[As everyone knows, in this book, a Killing Curse left at the end of a chapter usually fails to kill anyone.]
The green light shot toward Sirius.
Harry and Ron cried out in alarm, but they were powerless to change the situation.
The air twisted, and the wealthy lady made her grand entrance!
Just as she had caught Snape's Killing Curse before, Audrey caught young Tom's curse.
Watching his Avada Kedavra vanish without a trace in Audrey's hand—without even a puff of smoke—the sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle was stunned.
This shock was even greater than the first time he had seen Dumbledore set the wardrobe on fire!
He certainly knew of Audrey Astley, the true Heir of Slytherin.
Tom had been surprised when he learned this news from the Basilisk.
After the Basilisk was instantly killed by Audrey, Tom had judged that Audrey Astley was an opponent he could not defeat.
Therefore, all his actions had avoided the castle areas related to Slytherin.
But he never expected that this area leading to the Forbidden Forest belonged to Hufflepuff. Unfortunately, Audrey was not only the Heir of Slytherin but also the Heir of Hufflepuff...
Audrey held her left hand out flat, palm facing outward.
It was this fair and smooth palm that had blocked the Avada Kedavra just a second ago—the top-ranking Unforgivable Curse!
Harry and Ron stared wide-eyed, their faces filled with disbelief!
Previously, although Harry didn't say it, he felt a bit of self-pride in his heart: 'I'm the only one who has survived Voldemort's Killing Curse!'
But now, he was no longer the only one...
"Harry, quick, slap me. I think I'm dreaming!"
"No, you're not dreaming, Ron. Audrey..."
Audrey lowered her palm. "Tom Riddle, you really know how to cause trouble for me!"
"Audrey Astley,"
Tom said with a heavy expression. This person before him was the strongest opponent he had met in his sixteen years of life, other than Dumbledore!
"Shouldn't you be sleeping in the dormitory?"
Tom was naturally confused. He had done his homework for this operation, even using the Imperius Curse to control a young Slytherin witch to scout out Audrey's dormitory!
Audrey, of course, wouldn't tell Tom that she had placed a 'Warning Curse' on Sirius. As long as anything was wrong with Sirius, Audrey would know immediately.
"Am I that lazy of a person?" Audrey said indifferently. "I am a woman who finished all my OWL courses in one year and even became a professor in my second year!"
—She even found time to revise the Muggle Studies textbook!
"If I were a lazy person, then there would be no hardworking people in this world!"
Harry and Ron nodded repeatedly.
Right, right, right, Audrey is the best. She even has to practice singing and hold concerts!
Tom was momentarily stunned. Was this woman really so diligent? This didn't match the information he had gathered!
But seeing Harry and Ron's reactions and thinking about Audrey's actual achievements, Tom suddenly realized:
"You deliberately spread false information to make me lower my guard!
Astley, you set me up!"
Audrey: ...
Fine, whatever makes you happy.
Suddenly, Tom's sallow, vertical pupils flashed. He felt himself make eye contact with Audrey!
'Haha, though you may be as cunning as a ghost, haven't you still fallen for my sneak attack?'
However...
The cold wind blew, lifting Audrey's hair. She just tilted her head playfully:
"Did you just try to glare at me with the Basilisk's eyes?"
Tom's face sank. He felt that today's matter would not end well.
Sirius opened his eyes at this moment. Seeing it was Audrey, he was overjoyed.
"Hydrus! You're here!"
Audrey: ...
Harry & Ron: 'Hydrus? Who's that?'
Audrey gave Sirius a look of annoyance. The old Gryffindor immediately realized he had called out the wrong name.
"Oh, I mean, Audrey, you're here!"
Never mind, this stupid uncle is beyond help. Audrey stopped paying him any attention and charged at Tom.
She wanted to settle things here quickly and go back to continue her dream—
She had just dreamed of a golden kingdom where the ground was gold bricks, the sky was golden clouds, and even the plants were made of gold!
