297 0296 Fleeing Werewolves

Swoosh!

With a whoosh, an arrow shimmering with cold light and murderous aura pierced through a tree as thick as a grown man's waist and embedded itself into the midst of a fleeing pack of wolves. Amidst the metallic ring, a werewolf was nailed to a rock, letting out a piercing howl. However, the sound was short-lived; Ronan arrived swiftly, his spear piercing the werewolf's throat, ending its wicked life.

This scene unfolded before Greyback, causing the nefarious werewolf leader to seethe with hatred and let out a long, angry howl.

Previously, under the combined efforts of the centaurs, Hagrid, and Snape, the remaining hundred or so werewolves suffered heavy casualties. Seeing the tide turn against him, Greyback led the fifty or sixty surviving werewolves in a breakout towards the mountains.

Glancing at his kin following him, Greyback cursed Peter, who wrote to them, in his heart with vile words. That scoundrel had caused them to lose the Dark Lord's protection twelve years ago, and today, nearly led all the werewolves to their deaths in the Forbidden Forest.

Tonight, his pack had suffered heavy losses, and their only gain was capturing a few centaurs.

These 'mules,' valuable in the underworld, could somewhat compensate for the fifty thousand Galleons from the Ministry of Magic that had slipped through their fingers—If they could be sold successfully.

Of course, this money was not easy to come by. The centaurs behind them had gone mad in their efforts to rescue their captured kin. Along the way of their escape, more than a dozen of their own had died at their hands.

"Give up, Greyback, you can't escape."

For Greyback, another prize of the night was Remus Lupin.

The traitor's luck had been poor; after escaping, he had fainted in the woods, only to be picked up by him.

"Shut up, traitor!"

Greyback bared his ugly wolfish grin at Lupin under his arm and sneered, "If I'm doomed today, I will make sure you die in front of us. Of course, I don't think you need to be so pessimistic. I heard you're working for Dumbledore now, maybe he's willing to spend some money to redeem you from my hands!"

Remus's head hung limply, his body covered in wounds, blood dripping from his cheeks.

Faced with Greyback's wild fantasies, Remus's eyelids trembled slightly, and he muttered in a barely audible voice, "You're insane, Greyback."

As the werewolves crossed a mound one by one, the world ahead became clear, and the faint light at the end of their sight, symbolizing hope, filled the werewolves, including Greyback, with great joy.

The centaurs didn't have the ability to apparate, so as long as they left the Forbidden Forest, the werewolves had plenty of means to escape their pursuit.

Without needing Greyback's urging, the werewolves let out excited howls, each one charging with all their might towards the hope of life. Meanwhile, the centaurs, realizing the werewolves were about to escape, fell into extreme frenzy. Arrows and wooden spears rained down like droplets, most of them aimed at Greyback's back! 

Clang! Greyback swiped away several spears with his claws and looked at the furious Firenze and others, revealing a provocative smile.

Ever since the werewolves had settled in the Forbidden Forest, these centaurs had tried to drive them out, but in the end, they had never achieved this goal. Although the werewolves had suffered heavy losses tonight, their means of replenishing their numbers were beyond the centaurs's capabilities.

"Ha, we shall meet again, mules!"

Greyback laughed heartily, and the next second, he was the first to burst out of the gloomy primeval forest and into the moonlit wilderness.

The werewolves's breakout point from the Forbidden Forest was not far from Hogsmeade. To the west, extending to the horizon, were the fields cultivated by the villagers of Hogsmeade; to the east lay rolling hills, and in front of them, atop a hill, stood an ancient manor allowing Greyback to figure out where he was.

"Those with wands, Apparate away; the rest, revert to human form and infiltrate Hogsmeade. These centaurs won't dare to enter wizard's territory!"

Greyback pulled out his wand and called out loudly. At his reminder, the werewolves reverted to human form, those capable of Apparition prepared to teleport away, while the rest rushed towards Hogsmeade, ready to take advantage of the chaos.

At the foot of the howling mountain, a series of crisp explosions sounded. Under the angry curses of the centaurs, Greyback and others, one after another, vanished into thin air, while the pursuing centaurs could only watch helplessly as the werewolves abducted their kin.

"Stop, you vile creatures!"

Bane let out a powerless roar, his arrow piercing a werewolf who was sprinting towards Hogsmeade. The unconscious werewolf was flung through the air by the powerful force of the arrow, tumbling in mid-air.

Bang! But then, something strange happened.

It was as if an invisible barrier had appeared in the air; the werewolf's body, still in mid-flight, slammed into the barrier and fell to the ground in a free-fall trajectory.

And that was just the beginning. The werewolves rushing towards Hogsmeade couldn't stop in time and one after another collided with the transparent barrier. They were all bewildered, howling and pounding on the wall, not understanding what had happened.

"What's going on?"

Seeing this, the centaurs stopped at the border between the Forbidden Forest and the mountains. The anger on Bane's rugged face faded, replaced by astonishment.

"This is wizard magic—" Ronan pawed the ground with his front hoof, looking around uneasily, "But it's unclear who exactly is responsible."

Snap, snap, snap!

As the centaurs puzzled over who had stopped the fleeing werewolves, those who had just Apparated away reappeared in the air and fell to the rocky ground.

Greyback's face still bore the remnants of joy, thinking he had escaped danger. But when he saw the scene around him and the centaurs staring oddly at him from a distance, his expression froze. In his pale-yellow vertical pupils, panic and unease churned.

