Harry Potter and the Obscurus

Chapter 84 The Invisible Cloaked Robber

It was the last night before Hogwarts started, and apart from the Twenty-Eight Holy Houses and a few wealthy newly rich families, most wizarding families in England had gathered in Diagon Alley or near King's Cross Station.

Returning to the end of August, Mo Ran no longer needed to go shopping with Harry, which made him notice details he had missed before.

Due to Sirius Black's escape, the bustling atmosphere of Diagon Alley this year is far less than before. Apart from the students who need to attend Hogwarts bringing some income to the struggling Diagon Alley, most other businesses have been negatively affected to varying degrees.

From the perspective of the film or readers of the original books, Sirius Black's sense of threat and danger is far less than that of Voldemort. Mo Ran even complained many times before transmigrating—just the escape of Voldemort's most loyal supporter from prison has caused Mr. Weasley and a group of adult wizards to panic. Isn't the wizarding world a bit too weak?

Of course, like many other things, a person's perception and views on things will change with experience.

Having lived in the magical world for over a decade, Mo Ran now understands why he couldn't empathize with the characters in the stories before.

A villain who can break into anyone's home at any time, arbitrarily take lives without being punished by law, and openly challenge the authoritative Ministry of Magic, is simply impossible and unacceptable in the modern Muggle world.

Take, for example, the seaside cave that he and Dumbledore just destroyed. Even if Voldemort used dark magic to turn all the people he had killed into corpse puppets, the number of people who died under his wand would still be no less than three hundred.

What does more than three hundred people mean?

In the Muggle world, a serial killer who has murdered more than a dozen people is already considered extremely vicious. More importantly, if such a demon continues to roam the world, then law enforcement agencies will definitely mobilize a large amount of manpower and resources to capture and bring him to justice.

In this social context, the massacre of hundreds of people seems more like a figure made up by a child when exaggerating.

Unfortunately, magic is unreasonable.

With even the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic unable to fully utilize the Ironclad Charm, a dark wizard of Voldemort's caliber was completely beyond the reach of the law. Aside from Hogwarts, guarded by Dumbledore, anyone else could be killed by the Dark Lord in a sudden Apparition.

The vague fears of peacetime have been made concrete.

When death, and even more tragic fates, may befall everyone without warning, the society of the magical world will collapse.

......

"No wonder Dumbledore told me to use public opinion to mislead the uninformed. It seems he wanted to use this to let ordinary people in the wizarding world make some preparations in advance."

Mo Ran murmured to himself, pulling his thoughts back to reality.

He had been puzzled by the headmaster's accelerated destruction of the Horcruxes, but now it seemed that Dumbledore probably wanted to take advantage of the intelligence advantage to quickly eliminate Voldemort, this scourge, in one fell swoop.

Mo Ran naturally had no pity for Voldemort, but the thought of having to leave Harry's body with that guy's soul fragments made him feel uneasy due to the fear of the unknown and uncertainty.

"never mind."

He patted his (Harry's) cheek and said:

"Let's focus on doing the things at hand one by one."

Whoosh! Snap!

As a red spark flashed across the sky, Harry, in his "first time around," Apparated into Borgint's Magical Shop. Thanks to the shopkeeper's efforts, all the security measures and magical mechanisms were now perfectly familiar to him.

"A magnificent opal necklace, do not touch, it is cursed—it has claimed the lives of nineteen Muggles..."

In the darkness, a faint sound came. Mo Ran, who had been lying in ambush among the Iron Maidens, gathered all his magical energy into his body and listened quietly as Harry "talked to himself" about selecting items for free.

Thirteen-year-old Harry possessed strength far beyond his peers. Before receiving Grindelwald's legacy and absorbing the Dementors' magic, Mo Ran thought Harry already had the ability to stand on his own like Professor. However, after he actually took a step into Dumbledore's realm, he realized that without the blessing of Obscurial magic, Harry's skills were still insufficient to dominate the adult wizarding world.

"Strange...why is there no explanatory text near it? Could it be that this thing is just a souvenir without any magical power?"

Hearing Harry's slightly puzzled voice coming from just a short distance away, Mo Ran, who was already used to being a time traveler, also felt a little nervous.

Unlike his previous actions in secrecy, to prevent historical inaccuracies, Mo Ran now needs to recreate that battle one-to-one with Harry to theoretically avoid altering the past. However, this kind of trouble cannot be solved simply with superior magic.

"Calm down, calm down."

Mo Ran said to himself in his mind:

"Since you can't remember the details of the previous battle, it means that you and Harry didn't focus on that before. From now on, you just need to act in the correct order, and everything will naturally fall into place."

Scenes from watching "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" began to flash before Mo Ran's eyes. Watching Harry slightly raise his arm as if to open the Iron Maiden to explore, Mo Ran ingeniously used the compass given to him by Thor Crook to trigger a resonance in the broken time-twister not far away.

