Boom!!
With a deafening explosion—
A massive hole was blasted into Durmstrang's wall. Amidst the billowing smoke, a fiery-red metal sphere burst through the breach. The moment it hit the ground, it sizzled against the accumulated snow, sending up a cloud of steam.
As the thick steam rolled away, the heavy sphere slowly opened, revealing a golden-winged figure beneath its metallic shell. However, its once-golden body had now been charred into a deep orange-red.
Dark, heavy snowflakes drifted down from the sky, landing on Hoffa as he slowly retracted his searing golden wings. He exhaled a scorching breath, instantly turning the snow around his mouth into vapor.
In just one second outside of Phantom Walk, he had been burned into this state by those vicious flames. If he hadn't transformed into a phoenix in time, he might have been reduced to ashes in an instant. That fire was definitely no ordinary magical flame.
Before Hoffa could even catch his breath, he felt prying eyes on him from all directions. He turned his head immediately—what the hell?
The statues in the courtyard had come to life.
A swarm of animated statues was closing in on him. Some wielded enormous axes, halberds, and hooked blades, while others held wands. They stomped across the snowy ground with thunderous footsteps, kicking up snow in all directions.
Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
More than a dozen massive axes slammed into the ground, while a barrage of unknown spells struck the ground near Hoffa's feet.
Hoffa was reaching his limit. This place was downright uninhabitable.
Realizing he had no hope of finding a wizard inside Durmstrang under these conditions, he abandoned that idea and took to the sky, intending to report the situation to Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix.
But the moment he ascended, he realized the sky had already been blocked—dense swarms of jellyfish-like creatures were floating above, linking their tentacles to form an enormous electric grid that completely cut off his escape route.
At this, Hoffa's expression finally changed. He realized he had walked into an ambush. This school was a death trap!
The electrified jellyfish slowly descended, tightening the net. Hoffa drew his cross sword and slashed rapidly. A few jellyfish split apart and fell toward the ground, but almost immediately, more swarmed in to fill the gap.
Sensing his magic reserves, Hoffa clenched the sword in his teeth, his body trembling slightly. As he flew, his form grew larger and larger, expanding until he transformed into a massive thunderbird crackling with electricity.
With a deafening burst of lightning, the thunderbird tore through the electrified net, shattering the jellyfish blockade and escaping Durmstrang's terrifying encirclement.
Suspended in the sky, Hoffa flapped his wings, feeling a surge of relief. He was grateful for the thunderbird's power—without it, that electric net would have been nearly impossible to break free from.
He gazed down at the thick mist blanketing the school grounds, confusion creeping into his mind.
The magic was still here, but the people were gone.
Where were the students of Durmstrang?
Where were the teachers?
As he pondered this, a shadow suddenly loomed over his vision. The airborne thunderbird spun around abruptly, its golden pupils dilating in shock.
A colossal hand had appeared behind him without warning.
Its shape unmistakably resembled the towers and spires of Durmstrang's castle.
There was no time to react.
The massive hand came crashing down.
With a thunderous boom—
Hoffa let out an agonized, thunderous cry as the enormous thunderbird was swatted from the sky, plummeting to the ground with an impact so intense that the earth trembled for nearly a hundred kilometers.
The sheer force of the blow left Hoffa dizzy, blood gushing from his mouth and nose. He could no longer maintain his thunderbird form.
Behind him, the weight of Durmstrang's entire castle pressed down upon him.
Pinned beneath the school, he was completely immobilized.
Countless pale, icy hands began creeping out from the windows and cracks in the castle walls. They slithered toward him, grabbing his hair and yanking his head down, holding him in place with an unbreakable grip.
Meanwhile, the animated statues continued to close in. The most conspicuous among them was the towering Slytherin statue, which raised its scepter and pointed it directly at Hoffa. A tremendous surge of magical energy gathered at the tip of the scepter.
Hoffa's pupils shrank to pinpricks as he stared at the statue.
But just then—
The magic pulse abruptly stopped.
All of the statues froze.
The pale hands that had emerged from Durmstrang's walls dissolved into black smoke, vanishing into the snowy wind.
