Chapter 466: When the Sun Arrives
Chapter 466: When the Sun Arrives
Wade's words hung in the air, and Carill's mind instantly recalled their previous encounter.
It was definitely Wade speaking; the feeling was something a soulless puppet couldn't fake.
But when did the switch happen?
He remembered Wade stepping out of the shadows... the dazed moments during their walk... and the few seconds when he turned his back to Wade outside the cabin...
Looking back, it seemed every moment could have been an opportunity for the switch, but Carill was no longer interested in this guessing game.
He stood rooted to the spot, not even caring about Baird's angry questioning gaze. He felt as if he had fallen into a bottomless pit, his limbs cold and stiff.
In the moment Carill was lost in thought, Gale, standing beside him, saw the puppet's smile and was suddenly jolted. He pushed Carill aside and dashed out the door.
The other vampires showed no interest in the conversation inside the room; they scattered and rushed toward the windows and doors.
But the door, which had been pushed open by Gale, suddenly slammed shut with a loud "bang." A red light flashed, and the vampire who had been right behind it was thrown back as if he had hit a steel wall.
The vampires trying to escape through the windows met the same fate. They sat on the ground, staring at the magically sealed door, their expressions a mix of despair and fury.
"Wizards! It must be the wizards!"
"Are we surrounded?"
"Baird, do you have any plans? Use any means you have!"
"Try the roof!"
The vampires immediately scattered to find other escape routes. Some tried to break through the walls, others persistently rammed the doors and windows, and a few rushed up the stairs to leave through the attic.
Of course, some vampires charged at the puppet Wade, hoping to take a hostage. But when one of them pointed a knife at the puppet, it simply smiled, nonchalantly turning the knife and forcefully stabbing it into its own chest.
With a knife embedded where its heart should be, the puppet spoke in a casual tone:
"Really? How is this different from threatening your master with a broken broomstick? I'm a puppet, you fool. I might be able to be killed, but I have no value as a hostage."
The bearded vampire stumbled back in shock, then realized his efforts were futile. Ignoring the "broomstick", he turned and joined the group heading upstairs.
The puppet's gaze shifted to Baird, watching for a few seconds before that seemingly polite, yet chilling smile reappeared.
"It seems you have no more tricks up your sleeve... Honestly, you've been lurking in Hogsmeade for months, gathering so many vampires. Dumbledore has been worried you were planning something big—"
Seeing Baird's confusion, the puppet added: "Like attacking the school, kidnapping students to convert them, or even teaming up with Muggle armies to bombard the school. He's been keeping a close eye on you for a while."
Baird was taken aback.
The puppet, which looked almost human, was already terrifying enough, but the thought that Dumbledore had been watching them all along sent shivers down his spine.
"Turns out it was just a kidnapping... I must say, you have good instincts, but you underestimated your opponent."
As the puppet spoke, the vampires who had rushed to the attic came running back down, bypassing the puppet and Baird to join the others trying to break through the doors and windows.
Carill had been standing by the door, but the other vampires, annoyed by his presence and angry that he hadn't noticed the switch, grabbed him and threw him aside with force.
Carill crashed into a cluttered shelf and landed with a loud thud, unable to get up for a while.
Baird, unwilling to give up, said, "Dumbledore is outside? But I was told he was meeting the headmistress of Beauxbatons today! Such an important appointment couldn't be canceled easily!"
"Oh, Dumbledore could have canceled it. Of course, that would have been very disrespectful, so he's not here right now... but he should be back in a few minutes."
The puppet glanced at his watch, then looked up to see Baird draw his wand and shout, "Reducto! Reducto!"
A burst of magical light flashed across the wooden door, but it didn't shatter as intended.
Outside the door, multiple elite wizards were casting spells, and while Baird had some magical skills, they were far inferior to those of properly trained wizards.
However, under the combined force of their attacks and Baird's spells, cracks finally appeared in the wooden door.
The vampires' faces lit up with hope, and they shouted, "One more time, three, two, one!"
"Bang!"
