Harry Potter: Archmage of Another World

"He's breaking free from control?" Fred's eyes flickered, a hint of surprise surfacing in his pure black pupils. Unbelievable—such a feeble power dares to resist my control.

"Oh? His Excellency, the Dark Lord, actually knows my name is Weatherby. What an honor!" George grinned mischievously, stepping forward with a look of mock reverence. He began to hum in mock solemnity, "The mighty Dark Lord is about to embark on his endless journey, so all the small fry ahead, make way quickly!"

Fred's mouth twitched. As someone adept at manipulation and deceit, he found himself completely helpless against this clown. If this continued, he feared he might just explode from sheer frustration.

"Ahem," Fred adjusted his tone slightly and carefully spoke with a conciliatory demeanor, "Look, it's getting late. Shouldn't we start searching for the missing ones?"

"The Dark Lord wants a change of taste?" George asked regretfully.

"You—!" Fred's face darkened, his patience finally wearing thin.

"What are you waiting for? Why are you still wasting time here?" The next second, George suddenly demanded righteously, "How can you afford to delay something as important as a rescue mission?" He deepened his tone and sighed. "Fred, you're not a child anymore. Do you think these petty tricks are useful? Enough. Start searching in this direction, and stop playing these little games in front of me!"

With that, George turned and walked off, hands clasped behind him.

Fred stood there, dumbfounded, watching George's retreating figure. He couldn't believe that such a shameless person existed in this world. Compared to someone like him, his own people, often labeled as evil, seemed far too kind.

With heavy steps, Fred begrudgingly followed George as they disappeared into the distance.

Walking alongside a glimmering stream, a sudden pungent scent of sulfur flashed by. Loki, puzzled, turned his gaze to the stream flowing into the lake on the left. A crystal-clear splash inexplicably burst forth, vanishing as quickly as it appeared with the overwhelming odor.

"What is it? Did you find something?" Lilian turned to look at Loki. Earlier, she too had felt an inexplicable presence above the lake, as though a living creature had passed by them.

Loki raised his wand, summoning countless ice elements. The few remaining traces of ice magic in the surroundings were instantly drawn in, causing the magic net to respond faintly. Images flashed by rapidly.

The clear lake water transformed into a thick, corrosive green liquid. The clouds in the sky exuded a sinister, inky aura. The steep cliffs around them turned into razor-sharp spikes. In the next moment, the ice elements dispersed, and all the images vanished into a blur.

That was all he could manage. If not for the spatial distortion caused earlier in the center of the lake, he wouldn't have been able to detect even the surface anomalies. Nevertheless, the place was undeniably eerie. Loki let out a faint sneer, calmly placing his wand back into his robe before striding forward.

Deep within the forest, three people who had been following the golden rabbit were now hopelessly lost. Logically speaking, the valley wasn't large at all. Even if they ventured into the forest, heading in one direction should have led them out fairly quickly. Yet, after over an hour of hurried walking, they still couldn't see the edge of the forest. The further they walked, the denser and taller the trees became.

"Where are we, exactly?" Ron asked in despair, looking around. All he could see were towering green trees and the shadows they cast.

"Something is off about this place," Hermione said calmly as she crouched down and scratched a mark onto the base of a tree with a stone shard.

"Since we entered from this direction, I've been leaving a mark every three minutes just in case. Up until half an hour ago, all the marks were nowhere to be found. But within the last thirty minutes, the very first mark I left is now right to our left. This tree, where we stand now, bears my third mark. That means we've been walking in circles—twice—returning to the exact starting point." Hermione dusted off her hands, stood up, and frowned. "What's interesting is that this 'starting point' looks entirely different from when we first entered. I'm certain this tree is the very first one we saw when we entered, but now we're surrounded by trees, with no entrance in sight. Simply put, there are only two possibilities. First, the trees are moving on their own. Second, this forest is a closed magnetic loop. Once we entered, its magnetic field manipulated our direction, so we've been walking in circles."

Harry scratched his head in confusion and asked the key question, "Then how do we get out? We're supposed to be rescuing people, but if we can't find a way out, we'll need rescuing ourselves."

"Yeah," Ron said helplessly. "It's still early. If we figure something out before dark, we might make it out. But if it gets any later and the light's gone, we'll have to spend the night here."

Hermione placed her hand on her chin and shook her head slightly, sighing. "You two were the ones who wanted to find the lucky rabbit's foot. Now that we're lost, you're making me figure it out again. Why is it always me cleaning up after your recklessness? Honestly..."

Harry and Ron exchanged guilty glances. Ever since they started school, Hermione had always been the one fixing their messes. It seemed they had grown used to it.

"To find the way out, I first need to determine which of the two possibilities is true. In other words, we need an experiment to figure out what's going on here." Hermione glanced at the two of them, speaking more to herself than anyone else. "If it's the first possibility, the solution is simple—we just use force to break through."

"And so?" Hermione murmured as she gradually approached the tree bearing the first mark.

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