The moment Umbridge's wand pointed at Lia.
Lia stepped out from behind Hermione and stood side by side with her.
The temperature of the surrounding air plummeted.
Lia slowly raised her head. Deep within those sky-blue eyes, a ring of ghostly green light suddenly flared up like a swirling nebula in the abyss, finally contracting and condensing into cold, inorganic vertical serpent pupils.
The soft and harmless pet-like aura around her vanished without a trace, replaced by an arrogance and indifference that looked down upon all living beings from ancient times.
An invisible kingly pressure spread out, making Malfoy and the others feel instinctively difficult to breathe.
She spoke, her voice no longer a sweet, soft whisper.
An elegant, cold tone with a peculiar hiss escaped her throat, perfectly replicating Tom Riddle's manner of speaking.
"I warned you."
Lia's voice was very light, yet it clearly reached everyone's ears, as if sounding directly within the depths of their souls.
"Do not harm the people here at Hogwarts."
Umbridge's smile froze on her face. From those dark green vertical pupils, she saw a terror that made her soul tremble.
It was an absolute darkness capable of crushing everything that she had once felt from a certain man!
"You... what are you?!" she shrieked.
Lia did not answer.
She simply raised her hand, fingers spread, and made a gentle clenching motion toward Umbridge.
No incantation. No light.
"Crack!"
The pink magic shield that had silently appeared in front of Umbridge shattered like glass struck by an invisible giant hammer, instantly covered in cracks before exploding into a sky full of light specks!
Umbridge hadn't even reacted to what happened.
Lia's finger contemptuously hooked toward Umbridge's wand from a distance.
A thread of black magic, nearly invisible to the naked eye, appeared out of thin air, wrapping around Umbridge's wand like a lightning-fast venomous snake.
"Ah!"
A massive force pulled, and Umbridge let out a short scream. The wand she cherished like a treasure was forcibly snatched from her hand, arching through the air to be caught by Lia's tail, and then, with a "snap," it was easily broken like a dry twig!
Malfoy and his cronies turned pale with fright; they had seen this scene before!
They quickly retreated, falling onto their backsides, unable to believe their eyes.
This cat... what kind of monster is this cat?!
"I said."
Lia's voice carried impatience.
"You're next."
She waved her hand casually toward the distraught Umbridge.
Pure destructive dark magic condensed into an invisible giant hand, slamming hard into Umbridge!
"Bang!"
Umbridge's fat body was slapped away like a tattered sandbag, crashing through the already broken wall and rolling onto the corridor outside amidst a cloud of smoke and rubble.
She let out a pained groan, followed by a warm liquid spreading from beneath her, mixing with dust and sweet perfume to emit a nauseating, rank smell.
She had actually been scared into incontinence and then completely lost consciousness.
The entire Room of Requirement was deathly silent.
Malfoy looked at the miserable, half-dead Umbridge in the corridor, then at the Cat-girl with cold eyes and a terrifying aura, and his legs began to shake uncontrollably.
"Get out."
Lia uttered a single word, like a king's pardon.
As if granted a grand amnesty, Malfoy scrambled away on all fours, leading his two already terrified lackeys as they fled the place in a panic.
In the room, only Hermione, Lia, and Marietta—who was huddled in the corner shaking even harder—remained.
The green light in Lia's eyes slowly faded, and the dark green vertical pupils returned to pure sky blue.
The terrifying aura around her also dissipated; the arrogant and cold king from just now seemed like a mere hallucination.
She swayed slightly, her tail loosened, and the broken pieces of the wand fell to the floor.
Hermione immediately stepped forward to support her, holding her tightly in her arms, using her own body heat to warm Lia's cold body.
"It's all right, Lia, it's all right."
Lia buried her face in the crook of Hermione's neck, taking a deep breath of the familiar, comforting scent. After a long while, she said in a very low voice:
"Her mother works at the Ministry of Magic."
Hermione's movements paused.
Lia turned her head and glanced at the girl who was still sobbing.
"Umbridge used her mother's job to threaten her."
Hermione understood.
She looked up at Marietta.
The purple pustules on the girl's face looked so hideous and glaring under the magical lights.
Hermione's gaze was complex.
There was no joy of victory, nor any satisfaction in seeing the informant punished.
Only an unprecedented heaviness and coldness.
She had thought this was just a confrontation between students, children resisting injustice in their own way.
The prank curse she had set was originally intended only to punish traitors and maintain the group's cohesion.
But she was wrong.
This war was no longer a game for children.
Umbridge, the senior undersecretary of the Ministry of Magic, had actually used a mother's job to threaten an underage daughter, forcing her to betray her friends.
How low, how shameless a tactic.
Looking at the "masterpiece" on Marietta's face, Hermione felt for the first time that her magic had been used in the wrong place.
Punishing a coerced, pitiful person did not bring any justice.
The true culprit was the pink toad lying in the corridor outside, and the corrupt, fallen Ministry of Magic behind her.
Hermione gently patted Lia's back, then let her go and walked slowly to Marietta.
The girl shrank back in terror.
Hermione knelt down, took a handkerchief from her pocket, and gently wiped away the tears on Marietta's face.
"It'll be okay," Hermione's voice was very soft. "I'll remove the curse on your face. As for Umbridge, I'll find a way."
She stood up and glanced back at the large hole Lia had blasted, her eyes turning cold and angry.
Use the law? Use the rules?
When your enemy is shameless enough to use the safety of family to coerce a child, what rules are there left to talk about?
The Ministry of Magic is beyond saving.
[If you've read this far, please give me some motivation and click 'Remind to Update'!]
[I'm begging you, meow!]
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