The intruder immediately pulled back, retreating deeper into the shadows, but made no further movement. They were waiting. Observing. Alex watched carefully, arms crossed. 'This guy isn't just some random burglar. They're being methodical.'
A few seconds later, the figure repeated the action, hurling another brick, this time at the second-floor window. Then another, at the first floor. And each time, the result was the same. The objects simply bounced off, as if the house itself was rejecting any outside force. The intruder stiffened.
Alex could practically feel their frustration through the monitor. They couldn't see inside the house. Couldn't hear anything coming from within. And no matter what method they tried, their magic couldn't penetrate the building's exterior. To them, this house must seem like an impenetrable void. The realization seemed to unnerve them.
They tried again. This time, they coated a small rock with magical energy and sent it spinning toward the window. No effect. Another attempt, this time, casting a detection spell over the entire building. Still nothing. It was like their magic slid right off the house's surface, unable to latch onto anything inside.
The longer they tested, the more desperate their movements became. Five minutes passed. Then ten. By the time they finally gave up, after nearly half an hour, it was painfully clear. They had been fighting wits with the air the entire time. Alex chuckled darkly. 'Oh, poor thing. You were expecting to gather information, weren't you? Too bad. This house wasn't just protected. It was untouchable.'
The intruder let out a long sigh, shaking his head with a small chuckle.' Since when did I become so paranoid?' After what felt like an eternity of testing, there had been no reaction from inside the house. No movement. No lights flickering on. No signs of life at all. That finally convinced him, there was no one home. Still, just in case, he cast an Illusion Charm over himself, blurring his outline against the darkness before cautiously approaching the front door. "Alohomora." Drawing his wand, he muttered the Unlocking Charm, aiming it at the door's lock. Nothing. The door didn't budge.
The intruder frowned. 'Well, that's not a problem. There are always other ways.' If a standard unlocking spell didn't work, he could simply break the door and repair it afterward. Luckily, he had already placed a sound-dampening charm around the area to ensure no unwanted attention. "Bombarda!"
A sharp bang echoed, except, instead of the door bursting apart, a web of glowing magical runes flared across the surface, absorbing the impact like a shield. Before the intruder could even react, his instincts screamed at him to move. He dove sideways just in time to avoid a powerful shockwave blasting outward from the door, striking the exact spot he had been standing. Panting, he scrambled to his feet, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. 'What kind of insane security is this? Who in their right mind sets up defenses like this on their front door?'
Unlocking spells failed. Shattering curses rebounded. Was the door completely impenetrable? No. There had to be another way. Steeling himself, he tried again, this time using a Transfiguration Charm to alter the material of the door itself. Nothing. His magic vanished like water sinking into dry sand, leaving the door entirely unchanged. The intruder clenched his jaw. 'Alright, fine. Let's see how you handle elemental force.' He alternated between spells, fire to burn it down, ice to weaken it, even a conjured sledgehammer, but the results were the same every time.
The door stood untouched, completely indifferent to his efforts. Worse, every failed attempt triggered a counterattack, launching him backward with concussive force. At this point, frustration was beginning to set in.
From his dormitory at Hogwarts, Alex had been silently watching the intruder's pathetic struggle through his surveillance feed, and frankly, He was speechless. 'Was this guy seriously fighting a door?' For all his cloak-and-dagger caution earlier, he now looked like an idiot waging war against an inanimate object. 'Does he not realize there's a window right next to him?' Alex sighed.
After this long, the intruder's patience must have completely snapped. He was no longer trying to break in discreetly, he was competing with the door as if it were his mortal enemy. And his methods? They were becoming increasingly desperate.
Alex frowned. 'This is getting out of hand.' At this rate, the fool was going to resort to black magic just to force his way in, and if he cast something too extreme, like Fiendfyre, that could burn down half of Diagon Alley. 'I should probably give him a chance before he does something incredibly stupid.' Reaching into his pocket, Alex pulled out a small controller and adjusted a few settings. With a few flicks of his fingers, he lowered the door's defensive strength by two levels, just enough to make it seem like the intruder was making progress.
Outside, the would-be trespasser was dripping with sweat. He had never seen security measures this ridiculous before. Ordinarily, a protective enchantment would gradually weaken under sustained assault. If someone kept applying pressure, it would eventually fail. But this? It wasn't weakening, it was counterattacking. And that was not normal.
'Who the hell even sells anti-theft defenses this absurd? Why is this guy even in the alchemy business when he could be making a fortune in magical security?' Gritting his teeth, he wiped his forehead and steadied himself. 'One last attempt.' If this failed, he'd have to resort to Dark Magic. And that was a last resort, he didn't want to risk corrupting the house's magic and setting off an even worse reaction.
"Finite Incantatem!" The General Counter-Spell shimmered from his wand and struck the door. And this time, Something changed. The magical aura around the entrance flickered and weakened. His eyes widened in shock. 'Did it work?'
Could it be that the Universal Counter-Spell was the real solution? Or had he simply exhausted the enchantment with repeated attacks? Either way, he had hope now. Excited, he cast the spell again, And again, Each time, the glowing runes on the door dimmed further. After casting seven or eight consecutive spells, the magical seal on the door finally vanished.
The intruder, seeing this, nodded in satisfaction and cautiously tried an unlocking spell on the door's lock. With a soft click, the lock responded, and the door swung open. "Beautiful!" The intruder, who had clearly been struggling before, pumped a fist in excitement like a primary school student finally finishing their summer homework.
From his hiding spot, Alex wiped a cold sweat off his forehead. This guy was an absolute fool. Not only had they stripped away most of the door's defenses, but they also had the audacity to use one of the weakest unlocking spells to get inside. And yet, Alex immediately recognized who the intruder was as soon as they cast a spell. The distinctive aspen wand gave it away, it was a woman not a man, the person he had suspected all along, Azalea