The green light shot straight toward Audrey, yet the moment Bode Gray cast it, he already regretted it.
If Audrey died, his ambition for Ancient Magic would vanish into thin air!
However, a blue light tore through the air, transforming into an exquisite, shimmering shield in front of Audrey, safely blocking the Avada Kedavra.
Looking toward the source of the blue light, a white-bearded old man in purple robes was looking their way.
Audrey smiled. This time, it was a sincere smile.
Her earlier effort of making the Fire Shield transform into a fire dragon to report to the Headmaster's office wasn't in vain.
Dumbledore, you old man, you finally arrived.
On the other side, inside Hogsmeade Village, Isaline Windsor arrived at the scene with Snape and Professor McGall. Everyone was pointing at the place where the thunder had just descended.
"Crack!"
"Crack!"
The two Heads of House Apparated one after another, appearing near the battlefield.
Bode Gray's face was ashen, and he cursed inwardly, "Damn it!"
He made a prompt decision and waved his wand.
His leg, entangled by the Venomous Tentacula, was sliced off completely.
With a "crack," he was gone.
Arrogant upon arrival, decisive in escape.
A lizard shedding its tail—it was nothing more than that.
...
Dumbledore flashed to Audrey's side, had her lie flat on her back, and asked urgently:
"Child, how are you?"
He regretted it deeply. Gael had clearly said this child would encounter fatal danger, but he hadn't taken it seriously and had actually allowed this child to leave the school alone!
"What took you so long!" Audrey's nose tingled; she had almost died!
Dumbledore sighed. "Rest assured, it won't happen again."
He took out a piece of chocolate and stuffed it into Audrey's mouth. "Eat the candy quickly; it will relieve some of the pain."
Audrey was proficient in Potions. As soon as the chocolate entered her mouth, she knew the old guy had added Draught of Living Death to it.
Whatever, sleep it is. Old Dumbledore wouldn't harm her anyway. Thinking this, Audrey closed her eyes.
Snape and McGall walked over, clicking their tongues involuntarily as they looked at the remnants of the battlefield before them.
The thick, gigantic Devil's Snare and the huge thunder-roasted cabbages that were ready to be served—none of these were things within their imagination.
Even more ridiculous was that the green grass within a radius of four or five hundred meters had all withered, presenting a scene of decay.
"Venomous Tentacula!"
Professor McGall saw the Venomous Tentacula dancing in the wind. This plant seemed to be claiming credit from Audrey, twisting its body.
However, in McGall's eyes, this thing was one of the main culprits of her tragic fate. Its smug look made her extremely unhappy.
Half a lifetime of loneliness erupted at this moment.
"Incendio..."
Snape was shocked and reached out to stop Professor McGall.
"Professor McGall," he said anxiously, "such a large Venomous Tentacula is extremely rare. Do you know how much a single leaf is worth?"
"Ten Galleons! A Venomous Tentacula this big is worth at least three years of your or my salary!"
McGall kept a cold face and ignored him, but she put away her wand and turned to walk toward Audrey and Dumbledore.
"Albus, how is Audrey?"
"The child was hit by the Cruciatus Curse," Dumbledore said, looking at Audrey who had already fallen into a deep sleep. "I'm letting her sleep for a while. Now we should take her to Poppy."
Poppy Pomfrey, Hogwarts' chief physician—of course, currently the only known doctor there.
"Oh! Godric above!" Professor McGall covered her mouth, her face full of disbelief. "Who was it? To use an Unforgivable Curse on a child! That's utterly insane!"
"Bode Gray."
...
Audrey actually didn't have any major injuries. The duration of the Cruciatus Curse wasn't long. After sleeping, drinking a cup of Calming Draught that was bitter to the point of astringency, and lying in the hospital bed for another day, she was released from the Hospital Wing by Madam Pomfrey.
Monday morning was Ancient Runes, but Audrey had already obtained an exemption by displaying her Versailles literature to Professor Babbling.
So she comfortably lay in her dormitory for another half day.
She was planning to have lunch in the dorm, but Prefect Gemma Farley knocked on her door.