A dazzling, diamond-like brilliance suddenly shone forth. Harry, in his "first time around," seemed to have his attention diverted, much like when Hermione hit him on the head with a stone in a movie. His tone shifted dramatically as he spoke:

"Never mind, let's look at the next thing... Wait! What's that?!"

Harry, who had no experience with time travel, was unaware that the time converter in the metal display case had long since lost its magic. The reason that the old fox Borgin Burke had kept it in the shop was to find opportunities to swindle those rich fools who didn't know anything about the product.

"Can this thing be fixed?"

......

"Then should we...?"

Completely oblivious to the person emerging from the Iron Maiden, Harry finally felt a belated but intense sense of crisis after Morton unleashed his magic. At the same time, the mechanisms that could only be triggered by sensing magic began to glow with an eerie light.

Swish!Swish!Swish!

Bathed in the azure light, Mo Ran simply extended a finger and pried open the gap in the magical patch. This arrogant act wasn't to display his strength; what he truly cared about was preventing Harry from recognizing his wand.

Tick, tick, tick...

Time ticked by second by second, accompanied by the faint tremors emanating from Mo Ran's chest. However, Harry, in his first playthrough, still hadn't launched an attack. He turned his head, his eyes fixed on the empty Borgin Burke shop, before realizing that he had forgotten about the Invisibility Cloak from the very beginning due to his limited magical perception.

"Damn it, Mo Ran, you came here just to steal the Invisibility Cloak! What are you thinking?!"

While cursing himself in his mind, Mo Ran didn't care whether Harry would recognize him. Having discovered more than once that the Deathly Hallows were unaffected by the Summoning Curse, he drew his wand and cast the Whirlwind Curse for the sake of safety.

call!

Harry, hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, revealed his face. In a flash, Harry's Seeker's agility allowed him to grab the family heirloom that was about to fly away. Mo Ran, who had been working with him for several years, even released a black mist, intending to use Apparition to escape.

"Confundo Inimicum!" (Silent version of the confusion trap)

"Eh?"

Harry, whose Apparition was blocked by a high-level Confusion Charm from a strange dark wizard, was pulled back into Borgin Burke's shop after two snaps. Before he could even exchange a few words with Moran, human bones, eyeballs, playing cards, and various rusty, sharp, tooth-like objects flew towards him like arrows.

"Protego!"

Harry shouted, and the next second, bursts of explosions came from the protective shield formed by the Ironclad Charm.

The noise woke up the Dark Knight in Knockturn Alley, and also gave Mo Ran a good opportunity to steal the Invisibility Cloak. With one hand, he continued to fire a barrage of bullets, while with the other hand, he manipulated the skeletal claw and stole the Invisibility Cloak hanging from Harry's waist.

"what?"

"Accio Invisibility Cloak!" (The invisibility cloak flies in)

"Damn it! Why isn't it working!"

Harry's voice sounded very excited. His Ancient Flame did not coordinate perfectly with Moran's. Before the black spear could pierce the face of the mysterious black knight, he, as the feint attacker, preemptively deployed a wall of blue fire that shot forward.

"Partis Temporus!" (Vulcan clears the way)

hum!

Since the duel between dark magic practitioners of the same origin is devoid of skill, Mo Ran in his second cycle only expended a small portion of his strength to neutralize the attack from his former self. Seeing Harry's obvious reluctance to retreat, he knew that tonight's farce had reached its final stage.

"Mobiliabrus." (Phantom of a Shifting Phantom)

With a silent Apparition Charm, their positions were switched. Still caught in a complex mix of surprise and apprehension, Harry, unaware of the trap's trigger mechanism, was instantly entangled in the magical web.

"Finite!" (The curse stops)

"Finite Incantatom!" (All curses end)

One after another, the spell-breaking incantations popped up like background music, keeping pace with Mo Ran's single-minded focus on her zero-yuan shopping spree. Soon, a host of precious magical items, such as the opal necklace, the shrunken human head, and fragments of the time converter, all flew into the pocket of the Seamless Stretch Spell.

......

When Moran left Knockturn Alley and arrived at the entrance of Malfoy Manor, the entire raid on Borgin & Burke was over. Just as he had hoped, through the clever workings of time and fate, many details naturally came together, including his gesture of shaking his hand before leaving because he almost touched the opal necklace, which Harry took as a farewell wave.

The night breeze gently caressed Mo Ran's black robes. Gazing at the large manor in front of him, filled with medieval charm, he recalled Dobby's words in the Hogwarts kitchen.

"The night before Hogwarts started, when Malfoy Manor was burning down, Dobby secretly rescued something useful..."

To be fair, if it weren't for the need to intimidate Lucius Malfoy to secure his cooperation with Lily Health Insurance, Mo Ran wouldn't have intended to damage other people's property; that wouldn't be in line with his style.