At the entrance to the courtyard, the massive iron doors creaked open.
A tall figure, accompanied by a large group of wizards wrapped in thick, fur-lined cloaks, strode toward him.
Even with those terrifying hands gone, Hoffa remained trapped beneath the mountain-like weight of the school. He could only watch in stunned silence as the group drew closer.
A tall, cloaked witch stepped forward. She raised her wand and motioned for the wizards behind her to halt.
Then, she extended a booted foot, hooked it under Hoffa's chin, and lifted his face while pointing her wand directly at him. Her expression was ice-cold.
With his chin propped up by her boot, Hoffa finally got a clear look at her face.
A strained smile tugged at his lips.
"Senior… long time no see."
The witch's cold expression flickered with confusion when she saw his face. The confusion slowly turned to realization. Then, as if struck by lightning, she swiftly withdrew her foot and took two steps back.
She rushed to Hoffa's side, knelt down, and lifted his face with both hands, exclaiming in shock:
"You—You're Bach? Hoffa Bach?!"
But the moment the words left her lips, her expression changed again.
"No! No! Hoffa Bach's eyes are golden! Who are you?!"
Hoffa, still crushed beneath the weight behind him, coughed up a mouthful of blood, staining the snow. With the last remnants of his magic, he shifted his eyes back into those of a thunderbird.
"Osivia… you're only looking at my eyes?" he muttered. "My hair's black now too, you know."
At that, Osivia fully recognized him.
"Hoffa! It really is you!!" she cried out in disbelief. "What the hell are you doing at Durmstrang?! And you got caught in a hunter's trap—"
She clutched her head in frustration and cursed, "What the hell is going on here?! Bring it over! Bring it over!!"
Still grumbling, she stretched out a hand toward the wizards behind her.
One of them immediately stepped forward, carefully carrying a long black case.
Opening it before Osivia, she reached inside with gloved hands and pulled out a slender emerald scepter. She lightly tapped the spires pinning Hoffa down.
Rumbling—
The towering structures shifted and slowly lifted away, retreating to their original positions. The statues also withdrew in silence, returning to where they had once stood.
Once finished, Osivia quickly returned the scepter to its case and knelt beside Hoffa, pulling him into her arms.
Hoffa was severely injured, his body completely drained. Collapsing against Osivia, he groaned:
"Senior… what the hell is up with your school? I almost died in there."
Ossivia wiped the blood off Hoffa's face, feeling both distressed and helpless. She said, "You! If you were coming to Durmstrang, couldn't you have at least written a letter first? Just rushing over like this… Luckily, I got here quickly. If I had been any later, who knows what might have happened!"
As she spoke, she helped Hoffa up and addressed the surrounding wizards who were watching. "Alright, alright, stop staring! He's not the half-human king, just a friend of mine. Go back and call the school doctor!"
Hoffa was moved by her words. He turned to look at the castle, which had now returned to its original finger-like form, and thought, So this was meant to trap Sylby… How imaginative.
However, instead of capturing Sylby, the trap had caught him instead. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Following Ossivia's orders, the cloaked wizards quickly went to make preparations.
Supporting Hoffa as they walked through the snowy landscape, Ossivia complained, "All these years, I had no idea where you ran off to. You never wrote a single letter, never showed up. And to think I wrote so many letters to you… but you never replied. It was really disheartening."
"Senior, if nothing unexpected had happened, why would I have ignored your letters?" Hoffa sighed. "After Sylby killed Fatiar, I was teleported somewhere far, far away—so far that your letters could never have reached me."
"Alright, alright, I understand," Ossivia said. "I didn't mean to blame you, Hoffa. Let's go back to my ship first. This isn't the right place to talk."
"A ship? You don't live at the school?" Hoffa asked.
Ossivia shook her head. "There aren't many people left at Durmstrang. There's no need to live at the school. It has more important uses now."
She led Hoffa and the cloaked wizards through the snowy forest to a frozen river, where several small wooden boats were docked. Each boat was carved with a sea monster's head.
Ossivia helped Hoffa onto one of the boats, took out her wand, and tapped the small bell attached to it.
