The Serpent's Shadow Reappears

Flames, everywhere you look there are blazing flames. The night wind stirs up waves of air, and the flames roll and surge, their tongues licking at another tent, spreading rapidly.

After the outer tarpaulin burned out, the furniture inside scattered, and the flames ignited the next tent. The densely packed tents in the camp became excellent firewood.

Ash swirled up across the campsite, and the scorching wind howled, dispersing the mist that had been brewing in the swamp and forest. The once chilly night now made one sweat. Tiny Mars floated in the air, twinkling like fireflies as they drifted down. The poles, completely burned out, fell to the ground, turning into charred charcoal.

At the rear of the camp, on the road ahead where the flames were spreading, a group of wizards stood frozen in place at the entrance of an ordinary waterproof canvas tent, staring at the ever-expanding fire.

A tall, thin, balding middle-aged man held his youngest daughter in his arms, followed by his short, stout wife and a string of young wizards, with wizards from several other adjacent tents nearby.

Without anyone reminding them, their dominant hands were already on their wands, and their most familiar spells were brewing on their lips.

The flames, which nearly set the earth ablaze, illuminated their vision, allowing Loren and the others to see the situation clearly.

People escaping the fire ran toward the woods, as if fleeing something moving toward them from a camp.

This is very strange... Wizards are not afraid of ordinary flames at all. Under the protection of the Flame-Freezing Charm, ordinary flames cannot harm wizards and may even produce a tingling sensation. Ever since the Wendelin the Weird's feat of being burned 47 times went down in history, very few wizards have been burned to death.

Loud jeers, unrestrained laughter, and drunken shouts mingled with the flames as they moved toward them, and they also saw what the wizards feared and hid from.

Before the flames arrived, dozens of slender and beautiful Veela strolled forward, their long hair flowing, radiating a soft silver light that was far stronger than during the Quidditch opening performance. A strange, captivating, and intoxicating Magic Power rippled in the silvery glow.

Behind these Veela, a group of hooded, masked wizards huddled together, looking like faceless monsters. Laughter and shouts came from beneath the masks. Each of them pointed their wands upwards and moved forward slowly but steadily.

Invisible Magic Power threads extended from their wands, and four struggling figures floated in the air, their limbs twisting like bizarre dolls, contorting into all sorts of strange shapes.

At the end of the procession, scaly wings flapped vigorously, stirring up waves of fire. Dozens of Harpies ferocious faces soared in the air, their beautiful faces emitting piercing cries. Fireballs gathered on their sharp claws and were hurled out, scattering like cannonballs. The orange-yellow flames continued to advance, led by Harpies named Poppy.

As the silver and firelight drew near, not far from Loren and the others, a male wizard in the next tent suddenly displayed a fanatical expression. He shrieked, "They're mine! I earn a hundred bags of gold coins a year! I work for the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures, specializing in slaughtering Fire Dragon!"

"You wash dishes at the Leaky Cauldron!"

Another male wizard jumped in to retort, his expression equally fanatical. "They're mine! I specialize in hunting Vampire, and I've already killed over ninety!"

"I want to become the youngest Minister for Magic in history!"

The three male wizards fought each other as they charged toward Veela. Loren saw Veela approaching them from afar, and simply smiled faintly. The procession had grown by three more wizards.

Arthur's pupils contracted sharply, and he cried out in alarm, "Those monsters have taken control of them! We have to get out of here, quick!"

Molly immediately grabbed Ginny and ran back in a panic. Arthur turned around and shoved Loren and the others roughly, but no one paid any attention. The group hurriedly followed the crowd and fled into the forest.

Harry, who was running, glanced around and whispered, "The last person was the conductor on the Knight Bus. I've seen him before."

"Never mind who he is, Harry ..." Arthur ran at the back, making sure no child fell behind, "There are a lot of Death Eater among those wizards. I don't know if the Veela are controlling them, or if they are controlling the Veela! They've caused a huge disaster!"

"It's Mr. Roberts." Hermione's slightly trembling voice reached everyone's ears.

Arthur exclaimed, "What!?"

