0286 Killing Night

0286 Killing Night

"Hagrid, I don't want to leave!" Harry's voice was resolute, his grip on his wand firm as he faced the looming threat. His eyes, filled with the fire of determination, met Lupin's.

"If my dad were here, he wouldn't want me to be a coward."

Snape sneered, but Sirius glared at him angrily.

"You don't understand, Harry!" Lupin's voice was tinged with anger and desperation. "This is not like the petty conflicts you have with Malfoy at school. This is real battle. Do you know what it means? You will see lives of enemies or friends wither in front of you. You will see hot blood splatter on your face from those gruesome wounds. You will hear cries more terrifying, far more terrifying than any dementor's howl. This is not something any young wizard can bear."

"But–" Hermione's voice quivered with fear, yet she found the strength to speak. "Harry defeated an inferi last year. Professor Watson always encouraged us to face real danger. He believed it would help us grow."

Lupin's response was choked with emotion, his beliefs clashing with the harsh reality they faced. "I don't deny Bryan's words, but I just think it's too radical!"

"Go back to school, Potter–" Snape's command cut through the tension, his tone irritatingly familiar, yet it held a gravity that underscored the severity of their situation. "This isn't the Quidditch pitch where you can play the hero."

Harry's glare at Snape was fierce, but it was met with an unfathomable depth in Snape's eyes, a darkness that seemed to swallow all his anger without a trace.

"Listen to me, all of you–"

At the final moment, Hagrid made up his mind. He spoke in a voice that only they could hear.

"We'll break through together. Sirius, you take the kids on your motorbike and go back to the castle. Once you escape, these werewolves won't be able to do anything to the rest of us!"

"What are you planning?"

Greyback finally lost his patience. He made a gesture, and in the surrounding woods, nearly hundreds of werewolves, who he had brought to deal with the Golden Viper, revealed themselves from the trees. Although these werewolves still looked like humans, the savagery and ferocity in their eyes made the young wizards who had never seen war shiver.

"Attack!" Hagrid suddenly roared, and Lupin immediately raised his wand and shot a brilliant firework into the deep and unfathomable night sky.

"Damn bastards!"

When Lupin's distress signal went out, Greyback finally reacted. After a mournful howl, his form underwent a drastic change.

In an instant, Greyback disappeared, replaced by a werewolf with grey fur covered in sharp spines. It was only slightly shorter than Hagrid, and its eyes were incredibly sinister and bloodthirsty. The Werewolf Greyback howled at the blood moon in the sky, and his howl seemed to be a signal, as the surrounding werewolves howled one after another!

"Oh God, we're doomed–"

Ron looked desperate, his legs about to give way, but Hagrid lifted him up with one hand and shouted, "Charge!"

Hagrid threw Ron to Lupin and took the lead in the charge. At this moment, several werewolves, unable to contain their desire to attack, had already reached Hagrid. In Harry's terrified gaze, Hagrid swung his hand, and the leading werewolf's head deformed, flying more than ten feet in the air before falling to the ground.

Hagrid immediately kicked out, accompanied by a bone-cracking sound. The second werewolf's mouth sprayed blood, and Harry, with his excellent visual perception, could even see the broken ribs piercing through the werewolf's skin, suspended in the air—the creature was surely dead.

In the next moment, many things happened at once.

Greyback suddenly pounced into the air, baring his sharp teeth at Professor Lupin. The murderous smile made Hermione scream, and Lupin, holding Malfoy, took a step forward and thrust his wand forward like a fencing move.

"Protego Maxima!"

A faintly visible barrier bloomed in front of Lupin with a gentle breeze, blocking Greyback's leap just in time.

Snape's face turned icy. He swung his wand down, and in a flash, Harry seemed to hear the sound of a blade being unsheathed. The five or six werewolves charging at Snape collided with the high-speed flying blades.

Flesh flew, and the stench of blood filled the sky.

Rocks flew and the green light dissipated!

Just as the Killing Curse was five feet away from Sirius, the moment the Grim Reaper's scythe was about to fall, a stone wall suddenly grew from the soft ground. In the blink of an eye, it blocked the approaching Killing Curse and also sent the two werewolves attacking Sirius flying.

The chaotic battlefield fell silent for a moment, and everyone couldn't understand how that scene had just happened.

"Was it you who saved me?"

Sirius, having thrown off the werewolves that clung to his limbs, stood up panting. He looked around and only saw Snape's wand pointed at him. After a moment of silence, he nodded at Snape.

"It wasn't me--"

Snape said through clenched teeth, not eager to take credit for this save.

But his self-denial was taken as modesty, because the adult wizards present here knew about Snape and Sirius's long-standing grudges, and they all thought Snape was just being shy.

"Anyway, Severus--"

Lupin patted Snape's shoulder, gasping for breath, and gratefully said, "Thank you for saving Sirius."

Snape couldn't move his hand in time to avoid Lupin's pat, but when he heard Lupin's words of gratitude, his face turned completely red, as if he had been insulted.

'Who cast that Killing Curse just now?' Everyone had the same thought in their minds, and they had almost the same answer.

But the crazed werewolves didn't care about that. Under the influence of the approaching full moon's magic, one werewolf after another fell into madness. The werewolves charging at them from all directions formed an almost impenetrable wall.

"Don't just stand there, run!"

Hagrid roared low, clearing a path for them. But he himself was trapped, with several werewolves hanging onto him, biting and tearing at him. This also triggered Hagrid's ferocity. After a dragon-like roar, Hagrid grabbed the throats of two werewolves with his hands and used them as weapons to kill in all directions!

"Go!"

Snape tossed Sirius's wand back to him, then, with a dazed Harry tucked under his arm, roughly pushed the bewildered Hermione.

In this critical moment, Lupin finally started to take action. He swung his wand widely, and the tip of the wand flashed continuously. Three blue curses exploded in the chests of several werewolves, and those werewolves were thrown into the air, howling in agony. When they fell back to the ground, they were already lifeless.

"Shameless traitor!"

Greyback roared thunderously, his sturdy limbs gripping the ground. In the next second, he turned into a phantom, crashing through Remus's conjured barrier and rolling into a tangle with him, and rushed out of the place protecting Harry and the others.

"Remus!"

Sirius shouted, wanting to rush to save Remus, However, he himself was also the main target of the werewolves, and he was tired of dealing with the endless stream of werewolves rushing up to him.

Roar! What he saw next, Harry bet he would never forget it until his death!

A terrible roar sounded, and Lupin's head elongated, his body grew, his shoulders arched, and fur sprouted on his face and hands, his fingers turning into sharp claws. Professor Lupin stood on two feet like a bear, entangled with Greyback, their mouths tearing at each other, and with every swipe of their claws, a string of bright red jewels flew from their opponent's body.

Harry stood there in a daze, forgetting to move.

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