"What's happening?"

Greyback demanded loudly from his subordinates, who had also been rejected by the void.

"I don't know—" A limping werewolf glanced at the wand in his hand and said blankly, "I was headed for Anglesey Island, but somehow I ended up back here?"

The unease forced the werewolves to regroup, their discussions filled with confusion and panic, resembling a pack of dogs that had lost their homes.

These failed escapees had also brought back a few abducted centaurs. Bane, with a look of righteous indignation, was about to rush forward to rescue his kin, but Firenze stopped him.

"Wait, Bane, don't be impulsive!" Firenze stood in front of Bane and said gravely, "It seems a powerful wizard is ready to judge these vile dark creatures!"

"But who could it be?" Ronan asked breathlessly, "Who could do all this?"

"As far as I know, only one human wizard could manage it." Firenze said cautiously.

"Look, there's someone there!"

Finally, a werewolf glanced at the sky unintentionally and screamed in terror, pointing at the void under the blood moon.

At his alarm, all the werewolves and centaurs looked up. Even the dazed Lupin slowly raised his head, and when he recognized the lone figure in the void under the moon, Lupin laughed softly, but his laughter was tinged with a touch of melancholy,

"Heh, Greyback, the end of the werewolves has come."

...

The snow descended in a relentless torrent, a white cascade tumbling down the rugged mountainside, its icy fingers intertwining with the warm, tempestuous currents of the vast Atlantic. This convergence birthed a ferocious gale, one that tore through the untamed wilderness skirting the quaint village of Hogsmeade with a voracious appetite. The very air itself seemed to quiver, imbued with a foreboding, almost spectral aura, as if the world held its breath in anticipation of some unspeakable event.

In the sky, beneath the blood-red moon that resembled a giant millstone, a figure stood suspended in mid-air, his gaze piercing as he surveyed the land below. The werewolves below were restless, like ants bracing for a violent storm.

"Who is that?" *murmur*

The werewolves whispered among themselves, and Greyback questioned Remus Lupin, soon receiving his answer.

"Bryan Watson?!"

Some secrets, though closely guarded as top secret in the outside world, were not so in the Forbidden Forest adjacent to Hogwarts, especially when Hogwarts had a gamekeeper who was particularly fond of sharing gossips.

Only a year prior, Bryan Watson had solved the mystery of the Basilisk that lurked within the Chamber of Secrets, a feat that had earned him no small measure of popularity. Now, having navigated the complex bureaucracy of the Ministry of Magic and the scrutiny of the Board of Governors, he had ascended to a position of considerable influence. Appointed by none other than Albus Dumbledore, Watson had taken up the mantle of Director of the Student Safety Office—a position of great importance. 

'But why was he here? Could it be that he was acting on Dumbledore's orders?'

These questions raced through Greyback's mind, a torrent of thoughts that mirrored the swirling snow around him. An inexplicable sense of doom settled in his gut, a primal warning that prompted him to position Remus's body as a living shield before him.

"Leader, what should we do?" The query came from the werewolf who had first spotted Bryan, his voice tinged with an anxiety that betrayed his usual ferocity.

Greyback's instincts, honed over countless moons, screamed a silent warning. This young wizard, whom they had never before encountered, exuded a presence that demanded caution. If possible, he preferred to avoid conflict. But he was no fool; Watson's sudden appearance and his unimaginable means of preventing their escape were certainly not for the purpose of throwing a farewell party for the werewolves!

"We haven't harmed a single young wizard in the castle tonight!"

Greyback's raspy voice echoed across the wilderness as he shouted at Bryan,

"We have no conflict with Hogwarts!"

In response, the world seemed to grow colder, the wind's icy caress now laced with something far more chilling: the unmistakable scent of malice. The werewolves, creatures attuned to the subtleties of danger, recognized the raw, unmasked hostility that now permeated the air. Terror etched itself upon their faces as they raised their wands skyward, their hands trembling so violently that not one could muster the will to cast a spell.

"Sir!" Greyback's voice was a growl, his words a challenge laced with fear. "We have no conflict, right? Why are you stopping us from leaving?"

"Greyback—" The reply that sliced through the howling gale was melodious, tinged with a laziness that belied its underlying power. It was a voice that seemed to carrying a power that intimidated the soul.

"Aren't you always looking for me?"

Confusion clouded Greyback's features at these words. 

'Why would we need to look for the Director of the Student Safety Office of Hogwarts? What possible connection could there be between us? The object of our true pursuit had always been…'

"Escape."

The realization struck Greyback like a physical blow, his pupils dilating in terror, a sheen of cold sweat coating his forehead. He murmured the command absentmindedly, however the noise of the wind was so loud, rendering them inaudible to his anxious subordinates who pressed close, seeking guidance.

"Run!"

Greyback's command, now a shriek of pure terror, cut through the cacophony of the storm, a solitary note of dread in the desolate expanse.

"Flee back to the Forbidden Forest!"

With a heart-wrenching roar, Greyback no longer cared about the howls of his subordinates. He simply hoisted the only card he had left—Remus Lupin—onto his shoulder and leaped into the air, planning to retreat back into the complex terrain of the Forbidden Forest!

But at that moment, the very fabric of the night seemed to shudder. The blood moon, once a beacon in the darkness, dimmed as if snuffed out by an unseen hand. And there, two purple moons rose slowly against the dark curtain of the night.

Buzz! At that moment, A divine presence descended.

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