Loren looked back and saw more wizards joining the procession, laughing loudly as they played with the four floating bodies in mid-air with their wands. One of them was Mr. Roberts, the camp manager, and the other three were a middle-aged woman and two children.

"It's the Roberts family!" Loren's voice was cold. "His wife and his two children."

"Damn it! This is outrageous..." Arthur's face was grim. Seeing the fleeing crowd growing increasingly chaotic, he rolled up his sleeves. "Percy, we have to help the ministry maintain order! Molly, you take the children into the woods and don't let them scatter. I'll come find you after this is all sorted out..."

"Go ahead and don't worry, I'll take good care of the children," Molly replied sternly.

Percy and Arthur slowed their pace, turned and ran towards the parade. Bill and Charlie exchanged a glance and quickly followed.

Not only them, but more and more wizards from all directions rushed to the scene of the incident, most of them staff members of the Ministry of Magic.

Ugh!

The cold sea wind howled incessantly, and in the dead of night at the end of August, waves resembling mountain peaks surged in the waters of the North Sea.

Before the 15th century, any ship that approached this place would be lost in the endless waves. Even the most experienced captains and first mates could not determine their direction, and the sailors could only wait for death in despair as their water and food gradually ran out.

While they pray to the Deity, their beautiful souls attract soul-devouring monsters from the island...

This is Azkaban.

In the simply decorated office outside the prison, the guard wizard, who was writing a duty report, suddenly shivered coldly, and the ink from his quill pen left a dot on the slightly yellowed parchment.

"Is there another Dementor nearby..." the Junior Guard muttered to himself.

During the special period of the Quidditch World Cup, many wizards in the ministry took leave to watch the games, and the remaining staff were prioritized for deployment to the stadium... Just received a notice that a major incident had occurred at the stadium, and several experienced veterans had been transferred there. The vast Azkaban is now only occupied by him and the wizards on duty at the other three corners of the island, and it feels somewhat deserted.

However, there's no need to worry too much. They are not the main fighting force guarding Azkaban; the Dementor are.

The Junior Guard got up, put on his uniform, and prepared to patrol the area. The next second after he pushed open the office door, Junior Guard heart jumped into his throat as a hard object pressed against his lower back.

A slightly familiar voice said from behind, "Don't be nervous, don't shake..."

Cold sweat beaded on the Junior Guard's back as he stammered, "Deputy... Deputy Director?"

The person behind him chuckled softly, "I didn't expect you to remember me. That's really pleasing."

The Junior Guard trembled even more violently. "Deputy Director... no, please..."

"Don't worry, as long as you don't do anything foolish, we'll all be fine... By the way, happy wedding. Avery's daughter is so beautiful, you don't want her to be sad, do you?"

"No, I don't want to..."

"Now, let's go find a Dementor."

"Dementor?"

"That's right, it's going out on a field mission."

With Molly's help, Loren and his group stumbled to the edge of the woods. The colored lights that had illuminated the way to the stadium were now out. The crowd jostled and pushed each other, their figures stumbling and falling in the darkness. Children cried, and anxious shouts and voices echoed around them in the cold night air.

As he disappeared into the woods, Loren looked back and saw that the procession of veiled wizards had grown even larger.

The Ministry of Ministry of Magic wizards stood at a distance, confronting the veiled wizard in the middle. They seemed to be facing a great difficulty, and stood timidly in a circle. They didn't dare to get too close or cast any spells, for fear of causing the Roberts family to fall.

A squeezing pain shot through her hand. Turning her head, she saw Hermione also staring at the Roberts family in mid-air, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Will they be saved?" Hermione asked in a hoarse voice.

Loren reached out and wiped her eyes, replying softly, "Yes."

"Ouch!"

Ron, who was fleeing in the dark, suddenly cried out in pain, startling the surrounding crowd, who then pushed and shoved even more violently.

Molly quickly asked, "What happened? Ron, where are you?"

"[Lumos] "

The soft light illuminated the area, where Ron lay curled up on the ground, hugging his legs. "I tripped over a tree root!"

Molly breathed a sigh of relief and used the Illumination Charm to check on the children around her.

Ginny, Ron... one, two, three...

Molly screamed, "Where are Loren and Hermione?"

