"Retreat! Run!"
"Get out of here!"
The centaurs shouted at the top of their lungs. Some of them turned and fled in panic, and a few had already managed to withdraw some distance.
"Relax, and enjoy the delights of death."
"Do not worry. I will make you into the mightiest of warriors..."
A childish voice drifted out of the empty air, yet it carried not the slightest trace of emotion.
In the next instant, every centaur saw a translucent wave of light sweep toward them.
"Aura of Fear!"
Every centaur's heart lurched violently. A terror beyond description spread from the depths of their hearts through their entire bodies, leaving their limbs weak and numb, even robbing them of the courage to flee.
The two Death Knights, however, were completely unaffected. If anything, the flames burning on the skeletal warhorses only blazed more fiercely. Feeding on the centaurs' terror, they let out shrieks like bones grinding against one another.
And just like that, the centaur tribe in the Forbidden Forest was destroyed.
Altair used magic to collect all the blood from the centaur warriors, then recalled the two Death Knights. After resting for a while, he summoned a hundred lesser Skeletal Remains and had them carry the centaur corpses toward the spider lair.
Shelob was already one of the subordinates he had marked out for himself, and now and then, she had to be fed.
"If you're going to eat my food, then you'll be working for me too."
Humming to himself, Altair made his way to the barrier at the edge of the forest, drank another mouthful of Animal Potion, passed through the barrier, and headed back toward Hogwarts.
At lunchtime, dozens of owls flew into the Great Hall.
Ron received the latest issue of the Daily Prophet from his owl. He had only flipped through it for a moment when he let out a startled cry.
"Oh, Merlin, look at this!"
Ron pointed at the front-page headline. The photograph showed Dumbledore and Lupin. Altair only glanced at it once and more or less guessed what had happened.
Harry and Ron bent over the paper together. From the scattered bits of what they read aloud, the students around them quickly pieced together the general story.
"So this man Lupin was a werewolf..."
"Headmaster Dumbledore used a spell called Hymn of Light and completely cured Lupin's lycanthropy. During the last full moon, Lupin did not transform into a werewolf again, which means lycanthropy, the magical affliction that has plagued the wizarding world for centuries, can finally be cured for good."
"On top of that, Hymn of Light can heal most injuries and lingering effects caused by dark magic and dark creatures, and it may even be able to cure blood curses..."
"The International Confederation of Wizards has decided to award Dumbledore..."
At that point, Harry clapped his hands excitedly and exclaimed, "That's our Headmaster Dumbledore! He really is the greatest wizard in modern history..."
Ron looked just as thrilled, but then his expression suddenly turned to shock.
"Eh? So Dumbledore didn't actually invent this spell? The creator was someone named Gandalf, an ancient wizard. A first-year Hogwarts student, Hermione... oh, blimey, Hermione made it into the Daily Prophet!"
Ron cried out in surprise, and all the young witches and wizards nearby turned to look at Hermione, who was eating beside Altair.
Hermione gave a proud little huff, outwardly pretending not to care in the slightest.
But the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth made it obvious that the girl was in an extremely good mood.
"Miss Hermione Granger discovered Gandalf's diary while helping organize the collection in the Hogwarts library. The diary contained a record of this powerful spell..."
"Headmaster Dumbledore has already submitted the Hymn of Light spell to the Ministry of Magic for research, and has also donated it free of charge to wizarding hospitals across various countries."
"However, scholars have not been able to find the name Gandalf anywhere in recorded history. This reporter suspects he may be a fictional figure... and that the true creator of the spell may be Dumbledore himself, or some wizard connected to him..."
After Harry and Ron finished reading the article, they lowered the newspaper.
Harry glanced at Hermione, his eyes full of envy.
"Hmph. She was just lucky, that's all. If I had been the one punished with sorting library books..."
Ron muttered sourly. Just like Harry, he was deeply envious that Hermione's name had appeared in the Daily Prophet.
"I didn't expect Headmaster Dumbledore to master Hymn of Light so quickly, and even cure a werewolf with it..."
Hermione quietly calculated the timing. The last full moon had been in mid-September, which meant Dumbledore had managed to cast the spell successfully within two days of receiving the parchment.
And even now, Hermione still could not cast it herself.
"Well, he is our Headmaster. You heard Harry. He's the greatest wizard in modern history, so it only makes sense that he'd be capable of something like that."
Altair thought of the immense barrier outside the Forbidden Forest. Dumbledore was probably even stronger than he had imagined.
No wonder Voldemort feared him so much. If Dumbledore had not been injured while dealing with Voldemort's Horcruxes, he probably would not have died so easily either.
Then again, it made sense. Back in the day, a single Fiendfyre curse from Grindelwald had nearly burned all of Paris to the ground, and Dumbledore was the man who had defeated Grindelwald. His strength was naturally extraordinary.
Besides, that had been when he was still middle-aged. Wizards did not really suffer from frailty in old age. The older a wizard became, the more magical power they accumulated within themselves, especially a wizard as gifted as Dumbledore.
"No matter what, at least this was a good deed."
Hermione's face was glowing with happiness.