Hogwarts: The Exemplary Wizard I Am Chapter 923: Escalation, the Elder Wand's Transformation - Novel Cool

Chapter 923: Escalation, the Elder Wand's Transformation

Chapter 923: Escalation, the Elder Wand's Transformation

Harry's surroundings shifted in an instant, and he found himself face to face with a wizard who bore a striking resemblance to Dumbledore – the proprietor of the Hog's Head Pub.

He had never imagined that this disheveled old wizard was so formidable, having engaged in a fierce battle with Voldemort from the very beginning.

Although the old wizard now appeared visibly exhausted, his ability to sustain the fight for so long was a testament to his remarkable prowess.

After all, his opponent was the infamous Voldemort.

"No, that's not right..." Harry shook his head.

His current priority was locating the three-headed snake, not observing Voldemort's actions.

"Change, change now..." Harry muttered to himself, attempting to alter his perspective and possess the snake.

Unfortunately, this was beyond his control.

Perhaps due to the Horcrux's relatively weak influence, Harry could usually only access Voldemort's thoughts through his scar, occasionally catching glimpses of the snake.

In other words, Harry had mere observational access to Voldemort's thoughts, devoid of any agency.

Despite his concerted efforts, including deep breathing exercises and rapid blinking, Harry failed to shift his perspective. Each time, he was met with the Hog's Head Pub owner's increasingly disheveled face.

"Not right, he won't last much longer!" Harry exclaimed suddenly.

"Harry, what's wrong..." Hermione was startled, assuming something had happened to Harry, and hastily approached him to assess the situation.

However, Harry remained silent.

At this point, he was too preoccupied to concern himself with the three-headed snake, instead intently focusing on the unfolding scene in his mind.

Just moments before, he had witnessed the Hog's Head Pub owner's hand tremble, nearly dropping his wand.

The old wizard was no match for Voldemort, and it was only a matter of time before he would be killed, leaving Harry on edge.

If the Hog's Head Pub owner were to be killed, who would be left to counter Voldemort?

"Could Professor McGonagall..." Harry thought to himself.

...Yes, she could. As a former Headmistress of Hogwarts, she was an exceptionally powerful witch.

Harry tried to reassure himself.

Just then, his vision abruptly shifted – the Hog's Head Pub owner vanished, replaced by a dark, starry expanse.

In the periphery of his vision, the Hogwarts Astronomy Tower was visible, growing increasingly distant.

After a few seconds, Harry suddenly realized that Voldemort had escaped.

Strange, wasn't Voldemort at an advantage just moments before?

Why had he chosen to flee?

Harry hastily shared his discovery with the others, leaving Ron and Hermione aghast and equally perplexed.

Kyle, however, remained silent, swiftly exiting the castle and gazing up towards the Whomping Willow.

Indeed, only Aberforth was left, leaning against his waist, panting heavily.

As Kyle approached, he could still hear Aberforth muttering under his breath:

"That scoundrel, Albus... really didn't come to help... just wait, I'll break his nose again..."

Kyle paused for a moment before continuing on, choosing to ignore Aberforth's grievances and curses.

It was understandable, given that Aberforth had nearly been killed by Voldemort.

"Aberforth, sir... you've actually defeated Voldemort..." Kyle approached, clearing his throat. "It seems no one realized you're an even more powerful wizard than Professor Dumbledore."

"Hmph!" Aberforth snorted, his expression slightly improving.

Although he could tell Kyle's flattery was insincere, he enjoyed hearing such words, even if he knew they were false.

"I've fulfilled my promise; the rest is up to you," Aberforth said. "Besides, I didn't actually defeat the Dark Lord – his wand malfunctioned."

"The wand?" Kyle inquired, perplexed. "What do you mean?"

"It's simple: the wand was rejecting him, especially when casting powerful magic. I could sense it," Aberforth explained, glancing at Kyle. "Just now, the wand even cracked, which is why I'm still alive."

Aberforth made no attempt to conceal his inability to defeat Voldemort, still shaken by the experience.

Voldemort's power was unreasonably overwhelming, surpassing his imagination. The Dark Lord's mastery of intricate, potent black magic required no incantations...

In terms of sheer magical intensity, this Voldemort was on par with the Grindelwald of over seventy years ago.

Aberforth had almost thought his time was up, fortunate that the wand had betrayed Voldemort at the crucial moment...

"I have a question," he said suddenly. "Wasn't the wand in Voldemort's hand the Elder Wand, the one Albus gave him?"

