Blind Pig pub

Attack!

The blurry black shadow had not yet arrived, but the fierce wind rushing at them had already stirred their hair. Amelia shuddered for an instant and instinctively reached into her pocket for her wand, but compared with the shadow, she was far too slow. She had no time to complete a spell.

Fortunately, Remus was much more experienced. While Amelia was still thrown into panic by the shadow's appearance, his hand had already touched his wand.

"Protego!"

Remus shouted sharply. A breeze rippled through the air before the three of them, and invisible light unfurled and swelled within it as an unseen barrier swiftly spread out.

Yet the black shadow descending from above was extraordinarily nimble. It actually managed to dodge in midair, where there was nothing to push off from. Facing the rapidly expanding barrier, it tucked in its limbs and deftly flipped over the edge of the Protego Remus had cast. Then it pushed off with its hind legs, suddenly accelerating as it swept past Remus's ear like the wind and charged straight toward Amosta, whom he had shielded behind him!

Damn it!

Remus and Amelia were horrified. They hastily turned to look at Amosta behind them, and at the sight—

Meow!

It really was a cat. Its sleek gray fur was dotted with many irregular black patches, and its fluffy ears were far larger than those of any cat Remus had ever seen. Another unusual feature was its tail, which resembled a lion's: thick at the base and slender at the tip, covered in a layer of very short, stiff gray fur.

The anticipated scene of Amosta having his throat torn out did not occur. The cat landed nimbly on Amosta's shoulder, sniffed his hair, then crouched down in satisfaction and lazily licked its paw.

"This..."