Chapter 261: Duel

Harry is back!

The news exploded like a bomb, causing everyone who had planned to stay overnight at the pub to rush out from the second floor.

Of course, since they hadn’t brought any Jin Jin Jialong, their overnight expenses were sponsored by Jia Jia Siting.

“Good heavens! Harry, what happened to you? We haven’t received a single reply from you in nearly a month.”

Everyone sat around the dim, modest bar counter, and Luo En was the first to ask.

“I encountered a monster...”

Harry began describing everything he had experienced, and the others occasionally gasped in shock.

En was preparing to return to Maige Villa; it was only ten o’clock, not particularly late.

But before going back, he needed to settle Harry in.

Luo En was the first to invite Harry, followed by Jia Jia Siting and Nawei.

Yet after glancing at En, Harry ultimately chose Luo En—Luo En was his first friend, and always made him feel more at ease.

Only then did Luo En realize how late it was; he hurriedly pulled Harry out of the Leaky Cauldron.

Then came Jia Jia Siting and Hemin; their parents were even waiting outside the pub for them.

Finally, Nawei vanished through the fireplace. Only then did En mount his broom and streak across the sky like a meteor.

After rescuing Harry, the group frequently wrote letters to each other, and Maige Villa’s living room was always filled with all kinds of owls flying in.

En paid no attention to this; instead, he counted the days—another month was nearly over, and he would soon complete the first step of his Animagus transformation.

But before that, the Fairy Workshop would welcome its second opening.

That morning.

As usual, En practiced Transfiguration by the Black Lake, levitating a stone and instantly transforming it into a stone guardian.

Its height was still very low—barely three meters—and far shorter than Professor McGonagall’s stone pillars, which stood four or five meters tall; moreover, Professor McGonagall’s pillars possessed enhanced durability—they could leap from several stories high without sustaining any damage, something ordinary stones could never achieve.

En’s stone guardians could not do such a thing.

He suspected that Professor McGonagall’s Transfiguration, even among masters, surpassed the expert level—just one step higher, and it would nearly reach Headmaster Dumbledore’s standard.

When he grew tired from practice, his thoughts began to drift.

Dobby appeared, reminding him that the Basilisk was about to be released from the Chamber of Secrets.

To make Basilisk cookies and block the danger, he needed at least the same strength as the Basilisk itself.

The problem was: where exactly did his strength lie?

He had experienced few battles; he had rushed through encounters with trolls and professors’ trials.

Thus, they offered no useful reference.

When sunlight streamed into the room, En slowly turned his gaze toward Marcus Maige, who was sipping tea.

He had heard from Professor McGonagall that the old wizard Marcus Maige had once been an Auror.

For a young wizard’s training request, Marcus Maige found no reason to refuse.

He even happily lifted his beard.

Though the young wizard was exceptionally gifted, Marcus Maige himself had once been an Auror.

After enduring heart-wrenching pain, he had once channeled his rage into fighting against the Dark Lord.

At that time, the Dark Lord was rising for the first time; Death Eaters committed ever more atrocities, using intimidation and bribes to recruit wizards, gradually escalating into open violence.

Against those who resisted, they ruthlessly used Unforgivable Curses to massacre them; this terror even led to many innocent Muggles being murdered “for amusement.”

In response, Barty Crouch, Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement under the Ministry of Magic, issued an extraordinary order—authorizing Aurors to use Unforgivable Curses to interrogate Death Eaters.

One could imagine the severity of Voldemort’s impact at the time.

Marcus Maige was one of the Aurors who fought relentlessly throughout those ten years and survived.

His difference from today’s Aurors was that he had endured the baptism of war and fought on the most dangerous battlefields.

Even after being injured, his strength had not declined much.

The only regret was that he could not find a successor.

He refused to let his children go to those dangerous battlefields, for he could not endure another such soul-crushing grief.

But he also knew that if you love a child, you must teach him to face danger, to strengthen his wings, to equip him with the ability to protect himself.

Especially when he possesses sufficient talent and is destined to confront fate and shoulder responsibility—you cannot forever shield him like a hen protecting her chicks. You must train him like an eagle.

“Come on, child! Show me your strongest magic! Don’t worry about hurting me—I’ve seen it all as a veteran Auror—”

Marcus stood on an endless field not far from the farm, a vast expanse he had fortified with a Barrier—undoubtedly an excellent place to train young wizards in real combat.

“I’ll give it my all.”

The brooch hummed.

En’s eyes sharpened; his wand moved.

He could not speak the incantation, so he could only use the Silent Spell.

But this did not weaken his power much; on the contrary, nearly all the spells he excelled at had reached the Silent Spell level.

A burst of flame erupted from his wand tip, growing within seconds into a two-meter-tall fire dragon.

Marcus watched the dragon roar toward him, his body trembling slightly.

Even he had never seen such a sight—was this really his adorable child, a first-year wizard?

“Finite!”

The red light struck the dragon but did not immediately dispel it—instead, scales like a lizard’s skin instantly appeared across its body.

It was multiple Transfiguration.

Marcus did not hesitate—he prepared to Apparate.

But he couldn’t move at all.

Far away, En had already raised his wand; the Barrier Charm, cast silently and instantly at a master level, could hold back even an elite Auror like Marcus for several seconds.

This was a spell-combination technique taught to him by Professor Flitwick, granting him the ability to cast two spells simultaneously.

Marcus was genuinely stunned now, but his gaze instantly sharpened. He broke free from the Barrier Charm and roared:

“Protego!”

A transparent shield rose with his incantation, blocking the now-shrunken dragon—but the dragon still roared, hurling him far away and kicking up clouds of dust.

Close call—nearly got knocked out...

Marcus’s disheveled figure emerged from the dust.

Just as he was about to take this duel with full seriousness, En sat down heavily on the ground far away.

“Grandpa Marcus is amazing.”

Marcus heard a mature voice say.

His old face flushed red.