Chapter 142: Christmas
Chapter 142: Christmas
The flames in the office fireplace flickered continuously.
However, as Sherlock removed the spell from the Dementor and took off the sack, a bone-chilling cold swept through the entire room.
A pervasive, bone-chilling cold emanated from the Dementor. Its face, hidden by the robe, immediately began to drain hope and happiness from the nearby Sherlock.
This was their instinctive feeding behavior, even in captivity.
Sherlock was unfazed. Compared to the Straw Golem at Goblin Headquarters, the despair the Dementor spread was negligible.
He waved his wand, tightening the silver threads that bound the Dementor even more.
It was clear that the Dementor was in great pain. The Patronus Charm, which releases positive emotions, is the natural enemy of these creatures.
Although the original owner was not an expert in the Patronus Charm, he conducted experiments on Dementors in Azkaban using a non-corporeal Patronus Charm.
The Dementor's favorite and most essential food is the positive emotions of humans.
They feed on positive human emotions and require a feedback of fear and despair afterward.
In other words, Dementors don't just drain hope and happiness; they also need the person to exhibit fear and despair to be satisfied.
The Patronus Charm is the Dementor's greatest enemy because the silver light it emits contains only positive emotions. The guardian spirit it summons is a semi-physical being made entirely of positive emotions.
Guardians have only positive emotions and do not feel despair, so Dementors cannot harm them and are instead driven away by the intense positive energy.
However, this is only a matter of driving them away.
As one of the most evil creatures in the world, Dementors cannot be destroyed.
Since their discovery, there has never been a recorded instance of a Dementor dying.
Even the most powerful Patronus Charm can only drive them away or weaken them, but it cannot truly eliminate them.
Of course, these are the conclusions drawn from previous experiences. Sherlock planned to test these claims himself today.
He summoned a guardian spirit over the Dementor, and a silver bird spread its wings and circled above the Dementor.
The Dementor clearly showed signs of agitation, desperately trying to escape but held in place by the silver threads, unable to move an inch.
Under Sherlock's control, the Raven Patronus finally landed on the Dementor's head.
The Dementor seemed to be in extreme pain, with gray smoke continuously rising from its body. Within minutes, it became incredibly weak and collapsed on the ground.
But there were no other signs of it dying. The Dementor lay limp, with Sherlock's guardian spirit standing over it, and the black smoke gradually ceased.
The Dementor's condition suggested it had lost most of its strength but showed no signs of being killed.
Regular spells, even the Killing Curse, are ineffective against them. Physical attacks don't even touch these creatures; the only thing that affects them is the Patronus Charm.
However, the Patronus Charm can't kill them; it can only weaken them and drive them away.
After verifying these facts, Sherlock understood why the Ministry of Magic had ultimately decided to cooperate with these creatures.
Dementors, which feed primarily on human emotions, are natural enemies of humans.
But these creatures cannot be killed, and normal means cannot harm them.
The Patronus Charm, a defensive spell of the highest difficulty, can be successfully summoned by very few wizards.
If a large number of Dementors were to wreak havoc, there wouldn't be enough wizards to drive them away.
So the best solution is to gather them in one place, provide them with sufficient "food" to pacify them, and prevent them from causing chaos in populated areas.
Building Azkaban as a wizard prison and sending guilty wizards there to serve as food for the Dementors was the best solution they could come up with.
Dementors clearly don't care about their status in the eyes of wizards.
As long as someone provides them with enough food, they will follow that person, showing no loyalty or trust.
Sherlock looked at the Dementor lying on the ground and clicked his tongue. Initially, he thought these creatures could be completely eradicated, but now he realized he had oversimplified the matter.
If the Patronus Charm were truly lethal to Dementors, ancient wizards would have already eradicated these anti-human entities long ago.
After hiding the weakened Dementor in a cabinet and securing it with the Patronus Charm's threads, Sherlock clapped his hands and headed to the Great Hall to help Professor Flitwick with the Christmas decorations for the next day.
