Chapter 343: Turmoil
Felix Harp abruptly sat up, the protective enchantments he had ced around his tent were triggered.
After casting various defensive spells on himself, he pushed aside the curtain. In the darkness, he saw a mother stumbling towards him, clutching a child in her arms. Her hair was disheveled, and she wore a dirty nightgown. The child in her arms was around three or four years old.
"What''s happened?" Felix Harp asked in a deep voice. In the distance, cries and explosions echoed.
"There''s chaos... those fans... no, they''re rioters! Setting fires everywhere..." the woman said, her face pale, still bearing the expression of recent fear.
Lupin emerged from the tent, holding his wand alertly. "What''s going on?" He paused when he saw the woman.
"It seems some fans have caused trouble," Felix Harp said. "Lems, take care of them. Also, wake up Clementine and Aric. I''m going out to take a look."
Lupin nced at the woman and her child, nodding silently. He gazed into the distance where the camp was lit by red mes, cries and urgent shoutsing from afar.
Felix Harp held his wand and hurried towards the source of the mes.
On his way, he saw shadowy figures stumbling around, families in tow. They carried crying children, moving unsteadily, walking through the woods, seeking refuge.
Most of these people were caught off guard, dressed only in nightclothes. Some were separated from their families, calling out names as they moved.
Not everyone was in a state of panic; some wereposed, helping maintain order. A tall woman with amanding voice shouted, her voice rising above the chaos: "Quiet! Beauxbatons students, raise your wands to light the way for others."
"Yes, Madam Maxime," a group of young witches and wizards replied in unison. They illuminated their wands, and the distressed crowd followed the light they emitted, gathering around them.
"Follow me, take the path through the woods," the woman known as ''Madam Maxime'' led the way, her calm voice reassuring, "Stay calm, one by one, keep close!"
While she might stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Hagrid in height, she appeared even taller due to her slender and graceful figure. Unlike Hagrid''s bulkiness, she had an elegance that hinted at giant ancestrybined with refined features.
It was evident that she held high esteem among these young wizards, likely a professor.
In the rush, Felix Harp didn''t have time to ponder further. They passed each other, and Felix Harp went against the stream, heading towards the mes. Halfway there, he noticed Ministry workers lying on the ground, unconscious. Each had been struck by at least four or five stunning spells, along with an assortment of other curses, looking quite bedraggled.
Felix Harp gathered them together to prevent them from being trampled. He levitated himself with a Hovering Charm, maintaining a vignt lookout.
Meanwhile, the ranks of the marchers grew. Initially, there were only around thirty hooded wizards wandering through the camp wearing masks. One of them had caught a Muggle family, the Roberts, and was forcing them to spin in circles over their heads for amusement.
More and more people joined the group disappointed fans looking to vent their frustration after the team''s loss, revelers who had partied themselves into oblivion for half the night, and thrill-seekers. The marchers'' ranks swelled to three or five hundred, igniting fires throughout the camp, leaving burning tents in their wake.
Illuminated by the roaring mes, they saw a figure hovering in mid-air, looking down at them, his gaze directed this way.
Squinting, the marchers saw that this figure seemed capable of flight, his eyes zing with a terrifying intensity. Even from hundreds of feet away, they could feel the anger in his gaze and the pressure it imposed upon them.
"Master... Master"
A hooded wizard eximed, his hand trembling uncontrobly.
Among the marching group, the leaders of the hooded wizards stirred. Two of them even dropped their wands, falling to their knees in the direction of Felix Harp. "Master, we have long awaited your return"
"Enough of this nonsense, that''s Felix Harp!" a hoarse voice interrupted.
Felix took action. A surge of light gathered in his palm, rapidly expanding until he hurled a massive ball of light into the sky. It temporarily reced the faint greenish-gray hue of dawn on the horizon with a radiance akin to winter sunlight.