"Ah?" Kyle, lost in thought, took a moment to respond, eventually nodding.

"It was the Elder Wand, but he stole it."

"Previously, the Elder Wand had always been in Professor Dumbledore's possession. Voldemort somehow obtained this information and orchestrated a plot to steal the most powerful wand."

"Ah, that explains it," Aberforth sneered. "No wonder, daring to wield that cunning scoundrel's artifact... nothing that happened is surprising."

"Aberforth, sir..." Kyle spoke in a hushed tone, "it wasn't a gift, but rather Voldemort, who used Ollivander to coerce Professor Dumbledore and stole the wand."

"Naive fellow." Aberforth muttered, his words directed at Kyle, or perhaps at Voldemort.

However, he didn't elaborate, merely switching his grip on his wand and hobbling towards the school.

"Tell Albus that I've done what I promised. Ask him not to bother me again."

Aberforth was already at his limit. If Dumbledore were to die, he might consider staying to fight, but with Dumbledore still alive... he'd rather return to check on his goats than be a hero here.

The main entrance was blocked, so he had to use the secret passage from the school to the Three Broomsticks.

Kyle didn't stop him.

Voldemort wasn't an easy opponent, and now Aberforth had to grip his wand tightly to keep it from slipping.

In his current state, forget about fighting Voldemort; even a few Death Eaters could potentially kill him.

"Oh, right." Aberforth suddenly remembered something and stopped, turning back to say, "That Dark Wizard will likely go after his wand. You'd better hurry and deal with those scoundrels."

Before Kyle could respond, Aberforth turned and left without a backward glance.

"What an impatient fellow." Kyle rubbed his forehead.

But he wasn't wrong; it was indeed time to deal with those Death Eaters.

Kyle looked around.

Currently, the area with the most Death Eaters was near the school's main entrance, the same path the Night Bus had taken on the first day of school.

Voldemort had somehow gathered a few giants, only five of them, likely exiles lured by the Death Eaters.

They led the charge with sturdy wooden clubs, aiming to break through Hogwarts' defenses in one go. But they were quickly toppled by the Stone Golems guarding the entrance, who used their long-handled axes.

This included the Death Eaters following them; they all met the same fate.

The Stone Golems, immune to magic and armed with the venom of the Eight-Eyed Giant Spider, held their ground against the main force of Death Eaters.

Of course, these were just the foot soldiers. The powerful Death Eaters who could fly didn't need to follow the main force.

Dark fog enveloped the Hogwarts castle, almost obscuring all moonlight.

Kyle returned to the castle, but Harry and the others were nowhere to be found, likely having other plans.

Kyle passed through the Great Hall and climbed the stairs... He wanted to find Kanna first, but the castle was already in chaos, making it extremely difficult to locate anyone. Even the two-way mirror remained silent.

As he passed the sixth floor, a hanging tapestry was suddenly torn open, and two masked Death Eaters emerged.

"It's you!"

They had clearly recognized Kyle, but before they could draw their wands, a powerful force pushed them back into the secret passage behind Kyle.

Then, a bald Mandrake root fell from the entrance, landing right between the two of them.

"Bang!"

Kyle blocked the passage entrance with a table, trapping the Mandrake's shriek within.

By the way, the table was grabbed by Kyle from the side, and Professor McGonagall was commanding them to charge, an impressive sight.

Her hair was loose, and there were a few cuts on her cheeks, but she seemed to have grown younger, her entire demeanor exuding youth.

Professor McGonagall glanced at Kyle, acknowledging his presence, and then continued to lead the army of tables and chairs. "Charge!" she shouted.

"Indeed, worthy of the Head of Gryffindor," Kyle muttered, continuing his ascent.

He searched every floor but couldn't find Kanna. Instead, he found Bill and Charlie on the eighth floor.

The battle here was even more intense, perhaps due to its proximity to the Astronomy Tower. Many Death Eaters had chosen to land here.

The corridors were packed with both masked and unmasked Death Eaters fighting students and teachers. The portraits on both sides were also filled with people, all shouting and cheering them on.

Kyle initially intended to transform the castle walls, but his magic didn't work on them, so he had to resort to the portraits instead.

Fortunately, he succeeded.

"Well done, young man! That's it, crush them all!" The knights in the portraits were thrilled, dancing with excitement.

Although he couldn't do much, his portrait had knocked out a Death Eater, which was as good as helping.

For a moment, the portraits seemed to have found hope, and they began promoting their frames to the students and teachers around them.

