"Edith. You... no, never mind..."
Before the decisive battle.
In the Headmaster's office, Dumbledore tried to tell Edith something.
However, he shook his head as if troubled and swallowed the words that had risen.
It was about Sybill's prophecy regarding Mirabelle, and the world's destruction recorded within.
And it also concerned Edith's sister.
But Dumbledore didn't speak of it.
Because telling her would only bring Edith pain.
Sometimes in this world, it was happier not to know certain things.
Dumbledore thought this might be one of those cases.
"Professor... is fighting Mirabelle truly the right thing?
Can we not join hands anymore?"
"...If I don't believe it's right, I cannot fight...
Surrendering and joining hands is certainly attractive, but... in that case, I would have to lay hands on the families of many of my students."
That couldn't be done.
The old man saying this as if exhausted looked more unreliable than usual, to an unprecedented degree.
And this was probably true for Harry and the others as well.
Having lost their great cause, with justice now shifted to the other side, they had lost their anchor.
And precisely because of that, Edith couldn't abandon such friends.
"—Mirabelle, I'm sorry... I can't go with you.
I can't... betray everyone..."
Edith Reinagal shook off her friend's hand that day.
"...I see."
The conclusion Edith had reached.
At this, Mirabelle quietly lowered her eyes.
Her face held neither anger nor lamentation.
Only a stillness like water's surface from which emotions couldn't be read.
"Then I'll say nothing more... from now on, you are my enemy.
I kill enemies... you're no exception, Reinagal."
Mirabelle was serious.
One couldn't expect clemency for the reason of having been friends.
If they met next as enemies, she would truly fire the Killing Curse at Edith without any hesitation.
She could do that.
Being able to do that was precisely what made her Mirabelle Beresford.
"Never show your face before me again. Disappear anywhere you like."
Coldly, without any mercy, she spat the words.
There was no longer a path to walk together.
Once separated, Edith was now merely an enemy obstructing her path of conquest.
Mirabelle turned on the spot and showed her back.
Then, without saying a word, she vanished.
That day, fear and tension within Hogwarts castle had risen to maximum.
Lower-year students unable to fight were hidden in the Chamber of Secrets deep underground, and everyone capable of fighting held weapons at their assigned positions.
Grawp, who had become the giants' last survivor, and a herd of centaurs.
Just a handful of Aurors and Hogwarts' teaching staff.
Graduates who had rushed to their alma mater's crisis, along with their relatives.
Within them was love and pride for the wizarding world.
Still unbroken before overwhelming evil, every one of them could truly be called heroes.
This battle was complete defensive warfare.
Using Hogwarts as their base, they would meet Mirabelle's attacking camp.
This school was the final fortress. If it fell, there would be nothing left.
No other base capable of fighting Mirabelle remained in the wizarding world besides Hogwarts.
"Damn it, if they're coming, then come... I'll knock them down with my magic."
Hearing someone beside her mutter this, Edith gripped her wand tightly.
Where would Mirabelle attack from? How would she attack?
Surely everyone was thinking that, but Edith already knew the answer.
—Frontal assault.
That girl wouldn't sneak and hide.
Without doubt, she'd charge straight through from the front, relying on brute force.
And just as predicted, the action Mirabelle took was a preemptive strike.
Crack—the sound of something shattering.
What was that? Everyone looked around.
Nothing appeared broken. Everything seemed perfectly normal.
But they thought this only because their skill was insufficient.
The teaching staff—especially Dumbledore—visibly changed his usually gentle face to one of panic.
"No! Everyone, immediately re-cast the science-blocking magic!"
At that cry, everyone understood the situation.
What had been broken was the protective magic sealing scientific products around the castle!
Within that range, machinery and such wouldn't function properly—an effective defense against Muggle armies had been suddenly broken.
And only one person could do such a thing.
Yes—only that woman, arms crossed, looking down on the castle with the full moon behind her!
"M-Mirabelle! Mirabelle Beresford appeared 500 meters in front of the castle!"
Lee Jordan, who'd been on watch with a magical telescope, shouted.
His eyes, trained through Quidditch, clearly captured the former underclassman who had become the wizarding world's greatest enemy.
Golden hair extending to her waist, reflecting and shining in moonlight.
Eerily glowing golden eyes. An inhuman beauty that seemed ready to steal one's soul just from looking.
And then, steel missiles flying from behind her!
Their number, approximately ten!
"Missiles! Missiles have been launched!"
