Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 370 The Realm of Light and Darkness and the Passively Triggered Trump Card

Cedric was dumbfounded when he encountered two wizards riding brooms in the middle of the night: What a coincidence! You know, there aren't many wizards in total, and encountering two wizards in the night sky is a rare occurrence.

Unsure of the other party's origins, Cedric secretly became more vigilant.

"Excuse me, is that the way to Hogsmeade?" Pisces noticed the wariness on Cedric's face and spoke up to try and lower his guard. He recognized the broomstick Cedric was riding—it was the top-of-the-line Flying Broomstick Firebolt. If they startled him, neither he nor Gemini were known for their speed, so they definitely wouldn't be able to catch up.

Before Cedric could even reply, Gemini exclaimed, "Holy crap, are you riding a fire bolt?!"

Pisces couldn't help but slap himself on the forehead: He must have lost his mind to agree to team up with this kind of person.

If Pisces could put themselves in Taurus's shoes, they would understand that Gemini would definitely be sent out on a mission, and Taurus wouldn't want to be crammed into a cave with them!

However, Gemini's eccentric behavior dispelled Cedric's wariness. He smiled and nodded, indicating that his broom was indeed a fire bolt.

A look of envy flashed in Gemini's eyes: he had wanted a broom like that for a long time, but he had been too busy with tasks lately...

call out--

Gemini wanted to chat with Cedric a little longer, but Pisces couldn't wait any longer. He suddenly attacked, casting a spell at Cedric, but Cedric easily dodged it.

"As expected, these two are up to no good!" Cedric suddenly realized that these two wizards, who came from who-knows-where, were probably after his money and intended to forcibly take his fire crossbow bolts.

This is a very reasonable speculation. Who would have thought that what they actually wanted to steal were people?

Despite his failed surprise attack, Pisces showed no sign of disappointment. With a flick of his left hand, the spell that had veered off course made a 180-degree turn, flying straight toward Cedric's broom and striking the fire bolt beneath him like a shooting star.

Cedric, caught off guard, was unable to dodge this time. The fire bolt was hit and instantly lost control, falling to the ground.

"Hey!" Gemini exclaimed with concern. In his view, Pisces' behavior was simply a waste of talent.

"Don't worry, it's not broken." Pisces knew his colleague all too well; his spell would only interfere with the fire bolt, preventing it from flying, but wouldn't harm it. If Gemini wanted it, he could just pick it up himself after the battle.

"Don't let that kid be smashed to pieces; we need to keep his body intact." Gemini was relieved to learn that the Fire Arrow was unharmed, and he began to focus his attention on the two's current task.

"I know," Pisces replied impatiently, "Just use the Killing Curse, it won't leave any external wounds."

As Cedric plummeted downwards, he tried to restart the firebolt, but to no avail. Realizing the situation was hopeless, he immediately began preparing other means of self-rescue.

The terrifying feeling of weightlessness and the increasingly sharp wind whistling in his ears didn't change Cedric's mood. As a veteran Quidditch player of three years, this was nothing to worry about. The falling speed when he dove to grab the Golden Snitch was several times faster than this.

He immediately began trying to communicate with the soil in the area, and casually cast a shock-absorbing spell on his broom, greatly slowing down his descent.

Fortunately, he wasn't completely unlucky today. The soil in the vicinity didn't have any traces of magic left by others, so he could use it. Although his control over it was far less than that of the soil in the dungeon, it still gave Cedric some peace of mind.

"See, he's quite knowledgeable." Watching Cedric skillfully handle the malfunctioning broom, Pisces laughed happily, "Gemini, now you don't have to worry about only being able to pick up a few pieces of wood."

"Let's finish this guy off quickly and get back as soon as possible. I still want to experience the legendary fire crossbow." Gemini glanced at Pisces and then swooped down towards the ground.

Pisces pursed his lips: "It's only at times like this that Gemini gets motivated."

Cedric finally landed lightly on the ground, casually tossing aside the malfunctioning fire bolt, and coldly stared at the two people who had landed a few dozen feet away from him, wand in hand.

"Gentlemen, wealth should be earned through hard work and sweat."

Pisces: ?

