A flustered and exasperated roar echoed from the Forbidden Forest, as if Voldemort were trying to vent his displeasure through the sheer volume of his voice.
A bolt of blood-red lightning burst from the forest, shooting towards Hagrid with unstoppable momentum.
If it were the past, Hagrid would have certainly chosen to avoid its sharp edge.
But this time was different. Having opened the Fourth Gate, Hagrid planned to face it head-on.
A muffled, thunderous boom exploded from beneath Hagrid's feet. He surged forward like a speeding Hogwarts Express train to meet the blood lightning.
"Hogwarts Strong Whirlwind!"
Hagrid's right leg lashed out like a cannonball firing from its chamber, blasting directly against the incoming blood lightning.
What almost made Voldemort drop his jaw was that his blood lightning was actually kicked away by Hagrid just like that.
The forcefully redirected lightning veered off—who knew where it would eventually land, or if some unlucky devil would get blown up by it.
Hagrid's figure blurred, transforming into a streak of green light as he rapidly closed in on Voldemort.
The final blow!
Weighing a full four hundred kilograms, Hagrid moved with shocking speed under the effects of the Eight Gates.
It was an astonishing velocity that Kyle, even with his Eagle Eye active, almost failed to capture.
Hagrid appeared before Voldemort without warning, as if he had Apparated.
Voldemort barely caught a glimpse of an afterimage. He didn't even have time to cast a defensive spell before the majestic impact surged toward him like a giant wave, the overwhelming power instantly swallowing him.
Boom!
A ring of white compressed air blasted outward, and the powerful impact instantly knocked Voldemort dozens of meters into the air.
Hagrid exerted force with both feet, leaping up to catch the airborne Voldemort, and delivered a vicious downward heel drop.
Reverse Lotus!
A figure crashed thunderously into the earth, smashing a massive crater into the ground and causing the surrounding soil to shatter in a radial pattern.
Kyle didn't think any wizard in the magical world could take such a violent hit without kicking the bucket.
Wisps of black mist escaped from the deep pit in the ground, rapidly condensing in the air to form a giant, abstract, noseless face.
Within the ominous black mist, a pair of scarlet eyes stared viciously at Hagrid.
"Rubeus Hagrid, I will remember you."
After delivering his threat, Voldemort's soul remnant retreated under the cover of the black mist, and the Forbidden Forest returned to its former tranquility.
No, that's not right. Ever since Kyle discovered this treasure trove, the Forbidden Forest hadn't known peace.
At the hut on the edge of the forest, the damage caused by Hagrid bursting through the wall earlier had already been repaired by the combined magic of Cedric and Kyle.
Hagrid and the three young wizards sat together.
As for why Kyle and the others didn't return to the Hufflepuff common room...
While fleeing earlier, Kyle and Cedric had dropped at least thirty Dungbombs in the corridor. Who knew if the stench had permeated the dormitories?
They didn't intend to go back and test it personally.
Moreover, the vast majority of the damage to that underground corridor was caused by Kyle and Cedric.
Cedric's Blasting Curse had dismantled half the corridor, followed by Kyle's Sectumsempra and Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation...
Their path back to the common room was effectively blocked.
Ironically, the plant-controlling magic Voldemort used hadn't caused much damage to the walls; it had merely punched a few holes.
If their Head of House, Professor Sprout, found out about this, their legs would likely be forfeit.
So, it was better to make do at Hagrid's for the night.
"That... was You-Know-Who just now?" Hagrid asked as he stirred a pot of porridge.
Kyle, who was writing on a piece of parchment, nodded.
He hadn't expected Voldemort's grudge against him to be so deep.
After Quirrell died, Voldemort had actually risked damage to his soul to possess some unlucky wizard and sneak back into Hogwarts just to take Kyle's life.
All he did was trap Old Voldy with the Four Violet Flames Formation; was this much revenge really necessary?
Hearing Kyle's confirmation, Hagrid fell silent for a moment.
He had been a student at Hogwarts at the same time as Voldemort. For various reasons, Hagrid held a deep fear of him.
But after the battle tonight, he realized that Voldemort...
Seemed like he was nothing special.
Hannah looked at Hagrid in disbelief. "Hagrid! You defeated You-Know-Who!"
Cedric shook his head. "You-Know-Who hasn't fully recovered his strength. Otherwise, we never would have survived long enough for Hagrid to come save us."
"But that still counts as defeating You-Know-Who! Doesn't it!" Hannah stared at Hagrid with sparkling eyes full of adoration.
Being stared at with such worshipful eyes by the little witch, Hagrid grinned shyly. "It's all thanks to that magic Kyle developed."
He then turned around to serve porridge to the young wizards.
Hearing Hagrid's words, Kyle, who was tying a note to the leg of the crow Itachi, quickly denied it.
"No, no, no. I didn't help much tonight. Thank you for saving us."
A warm smile appeared on Hagrid's rugged face. "You saved me once too. This is what I should do."
Cedric smiled and said nothing, taking the bowl of porridge from Hagrid.
After sending the crow Itachi off to report their safety to Dumbledore, Kyle also accepted a bowl of pumpkin porridge.
Late at night, close to bedtime, one should eat something light for a midnight snack.
After finishing the porridge, Kyle and Cedric used Transfiguration to turn the three chairs they had been sitting on into three single beds.
The "smallness" of Hagrid's hut was only relative to Hagrid's physique as a half-giant.
For Kyle, even the twelve-person dormitory in his high school from his previous life wasn't this spacious, so fitting three extra single beds in the hut was absolutely no problem.
They then took some clothes out of their ninja tool pouches and transfigured them into thin quilts and mattresses.
With Kyle and Cedric's level of Transfiguration, maintaining such simple transformations until tomorrow morning without them fading was not an issue.
Hannah took off her shoes and socks, climbed into bed, and hugged the quilt. She felt that today had been incredibly fulfilling and happy, despite the thrilling experience earlier.
Before long, her breathing became even and calm.
Who knows what she was dreaming about, but the little witch would occasionally let out a silly giggle in her sleep.
Kyle and Cedric, whose beds were right next to each other, didn't feel much like sleeping.
The successive attacks gave Kyle a sense of urgency.
The magical world had never been safe; the current peace was just an illusion.
He needed to improve his strength quickly.
He couldn't expect Dumbledore, Grindelwald, or Hagrid to come to the rescue every time he encountered danger. That was unrealistic.
"Kyle," Cedric whispered.
"What is it?"
"I feel our strength is still far from enough when facing those elite wizards." Cedric sighed.
"You're right." Kyle sat up in bed and turned toward Cedric. "We need to start special training during the summer vacation."
"Special training? What kind of training?"
"I remember you live in the same village as George and Fred. We can go to the Burrow."
Kyle thought for a moment and added, "I can bring my suitcase. We can practice magic in there."
Cedric immediately became interested and tried to sit up to discuss the training with Kyle.
However, Kyle slapped a hand over his face and pushed him back down.
"We'll talk about the training tomorrow. Sleep. Saving our skins is more important right now."
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