When vulgarity is pushed to its extreme, it becomes art!!
She still wanted to resume that beautiful dream!
Facing Audrey's rapid advance, Tom waved his wand to intercept her.
Although he might not be a match for her, Tom Riddle was by no means a coward!
Magical light bloomed as several curses flew toward Audrey.
Harry and Ron couldn't tell much, but Sirius saw it clearly. At sixteen, Voldemort already had combat power comparable to a professor!
Sixteen Lu!
One could only say he was truly the Dark Lord, even in his juvenile form!
But Audrey neither dodged nor avoided them, letting Tom's curses hit her.
She was currently using her Dementor constitution; aside from the Patronus Charm, conventional magic posed no threat to her.
And Tom was completely unable to use the Patronus Charm!
As for the 'one hundred ways to deal with Dementors' that Grindelwald had mentioned, the current Tom likely didn't have such deep accumulation yet.
Besides, no normal person would equate this bright young girl with a gloomy Dementor!
Thus, Audrey smoothly arrived in front of Tom and threw out a 'Friendship Face-Breaking Punch'!
Suddenly, a thick spider leg extended from behind Tom, blocking Audrey's fist.
But it was futile. The limb was blown apart, yet the fist continued its momentum unabated.
Tom quickly dodged backward, his speed so fast he didn't seem human.
Having dodged Audrey's punch, Tom Riddle put distance between them with two leaps.
Deeply understanding the principle that 'villains die because they talk too much,' Tom began to transform.
Before long, he had turned into an Acromantula.
"Ahhh!!!!"
Ron screamed, gripping Harry's arm tightly. "Harry, it—it's a spider!"
Ron, who had been afraid of spiders since childhood, nearly fainted.
The Acromantula roared and charged at Audrey.
However, how could this darling of the wizarding world's farming economy, this famous terrestrial crab-like ingredient, pose a threat to Audrey?
'You dare reach your claws at me?'
'I'll snap every single one of them!!'
Spider pincers and legs flew, and spider blood splattered. Soon, the giant spider lost its ability to move, leaving only a bare torso collapsed on the ground.
"Hee hee hee, do you think you've won?"
Tom Riddle spoke in a voice that didn't sound human.
"I truly can't beat you right now, but I can still manage to take you with me!"
The corners of Audrey's mouth curled up. "Mutual destruction?"
"Exactly! If you don't want to die, let me leave!"
Audrey sighed. "You're really confident!"
"I don't believe you can take me with you."
The legless version of the Acromantula suddenly screeched, and then its body began to swell.
Sirius was shocked. "He's going to self-destruct! Stop him!"
Audrey was startled for a moment, then hurriedly waved her wand to raise stone walls around the Acromantula.
Fearing the stone walls wouldn't withstand the damage, while thickening the walls, Audrey also scattered a large handful of Iron Vine seeds. Under the stimulation of Ancient Magic, the vines grew rapidly, instantly covering the surface of the stone walls like a giant net, firmly enclosing the makeshift 'prison' before her.
"Boom!!"
A violent explosion and intense magical fluctuations spread outward from this spot.
The stone walls, two feet thick, instantly shattered into pieces. If Audrey's Iron Vines hadn't firmly held the structure in place, the fragments of the stone walls would have burst out and riddled Harry and Ron like a sieve.
The dust settled.
Audrey deactivated the stone wall transfiguration.
Before her lay a massive pit, two meters in diameter and three meters deep. The power of this self-destruction was indeed staggering.
If she hadn't enclosed it with stone walls, would she have died with Tom?
The answer was, of course, no. But the other three present might not have survived unharmed.
*Crack!*
Dumbledore appeared there.
"Audrey, what happened?"
"It was Tom Riddle—the sixteen-year-old one."
"Where is he?"
"There," Audrey pointed to the deep pit. "He self-destructed. He's everywhere now."
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]