Chapter 528: Illusion Over Reality
Chapter 528: Illusion Over Reality
Grawp let out a deafening roar, making Felix's ears ring.
"Whoa!" He took two steps back, shaking his head. That voice was way too loud.
Hagrid stepped forward to try to calm him, but Grawp seemed to have gone wild. He flailed his arms wildly, stumbling as he tried to break free from the ropes around his ankles. The ropes were incredibly strong, and despite several attempts, he couldn't break free. In a fit of rage, he turned his fury on Hagrid.
"Oh, heavens", Hermione gasped.
Grawp's fist landed squarely on Hagrid's face. Unprepared, Hagrid fell backward, hitting the ground. Grawp, still intent on attacking, lunged forward. "Hey! Big guy!" Sirius shouted, a red light flashing and bouncing off Grawp's rough skin.
Grawp roared and charged at them. "Bang!" He tripped on the ropes, and the ground seemed to tremble. A bird's nest in a tall pine tree fell apart, and Sirius swallowed hard.
" Felix, if you don't control him, I'll have to use a powerful spell", Sirius said, moving closer.
"The ropes are very strong", Felix replied, suspecting Dumbledore might have enchanted them.
"Don't—", Hagrid said, sitting up and holding his nose. Blood trickled down between his fingers. He mumbled, "Little Grawp, be good, they mean no harm."
Felix's eyes glowed silver, and the air around them suddenly started to ripple, like steam rising from a boiling cauldron. Harry had felt something similar before, during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament, when he saw a large section of the Black Lake violently shaking, making everything around it seem unreal.
The same thing was happening now.
But the effect was brief, and the ripples in the air quickly smoothed out. He looked at Professor Hup, who had relaxed the wand in his hand. The silver glow in the professor's eyes hadn't faded, and small runic symbols were still swirling around his light blue irises, indicating that he had indeed done something.
Harry eagerly scanned the clearing, squinting his eyes, feeling that something was off. It was as if everything had shifted slightly.
Grawp quickly got up from the ground, moving much faster and with more strength than he appeared to have. He picked up a pine tree that had been uprooted and swung it around, the leaves rustling as if he were handling a small twig.
He soon found his target.
'Hagrid' had somehow stood up, seemingly unharmed, and charged at Grawp, wrapping his arms around the giant's waist and pushing him back. Grawp tried to break free, but Hagrid held on tightly, further enraging the giant.
The last bit of Grawp's sanity vanished, and with a powerful swing, he lifted the tree and brought it down. "Bang!"
The few people present flinched as the tree trunk struck Hagrid's head with a solid thud, sending dirt flying like shrapnel. But Grawp continued to vent his rage, roaring and swinging wildly, causing the ground to sink a few inches.
"Professor! Hagrid—", Harry, ignoring the earlier strangeness, wanted to rush forward, the wand in his hand glowing intensely.
"I'm here", a voice said. Harry's eyes widened as Hagrid suddenly appeared out of thin air, leaving him speechless. The air rippled like water, and Grawp's shadow in the distance was oddly distorted, making him look even uglier.
Hagrid held his nose, his expression bizarre, especially as he watched the other version of himself being beaten. His injured mouth twitched.
Sirius narrowed his eyes, examining the scene. "This is an illusion. It's not just a separate entity; it's altering the environment as well. There are still loopholes if you look closely—air currents, touch..." He spat on his wrist and flicked it. "But it's perfect for dealing with an irrational opponent."
"Awesome", Ron said, amazed.
Harry agreed wholeheartedly.
Hermione asked, puzzled, "It doesn't seem like a simple illusion?"
The false 'Hagrid' had taken several punches from Grawp, and the tree trunk had snapped in two. Despite Grawp's efforts to beat the ground around Hagrid, the real Hagrid remained unharmed, repeatedly blocking Grawp's movements.
Ordinary illusions can't achieve this.
"Professor?"
"You're right", Felix nodded. He revealed the real scene: Grawp's opponent was not Hagrid, but a silver, bloated shadow—a Patronus? Harry was stunned. He had practiced this spell during the holidays and made significant progress, but he never imagined that a Patronus could become tangible.
"I combined the power of the Mind Cottage to give it a brief physical form", Felix explained.
He didn't use the Mind Cottage to summon people or cast spells, considering that Grawp, unlike a Dark Wizard, might be a potential ally. He wasn't entirely sure, but more importantly, he was eager to test his newly acquired abilities.
Felix had dragged the Mind Cottage into reality more than once. Small models of buildings, like the snow corridor during the Quidditch World Cup, the Sword Tower in Diagon Alley, or the book collection behind the Mind Cottage's door. Larger applications included compressing nearly a thousand years of Muggle development into a few seconds during a speech at the Ministry of Magic, or using the Mind Cottage and Patronus to assist in locating Voldemort more quickly in their private battle, enabling him to use Instant Kill Tactics more effectively...
It wasn't until he was in Ollivanders wand shop, holding a wand that perfectly aligned with his blood, roots, and emotions, that Felix instinctively used Memory Magic. The mental images he constructed appeared in reality in a more relaxed and direct way, overlaying the real scene.
Valen was the first to fall victim. For days, it often found itself lost: from the carpet in the office of the Sword Tower in Diagon Alley, it suddenly found itself in a maze made of Legos. Initially, Valen was disoriented, but it soon became enthusiastic about building its own "Niffler Castle" with the Legos. It only took a few days for this to become a routine.
Previously, it was all just experimentation, but today marked the first real-world application of the Mind Cottage overlaying reality.
Felix waved his hand, and the Patronus finally disappeared. It couldn't stand up to the giant's strength, merely putting on a show of power. Grawp was misled and stopped in his tracks.
In Grawp's mind, the meddling "little dwarf" had finally been defeated. He pounded a few more times in frustration. This person had brought him to an unfamiliar environment and summoned a bearded midget who trapped him with a wave of his hand. Grawp's limited intelligence couldn't grasp the cause, but he was seething with anger. When he woke up, he found the culprit poking him with a small stick...
After venting his anger, his limited wisdom and reason returned, and he became slightly worried, stopping in his tracks.
The little dwarf had been nice, bringing him food and talking to him with wet, teary eyes. Grawp didn't mind this look. He could vaguely sense a blood connection, perhaps a shorter brother?
The nearby forest became eerily quiet, with no sound of insects or rustling leaves.
In Grawp's eyes, Hagrid lay motionless on the ground. He carefully picked up the branch Hagrid had used to wake him and poked the non-existent Hagrid. Hagrid, of course, didn't move. Grawp panicked, pulling at him, and Hagrid vanished in a burst of light.
Grawp: "..."
He sat on the ground, stunned, unable to understand. With his limited intelligence, Grawp concluded that the little dwarf had been killed.
"Hag-er", the giant growled.
Hagrid danced with joy, "He remembers me, he remembered my name! Did you see that? I taught him." He looked eagerly at Felix, "Let me go to him."
Felix hesitated, "Hagrid, he might not be safe."
"It's okay, let me go", Hagrid insisted.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
