#170 - You are so kind!

“I usually have a morning exercise routine, which I've maintained for many years. There's a park near Diagon Alley, so I planned to come here early in the morning to exercise and let my owl stretch its wings,” Anduin said.

“And then you encountered the Death Eaters? Why are they targeting you?” Moody was puzzled as to why several Death Eaters would attack a young wizard so early in the morning.

“That's right, but when I arrived at Regent's Park and was about to warm up, I found myself surrounded by Death Eaters. As for why the Death Eaters attacked me…” Anduin paused for a moment, then said, “At Hogwarts, I had conflicts with Yaxley and Travers's son Sample. Plus, I'm the only Muggle-born wizard in Slytherin, and they hate me to the core. I think that's why, so…”

“That doesn't make sense. If it's just a student conflict, is it necessary to gather five Death Eaters to ambush you? And looking at the extent of the destruction around here, it's clear they wanted you dead.” Moody frowned, wondering if the students at school were getting too hot-tempered. He looked at Anduin, puzzled.

Seeing Moody ask this, Anduin hesitated and pursed his lips. Finally, he gritted his teeth as if he had made a major decision and looked intently at Moody.

“They actually caused me trouble more than once in the academy. Although I managed to deal with them, they still held grudges. Just before Christmas, Yaxley even gathered some pure-blood young wizards to try to attack me outside the school, but I managed to escape. Moreover…” Anduin glanced seriously at Moody and said, “During that attack, Yaxley tried to use the 'Killing Curse' on me!”

“What?” Moody's expression instantly turned fierce, and he looked at Anduin seriously, “Are you sure?”

“Yes, Headmaster Dumbledore should also know about what happened that day, or at least suspect it. It was after that Christmas that Yaxley disappeared from Hogwarts.” Anduin sighed.

He pushed Dumbledore out as a shield. From Moody's previous reaction, he could tell that the other members of the Order of the Phoenix probably didn't know about Yaxley's past.

“I see, that explains everything. No wonder Dumbledore suddenly asked us to look for Yaxley's whereabouts, even wasting manpower to monitor that house with no information. If they were really hiding in that house, it's very likely they would have discovered you coming to Diagon Alley.”

Moody suddenly looked enlightened, but then looked sternly at Anduin: “Why didn't you notify us of this earlier? Letting a reckless Death Eater roam free like that, do you know how much trouble that can cause?”

“I'm sorry, it's my fault. Yaxley, after all, he… is my senior, the Slytherin prefect. I really couldn't bear to…” Anduin showed a remorseful expression and apologized sincerely.

“Hmph, you're just too kind. You absolutely can't hesitate when facing these scum. Look, what did you get after letting him go? Bitter hatred, and a never-ending attack!” Moody looked at Anduin's melancholy appearance and scolded him, feeling disappointed that he didn't live up to expectations.

A batch of high-quality experimental materials, a large fortune, a house, and of course… Listening to Moody's words, Anduin's mind wandered a bit, but he quickly regained his composure, still maintaining a fearful expression on his face.

After Moody scolded the Death Eaters a few more times, he looked at the young Anduin, who was bowing his head and listening humbly, and suddenly felt that he had been a bit too harsh. Anduin was still a child, and he had just fought five Death Eaters alone.

Thinking of this, Moody suddenly became curious again, “You just said that you were surrounded by these five Death Eaters earlier, so how did you manage to defeat them all? These guys are not easy to deal with, they are all a bunch of vicious thugs.”

“It's all thanks to Professor Flitwick and Professor Bones's teachings, plus a little bit of luck.”

Anduin took a deep breath with lingering fear and explained to Moody: “They were lurking in the woods at the time. Fortunately, my owl has good night vision and we have had a tacit understanding for many years. It spotted the clues in the high sky and warned me in advance, otherwise I would have been in danger.”

“After 'Sunwind' warned me, I used the Echo Charm to sense their location as soon as possible. The Echo Charm is a new spell developed by Professor Bones and me during his tenure.”

“Yes, I've read your paper. Edgar also showed off his monocle to us at the Order of the Phoenix meeting.” Moody seemed to recall Bones's cheap-looking face again, pursed his lips, and then asked curiously, “What then?”

“After discovering the enemy, I knew I had to take the initiative first, because time was not on my side, so I cast a Disillusionment Charm on myself first, and at the same time released the 'Dazzling Charm'. The sun hadn't fully risen at the time, and it was still very dark around, so the sudden strong light interfered with their vision.”

“Dazzling Charm? What's that?” Moody asked, puzzled.

Anduin took a button from his body and said, “I'll demonstrate it for you and you'll understand.”

Then Anduin inputted magic power into the button and threw it into the air, and then a strong light flashed suddenly. Even though it was already bright, Moody was momentarily blinded by the light and couldn't help but exclaim in amazement: “Did you make this alchemical item?”

“That's right, it's an optimized charm I developed after improving the glowing flicker runes.” Anduin paused and continued, “The effect was even better at the time. The Death Eaters didn't expect me to strike first, and were affected by the strong light for several seconds. I took this opportunity to break out of the encirclement and knocked down Yaxley with a spell, using him as a shield to resist the attacks of the others.”

“Well done, you reacted quickly and had a reasonable strategy!” Moody praised, and then motioned for Anduin to continue.

“After they regained their sight, they launched an attack on me, completely disregarding Yaxley's life and death in front of me. He was hit by several spells from his own people. Seeing that taking hostages was useless, I used the Levitation Charm to throw Yaxley at one person, and then used the 'Grounding Charm' technique to attack, knocking down another person, the fat one.” Anduin pointed to one of the Death Eaters.

The main reason for using Yaxley as a shield was that he had been tortured too badly, and even his sanity had been affected. If anyone asked about it, it would be convenient to blame it on the attacks of his comrades.