Gemini: ?

Gemini cleared his throat and told Cedric in a very serious tone that what the two of them were actually after was his body, and the broom was just something they did on the spur of the moment.

"Don't treat us like ordinary petty thieves! By classification, we should be categorized as dark wizards!" Gemini said proudly.

This time, not only Cedric, but even his accomplice Pisces fell silent.

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward, and neither Cedric nor the Gemini-Pisces remained silent.

Cedric took the opportunity to quietly revitalize the nearby land. He needed time to prepare, and these two strange men actually gave him that precious time.

Gemini frowned, noticing Cedric's unusual movement. He looked up in surprise, "You have a domain too?"

Cedric didn't answer, but Pisces looked at him with surprise and then noticed that he was indeed emanating a similar aura around him.

"Very well, since you possess a domain, you're no nobody. I am Pisces of the Secret Order, and he is Gemini. Young man, state your names!"

Cedric replied in a deep voice, "Hogwarts, Cedric Diggory."

He still harbored a sliver of hope, thinking that mentioning the name Hogwarts would deter the two men. Little did Cedric know, upon learning of his Hogwarts lineage, Gemini and Pisces became even more determined to abduct him.

Hogwarts already has Dumbledore, which is troublesome enough. If they let this guy go tonight, Hogwarts will have two wizards who have awakened their domains in a few years! And this guy is much younger than Dumbledore, making it even more necessary to keep him here. It's truly a blessing from the heavens that they've stumbled upon such a big fish!

"Sand and stones flying everywhere!"

"Bewitched!"

"Armor for protection—"

Gemini and Pisces launched a probing attack on Cedric, but he easily deflected it. The three of them exchanged seven or eight spells like ping-pong balls, with various rays of light flying back and forth in the night sky, but none of them could harm the other.

However, Gemini and Pisces are ultimately two people, giving them a numerical advantage, so Cedric quickly found himself struggling to keep up.

After narrowly dodging Gemini's explosive spell, Cedric was already facing a green spell from Pisces. Left with no other choice, Cedric manipulated the earth beneath his feet, creating a wave that pushed him a foot to the side, barely managing to avoid Pisces's spell.

"What did we have here? It's just a fake domain." Having witnessed Cedric's manipulation of the soil firsthand, Pisces laughed. "Want a real domain? Wait another ten years!"

"In this state, I'm more than capable of taking you down!" After fighting for so long and suffering several deadly attacks, Cedric's heart was already filled with rage. He no longer held back his magic power and directly used all his strength to activate the soil he had brought to life.

Cedric quickly gained the upper hand. The various animals and projectile weapons formed from the mud even made Gemini and Pisces seem flustered and overwhelmed. By manipulating the mud, Cedric's agility was greatly enhanced, and their spells couldn't even touch the hem of his clothes.

However, Cedric also had his own difficulties: he hadn't awakened his true domain and couldn't expand the influence of the soil as recklessly as his teacher. Such wide-ranging attacks were extremely draining on his magic power, and in less than a minute he was already struggling, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

Cedric was anxious, but Gemini was even more so. In his view, being held back by such a young man, and even falling behind at one point, was extremely humiliating.

"Light and Darkness Domain, activate—" After blasting a flying earthen cone into dust and witnessing his counterattack spell being swallowed up by Cedric's earthen wall, Gemini could no longer hold back and activated his domain.

In an instant, the ground was covered by a layer of shadow, which stretched toward Cedric at an extremely fast speed.

Pisces silently took a few steps back and began drawing a magic circle on the ground, it was unclear what he was planning to do.

When the shadows touched the soil controlled by Cedric, he felt as if the soil he controlled was melting away at an extremely rapid pace, like frost under the sun.

If this continues, the soil he revitalized will disappear completely within minutes.

Cedric disregarded the issue of magic consumption and focused all his energy on communicating with the earth to fight against the strange domain of Gemini.

At this moment, the magic within Cedric surged out like a river bursting its banks, causing his forehead to be covered in beads of sweat and his face to turn completely pale.

