"Sherlock, this—"
Looking at the pocket Sneakoscope in his hand, which was in warning mode, Harry looked at Sherlock with so confusion.
Could there really be soone among them who had done sothing wrong, like the Weasley twins?
"Is this a Sneakoscope?"
Hermione stared at the small device with great interest, standing up to get a closer look.
"This is a cheap knockoff. Looks like Bill was right—this thing is indeed used to fool tourists," Ron frowned, watching the glittering and spinning pocket Sneakoscope. "Or maybe I broke it when I tied it to Errol's leg to send it to Harry. It's all my fault, I shouldn't have used Errol. You know, it really can't handle long-distance flights—"
Obviously, Ron didn't think there were any untrustworthy people nearby.
The four Gryffindor kings were all close friends—even though Hermione and he had been quite upset about the whole Crookshanks and Scabbers affair.
As for Professor Lupin—sorry, but the device's range didn't extend that far.
"Let see."
Harry handed the Sneakoscope to Sherlock upon hearing this.
Watching the pocket Sneakoscope spinning rapidly and glowing noisily in his palm, Sherlock fell into deep thought once again.
"Don't worry, Sherlock. We can take it to Hogsade to get it fixed. Dervish and Banges, the magical equipnt shop, has these things too—Fred and George told . Oh, sorry, Harry, I didn't an to—"
"It's fine."
"The question is, is it really broken?"
"Sherlock, what do you an by that?"
Ron was startled. Could it be—
He instinctively looked toward Professor Lupin.
Harry and Hermione also grew tense, following his gaze toward Lupin.
No way, right?
Could this year's new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor also be connected to Voldemort?
That would be too hellish!
"What are you looking at? Its range doesn't extend that far."
Seeing the three of them acting like startled birds, Sherlock couldn't help but feel sowhat helpless.
Harry felt a bit embarrassed upon hearing this. "Then I should probably put it away first. If this continues, it might wake others up."
Sherlock nodded and handed the pocket Sneakoscope back to Harry.
The latter imdiately stuffed it into a clean sock and closed his trunk—the device imdiately went quiet.
"I told you! If this thing were really that magical, it wouldn't be sold so cheaply!"
Just then, the train suddenly slowed down.
"Great! We must be almost there!" Ron said excitedly, standing up and carefully walking past Professor Lupin, trying to see what was outside. "I'm really starving. I can't wait to get to the feast."
"That's very characteristic of you, Ron, but unfortunately, at this ti, we can't possibly have arrived yet."
"Then why are we stopping?"
Ron asked in confusion.
The train was getting slower and slower, until even the sound of the wheels could no longer be heard.
Instead, the sounds of howling wind and rain began constantly battering the windows.
Harry, who had just put his trunk back overhead, poked his head out toward the corridor and saw countless heads poking out from compartnts just as curiously as his own, including Ginny Weasley.
Harry had just smiled at Ginny when the train ca to a complete stop with a jolt.
Ping-pong sounds rang out as luggage fell from the racks due to inertia.
Then, all the lights went out.
Darkness often brings panic.
So, the entire train imdiately descended into chaos.
Sherlock only felt his arm tighten as Hermione grabbed onto his arm.
"What's happening?"
Ron also stood up at this mont.
"Ow!" Harry cried out in pain. "Ron, you stepped on my foot."
"Sorry..."
"Sit back in your seats, don't get up."
Sherlock's voice rang out in the darkness, imdiately giving the three a sense of security.
Hearing his companions obediently sit back down as requested, Sherlock placed Crookshanks in Hermione's arms, removed her arm from his, and slowly stood up.
He prepared to take out his wand first.
Among the four, only he could quickly find his trunk in complete darkness and retrieve items from it.
If the others tried to do this, they'd end up like Harry and Ron.
At this ti, Ron, sitting by the window, wiped a clean area on the window glass and peered outside intently.
After all, Sherlock had said to sit back in their seats and not get up, so looking through the window should be okay, right?
"There's sothing moving outside," Ron faithfully reported what he saw. "It looks like soone's boarding the train—"
Before he finished speaking, their compartnt door suddenly opened.
Sherlock, who had just opened his trunk, couldn't help but frown. Running around in the dark wasn't wise.
Sure enough, soone tripped over Harry's legs at the doorway and fell straight into Harry's arms.
"Ow!"
A familiar voice rang out.
"Ginny?"
Harry's hands, which had been groping in the darkness, imdiately withdrew.
His face turned bright red in an instant, though fortunately, in the complete darkness, no one else could see.
"Yes, it's ."
Ginny's face was even redder than Harry's, her voice was barely audible.
Just then, the sliding door opened again, followed by another thud.
"Who is it?"
"Ow!"
"Cho Chang?"
"Harry, is that you?"
"It's , quick, co in and sit down—"
"Don't sit here, I'm here too!" Ginny's voice rang out.
