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Inside Hogwarts Castle, the Great Hall.
It was dinner time. Steaming food was laid out on the long tables, and although the number of students and teachers staying for Christmas was small, the Great Hall was still lively.
Suddenly—
BOOM!!!!
The earth-shattering roar of an explosion from outside the Castle instantly tore through all the tranquility!
The entire Great Hall fell silent in an instant! Everyone was startled by the sudden loud noise, stopping their movements in unison and looking up in shock and suspicion, glancing at one another.
Professor McGonagall, who was dining at the staff table, slammed down her utensils and stood up abruptly. Her gaze immediately shot toward the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Outside the window, the distant sky was illuminated by a churning red fire! Thick smoke billowed up; even through the glass, the intensity of the explosion could be felt.
"Merlin's beard!" Professor Flitwick squeaked, standing up as well.
Professor McGonagall's heart sank, and the worst possible thought flashed through her mind like lightning: Hogwarts was under attack!
Without the slightest hesitation, she immediately displayed the decisiveness of a Deputy Headmistress. She turned to the Charms Class professor beside her.
"Filius! I'm leaving this place to you! Do not come out without my order or a signal from Professor Dumbledore! I'm going to see what happened!"
"Leave it to me, Minerva!" Professor Flitwick quickly jumped onto a chair and began to direct the somewhat panicked students.
Professor McGonagall delayed no further, rushing out of the Great Hall doors at a speed inconsistent with her age and sprinting toward the Castle's main entrance.
She arrived at the open courtyard outside the Castle. The explosion site seemed to be some distance from the main Castle building, perhaps near the boundary or the outer grounds, but the sense of threat was not diminished in the slightest.
She raised her wand high, pointing it at the night sky, her voice loud and full of majesty, echoing between the Castle's ancient stone walls:
"Piertotum Locomotor!"
As her spell fell, the ancient stone statues, knight statues, and beast sculptures that had been standing silently around the Castle... their eyes instantly lit up!
Crack! Crack! Clang!
The stone statues moved their joints, leaping down or stepping out from pedestals, niches, and rooftops!
Holding all sorts of weapons and marching with steady steps, they quickly distributed themselves to the Castle's various entrances, key points along the walls, and the open areas of the courtyard, forming lines of stone defense.
With the full activation of the guardian statues, Hogwarts Castle's own ancient protective magic was also triggered in a chain reaction!
Buzz—
A magical barrier, like a giant bowl, rose from the ground at the Castle's edge, quickly closing toward the center and finally sealing perfectly at the dome directly above the Castle, protecting the entire Hogwarts Castle under its tight cover!
Having done all this, Professor McGonagall breathed a slight sigh of relief, but her brow remained furrowed. She had to contact Dumbledore immediately.
Professor McGonagall carefully pulled a feather from her robe pocket—this was one of the emergency contact items Dumbledore had left her...
Meanwhile, at the Shrieking Shack.
The sneer and anticipation on Lennus's face froze the moment he saw the soaring flames, instantly turning into astonishment.
The scale of that explosion... seemed a bit too large?
A sense of foreboding rose in his heart, and he subconsciously sensed the status and positions of the three Blood Puppets.
This sensation caused his expression to change drastically!
The positions of the three Blood Puppets were actually all densely concentrated in the central area of the explosion's fire, almost overlapping!
"What's going on?!" Lennus was both shocked and furious. Daring not to be careless any longer, he immediately focused his mind and quickly sank into the perception of one of the Blood Puppets.
Vision switched, senses shared.
However, the scene he "saw" made Lennus feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar!
There was no sight of the Castle corridors as he had expected, nor were there any students fleeing in panic.
There was only endless, churning, roaring crimson fire! The scorching heat distorted the air, and flames trapped him and the other two Blood Puppets tightly from all directions!
The temperature of the flames was extremely high, continuously burning and consuming the energy of the Blood Puppets' shields. Every surge of the fire waves caused the shields to shake violently, their color dimming bit by bit.