"Audrey, are you awake?"
Audrey rolled off the bed, her pajamas instantly transforming into Slytherin robes.
"It's Gemma," Audrey opened the door. "What's up?"
Chapter 54: The Audrey Guard (Part 2)
"Audrey!" Gemma looked very happy. "It's good that you're okay; we were worried to death about you!"
"Uh..." With such enthusiasm, are you sure you aren't a fake Slytherin?
"I'm fine. Madam Pomfrey's medical skills are brilliant."
Gemma grabbed Audrey's hand and dragged her toward the Great Hall. "Then you should make an appearance quickly so everyone can rest assured!"
Audrey really didn't want to go to the Great Hall. There, she dared not order spicy dishes or smelly dishes, otherwise, no matter how hot the dish was, the ghosts would turn it into a cold dish in minutes.
The key point was the mental ick factor—that was food that had been eaten and licked by ghosts!
So going to the Great Hall to eat meant bland and tasteless food.
However, Gemma had come personally to invite her, so she had to give face.
Reluctantly arriving at the Great Hall, she was greeted by applause from all four House tables.
Audrey was instantly bewildered.
"Audrey Astley!"
"She is a true hero!"
"To protect her classmate, she lured the dark wizard away alone! So brave!"
"Praise you! Audrey Astley!"
"Audrey!"
That Hufflepuff student came up to Audrey, looking excited. "Thank you, Audrey. Thanks to you saving me on Saturday!"
Audrey was confused. she had only led Gray away according to her plan; Gray letting go of this chubby little girl in front of her was just a coincidence.
She looked toward the staff table and saw the old bee nodding slightly, his eyes smiling into slits, clapping his hands sporadically.
'So it was you who orchestrated this, you dead old man!'
'Roasting me over the fire and still clapping here! Clap your head!'
"Audrey," the chubby girl spoke again, "I'm Dai Fen Spencer, a third-year Hufflepuff. If you need any help in the future, just tell me!"
"You are too polite," Audrey put on her business smile. "Isn't helping classmates only natural?"
This sentence drew another round of applause.
Professor Snape's voice rang out at the right time: "Audrey Astley successfully saved a classmate from the hands of a dark wizard. Fifty points to Slytherin!"
Audrey: ...
McGall: ...
The other three houses: ...
'Good guy, have you mastered the password for adding points?'
The joyous atmosphere in the Great Hall instantly dropped by three-quarters.
Audrey awkwardly returned to the Slytherin table. Greeting her, besides classmates, were the ghosts.
Fat Friar: "Audrey, I missed you to death!"
'Thank you! I don't miss you at all!'
Nearly Headless Nick: "Me too!"
Bloody Baron: "You guys stay away; this is the Slytherin table!"
The Grey Lady: "..."
Bloody Baron: "I wasn't talking about you, Helena!"
Dumbledore waved his wand, and the entire Great Hall activated its Ghost Banishing permission. The ghosts were immediately dragged toward the walls by an invisible force.
"Dumbledore, you can't..."
The world instantly became quiet. Audrey let out a long sigh of relief. She rolled her eyes at Dumbledore. 'If you did this for every meal, I wouldn't need to hide in the dorm to eat!'
Dumbledore: 'Are you sure?'
Isaline enthusiastically beckoned Audrey to sit next to her.
"You don't know, Audrey, I was scared to death at the time!"
Audrey smiled. "I still have to thank you for going to call the professors then!"
Isaline smiled too. "When you pushed me away, I felt something was wrong. That person didn't look like a good guy at first glance! Luckily, I knew where Professor McGall's house in Hogsmeade was, and she happened to be home."
"Then what about Professor Snape?"
Isaline smiled. "That's a secret."
...
Without the harassment of ghosts, Audrey confidently ordered a bunch of spicy dishes and gorged herself.
"Did you hear?" A seventh-year student diagonally opposite Audrey said to the classmate next to him.
" The Gray family was attacked yesterday; more than thirty people died!"
"What happened? Who did it?"
