Chapter 259 Evan And The Dark Arts
Compared to the end of Evan's duel, the other groups were in a much worse situation.
The young wizards of Gryffindor and Slytherin were inexorably entwined. It seemed as though they viewed this practice of paired spellcasting as the long-awaited house war, and that this was the battleground to determine the winners of that war.
In addition to the charms and shields Sirius required, students resorted to various kinds of malevolent curses. Crabbe and Goyle even resorted to their fists against Ron and Neville.
Like Lockhart's dueling club from the previous year, the scene was a disaster.
But Snape wasn't present this time, and Sirius showed clear favoritism towards Gryffindor. With his assistance, Harry and his friends quickly gained the upper hand, defeated the Slytherin students, and subdued them completely.
The first duel club meeting ended amidst cheers from Gryffindor.
Unsurprisingly, Malfoy and the other Slytherin students were furious. It was the greatest humiliation for the proud Slytherins.
As a result, the long and delicate balance between the two Houses was finally shattered.
The Slytherins were ready for revenge and to make their anger felt by the Gryffindors.
After much discussion, they decided to take a more direct approach by ambushing a Gryffindor student and inciting a war between the two Houses.
No one knew who suggested the idea, but Evan was chosen as their target.
Firstly, Evan was famous enough.
He was the icon of Gryffindor House. If they could teach Evan a good lesson, that would be enough to feel relieved and achieve the desired revenge effect.
Secondly, Evan's routine was highly predictable.
Almost every young wizard knew that Evan was the last to leave the library every night, and that he would be alone and without assistance.
They just had to wait in the darkness to ambush him.
No matter how strong he was, he could not contend with such a large group attacking him at the same time.
They would all attack him at once.
Since the incident with Buckbeak, and then with Lupin, Malfoy hated Evan with all his might and, in some way, felt more contempt towards him than towards Harry. He despised the mere idea of being dominated by a Mudblood.
He didn't care how; he was ready to attack Evan himself. Malfoy thought that if he acted quickly enough, Evan wouldn't expect it, and no one could accuse him. He just had to catch him off guard and use the Stunning Spell.
Even if Evan suspected it was a Slytherin who did it, even if he speculated it was Malfoy, he would have no proof.
In fact, Evan did not notice Malfoy's conspiracy.
After the dueling club ended, he returned to his rigorous daily routine. His study of Horcruxes with the notes in "Secrets of the Darkest Art" had reached a critical stage.
He had read extensively on this matter, and it was all that filled his mind that night.
That night, upon leaving the library, crossing the dark corridor, and climbing the steep spiral staircase leading to Gryffindor Tower, Malfoy and several other Slytherin students who had been waiting for him for a long time emerged from the corner.
They gazed at Evan menacingly, preparing to attack him with various powerful spells.
"To hell with you, despicable Mudblood! STUPEFY!" Malfoy shouted in disgust, and a red light shot towards Evan.
In the darkness, Evan did not recognize who had suddenly appeared in front of him. Instinctively sensing the threat, he evaded his enemy's curse, drew his wand, and cast the spell that came to mind first.
In the next second, a dreadful green light emerged from Evan's wand tip and flew towards Malfoy.
By casting this spell, the temperature in the area rapidly dropped, and the air became filled with unease, as if Dementors were drawing near.
Malfoy's face turned pale. He forgot all the spells he knew and ceased attacking Evan.
He snorted and stared at the curse that hit him.
Amidst the piercing green light, he saw a skull-shaped face nearing him, and fear from the depths of his own soul took Malfoy's breath away.
All his happy memories vanished, leaving only despair and the cold brought by the darkness. The feeling was overpowering, as if hundreds of Dementors had attacked simultaneously.
The curse's green light drew closer to Malfoy, and the owner of that sinister skull-faced figure became clearer.
Malfoy saw a monster in a tattered black cloak approaching him, advancing like a death deity from the depths of hell.
He felt the threat of death, gasped, and then screamed with all his might before collapsing to the ground.
Beside him, Crabbe, Goyle, and several other Slytherin students watched Malfoy uneasily, not understanding what was happening. They only witnessed Malfoy stealthily attacking Evan, the latter evading Malfoy's strike and retaliating with a green light emanating from his wand. The spell seemed not to reach Malfoy, but it was as if he had seen a ghost.
He lay there on the ground, gazing at Evan in panic.
Tears streamed uncontrollably from his eyes. He snorted loudly and looked at Evan as if he held a mortal fear of him.
It was all simply absurd and unbelievable, and his peers didn't know what to do, nor did they know what Evan had done.
The dark magic spell cast by Evan originated directly from the "Secrets of the Darkest Art". It was mentioned after the Horcruxes and had a similar effect to that of a Dementor's kiss, directly affecting the soul, causing irreparable damage.
The unsettling pattern that Ron had seen earlier in Evan's notebook was related to this curse.
This was a highly advanced curse that surpassed what people normally perceived as evil.
Evan had been studying it for a long time, making substantial progress, but he never managed to cast it correctly. He thought that his own magical power was insufficient.
Threatened by Malfoy, he involuntarily used it.
After casting this magic, Evan realized what he had done.
In an instant, he was drenched in cold sweat. He couldn't even imagine how severe the consequences would be if Malfoy were to be hit by that magic.
In the final second, he hastily lifted his spell.
On the other hand, Malfoy was sitting on the ground, with not a drop of blood in his pale face. Seeing his appearance, several other Slytherin students did not dare to act hastily. They gathered around and watched Evan walk away without doing anything.
In the dark corridor, only Malfoy couldn't help but sob.
The ambush against Evan had failed, and no one but Evan and Malfoy knew what had just happened.