"Pestis Incendium."

Upon hearing Mo Ran's call, the crimson and black fiery dragon appeared in his palm. Then, with a sigh, it flew over the exquisite wrought-iron gates and towards the fountains, lawns, and maze gardens outside Malfoy Manor.

The cool night suddenly turned sweltering, and Lucius Malfoy, who was chatting with someone he hadn't seen in a long time, called out Donny's name with great annoyance.

"Donnie! What happened?! Did you set all the charcoal on fire?! Damn it! If you burn the furniture, I'll skin you alive!"

"Waaaah! Master, run!"

Donny, with a few vines still hanging from his head, suddenly pushed open the door and shouted:

"A powerful wizard has arrived outside the courtyard, and he has already surrounded your mansion with fire!"

Upon hearing this, Fenrir Graybuck slammed his fist on the stone table in front of him and cursed:

"Damn Malfoy, you really were lying to me! All that useless nonsense was just to stall for time! Heh, I've long heard you're a fence-sitter, completely disloyal to the Dark Lord!"

Lucius Malfoy also jumped to his feet, drew his wand, and waited until the werewolf Fenrir replied:

"Keep your paws to yourself, Donnie, if you don't want to die here!"

"Owner?"

"Take Draco and Narcissa to the Leaky Cauldron. Don't let anyone know what happened tonight, including the two of them. Go now!"

Donny glanced at Fenrir, who was baring his teeth and about to pounce, then snapped his fingers with a look of deep concern and vanished in a puff of smoke. With a sharp "snap," Lucius Malfoy, no longer holding back, shouted:

"You brainless bastard! Do you think the Dark Lord wouldn't want someone like you to become a Death Eater? You infamous child-hunting madman aren't even a wizard. You're just the lowest-ranking thug, a henchman used to intimidate those stinking worms in the gutter!"

"Gurgle..."

Fenrir's foul-smelling saliva dripped down his neck. Even before transforming into a werewolf, the voice emanating from his mouth had lost its human quality, becoming deep and hoarse, filled with wildness and brutality.

Lucius Malfoy was right. Deep down, Fenrir's inability to be branded as a Death Eater was a wound he could never erase. He believed the werewolves would fare better under Voldemort's rule, but Voldemort always looked at them with indifference. Except for certain circumstances, Fenrir wasn't even allowed to wear the Death Eater's robes.

Some Harry Potter fans might attribute this phenomenon to Voldemort's selfishness, extreme individualism, and racial discrimination. But in reality, even if Voldemort were a magnanimous person, Fenrir might not have become his confidant.

As the most ruthless werewolf in the wizarding world, Fenrir has always considered biting and infecting as many people as possible as his "life goal." This clearly differs from, and can even be said to conflict with, Voldemort's ideal of pure-blood wizards ruling the world.

Under these circumstances, the reason Voldemort was still willing to keep Fenrir by his side was actually to take advantage of the latter's werewolf virus infection ability—threatening to bite other people's children was more lethal to those fearless wizarding families.

Having been involved with various factions for many years, Lucius naturally understood his master's motives for recruiting Fenrir. At this critical juncture, a henchman who had disappeared for many years suddenly contacted him with news of the Dark Lord. Besides delivering military intelligence, this also carried a hint of threat.

“You two-faced scoundrel, my master has already told me about your cunning and your attempts to sow discord. I have already shown my master my loyalty.”

Fenrir, barely suppressing his urge to pounce on Lucius, said:

"Let me remind you, Lucius, you already disappointed the Dark Lord once last year. Don't wait until later, when the Dark Lord rises again, to jump out and promise that you have never abandoned our path of magic."

Fenrir's words startled Lucius.

As far as he knew, in recent years, that little brat named Harry Potter had repeatedly thwarted the Dark Lord's comeback. How could Voldemort, who had suffered repeated setbacks, suddenly be rising again? This just doesn't make sense!

"Watch your wording, Fenrir."

Lucius gripped his wand even tighter and said:

“I present a different face to others every day, just to prepare for my master’s return. What right do you, an outsider who is not even a Death Eater, have to criticize me?”

The relentless sarcasm drove Fenrir's already volatile temper to the brink of madness. It wasn't that he didn't want the benefits of pure-blood supremacy and wizarding rule over the Muggle world, but Voldemort's power and his own status disqualified him from sharing in that "cake." Therefore, since contacting Voldemort, he had devoted all his energy to satisfying his desires and instincts. In his eyes, biting and infecting others gradually became a source of pleasure, a way to prove his own worth.

"Woo-hoo!"

Due to his recklessness and lack of magical knowledge, Fenrir, who rashly attacked the owner of Malfoy Manor, was teleported directly outside the manor. Until he was swallowed whole by the Fiery Dragon, he still thought that the earth-shattering, ghost-weeping roar had come from himself.