Chapter 163: Fierce Young Wizard

"Huh? What's Hermione doing here?"

As George carefully crept along the obstacles toward the performance stage, he caught sight of the hostages and was stunned to see Hermione Granger among them. Among the four adults and three children held hostage, Hermione was unmistakably one of the kids.

He knew Hermione was traveling in France during the summer and had even exchanged letters with her recently. However, she had mentioned in her letter that her vacation spot wasn't Paris but Dijon—a favorite wizarding tourist destination in eastern France.

"Moddox, you're surrounded! Surrender the hostages and drop your wand, or we won't hold back!"

The Auror leading the operation, a man in his forties, pointed his wand sternly at the one-eyed wizard across the stage.

The one-eyed wizard, however, smirked mockingly, his wand pressed against the neck of a hostage.
"Go ahead and attack. I guarantee that before your spell hits me, I'll kill them first.

"And don't forget, I've got three underage wizards here. Let's see how you explain that to your superiors later."

As a dark wizard who had been on the run for over twenty years, this wasn't Moddox's first hostage standoff. In similar situations, the other party usually yielded for the sake of the hostages.

A few years ago, a stubborn female Auror had refused to negotiate. The result? Moddox killed fifty Muggles on the spot. The Auror ended up taking the fall and was dismissed from her position.

'If this Auror captain doesn't want to lose his job, he'll have no choice but to give in', Moddox thought smugly.

"Damn it!"

The Auror captain hesitated after hearing Moddox's taunt.

He had underestimated how cautious the dark wizard was. They had barely completed half the encirclement when the hostages were taken.

Now, neither attacking nor standing down seemed viable.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Moddox suddenly pointed his wand at one of the adult hostages—a chubby wizard—and fired a Killing Curse.

The green light hit the target directly, and the man collapsed, lifeless.

"Hesitating, are we? Fine. I'll kill one every ten seconds until you agree!"

He began counting down.

The Auror captain barely lasted five seconds before conceding.

"Alright, I'll let you go, but you must release half of the hostages first.

"If not, how can I trust you? You've escaped and killed hostages before—don't think I'm unaware of that!"

"You're in no position to negotiate terms."

Moddox squinted, clearly unwilling to let go of any hostages.

The Auror captain wasn't backing down either. Raising his wand, he declared firmly, "Then I'll risk losing my job to ensure you don't leave here alive!"

"Fine, but you're staying on this stage."

Seeing that he couldn't bluff his way out, Moddox finally ordered his men to release three adult hostages, keeping only the three underage wizards.

The Auror captain, in turn, instructed his team to open a gap in their formation.

Moddox and his five followers began retreating toward the tent's exit, dragging the three young hostages with them.

"This isn't working."

George, watching as Hermione and the other two children were dragged closer to the tent's exit, started brainstorming.

Hermione was his friend, and he couldn't just stand by and do nothing. Moreover, he wanted to see if he could extract some clues about ancient magic from Moddox. Letting them escape was out of the question.

"A mirror… that's it!"

George noticed a mirror near the tent's exit and immediately had an idea.

He quickly slipped into a dressing room behind a nearby stage, found a mirror, and cast a spell:
"Mirror World, open!"

Touching the mirror with his wand, its surface rippled like water, and he stepped through it.

His panda avatar in the world of magic apprentices had been busy. Besides meditating to increase his magic level, he had also learned several spells, including Mirror World and Mimicry Transformation.

The Mirror World allowed him to use reflective surfaces as portals, making it perfect for setting up an ambush.

Once inside the Mirror World—a reversed reflection of the outside world devoid of life—George quickly ran to the mirror near the exit and waited patiently.

...

About thirty seconds later, Moddox and his five followers reached the tent's exit, dragging Hermione and the other two young hostages along.

Just as they were about to step outside, a boy around eleven or twelve suddenly emerged from the nearby mirror.

"Expelliarmus!"

George leaped out, aiming his wand at the dark wizard holding Hermione. The disarming spell knocked the wizard's wand away and sent him flying backward.

Simultaneously, George swung his left hand, delivering a powerful slap that sent another dark wizard holding one of the other children hurtling through the air.

With his full strength, George's slap packed over 4,000 pounds of force. If not for wizards' naturally robust physiques, it would've been a fatal blow.

"Avada Kedavra!"

The sudden attack caught the dark wizards off guard, but their battle-hardened instincts kicked in. Three of them cast Killing Curses at George simultaneously.

However, George's reflexes were feline-like. He bent backward in a dramatic dodge, narrowly avoiding the curses, and immediately launched a counterattack.

His right hand cast a second disarming spell, while his left activated a light-based magical array, shooting a Light Arrow.

The dark wizards were caught off guard by George's agility and quick retaliation. One lost their wand to the disarming spell, and another had their wand arm pierced by the Light Arrow.

Within moments, all three hostages, including Hermione, were free. Only Moddox and one remaining follower were left standing.

George noticed something peculiar: Moddox hadn't attacked at all since the ambush began. Instead, he was muttering an incantation in a language George didn't recognize.

Considering Moddox's ability to defeat someone as skilled as Amy, his inactivity seemed strange and suspicious.