Chapter 96
As the afternoon passed, an excited atmosphere spread through the camp like a palpable cloud.
By dusk, even the still summer air seemed to tremble in anticipation.
As the night fell like a curtain over thousands of eager waiting wizards, the last trace of disguise vanished: the Ministry of Magic seemed to yield to the inevitable trend, no longer opposing the people, allowing signs of magic to emerge everywhere.
Every few steps, vendors appeared out of thin air, carrying trays and pushing carts filled with all sorts of strange items.
There were glowing rose-shaped badges—green for Ireland, red for Bulgaria—that could even shout the names of the team members; green top hats adorned with fluttering shamrocks; Bulgarian sashes printed with roaring lions; flags of both countries that played their national anthems when waved; and even miniature flying fire arrows; there were collectible statues of famous players that could walk around in the palm of your hand, exuding an air of pride.
Soren bought nothing, but Gareth, who had already returned to the camp, bought each person a panoramic telescope worth ten galleons, which could replay match footage and quickly flash analysis of the game.
Ludovic Bagman came to visit the camp to recruit bets for his own betting pool, and Gareth placed a ten galleon bet on Ireland to win.
Soren also wanted to place a bet, but he was afraid of being swindled by Bagman like the Weasley twins in the original story. So he pointed out Bagman's unreliability to Gareth rather rudely. Although Bagman looked furious, he didn't dare to throw a tantrum at Soren. Despite his youth, everyone in the Ministry of Magic knew he had backing; otherwise, how could he have been made the youngest Sir Merlin, breaking tradition?
After some provocation and discussion, Bagman agreed to make an unbreakable vow with him.
Soren bet seven hundred galleons on Ireland to win, but Viktor Krum would catch the Golden Snitch, according to the previously agreed fourfold odds. If he won, he would receive 2800 galleons. Seven hundred galleons was quite a gamble; if the bet were any larger, Bagman probably wouldn't be able to pay—Soren estimated that 2800 galleons was nearly equivalent to Bagman's four months' salary, not counting taxes and daily expenses...
At that moment, a deep, resonant gong sounded from somewhere in the woods, and countless red and green lanterns illuminated the trees, lighting the path to the stadium as the entrance to the competition began.
The process of the match unfolded as described in the original story, so it will not be elaborated here.
After the match, Soren saw Bagman with a pale face, estimating that he had lost heavily. However, due to the unbreakable vow, Bagman dared not deceive Soren with goblin gold; after all, those who break an unbreakable vow would die. Even if he dared to do so, the goblin gold wouldn't fool Soren's magical eye.
[2800 Galleons Obtained!]
Back at the camp, Gareth was about to remind everyone to return to their rooms for a good rest, so they could head back to the estate early the next morning.
Soren spoke up: "Don't rush back to your rooms just yet." He looked at the others, took out a few bottles of magical recovery potions and invigorating potions from his luggage, and then said slowly, "Everyone, based on my intel, tonight may not be peaceful—I suggest we all stay in the hall. We can chat to pass the time, and if anyone feels too fatigued, feel free to try the invigorating potion I personally brewed; it's definitely effective. Uncle Gareth, Mr. Morgadon, as gentlemen, we have a responsibility to protect the ladies' safety, so I think we should be ready with our wands, staying alert and awake. What do you think?"
Gareth, as the head of the family and a perceptive person, immediately understood, "Soren, you don't mean..."
"Just some restless clowns looking to make a scene for attention—don't worry, as long as we are cautious enough, nothing will happen. Their target probably isn't us."
Gareth gave Soren a meaningful look, "I really can't read you anymore. This morning's bet with Ludovic, my intuition tells me you were confident of winning, and now you seem to know things that even I haven't been able to confirm."
"Uncle Gareth, I can't believe you haven't heard a thing; you just haven't been able to confirm it—besides, as a member of the Malfoy family, my father has been busy every day lately, making quite a stir. How could I possibly not notice anything unusual?"
The group drank Soren's invigorating potion and instantly perked up, sitting on the sofa in the hall, enthusiastically discussing the highlights of the recent match.
Soren changed into his supreme wizard robe, draped on his night star cloak, donned the Ravenclaw crown, put on his dueling gloves, checked the dagger and wand in his dark pouch, and stood at the entrance of the tent, looking at the people in the distance who were still cheering and singing.
Gradually, the sounds in the camp changed; the singing stopped, and Soren heard screams and the sound of people running in panic. He turned to greet the others in the tent, and since they were mentally prepared, they all armed themselves and calmly followed Soren out of the tent.
As for the two house-elves, they were ordered to stay behind to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the chaos, and to let the mob recognize that this was the camp of a pure-blood family, as only ancient families could own house-elves, which was almost a symbol of status.
By the light of several still-burning bonfires, Soren saw people rushing toward the woods, as if trying to escape something that was moving toward them in the camp. That thing was bizarrely flashing and made a sound like gunfire. Loud mocking laughter, maniacal cackling, and drunken shouting were also moving toward them.
Then, a flash of green light illuminated everything around.
A group of wizards huddled together, each pointing their wands upward, advancing together slowly across the field.
