Harry stood frozen in Knockturn Alley, the air around him thick with a stench of decay and eerie dread, as if he were being dragged into a dark abyss by some invisible giant hand.
Oddly shaped wizards in bizarre attire swarmed out like malicious spirits from a crack in the dark, their steps dragging yet eager, instantly surrounding him in a tight circle.
A hunchbacked witch edged close to him first. Her skin resembled a riverbed dried up for a millennium, webbed with intersecting cracks, every wrinkle harboring a chilling sinister aura.
Chapter 178