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Chapter 684: The Guardian Spirit
Chapter 684: The Guardian Spirit
As the Dementors loomed outside the compartment door, not only did Percy's expression freeze, but so did the other prefects in the carriage. This was the first time they had faced Dementors, these evil dark creatures, directly.
Regardless of their prior thoughts, a chill now ran up their spines, quickly spreading throughout their bodies, leaving them unable to feel any joy.
"Black isn't here!"
A voice suddenly rang out in the quiet carriage.
Albert saw the Dementor take a big breath outside their compartment, and he frowned, clearly feeling that some of his happiness had been sucked away.
Isabelle, affected by the Dementor beside him, only made Albert's mood worse.
Albert pushed aside the stunned Percy and, raising his wand at the Dementor about to enter the carriage, repeated, "Sirius Black is not here!"
Seeing that the Dementor was still reaching for him, Albert immediately recalled his first date with Isabelle, pointed his wand at the Dementor's face, and softly spoke the spell he had practiced countless times, "Expecto Patronum!"
A huge griffin burst out from Albert's wand, its massive body slamming into the Dementor's face and knocking the ominous monster out of the carriage.
"Get out, didn't you hear me?"
Albert's tone was cold, like a wintry gust, "The person you're looking for isn't here, and you're not welcome."
As he spoke, he stepped out of the carriage and commanded his Patronus to drive away the Dementor.
As for the Dementors going to trouble other students, that was none of his business.
When Albert returned to the carriage, he found all the prefects staring at him in astonishment.
They watched as Albert directed the silver griffin to circle above their heads, dispersing the lingering chill left by the Dementor, before it turned into mottled light spots that fell all around.
"What was that monster!" Shana hugged herself, unable to stop a shudder.
"A Dementor, a guard from Azkaban," Albert explained casually, paying no mind to the complex gazes of the others, and walked straight to Isabelle.
Perhaps it was her first encounter with a Dementor, but Isabelle's face was pale.
Percy, who had faced the Dementor unprepared, also looked terrible, and his girlfriend, Penelope, helped him sit down in a chair.
No one laughed at Percy; most of the prefects were still pale-faced.
"What was that..."
"A griffin?" someone murmured.
"It's Anderson's Patronus."
The few students who knew the Patronus Charm looked at Albert with awe and admiration.
Only a powerful Patronus could drive away a Dementor.
"Patronus, what is that?"
The prefects began to whisper among themselves, exchanging information about Patronuses, and they were also curious about the "cool magic" Albert had used.
However, when they learned that the Patronus Charm was a very advanced spell, they fell silent, realizing that it was extremely difficult to cast a corporeal Patronus.
Truly worthy of being the most gifted wizard in Hogwarts' history.
This was the collective thought in everyone's minds.
Albert, however, didn't care what the others thought. He returned to Isabelle's side, put his arm around her, and let her lean on his shoulder.
Then, he took out another bottle of Cheering Charm from his pocket, bit off the sealing wax, poured some into the milk tea, and gave it to Isabelle to drink. He also unwrapped a piece of chocolate from his pocket and handed it to her.
"Some not-so-good memories," Isabelle took a small bite of the chocolate and said softly, "I'm useless. I know the Patronus Charm too, but it still affected me."
Albert comforted her softly, "Don't worry about it. You were just caught off guard."
The girls who witnessed this felt a pang of jealousy, secretly comparing their boyfriends to Albert.
As expected, there was no comparison.
And so, they felt sour! "Are you alright!" Katrina also walked over.
In fact, she felt that she might be intruding, but seeing the usually strong Isabelle looking so weak, she couldn't help but feel concerned.
This was the first time Katrina had seen this vulnerable side of Isabelle.
"I'm fine, just a little tired," Isabelle replied.
"What were those... Dementors trying to do?"
"Search for Black?"
"No, searching for Black was just an afterthought. I think they didn't really expect to find Black on the train. After all, the Dementors have been looking for him for half the summer with no success. They came onto the train mostly because they were hungry and looking for a meal." Albert glanced at the pale-faced Percy and handed the bottle of Cheering Charm to Penelope. He also poured her a cup of hot milk tea and gave Percy a few macarons to replenish his energy.
"The rest of you should also have some hot drinks. It will make you feel better. Then, go out and maintain order. The whole train must be in chaos by now."
