The Siege Begins

As the final deployments fell into place, a dull, oppressive hum, as if it came from the very source of the world, descended from the heights of the sky.

Everyone felt their hearts clench at once, as though a cold hand had gently gripped them. The Chamber of Secrets had no windows, yet the surface of the Foe-Glass eerily reflected a spreading, ominous dark-red hue.

Then the image in the mirror began to change—

Above Hogwarts Castle, a corner of the previously impenetrable storm clouds parted, revealing a strange blood-red full moon hanging high overhead. The moonlight that poured down was no longer clear and bright, but a dark crimson glow carrying an air of coldness and decay, casting the castle, the grounds, and the forest in an eerie, ill-omened color.

This was not a celestial anomaly. It was the Dark Empress, Morgan le Fay, still in Hogsmeade Village, casting the long-lost ancient celestial curse, Dark Moon. Beneath the blood moon's cover, all Dark Arts gained a natural boost of nearly ten percent in power, while dark creatures that dwelled in shadows and were born of curses received significant increases in ferocity, strength, and recovery abilities to varying degrees.

Walpurgis's army followed close behind, its vast ranks pressing up to the entrance gate in Hogwarts's outer wall. The clash of iron boots against the ground was orderly and cold, echoing endlessly through the night wind like tolling funeral bells. It carried a suffocating pressure, clearly announcing that this terrifying army had arrived at the gates.

As the image in the mirror slowly shifted downward, it revealed a dense mass of human and beastly figures stretching almost beyond sight, like a surging black tide that seemed ready to spill from the mirror.

The army's composition was so varied that it was