Chapter 102
At dinner time, the young wizards gathered in the hallway, which was packed with people waiting in line to eat.
By coincidence, the small snakes waiting in line ran into Harry's trio.
Standing next to Draco were Goyle and Crabbe; he shouted loudly at Ron, "Hey, Weasley!"
"What do you want?" Ron asked irritably.
"Your dad made it to the paper, Weasley!" Draco said—waving a copy of the Daily Prophet, speaking loud enough for everyone crowded in the hallway to hear, "Listen to this!"
Draco read from the newspaper.
It stated that Mr. Weasley got involved in a dispute with Muggle law enforcers the day before school started by going to help Mad-Eye Moody. The aggressively triggered trash can outside Moody's home drew the attention of the Muggles, and ultimately Mr. Weasley used a memory modification spell to alter the Muggles' memories, allowing Mad-Eye Moody to escape legal trouble.
"And there's a picture too, Weasley!" Draco said, flipping the paper over and holding it high, "A picture of your parents standing in front of your house—calling that a house is a stretch! If your mom lost a bit of weight, she wouldn't look half bad, right?"
Soren was watching this scene not far away, his expression impassive, with no intention of intervening.
Just like the plot in the original story, huh? So, what would happen next? There was a sharp glint in Soren's eyes.
Ron was shaking with anger. Everyone in the hallway was looking at him.
"Get lost, Malfoy," Harry said. "Don't get mad, Ron…"
"Oh right, Potter, you stayed with them this summer, didn't you?" Draco sneered, "So tell me, is his mom really that fat, or is it just a bad angle in the picture?"
"What about your mom, Malfoy?" Harry shot back defiantly, "Look at that expression on her face, as if she's got something awful under her nose! Does she always look like that, or is it just because she's with you?"
Draco's pale face turned slightly red. His voice suddenly turned cold, "How dare you insult my mom, Potter."
Soren's wand slipped into his hand at the same time. He narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze appearing so profound, his magical eye clearly seeing the dark aura around Draco intensifying.
The next second, before anyone could react, Harry was blasted away by Draco's Repelling Charm!
Harry slammed against a wall in the hallway, sliding down to the floor, knocked unconscious.
Draco had used a lot of force; the power of this Repelling Charm was extraordinary, sending Harry flying far away. Soren mused that if it were his Repelling Charm, it would probably have the same effect.
With a loud crash, a bellow echoed through the hallway. "Oh, not like that, kid!"
The voice—it was Mad-Eye Moody!
Mad-Eye Moody cast an attack at Draco, but it was blocked by Draco's Shield Charm, yet Moody seemed to be furious, so the spell was quite powerful. Even though Draco successfully blocked it, he was forced to stumble back several steps to stabilize himself, his hand trembling around his wand.
Moody roared, "I can't stand people who attack others from behind—dirty, despicable cowards…" As he raised his wand again, Soren and Draco acted simultaneously!
"Lamina lucis" and "Umbrae lucis" spells rang out from two points in the hallway.
The Malfoy family's secret spell—Lamina lucis and Umbrae lucis!
Two gray crescent-shaped shadows flew towards Moody, merging mid-air into a silver blade three times larger, striking down at Moody!
A glimmer of surprise flashed in Moody's eyes, but he remained composed, swiftly waving his wand to cast a modified Shield Charm, creating a crystalline, slightly convex mirror-like shield in front of him. As the blade struck down, the shield started to spin rapidly, dissipating the tremendous force of the blade through its rotational energy, while the shattering of the mirror shield also alleviated the recoil.
Soren spoke up, his clear voice echoing throughout the hall, "Professor, you're new here, and I'm afraid you may not be very familiar with the school rules. It's your authority as a professor to punish students for improper behavior, but isn't it a bit suspect to use magic to attack a student on your own? Just based on this matter, even if it went to the headmaster, you probably wouldn't have the upper hand, would you?"
Soren's words were forceful. The school rules in the magical world are not the same as in the Muggle world. Don't think that Harry looks seriously injured; in fact, with just one potion, he would recover quickly. Draco was wrong to curse a classmate, but it wasn't a serious matter. Harry's father exposed Snape's undergarments and he hadn't heard of any punishment; in the end, he even became the Head boy!
"Oh, is that so?" Moody hobbled forward a few steps, the sound of his wooden leg thudding against the floor echoed in the hallway. "You two are from the Malfoy family, right? I know your dad… you tell him, i am keeping a close watch on his sons… just tell him like that…"
Soren scoffed, "Professor, my father is incredibly busy; I'm afraid he doesn't have time to listen to your words… Our savior is injured, and instead of first checking on his condition as a professor, you're busy punishing students. Isn't that a bit derelict of you?"
