Counterclockwise · Rewrite the Stars

"—Critocarpal."

Kudo was awakened by sharp pain, accompanied by a deep male voice that was extremely cold.

He raised his eyebrows, barely opened his eyes, feeling a little dazed about his situation for a moment.He was bound backwards by an iron chain and knelt on the ground. The great pain caused by the Unforgivable Curse made him curl up like a shrimp. The cold sweat could not stop sliding down his tight jaw, and his soft black hair was covered with water. Soaked, sticking to his forehead in strands, his lips were bitten bloody, and the eyelashes like crow's wings trembled slightly.He guessed that he had been tormented for a while, his eyesight went black for a while, and the pain came in wave after wave, which made it difficult for him to even lift his fingers, and he could only see the dark and silent The crowd and the immaculately polished boots before my eyes.

"Let me ask again," the voice of a man with smooth blond hair came from above him, he casually raised Kudo's chin with his boots, lowered his eyes to look at the defenseless young Auror at his feet, and revealed With an expression like teasing a small animal, he turned his face to the crowd and said word by word, "Who, yes, undercover, undercover."

A silence.

The blond man seemed to have anticipated the current situation a long time ago, and said with a soft smile: "It's okay, I just haven't played enough with this newly caught prey. Why don't you come and see how many more Unforgivable Curses he can withstand?"

Kudo thought blankly, he would die.

His body had reached its limit, and another Unforgivable Curse—no, not even an Unforgivable Curse, any spell that would harm him would cause Death to swing the scythe hanging over his head.

Kudo closed his eyes, waiting for the moment of judgment.

The blond-haired man raised his wand slowly, with a cruel arc on his lips, and aimed at the ashen-faced Kudo: "Kuanxin——"

"--stop!"

Suddenly, a man shouted violently from the crowd.The blond man raised one eyebrow, stopped his hands, and looked towards the source of the voice.

"stop."

A black-haired man had a sullen face, and the wizards watching below automatically made way for him, allowing him to walk a few meters away from the black-haired man and stop. With his hands in his pockets, his voice returned to calm: " Leave him alone, Gin. I'll do with you."

"Scotland." Gin shrugged, with a playful tone, "I didn't expect it to be you."

Scotland said nothing, without a trace of fear in his eyes, and then said: "Kudo Shinichi is innocent, let him go. He is useless to you, isn't he?"

Gin touched his chin thoughtfully, and kicked Kudo with his boots: "Really? This—Mr. Chief Auror, has caused us a lot of trouble."

"It's not that troublesome, you and I both know." Scotland stared at him closely, "Besides, I can exchange information with you."

"Oh?" Gin suddenly laughed, as if he had heard some big joke, "You're already standing here, am I still worried that I won't find any information? Scotland, Scotland."

Scotland pulled out his wand abruptly, pointed it at his throat before everyone could react, and raised his eyebrows mockingly at the astonished Gin: "--if I'm still alive."

"..." Qin Jiu's face suddenly turned cold, and a clearly visible tyranny flashed across his long and narrow eyes.Scotland presses: "Let go of him, let go of Kudo Shinichi!"

Gin stared at him, and in the unbearable silence he finally snorted, and waved his hand to make the iron chains on Kudo's body fall one by one, the crisp sound of metal impact made everyone's hearts jump.Kudo fell to the ground exhausted, and the superimposition of multiple Unforgivable Curses made him still unconsciously convulse slightly, and he didn't even have the strength to stand up.Fortunately, Gin never glanced at him again, but gracefully walked in front of Scotland, gently removed Scotland's wand with one finger, and stroked the corner of his eyes gently, but his voice was completely indifference—

"...you know what happens to traitors, my dear Scotland."

The black-haired man pursed his lips tightly, and the hand holding the wand was trembling.

He thought he could calmly face death when his identity was revealed, but it wasn't until this moment came that he realized that he was still afraid after all.

But it is also impossible for him to watch the best Chief Auror over the years being tortured to death in this dark place.

Impossible.

"Ley." Gin raised his voice, and his eyes fell on a man with black long hair who was standing in the corner leaning against the wall with his arms folded and a cigarette in his mouth. He tilted his head, "What? Said that Scotland is also a member of your team, so you can deal with it."

All eyes were immediately focused on the man whose face was covered in smoke.

