https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-358-Two-Galleons-Barely-Breaking-Even/12538618/
Chapter 357: The Incident that Shocked Lupin for a Year
Chapter 357: The Incident that Shocked Lupin for a Year
About ten minutes later, after the two Dementors had inspected all the carriages, the lights in the corridors and on the shelves flickered back to life.
The warm glow of the lamps seemed to dispel the cold, and as the surroundings brightened, voices began to fill the train once more.
"What...what was that?" Connor asked.
"Dementors," Kyle replied as he placed the luggage back onto the shelves. "Guardians of Azkaban."
"I know they were Dementors," Connor shook her head. "I'm asking about the spell you used to ward off the cold. What was it?"
"Oh, that..." Kyle distributed some chocolate to everyone. "It's the Patronus Charm, the simplest and most effective way to defend against Dementors. If you can conjure a fully-formed Patronus, it can even cause them harm."
"Huh? Didn't you just use the Lumos spell?" Fred asked, confused. He only remembered Kyle taking out his wand and the compartment lighting up.
Kyle ignored him.
While both the Lumos spell and the Patronus Charm created light, the difference was like night and day...well, if one didn't look too closely, they might appear similar.
"A fully-formed Patronus?" Connor was intrigued. "What does it look like?"
"The light takes the form of a silvery-white animal," Kyle explained. "It can run and jump through the air as if it were alive."
"Is it difficult?" Connor inquired.
She recalled not seeing any animals in the carriage earlier.
While she was eager to learn this spell, if even Kyle couldn't perform it, then she might as well not waste her time.
"It's hard to say," Kyle explained. "It's challenging, but not impossible. If you have a strong enough happy memory, learning the spell becomes much easier."
He had learned the Patronus Charm in Romania with Newt, and the memory he had chosen was the excitement he felt when he first received his acceptance letter to Hogwarts.
Another memory that helped was Snape's reaction upon hearing the words 'Half-Blood Prince'. The image of Snape trying to drill a hole in the castle floor with his toes was simply priceless.
The results were remarkable.
It had only taken him two days to master the Patronus Charm.
However, there had been no need to cast a full Patronus just now. The Dementors were acting under the Ministry of Magic's orders to inspect the train, and the focus of those orders was the Ministry, not the Dementors themselves.
Thus, until they had fulfilled their task, the Dementors wouldn't leave, as the one earlier had demonstrated.
Forcibly driving them away might have the opposite effect and even anger them.
There were hundreds of students on the train, and Kyle couldn't guarantee that he would be able to protect everyone, not even with Professor Lupin's help.
In a situation of extreme fear, not everyone would remain calm and follow instructions.
...
After the Dementors left, the train started moving again.
The group sat in their seats, discussing what had just transpired.
George, unfortunately, had been trembling with fear, his teeth chattering loudly, and now he became the target of everyone's jokes. He insisted that he had merely been frozen with cold, but no one believed him.
Whether it was out of fear or the cold didn't matter now. What they needed was a new source of entertainment to dispel the lingering effects of the Dementors, and George was the perfect candidate, through no fault of his own.
Of the group, Fred's laughter was the loudest.
As for George himself...anger and embarrassment were sometimes more effective than happiness, and as he vehemently defended himself, he had already forgotten about the Dementors.
The train continued northward, the rain outside forming an unbroken sheet against the windows.
"Should we go and check on Harry?" Fred, now cheerful again after teasing George, suddenly suggested. "I think I heard Ron shouting that he had fainted.
It was easy to find Harry's compartment—it was at the very back, surrounded by a crowd of curious onlookers.
Apparently, they weren't the only ones who had heard the scream.
However, with a professor inside, the group didn't dare to enter. They merely stood around, craning their necks to catch a glimpse inside.
Kyle and the others had no such concerns and certainly didn't care about the presence of a professor. Fred and George, under the pretext of checking on their younger brother Ron, pushed their way through the crowd and entered the compartment.
Harry was lying on the floor, moaning softly as if he was having a terrible nightmare.
Hermione and Ron were frantically calling out to him.
Professor Lupin was writing a letter.
As Kyle and the others entered, the professor looked up, his gaze lingering on Fred and George's bright red hair for a moment before he lowered his head again, not bothering to shoo them away.
"Kyle..." Hermione asked anxiously, "Do you have any ideas on how to wake Harry up quickly?"
"That's not difficult," Kyle replied thoughtfully. "Gently, we can just wait for him to wake up on his own. Or, if we want to be more forceful, we can splash some cold water on his face—the kind with ice chips in it. We don't need much, just a basinful will do."
"But where can we find ice water...?"
"You're a wizard, Ron," Hermione said disapprovingly, as she brandished her wand.
"No need," Kyle waved his hand, "I have a better way."
At that moment, Professor Lupin had also finished writing his letter, and Kyle walked over to open the window.
A gust of cold wind, mixed with raindrops, blew into the compartment, hitting Harry's face directly.
Harry, lying on the floor, shuddered violently and opened his eyes groggily.
"See?" Kyle closed the window again.
Ron and Hermione quickly helped Harry back into his seat.
"Are you okay?" Ron asked anxiously.
"I'm fine," Harry replied, quickly glancing towards the door. The figure in the cloak was gone, and there was only a row of curious heads, which quickly withdrew at the sight of his gaze.
"Where... where did that thing go? Who was screaming just now?"
"No one was screaming," Ron said.
"But I heard it... a woman's scream."
"It must have been the Dementor bringing up some bad memories for you."
Kyle offered him some chocolate, "Have some, it will help you."
Behind them, Professor Lupin also held a large block of chocolate, though it looked rather plain and inexpensive compared to the elegantly packaged French chocolates that Kyle had.
The professor quietly slipped his chocolate back into his pocket, thinking to himself, "That chocolate must be five Sickles a block... these young wizards nowadays certainly have deep pockets."
On the other hand, after taking a bite of the chocolate, Harry was surprised to find a warm sensation spreading throughout his body, making him feel much better.
"Thanks!" he said to Kyle, "This chocolate is amazing, where did you get it?"
"I don't know," Kyle shrugged, "It was a birthday gift from a French friend. It came in a big bag of candies, and this was one of them."
"French chocolates... they must be expensive," Ron swallowed hard.
"Ten Galleons a block," Cedric suddenly spoke up, "I saw this brand of chocolate in a magic shop when I was traveling in France. Apparently, it's made with fifty years' worth of golden bee honey and milk from a Re'em cow. It's ridiculously expensive."
"Ding-a-ling..."
Professor Lupin's wand fell to the floor as he stared at Kyle, shocked.
"Ten Galleons... for a block of chocolate?!"
"These kids nowadays, they're bloody loaded!"
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