Without waiting for Moody to respond, he walked straight toward where Harry lay. Ron and Hermione stood firmly in front of Harry, but Soren didn't mind. He put his wand back in his pocket, signaling that he meant no harm.
Soren's action lowered Hermione's guard; the girl hesitated for a moment before gritting her teeth and stepping aside, pulling Ron along with her.
Though Ron was reluctant, he couldn't resist Hermione's strong tug and had to move to the side with a dissatisfied expression.
Hermione's quick reaction surprised Soren, who had prepared remarks, only to swallow them back down.
However, this wasn't the time to ponder Hermione's intentions.
Soren stood about a foot in front of where Harry lay, extending his right palm toward Harry's direction, a faint milky-white glow emanating from his hand, and a peculiar fragrance of a vast prairie spread around. Before long, Harry opened his eyes, looking confused, not knowing what had happened.
"Potter, are you okay?" Soren said coolly.
Harry quickly stood up, drew his wand, and pointed it at Soren.
"Harry, no!" Hermione rushed forward and pressed down on Harry's wand. "He's not the one who attacked you," and she swiftly recounted what had just happened.
At that moment, Professor McGonagall arrived. "Goodness!" she exclaimed, hurriedly descending the stairs and drawing her wand. "What happened?"
"Professor McGonagall, my brother had a conflict with Potter because Harry insulted our mother. My brother couldn't help but attack him… Then this Professor Moody actually cast a spell on my brother, twice—though we retaliated the second time…"
McGonagall immediately found herself in a difficult position. On one side was a professor invited by Dumbledore from the Order of the Phoenix, and on the other, her proud student, who was a celebrity in the wizarding world, the youngest Sir Merlin, with intricate connections and influence behind him.
She was also a member of the Order, fully aware of Moody's true nature, but at this moment, she couldn't help but inwardly complain, why was this Moody so troublesome? Draco broke the rules and could easily be punished within the rules, but Moody privately using magic to attack was absolutely indefensible.
As for how Soren and Draco countered, she had already automatically skipped over the details. In her eyes, two underage lower-year wizards couldn't possibly pose any threat to a prominent figure like Moody. Little did she know, Moody had just walked through the gates of death—a trip that might have cost him dearly if he hadn't learned the "Deflection Shield Charm" from "that one."
Soren and Draco exchanged glances, both remaining silent, but internally assessing how much strength the other had retained during the recent exchange.
Moody's deep gaze flickered with unknown thoughts; Draco's reflexes exceeded his expectations. It seemed the rumors of Malfoy's eldest son being idle and a wastrel couldn't be all true. The combined power of the two brothers' attack had also shocked him, forcing him to reveal one of his trump cards. What was most troublesome was that Dumbledore, the old fox, would surely catch onto what happened today; he wondered if Dumbledore would deduce anything from this.
"Professor McGonagall, I won't put you in a difficult position. After all, neither my brother nor I were injured… However, I hope you can convey to the Headmaster that the faculty hiring committee still has the authority to review a professor's qualifications. I hope similar incidents do not occur again."
This incident came to an end.
At the dining table, Draco said solemnly to Soren, "Thank you, Soren. If you hadn't stepped up today, that madman Moody would have really dared to lay a hand on me."
"What's there to thank?" Soren said with a faint smile, "We are brothers, aren't we?"
A complex expression flashed in Draco's eyes as he softly murmured, "Yeah, we are brothers!"
Little did he know, in Soren's eyes, the dark aura surrounding Draco was gradually fading... The corners of Soren's mouth lifted slightly; could this be considered the power of "love"?
After expressing heartfelt feelings to Moray today, Soren noticed a change in his magical power. The total amount of magic hadn't increased, but it had acquired some inexplicable mysterious qualities.
It was as if the magic had gained a spirit of its own, flowing within his body, joyfully merging with Soren's mind as it passed through the brain, and intertwining with his soul as it went through the heart, like magic transforming into a bridge linking mind and soul, nourishing each other's power mutually.
Soren recalled a saying—if one has never experienced darkness, how would they know true light?
The impact of dark magic on the mind and soul should not be underestimated. Even though Soren was cautious, he unwittingly fell prey to it after Meredith's disappearance and almost slipped onto the path of dark magic—luckily, with Moray's reminder, he was able to halt at the cliff's edge and turn back.
He knew that this was actually the power of love.
In his previous life, he had already realized that the overarching theme woven throughout the seven original books was indeed the power of love—showing that "love" still holds many unresolved mysteries in the magical world.
Now, Soren believes that denying the power of love and choosing dark magic is undoubtedly foolish, as that is tantamount to opposing the rules that exist mysteriously in this universe.
He knew he had found his own path to magic!
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