The entire wooden cabin shook as if it were about to be uprooted by the crowd.
"Shatter! Shatter!" Baird waved his wand, making a whistling sound.
The automaton smiled and said, "How wonderful, creating such an intense scene, as if we were the villains in a movie."
"We?" Carill, the only one not involved in the door-busting, got up from the ground, wiped the blood from his forehead, and turned to look at the automaton. "Who are you talking to?"
The automaton laughed and said, "I told you before, hearing a heartbeat doesn't mean I'm alive. So, you should also realize that even without smelling a scent or hearing a sound—"
A figure identical to the automaton slowly emerged from behind it, holding a wand. The gray eyes lacked warmth, and the face didn't bear that mechanical smile. It looked down at them with a detached gaze, tinged with a hint of pity, like a deity from another world.
"—it doesn't mean there's no wizard nearby", the automaton finished slowly.
Carill stared in shock at the suddenly appearing Wade, as if his eyes were seeing double, his mind suddenly filled with confusion and surprise.
Wade really came? Why did he suddenly reveal himself? Does he think he can escape unharmed from dozens of vampires?
Carill was about to shout a warning to the vampires who were about to make one last charge at the door when his highly light-sensitive eyes noticed a white light on Wade's wand, growing brighter and brighter.
The automaton also took a couple of quick steps, swiftly positioning itself behind the real Wade, as if to avoid blocking him.
In that split second, time seemed to stretch out dozens of times. Carill suddenly remembered something a senior vampire had told him on a training afternoon—
"Carill, we are stronger, faster, and fiercer than wizards, but never underestimate those skinny guys with wands."
"Wizards have a spell specifically designed to counteract vampires—the Sunlight Charm. It's said to be as scorching and terrifying as the sun. Even a child with low magic power can cause massive damage with it."
"That's why we vampires are not taken seriously in the organization. We can only do menial tasks like eavesdropping because the higher-ups know that we would shatter like ice the moment we face an enemy."
"Magic is your true strength, Carill. Since you have the fortune to possess magical abilities, you should study magic well! Sigh... I don't know what the higher-ups were thinking, making you—"
He didn't finish his sentence, just looking at Carill with regret and sighing deeply.
At the time, Carill didn't understand why the vampire sighed. He just felt that he could run fast, jump high, and turn into a bat, which was very cool.
Apart from the food always being unappetizing, he didn't think being a vampire was bad.
As for the so-called "Sunlight Charm", Carill had asked around and found it to be more of an urban legend, with no one ever actually encountering it. So, he gradually stopped worrying about it.
But at that moment, for some reason, he suddenly remembered those words, the spell that was "as terrifying as the sun."
Carill's body trembled as if electrified, reacting more quickly than ever before.
He instantly forgot to make a sound, forgot his previous thoughts, and leaped to roll behind the sofa, tearing off a dirty curtain and wrapping it around himself.
Almost as soon as he landed, his ears caught a not-so-loud voice—
"Akayas-Tomio!"
A white light rapidly expanded, first engulfing Wade and the automaton, then bursting out to flood the entire room. The light beams even shot through the windows and cracks in the walls, illuminating the secluded cabin with a brilliant glow!
...
"Wow... It's like there's a sun inside the house! I want to learn that too!"
Outside the wooden cabin, in the small forest, Tonks couldn't help but shield her eyes and exclaim, changing her hair and eyes to pure white.
"But that's a forbidden spell", a brown-haired witch said uneasily. "Is the child breaking the rules by using it?"
Tonks pouted. "It's fine... Do you know who taught him that spell?"
"Kingsley concluded, "Hestia, when facing dozens of vampire enemies, using any spell to protect oneself is allowed. I will submit a report to the higher-ups to justify Wade Gray's use of the spell as reasonable and appropriate."
"Reasonable?" Moody said discontentedly: "A group of Aurors and Order of the Phoenix members hiding in the forest, letting a child face such danger, is the greatest unreasonableness - what is Dumbledore thinking?"
