Harry Potter and the Obscurus

Chapter 39 The Power You Can Never Possess

Seeing the zombie body controlled by Tom Riddle once again emanating layers of black mist, Harry (Mo Ran) quickly held his wand horizontally in front of his chest.

During the earlier battle, Mo Ran had been wary that Tom Riddle might use a feint to escape. However, as the battle intensified, he quickly focused all his attention on controlling magic.

Whoosh!

"what?"

Tom Riddle's unexpected escape in the opposite direction made Harry (Mo Ran) cry out.

"What's he doing? Did he fly the wrong way? Wait! He just said he wanted to see how many Hogwarts students had the courage to face Lord Voldemort? Could it be that he wants to..."

boom!

The staircase connecting the eighth-floor corridor was twisted into pieces by two enormous forces. Amidst a demonic roar, the billowing black smoke that Tom Riddle had transformed into and Harry (Mo Ran), who had transformed into the Obscurial and was chasing him, intertwined like a tornado, engaging in the purest battle of magic.

The upperclassmen of Ravenclaw were the first to witness it all.

Because the academy's common rooms and dormitories were located at the top of the tower, the eagles closest to the battlefield on the eighth floor were extremely angry. Awakened by the loud noise, they rushed towards the main building with their wands, still in their pajamas.

"By Merlin! I thought not being able to go home for Christmas was bad enough! What on earth is making all this noise?!"

An older Ravenclaw boy swore as he poked his head out of the stairwell. But before he could see anything, a gust of wind blew him and his flowing long hair to the ground.

"what!"

The boy who fell shouted.

After witnessing something completely beyond his comprehension, he even forgot how to raise his wand.

……

Under the cover of night, two black monsters, like a runaway subway in the Muggle world, rampaged and fought each other in the huge stairwell of the castle's main building.

Tom Riddle's flight magic cannot directly vaporize his body. Neither his speed nor his strength can match that of a pure dark magic creature like an Obscurus.

Strangely, even though Mo Ran had absorbed Credence and the Sudanese girl's silent power, he was still unable to turn his advantage into a victory after turning into black mist.

More and more screams began to emanate from the paintings and sculptures. At this rate, all the Hogwarts students and staff who stayed at school for Christmas would soon become aware of the battle taking place inside the castle.

"I hope Hermione did what Harry asked her to do!"

Mo Ran thought to himself as the pressure mounted.

Voldemort was an enemy, not an opponent, to him. He might not need the Aurors and the professor's help to defeat Tom Riddle, but in that situation, only an idiot would value the process of proving his own strength more than the result of defeating the opponent.

What's that noise?

"Watch out! There's a monster in the hallway!"

……

As more and more students were awakened by the noise, Mo Ran finally understood the conspiracy that the younger version of the Dark Lord was plotting.

Unable to outrun Tom Riddle, who was unable to escape with his speed, he had no intention of running away. As he had said before, his purpose in shifting the battlefield was to draw other Hogwarts students into the fight as well.

"Confringo!" (Thunderous explosion)

Lockhart, already tortured beyond recognition, suddenly uttered a spell through his blood-soaked throat. Immediately afterward, a violent explosion erupted on the surface of the black mist.

boom!

Even though he had already turned into mist, Mo Ran felt indescribable pain after taking the blow.

Normally, with the Obscurial's speed, he could easily dodge an attack that wasn't particularly fast. But Tom Riddle wasn't actually aiming at the black mist itself, but rather at the Hogwarts students peeking from the stairwell.

The offensive and defensive strategies between the two are easily interchangeable.

Tom Riddle, who was originally just running away from the silent pursuit, began to turn his attention to his juniors who were decades younger than him.

Having thoroughly studied the Obscurus, he knew that Harry (Mo Ran), in his vaporized state, could not cast spells like he could. Therefore, facing these magical attacks that would be fatal to ordinary young wizards, Harry (Mo Ran) had to actively take the hits with his body.

"Confringo!" (Thunderous explosion)

“Diffindo!” (Torn to pieces)

"Reducto!" (shattered to pieces)

The repeated attacks caused Mo Ran to suffer excruciating pain and begin to feel her strength and vitality dwindling.

He wasn't sure why Tom Riddle didn't use the Avada Kedavra curse.

Was it because the previous attack during the chase was effective? Or did the opponent simply want to use those three spells to mock them in return?

In any case, being able to "ban" the green magic light at this critical juncture is a good thing.

boom!

boom!

boom!

Amid a series of explosions, several older students, holding magic wands, peeked out from the passageway connecting the corridor and the stairs.

Having never witnessed Obscurus and Voldemort's flying magic, they had no idea that they were just a burden to Obscurus.

Of course, there is also a silver lining in misfortune.

These students maintained a degree of awe in the face of the unknown power of dark magic. Aside from watching out of curiosity, no one wanted to be a hero and started organizing the students to attack the "monster."

Otherwise, Mo Ran might have even considered killing someone.

