Harry Potter: I started checking in from Diagon Alley

"I completely understand the desire to consider the blood ties of old friends and relatives, because I love the house and its people."

"But you know James Potter, but you don't know his son, Harry Potter."

Lupin angrily retorted, "How dare you say such a thing?"

“Why wouldn’t I dare?” Eric laughed. “Do you know what kind of environment Harry grew up in? Do you know which Muggle school Harry attended before coming to Hogwarts?”

"Do you know that Harry doesn't get a decent meal at his aunt's house?"

"And do you know that Harry slept in the closet with a moldy blanket before he even realized he was a wizard?"

“He told me these words himself after I met Harry at the Leaky Cauldron.”

"Even someone like me, whom he had never met before, became someone Harry could confide in. And where were you at that time?"

"By the way, the reason Harry came to the Leaky Cauldron alone was because he attacked his Muggle aunt with magic, and the reason he did that was because the Dursleys insulted Harry's parents."

Do you still think you understand Harry?

Eric's tone remained almost unchanged, unusually calm, yet every word was piercing.

Under Eric's relentless barrage of words, Lupin's face turned deathly pale almost instantly, and he was utterly speechless.

Lupin stared blankly at Harry, only then noticing that the boy opposite him was somewhat thinner than his peers. Even after two years at Hogwarts, the shadow of his impoverished past could still be seen on his face.

"I... Oh my god, I never knew..."

Lupin looked at Harry in shock.

Before Eric could answer, Harry overheard their conversation. He had calmed down slightly, his eyes were red, but he appeared unusually determined. He hurriedly said, "Professor! That's what I want to know!"

“Eric meant me no harm; he only told me everything after I strongly insisted.”

“Harry…” Lupin clenched his fists, unsure of what to say, and finally managed to squeeze out, “I’m sorry…”

After saying that, Lupin looked at Eric again and said in a voice that only he and Eric could hear, "We need to talk."

Eric remained noncommittal; even when he was refuting Lupin, he maintained a gentle smile and remained calm throughout.

Only in this way could Eric, the only one in the carriage, perceive that the temperature in the air had been gradually decreasing without him noticing.

Chapter 37 The Dementors Attack

As night deepened, the setting sun had completely disappeared from sight.

After Lupin and Eric stopped talking, the compartment fell silent again.

Harry was in low spirits. Lupin wanted to strike up a conversation with him, but after Eric pointed out his troubles, he didn't know how to start. He could only force himself to find topics to talk about, but not many. After exchanging a few words with Harry and Ron, he gave up.

With Lupin present, Harry couldn't open up and chat with Eric, so he could only whisper with Ron about Quidditch, topics that the others weren't interested in.

Hermione, on the other hand, kept staring curiously at Eric, who was resting with his eyes closed.

The atmosphere in the cubicle felt a bit oppressive.

"Don't you...don't you feel a little cold?"

After a long silence, Ron finally broke the silence, stammering as he spoke.

This statement perfectly shifted everyone's attention from Eric and Lupin's conversation to the temperature.

As if in sync with Ron's words, the headlights above suddenly flickered off eerily, making a crackling sound.

A moment later, before anyone could cast a light spell, the car lights came on again, illuminating the compartment once more.

Not only Eric's compartment, but almost simultaneously, all the compartments in the entire train carriage underwent this strange change.

The change in the car lights caused a stir among those around them, and even Ron and Harry were startled and cried out.

Just after the headlights flashed, everyone in the carriage heard the train's whistle, followed by the sound of rails scraping against each other.

Gradually, the Hogwarts Express came to a complete stop on the tracks.

This change naturally caused a stir among those around them.

"What's going on? We haven't even reached the station yet," Ron said, looking around.

Faintly, the voices of the prefects maintaining order could be heard coming from outside the cubicle, which made Ron even more nervous.

He couldn't help but look at Harry and Hermione, as well as Lupin and Eric sitting opposite him. Several times he wanted to stand up and go outside to see what was happening, but when he saw Eric's calm demeanor, he sat back down in his chair.

Lupin's performance was similar to Eric's, as if he had known this change would happen all along.

Hermione looked up sharply at the car headlights and exclaimed in surprise, "What's that?"

Apart from Eric, the others looked up and discovered that a thin layer of frost had formed on the glass cover of the headlights, making them appear foggy.

In fact, not only the headlights overhead, but also the car doors and windows were all covered in frost.

Everyone clearly noticed the sudden drop in temperature.