A sudden, utterly merciless preemptive attack. No mercy or restraint whatsoever.
The abruptness threw Hogwarts into panic, morale instantly shattered.
But if the opponent was a monster, this side had battle-hardened heroes.
Dumbledore and the other teachers quickly re-cast science-blocking magic, stopping the missiles' explosions and preventing immediate annihilation.
However, they couldn't kill the missiles' velocity.
Steel fangs unleashed at tremendous speed struck Hogwarts directly, breaking through sturdy walls and transforming a dozen nearby people into chunks of meat.
Already far beyond meeting Mirabelle—panic state in an instant.
But misfortunes continued, and Mirabelle had already made her next move.
"N-no! Everyone, brace for impact!"
Dumbledore issued instructions while erecting a magical barrier.
What appeared in his vision was Durmstrang Institute's building falling toward them.
A structure converted from a castle like Hogwarts flew through the air, using itself as a massive weapon to slam into Hogwarts.
Impact, screams, vibrations.
The castle-on-castle collision brought destruction, literally flattening several people at the collision point.
But the misfortune wasn't over yet.
From Durmstrang, now leaning against Hogwarts, countless soldiers and vampires leaped down, boarding Hogwarts.
In an unforgivable turn, Mirabelle had completely seized the initiative.
Most of the defensive operations they'd decided beforehand were now ruined.
Death-fearing Inferi and golems successively attacked students and wizards, creating a hell of screams and wails.
"Beresfoooord!!"
Hagrid, with a furious expression Edith and Harry had never seen before, charged at Mirabelle.
Leaping in a single bound toward the airborne Mirabelle, he thrust his thick arm—about as thick as her waist—forward in a fist.
A sound of something breaking echoed, and blood sprayed.
We got her! Seeing that scene, Harry and the others involuntarily clenched their fists.
—But.
"What's this? A welcoming handshake?"
"...!!?"
—It hadn't hit!
Mirabelle looked at Hagrid with her usual beauty—annoyingly so—utterly undistorted.
She'd stopped Hagrid's fist with a girlish small palm, and moreover was crushing his fingers.
"Guh... ngh!"
"Come now, what's wrong? Isn't great strength your pride?"
A giant over three meters tall was being twisted by a little girl half his height.
What a surreal, terrifying sight.
Mirabelle didn't break her cruel smile, turning her gaze to another giant body approaching from behind.
"Haggar, no bully! Give Haggar back!"
Grawp, the last of the giant clan and also Hagrid's brother, swung his fists to rescue Hagrid.
But they didn't hit.
While holding Hagrid, she danced through the air, easily avoiding all attacks.
"Oh, is he that important to you? Then shall I return him?"
Mirabelle bared her fangs, deepening her smile, and spun in place.
Accordingly, Hagrid was swung around, screaming.
The fingers gripped by Mirabelle were completely crushed, about to tear off.
Then, having sufficiently added centrifugal force, she released him. She slammed Hagrid full-force into Grawp.
"Guoh!?"
"Geh!?"
The two giant bodies blew away spectacularly, gouging the ground before finally breaking through a wall.
Beyond it were Hogwarts students in the midst of chaotic battle with ghouls, who died crushed beneath them.
Seeing this, Harry now flew into rage and drew his wand.
"Mirabellllle!!"
What he fired from his wand was 'Sectumsempra,' a cutting curse more powerful than the 'Diffindo' that had previously severed Mirabelle's wrist.
But unlike before, Mirabelle didn't underestimate Harry.
With a swing of her arm, she deflected the spell, and conversely, retaliatory light slashed Harry's shoulder.
"Gah...!?"
"Don't be so impatient, Potter. You're for later. First, play with the opening act."
"Opening act, you say...!?"
Opening act even at this point!
What was this woman saying!
Before Harry, revealing his anger thus, one man appeared beside Mirabelle.
Gellert Grindelwald, wasn't it... a dark wizard who'd dominated the wizarding world before Voldemort, she'd heard.
"Apparently he wants to settle something decades in the making. I've yielded Dumbledore's opponent to him."
Saying this, Mirabelle left that place to Grindelwald and flew high up.
As if saying Harry and the others weren't even in her eyes.
No, that wasn't it. Not that they weren't in her eyes—rather, the bugs flying before her eyes were more annoying.
"He'll be just the right distraction until I finish my garbage cleanup. If you're still alive after that, this time I'll kill you all myself."
