Chapter 213: Fighting the Inferi

Hermione turned her head and looked at Ivan uneasily. Panic flashed in her brown eyes, as if she was going to say something, but she opened her mouth and nothing came out.

Ivan knew she should be nervous to the extreme.

Compared to the rest of them, she was the only girl present, facing monsters like the Inferi. The pressure exerted on her must have been immense.

Without hesitation, Ivan gently held Hermione's small hand, his palm all sweaty.

Hermione, like a frightened deer, unconsciously wanted to pull his hand back.

Ivan didn't let go of her, and then she seemed to realize that it was him holding her hand and her face turned red.

"Ivan...," Hermione murmured.

"Don't be afraid, Hermione," Ivan comforted her softly, "We'll be fine, believe me, no matter what dangers may come, I'll protect you."

"I know, I believe you," Hermione nodded tightly. With a reassuring smile, she took Ivan's hand and said in a firm voice, "I said it before; I will always believe in you."

Looking at Ivan and Hermione whispering, Harry hesitated for a moment and silently walked over to Sirius.

He also had something to say to Sirius, his godfather.

"Harry, are you scared?" Sirius didn't look back. He looked sad as he stared at the lake in front of him.

"I'm not scared," Harry said, unsure, "But I'm a little nervous. I never thought things would turn out like this..."

"Yeah, I didn't think things would turn out like this." Sirius was silent for a moment, and said with a complicated look, "I thought my brother Regulus was a fool, stupid and weak, but he was braver than I thought. To stop Voldemort's plot, he paid with his life. I thought Pettigrew was trustworthy, and suggested he be James and Lily's Secret Keeper, but he was a despicable traitor. It was I who killed James and Lily."

Harry listened to Sirius talking about his parents, and he didn't know what to say.

He didn't know how to comfort Sirius. In his opinion, Black didn't have to blame himself for the death of his parents.

"Sirius...," Harry said.

"I've been looking at the wrong person, I didn't think about it, and I never thought about it..." Sirius' mouth showed a bitter, frustrated smile, "It's all my fault. I screwed everything up, that was the case with James, and the same goes for Regulus. If I could have talked to him that year, he probably wouldn't have died..."

"He's a hero, Sirius," Harry said.

"Yes, he is." Sirius wiped his eyes and said with relief, "Harry, though I've always misunderstood people, there's one thing I'm sure of: you're a lot like your father, James. This is something I can't be wrong about. I'm proud of you."

Harry looked at Sirius. Although he had always heard others say that about him, said by Sirius, it was especially meaningful.

"Well, this isn't the right place for such nice talk." Sirius regained his usual concentration and continued. "Come on, you can stand up front and let me see your dueling skills."

When everyone signaled that they were ready, Dumbledore tapped the stone basin with his wand and it echoed faintly.

In the stone basin, the center of the green liquid, which could not be touched anyway, suddenly a ripple appeared, extending from the inside to the outside.

It was like a sign. The surface of the lake was no longer mirror-smooth; it rippled.

Ivan looked up and saw a large herd of Inferis appearing in the dark lake.

White heads and hands poked out of the dark water, men, women and children with sunken, sightless eyes moved toward the rock.

"Petrificus Totalus!" shouted Harry in panic.

He pointed his wand at the nearest Inferi, and a red light struck it. She fell backwards into the water with a splash, but immediately scrambled to her feet.

Her withered hands dragged across the lake. Her hollow, cloudy eyes stared at Harry. She was dragging her water-soaked rags behind her, and her sunken face looked grim and scornful.

"Don't worry, Harry, it shouldn't be done like this," Sirius said. "The Petrificus Totalus Curse has no such range. You have to wait until they get to the right range to attack."

Harry nodded, held his wand in his hand and watched the Inferi.

Two seconds later, the Inferi climbed onto the rock, its white hands soaked by the lake water and crawled forward as if it was going to pounce on Harry.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry shouted again, sliding his wand through the air.

The red light flashed, the Inferi stumbled and fell to the ground without getting to her feet.

"A good attack, that's what it feels like, aim for their heads." Sirius waved his wand and shouted a few spells. At the same time, he knocked down three or four Inferi and shouted excitedly. "Okay, Harry. Let's try the Impedimenta and the Imprisonment Spells. I think you've learned these two spells"

On the other hand, Ivan and Hermione were also fighting.

It could be seen that Hermione's theoretical knowledge was very strong. She knew many curses, and mastered the specific abilities of her summoning. However, she was weak in her actual combat ability, and always shot and missed the critical hit.

Ivan knew this was mainly due to a psychological factor.

Although Hermione didn't say anything and didn't want Ivan to worry about her, deep down she was afraid of the Inferi.

For this, the others had no way to help. Only Hermione could get over it.

Ivan looked at Hermione as she took down some Inferi.

He turned his head and looked at Dumbledore. The headmaster held his wand and didn't attack. He watched them the whole time. There was no emotion in his blue eyes.

Ivan thought about it and understood that Dumbledore was protecting them. He began to cast stronger magic.

A white light flew out of the end of his wand. But though wounds appeared on their soaked rags and icy skin, they had no blood to spill. They walked on, unfeeling, their shrunken hands outstretched toward him.

Ivan nodded. As he had imagined, a spell like Sectumsempra, which had greater damage on the surface of the body, was of little use against the Inferi.

They felt no pain, had no fear of such wounds. That didn't even slow them down.

With such enemies, this powerful magic was not as useful as Pretrificus Totalus, Impedimenta and other such magic. Ivan tried to attack a few more times. Dumbledore had just said that the best way to deal with the Inferi was with fire, but Regulus had not yet been found, and it could not be done.

He was in no hurry, but treated the Inferi as experimental subjects, willing to try Transfiguration and other powerful spells.

A few days ago, he had a duel with Snape, which gave Ivan great inspiration. He had never before thought that magic could be used in such a way.

He was going to practice with these Inferi, which was a unique opportunity, not only safely, but also to improve his wizarding skills.