Spells of different colours, rising unfamiliar and familiar screams, and much more reached Noah's ears.
Noah had started running. He had started running the moment he realised where he was, what time it was, and why he was here, but he was running inside the settlement where over two thousand High-Arch Vampires lived, not outside.
He did the same thing he had done at six years old, as if reliving a memory.
He kept running without stopping for even a second. The deep breaths he took continued to make his head spin even in this nightmare, and everything hurt his head incredibly.
It really was a terrible feeling, and beyond that, the young man didn't know what to do.
The lifeless bodies he saw, and many more besides, now seemed normal to him, yet they seemed to utterly devastate his small frame.
Still, despite all this, the young boy encountered someone as familiar as he would have in real life.
A tall woman, over two hundred years old, with jet-black hair and eyes, and truly goddess-like beauty.
His own sister.
"Why are you here?!" the vampire woman shouted angrily, practically embracing Noah as she passed his mother and father and headed towards the mansion.
Upon entering the mansion, she headed to a place where the Death Eaters couldn't find them and then hid Noah somewhere.
There were literally thousands of people going around, more than five to six thousand of them were bad, killing a lot of them.
Noah didn't know why they didn't just apparate away from there; after all, he knew his sister was a truly powerful witch.
He didn't know it was because of the seals around them. No one could apparate away from the compound, especially since the Downbringers' upper, or main, family had considered every possible danger.
Still, their egos hadn't made them think they would be attacked.
Their sin was having too much pride in their blood.
Unfortunately, that was exactly what happened.
Noah's sister had entered his room, hidden Noah inside a large wardrobe, and kissed him firmly on the forehead.
"Never leave here. No matter what you hear, no matter what you do, NEVER leave this place. Do you understand, Noah?" the woman had said.
Noah nodded his head up and down, and the wardrobe doors suddenly closed.
As the wardrobe doors closed, Noah suddenly opened his eyes in the real world. He had an incredible headache and was soaked in sweat, having drenched his entire bed.
Madame Pomfrey, Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape, who was controlling him with his wand, were standing over him.
Noah had experienced the memory as a nightmare, as if he were thinking again that everything was his own fault...
Professor Minerva McGonagall was directly beside Noah, busy stroking his head.
"Are you alright, dear?" the elderly woman had inquired, a serious look of concern on her face.
Noah still couldn't grasp the difference between reality and dream; his perception seemed seriously frozen, an unsettling but understandable state.
After all, Noah had seriously relived his own apocalypse.
Still, the young man shook his head slightly and nodded in agreement with McGonagall's words, acting as if he had answered them.
A few seconds later, he couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"
"You were screaming for the last ten minutes, maybe. I suppose our little secret is now known to everyone," Madame Pomfrey said gently.
Noah was stunned when he heard himself screaming. After struggling to sit up in his bed, he looked at the professors around him once more and then covered his face with his hands.
He realised then that he was healed; the sun's energy seemed to have restored him.
"What happened, Noah? Why are you injured?" asked Professor Dumbledore in a calm tone.
When Noah heard this question, he fixed his eyes on the old man and replied, "I went to Knockturne Alley, to Borgin and Burkes."
He then added, "To buy some information... I ran into Lucius Malfoy on my way out, and then I was attacked as I was leaving the alley. There were seven of them. I couldn't see their faces, but even though I defeated them all, I thought I should leave because of the blow I took."
When Noah said this, Dumbledore thought for a moment and asked, "Lucius Malfoy?" uncertainly.
"Yes, Professor," Noah replied.
"Say, does Mr Borgin know that you met with Lucius?" Dumbledore asked, quite curiously.
Noah shook his head and then, as if understanding what Dumbledore was getting at, said, "It would be pointless to question him, or to use him as a source of information. He is a man who rarely speaks, and when he does, it is rarely truthful, unless paid a large sum. The Ministry of Magic would not trust him."
Dumbledore took a deep breath as if he understood, then said, "I suppose we must keep Lucius under close surveillance."