This wasn't a gradual process; it was more like the train suddenly entering a world full of ice and snow.

Ron, wearing only a thin shirt, was already shivering, his arms wrapped around his chest, as were Harry and Hermione.

Lupin and Eric, one in a suit jacket and the other in a school uniform, were both in a bit of a predicament, but even they were starting to feel uncomfortable.

At this moment, Eric slightly opened his eyes and chuckled, "Finally here."

Lupin glanced at Eric with surprise.

"What's coming?" Harry asked, exhaling a puff of white breath.

Harry seemed to be getting nervous, perhaps because he had just talked to Lupin about his parents.

"It's alright, don't move, Harry, stay in the chair."

Lupin answered Harry's question for Eric, then he stood up, took his wand from his pocket, and pointed it directly at the cubicle door.

The next moment, the cubicle door was suddenly pushed open again.

This time, it wasn't a person that was sent in, but a huge gray "creature" floating on the ceiling.

Harry only saw a huge cloak float in lightly down the ceiling of the cubicle.

It's hard to describe what it was; Harry had never seen such a creature before.

It had no feet and flew in mid-air, its whole body looking as if it had been soaked in water and rotten, revealing rotten, chapped palms, with no part of its skin intact.

Harry couldn't see the creature's face, but he could feel a chilling gaze locked onto him through the cloak.

The moment he felt that gaze, a flood of unpleasant memories rushed into Harry's mind.

His mind was in complete chaos, as if it had been violently stirred up with malice.

Harry wanted to cry, wanted to scream, but he couldn't control his body at all.

Harry began to shiver uncontrollably in the cold air.

Ron, who was standing next to him, was the same.

Hermione fared better, but she still kept shivering and couldn't look directly at the gray object on the ceiling.

Suddenly, she looked at Eric opposite her in surprise.

Even an adult wizard like Lupin could see the discomfort in his face from his ferocious expression.

Lupin's symptoms were better than the trio's, but it was clear that he was forcibly suppressing his fear.

However, Eric remained completely unaffected, sitting calmly in his chair, though his wand had somehow appeared and was quietly held in his hand.

"Dementors are magical creatures created purely to rob others of their happiness."

Sensing Hermione's gaze, Eric chuckled and explained.

The calm voice rang in their ears, but at this moment it sounded particularly jarring.

"Get out!" Lupin growled, pointing his wand at the approaching Dementors. "There's nothing for you here!"

The Dementors ignored them and instead tried to go deeper into the compartment.

It moved a few steps in the air. On the other side, Harry could no longer bear such intense psychological pressure, his face turned pale, and he fainted, collapsing to the floor.

Ron screamed and tried to help Harry up, but he also tripped and fell because of the cold.

Seeing this, Eric stood up and smiled at Lupin, saying, "You have no way to negotiate with Dementors."

"This is all they can understand."

Eric raised his acacia wand, ignoring Lupin's surprised look, and shouted at the Dementor before him, "Patriot!"

A blinding white light suddenly burst forth from the head of Eric's wand. At extremely close range, the Dementor floating in the air almost immediately felt the immense pressure emanating from Eric's wand. It immediately turned to escape, but it was too late.

The white light emitted by Eric materialized and condensed into wisps, like smoke, instantly enveloping the Dementors in the compartment.

The next moment, the Dementor was struck hard, its upper body collapsing and rolling backward as if hit head-on by a truck, and was expelled from the compartment.

boom!

The Dementors' departure stirred up a storm, making it impossible for Lupin and the others in the cubicle to open their eyes, and their luggage on the rack was swept off the floor.

A sharp cry echoed throughout the carriage as the Dementor departed, shaking everyone to their core.

In the chaos, Lupin barely managed to open his eyes a crack, only to see a pair of enormous white wings occupying the spot where the Dementor had been, and the cry was coming from the owner of those wings.

That is……

Lupin's pupils contracted to their maximum size, and he was utterly shocked.

A massive, pure white raptor hovered in mid-air, maintaining its posture as if it had banished the Dementors. Its wingspan filled the entire compartment, and its sharp eyes looked down proudly at Eric, who had summoned it.

Eric simply smiled and patted the wings of his guardian deity.

Chapter 38 Crush them

It's actually a physical guardian deity!

Lupin was utterly shocked.

Eric is so young, yet he used the Guardian Charm right in front of him!

When Lupin first heard Eric recite the incantation for the Guardian Angel, he thought he had misheard.

Unexpectedly, Eric actually summoned the guardian spirit.