Chapter 68: Sixty-Eight

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Ignoring Evans's screams and the dog's curses, Lys charged toward the flower.

Just as her fingers were about to close around it, Lupin, rushing to the edge of the stands to check on Potter's condition, accidentally stepped on it.

Something in her mind snapped, as if a bomb was about to go off. The world around her became a blur of noise she couldn't decipher.

Through the strands of hair veiling her face, she caught glimpses: Evans gasping with her hand over her mouth, upper-year students waving their wands in the distance, Snape's malicious grin of satisfaction, and...

And... Sirius Black, Lupin, and Peter crouched in the corner, their wands all pointing at her.

Clutching the flower, she tucked it into the buttonhole of her robe. Lys sidestepped the first curse fired her way and launched her counterattack.

But this was no childish prank or minor hex. Lys wielded dark magic, the kind whispered about in Knockturn Alley, the kind used by those who had abandoned all moral restraint.

Her opponents responded with equally dangerous spells—Severing Charms, Slashing Hexes. When the blood-sucking darkness coiled around the stupid dog, half of Lys's cloak was shredded by a spell.

She quickly concealed her left arm and swung her wand in a broad arc. Without muttering a single incantation, she summoned a silver glow, thin but brilliant, which coiled around her left arm like a living thread.

Gubang tightened its grip around her neck, its fangs sinking into the lily, which now hummed a mournful tune. The snake lifted its head, its gaze fixed protectively near Lys's ear.

The lily, stained with dirt and blood, nestled in Lys's rust-red hair. It looked like a fragile bloom clawing its way out of dried blood, guarded fiercely by a venomous snake.

Draped in a tattered black cloak, her arm wrapped in silver light, Lys swung her wand and stunned Peter, who had been lurking in the shadows, ready to ambush her. Dragging her leg, wounded by a Slashing Hex, she turned her focus on Lupin.

Some actions cannot be forgiven. Boundless provocation, blatant disrespect, harm, theft, robbery—each deserved punishment.

A senior Slytherin student arrived on a broomstick. His first reaction was astonishment at the sheer destructive force unleashed by a third-year. His second was a grim realization: he couldn't let Slytherin's reputation be tarnished by a murder scandal.

Slytherin was already under scrutiny. A scandal involving inter-house violence would be catastrophic.

He cast a Levitation Charm to slow the fall of the Quidditch player who had tumbled from the stands, ensuring he wouldn't die from the impact.

Then, rushing closer, he began casting counterspells and Freezing Charms at the blood-sucking darkness engulfing the stupid dog.

Though his efforts were largely ineffective, they startled Evans into action. She joined in casting Freezing Charms at the darkness and even pulled Snape over to help.

Lys saw none of this. The wand aimed at her, the mournful tune whispering in her ear—it all tore at her mind. Images and voices flashed through her thoughts:

"Don't let anyone's wand point at you!"

"I told you, never give anyone that chance!"

It felt as if something trapped deep within her was clawing to break free.

Lys's vision turned crimson. Blood from the Splitting Hex clung to her hair and forehead, matting her bangs and dripping into her eyes. Her large, almond-shaped eyes, once so eager for recognition, now radiated an unhinged madness that sent chills down spines.

Lupin gasped for air, his frail body struggling after casting Shield Charms and attack spells in rapid succession.

Taking advantage of the moment when Lys reached to check Gubang's position, he quickly fired one brilliant red signal after another into the sky.

He knew the girl who once tested hexes on herself to avoid harming others, who had secretly brought him food when he was bedridden, was no longer in control.

He had to call for help, even if it meant relying on other students. Then he ducked behind the stands' seats, trying to evade the increasingly swift and precise attacks.

Professor McGonagall, just emerging from the euphoria of Gryffindor's Quidditch victory, noticed the bright red signals from her office window.

As Apparition was forbidden within the castle grounds, McGonagall urgently summoned a broomstick with the Summoning Charm and flew straight toward the stands.