Noah and Dumbledore talked for a while longer. The old man asked Noah to describe the duelling styles and similar details of the people he had fought, as well as their fighting levels.
Furthermore, the Aurors hunting Death Eaters might be vigilant and could potentially capture those who attacked Noah.
With Noah's full explanation, Dumbledore, along with McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey, left the area.
Before the curtain around the bed closed, it was possible to see students watching Noah from the front of the clinic's door.
Although Noah did not see them, students from all four houses were watching Noah.
When the curtains closed, no one remained inside except Severus Snape and Noah.
"The Headmaster said he was poisoned while on a mission in the Forbidden Forest, so the screams made sense. So don't worry, there's no way the Weasleys could have found out," said Snape.
Noah had fully regained his composure, and Snape's words reassured him even more.
"I've managed to get a clue. I don't know how accurate it is, but I'm asking us to act on it, believing it to be true," Noah said suddenly.
Snape sat down on the chair next to Noah's bed with great curiosity and asked, "What kind of clue?"
"According to Borgin, there's a wizard who frequently appears inside the Leaky Cauldron, wearing a robe that hides his face. He's a strange character who plays games and trades in magical creatures. I think Quirrell got the Mountain Troll from him."
When Noah said this, Snape shook his head immediately, then said, "Well, I'm not going to the Leaky Cauldron right now, but I'll have this checked out somehow," and then stood up.
"Rest a little more... If you have nightmares again, let me know. I would like to try and stop them," said the pale-skinned man, then opened the curtain and went outside.
Noah positioned himself to lie down again and closed his eyes.
The sky was slowly darkening; one could even say the day was over.
The young man fell asleep again and this time had a good night's sleep without any nightmares.
He opened his eyes at sunrise and immediately got out of bed. He had no headache or anything else. It would be fair to say he felt more energetic than he had in a long time.
As soon as he got out of bed, he transformed directly into an owl and flew at high speed towards the area where his room was located.
He reached his tower, went up to his room, and took a long shower to wash away the grime of the past two days.
By eight o'clock in the morning, he was neatly dressed, hadn't even bothered to tie his hair back, had put on the glasses he wore occasionally, had put on his black boots, and had left his room with his magic bag slung around his waist.
As he walked down the corridors, he could see many students.
Every student's face wore an expression of sympathy. Of course, the whole school knew he had been bedridden for a day due to poisoning, which they all knew was because of a task, or rather, the task now known as 'plant decay'.
Of course, no one knew the truth; Noah hadn't even entered the Forbidden Forest yet.
Still, this was much better.
That was why none of the students greeted him; in short, they tried not to disturb Noah's mind, which they assumed was already full.
The young man found this situation rather peculiar.
He had become so accustomed to greeting dozens of students every morning at the crack of dawn that the absence of this routine now struck him as very strange.
Nevertheless, he soon managed to reach the office of the person he wished to see, Professor McGonagall, and after knocking on the door, he entered.
McGonagall, who was busy with a pile of papers in front of her, invited Noah to sit down and, once he did, pushed a pile of papers towards him.
In short, the old woman had immediately given Noah work to do.
The young man did not object to this action. To be perfectly honest, Noah would have preferred to solve thousands of these papers rather than having to listen to McGonagall's nagging.
Therefore, he began his work without any fuss, approving many of the papers, which were based on the written rules of the school and the organisation of school supplies, and indirectly solving some of them by redoing them in terms of contractual matters.
It would be accurate to say that he spent over an hour this way.
When he finished his work, McGonagall offered Noah a cup of tea, and the young man chatted with the elderly woman in front of him for a while.
As McGonagall continued her work, Noah's senses suddenly seemed to kick in. His whole body suddenly trembled, and he turned his head towards the window of the room.
When this happened, McGonagall became concerned and did the same, but the pair suddenly found themselves in front of the window, where they saw a student sitting on a broom, holding a sphere in his hand.
The only thing Noah could say was, "The shit?"