For Mirabelle, Harry and Dumbledore were like dessert to be finished last.
But to eat dessert, if annoying bugs landed on the table, it would be ruined.
Therefore, she first decided to deal with those bugs.
If her assessment was correct, they should be climbing onto this table soon.
"Well then, Potter. Don't disappoint me."
Leaving such selfish words last, Mirabelle Disapparated.
For the moment, the greatest threat had exited.
However, that didn't mean the crisis had passed.
Even now, within the school building, Mirabelle's vanguard and the wizarding world's final forces continued fighting.
"Harry!"
Hermione ran up to Harry's side.
Relieved by her form without notable injuries, he immediately steeled himself.
This was a battlefield. A place where letting one's guard down could mean death anytime.
"Hermione, where is everyone?"
"I don't know. We got separated."
Before this battle began, DA companions and close friends had been right nearby.
But Mirabelle's preemptive attack had scattered them, and now they didn't know where anyone was.
Surely they were fighting somewhere in this Great Hall, but were they safe?
"! Harry, behind you!"
Thinking such things had been his mistake.
Before he knew it, a ghoul had approached from behind, raising its arm.
—I'm done for!
Thinking this, Harry reflexively closed his eyes, but faster than the ghoul's arm could hit, blue lightning pierced through the ghoul.
"Harry, are you okay?!"
"Edith! Sorry, you saved me."
Having saved Harry at the last moment, Edith fired more lightning at nearby enemies, clearing the surroundings.
However, one Edith defeating a few more did nothing to improve the situation.
To do anything about this situation, there was no choice but to strike down the commander.
Then after all, there was no path except defeating Mirabelle.
"Both of you, listen. At this rate, we'll be annihilated."
Harry's words were fact.
Having lost the sole advantage of terrain advantage, the battle had become simply one of numbers and quality.
But the opponent was superior in both, plus filled with immortal monsters.
Expecting to win would be unreasonable.
"So we have to somehow defeat Beresford.
Both of you, please cooperate."
"Defeat... her... yeah, that's right... that's what we have to do...
...But how? She's not an opponent we can stop through normal means, right?"
Mirabelle's combat power was overwhelming even solo.
Calling back someone who'd conveniently withdrawn would just mass-produce corpse mountains from that instant.
To Edith worrying about this, Harry replied that he understood.
"Let's go to the Room of Requirement."
"The Room of Requirement?"
"Yeah, 'that' is placed there."
Those words alone were sufficient.
Edith understood Harry's aim and pressed her lips together.
The 'Arch' leading to the afterlife. Harry had already decided to use it.
Normally, it wasn't yet the timing to use it.
Originally, they were supposed to lure Mirabelle in with help from teachers and others.
But having come to this, if they didn't defeat Mirabelle here and now, casualties would only increase.
"I understand... indeed, that's all we have left."
Hermione spoke as if resolving herself, and Edith lowered her face.
Every moment of hesitation meant more lives lost.
There was no longer time to hesitate.
Harry and the others nodded to each other and broke into a run toward the Room of Requirement.
Fortunately, since most enemies had gathered in the Great Hall, there seemed to be no significant obstacles en route.
...Yes, en route.
"...I see. Apparently you possess something to counter my sister."
Before the door stood a beautiful boy.
A boy with silver hair extending to his waist who could even appear to be a beautiful girl at first glance.
Edith knew this boy.
When he'd enrolled, she'd paid attention as he was her underclassman.
"...Sidney Beresford."
"Edith, an acquaintance?"
"No... I just know him one-sidedly. He's Mirabelle's younger brother."
Apparently Harry didn't know of Sidney's existence.
Understandable, Edith thought.
After all, this boy was the complete opposite of his sister—utterly inconspicuous.
Contrary to his sister with her strong self-assertion who stood out whether one liked it or not, his presence had been so thin as if he weren't there.
That boy now stood before them.
As a clear enemy, no less.
"...I won't let anyone interfere with my sister. I'll eliminate you."
The boy declared in a voice emotionless as a machine.
Mirabelle's brother.
Moreover, assuming the Beresford family attack had gone according to Mirabelle's plan, he'd been intentionally kept alive.
That alone seemed proof enough of his high ability.
But... an unknown quantity!
What was his personality? What magic did he specialize in?
They had absolutely no such data.
Sidney slowly raised his wand, and the air trembled.
"Watch out!"
The boy who was entirely 'unknown.'
His fangs attacked Edith and the others.
***
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