Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 190 Dementors

Suddenly, a short, sharp creaking sound came from outside the door, and Harry saw a blurry black silhouette.

Ron wiped a clean spot on the windowpane and looked out.

“There’s something moving over there,” Ron said, his voice trembling. “I guess people are coming out…”

The carriage door suddenly opened, and someone fell painfully onto Harry's lap.

"I'm so sorry! Do you...do you know what happened? Oh! I'm so sorry—"

“Hello, Neville.” Harry recognized the voice, felt for Neville’s coat in the darkness, pulled him up, and then pushed him to the other side—

Push them to the row of seats where Ron and Hermione are.

“Harry? Is that you? What happened?” Neville asked.

"I don't know! Please sit down."

A loud hiss and a scream of pain followed; Neville had mistakenly sat on Crookshank.

“I was just about to ask the driver what happened.” That was Hermione’s voice.

Harry felt her walk past him, heard the carriage door open again, followed by a dull thud and two squeaks.

"Who? Who is it?"

"Ginny?"

Hermione?

What are you doing here?

“I’ve come to see Ron—” Ginny said.

But just moments before, Tyella, who had evolved heat-sensing abilities through flesh magic, "saw" Ginny's body temperature rise slightly in the darkness, and then she walked towards Harry—

"Come in, sit down—" Harry touched Ginny and then shoved her toward Ron.

"Ouch!" Neville cried out again, clearly Ginny had just stepped on his foot while carefully making her way there.

"Quiet!" a rough voice suddenly said. Professor Lupin seemed to have finally woken up.

Neither of them spoke again.

There was a slight crackling sound in the carriage, followed by a flickering light.

Professor Lu Ping seemed to be holding a fire.

The firelight illuminated Professor Lupin's tired, ashen face, but his eyes were alert and cautious.

"Stay where you are and don't move," he said, in that same rough, hoarse voice.

Then Lupin slowly stood up, the firelight in his hand extended in front of him.

But before he reached the carriage door, the door slowly opened.

Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the flickering firelight in Lupin's hand, was a cloaked monster, its height reaching the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its turban.

A hand emerged from the cloak; it glowed faintly, was gray, thin, and scabbed, as if something had died and rotted in water.

The monster beneath the cloak seemed to have noticed the carriage.

That withered, disgusting hand emerged again from under the cloak and waved in the corridor.

The carriage door, locked from the inside, was opened very easily.

The monster poked its head into the corridor, seemingly attracted by someone inside.

The monster first approached Harry, "sniffed" at him, seemingly interested but still somewhat dissatisfied, then turned to Tyrell, who was sitting next to Harry—

As if drawn by something delicious, the Dementor opened what was under its headscarf and gasped for breath, its movements trembling.

Feel nothing.

Tierra felt nothing at all.

That's not quite accurate.

To be precise, Tiera felt a cool breeze on her face.

After taking a breath, the Dementor paused for a moment.

She wanted to get closer and take a second breath—but then, a white light flashed behind Tiera—

A bright and warm halo extended from the tip of Lupin's wand.

The aperture formed a shield shape—

The Dementors that came into contact with the aperture screamed and retreated from the carriage as if scalded by boiling water.

After a while, the lights above the carriage came on, and the floor began to shake.

The Hogwarts Express has started running again.

"Are you...are you alright?" Harry asked anxiously, then reached out and grabbed Tyella's hand. "Just now, just now that monster suddenly came up to you, and we were all terrified."

“It seems to have sucked something away from you!” Ron chimed in.

"I didn't..." Tierra glanced at Lupin out of the corner of her eye and realized he was also watching her, so she forced a shiver down her spine, her face turning deathly pale—

“I feel so cold,” Tierra said. “It’s like all the joy has vanished.”

“It feels like I’m back in the orphanage where I was bullied,” Tierra said, glancing at Lupin.

"Here you go." Professor Lupin took a large piece of chocolate out of his pocket, then broke it into smaller pieces and handed them to Tierra. "Eat this; it'll do you good."

Then, after thinking for a moment, Lupin broke off a large piece of chocolate and handed it to Harry: "Here, have one too."

"Th...thank you." Harry took the chocolate, bewildered, but didn't eat it.

“What was that just now?” Harry asked.

“A Dementor,” Lupin said, handing out chocolates to everyone. “One of the most wicked monsters in the world, a Dementor from Azkaban.”

Everyone stared at him. Professor Lupin crumpled the empty chocolate wrapper into a ball and put it in his pocket.

“Eat up,” he said again. “It’ll do you good. I need to speak with the driver. Excuse me.”

He walked past Harry and disappeared down the corridor.

"Are you alright, Tyella?" Hermione asked immediately after Lupin disappeared, looking at Tyella anxiously.

“It’s alright,” Tierra said, eating the chocolate in her hand, then wrapping her wizard’s robe tighter around herself and sitting down in the spot where Lupin had just been sitting, by the window.

“I’m just a little sleepy,” Tiera said, closing her eyes as she recalled some knowledge she had gained from the “Inheritor” within her memory palace.

Several months later, the spiritual dimension of the "Inheritor" was initially constructed, and Tiera could already glean some knowledge from it.

Even this tiny fraction of knowledge was enough for Tiera to digest.

"Let me sleep for a while," Tierra said.

About fifteen minutes later, Professor Lu Ping returned after making his rounds.

He paused as he entered, looked around, smiled slightly, and said, "I didn't poison the chocolate, you know..."

Harry also tried taking a bite, and to his great surprise, a warm current suddenly spread to his fingertips and toes.

“We’ll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes,” Professor Lupin said, then looked into Harry’s eyes and held out his hand—

“Hello, Harry,” Lupin said.

Harry could feel that Lupin's hands were sweaty—

But it was very warm.

Harry didn't ask Professor Lupin how he knew his name; Harry had already heard too many of the same explanations.

"Okay," Lupin said softly, sounding somewhat embarrassed. He sat down near the door, next to Harry, nervously rubbing his hands.

They didn't talk much for the rest of the journey.

Finally, when the train finally stopped at Hogsmeade Village, Harry gently shook Tyella awake, and then the young wizards hurriedly got ready before finally stepping onto the Hogsmeade Village platform.

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(End of this chapter)