Chapter 351: Something's Off with Luna!
Luna's words were like fine, delicate threads.
Winding around Ethan's legs.
Drawing his feet forward without him quite realising it.
Light and shadow shifted across each other, his footsteps echoing in the quiet of the stone cave.
Until he stood in front of Luna.
"Well done. Good boy~"
Luna said warmly, her eyes curving with delight.
She lifted a hand, and slender, pale fingers brushed across Ethan's cheek.
Like cool moonlight made tangible — a gentle, quiet cold.
Tracing softly down along his skin.
Leaving a faint tingling, a faint numbness in its wake.
Her fingers stopped at the edge of the mask.
Then —
With a rip.
The spiral mask was pulled away without the slightest hesitation.
Thin threads of membrane, streaked with blood, stretched and tore as it came free.
Beneath it: the clean, handsome face underneath. And those eyes — deep and cold, a brilliant diamond blue, like gems catching distant light.
"Oh, look at you. How careless."
Luna pressed her palm gently to Ethan's bloodied face.
An ivory-white warmth of magic spilled from her touch.
No wand. No incantation.
And the small wounds scattered across his face closed over in an instant.
"…Impressive spellwork. Five points to Ravenclaw."
Ethan rubbed his now-smooth cheek, grinning.
Since becoming a professor.
He'd come to appreciate it all the more clearly:
Luna, like him, had long since left her peers behind.
As someone attuned to Ancient Magic.
Ever since that journey into the past in third year.
Luna's magical ability had advanced in leaps and bounds — as if some inner gate had been thrown open.
And now —
"You can even control someone's movements with nothing but words."
Ethan smiled, something pleased and curious in his expression.
Savouring the sensation of having walked towards her without choosing to.
Hm… it felt like a door to a whole new world had just cracked open.
Hearing the compliment.
Luna smiled faintly.
A flush of colour rose in that serene face.
Even the flickering amber candlelight in the cave seemed to take on a different quality.
Then a groan of pain rose from the floor.
"Ngh…"
The dark wizard Luna, who had been knocked unconscious earlier, was stirring.
Slowly trembling his way back to awareness.
Luna's smile faded.
A coolness settled into those blue eyes as she looked down at the figure slowly opening them.
Ah, well.
She should have made sure he never opened them again.
Through Rodolphus Lestrange's bleary vision, two perfectly pleasant faces came into focus.
Ethan smiled. "Oh, you're awake? You're in Hell now, by the way~"
Rodolphus had just enough time to think, What the—
"Crucio!"
Not knowing who they were didn't matter. Instinct took over, and the incantation flew from his lips.
Scarlet light blazed from his wand tip.
Aimed straight at Ethan.
Ha! At this distance, there's no chance he dodges it!
Rodolphus's eyes widened with excitement, his grin thick with malice.
They didn't even take my wand while I was unconscious.
Truly a pair of wet-behind-the-ears little brats!
He waited eagerly for the sound of their lovely screaming. It had been so long—ever since they'd finished with the Longbottoms and been arrested. So long since he'd had any fun.
And yet.
What Rodolphus couldn't see was the pair of eyes watching frantically from just outside the cave.
Idiot!!
I literally showed him Ethan's photo! And instead of running, he attacks?!
Corban Yaxley, Ministry official and Death Eater, cursed furiously in his head.
His eyes remained fixed on Ethan.
He hadn't expected this at all.
Ethan was Professor Unknown?!
That was front-page news for a year running, easy.
Push it further, Yaxley thought, and Ethan might actually be the Lamp Master himself.
No—that would explain everything, actually.
If Ethan was the Lamp Master, any possibility of cooperation had just collapsed entirely. They were on opposite sides now—and on the wrong bloody side of that, too. An absolutely once-in-a-century disaster.
Fine. I'll cut my losses this time. Just give him Bella's wand… it's not like the thing is much use anyway.
But knowing this—I can use it. Leverage the Ministry's resources. Work against Ethan from there.
The thought settled in, cold and calculating.
Yaxley's expression twisted into something strange.
…Death Eaters and the Ministry of Magic — working together against a common enemy. A path he'd never once imagined walking.
Bizarre. Beyond bizarre.
Either way, I just need to survive this "field trip" first.
Yaxley's face was grim, his thoughts heavy.