This Dementor still has its uses, so I can't send it back just yet.
On Christmas Day, Sherlock woke up early to find a small pile of gifts at the foot of his bed.
He stared at the gifts for a while, reflecting on the ones he received last year, which were only about half the number. Now, the pile was already so high.
Of course, Sherlock had also given out quite a few gifts, unlike last year when he only sent Dumbledore a Christmas card.
However, the Christmas greetings on the gifts he sent were not written by him.
A week ago, when he was preparing the gifts, Harry happened to be in the office. When he saw Sherlock writing the names of the recipients on one card after another—Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, Dumbledore, Professor Mcgonagall—Harry turned pale with fright.
Harry hesitantly told him that he could help write the greetings.
Sherlock naturally refused at first, but seeing Harry's pleading, almost tearful face, he eventually relented and let Harry write the greetings on the cards for him.
As Harry wrote the cards at Sherlock's desk, he felt immensely relieved and proud.
He felt like a hero, saving people like Mr. Weasley from the potential misery of a giftless Christmas.
The first thing Sherlock did after waking up on Christmas morning was to open his gifts.
Professor Mcgonagall gave him another knitted hat, this time in pure black.
Mrs. Weasley sent him a pair of woolen trousers, and Kingsley sent him a valuable ancient defense magic scroll.
Fleur, who was in France, sent him a complete set of wand care tools, and Silke sent him a brand new quick-note quill.
To be honest, Sherlock was quite surprised by Silke's gift. He never imagined that someone with Silke's personality would give gifts at Christmas.
Fleur was another surprise. He hadn't expected that the girl in France would still remember him after almost half a year.
Most importantly, he hadn't prepared any gifts for these two people.
This made Sherlock, who was still rooted in the tradition of reciprocity, feel somewhat awkward, as if he were a heartless person.
But Christmas had already begun, and there was no way to make up for this mistake now. He could only plan to compensate them double the next year.
After opening his gifts, Sherlock went to the Great Hall for breakfast. He still needed to help Professor Flitwick add some ribbons to the Great Hall, which he hadn't finished decorating the day before.
In the morning, he didn't return to his office but instead spent time in the Teachers' Common Room discussing teaching matters with Professor Mcgonagall.
This year, the castle's Christmas atmosphere was noticeably quieter than last year, as there were very few students staying at the school. Along with the single professors who lived on campus year-round, there were fewer than twenty people in total.
But the lunch atmosphere was lively, and the Christmas joy allowed Harry to temporarily forget about the Black affair. Additionally, he had received a new broomstick, the "Firebolt", as a Christmas gift from an unknown sender that morning.
At the table, under Dumbledore's strong recommendation, Snape reluctantly pulled a magic firecracker, and a large witch's hat popped out and landed on his head.
He scowled and pushed the hat to Dumbledore, who immediately put it on with delight.
One person was noticeably absent from the table today: Lupin.
Professor Trelawney noticed this, and Dumbledore covered it up by saying he was sick again.
In reality, it was the full moon, and Lupin had likely taken the Wolfsbane potion prepared by Snape and found a place to transform.
After the Christmas feast, Sherlock returned to his office to continue his magic experiments with the Dementor.
As night fell over Hogwarts and the moonlight shone through the glass into the room, he stuffed the Dementor, which he had nearly tortured to death, back into the cabinet. He then took out the pendant box from around his neck and examined it in the moonlight.
It seemed to be slightly newer than before.
The changes in the pendant box were subtle, but after so many days, it was clear that it was different from when it first appeared on Sherlock.
Although it was still dark gold overall, the rust-like spots on its surface had disappeared, as if it had been refurbished.
This change was enough to confirm Dumbledore's words.
The pendant box was slowly repairing itself, and what would happen when it was fully repaired was unknown.
Sherlock hoped it would be as Dumbledore said: when it could be opened, it would also be the time he could take it off his neck.
Given its current rate of self-repair, that day wouldn't be far off.
(End of Chapter)
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