Allen silently calculated in his mind, maintaining his unhurried pace. The umbrella covered the upper half of his face, revealing only his chin and the collar of his trench coat.
He was about twenty paces away from the six men.
Lockhart's Memory Charm cannot be cast on multiple targets, but it can be cast consecutively.
The so-called "continuous casting" means that after casting the Memory Charm, another spell is immediately cast.
The Memory Charm first erases the target's short-term memory, causing them to fall into a brief state of confusion for the next second or two.
The second spell takes advantage of this window of opportunity to divert the target's attention or create a false impression, allowing the target's brain to fill in a false memory on its own, thus preventing any doubt about the blankness that occurred just moments before.
The key to consecutive casting is that the interval between the two spells must be extremely short.
So short was it that before the target even had time to produce any physiological reaction to the Memory Charm, the second spell followed.
This requires extremely precise control of magic and an extremely fast casting speed.
Quirrell's experience with Nonverbal Spellcasting gave Allen his first layer of protection; he didn't need to chant incantations, and with his wand hidden in the cuff of his trench coat, he could cast spells completely unnoticed.
Flitwick's fighting experience gave Allen a second layer of protection; his timing and angle of attack were precisely calculated, without any unnecessary movements.
Lockhart's character card provided Allen with a third layer of protection; the casting of the Memory Charm had an extremely light and smooth feel, making it almost impossible for the naked eye to detect any light effects under the cover of rain.
Allen took a few more steps closer.
He could feel that one of the six people's eyes had fallen on him, like a searchlight.
While the others remained standing under the parasols, their postures had shifted from relaxed chatting to slightly tense, combat-ready stances.
"Something's off about this guy," Eric said in a low voice, so low that only a few people under the umbrella could hear him.
"The rain is too heavy, I can't see where he is?" Thomas frowned, his right hand subtly moving to the hem of his coat.
Allen's left hand twitched slightly in his trench coat pocket, and the tip of his wand silently slid out from the gap in his sleeve and rested on his palm.
The staff of the Jianmu Magic Wand felt slightly warm between his fingers, and the silvery-white light inside seemed to sense his will, pulsating slightly.
Eric, the blond young man at the front, finally couldn't hold back any longer.
He took half a step forward, peeking out from the edge of the parasol, and rain immediately soaked his shoulders. He opened his mouth, ready to ask a question.
The instant his lips parted—
Allen's wand gave a slight twitch in his trench coat pocket.
Silent and instantaneous.
Two spells flowed from the tip of his staff almost simultaneously.
The first spell is the Memory Charm.
It is invisible and leaves almost no trace in the rain; only a very faint silver light flashes in the air before being swallowed up by the dense rain.
The spell pierced precisely through the rain, through the dripping water from the umbrella, and accurately entered Eric's brow.
Eric's expression went blank for a moment.
His gaze seemed to have been paused slightly, his pupils becoming slightly unfocused.
But in that window of less than a second, the second spell had already been cast.
A silent, instantaneous Confundus Charm!
Its light effect is slightly more pronounced than the Memory Charm; it is an extremely faint blue-white glow.
But under the cover of the torrential rain, it looked like a normal reflection from a street lamp on a flooded road.
The beam of light followed closely behind the Memory Charm, almost grazing its trail, and precisely pierced Eric's chest.
The Memory Charm erased all of Eric's memories from the past few seconds of "a person with a black umbrella and a black trench coat walking towards him from the other end of the street."
The Confundus Charm filled that void.
It caused Eric's brain to automatically generate a false but coherent memory:
He had been staring at the closed pharmacy across the street, wondering what the difference was between rainy days in Paris and London, when the pattering rain and the reflection of streetlights in the puddles caught his attention.
The entire sequence of casting spells, from the first spell being cast to the second spell hitting its target, takes no more than a breath.
Eric stood outside the edge of the umbrella, half of his shoulder soaked by the rain.
He blinked, then turned his head and calmly glanced at the five people under the umbrella.
"What's wrong?" he asked, a hint of confusion in his voice. "Why are you all suddenly so quiet?"
The other five people exchanged glances.
"Didn't you just see someone on the street?" Thomas asked, frowning.
"Is anyone there?" Eric frowned and glanced around the street again. The rain made it deserted; not even a cat could be seen.
"Maybe it was just the reflection of the streetlights in the puddle? Are you guys being too tense?"
Marianne stared at Eric's face for two seconds, then turned to look at the other end of the street.
The rain was still falling, so dense it was like a gray curtain, completely shrouding the entire street.
She had indeed vaguely seen a dark figure, but since Eric said he hadn't...
"Maybe I was seeing things." She looked away, her tone softening. "The rain is too heavy; it's easy to get blurry-eyed."
"Exactly." Eric shrugged. "You guys are all as tense as bowstrings. The coordinates the International Confederation of Wizards gave us were vague to begin with; that guy might not even be in this area today."
Thomas glanced at the street again, but there was nothing in the rain.
He slowly withdrew his hand from his waist and put it back in his pocket. "Alright. But still, be careful."
"Hmm," Marianne responded, and also looked away.
The six of them squeezed back under the large parasol, continuing their rambling complaints about the weather and the International Confederation of Wizards.
Eric also shrank back under the umbrella, rubbing his soaking wet shoulder further in, and muttered, "This rain is really heavy," as if he hadn't experienced anything at all.
Allen, who had cast the Disillusionment Charm, had already walked past them.
The moment the Confundus Charm struck Eric, his steps did not falter in the slightest; the umbrella remained drawn low, and the hem of his trench coat continued to flutter in the rain.
He continued walking through the puddles, his pace unhurried, like any ordinary pedestrian hurrying along in the pouring rain.
He only breathed a sigh of relief after walking about fifty steps.
"A sixth-tier magic power against six seventh-tier Auror would probably last no more than ten breaths in a direct confrontation."
He silently told himself, "But as long as they can't see me, what difference does it make whether I'm seventh-tier or fifth-tier?"
The Jianmu Magic Wand felt slightly warm in his palm at the cuff, and the silvery-white light shimmered quietly, as if silently agreeing with his words.