“Um... Perhaps he didn’t want the vampires to become alert and escape?” Arthur Weasley speculated.
Tonks snapped her fingers. “Wrong, he wanted to uncover the vampires’ true plot.”
“Regardless, that kid did a great job, using the Sunlight Charm so effectively!”
Another wizard chimed in happily, “If it were us, we wouldn’t be able to use forbidden spells so openly. The officials at the Ministry and the law-makers are all rubbish!”
“Right, all rubbish!” Tonks agreed, nodding vigorously.
“Rubbish!” Moody nodded, tapping his cane for emphasis, his voice heavy.
Kingsley, who was reluctantly part of the bureaucracy, remained silent.
Arthur Weasley, who had also contributed to drafting some laws, was equally quiet.
“Let’s go,” Kingsley cleared his throat and stepped out of the woods. “With such a powerful Sunlight Charm, it’s time for us to wrap things up.”
...
Carill couldn’t share the human wizards’ carefree mood. He huddled under the curtain, still feeling an indescribable terror.
His eyes were tightly shut, but the suffocating light still seeped through the fabric, as if burning his retinas to ashes. His entire skin felt the intense, scorching pain, as if he were melting in the light.
Carill didn’t know if the other vampires had also screamed, but he felt his own throat tearing as he screamed, only for the terrifying heat to gradually subside.
After a while, Carill pushed aside the curtain and slowly got up.
His pale skin was now covered in red, swollen burns, and his blue eyes were bloodshot, continuously tearing. There were even a few disgusting yellow blisters on the back of his hands, which hurt intensely when touched.
Carill panted heavily, looking around.
The vampires were clutching their eyes, rolling on the ground and screaming. The number of figures had decreased by a small fraction, but he couldn’t tell who was who, as everything was a blurry, blood-red haze.
Carill lifted his head and looked at Wade.
He stood with the automaton on the landing at the top of the stairs, his expression unreadable.
Despite the short distance, it felt like an unbridgeable gap had formed between them.
The hollow-faced vampire boy stood there, dazed. The wooden door opposite him, cracked and splintered, suddenly exploded, allowing the gentle rays of real sunlight to stream in, followed by a group of tall figures.
“Good morning, fanged beasts,” the lead black-skinned wizard said. “You are under arrest.”
The injured vampires were roughly dragged to their feet by the Aurors, handcuffed, and dragged outside, their screams echoing.
A witch approached Carill. “Mr. Carill Johnson, your actions have violated at least seven laws. I regret to inform you that you have been expelled from Hogwarts, and I need to destroy your wand.”
Carill seemed not to hear, making no move.
“Mr. Johnson, please hand over your wand!” the witch repeated more sternly, and a few Aurors clearing the scene looked over.
“He can’t hand over his wand, ma’am,” Wade said. “It was stolen by the vampire who fled earlier.”
Hearing Wade’s voice, Carill seemed to snap out of his daze and felt his pocket.
—The wand he had hidden in his pocket when entering the room was indeed gone.
At the same time, Wade and Kingsley exchanged a glance, and the witch also looked at Kingsley.
While in the woods, they had all seen a vampire carrying a blond man run into the forest in another direction. However, at Kingsley’s signal, no one had tried to stop him.
Kingsley looked at the witch and nodded slightly.
“Oh, well... then the destruction of the wand will be postponed for now,” the witch said sternly. “However, Mr. Johnson, due to your previous actions, you are required to appear at the Ministry for a trial at 9 AM two days from now. Until then, you will be detained by the Auror Office. Do you have any questions?”
“I...” Carill slowly raised his head, his voice hoarse. “I want to apologize to Wade. I want to see Dumbledore... and if I’m being expelled, can I... can I go back to get my things?”
This was, of course, against regulations, but perhaps due to Carill’s young age and being misled, or perhaps because he looked so pitiful, the witch’s expression softened slightly.
“Please,” Carill’s tears flowed as he whispered, “My real parents were killed by those vampires, leaving only one keepsake. I... I have no other family, no one to do this for me... Please...”
(End of Chapter)
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