Chapter 373

Chapter 373: Chapter 373

At night, only one shop in Diagon Alley remained brightly lit.

Viewed from high above, the entire street resembled a sleeping giant serpent winding through the darkness of London.

The shops on both sides had fallen silent one after another, their shutters tightly closed.

Only the occasional streetlamp still burned at a corner, its dim yellow halo illuminating a small patch of cobblestone beneath it.

Within that heavy darkness, the lights of Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes seemed strikingly out of place.

Levi spread its wings and circled high above the shop.

Inside the joke shop’s lounge, the Weasley twins, Lynn, and the others were idly chatting about trivial matters.

The lounge was located on the second floor.

It was not large, but it was very cozy.

Several family portraits of the Weasley family hung on the walls. A dark-brown leather sofa sat in the corner, its surface slightly worn but still very comfortable.

Fred and George were squeezed into the middle of the sofa.

Lynn sat in the armchair beside them.

Edgar, William, and Ollie occupied the bench opposite.

"Lynn, hasn’t the customer you mentioned arrived yet?"

Fred’s voice broke the quiet of the lounge, carrying a trace of impatience.

He had asked several times already.

Every time, Lynn had replied, "Soon."

But this "soon" had already lasted nearly three hours.

For the impatient Weasley twins, it was undoubtedly a form of torture.

George chimed in, "Could they have gotten lost?"

Lynn shook his head and calmly blew on the hot tea before him.

The tea rippled inside the cup.

He picked it up, took a sip, and slowly set it down again.

"No rush," he said. "Good food is worth waiting for. So are good customers."

Fred and George exchanged a look, then both turned back toward Lynn.

Their expressions clearly carried the suspicion of Are you sure you aren’t messing with us?

But Lynn’s expression was so calm that they had no choice but to believe him.

Just as everyone was getting so bored that they were about to grow mold, Levi’s voice suddenly echoed in Lynn’s mind.

Master, they are about to arrive.

Lynn took another sip of tea and slowly rose to his feet.

He brushed nonexistent dust from his robes, straightened his collar, turned around, and looked at Edgar and the other two, who were watching him closely.

Then Lynn spoke in a nonchalant tone.

"The Death Eaters are here."

The air inside the lounge froze.

"It’s time to test the results of your training during this period," Lynn continued. "Just a few punching bags. No need to be nervous."

The expressions on everyone’s faces immediately became more spectacular than before.

The twins’ expressions were especially peculiar.

Customers?

Death Eaters?

Was there some mistake?!

They had waited here for so long just to wait for Death Eaters to attack them?!

"Who?!" Edgar was the first to snap out of his daze, shouting.

His voice was several octaves higher than usual.

It echoed through the quiet lounge, making the portraits on the walls tremble.

The people in the portraits covered their ears.

One Weasley ancestor even glared at Edgar.

"Death Eaters. Not many." Lynn scratched his ear. "Just... six or seven?"

"Six or seven isn’t many?!" Edgar’s voice rose even higher. "And what’s with that uncertain tone of yours?!"

"Compared to the ones I’ve fought before..." Lynn thought for a moment. "It really isn’t that many."

Edgar opened his mouth to argue but found that he could not.

Six or seven Death Eaters really were not many for Lynn.

But what about them?

Edgar swallowed hard, feeling his heart rate accelerate.

"But..." he began, only for Lynn to interrupt him without ceremony.

"There are no buts."

Lynn’s voice was not loud, but it was firm.

"After training you for so long, I believe you can do it."

He looked into Edgar’s eyes, then shifted his gaze to William and Ollie.

"You won’t let me down, right?"

Edgar opened his mouth, but no words came out.

He took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and finally nodded firmly.

"We won’t," he said.

George spoke with some concern.

"Lynn, our shop..."

He did not finish the sentence, but the meaning was obvious.

This shop was something they had worked hard to open.

It was their life’s blood.

If a battle broke out here, the shelves and products might not survive.

Standing beside George, Fred also had a furrowed brow, clearly worried about the same thing. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

Lynn glanced at the hesitant twins.

As though seeing through their thoughts, he smiled.

"Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing."

"I won’t let your shop get damaged."