Compared to Cedric, Gemini was much more composed, his dark domain rapidly absorbing Cedric's magic to strengthen itself. Cedric, who hadn't awakened a true domain, was at a significant disadvantage against someone who truly possessed one. However, compared to having no domain at all, Cedric still had a considerable advantage—at least he could hold out for a long time, if he was only fighting Gemini.

While the two were locked in a stalemate, Pisces had already drawn a magic circle and written a circle of runes around it.

After doing all this, he stood in the center of the magic circle, raised his hand, pointed at Cedric with his index finger, and said—

"In the name of Hela, Queen of the Underworld, I, Pises, curse you, Cedric Diggory!" After saying this, a sickly pallor flashed across his face, and his robes were instantly soaked with sweat, as if he were experiencing great pain.

Cedric, on the other hand, felt as if he had been punched hard in the stomach, and a piercing pain shot through him, causing him to black out and involuntarily arch his back.

Gemini and Pisces worked in perfect harmony. Taking advantage of Cedric's distraction, Gemini's dark domain suddenly surged forward and climbed directly onto Cedric's shoulder.

Cedric used all his strength to slide backwards with the mud, successfully escaping from the dark realm, but his shoulders were also covered with a shadow of a similar color to the dark realm.

Upon realizing they had succeeded, Gemini immediately broke into a smile.

"Light!" He raised his hand, and a beam of light spread out from him, instantly enveloping the entire area.

The light was very soft; when it shone on you, you would only feel warm and comfortable. But Cedric let out a painful scream as a piercing pain shot through his shoulder.

Cedric's control over the soil crumbled under the combined attack of the two, and he lost consciousness, collapsing to the ground with everything going black.

Just as the Geminis thought they had succeeded, they discovered a terrifying surge of magical energy emanating from Cedric. At the same time, the bracelet on Cedric's wrist silently turned to dust and merged into the soil beneath him.

The soil came alive, as if it had been given life, and swallowed Cedric whole.

……

Helga jolted awake, sensing that the magical artifact she had left for Cedric had been activated. Her drowsiness vanished instantly, and she sat bolt upright in bed, realizing that Cedric must be in grave danger.

The robe automatically wrapped around her, and Helga was ready to depart in the shortest amount of time. Without the slightest hesitation, she forcibly regained control of a portion of the castle and then used that control to lift the restrictions within the Hogwarts campus.

Now, she wasn't the only one who woke up; Rhys and Dumbledore were both jolted awake from their dreams by Helga's actions.

Dumbledore opened his eyes, his expression serious. He didn't know what had happened, only that the school's Apparition ban had been lifted. His mind raced, quickly pinpointing the most likely person to have done it—Smith White.

Dumbledore immediately sprang into action.

Without hesitation, Rhys wrapped the blanket around himself and appeared in Helga's office a second later, wand in hand. The blanket automatically transformed into a Roman-style robe, and his gaze locked onto the slowly closing portal at the door of Hufflepuff's bedroom.

This is a special teleportation spell they developed years ago, allowing them to precisely teleport to a specific location. They typically used it in magical items to save their students' lives.

Upon seeing the teleportation magic circle, Rice understood why Helga had forcibly lifted the restriction in the dead of night.

Given the state of Hufflepuff Academy, it wouldn't be easy for Helga to recruit a student she liked; it's normal for her to be anxious.

Without hesitation, Rice casually turned a piece of parchment on his desk into a mask and covered his face before stepping into the gradually shrinking portal.

As Rice stepped into the portal, it immediately shone brightly, expanded rapidly outwards, and then disappeared.

The next second, a loud bang rang out in Helga's office, and Dumbledore appeared inside.

Ignoring any possibility of impropriety, he went straight into Professor White's bedroom, only to find her gone. Looking at the still-warm bed, Dumbledore frowned: So she was the one who forcibly broke the school's restrictions, but why? And who exactly is she?

Dumbledore first reactivated the school's enchantments, preventing Apparition from taking place, and then began to ponder: a witch who had returned from ancient times, skilled in food magic and doll-making, with an unconventional style of behavior, and possessing some authority over the castle...

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Continuing with a four-thousand-word combined chapter! Four thousand two hundred words!

There's nothing tonight.

(End of this chapter)