HP: The Wizard Who Paints with Magic

Chapter 297 - 298: Luna Unleashed! Miss Fleur, Witness a Miracle

Barty Jr: ?!!

WTF?

Strange. Was he not supposed to be "the relative in need of rescue"?

Why was he inside the blast radius?

Only when the black mist swallowed him, only when the thick tentacle held him fast so he could not move and he felt the darkness forcing its way in through his ears, his nose, his mouth, did Barty Jr finally understand, viscerally, what Ethan meant by "torment that does not distinguish between friend and foe."

"Mmph… nnngh!"

His eyes rolled back.

Agony knotted every vein under his skin. His limbs jerked out of his control, muscles locking as hard as iron.

It felt like inhaling a lungful of freezing lake water.

Cold burrowed into his chest, poured down his arms and legs. Even his soul and mind seemed to grind between invisible millstones, pain flaying him raw.

H-how…

How had things gone so wrong, so fast? This was supposed to be his sure win.

Where had he misstepped?

Damn it, damn it, damn it.

All of it because Ethan had "temporarily" added a rule.

As his consciousness slipped away, Barty Jr screamed one last time in his heart.

Ethan Vincent, you monster!

"No!"

Fleur's scream ripped across the water as she tried to bolt forward, only for her more clear-headed teammates to wrap their arms around her waist and hold her back.

She could only stare as her "sister" writhed inside the shroud of black mist.

Any doubts she had had were gone.

In Fleur Delacour's proud eyes there was only panic and terror.

Their Black Egg had broken.

While everyone else was stunned by the Kraken and their captured relatives, Viktor Krum had acted.

With ruthless speed, he cast a Blasting Curse at the egg Fleur had only been pretending to cradle

It had shattered at once.

And from it had burst that horror.

"An Obscurus."

The soft, ethereal voice did not match the mood at all, yet every head turned.

Luna stood gazing up at the boiling dark cloud, pale face as tranquil as ever.

"When a young witch or wizard suppresses their magic, an Obscurus grows inside them," she said quietly. "It slowly devours their reason."

"If it is not treated gently, it does that."

She flicked her fingers outward.

"Bang. It explodes."

"Triggering an even bigger magical rampage."

A spell shot toward her in a streak of light.

It burst against a shield of blue magic with a boom, ripples spreading across the barrier.

"Stop standing there making comments!" Fleur panted, wand levelled, eyes wild as she glared at Luna. "My sister has turned into that. Ethan, why would you do this?"

Her voice rose to a ragged shout.

She threw her head back, eyes reddening, feeling horribly wronged.

Ethan, hovering above, did not so much as flinch.

As if his sense of human emotion were slightly off, he even smiled gently.

"I do not like spoilers," he said, "but I can make an exception."

"Do not worry, Miss Delacour. This is only on the surface."

"I promise you. Your real sister has not been harmed."

He deliberately leaned on the words "real sister," eyes narrowing in amusement.

Fleur Delacour's real sister was, of course, completely unharmed.

She was fast asleep back in the castle.

The only one suffering was Barty Jr, who had come here to kill Ethan.

That was self‑defence. The Ministry would have to call it justice.

Ethan glanced at Barty, whose face was already darkened where the Obscurus gnawed at him.

Your plan was good, he thought.

Your only mistake was trusting the wrong person.

His smile sent an involuntary shiver through Fleur.

It was like a bucket of ice water dumped over her head, dousing her fury and fear and leaving her abruptly clear.

"O‑okay," she muttered. "If you say so."

Belated embarrassment coloured her cheeks as she realised just how much of a scene she had made.

Damn it.

She had come here determined to wipe away the shame of last time and show Ethan how far she had come.

Somehow, her black history kept getting longer.

Poison. This whole place was poison.

A rush of water crashed down.

A shadow fell over them.

Cedric's pupils shrank.

"Move!" he shouted.

A tentacle as thick as a tower smashed down.

The impact shook the air, the flexible limb slamming into the Glass Bridge and bouncing it high with a thunderous crack.

So strong.

Cedric clung to another pane, feeling the violent shudder run through it.

He could only marvel at the sheer force behind the blow and at the strength of Ethan's bridge for holding.

If that had hit a person, they would be pulp.

He swallowed hard.

And Ethan could command something that powerful.

For the first time, Cedric felt, in his bones, the gulf between them.

It only stoked his drive to chase.

A wash of blue magic suddenly spilled over the Kraken, like a huge, gentle hand stroking its hide.

The massive creature paused.

Its thrashing eased.

"Now, Neville," came Luna's cool voice from above.

She drifted down through the air, hair streaming, skin glowing with a soft white light.

She looked like a witch out of a storybook, one who only came on moonlit nights.

"Drip the Growth Potion on the vines," she called. "Let the plants do the work."

"Hurry. I cannot keep this up."

The last sentence finally jolted Neville back to himself.

He fumbled out the potion and yanked the stopper free.

He squeezed too hard.

Every last drop of green liquid splashed out.

The vines exploded.

Thick branches as stout as the Kraken's own tentacles shot forward, coiling around the monster, wrapping its limbs, pinning it in place.

A furious, muffled roar bubbled out of the depths.

The Kraken, creature of the Founders, was not about to submit to some upstart plant.

In an instant, its forest of tentacles erupted into motion.

It let its captives drop and went berserk, tearing at the vines.

The two forces twisted and ground against each other with a bone‑creaking crunch.

"Father!"

Cedric shouted, whipping his wand up to catch his falling parent and tug him to safer ground. Only when Mr Diggory was well clear did his shoulders finally loosen.

All around, the others seized the chance of the monster's distraction.

Neville, sobbing, wrestled the vines to haul his gran clear of the tangle, accidentally flipping her wig off in the process, then slipped and tumbled into the lake with a splash.

Krum's Accio was flawless; he pulled his own relative in by the clothes, threading them through the flailing limbs.

Those who failed could only watch their loved ones vanish into the water, then dive after them, straight into merpeople territory.

But the worst of it was on Fleur's side.

"Gabrielle?" Fleur's voice shook as she stared at the figure staggering upright on the Glass Bridge.

The moment their eyes met, she knew.

That was not her sister.

Not because she saw through Barty's disguise.

Because whatever wore that face now was not human at all, but the massed, terrible darkness she had seen explode from the Egg.

A guttural, inhuman cry ripped from the girl's throat.

She flung out a hand.

A wave of raw, crushing magic hurled Fleur away.

It was like being hit by a charging rhino.

The impact slammed the breath from her; when she hit the bridge, she spat a mouthful of thick saliva.

She stared, stunned, at her "sister" bearing down on her, readying another strike.

Her knuckles whitened around her wand.

Her mind went blank.

She could not. She could not point her wand at her own sister.

Black power surged.

Fleur squeezed her eyes shut and braced for the pain.

It did not come.

There was only the rush of displaced air across her face.

She blinked.

A girl stood between her and the blast, golden hair flying like a banner.

Shards of blue magic drifted down around her.

Fleur stared.

She looked up at the blonde she had once dismissed.

Luna turned her head. The setting sun washed her cheek in soft light, but her expression was as steady as ever.

"Ordinary spells really do not stop an Obscurus," she said quietly.

Meeting Fleur's dazed gaze, she let a small smile curve her mouth.

"Buy me a little time."

"Then I will show you what a real miracle of magic looks like."