Late at night, all was silent on the shore of the Black Lake.
Thick clouds obscured the moonlight. Only a scattering of lights shone from the distant Castle, like the faint gleam in the eyes of a sleeping beast.
Three dark figures appeared beyond the safe perimeter of the Defensive Magic Array. They were elite seventh-year students from Slytherin and Ravenclaw.
These students firmly believed that strength alone mattered, and scoffed at the "Black Lake Ecological Resonance Ritual" that had recently become the talk of Hogwarts.
Their leader was none other than the Slytherin prefect.
The crushing humiliation he had suffered in the recent "Dragon Pearl Game" had left him desperately needing an indisputable victory to restore his reputation.
"What a load of bullshit. That ritual is just nonsense those Gryffindor idiots made up." Warrington's voice sounded particularly chilling in the cold air.
"Exactly. Magic recognizes only power," a Ravenclaw student beside him agreed. "Tonight, we'll use sheer power to tear through this laughably flimsy facade."
They abandoned any thought of stealth and chose the most direct, most arrogant approach-breaking through by brute force.
They decided to work together to cast a powerful combination spell known in the Restricted Section as the "Triple Shattering Curse."
This curse was designed to tear through any known defensive barrier with pure, overwhelming magical power.
The three stood in a triangle, pointing their wands toward the Black Lake in unison.
They began chanting an ancient, lengthy incantation. The magic in the air was drawn into violent motion, forming a vortex visible to the naked eye.
Three dazzling beams of white light shot from their wand tips, converging in midair into a thicker column of light that seemed about to tear space apart, and blasted toward the Defensive Magic Array beside the lake.
Meanwhile, inside