Soren narrowed his eyes and scrutinized them; these people wore hoods and masks. Above their heads, four struggling figures floated in the air, twisted into various strange shapes, as if the masked wizards on the ground were the puppeteers, and the figures above were marionettes controlled by invisible strings emanating from their wands. Among them, two figures were quite small; those were the camp manager Mr. Roberts and his family.
Several Ministry officials tried to rush in to stop them, but their scattered attacks could not effectively impact the already large group of masked wizards. Soren even saw red-haired Mr. Weasley and his three sons rushing over to help.
The colorful lights that once illuminated the path to the stadium were now extinguished. In the woods, some dark figures stumbled about; children were crying, and anxious shouts and voices echoed in the cold night sky around them.
"Follow me, I know where it's safe!" the butler led the way, guiding everyone into the woods in search of a safe spot to avoid the crazed villains.
Before long, someone in the center of the woods shot a Dark Mark into the sky, and the Ministry officials hurriedly rushed there, while the masked wizards scattered at the sight of the Dark Mark, as if nothing had ever happened.
Just when everyone thought the situation had calmed down and they could safely return to the camp, a stunning spell suddenly flashed, and Mr. Gareth was instantly knocked out. Six masked figures emerged from their hiding places, aggressively surrounding Soren and the others, clearly not friendly. From their shapes, it was evident that there were five men and one woman, and one man and one woman seemed vaguely familiar to Soren.
At this moment, all the Ministry officials had gone into the woods, and some curious fans had gathered there to gather information, while others had already returned to the camp, leaving this secluded corner completely empty.
Soren and the others drew their wands to prepare for battle, but considering the safety of the three ladies behind them, Soren felt uncertain. Only Morgadon knew how to Apparate, and moving in such a surrounded state was quite dangerous; moreover, they couldn't leave the unconscious Gareth behind to fall into the hands of these unidentified individuals.
Soren broke the silence first, saying, "Is there some kind of misunderstanding? Each of us here is a pure-blood wizard, and we have no grievances with you. Are you trying to declare war on both the Malfoy family and the Greengrass family with your current actions?" Soren wisely raised the banners of the two families, intending to intimidate the enemy.
"Don't get me wrong, we're not with those bored Death Eaters." One of the men in black spoke first, "We came here simply to ask Miss Shafiq to come with us. If you could make it convenient for us, we would owe a favor to the Malfoy family and the Greengrass family."
In Soren's magical eye, the magical power of the six people in front of him was filled with a violent black aura, very similar to that of Peter Pettigrew back then. He frowned, and roughly guessed the identity of these people.
He slowly said, "You are the Shadow of the Dragon?"
"You must be the famous young master Malfoy, right?" the man in black said. "Hey, I didn't expect you to know our organization. Then you should be aware of our organization's strength, right? If you want to oppose us, even the Malfoy family should think twice!"
It seems that Peter Pettigrew's target to help them abduct was Meredith.
But why her? Shafik was merely a fallen ancient family; calling it a pure-blood family was just a flattering term. In fact, the entire family had only her left, and the various industries of the Shafiq family had long been divided among other families. The only valuable thing left in the family was that dilapidated ancestral home and a house-elf.
Although Soren did not consider himself a good person, his initial pursuit of power was to protect the people around him. No matter what, he could not let Meredith come to any harm!
However, Soren was also unwilling to drag the entire Greengrass family down with him, let alone potentially endanger the safety of the other two girls. After some thought, he made up his mind. "You can take her, but on one condition: I must go with you."
"Impossible! Kid, if you want to be a hero, you should first assess your own strength. Most kids like you end up dying young." The man in black said coldly.
"Boss, stop wasting time with them, be careful not to attract others!" another tall man in black said in a deep voice.
The man who spoke first was clearly the leader of this operation. Whether in stature or voice, he gave Soren a sense of familiarity, as if he had dealt with this person before.
The other side intended to finish things quickly— the leader made a gesture, and the six were about to strike!
Unfortunately, they severely underestimated Soren's strength.
As soon as they appeared, they first ambushed Gareth, and now were mainly guarding against Mr. Morgadon. They had heard of Soren's reputation, but a lower-grade student was at least two levels below them, so they did not take it seriously.
A strong light erupted from Soren, like a human-shaped flashbang— it was the Stunning Spell. In this dark environment, the effect of the Stunning Spell was particularly powerful; aside from the three girls who had already coordinated, the others fell into a momentary state of blindness, including Mogadon.
"Damn it!" the leader shouted urgently. "Deal with that kid first; he knows how to cast spells silently without a wand!"
Although the other side was in a state of blindness, they did not wait to be slaughtered but relied on their instincts to attack in the direction of Soren and the others. In an instant, colorful spells flew in all directions, but they lacked precision.
Soren concentrated and summoned Aquila; Aquila let out a sharp cry and created six clones, using its claws to swipe at the masks of the six men.
At the same time as he summoned, Soren multitasked, using his left hand to cast the Wind Whirlwind Spell, causing a tornado to spiral up from the ground, sweeping two masked men into the sky. They screamed and shot spells wildly, but it was of no use; with a gentle flick of his right hand, the wand of the third masked man suddenly ended up in Soren's hand, which he broke in two.
The situation reversed.
In an instant, three of the six masked men had lost their combat ability.
****
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