With a jingling sound, the boat quickly submerged, taking Hoffa down with it. As they descended to a certain depth, a thin bubble formed around them, separating them from the freezing river water and carrying them toward an unknown destination.
Ossivia seemed to be in a good mood. Sitting on the boat, she looked Hoffa up and down with a smile. "You've grown, Hoffa. The last time I saw you, you weren't even as tall as my chest. But now, you're taller than me! Let me think… how many years has it been? One, two, three, four, five… I can't believe it. Five whole years. I even thought I'd never see you again."
Her words made Hoffa feel like a lifetime had passed. She said it had been five years, but to him, it felt like much longer. He had lost track of how many years it had been since he last saw her. That adventure back then felt like something from a past life.
Back then, he had been young and naive, going on a journey in a foreign land with his senior for just a few Galleons to buy books. Back then, he had Aglaia and Miranda by his side. But now… what did he have left?
"Senior, you still look so young and beautiful. Time hasn't left a single mark on you," Hoffa said, his expression complicated as he looked at Ossivia.
"Really? Not a single mark?" Ossivia tilted her head with a smile.
"Well… maybe one. You look more authoritative now," Hoffa said. The way she had nudged his chin with her foot earlier carried an unmistakable aura of someone in power.
"You didn't use to be this smooth-tongued."
Ossivia gazed at the dark, deep river around them and said, "Five years is a long time. A lot has happened… Hoffa, you might not know yet, but… I'm engaged."
A small bubble escaped from Hoffa's mouth and popped.
"Eh?"
He looked at Ossivia and noticed the ring on her index finger. For a moment, he felt dazed. But after that fleeting moment, he quickly realized—Ossivia was much older than him. Getting engaged at her age was perfectly normal.
"Senior, when did you get engaged? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Hoffa, that's an unfair accusation. A year ago, I sent five or six owls to search for you, but you had vanished without a trace. I couldn't find you anywhere. I was very disappointed, you know."
"Alright, alright, no need to talk about that now, Senior."
Hoffa teased, "So where's your fiancé? Is he handsome?"
Ossivia shook her head, and her expression gradually turned cold. She pointed to a dark figure deep in the river and said, "We're here."
As she spoke, the boat stopped beside a massive black structure. It was a huge black ship, covered in barnacles and sardines, with tiny flickering orange lights glowing through its windows. It floated silently at the riverbed, resembling an ancient wreck.
Looking at the ship, Hoffa couldn't help but think of the timeline from the original Triwizard Tournament. Back then, Durmstrang had also traveled to Hogwarts on a black ship that emerged from underwater. Could it be this very same ship?
Ossivia helped Hoffa board the ship. Like the boat, it was protected by an invisible barrier. As Hoffa stepped onto the deck, a group of young, cloaked wizards peeked out from various corners of the ship, whispering and pointing at him.
"They're all Durmstrang students," Ossivia explained as she led Hoffa inside. "Don't mind them—they're just curious about you. After all, you lasted quite a while in my hunting trap."
"It's fine," Hoffa replied.
At least Durmstrang's students weren't as fanatically obsessed as those from Beauxbatons. That was already a relief.
The interior of the black ship was austere and rugged, with almost no decorations—completely opposite to Beauxbatons' extravagant style. Perhaps this reflected the simple lifestyle of the northern people, or maybe it had something to do with Durmstrang's current leadership.
With these thoughts in mind, Hoffa was helped down to the lower deck.
A few nurses rushed over and took hold of his arms. "Headmistress Romanova, you didn't have to bring him yourself. We could've handled it."
"It's fine. He's a friend—an old friend," Ossivia said calmly.
Hoffa's ears perked up at her words. Something felt off.
Romanova? Headmistress? What was going on?
Wasn't Ossivia engaged? Why was she still using her father's surname?
And then there was the letter from Dumbledore… It had mentioned someone named Urikin as the headmaster and stated that Ossivia worked at Durmstrang. That clearly meant the headmaster and Ossivia were two different people.
But now… was Ossivia actually the headmistress of Durmstrang?
(End of Chapter)
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