An American at Hogwarts

Chapter Fifty-Two

I didn't waste a second. I whipped around to create a sling portal under David and sent him back to the castle as quickly as possible. Then, I activated the armor and stood my ground long enough to get some base readings.

"Ana, get as high as you can," I said. "Give me data, bird's eye view, anything you can get."

She and the suit took off, leaving me on the ground. I wasn't stupid enough to charge the storm (one attempt at that was enough for me), so I just stood as close as possible, waiting for my opening.

I kept waiting for the storm to slow down, but instead it just kept growing and growing. Ana mentioned this storm being bigger than the last few, but this was starting to get ridiculous.

I debated running all the way back to the castle, but before I could make up my mind Ana and my suit came hurtling out of the sky like a meteor. I thought she was coming in for a landing until I realized she wasn't slowing down. I couldn't do anything but watch in horror as my suit crashed straight into the lake, plummeting to the bottom in the blink of an eye.

"No! Shit!" I ran to the edge of the lake, but my suit was long gone. The center of the lake was still bubbling from where it went in, but there was nothing I could do about that now. "Ana, can you still hear me?"

I got nothing. Ana was tied to my suit, and without my suit I couldn't hear her. I was on my own with a storm that was getting insanely out of hand. What if it didn't stop this time?

I turned to face the storm again, only to be backed into the shallows of the lake by the force of the wind. If I didn't do something quick I would end up at the bottom with my suit.

I didn't want to give up, but at this point I had no choice but to sling ring back to the castle. Maybe I could get Professor Lupin to help me shut this storm down and get to the bottom of the mystery.

Just as I was about to leave, the pushing pressure on my chest started lessening. I wasn't fighting to hold my ground in the shallows of the lake anymore.

The storm was calming down.

I followed the slowly shrinking storm edge, edging back towards the middle. Ana and my suit were out of the game for the time being, so I wouldn't have help getting the information I needed. I didn't want to jinx myself, but as I got closer and closer to the storm's origin point I couldn't help getting excited.

I was finally going to get some damned answers.

As the storm radius got smaller and smaller, it started shifting closer to the Forbidden Forest. I was bouncing on the balls of my feet, getting ready to sprint and tackle whoever was behind this before they could get away. Logically, a storm like that would require massive amounts of energy. Whoever created it should be exhausted, which would give me the perfect window to take them down.

Finally, the storm disappeared all together.

It took me a second to orient myself, but when I did I saw a figure staggering into the Forbidden Forest about half a mile ahead of me.

I took off running without a second thought. The figure was almost to the treeline, and I was not going to let them get away again.

I closed half the distance before my mystery figure reached the edge of the forest. From here it definitely looked like a guy, but I wasn't close enough to see any more than that.

"Come on," I hissed under my breath, pouring on the speed. The Forbidden Forest was a horribly complicated maze, so I couldn't lose sight of my target.

My legs and lungs were burning as I got into the forest and looked around, trying to figure out which way the guy had gone. He couldn't have gotten far, right? He was staggering like he was on death's doorstep just a few seconds ago.