"I don't know. Anyway, the murderer was very strong; the Gray family had no power to fight back!"
"Deserved. Bode Gray's family deserves it!"
"Bang!"
A sixth or seventh-year Slytherin student slammed the table fiercely and looked viciously at the person speaking.
Chapter 54: The Audrey Guard (Part 3)
"Bode Gray was expelled from the Gray family long ago! What does what he did have to do with the Gray family!"
"Alan Ash, I'm talking about the Gray family's business. What are you getting anxious about!"
Alan Ash's eyes were red. "Thomas Dawson, just shut up!"
After speaking, he turned and left.
Thomas Dawson looked bewildered and asked his friend next to him, "Is this guy sick in the head?"
The little snake beside him sighed with feigned depth. "Alan Ash's mother is from the Gray family. She happened to return to the Gray manor yesterday and was killed."
Thomas: "..."
This brief conflict didn't cause a ripple in Audrey's heart. She was just curious: besides provoking her, which big shot had the Gray family offended?
'Truly pitiful. Namo Amitabha... bliss in the afterlife, bliss in the afterlife!'
It was clearly a tragedy, but why was she somewhat happy? Could she really be a villain?
Audrey was letting her imagination run wild when Dorca Yaxley suddenly stood up. His voice was loud, loud enough for the entire Great Hall to hear.
"Miss Audrey Astley is our Flower of Slytherin, but she is obviously in danger now!"
Flower of Slytherin? Audrey hadn't expected that there would come a day when she was called a "flower."
"As classmates, I think we must protect her well!"
"So, I propose establishing an 'Audrey Guard'!"
His proposal received a unanimous response from Slytherin—all the boys and half the girls.
Audrey held her forehead with her left hand, looking like she wished she were dead.
'Guard my foot! You bunch of weaklings!'
'If it weren't for maintaining my persona, with one "All Things Grow," I could feed you all to the Chinese Chomping Cabbages!'
Dorca was triumphant. Audrey Astley was truly so useful. See, he easily gained prestige for himself.
Over there, the Gryffindor table also started making noise.
George Weasley: "We Gryffindors will also establish an Audrey Guard. Who agrees?"
Fred: "I'm the first to sign up!"
Ron: "Me, me!"
With the Weasley brothers leading, Gryffindor also had followers gathering like clouds.
Audrey: '...Oh my god, what are they trying to do?'
Dai Fen Spencer stood up. "We, we Hufflepuffs must also have an Audrey Guard. Even if it's just me alone, I want to protect Audrey!"
Audrey sighed: 'This has gone to your head, little girl. Do you want to think carefully about what you just said?'
—'Scared like a quail by Bode, and you have the nerve to say you want to protect me?'
The handsome Cedric Diggory stood up at this moment. "We won't let you fight alone, Dai Fen. Count me in!"
"I'm joining too!"
"..."
Audrey was so embarrassed she wanted to scream; she wished she could hide under the table.
See that? At the staff table, Dumbledore was already laughing like a fool!
If she were really sixteen and still had residual chuunibyou, perhaps she would be somewhat happy. But adding her past and present lives together, she was older than Snape!
'I can't handle this!'
And Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw would surely be very calm. They wouldn't make a fuss like the other three houses, right?
But Miss Penelope Clearwater stood up.
Audrey's heart sank. The initiators from the other three houses were ordinary students. What happened? When it came to Ravenclaw, the Prefect was taking the field?
"I think protecting Miss Astley cannot be unorganized and undisciplined. Each house acting independently will have no effect,"
She waved her hand. "I propose establishing an Audrey Guard General Squad. This way, with the four houses cooperating fully, that is the best answer!"
The Ravenclaw table began to applaud.
Gryffindor quickly joined in.
Next was Hufflepuff.
The little snakes hesitated for a while, then also followed with applause.
Dumbledore smiled and said, "Look, our four houses have finally united. What a wonderful thing this is!"
His voice reached Audrey's ears.
She turned her head and gave Dumbledore a fierce glare. However, she suddenly realized that at the staff table, one person seemed to be missing.
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