The raging fire spread and rolled endlessly, turning everything in its path to charred black in the unstoppable incineration. Thick smoke and ash mingled together, and Mars flew through the air, creating a scene resembling purgatory.

Mrs. Roberts, who was suspended in the air with her limbs outstretched, suddenly changed direction. Her old-fashioned pajamas, worn by middle-aged women, fell down, revealing her colorful and outdated underwear. Mrs. Roberts ' hands and feet trembled as she struggled to cover her body, but an incomprehensible force emanated from her all around her, rendering her unable to move.

The crowd below erupted in gleeful laughter. Some mocked her figure, others her underwear, and still others clamored to rip her pajamas off. In truth, a middle-aged woman's body wouldn't have been particularly attractive even naked, but the sheer amusement in these people came from toying with such a vulnerable Muggle using magic.

Driven by a cruel pleasure, someone began to toy with the children nearby. The two children, sixty feet above the ground, began to spin like tops, their limp necks barely holding their heads together, unable to control their heads from swinging in all directions.

A tender sob escaped again from her throat, which had been sobbing uncontrollably:

"Mommy, Mommy..."

Awakening from her coma, Roberts opened her eyes despite the excruciating pain. Staring at the raging inferno and the densely packed, strange crowd, she was utterly shaken.

He remembered! He remembered!

Starting a month ago, many people dressed in strange clothes began to arrive at the camp. Their single tents could fit more than a dozen people, they could fly in the sky on broomsticks, and they could appear and disappear suddenly...

Although these people were very strange, Roberts did not drive them away. When someone couldn't recognize the coins, he patiently pointed them out without taking the opportunity to cheat them out of money. When they couldn't find the location of the camp, he prepared hundreds of maps to distribute. When someone borrowed matches or a water bottle, he helped them whenever he could.

There were so many people that he began to worry, fearing it might be a cult gathering. He even considered reporting it to the police station, but the moment they pointed a stick at him, his mind went blank...

"Dad, my head hurts..."

Mr. Roberts hung upside down in mid-air, struggling to bend over and look up. He saw that the child's tender neck was flushed red from being upside down, and his face was even turning ashen. His hands and feet trembled uncontrollably.

Why, why must his family suffer such torment...?

Mr. Roberts, tears streaming down his face, his lips trembling, managed a desperate, weak cry, "Merciful Lord, save them..."

"Close your eyes." The gentle instruction quietly reached my ears.

"What?"

Before Roberts could react, his pajamas suddenly began to flutter on their own without any wind. Not only him, but the clothes of the Roberts family four also fluttered and Transfiguration, with a bandage-like strip of cloth extending from the collar and gently covering their eyes.

The next moment, a rumbling sound drowned out the sneer and the howling wind, and the sound of boulders rolling around echoed in their ears.

It sounded like thunder.

When told to close their eyes, experienced wizards know that they should close their eyes immediately when facing Basilisk. However, in the midst of the confrontation, a gray-white Basilisk suddenly darted out from the side and behind, which would attract anyone's attention.

The Giant Serpent swung its scaly body, grinding huge trenches into the soft soil of the camp. The surrounding flames were extinguished by the shockwaves that encircled the Giant Serpent before they could even climb its Snake Scale.

Whether it Harpies or Veela, whether it was an ordinary male wizard who had been bewitched or Death Eater mixed in with the group, they all froze and turned to stone the moment they met those heterochromatic snake eyes, one black and one blue, and collapsed into the ruins.

The Roberts family four were wrapped together by the Basilisk's tail, carried away from the sea of fire, and disappeared from people's sight.

The wizards from the Ministry of Magic were mostly standing behind the Basilisk, unable to see its snake-like eyes, but they remained frozen in place, slowly recalling the New York Werewolf Inferi incident they had read about in the newspapers...

Not only Arthur, who worked in the clerical department, but even Charlie, who raised Fire Dragon, was stunned by this scene.

Just as everyone was slowly coming to their senses, a green light slowly rose from the forest and exploded like fireworks.

A colossal skull was formed from countless emerald-green, star-like lights. A giant python emerged from the skull's mouth, and the skull rose higher and higher, emitting a dazzling light amidst a cloud of green smoke.