alone.
They weren't Glenn, after all!
The Acromantula's remaining legs were instantly bound together, causing it to crash to the ground. Neville dove to the side, barely avoiding the creature's falling body, his heart pounding in terror.
"Don't just sit there! Hit it with spells!" Draco shouted at Neville, who was sitting on the ground, stunned.
"Fiendfyre! Damn it, Fiendfyre!" Draco's first attempt at the fire spell failed, but he quickly adjusted his stance and succeeded on the second try.
Flames ignited on the Acromantula's body, spreading through its wounds.
"Hisssss!!" The creature screamed in agony, rolling on the ground in an attempt to extinguish the flames.
"Diffindo!" Neville, snapping out of his daze, aimed a Severing Charm at the creature's legs, focusing on disabling its mobility.
To his surprise, the spell worked, severing one of the Acromantula's hind legs almost completely, leaving only a small piece of tissue attached.
The Acromantula, now enraged, ignored the lingering flames on its body. Struggling to its feet, it lunged at Neville!
"Stay back! Impeding Barrier! Full-Force Repulsion! Diffindo! Petrificus Totalus!" Neville, terrified, fired spell after spell from his wand in a desperate attempt to fend off the creature.
The Acromantula, enduring the pain and resistance, let out a shrill cry as it drove its sharp foreleg toward Neville.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Neville managed to roll away just in time to avoid a fatal blow, but his left hand was pierced clean through by the creature's sharp leg!
He screamed in agony, tears and snot streaming down his face, blurring his vision.
Yet at the same time, his hidden courage and determination were awakened. Fueled by adrenaline, he roared through his tears, furiously casting Severing Charms at the creature's abdomen.
"Diffindo! Diffindo! Diffindo! Diffindo!!!" He unleashed his pain and anger, nearly losing his sanity.
The Severing Charms, amplified by Neville's emotions, became even more lethal. Blood and flesh splattered from the Acromantula's underbelly, and one of its legs was severed entirely.
As his magical energy drained, Neville gasped for breath, his spells faltering. Desperate, he abandoned magic altogether. Gripping his wand tightly in his remaining hand, he plunged it into the Acromantula's wound and twisted it violently.
"Draco, you bloody coward! Where the hell are you?! Get over here and help me!" Neville roared in pain, his voice filled with both fury and desperation. He was on the verge of collapse.
"Shut up, you filthy lion!" A shadow suddenly dropped from the branches above the Acromantula's head—it was Draco. Tears streamed down his face, his expression twisted in a mix of fear and determination. Clutching his wand in a reverse grip with both hands, he plummeted from the air.
Gravity amplified the force of his descent as Draco drove his wand straight into the Acromantula's head, slamming the massive creature into the ground. But the impact reverberated through his legs, and the sickening sound of bones snapping echoed in the air as his legs bent at grotesque angles.
His legs were broken.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! Fxxk! Con! Frin! Go!" Draco screamed, the pain unbearable. But with an iron will, he bit down hard on his lip, forcing his mind back into focus. Through gritted teeth, he channeled his magic into the wand still embedded in the Acromantula's skull and unleashed the Blasting Curse.
A thunderous explosion shattered the creature's head, sending Draco flying backward. He crashed into a tree with a bone-jarring thud and crumpled to the ground.
"I'm not worse than you, so stop whining, Longbottom," he muttered weakly, his voice barely above a whisper. His eyes rolled back, and he fell unconscious from the agony.
---
—Flashback to the moment after Draco cast Fiendfyre—
"This isn't enough to kill it!" Draco thought in frustration. He knew that burns alone wouldn't be enough to fatally wound the Acromantula.
"We're running out of time and magic. We need a way to finish this in one strike," he murmured, panic creeping into his voice as the Acromantula began to rise again.
"Confringo..." It was the most powerful spell he had learned so far. Inspired by Glenn's mastery of the spell in the dueling arena, Draco had spent hours researching it in the library and even sought out Snape for instruction. But now, with his magic reserves nearly depleted, he could only cast it once or twice at most.
Using it directly wouldn't guarantee a fatal blow, and it would only make the Acromantula more cautious. His mind spun as he tried to find a way to break the stalemate.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!" Neville's scream tore through the night. Draco turned in horror to see one of the Acromantula's legs impaling Neville's arm, blood gushing out and pooling on the ground.
We're going to die here!
Neville's agonized cries were relentless, hammering into Draco's mind.
Every fiber of his being screamed at him to run. He turned instinctively, facing the direction they had come from.
But he couldn't take a single step.
His teeth sank into his lip, drawing blood, but still, he couldn't bring himself to flee.
I can't just stand here and watch him die. Despite his disdain for Neville, Draco couldn't abandon him. His eyes darted around, landing on a sturdy-looking tree branch directly above the Acromantula.
Draco forced himself to breathe, his mind sharpening as he raised his wand.
"Strengthen! Silencio!" He cast the spells on himself in rapid succession, then scrambled up the tree, positioning himself directly above the Acromantula.
From this height, jumping down would almost certainly result in severe injuries. And he only had one chance—if he failed, there would be no escape.
"Shit! I'm completely insane!" Tears streamed down Draco's face, a mix of fear and regret. He cursed himself for ever getting involved in this madness.
But he didn't hesitate. With a final, shaky breath, he leaped.