Narrowly Rescued

"Oh no!" Xiwen exclaimed.

Before he could explain why to his two roommates, he kicked off on his broom and sped rapidly in the direction Mobley had gone.

Abu and Gomez stood frozen in place, utterly confused and not knowing what Xiwen was talking about. But within mere seconds, they and the rest of the young wizards all realized the gravity of the situation.

The black dot in the sky was plummeting at breakneck speed!

Faintly, he could see Professor Prenton change direction as well, diving toward the ground at a nearly vertical angle, but Xiwen dared not gamble blindly on the professor catching the rapidly falling Mobley—this was a human life right before his eyes!

As the distance closed, Xiwen could already clearly see Mobley's tumbling silhouette as he plummeted, accompanied by his terrified screams.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted aloud the incantation of the Floating Charm, but Mobley was falling far too fast, and the delaying effect the Floating Charm could provide was extremely limited!

"Damn it! What is the incantation for the Slowing Charm?" Xiwen's mind was currently blank, completely unable to recall the spell he had once thought useless and practiced only once.

He clenched his teeth, and instinctively, a golden ring covered in intricate patterns materialized and orbited around his wand.

As Xiwen waved his wand, a circular shield composed of several golden hexagrams gradually formed directly beneath the spot where Mobley was about to crash.

Simultaneously, Professor Prenton's voice rang out from far to near—

"Arresto Momentum!"

Mobley instantly stalled in mid-air, hanging at a height of less than a single person's length from the ground!

Seeing him narrowly rescued, everyone exhaled a collective sigh of relief.

Yet Professor Prenton, who had been diving vertically himself, appeared to have no time whatsoever to decelerate and was about to smash straight into the ground!

The young wizards arriving from afar watched with heart-pounding terror, unable to bear the sight, and instinctively squeezed their eyes shut...

Yet Professor Prenton's decades of experience as a professional Seeker made his flying skills truly transcendent; as he neared the ground, he jerked his broomstick handle upward, executing a ninety-degree sharp turn at a height that almost scraped the earth, and coasted along with the momentum right up beside the group of young wizards who had rushed over from afar.

"Phew! Good thing I made it." He flicked the handsome locks of hair from his forehead and asked the first-years before him with debonair flair. "Well? Did you see my Wronski Feint just now? My skills haven't faded a bit, have they?"

Regrettably, out of fear of witnessing the tragic spectacle of the flying professor and former superstar colliding with the earth, the young wizards had all closed their eyes, and now merely shook their heads in blank incomprehension.

Professor Prenton: "..."

Show a little trust, will you, people!

Seeing that the professor was paying him no mind, Xiwen seized the opportunity to quietly disperse the Rings of Raggadorr in his hand and the Seraphim Shield on the ground beneath Mobley, then silently used the Floating Charm to lower his poor roommate down.

At this moment Mobley was pale-faced, tear-eyed, and his blonde hair was an utter mess. The instant he touched the ground, his whole body collapsed from sheer exhaustion, and he burst into unceasing sobs.

"Don't upset yourself, aren't you safe and sound now? With the professor here, you'll be fine," Xiwen comforted him.

Abu and Gomez hurried over as well, helping Mobley to his feet.

Professor Prenton, whose high-difficulty maneuvers had gone unappreciated, resumed a serious demeanor. He walked over to check on Mobley's condition, then said, "The three of you are his roommates, right? He must have suffered severe psychological shock and needs a good rest. Could I trouble you to help him to the Hospital Wing?"

The three of them nodded and supported Mobley as they headed toward the Hospital Wing on the fourth floor.

With this incident occurring, this flight class was unceremoniously cut short, and the remaining young wizards, nursing a mixture of lingering fright and lingering reluctance, returned their brooms to their spots and left the lawn.

Inside the Hospital Wing, Madam Fancourt, the nurse-in-charge, fed Mobley a draught.

The potion proved remarkably effective, immediately calming his spirits and at least rendering him capable of speech now.

Once his emotions had stabilized somewhat, Mobley looked first at Xiwen and said with gratitude, "Thank you, Xiwen! I saw you fly over to save me while I was in the air. You probably don't know it, but at the time, I completely regarded you as my straw to clutch at!"

Reluctant to expose Kamar-Taj sorcery, Xiwen merely smiled faintly and replied, "You have the most reason to thank Professor Prenton; he took huge risks to save you. What's more, the Slowing Charm that ultimately saved you was cast by him—I completely forgot the incantation for it at the time."

Mobley nodded. "I know, but if not for your initial Floating Charm, no matter how good Professor Prenton's flying skills were, he might not have reached me in time."

Xiwen shook his head noncommittally, motioned for him to rest up, and then departed the Hospital Wing alongside Abu and Gomez.

"I really never expected something like this to happen." Walking on the way to the Great Hall, Abu still found it hard to believe that this flight class had ended this way.

"Who could have guessed?" Xiwen smiled and said, "Don't dwell on it anymore, let's grab a bite and get our things sorted out—we've got an Astronomy class tonight!"

Because Astronomy required observing celestial bodies, it was invariably scheduled at night after complete darkness fell and before curfew, typically a two-hour block from seven to nine.

Poor Mobley, still confined to a bed in the Hospital Wing, had no choice but to skip the class.

Professor Fancourt, who taught Astronomy, was an intellectual witch wearing glasses. From her narrative style during the class, it was easy to see she held a special fondness for moon phases. She possessed a gentle voice and a mild teaching demeanor, and aside from a fondness for slipping in a mention of the moon no matter what topic she touched upon throughout the night, she was otherwise universally beloved by the students.

After class ended, walking back toward the dormitory, the young wizards were still animatedly debating which star in the night sky was the prettiest and which galaxy the most magnificent.

Yet Xiwen, who had long since familiarized himself with twenty-first-century human advancements in astronomy, felt little interest in this, reckoning that Muggles had already pulled far ahead when it came to star-gazing.

Just as the few Slytherin first-years were chatting and laughing their way to the rotating staircase entrance leading down to the Slytherin Common Room, Professor Lore suddenly emerged walking up from below.

Walburga, leading the pack, was startled by the sudden appearance of a figure, and upon discovering it was Professor Lore, she complained with a trace of discontent, "Professor Lore, you scared the life out of me. What were you doing coming from the Slytherin Common Room?"

Professor Lore also seemed not to have anticipated a large group of Slytherin first-years suddenly materializing en masse, and he paused in surprise. Yet he quickly recovered, smiling as he said, "Is Astronomy class over? I just needed to find some potion ingredients down in the dungeons' storage rooms—sorry for giving you all a start."

With that, he strode past them and headed toward the Main Tower.

The little Slytherin snakes paid it little mind and continued chatting and laughing as they descended the rotating staircase toward the common room.

Only Xiwen could not help recalling his previous night-wandering encounter with Professor Lore, and he furrowed his brow slightly.

"Xiwen, keep up!" Abu called out from ahead.

"Coming!"

Shaking off his thoughts, Xiwen quickened his pace to rejoin the group.

Issues with Safari browser freezing on certain versions of iPhones have already been optimized on this site. If similar phenomena persist, please try another browser first—such as Google's Chrome—or revert to the default font (yes, the font was the cause)—and contact us, and we will figure out a way to improve it!

Per the vast readership's requests, a VIP member ad-free feature is now launched

Click to view