……

Mo Ran, who was seriously injured by Tom Riddle's despicable means, was even a little dazed, but even so, he still bravely shielded his classmates from all the evil curses.

Those people and events that had hurt him before his rebirth began to play before Mo Ran's eyes like a revolving lantern.

Even if he were to live another life, the karmic retribution he never experienced until his death would still seem like a joke.

"Is sacrifice truly inevitable? Shouldn't I protect these innocent people? Why is it always the evil side that can do whatever it wants? Am I really too naive, too hypocritical?"

……

In a person's life, there are always a few key moments that can define one's life.

In his previous life, when faced with such a moment for the first time, Mo Ran chose to end it all.

Difficulties, setbacks, pain...

Everything that hurt him the most transformed into its gentlest form at that moment, presenting him with a smooth path called "compromise."

In a daze, Mo Ran saw himself again on October 31, 2023, lying in the rented room.

"Since you already have the courage to commit suicide, why not be braver and live on?"

……

"Since you've already chosen the path you believe is right, why question it and refuse to persevere?"

……

"You already know the answer."

……

It is the past's yearning for the future, and the present's farewell to the past.

A belief that transcends time and space shattered confusion and hesitation.

The Obscurus, which had been gradually losing its vitality, began to spin rapidly again. Before Tom Riddle could react, the black mist shattered Lockhart's wand and forcibly dragged the two, who had been flying in the air, back to the entrance of the Great Hall on the first floor.

"It's up to you now."

Having unleashed his power at the last moment, Mo Ran left Harry with these words before falling into a deep sleep.

At this moment, he was unaware that, after that sudden realization, the one-way channel connecting their consciousnesses had been opened into a two-way communication mode.

Harry not only witnessed Morgen sacrificing himself to protect his classmates from Tom Riddle's curse, but also learned a small part of Morgen's memories of his suicide in his previous life.

"Hahaha, now you understand? The strong are lonely because they are strong!"

"All ordinary, unremarkable wizards and Muggles should only be used as tools! Otherwise, they will become a burden to you!"

"What good will it do you to save them, even after expending so much magic and suffering so many injuries? In a battle of this magnitude, they can't even help you!"

Tom Riddle was no longer able to maintain the arcane power he used to control Lockhart with the Black Hand. But even while manipulating the mangled, twisted, and deformed body, he couldn't help but taunt Harry.

"It's really pathetic that you would think that way."

Harry's tone was extremely firm.

"A person who treats everyone around them as a tool will never receive wholehearted help. No matter how much power you acquire, if you don't even have the right to be abandoned by everyone, you will only die alone."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Tom Riddle laughed dismissively, the sound coming through Lockhart's torn vocal cords like the screeching of a broken axle.

"die?"

"No one in this world knows how to avoid death better than I do, not even that old man Dumbledore! I am immortal, I have conquered death!"

Harry didn't argue with Tom, who was rambling on and on like a madman. Besides the fact that they were on different wavelengths, he also heard rustling footsteps coming from the bottom of the stairs.

"Don't come any closer! It's dangerous here!"

There was no door at the staircase leading to the outer foyer of the Great Hall, so Harry had to shout a warning to prevent any mishaps to his classmates.

Tom Riddle laughed even harder.

"You've said so much, but in the end, all your so-called friends, comrades-in-arms, and classmates can't help you at all, can they? Not even one of the professors at Hogwarts can stand up and share your burdens right now!"

I don't think so.

A woman's voice, quite different from that of the young students, rang out from around the corner.

Upon seeing the thick hat covered in patches, the mud-covered figure, the flowing gray hair, and the short stature, Harry exclaimed.

"Professor Sprout!"

Pomona Sprout, Professor of Herbalism at Hogwarts and Head of Hufflepuff House, should have been enjoying her holiday at home. However, out of compassion and a desire to treat the petrified as soon as possible, she chose to return to school early to tend to the mandrakes. Little did she know, this would lead her to witness her most hated enemy, Lockhart, carrying out a terrorist attack within the castle.

"Professor, Lockhart has been controlled by Voldemort through some means. We can't let him escape!"

Professor Sprout nodded to Harry, then reached into his pocket with his free left hand and pulled out two things that were somewhere between tree roots and vines.

With a witch of Hogwarts's caliber joining the battle, Tom Riddle visibly tensed up. Lockhart's wand had already been crushed by Moran, and now suddenly another formidable enemy had appeared?

Professor Sprout pointed his wand at the two unidentified plants, and with the activation of the Clear Water Spell, the dark branches that had appeared incredibly hard suddenly came to life.

The two little creatures, each with several tentacles, jumped to the ground, and at the same instant, Harry and Tom's bodies moved simultaneously.

"Incendio!" (Burning flames)

"Protego!" (Protego armor)

Professor Sprout placed unconditional trust in Harry, and when faced with an attack from the enemy, she took no protective measures whatsoever, simply reaching into her pocket and pulling out a dark object.