At the end of the road, Katie rose into the air, not suspended comically by the ankle, or struggling in panic, but gracefully, her arms outstretched, as though she was about to fly. Her hair was whipped around her by the fierce wind, but her eyes were closed and her face was quite empty of expression. The scene was eerily surreal.
Below, Harry, Hermione, Elaine and Leanne all stared at her in a daze, watching Katie suddenly rise into the air.
Before they could react to what was happening, Evan was already waving his wand.
A red light flashed by, and Katie, who had just risen into the air, began descending slowly under Evan’s control.
But just then, she suddenly let out a terrible scream.
Her eyes flew open but whatever she could see, or whatever she was feeling, was clearly causing her terrible anguish. She scread and scread.
Just like a huge rock falling into a calm lake, Leanne also scread along with her.
“Stop screaming!” Evan cast a counter-curse, but it had no effect.
He frowned, realizing the cause was a Dark magic object — it was the source of the curse.
Evan couldn’t find that thing for a mont, and he was considering whether he should forcibly pull Katie down from mid-air.
Then he saw Katie holding an open brown-paper package in her hand.
Another red light flashed, and the paper package flew out.
With a thud, Katie fell to the ground, writhing violently in pain.
“What’s going on?” Harry, Hermione and Elaine also rushed over to help.
“What on earth just happened?!”
“She’s cursed. Is this Dark magic?”
“It’s Dark magic, a Dark magic item,” Evan replied.
Katie thrashed and scread on the ground so much they could hardly hold her.
Evan waved his wand again, and she was controlled and couldn’t move.
Her expression was still distorted, showing the pain she was going through.
Evan took out a bottle of potion and gave it to her, and she seed to feel a little better.
“How is she, Evan? Katie’s going to be okay, right?”
“The curse has been contained — she’s not in any imdiate danger — but she needs treatnt. We’ll take her back to the school,” Evan said.
What concerned him more was the magic that controlled Katie’s soul. It was not the Imperius Curse or a common spell, but the effect was similar to the Imperius Curse. It could serve as a spell of suggestion and bewitchnt. It was a rather unpopular magic. R̃ΆΝȏᛒÈꞩ
This would involve another Dark Artifact, perhaps still in the bathroom of the Three Broomsticks.
Leanne was still howling from the shock, her voice mingling with the howling of the wind.
“It’s alright now; it’s over!” Hermione walked over to her and put an arm around her.
“It’s Leanne, isn’t it?”
At Hermione’s soft questioning, the girl nodded and wiped her tears vigorously.
“Can you tell us what happened? Did it just happen all of a sudden, or — ?”
“It was when that package tore,” sobbed Leanne, pointing at the now sodden brown-paper package that had been knocked far away by Evan and landed in the weeds on the roadside.
The paper package had split open to reveal a greenish glitter.
They walked over and saw clearly that it was an ornate opal necklace.
“Oh my God, I’ve seen that before,” said Harry, staring at the thing. “Rember, Hermione? Four years ago, in Evan’s first year, when we followed Ma… that guy and his father. That thing was on display in Borgin and Burkes. I’m sure of it! The label said it was cursed.”
Hermione didn’t answer imdiately, her mory drifting back to that sumr.
She was not paying attention to what was in the window of Borgin and Burkes at the ti, but was persuading Harry and Ron to leave quickly…
“Well, be careful, don’t touch this thing. It does have a strong sll of Dark magic,” Evan said.
Under his control, the brown paper package and the necklace inside flew up.
“How did Katie get hold of this?” Hermione continued to ask Leanne.
“Well, that’s why we were arguing. She ca back from the bathroom in the Three Broomsticks holding it, said it was a surprise for sobody at Hogwarts and she had to deliver it. She looked all funny when she said it. … Oh no, oh no, I bet she’d been Imperiused and I didn’t realize!”
Leanne shook with renewed sobs. Hermione patted her shoulder gently.
Evan didn’t explain to her that it wasn’t the Imperius Curse, but there was no need to explain.
He waved his wand, conjuring a floating stretcher, and he and Harry lifted Katie onto it.
The group began to return to the school quickly. Along the way, Hermione continued to ask Leanne about what had just happened.
“She didn’t say who’d given it to her, Leanne?”
“No … she wouldn’t tell … and I said she was being stupid and not to take it up to school, but she just wouldn’t listen and … and then I tried to grab it from her … and — and —“ Leanne let out a wail of despair. “Is Katie going to be okay?”
“Don’t worry. Although I’m not a Healer, I’m sure she’s fine,” said Evan. He had been following Katie just in case. “She needs to rest for a while.”
Magic involving the soul and mind was usually troubleso. Much of the damage it caused wasn’t visible. It might not show any imdiate effects but could leave cracks deep inside, potentially surfacing years later. However, such injuries were rare and typically associated with spells like mory Charms or Soul Separation magic.
Even Ron, who had been hit by the Imperius Curse many tis in a row, was fine, so Katie would naturally be fine as well.
The group walked towards the school and t no one on the way.
If they had, people would definitely have gathered to ask what was going on. Katie, lying on the stretcher, and the necklace floating around Evan, Harry was lost in thought, while Hermione and Elaine quietly comforted Leanne, who had red eyes from crying.
As they were about to enter the school grounds, they ran into Hagrid.
He had just co out of the Forbidden Forest after visiting Grawp and Aragog, He had sleet trapped in his eyebrows and beard, and was wearing his great, shaggy beaverskin coat. After figuring out what was going on, he imdiately scooped Katie into his arms, and ran off toward the castle.
Watching Hagrid’s retreating figure, Harry couldn’t help but voice his thoughts. “Malfoy must know about this necklace.”
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