He could feel it — without knowing when it happened, he'd sunk into a bog he couldn't pull himself out of.
Meanwhile.
In the span of a lightning flash.
Clang!
A flash of silver light.
The scarlet Cruciatus bolt struck something—like it had hit the sharpest blade imaginable—and was sent flying back, detonating against the nearby stone wall with a boom.
Rodolphus's grin froze.
His eyes went wide as he stared blankly at what had just happened.
...What?
What was that?
One of the three Unforgivable Curses—the Cruciatus—had just been deflected?
"That's—that's impossible! Even Protego can't stop an Unforgivable!"
Rodolphus shouted, raising his wand to try again—
And then—
"GAAUGH!"
A massive, semi-transparent silver hand shot up from below and seized him!
Yanking him bodily off the ground!
Ethan turned, surprised.
On Luna's face — usually so warm and unhurried — he saw something he almost never saw there.
Pure, open fury.
"Don't… hurt Ethan…"
Luna's voice had gone hoarse.
Her golden hair rose around her. The hand clenched in midair, hard enough that her knuckles stood out white.
The pressure radiating off her entire being was something else entirely.
That's terrifying.
Outside the cave.
Yaxley's mouth was hanging open.
His eyes filled with brilliant, blazing silver-white.
He'd known Ethan was absurdly overpowered.
But he'd had no idea Hogwarts had a second student at this level.
"She's still only a fourth-year, isn't she?" Yaxley murmured. "And that was wandless casting… Merlin."
"What kind of monsters are in this year group?!"
How was anyone supposed to deal with this?!
No one was dealing with this!!
Crack. Crack.
The sound of bone breaking — the kind that set your teeth on edge.
The dark wizard Rodolphus, nearly crushed in that grip, eyes bulging from the sheer agony!
A howl tore out of him, raw and animal!
"AAAHH LET GO — PLEASE — AAAAAAHH—!!"
A few seconds later.
The great hand released.
Rodolphus dropped from midair and hit the ground with a thud, limbs bent at angles they shouldn't have been. His whole body had gone limp — like a ragdoll that had been played with far too roughly.
Foaming at the mouth, teetering on the edge of something broken.
"Phew."
Luna let out a breath and pouted. "He's very bad."
On the floor, Rodolphus twitched like a worm.
Ethan raised a hand, about to finish it.
Then paused and looked more carefully at the face below him.
"This one… I think he was one of the Death Eaters involved in torturing Neville's parents."
Ethan never forgot a face.
He'd seen photographs of the other judges during his investigation into Barty Crouch Jr.
"That bone structure… you're Bellatrix's husband. Rodolphus Lestrange, aren't you?"
"Ngh… mhm…"
The answer was a garbled moan.
Ethan lowered his hand.
He looked down at the ugly, contorted face and thought for a moment.
Then, with a snap of his fingers, a brilliantly sunny smile spread across his face.
"Got it!"
"Sending you off to meet Merlin just like this would be a waste."
"Someone of your talents — we really ought to put you to good use."
Rodolphus: "Ahh… ah…?"
Ethan said, pleasantly, with great calm: "Neville's garden is a little short on fertiliser. And some of the more delicate plants really do prefer living soil…"
In Rodolphus's eyes — pure, unravelling terror.
Ethan leaned down.
His smile, by now, looked like something that had crawled up from Hell itself: "Let's send you off as substrate for the plants, shall we~"
Rodolphus's pupils shook: "No — no — AAAAAHHHHH!!!"
A scream of pure anguish tore through the cave.
Echoing outward, all the way to the outer passages.
Ron stuck a finger in his ear, looking around in alarm. "Merlin, why does this place sound like someone's slaughtering a pig…"
Harry pushed his glasses up and tossed a dark wizard aside, face blank. "Probably the devil getting to work."
[Congratulations! You have obtained: Bellatrix's Wand ×1, Ancient Magic · Crescent Moon Prayer]
[Bellatrix's Wand: With this, a specific vault door in Gringotts can be opened.]
[Crescent Moon Prayer: A fragment of a forgotten ancient deity. The pure moonlight it wields cuts like a blade — capable of cleaving through even the soul itself. And yet, that same moonlight carries an unmatched power of healing.]
[You have absorbed the power of Ancient Magic!]
[Soul Fusion increased by 0.3%!]
[94.2% → 94.5%]