Weilan saw the Dementor stretch out its withered, pale arm towards him.
He didn't think twice.
He didn't even wait for Ailiudaila to fully exit the square opening above, directly darting out of his hiding place in two steps and running for his life in the direction he came from.
The Dementor followed Weilan like a shadow.
Weilan didn't know how far Olena had walked to trigger this extreme distance. He only knew he had to keep running forward to avoid falling into her hands.
The cold wind lashed Weilan's face, stinging his cheeks.
This wind is really uncomfortable... Wait, wind?!
Weilan deliberately slowed down, confirming that it was indeed wind brought by flowing air.
A surge of ecstasy filled his heart.
He knew it, Olena definitely wouldn't dig a sealed, large tomb for him underground!
This space must have more than two exits to create wind from air convection!
It's just that those exits were usually closed, which is why it gave Barty the illusion of a sealed space.
Now, Olena had opened these exits and left through them, hoping to widen the distance between herself and Ailiudaila, making the two of them actively expose their positions.
Run while Olena isn't back yet!
Night vision helped Weilan see the exit in the distance, and he ran towards the exit in his sight with all his might.
Then, he saw a person slowly walking out of that exit.
It wasn't Dumbledore, it wasn't Carson, it wasn't Lupin.
It was Olena.
Moreover, the so-called "exit" behind her was not the upward stone steps Weilan had taken, but a straight passage.
This was not the way he came.
Weilan's heart sank.
Not long ago, Ailiudaila's voice was still in his ears:
"There's a Confundo up here. It can confuse the sense of direction of people or Dementors above, preventing them from pinpointing our exact location."
Yes, it was that Confundo that tricked Weilan.
As the caster, this Confundo might not have affected Ailiudaila.
But Weilan wasn't Ailiudaila.
He was affected by the Confundo and misjudged his escape direction.
Ailiudaila's shrill scream came from nearby; she seemed to be enduring excruciating pain, slowly approaching.
Weilan had no time to worry about Ailiudaila now. He had to rack his brains to save himself first!
Olena raised her hand, casting magic wandlessly, and shot a red light of Stupefy at him.
Weilan rolled on the ground, trying to roll into the dark corners not illuminated by the glowing stones, while his brain raced.
magic items, what other magic items could he use?
The Invisibility Cloak was one; he still had his backpack on, and the Invisibility Cloak was inside.
But the Dementors were surrounding him, so even with the Invisibility Cloak, it would be difficult to break through the encirclement.
Weilan reached into his pocket and once again touched the canary cream Ron had given him.
This was the only other magic item he could use right now.
Weilan thought and calculated quickly, then rolled again, pulling the Invisibility Cloak out of his backpack and covering himself with it.
He stood up again, holding the already crumbling canary cream, wearing the Invisibility Cloak, and stealthily circled behind Olena.
...
Olena heard Weilan's footsteps and saw Dementors from all directions surging towards her.
A chill ran down her spine; she realized Weilan had floated behind her.
He had gotten close again.
Before she could turn to pinpoint Weilan's location, she felt someone kick her knee.
This time she had experience; she immediately spread her legs, stabilized her stance, and at the same time, her right hand fumbled behind her.
He was right behind her.
Olena focused all her attention on stabilizing her balance and finding Weilan's position, the two most important things, and was unprepared when something was suddenly stuffed into her mouth.
It seemed to be... a biscuit?
She was about to spit it out, but her body began an unexpected transformation.
Her body was covered in feathers, her upper arms transformed into magnificent fiery red wings, and her two long, white legs became bird claws.
The brief transformation made her movements extremely inconvenient, although the authority she possessed was rapidly eliminating the effects of the transformation spell.
But Weilan was faster than her.
He gripped her bird neck with one hand and grabbed her tail feathers with the other, throwing Olena, who had transformed into a canary, towards the Dementors like a worker tossing a bag of cement.
The circle of Dementors was broken by a gap where the enormous canary landed.
Weilan, like an invisible meteor, broke through the encirclement and rushed in a completely opposite direction.
This time, the direction was finally right.
Three silver-white Patronus lights shone ahead.
Those were the Patronus of a Phoenix, a wolf, and a parrot.
"Hey! I'm here!"
Weilan took off his Invisibility Cloak and waved his arms, shouting loudly.
They flew towards Weilan, brushing past his temples, and rushed behind him.
Weilan saw Dumbledore, Carson, and Lupin, who had just come down the stone steps.
He ran towards them, barely containing his excitement.
"Olena! That Veela named Olena escaped!"
Weilan stopped, supported by Lupin, and panted, saying:
"She opened another passage, hurry and chase her!"
"Tonks, quickly take this child back." Carson, having expended a lot of energy for a long time, was also out of breath, "Dumbledore and I will..."
"No." Dumbledore held him back with a hand, "None of us should chase her. She has extraordinary support behind her; none of us have the ability to catch her right now."
After saying this, Dumbledore turned to Weilan and kindly patted his head:
"You've been through a lot, Weilan, and you are an extraordinary young Wizard."
"Alright, Lupin, our top priority now is to take Weilan to Madam Pomfrey for care."
They started walking back.
Dumbledore assigned their respective tasks after they left:
"Lupin, you take Weilan to the hospital wing."
"Carson, contact more Aurors to come and search the Forbidden Forest."
"After we get out, I will guard the outside to prevent any further anomalies."
"Once the Aurors arrive, we will conduct a thorough search of this place!"
Dumbledore's voice remained calm.
Weilan admired his ability to stay calm at all times.
Olena was incredibly bold, actually setting up her base in Hogwarts' Forbidden Forest and using Hogwarts' House-elves to cultivate Inferi.
If someone else were the Principal of Hogwarts, they would more or less be swayed by anger and lose some rationality, wouldn't they?
But Dumbledore, after assigning all the tasks, said nothing more. He led the three people, his tall figure walking silently in front.
Carson wanted to ask Weilan how he managed to drag out the time until now, but his question was silenced by a look from Lupin.
"This child needs rest now! He just escaped death, for the second time!"
So Carson stopped asking, and the four of them quickly walked towards the stone steps they had come from.
Feeling the cool breeze on his face, Weilan realized that there were actually only two exits here.
The stone steps leading to the treehouse were one, and the passage Olena had emerged from was another.
Later, Dumbledore opened the entrance at the treehouse.
Olena sensed that Dumbledore was about to arrive, so she opened the originally sealed passage to the outside world and left the Dementors in place.
She wanted to use the Cruciatus Curse on Ailiudaila for a last-ditch effort, to see if she could catch Weilan.
She almost succeeded.
Thankfully.
Just as Weilan had analyzed beforehand.
She was not good at close combat.
That's why she gave Weilan an opportunity.
