The magical battle between the Order of the Immortal Lotus and the Dark Alliance, which had suddenly begun and ended, claimed fifteen innocent lives, including the owner of the Brews and Stews, Ms. Clutterbuck.
But even before this condemning event, the world had already been experiencing acts of terrorism that had intensified beyond reason in the last month.
The first, and perhaps the most striking, was the event that was now called — The Dementors' Revolt!
After the end of the second year at Hogwarts, in early June, Voldemort (as the summoned Grindelwald) and Ekrizdis had attacked Azkaban. Surprisingly, the same Dementors, on whom the British Ministry of Magic had been counting, had revolted against them, helping the Dark Alliance.
In the aftermath, the Lord of Azkaban had annihilated his own homestead from hundreds of years ago, freeing all the nefarious prisoners. Some of those prisoners instantly joined the Dark Alliance, while the remaining were either killed on the spot, becoming Dementors' meals, or… managed to flee.
The second event, much less bloody than the first, but equally important, was called — Ilvermorny Uprising!
Almost all the USA had already been conquered by the Dark Alliance when the original MACUSA had fallen. Only the Ilvermorny School had remained an opposing force, surrounded by enemies from all sides, because of the timely help from Lord Black Phoenix, Albus Dumbledore.
After weeks of incessant bombarding the School, and almost penetrating its prized Layered Bounded Fields of fog, the Order of the Immortal Lotus had decided to shift the entire School to Britain.
The mission had been led by none other than Madam Villanelle, the reincarnated Biblical Witch of Endor and the High Counselor of Student Welfare and Security at Hogwarts. She had used spells of the most ancient origin that a Mirror Harry Potter timeline had no business seeing.
With the help of Lord Black Phoenix, Madam Villanelle had set up a Teleportation Array around the entire School, transferring the entire land on which the School was built to the hills of Scotland.
The third event, the most terrifying of its kind, was Voldemort's attack on the Headquarters of the British Ministry of Magic.
Fortunately, it had resulted in no casualties.
However, the suddenness and oddness of the attack had sent a chill running down the spine of the wizarding world.
It was theorized that Voldemort had been after an object from the Department of Mysteries and had, most probably, acted alone.
The fourth event, the Diagon Alley Disaster, happened just last night.
The Order of the Immortal Lotus had always been held back by the threat of Karmic Backlash against unnecessary interventions from their side with respect to timelines and storyline Characters.
However, the confirmation of Yellow Warlock being a Contestant changed everything. If they played it carefully and slyly, their every act could be termed as an act against an intruder.
Still, they had remained on their toes, waiting for the right time.
Learning through Herpo the Foul that Lord Yellow Warlock had gone to Fate Bubble, though, had pushed them to their feet, opening old wounds. Not only had Zelretch duped the entire Bubble, but the Order of the Immortal Lotus was also nothing but a bastard child of that act.
No matter how and why Yellow Warlock had gone there, if it was related to Zelretch, then things had taken the worst turn possible.
Thus, the Six Seats had instantly begun casting a Magic that they couldn't have before — all in the name of rooting out the intruder, even if that went against Timeline itself — Mass Surveillance!
It was like Kai activating all the Echoes infesting the characters of the Harry Potter timeline together, with no threat of repercussions.
And the moment the Order of the Immortal Lotus began this Surveillance, they also started connecting dots… from years ago.
All the strange events that had happened in the first and second years of Hogwarts…
All sudden disappearances and unfathomable events…
They all pointed toward a traitor at Hogwarts.
Dumbledore had always adamantly rejected the theory, but even he had accepted that something was wrong at Hogwarts itself.
For once, trusting in Dumbledore's judgment, who was backed by a Half-Deep One, the Six had begun observing not people, but… the things that those people carried, wildly flailing their net to catch just about anything.
And that's how, after weeks of scanning the homes, schools, cities, and random alleys, they had chanced upon something unique — Darcie's Magical Suitcase!
In itself, the Magical Suitcase had felt nothing special, carrying a small Extension Charm that held Darcie's personal library.
However, as some members of the Order of the Immortal Lotus had touched upon the concept of the Ancient Magical Script, they had instantly felt its presence… hidden deep within the Magical Suitcase.
Instantly, they had realized how all the baffling things had been happening at Hogwarts, despite the school becoming a fortress last year.
Yellow Warlock — the vilest Contestant to appear in the Harry Potter Bubble — had been infesting Darcie's Magical Suitcase, like a parasite!
Confirming that Darcie did not know of it herself, by letting Madam Villanelle randomly use Legilimency on her, they had finally sought out Herpo the Foul.
And what happened next… became their worst nightmare.
The Yellow Seat, Abdul Alhazred, could keep an eye on all cross-dimensional channels that led in and out of the Harry Potter Bubble. The moment he had sensed Yellow Warlock's arrival, all Six Seats had attacked, making the channel collapse.
Simultaneously, Herpo the Foul sent a projection to purge the infested Magical Suitcase, duping the Timeline with his real body with the help of the Order.
However, not only had Herpo the Foul failed to kill all the intruders, but Yellow Warlock also returned on time — confronting the Grand Wizard on equal grounds!
The loss of lives was already disastrous.
But the true disaster was on a scale that only the likes of Six Seats, Herpo the Foul, Lord Black Phoenix, and Yellow Warlock were powerful enough to sense.
It also gave them a hint as to why the Timeline hadn't opposed Mass Surveillance at all.
The brazen display of strength, all the dark events, and divergences that couldn't even be quantified anymore… pushed the Overall Grade of the timeline from C+ to B-!
As this had remained a qualitative roadblock, it wouldn't be long before the timeline advanced to B, and then to B+, putting half of its foot into the realm of Pillars.
The only silver lining the Order of Immortal Lotus saw in this was that, with the rise in Overall Grade of the timeline, the Contestants at Hogwarts would be able to use a great part of their strength as well.
It was just… the Six dearly hoped that some rumors about the Yellow Warlock they had gathered from the Tower were just that —
— rumors!
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