This brilliance, not blinding but bright, instantly filled every inch of space, every shadow. Even the moon hanging high in the sky was obscured. The entire camp was as bright as day.
Felix Harp took in the chaotic scene
On his right side was the procession of people. At its forefront were around thirty to forty wizards wearing hoods and masks, likely the instigators of the chaos. They were tightly packed together, forming a dense formation as they advanced slowly. Floating above these individuals were four struggling figures distorted into various bizarre shapes ordinary people in nightclothes, helpless and manipted like puppets by invisible strings.
Around the hooded figures, several hundred riotous fans had gathered. Judging from their attire, they came from different countries, united by amon passion or a fondness for chaos. Theseters to the procession had a more straightforward purpose: venting their anger and causing turmoil. Some wore ridiculous masks they had acquired from who knows where, while others only covered their faces with cloth. There were those who exposed their faces without any restraint, drunkenly waving their wands to produce sparks.
In the wake of the procession on both sides of the path they had traversed y a trail of burning tents, resembling a row of massive torches.
Surrounding them was a fleeing crowd women''s screams, children''s cries, and men''s anxious shouts all intertwined.
As Felix''s magic illuminated the entire camp, people recognized the direction and stopped running around like headless flies, instead guiding their families away from the procession.
In various corners of the camp, countless heads lifted, gazing up at Felix''s figure in mid-air, filled with astonishment.
On a path at the edge of the forest
"Look at that person! He''s floating in the sky!"
"Where''s Madam Maxime? We can''t find her" A curly-haired girl, about the same age as Hermione, shouted toward Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The three of them had been separated from the adults and the twins, Ginny and the twins, and had just arrived at a path along the edge of the woods.
This ce was packed densely with people, everyone looking anxiously toward the camp.
"Who''s Madam Maxime?" Harry asked nervously. He had just used his wand to knock out a drunken reveler. He, Ron, and Hermione had worked together to hide the man in a thicket.
"They''re not from our school..." A young witch about Hermione''s age, holding onto the curly-haired girl, cast a quick nce at Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the bright light. She whispered "Hogwarts" and then joined the others in looking at Felix in mid-air.
"Who is he? Why can he fly?"
"Is he the leader? I saw someone from the procession kneel to him"
"Don''t talk nonsense!" Hermione shouted in frustration, looking concerned. She said in a hushed tone, "That''s Professor Harp. He''s probably trying to stop the riot. This is too dangerous; there shouldn''t be a direct confrontation... there must be hundreds of them."
Harry looked over. The professor''s magic illuminated the camp. They could see clearly, and over a dozen colorful spells were flying toward the professor from the marchers. However, most of them were crooked and off-target.
Ron reassured, "Professor Harp is at least four or five hundred feet away. Don''t worry; they can''t really reach him."
...
Felix cast Lumos to illuminate the camp. Some of the marchers immediately grew uneasy the darkness had given them the courage to misbehave, but when the light came, they could only hide their indecency to avoid being exposed.
People kept leaving the group, slipping away quietly.
But many remained in ce. These individuals were rowdy, making noise, pointing and gesturing at Felix, intentionally sending sparks and spells as provocations.
On the other side of the procession, Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, and Sirius appeared somewhat helpless. Charlie asked, "Dad, what should we do?"
Mr. Weasley looked at the floating Roberts family. "We can''t act hastily. It wouldn''t be good if they got hurt."
They were concerned. Earlier, a few Aurors from the Ministry had tried to pose as marchers and get close to the Roberts family, only to be subjected to concentrated attacks.
"They''ll disperse soon enough," Mr. Weasley said with a determined tone. Annoyance crept into his voice as he added, "Rats in the gutter! These fellows are utterlywless! If only we could catch them all"
Sirius pointed to the sky. "Someone shares your sentiment."
Felix''s expression remained calm. He extended his hand, pointing forward. A bolt of ck lightning descended, and almost simultaneously, a hooded wizard was pierced through the chest.
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