Hearing that, Fred and George finally felt their hearts settle.

After all, Lynn was quite reliable.

From first year until now, there had not been a single thing he had promised but failed to deliver.

If he said everything would be fine, then it most likely really would be.

"All right." Fred nodded. "Then we’ll leave it to you."

"If you need help..." George pulled his wand from his pocket. "We can also—"

"No need," Lynn interrupted. "Stay inside the shop and don’t come out."

Fred and George exchanged a look, then put away their wands at the same time.

At that moment, gold-and-red light flashed through the room.

It exploded in the center of the lounge, instantly enveloping Lynn, Edgar, and the other two.

A second later, the light faded.

Only Fred and George remained in the lounge.

They stood there, looking at each other.

"Do you think..." Fred began, "they can win?"

George thought for a moment.

"With Lynn there, it should be fine."

"I’m not talking about Lynn," Fred said. "I mean those three."

George fell silent for a while.

"They should... also be fine?" he said, though his tone carried a hint of uncertainty.

Fred sighed, walked to the window, pushed it open, and looked down.

The figures of Lynn and Edgar’s group stood outside the shop.

They were positioned in the middle of the street, their backs toward the bright-yellow door of Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.

Edgar stood to Lynn’s left.

William stood to his right.

Ollie stood half a step behind Lynn.

The four formed a triangular formation, resembling a small combat unit.

Edgar looked up at the black shadows flying toward them through the night sky.

Six or seven.

Exactly as Lynn had said.

Edgar could not help feeling his blood boil.

In Lynn’s words:

A sword forged over ten years, its edge tested today.

Although they had not been honing their wands for ten years...

It was not as though their training had been for nothing.

Seeing the nervous, I’m going to the battlefield expressions on the three of them, Lynn could not help chuckling.

He yawned, then slowly pulled three familiar masks from his pocket and handed them to the trio.

"Although I don’t think this group of Death Eaters can escape, put these on just to be safe."

Each of the three put on a mask.

The silver masks glinted under the moonlight, making them look like warriors who had stepped from an ancient legend.

Just as they finished putting them on—

BOOM—!!!

A massive explosion erupted from the horizon.

The sound was so loud that Lynn felt the ground beneath his feet tremble.

It came from the direction of the entrance to Diagon Alley, tore through the entire street, slammed into the walls on both sides, and bounced back.

The echoes rolled through the alley in wave after wave, like a thunderstorm that refused to end.

Lynn suddenly had a bad feeling.

He looked toward the horizon.

There, a huge swath of fire was burning.

It was not in the direction of Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.

Not Flourish and Blotts.

Not Ollivanders either.

It was—

The direction of his own shop.

Lynn’s eyes widened instantly.

Had the Death Eaters switched targets?

No one had notified him!

Lynn’s face remained expressionless, showing no sign of emotion.

"Um..."

Edgar swallowed, cautiously glancing toward Lynn before quickly looking away.

He felt the atmosphere around Lynn change.

The air seemed to be squeezed by an invisible force, making it difficult to breathe.

"Your shop seems to have been blown up," Edgar said very softly, almost as though speaking to himself.

Lynn nodded.

"It’s fine."

His tone was calm.

So calm that it did not sound as though he were discussing his shop being blown up.

It sounded more like he was commenting on the weather.

"My shop is very sturdy."

"I just don’t know whether their bodies are as sturdy."

His gaze pierced through the burning flames, locking onto the black shadows fleeing from the center of the explosion.

The corner of Lynn’s mouth curved upward slightly.

Around him, lightning began to dance silently.

Blue-white arcs crackled between his fingers.

"Levi."

A gold-and-red light illuminated the night sky.

Levi dove down from high above, its wings tucked close to its body, flying like an arrow released from a bow.

The moment before it struck Lynn, its wings snapped open.

Gold-and-red light erupted, enveloping Lynn.

A second later, the light dissipated.

Lynn had vanished from the spot.

Only his voice remained, echoing behind him.

"Stay here and don’t move."

"I’m going to catch them and bring them back to be your punching bags."

The three of them: "..."

"Is he taking advantage of us again?" Edgar scratched his head and asked in confusion.

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