Harry Potter: The Dark ages

James fumbled around the green painting and found a soft, sunken spot in the center of the image. He pressed hard, and the frame slid open, revealing a narrow passage just wide enough for one person.

James went first, Peter was in the middle, and Sirius brought up the rear. The group squeezed inside.

James lit his wand to illuminate the way ahead. This passage to Hogsmeade was a downhill path, and they carefully climbed down bit by bit. Fortunately, the passage was dry and well-ventilated, so it didn't make them uncomfortable.

After nearly half an hour of crawling through the passage, they finally reached the end, which was also a landscape painting, depicting a towering, lush tree.

James pressed a Depression on the tree trunk, and then they emerged from the trunk of the large tree, exactly where Lupin had entered the Whomping Willow's hollow.

Sirius jumped out of the passage, and the opening in the tree trunk on the landscape painting sealed shut.

This was an old house, and they were at the end of a corridor. Cobwebs scattered in every corner and dust covering the floor proved that the house had been abandoned for a long time.

"Let's go," James said, putting on the Invisibility Cloak and beckoning Peter and Sirius.

After leaving the house, they saw the Shrieking Shack, that haunted house was less than fifty meters directly in front of them.

By now, the Wizards of Hogsmeade were already fast asleep. James and the others, cloaked in the Invisibility Cloak, pushed open the door of the Shrieking Shack.

…

Alfrina and Gary, upon learning Lockhart's true intentions, had been running non-stop towards the source of the howling, but after running several hundred meters down a small path, they found no trace of Lockhart.

The night wind dried the cold sweat on their backs. "Has he already gone in?" Alfrina gasped.

There was a house directly in front of them, with low-growing weeds on the surrounding ground.

The house was probably two stories, and the wooden structure looked eerie and sinister under the moonlight.

"There's no time," Alfrina said, looking at Gary encouragingly. "We can't go back and tell Professor, we have to rely on ourselves."

Gary's foot recoiled a step. Looking at the Shrieking Shack, he felt a bit scared.

"Maybe he didn't go in," Gary said. "Isn't it too dangerous for us to just go in like this?"

Alfrina huffed, staring at him without a word. Five seconds later, she raised her wand and walked towards the house's entrance.

"Hey!" Gary reached out to stop her, but Alfrina twisted away, walked to the door, and pushed it open.

A cold gust of wind blew out from the house, and Alfrina's golden hair floated in the air.

Her face was pale, and the hand clutching her wand trembled slightly, but she still walked in without hesitation.

Gary stomped his feet twice. "Let me go first!"

He gritted his teeth and rushed forward, pulling Alfrina behind him, and walked forward step by step, holding his wand up.

Alfrina finally let out a sigh of relief, her whole body relaxing, her round eyes glaring disapprovingly at Gary's back.

The two walked into the Shrieking Shack, one after the other. The wooden floor was covered in dust, with several messy footprints on it.

Gary made a gesture, and the two crouched down, carefully examining the footprints. Gary compared them with his own foot; they were roughly the same size, with some footprints pointing inward and others outward.

More than one person.

Alfrina and Gary felt a pang of fear looking at the varying sizes of the footprints.

Not only Lockhart had been in this house; ghosts wouldn't leave human footprints.

Gary's heart was pounding in his throat.

He had felt something was wrong when he was standing outside the house just now. If Alfrina hadn't insisted, he would never have entered this eerie house.

Creak! The wooden door at the entrance was blown by the wind, making a sound, and then it closed with a dull thud.

The light in the house instantly dimmed. Moonlight only filtered through the crack in the door, casting a few rays onto the floor, and the house was terrifyingly silent.

Gary's hairs stood up on his back. He instinctively wanted to retreat, when another ghostly howl came from ahead of them.

Alfrina suddenly gripped Gary's hand, with surprising strength.

Just then, the door to a room ahead of them suddenly swung open. Lockhart jumped out from inside, but he didn't notice Gary and Alfrina to his side at all. He ran towards the room at the end of the corridor, holding his wand in his right hand.

That inhuman howl had just come from that room.

"Stupefy!" Alfrina had to stop Lockhart. No one knew what was hidden in that room, and that howl had made them not want to know.

Gary followed suit and also cast a Stupefy. Two red lights hit Lockhart's clothes without obstruction.

However, Lockhart's ring lit up, forming a protective, liquid-like substance on the surface of his clothes. The Stupefy hit the shield, but after flashing red twice, it disappeared.

Lockhart crashed directly through the door and rushed in. The impact was so great that after the door was knocked open, it bounced back and slammed shut.

Then a scream erupted from inside the room, a sound so distorted that Alfrina and Gary weren't sure if it was Lockhart's.

The two were startled. Just as they were about to rush in, Gary suddenly heard a creaking sound.

"Who?" Gary, sensitive to sounds, turned his head and found no one, but the previously closed main door had reopened.

"Are there really ghosts?" Cold sweat dripped down Gary's forehead.

Suddenly, his left shoulder was patted. Gary quickly looked to his left, but there was still no one. When he turned back to look at the main door, three heads suddenly appeared before his eyes, their lower bodies disappearing into the air, grinning at him.

Gary was so scared he sat down on the floor.

"Hahahaha," Sirius said, shaking off the Invisibility Cloak. "What a coward, Shafik." He laughed triumphantly.

James put away the Invisibility Cloak. "Why are you here alone? We heard a ghost scream. Is it in this house?" he asked, reaching out to help Gary up.

Alone?

Where was Alfrina?

Gary turned his head and saw that the door to the room at the end of the corridor was wide open.

Alfrina had already rushed in.

Suddenly, an explosion echoed, deafening in the night.

…

The moment Alfrina rushed into the room, she regretted it. Lockhart was lying on the floor in front of her, trembling, his limbs curled up, and his eyes blind.

When she saw the creature in the center of the room, she no longer wondered why Lockhart could let out such a bloodcurdling scream.

It was a gray Werewolf, standing on all fours, roughly the same height as Alfrina, with a ferocious expression, blood-red eyes, and drooling saliva, looking like a demon in the darkness.

The gray Werewolf's gaze slowly shifted from Lockhart, who was lying on the ground, to Alfrina.

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