After a moment of stalemate, Ley smiled contemptuously, threw the smoke that was about to burn out on the ground, stepped on his feet hard, stood up straight, and glanced around with his cold and emotionless green eyes. The lively crowd finally settled on Qin Jiu who was looking at him with a half-smile, and said with care like gold: "Boring."

"Have you softened your heart, Ley?" Qin Jiu was not angry, and looked at the black-haired man fixedly.

Ley pressed the center of his eyebrows, frowning his sword eyebrows, and a small mountain peak rose between his eyebrows.He finally pulled out his slender wand from his pocket, walked to Scotland's side, forcefully turned his face with the wand, and looked at him carefully for a moment.

Scotland looked at his team leader, and there was nothing in the other's deep dark green eyes, only nothingness.Under such gazes, Scotland suddenly felt a strange feeling in his heart, like...

Gin took a step back, and stood by the side as if watching a show.

Ley let out a sigh.

"Don't be afraid," he said.

"...?"

Ley laughed without any sarcasm, and could even be said to be gentle, with a relaxed tone: "After all, you are not alone, Scotland."

"Varied--"

In the next second, Ley's wand changed direction, aimed at Gin who was astonished and hadn't reacted yet, and shouted sharply: "Avada Kedavra!"

Gin was obviously not a vegetarian either, he immediately realized what had happened, and used the Transformation Charm to set up a shield in front of him.A deadly green beam struck, blasting the shield to pieces.The crowd was in an uproar, shocked by the actions of the three men standing in the center.

Ley clicked his tongue, glanced at the bewildered Scotland, and said quickly when fighting Gin: "You go and take that Auror kid, and I'll deal with the rest."

Scotland nodded hastily: "Okay."

Gin Jiu was almost successfully raided. After avoiding the aftermath with a neat roll, he shouted angrily: "Why are you still standing there! Kill them!"

The scene was chaotic.

Lights of various colors flew back and forth in the air, and sharp roars followed one after another, accompanied by loud curses.

"I really didn't expect—" Gin's expression was a little distorted, he waved his wand angrily, and threw out one fatal spell after another, regardless of whether he hurt his own people, "You are an undercover agent."

Ley just frowned, but the sweat on his brow had already revealed his hard work.He laughed mockingly, and raised his hand to block an attack: "Reality is always full of surprises, Gin."

"Ley, you will never get out of here today!"

"Oh, really?"

During the fierce battle, no one noticed that Kudo Shinichi, who was so weak as if he was about to merge with the wall, raised his hand with difficulty but resolutely, facing the direction of Gin, whispered the simplest and most One of the basic mantras—

"Lie... blazing flames..."

The last syllable dissipated in the air, followed by a monstrous fire that suddenly rose up, and the scorching wave attacked the gin with an aura that opened up the world.Gin Jiu was disrupted by this sudden move, a sharp sharp strike from Ley came over without giving him any chance to breathe, and slammed a long wound across his left cheek.Blood slid down his cheeks, and Gin turned sideways angrily, ignoring the blood stains on his face, and aimed his wand at the young man leaning against the wall and hanging his hands powerlessly, closing his eyes and waiting for the end.

"Avada Kedavra!"

...Death did not come as promised.

It took two seconds for Kudo to open his eyes in confusion, and then he saw the black-haired man—the undercover agent named Scotland— standing in front of him and slowly falling forward.

His eyes widened, his pupils constricted suddenly, and his heart seemed to be tightly clenched.

how--

Immediately afterwards, he sank into a dark abyss.

……

Kudo sat up suddenly, staring ahead in shock.The familiar herbal aroma filled the air.St. Mungo, he realized, was also here that he took the initiative to accept hypnotherapy, and buried all the painful, absurd and dark memories.

But at this moment he remembered——

He thought of every scene when he was forced to seal himself up due to post-traumatic stress disorder when he was 24 years old, he thought of the man who desperately stood in front of him in the melee, he thought of the sound of Gin throwing the death curse at himself with a ferocious face, and The voice he heard in the Forbidden Forest a few months ago was so similar, it reminded him of his deepest nightmare.

The memories that had been sleeping for many days poured out, causing Kudo to hug his head and growl in pain, his whole body trembling slightly.

—He remembered it all.