The Silent Witch of Hogwarts

Chapter 8: The Madness Outside the Bookstore

"call……"

Loila let out a soft breath and carefully glanced at Ollivander's Wand Shop.

"Don't worry, Miss Hamilton," Lupin chuckled softly, standing beside her. "Mr. Lovegood won't come after us."

"No...it's not Mr. Lovegood..." Loila muttered softly.

What frightened her even more was the perceptive Miss Lovegood… If she remembered what she looked like, it would be troublesome when school started…

Alas!

The thought of becoming a professor to dozens of such junior wizards when school started made Loila feel dizzy.

Even for Lord Grindelwald's mission, such a sacrifice is...

"Let's go to Flourish and Blotts next," Lupin said as they walked, unaware of Loira's thoughts. "Demstramp's textbooks might be a little different from Hogwarts'."

"Uh-huh……"

Loila thought about it carefully and realized that apart from Durmstrang, no other college would probably include books like "Into the Dark Arts" and "Use Dark Magic Against Your Enemies" as textbooks...

The two soon arrived at Flourish and Blotts, but the scene before them... made Loira instinctively take a few steps back.

"Make way! Make way!"

"I was here first!"

"Mr. Lockhart! Mr. Lockhart!"

The place was packed with people, a large number of wizards gathered here, all watching the young man standing at the bookstore entrance, shouting excitedly.

He...he is Lockhart?

Loila pursed her lips and looked at the handsome young man with gorgeous blond hair.

"Wow, my future colleague is so popular... He really is a famous writer..." Loila thought to herself as she glanced at Lupin.

But Lupin's expression remained indifferent.

As expected, Mr. Lupin was not his fan...

"This is a bit troublesome," Lupin muttered. "I didn't expect Mr. Lockhart to be holding his book signing here."

"Should we go somewhere else... somewhere else?" Loila asked softly.

She naturally didn't want to go among those crowded wizards; those excited people could probably easily squeeze her into a sheet of parchment.

"Hmm..." Lupin nodded in agreement. "Let's go first..."

Before he finished speaking, a commotion arose behind them.

"It's Mr. Lockhart!"

"Mr. Lockhart has arrived!"

A large group of newly arrived wizards excitedly walked over. They subconsciously assumed that Lupin and Royla were also Lockhart fans, so they surrounded them before the two could react.

"Lupin... Mr. Lupin!" Just as Loila reached out to grab Lupin's sleeve, the two were separated by several excited fans.

"Hamilton..." Lupin's voice was drowned out by the surging tide of wizards.

Lockhart, as one of the most outstanding authors in the wizarding world in recent years, has a large number of fans. These excited fans packed the entire Diagon Alley, especially the area around Flourish and Blotts.

Loila instinctively wanted to leave the crowd, but the dense throng around her made her pale and unsure of where to go.

"Move! You in front!" Loila heard the wizard behind her shout, "I want to take a picture with Mr. Lockhart!"

"I...I didn't..." Loila stammered, trying to explain, but her voice was almost drowned out by the noise the moment it left her mouth.

"Everyone, please calm down!" Lockhart's voice was particularly noticeable in the noisy environment: "There are still many signed books available."

"The first thirty fans will receive it!"

"What?! Only thirty?" Loila heard the wizards around her muttering anxiously; the limited number of signed books made them even more excited.

In an instant, the wizards around her frantically pushed towards Lockhart. Loila could only feel people everywhere—arms, legs, backs… even her ears were squeezed against her head.

She was like a piece of ham inside a sandwich, completely wrapped up.

Moreover, this flow of people was pulling her further inside.

"I...don't want to..." Loila tried her best to struggle, but as more and more people got closer, her face grew paler and paler.

Being petite, she was no match for the adult wizards. She was sandwiched between several wizards, with no room to even raise her hands.

I'm...I'm going to drown!

Loila even felt like she was having trouble breathing. She tried her best to slip through the gaps in the crowd, but to little avail.

But just a second after she felt she was about to faint, the surroundings suddenly became empty.

"Huff... huff..." Loila gasped for breath as she was suddenly able to breathe fresh air. Her already tattered robe was now torn, revealing her shirt and her pointed ears underneath.

However, she no longer cared about her appearance; all she wanted was to breathe in the fresh air and get away from these mad wizards.

She walked for a long time, supporting herself against the wall, until all the wizards around her disappeared before she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As she inhaled the fresh air deeply, she finally felt herself come back to life.

That's...that's terrifying...

Loila's pointed ears twitched involuntarily.

Do these Mr. Lockhart fans have to go through this every time? It must be more dangerous than being a Musikverein member fighting those Aurors, right?

Loila thought to herself and then looked around...

This is where?

Having never been to Diagon Alley before, she had no idea where she was... Was this still Diagon Alley?

Although Diagon Alley is also cramped, it is much wider and brighter than this place.

It was noon, but the alley was unusually dark, and Loila twitched her nose slightly.

She also smelled something strange.

It smells awful... Have I stumbled into some kind of dark wizard's criminal den?

This place is too unsafe... Without her wand, Loila didn't want to stay in a place like this any longer, so she instinctively turned around to leave.

But suddenly, her pointed ears twitched slightly as she heard a noise not far away.

"Little girl, what are you doing here all alone?" It was a hoarse male voice.

Loila quickly shrank back, then realized that the person didn't seem to be talking to her.

"Looking for something." The voice that answered sounded familiar. Loila paused for a moment, then realized who the voice belonged to.

It's Miss Lovegood... that somewhat perceptive Luna Lovegood.

"There's nothing here for a little girl like you," the hoarse voice said menacingly. "This is Knockover Alley..."

"This is not a place for you!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Loila heard running and struggling sounds coming from around the corner of the alley.

not good!

Loila immediately understood what had happened... It must be some kind of dark wizard targeting Miss Lovegood...

I must go and save her!

But I... don't have a magic wand!

"Let me go!" Luna's voice came again, followed by a scream from the owner of that hoarse voice.

"How dare you bite me!"

"Freeze them all!"

The sound of the incantation reached her ears, and Loila, without having time to think further, rushed towards the direction of the sound.

As she turned the corner, a middle-aged man holding a magic wand and a girl standing frozen in place came into view.

Miss Luna, with her silver hair, was frozen in place by a curse and unable to move.

Seeing this, Loila took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Stop! Let go of Miss Lovegood!"

"What?" A puzzled voice responded to Loira. The middle-aged man looked up at Loira, startled, and asked, "What did you just say?"

His eyes looked confused, as if he really hadn't heard what Loila was saying.

"I...I said...let go..." Loila's imposing aura vanished considerably after his question. She shrank back and said, "Let go of Lovegood..."

"..."

"What are you babbling about?" The dark wizard, impatient at not hearing her again, raised his wand at Loila.

"Speak to my spell!"

"They'll all be petrified!"