"This... where is this?! A fire cage?!" Lennus tried to control the Blood Puppets to move or break out, but he found that the surrounding flames seemed to form a perfect cage; no matter which direction he charged, he was forced back by even more violent waves of fire.
"Yo~ You're here? Conscious possession was quite fast." A playful young voice came from above the flames.
Lennus looked up abruptly!
Above the blazing flames, a figure stood suspended in mid-air.
"It's you! You little brat! You're ruining my plans again!" Lennus let out a furious roar; he recognized Lynn.
"Of course it's me," Lynn said, looking down at the three Blood Puppets trapped in the sea of fire. "Surprised? Unexpected? Are you satisfied with this 'welcoming ceremony'?"
As he spoke, Lynn also controlled the flames to strike the other two Blood Puppets sporadically.
Lennus could clearly feel the energy of the Blood Puppets draining rapidly, and the strength of the shields was dropping. At this rate, it wouldn't be long...
"Kid! I advise you to stop immediately! Release my Blood Puppets!" Lennus threatened with bluster. "Otherwise, you will pay a price you cannot imagine! Your friends, your professors, the entire Hogwarts will..."
"Wow~" Lynn raised his eyebrows exaggeratedly, cutting off Lennus's harsh words with a tone full of perfunctory admiration. "So powerful~ You can actually make me pay an unimaginable price and even involve all of Hogwarts... Impressive, truly impressive. You've got my little heart thumping with fear."
The smile on his face suddenly turned cold.
"But before that, please say goodbye to your precious puppets."
Before his voice had even faded, Lynn waved his wand with his left hand!
Rumble rumble rumble—!!!
In the sea of fire, deafening thunder exploded!
Several bolts of violent lightning, as thick as buckets, crashed down along with the flames Lynn controlled toward the Blood Puppet that appeared to have the weakest shield among the three trapped ones!
That Blood Puppet's blood-colored shield couldn't even last a second, bursting like a soap bubble the moment it came into contact with the thunder and fire!
Boom—!!!
Immediately following was a deafening explosion!
That Blood Puppet, along with the ground around it, was directly blasted into flying fragments and charred remains by this terrifying composite magic!
Blood Puppet, minus one!
Lennus witnessed the disappearance of the Blood Puppet with his own eyes; it was the result of years of his hard work!
"Kid! How dare you!!!" He was consumed with rage, looking as if he were about to strike back.
However, what answered him was Lynn's second strike without any pause!
"It's not over yet," Lynn said coldly.
Rumble~ Crack! Bang—!!!
With almost no interval, the second Blood Puppet likewise vanished into nothingness amidst the thunder and fire without any suspense, following in its companion's footsteps.
Blood Puppet, minus one again!
In an instant, of the three Blood Puppets, only the last one remained—the one Lennus's consciousness was inhabiting!
The massive loss brought Lennus's fury to its peak.
"You forced my hand... you bastard!" Lennus roared. He immediately tried to sever the consciousness link with this Blood Puppet, withdraw his consciousness, and return to his original body in the Shrieking Shack, intending to kill Lupin immediately to vent his anger before planning his next move.
However—
Huh?!
His consciousness felt as if it had hit a tough wall! A strange binding force firmly imprisoned his conscious form attached to this Blood Puppet, preventing him from escaping.
No matter how he tried to push, his consciousness was like it was stuck in the thickest glue, completely unable to break free from this body!
"What's going on?! What is this?!" Lennus finally panicked; he felt as if he were nailed to a sinking ship.
"Yo~ Trying to run?" Lynn's smiling voice rang out again. "Can you escape?"
Lennus looked up in terror.
He saw Lynn holding an unremarkable-looking gem between his index finger and thumb, pointing it right at him.
"Recognize this?"
Lynn grinned, revealing a smile that looked demonic to Lennus.
"A fresh experimental product; I call it the 'The Soul Orb'... as for the effect, it seems pretty good."
"It's specially prepared for guys like you who like to let their consciousness wander all over the place. Surprised?"
He had been guarding against this move for a long time.