After the battle, Lupin leaned against the fir tree, gasping for breath.
Only he knew how dangerous things had just been. Helena's mastery of magic was indeed a notch above his.
Without Gerald's help, he would very likely have lost.
At that thought, he could not help turning his gaze toward his student.
It was hard to imagine that the lightning spell had come from a wizard who had only just turned twelve.
Gerald, however, had his mind elsewhere. Something suddenly occurred to him.
Back in the mist, his Qi-Perception Spell had picked up something besides Helena's red aura.
There had been an enormous python not far behind him.
At the time, Helena's threat of death had left him barely able to breathe, with no room to think about anything else.
Thinking back now, he remembered that the snake had been surrounded by a great cloud of black smoke as well as a red aura.
And in his experience, black smoke was usually a sign of dark magic.
He had seen it on Snape, on Helena, and on Dumbledore too.
But those were all wizards. How could a snake give off such a powerful aura of dark magic?
Could that snake be Nagini?!
The possibility struck him at once. Nagini carried a Blood Demon Charm, an ancient, vicious bloodline curse.
Over the long years, such a curse would gradually rob a wizard of their human form, until they became a beast forever.
He had searched high and low in vain, only to stumble upon what he wanted without even trying.
He had spent seven whole days roaming this forest, scouring every area where snakes might appear, and now she had practically delivered herself to his doorstep.
She had even sneaked up behind him earlier, though he had no idea what