"This is the Hogwarts Express—how dare they?"
Daphne looked completely incredulous, and the other young wizards in the compartment all had expressions like they couldn't believe their ears.
The train was full of Hogwarts students—attacking it was basically declaring war on the entire British magical world.
"What's so daring about it? Your ancestor used to ride back to Hogwarts every year with a string of human heads hanging from his horse's bridle," Rhys glanced at Daphne and said calmly.
Back in their era, there was no such convenient mode of transportation as the Hogwarts Express. The young witches and wizards attending Hogwarts had to rely on their own means to get there.
Some rode various flying magical creatures, others used alchemical contraptions capable of flight, and some took the traditional route—on horseback or in carriages.
But considering how unsafe the British countryside was back then, most young wizards traveled in groups or brought along a retinue of household servants.
Adrian was the most unique among them.
While other students worried about their safety en route to school, trying to avoid trouble, he took the opportunity to moonlight as a bandit-hunter and went looking for trouble—always returning with trophies.
Eventually, many younger students preferred to travel behind him, keeping a half-day's distance.
The road from the Greengrass estate to Hogwarts Castle had, thanks to him, undergone a complete transformation in terms of public safety.
Daphne was momentarily speechless from Rhys's words.
Then, all of a sudden, she realized what those pumpkin-sized white sacks hanging by the saddle in her ancestor Adrian's youthful portrait must have contained—when she was a child, she had thought they were rations or game from a hunt!
"Stay here and don't wander around." Rhys glanced at Daphne and Astoria, motioning for them to take care of Neville, then slid open the compartment door and stepped out.
He was going to see for himself—who dared to stop the Hogwarts Express? If the train staff couldn't handle it, he would take care of this little problem himself.
The corridor was pitch black. Rhys raised the flames above his head, using the light to illuminate his path.
He noticed that the other young wizards in the compartments were also taking action—some opened their compartment doors, poking their heads out, trying to figure out what was happening; others cast the Lumos Charm to regain visibility.
He could faintly hear someone shouting in the distance: "I'm the Head Boy," "Stay calm," "Prefects, move out."
That must be Percy yelling. He's actually pretty responsible, Rhys thought to himself.
Just then, a wave of chill swept through the corridor, carrying an intensely malevolent aura. Rhys was sure—this was the one who had stopped and boarded the Hogwarts Express.
He took a deep breath, preparing to head to the front of the train to deal with the intruder, when he suddenly felt another wave of cold surging from behind him—the rear of the train had been breached as well!
A pincer attack from both ends—meant to split the staff's attention and catch them off guard?
Rhys narrowed his eyes. These intruders clearly came prepared.
Still, it wasn't a big problem—because Rhys knew Hufflepuff had also boarded the train. Sure enough, he sensed a familiar magical fluctuation coming from the rear.
Feeling reassured, Rhys continued heading toward the front of the train.
He believed Hufflepuff would handle the situation behind him perfectly.
The closer he got to the front of the train, the colder the air became, and the sounds from the surrounding compartments gradually faded away.
What had entered the train wasn't just ordinary cold—it was a kind of malevolent energy, something the young and inexperienced wizards had no power to resist.
Rhys furrowed his brows slightly and quickened his pace. By the time it was cold enough that his breath came out as white mist, he saw the creatures that had boarded the train: three monsters cloaked in tattered robes, each tall enough to reach the ceiling.
Their faces were completely hidden beneath their hoods, and the limbs extending from beneath their cloaks were grayish-blue, thin, and covered in scabs—like rotting corpses soaked in water.
Each of the three monsters stood before an open compartment door, silently staring at the young wizards inside. Their hoods drifted slowly, and it looked as though the creatures hidden beneath were slowly drawing in something.
Rhys was certain they weren't breathing air—they were extracting something else entirely from their surroundings.
Rhys's arrival caught the attention of the three monsters. They turned to face him directly, and all three of their hoods suddenly caved inward at once.
A bone-chilling cold swept through Rhys's entire body. He felt the moisture in his breath instantly freeze into frost at the edges of his nostrils. The cold pierced through his skin, creeping toward his chest, as if trying to freeze his heart along with it.
Oh?
Rhys allowed the cold to ravage his body for a moment, then called upon his magic to expel it entirely.
"Interesting dark creatures—must be a new species." He studied the monsters before him carefully.
He had never seen creatures like these before; they appeared to be a new species, perhaps similar to the Acromantula, which had emerged sometime in the past thousand years.
Still, he had encountered and dealt with similar dark creatures before, so he wasn't particularly surprised.
After observing for a while, Rhys realized that these creatures seemed to feed on emotions. In that case, it made sense for them to target the train—there was certainly an abundance of strong emotions here.
He waited a moment longer and noticed that no train staff had come to deal with the situation. Most likely, they had already been taken care of when the creatures first boarded.
While Rhys was thinking, the three monsters had also fallen into confusion: why was it that this little thing standing right in front of them wasn't giving off any happiness they could absorb? It was like biting into a pie three times and still not finding any filling.
Just as they were about to take further action, Rhys spoke.
"Leave now, and you won't be harmed. Otherwise, I will send you all into reincarnation." Rhys, still within the train, had no strong desire to fight. He just wanted to lure the creatures off the train first—then deal with them.
The three creatures glanced at each other, clearly unwilling to leave. Instead, they began to drift toward Rhys.
In their eyes, the figure in front of them was nothing more than an ordinary little wizard, not worth taking seriously. Besides, they were under orders from the Ministry of Magic to search the train.
If this little brat didn't know what was good for him, then they'd teach him a lesson. As long as they didn't give him the "Kiss," there wouldn't be any problem—or so they thought.
Seeing that the three dark creatures refused to back down, Rhys let out a sigh. With a wave of both hands, all the open compartment doors slammed shut, and the frost on the windows thickened into solid ice, cutting off all visibility inside and out.
At the same time, he no longer concealed his magical aura. "Fuu~"
Woosh!
The three monsters instantly froze in place. The "ordinary little wizard" they had sensed vanished—replaced by something else…
A creature more monstrous than they were.
_______
Read 12 Chapters ahead:
Patreon: HornyFBI