Wool's Orphanage.
The room where Tom Riddle had once stayed.
"Huff… huff…"
Lupin collapsed directly to the floor. His wand rolled away from his hand. His entire body was soaked with sweat, and the surging of magical power within him made him clench his jaw.
The intense battle, combined with performing Apparition while carrying another person, had pushed him to the edge, nearly past his limits.
There was no helping it.
Even among the top wizards at Hogwarts, most were considered excellent, yet their upper limit and magical power still fell far short of the realm of true genius.
"I've done all I can. If that wasn't your real body just now, then you better start praying. I just hope I told Dumbledore quickly enough for him to collect your corpse while it's still warm."
Lupin finally caught his breath and struggled to his feet. But when he looked to his side—
He saw only a dry, shriveled twig.
"I knew this would happen…" Lupin wearily raised a hand to cover his eyes. This was exactly why he hadn't used Apparition to escape right away in the first place.
He really didn't know where Ian's real body was hiding! The only thing he was certain of was that the brat was still somewhere on the battlefield.
Apparition—
An extremely advanced form of magic.
Very few wizards ever get the chance to even learn it, let alone master it. This naturally meant that the already "poorly educated" werewolves lost their target the moment Lupin took the "young wizard" and apparated away. These ferocious werewolves, having lunged at nothing, now stood around in confusion.
Their eyes still burned with the frenzy and bloodlust of the hunt, but now, they could only helplessly glance around.
"Where did they go?" One werewolf asked in bewilderment.
"No idea! They just vanished in a whoosh! Gone!"
"Damn it! It was Apparition! That cursed traitor can apparate!"
"They're definitely going to expose our secrets! We're done for! They'll target us! Capture us for experiments! We'll become the enemies that those pureblood wizards want to eliminate!"
The ruins echoed with the low, confused howls of the werewolves. They ran about frantically, trying to find any trace of Lupin, but it was all in vain. He had already used the mysterious power of Apparition to teleport himself to safety, far from this pack of werewolves driven by jealousy and hate.
"We have to get out of here! Go to Northern Europe! Or America!" The werewolves eventually came to a halt. They looked at one another, unwillingness and frustration flashing in their eyes.
And just when the werewolves were growing increasingly anxious—
"Don't panic!"
Old werewolf Lucas stepped forward once again. Seeing one werewolf after another begin to return to human form, his expression turned grim and uneasy.
"This is all your fault! You pushed them too hard!" His voice was filled with frustration and disappointment, he had clearly known that Lupin possessed extremely advanced escape skills.
That was why he had been trying to talk to Lupin, hoping to convince him to cast a Memory Charm on Ian. But in the end, the very outcome he feared most had still happened.
"It's Ryan's fault! He attacked first!"
"Wasn't it him who played with us first?!"
"Couldn't you have controlled your temper? There's a reason Jenny left you for me!"
"Damn it! So you're the one who stole my girlfriend?!"
Ah yes, the classic post-failure blame game. Sometimes, unpredictability reveals hidden secrets that were supposed to stay buried, especially when tempers flare.
"You've got to be kidding me! Is this really the time for that? What matters now is that the Awakening Potion might be exposed. That could bring us real trouble!"
Old werewolf Lucas's roar finally silenced the two who were about to start fighting.
"I remember their scent, we can track them..." A werewolf still in beast form raised a torn piece of cloth, offering a suggestion.
"If they go directly to Albus Dumbledore, do you really want to challenge that undefeated legend?" Lucas sneered dismissively in response.
The werewolves fell silent once more.
They were strong when banded together.
But to take on a mountain they couldn't possibly conquer? Even they weren't so reckless. Fighting for ideals was one thing, but dying for them was just plain stupid.
"Let me think, let me think… How can we fix this…" Old werewolf Lucas clearly didn't have a plan yet either. He began pacing back and forth through the ruins.
The other werewolves, not known for their wits, could only look anxiously at their "pack leader." They didn't follow Lucas just because he was a powerful wizard—
They followed him because he was smart.
"I'm just worried now that your recklessness will really draw down Albus Dumbledore's wrath… I hadn't even confirmed that kid's background yet."
Lucas may have been clever, but he shared the same flaws as the rest. As he tried to think up a solution, he couldn't help but grumble about his packmates' impulsiveness.
"It's all Ryan's fault!"
The werewolves all pointed in unison at the one who had struck first.
"Damn it! Will you all just shut up already?!"
The hot-tempered werewolf was livid.
And just then—
"I can confirm it too. It was Ryan, oh, that is his name, right? Yeah. It was all Ryan's fault." A young, firm voice spoke out from nearby.
"Who's there?!" The werewolves all turned, instantly on alert.
There was no place for children among their kind.
"You actually came back!?" Seeing Ian walking through the collapsed street, carrying several large bags, all the werewolves, including old werewolf Lucas, stared in disbelief.
What was this supposed to be? A lamb walking into a den of wolves?
Did he just have to walk into death to feel comfortable?
"Where's your guardian?"
Old werewolf Lucas was the first to react. He looked around, but there was no sign of Lupin. Ian, climbing over a collapsed wall, really had come alone.
"Guardian, my arse. I just went to Diagon Alley, picked up a few gifts from some of my tenants, and then he went off on some grand adventure with the tool he left in charge of me."
Ian dropped the bags he was carrying onto the ground. Gifts weren't really gifts if you didn't hold them in your hands and show off how popular you were, he only put them down for now to pull out his wand.
"Of course, of course, I still know exactly what just happened. After all, I was the one controlling the 'tool.' That's also why I'm feeling a little annoyed right now."
"Let's run it back. I'll definitely give you a different kind of… dignity." Ian raised the elder wood wand in his hand, his gaze sweeping across all the werewolves present.
Finally, his eyes settled on old werewolf Lucas.
"If I remember correctly, you just said that your group has nothing, nothing left to lose? And I'm pretty sure I contradicted you, didn't I?"
He smiled as he spoke, calm and pleasant.
"You planning to attack us?" Old Lucas looked completely baffled.
He glanced at the other werewolves around him who had begun transforming again, then looked back at Ian in front of him who seemed oblivious to the danger.
(To Be Continued…)
You can read ahead up to 110 chapters on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395