"This..."
The man closed his eyes and waited for a long time, but the expected attack did not come. Lupin, somewhat bewildered, lowered his raised arm and then saw the figure standing in front of him at some point. The boy, dressed in a light grey robe, with its hem fluttering behind him, stood in mid-air with no support beneath his feet.
"...Oh, it’s still an international organization."
The broomstick, having lost its magical support, was now only a cleaning tool. As a result, numerous dark figures fell like dumplings, tumbling towards the sea below. William extended his magic wand, and the nearest figure flew in front of him—
Looking at the emblem worn on the other’s chest, he couldn’t help but frown.
Poacher, those old acquaintances again.
How refreshing...
He casually tossed the corpse down without a care; anyway, the Atlantic Ocean, this cup of bubble tea, wouldn’t miss a few pieces of coconut jelly... Would this be too hellish?
Ahem, William’s form floated forward slowly. This time he remembered to leave a witness alive, the man whose face was still covered in a mix of candy wrappers and blood, struggling laboriously to clean the dirt from his face; the mixture had plastered his eyes and wounds, causing him intense pain and uncontrollable howls.
"Just now, that was..."
Lupin placed the girl in his arms onto the back of a Hippogriff, prompting Silver to approach.
"They? They’re probably asleep."
William did not look back; his tone was calm.
"..."
Lupin was silent, unsure whether it was due to this explanation lacking sincerity or the entirely irrational scene before him — to completely shield the rescued girl, he had just laid himself flat against Silver’s back and did not see William casting the spell—
As for that Killing Curse...
Lupin didn’t even think about it; a Killing Curse is a single-target attack spell, which is a widely recognized fact written in numerous Dark Magic Books.
Thus, his Nonverbal Spell must be quite adept...
Lupin remained silent for a moment, nodding secretly. Due to Dumbledore’s attitude towards him and coupled with these days of interaction with William, even without a hint from Dumbledore, he couldn’t possibly see the other as an underage Little Wizard... Nonsense, what kind of Little Wizard could raise a Fire Dragon?
And steal Dumbledore’s Phoenix... to mate with a Thunderbird?
And even have a Niffler that can write Magic History essays?
Also, the little snake that’s coiled around William’s wrist daily... For some reason, every time Lupin’s gaze fell upon that eyepatch-wearing snake, he would feel a gradual petrification, once was a coincidence, twice an illusion, but it kept happening...
Lupin wasn’t foolish; he was very aware that the boy before him wasn’t as simple as he appeared. He once even considered the other a Little Wizard who had been kidnapped — but in hindsight, the person kidnapped was probably Fletcher.
"..."
Astoria, who witnessed everything, remained silent, staring at William’s back for a long time before silently covering her mouth.
"You damn mute... Where are they?"
Finally pulling the candy wrapper off his eyelashes, the man grimaced in pain, pressed a hand to his wound, and shouted at his subordinates... Where are they?
Looking at the empty night sky behind him, the man rubbed his eyes incredulously... Damn, it hurt. That claw from Silver spared no mercy at all, his nose was split into three parts, white bone exposed to the air; if it weren’t for his decent physical constitution, he probably would have fainted from the pain.
"Here."
William paused, his gaze traversing the man opposite, before directing his attention to the Fire Dragon not far behind him... The Imperio, in theory, the resistance of Fire Dragons to such Dark Arts should be high, but...
So, William briefly recalled how many people his Killing Curse had reached earlier, and felt relieved.
"You are..."
The man furrowed his brow tightly, veins bulging on the hand gripping the magic wand.
"Incarcerous. (Bind quickly)"
William had no intention to procrastinate; he had a shipload of Death Eaters to deal with, no time for idle leisure—
"!"
Upon seeing a coarse hemp rope flying towards him, the man reacted swiftly; his form suddenly shrunk down, the pitch-black robe spinning into wings, a somewhat sleazy Bald Eagle grasping the wand in its beak and flying upward, blood mixed with white feathers scattered in the night sky, the eagle turned its head and fled unhesitatingly—
"Animagus?"
Lupin immediately recognized the man’s identity, and instinctively exclaimed in surprise.
"Accio. (Come fly)"
William cast a charm, but the transparent Summoning Charm was dodged by the opponent and crashed directly into the Fire Dragon’s head.
The next moment, Norbert, who was "resting with eyes closed," uncontrollably flew towards William and the others.
Oh my god, what kind of Summoning Charm is this? Able to pull a Fire Dragon... The eagle, somewhat terrorized, dodged the Fire Dragon’s wing about to smash into it but its eyes quickly turned, shifting shape to human, holding the wand aimed at the dragon’s head—
"Let’s see how you deal with the Fire Dragon—Imperio! (Imperio)"
"Roar—"
"Shut up!"
"Ooooh—"
Norbert, who just woke up and roared, hadn’t even opened his eyes when William slapped it across the face. Though the damage equaled zero, the familiar feel instantly woke it up. Upon opening its eyes to see William’s expressionless face, it decisively flapped its wings to carry both William and Silver on its back.
"Roar~"
After howling considerately, Norbert also saw the man, who had just transformed into a Bald Eagle, and flew up directly.
"?"
Seeing this scene, the man was scared out of his wits, began frantically flapping his wings, but straight flight represented—"Accio. (Come Fly)" With its tail feathers roasted by Dragon Flame, the eagle landed in William’s hand; before it could resist, it saw a pair of orange-yellow streetlights... Wait, are these eyes?
The next instant, the man completely lost consciousness.
"The effect is pretty good..."
After tossing the petrified eagle twice, William contentedly slipped it into his pocket, then reached out to close the Basilisk’s eyepatch; compared to a Stunning Spell that still required some control, putting two layers of refractive mirrors on Basilisk’s eyes seemed a better controlling method—the only downside was wasting Mandrake Resurrection Potion.
But that doesn’t matter; he’s not short of things, be it Chomping Cabbage or Mandrake, he has enough to load a cart.
"That was..."
Just jumping off Silver, Lupin felt all his hair stand on end, perhaps due to frequent transformations into a Werewolf lately, he felt his senses had become more acute—
"Don’t ask if it’s none of your business."
"...Oh."