With no one paying attention to Albert's command, they were even grateful to have someone to lead them so that everyone wouldn't panic too much.
"Then... what should we do about those Dementors?" someone asked in a low voice, obviously not wanting to face the Dementors again.
"I know Black isn't on the train, and those Dementors will leave soon after they've fed. They won't linger on the train, or someone will surely write to the Ministry of Magic to protest." Albert gave the group of prefects a hint to gather more students and parents to complain to the Ministry of Magic.
As the prefects began to fulfill their duties, the door to the prefects' compartment was opened again, and a man in his thirties, looking a bit weathered, walked in, immediately arousing the vigilance of the other prefects.
With a group of people pointing their wands at him, the middle-aged man's expression stiffened, and he raised his hand to indicate that he meant no harm.
"I am your new professor of Dark Arts defense, you can call me Professor Lupin," Professor Lupin introduced himself, "I have something to discuss with the driver now."
"Sorry, the Dementors made everyone nervous." Percy eyed Professor Lupin with suspicion and said, "I'm also going to find the driver, let's go together!"
With that, the two left together.
"Is that guy really our Dark Arts Defense professor?"
Everyone stared at Professor Lupin's departing back, doubtful.
"You guys think he might be Sirius Black in disguise." A prefect whispered, "I've heard that a compound potion can transform a person into someone else's appearance, maybe even fooling the Dementors."
Can compound potions fool Dementors?
Albert wasn't sure either, he thought it was unlikely, after all, Dementors were a bunch of blind creatures, not relying on sight to discern.
The frost on the window glass had disappeared without a sound, and the rain outside was getting heavier. The train shook slightly and slowly moved forward in the rain.
Percy soon returned and told everyone that the Dementors' search of the Hogwarts Express was just a routine duty, but no one had any good feelings about those evil guys, and the students on the entire train were scared out of their wits, which was a terrible experience for them.
After resting, Isabelle's condition improved a lot, and she was talking to Katrina.
Albert temporarily returned to his original compartment to change into his robe, as the train was about to arrive at Hogsmeade Station.
In the compartment, Fred and George were telling him about what had just happened.
"Did the three of you use Patronuses to drive away the Dementors?"
"No, as soon as the lights went out, we summoned our Patronuses right away. Although we weren't able to summon corporeal Patronuses, it was undoubtedly a success, as the Dementor didn't enter the compartment to check and left soon after."
"Your Patronuses are as fragile as paper in front of the Dementors." Albert looked at the troublemaking trio with exasperation and solemnly reminded them, "Only a corporeal Patronus can drive away a Dementor."
"Okay, before we master the Patronus Charm, we'll stay away from Dementors." George knew Albert was right, their Patronuses were too weak to deal with Dementors.
"Did you use a griffin to scare away the Dementor, like someone said?"
"Yeah, it messed up its face good."
Albert recounted what had happened in the prefects' compartment earlier, and Fred and George were very excited, especially when they heard that Percy had bumped into a Dementor as soon as he opened the door and was so scared that his face turned white. They wished they had been there to witness Percy's embarrassment.
"But, very few students seem to be able to use the Patronus Charm." Lee Jordan felt even more that he couldn't learn the Patronus Charm because of a reason.
"Don't make excuses for yourself, it's because you guys aren't working hard enough." Albert rolled his eyes at Lee Jordan's words.
"By the way, that little idiot from the Malfoy family ran into our compartment, he was so scared by the Dementors that he peed his pants." Fred and George changed the subject, talking about some interesting things that had happened on their side.
"Your Cheering Charm potions are quite effective, we felt much better after drinking them."
"Someone said that Harry Potter was scared unconscious by the Dementors."
"Aren't you going to check on your sister? After what happened recently, I'm sure the Dementors have affected Ginny a lot." Albert reminded them.
As he was about to return to the prefects' compartment, Albert was still a little worried about Isabelle.
"You mean Ginny was affected too."
Hearing Albert's words, Fred and George stood up, reaching out to stop Albert and asked, "Do you have any more Cheering Charms?"
"No, I just ran out." Albert reminded them, "If you still have candies made with Cheering Charms there, give her some to eat, as well as some chocolate."
After Albert left, Fred and George also left, they were also a little worried about Ginny's situation.
(End of Chapter)
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