Hogwarts: Homecoming

Chapter 14: One Fell Swoop

Assessing a situation and weighing the pros and cons was not a skill a group of teenage Gryffindors excelled at. If they had been from Slytherin, upon seeing the devastation wrought upon the surrounding forest, they likely would have acted with more restraint and decorum.

"What are you wasting time talking to him for, Charlie? We'll cover you! You find a chance to rescue Prian!" a Gryffindor player on a Comet broomstick yelled from above Amos's left. Then, he decisively flung a brilliant red jet of light at Amos.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team was indeed remarkably in sync. That Stunning Spell seemed to be the signal to attack. The three players, excluding Charlie, responded instantly. To confuse Amos as much as possible, they constantly changed positions on their brooms in mid-air, their weaving shadows creating a great net above his head as they intermittently fired off Stunning Spells and Petrification Curses.

To be honest, Amos had been prepared to return Prian to them and had no intention of fighting. Phyloia had already gone to the castle for reinforcements; the professors would soon know that students had been fighting in the Forbidden Forest. Deductions of house points and detentions were inevitable punishments, but Amos hoped to keep the detention period as short as possible. He had no desire to spend every night until next Christmas in Snape's office.

However, since the Gryffindors had attacked first, a defensive counterattack was perfectly acceptable. It was a good chance to blow off some steam.

With a flick of his wand, a swirling vortex of silver and black magic materialized in front of Amos. At its center was a deep, unfathomable black hole. Like the mythical whirlpool of Charybdis from Greek legend, it floated beside him. Whenever a spell came from any direction, the vortex, without any need for wand control, would automatically move to meet it, effortlessly swallowing it whole.

"What in the world is that magic?"

The Gryffindor players tried everything. They attacked from multiple directions at once, they concentrated their fire hoping to break through the vortex, but nothing worked.

"I don't know, but it looks like Dark Magic!" another shouted in reply.

Charlie Weasley knew he had to act. He couldn't just watch from the sidelines.

As a genius Seeker discovered by Gryffindor, Charlie's flying skills were indeed a cut above the rest. He was like a fleeting ghost, pausing in one spot for a moment, and in the blink of an eye, appearing in another. His spellcasting was also impressive; even while moving at such high speeds, every spell he cast was aimed precisely at Amos. It was no easy feat. Even Professor Flitwick in his younger days might not have been so agile.

Unfortunately for him, this did not mean he could break through Amos's defense.

Late at night, Amos found himself enjoying an unexpected, high-difficulty aerial performance in the Forbidden Forest. The dazzling flying skills made even Amos, who had little interest in Quidditch, marvel inwardly. No wonder the Slytherin team had been trounced by Gryffindor on the pitch last year.

"Hey, you little worm! You only dare to hide behind that thing?!" Frustrated by their inability to land a hit, one of the Gryffindors resorted to taunts.

"Maybe we can try another way!" Seeing his Disarming Charm fail yet again, a panting Charlie hovered in mid-air. He looked around and an idea immediately struck him. "Everyone, fly higher! Be careful the spider's venom doesn't melt your robes—Finite Incantatem!"

Everyone, including Amos, understood what Charlie meant. He immediately turned to look at the Acromantula and saw the jet of light from Charlie's wand strike its thick, black-haired leg.

Click, clack, CLICK!

Freed from its petrification, the spider immediately brandished its two enormous, gleaming black pincers and let out an furious shriek at the wizard before it. After being tormented by Charlie and his friends for half the night, the Acromantula shook its ugly head, its multiple green eyes blinking madly. In its perception, the buzzing red flies in the sky and the little wizard on the ground not far from it were all part of the same group.

CRACK!

The eight-legged spider moved with incredible speed. The sheer force of its massive body charging forward snapped several trees as thick as dinner plates with ease.

Amos raised an eyebrow. He knew of Acromantulas. The venom of this magical creature was extremely valuable; a single pint could sell for a hundred Galleons. Of course, the one before him was still too small; its body likely didn't contain that much.

Still, every little bit counted. Amos didn't have a wasteful bone in his body.

Seeing Amos stand motionless before the spider, a hint of worry crossed Charlie's weathered face. He worried that Amos had been frightened stiff by the terrifying creature. Just as he was about to shout a warning, Amos suddenly raised his arm, his wand pointed directly at the spider as it leaped into the air towards him.

"Reducio!"

The Acromantula's massive body stiffened in mid-air. A look of bewilderment filled all eight of its compound eyes. Before it could even react, the world around it twisted rapidly in its vision, and then it found itself flying uncontrollably into a glass bottle.

"Thank you for the gift," Amos said, adding several defensive charms to the bottle before looking up. "I quite like it."

With that, he gripped his upright wand like a drumstick and sighed. "I'll probably have a lot of trouble to deal with next, so let's end this ugly situation as quickly as possible and get back to the castle. If all goes well, I might even be able to squeeze in half an hour of sleep in my dormitory."

"Dream on, Blaine! You're still thinking about sleep?" The Gryffindor who had attacked first snapped out of his shock at seeing Amos so casually subdue the Acromantula. He bared his teeth and snarled, "The Dementors will give you a proper welcome on our behalf!"

"It's windy up there. I suggest you don't fly so high. Otherwise, it'll hurt a lot when you fall," Amos said, completely ignoring the threat and looking instead at Charlie.

"What are you planning to do?"

Alerted by the warning, Charlie raised his wand defensively in front of his chest and tightened his grip on his broomstick, ready to dodge at a moment's notice.

But Amos didn't fire a single jet of light at anyone. Instead, like swinging a drumstick, he brought his wand down hard, striking the empty space in front of him.

VMMMM!

With the impact of the wand, a violent storm erupted in the invisible world. Magic, with the point of Amos's strike as its epicenter, radiated outwards in all directions like fierce ripples on a calm pond disturbed by a falling stone.

THUD, THUD, THUD!

The Gryffindors, swept by the chaotic magic, began to fall from their brooms like stones dropping from the sky. After a series of heavy thuds, every single one of them was knocked unconscious.

"I warned you it would... ah, this is never-ending."

Amos turned to look towards the castle. Riding Phyloia's broom, Bill Weasley was flying rapidly over the boundary between the Forbidden Forest and the grounds, a worried expression on his face as he sped towards them.