"Hey, young man, do you want a handy weapon? How about this frame?"

"Take a look at mine. It's made of pure iron birch, with no special features, just hard!"

"What's the use of being hard? Use me; I'm heavier than stone!"

...

Under the relentless recommendations of the portraits, some students actually removed them from the walls.

Putting aside the idea of using them to knock out people, they were at least useful as shields.

After all, in a sense, the portraits were also part of Hogwarts, possessing the same characteristics as the surrounding walls, and could at least deflect a couple of spells.

With Kyle and his new weapon joining the fight, it didn't take long for the surrounding Death Eaters to be cleared out.

"Kyle, you came just in time!" Charlie approached, suspending a few Death Eaters with a net while shouting to the students, "Quickly, go to the Observatory Tower! The Aurors will be here soon, so hang on a little longer! We must hold out until they return!"

Several students, led by Dean and Parvati, immediately climbed up the Astronomy Tower and formed a circle to ensure they wouldn't be ambushed from any direction.

"What are you guys doing...?"

"Sirius was knocked down, and we have to hold this position," Bill said, wiping the blood from his face and distributing a box of potions to those around him. He looked up at Kyle and said, "You can join us, too. There are quite a few Death Eaters here, and we're short-handed."

"I have no problem..." Kyle said, then asked, "But have you seen Kanna? She and Fleur returned from France before the war started."

"Ah, I know about that," Bill said, wrapping a bandage tightly around an injured student. "She was with us until Sirius was attacked.

"Was Kanna also attacked?" Kyle asked anxiously.

"No, not at all." Bill paused for a moment. "I don't know how to tell you... Well, do you know who attacked Sirius?"

Seeing his expression, Kyle suddenly thought of someone.

"It was Snape," Bill whispered the next second.

As expected... Kyle rubbed his forehead.

"At that time, we were helping Sirius stop the Death Eaters from entering the castle," Bill continued. "Then Snape arrived and attacked Sirius as a Death Eater.

"Kanna saw it all, and of course, Snape saw Kanna too. He looked surprised, or perhaps terrified, and then he ran off."

"Where did he go?" Kyle asked urgently.

"I don't know," Bill shook his head. "Sirius tried to stop him, and they both fell from the Astronomy Tower... Of course, they're fine. I checked specifically. There were no traces of them at the bottom of the tower, so they must have gone somewhere else."

"Then Kanna disappeared too," Bill continued. "Her own relative is a Death Eater. I think it must be hard for her to accept this fact... Logically, I should go look for her, but as you can see, I can't leave the Astronomy Tower."

While he was speaking, two more Death Eaters flew by, dragging black smoke behind them.

However, before they could land on the Astronomy Tower, a fire dragon's head, formed by flames, suddenly appeared out of thin air and bit them.

The fire dragon's head was larger than the entire Astronomy Tower, and the two Death Eaters were swallowed without any resistance.

The giant mouth closed, and red flames splattered everywhere, but in a moment, it became quiet again, as if the two Death Eaters had never appeared.

"Kyle, you..." Bill's throat moved, and he looked at Kyle in disbelief, staring at the thin flame at the tip of his wand.

He knew Kyle was very powerful, even surpassing most members of the Phoenix Society, but to casually summon such a level of Fiery Magic was a bit over the top.

This was the Cruciatus Curse, wasn't it? Did he not need to prepare for it?

Moreover, in this short time, the fire dragon outside had grown a body and wings, and its massive body and scorching heat nearly set the entire Astronomy Tower ablaze.

"Ah, I'm fine," Kyle took a deep breath, his face calm as he waved his wand.

The flame at the wand's tip vanished, and the Fiery Dragon outside the tower also disappeared in an instant.

Although Kyle wanted to let it fly around below, it was impossible... Fiery Magic was too uncontrollable. If he were to be distracted for a moment, the students and teachers of Hogwarts would be affected, and that was absolutely unacceptable.

"Where did Snape and Sirius go after they fell?"

"I guess it should be there," Bill pointed to a broken window below the Astronomy Tower and no longer mentioned asking Kyle to stay and help.

"I suggest you ask the portraits and ghosts in the corridor; perhaps someone saw them."

"You're right," Kyle said, then turned to leave, saying, "I'll go and see, and I'll be back in a bit."

"It's fine. It's not that tense here either," Bill said, glancing at a few students in the Astronomy Tower who were almost fainted from the Fiery Dragon's heat.

(End of Chapter)

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