"No, it hurts!"
The quiet atmosphere that Sherlock had maintained was broken by the successive arrivals of Ginny and Cho Chang.
Fortunately, by this ti, Sherlock had found his wand.
"Lumos!" He cast the Wand-Lighting without hesitation.
"Quiet!" A hoarse voice rang out almost simultaneously.
Accompanied by a slight crackling sound, the light from Sherlock's wand tip and another suddenly appearing fla worked together to quickly dispel the surrounding darkness.
Under these unexpected circumstances, Professor Lupin finally woke up.
He held a fla in his hand, looking at Sherlock who had successfully cast the Wand-Lighting, a trace of surprise on his face, as if he hadn't expected any student to be so alert.
Sherlock's gaze quickly swept across the entire compartnt, seeing that Harry, Hermione, and Ron had all obediently followed his instructions to stay seated.
The compartnt door had closed again, but Ginny and Cho Chang, who had just co from other compartnts, were both squeezed against Harry in awkward positions.
Harry was caught between them, and his face turned bright red.
The two girls realized this position was inappropriate and were helping the embarrassed Harry as they prepared to stand up from his arms.
"Everyone stay here and don't move."
Professor Lupin ignored this scene, slowly standing with his fla, glancing once more at Sherlock. "You too."
Sherlock nodded. Lupin's alertness satisfied him.
It seed his assessnt was correct. Just from conjuring fire with bare hands/wandless magic and his current actions, this proved he was a qualified Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
Under these circumstances, Sherlock was naturally happy to cooperate.
However, even Sherlock couldn't have anticipated what happened next.
Before Professor Lupin could reach the door, the sliding door slowly opened once again.
But this ti, it wasn't students from other compartnts who appeared.
In the light cast by the Wand-Lighting and flas, Sherlock clearly saw a tall, cloaked figure appear in the compartnt doorway.
Although the figure's face was completely hidden under a hood, making it impossible to see clearly.
Sherlock still recognized at first glance that it wasn't human!
Not because of its height, which nearly touched the ceiling, but because of the grayish-white hand that extended from under the cloak.
It looked as if it had been rotted by water, covered in sli and spots, and also appeared scabbed, making anyone who saw it feel nauseated.
Especially as it was now gripping the sliding door, making it particularly prominent.
As if noticing Sherlock's gaze, this creature stepped into the compartnt, suddenly withdrew its hand into the black, tattered folds, then took a rattling breath.
The temperature around them dropped several degrees Celsius in an instant.
A bone-chilling cold imdiately swept through the entire compartnt.
Besides the suddenly dropping temperature, Sherlock suddenly felt unhappy, as if the creature could suck away his joy.
Almost instantly, Sherlock understood this monster's identity.
A Dentor—guard of Azkaban wizarding prison, feeding on human positive emotions!
At the sa ti, he also understood why this thing had appeared here.
Foolish Ministry of Magic!
Sherlock snorted coldly, instinctively beginning to recall the process of solving puzzles.
That was his source of happiness.
Sure enough, that feeling of plumting temperature and never being happy again imdiately faded.
However, this was just Sherlock's subjective feeling. The Dentor that had appeared here stood in place, looking around, as if searching for sothing.
Sherlock wasn't sure if this evil creature could understand him, but he still spoke, "The person you're looking for isn't here."
The Dentor's sudden appearance also startled Professor Lupin.
However, when he saw that Sherlock could maintain a normal state and speak when facing the Dentor, he was even more surprised.
Just then, a thud sounded. Both Sherlock and Professor Lupin looked down to see Harry's body stiffen and slide directly from his seat.
Sherlock hadn't expected the Dentor to have such a severe effect on Harry.
Seeing Harry begin to tremble, a flash of anger crossed Sherlock's eyes as he pointed his wand at the Dentor.
"Let handle this!"
Professor Lupin was quick. He stepped forward, stepped over Harry's body, walked to the front of the Dentor, and protected all the students in the compartnt behind him.
After brief consideration, Sherlock gave up using magic that he wasn't sure would be effective against Dentors.
"None of us have Sirius Black hidden under our robes. Go away!"
The Dentor remained unmoved.
Professor Lupin certainly hadn't pinned his hopes on driving it away with just one sentence. He drew his wand, pointed it at the Dentor, and whispered a spell.
The next mont, a silver light shot from his wand tip straight at the Dentor.
This spell was very effective—the Dentor imdiately turned and left the compartnt.
Seeing this scene, Sherlock's eyes lit up.
He glanced around, then quickly crouched down, handing his wand to Hermione.
In their brief contact, Sherlock found Hermione's palm ice-cold, clearly indicating her condition was also poor.
But she had perford very well.
Except for Sherlock himself and Professor Lupin, everyone else had been unable to move when facing the Dentor.
At least she could still respond to Sherlock now.
She lightly traced twice in Sherlock's palm with her finger.
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