Hearing Remus say he was surprised by the Patronus he had summoned; Harry couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Why?"
"I thought your Patronus would be the sa as your father's or mother's—a stag—but now it seems... it's not."
"My mother's Patronus was also a stag?"
During the winter holiday, Harry had already learned from Sirius about his father's Patronus.
A stag with antlers.
Perfectly matching the nickna "Prongs."
But he hadn't expected his mother's Patronus to also be a stag.
"Yes, Jas and Lily, your parents—their Patronuses were a stag and a doe respectively."
Lupin said with considerable emotion.
Stag and doe didn't refer to any specific species of deer.
Put simply, they were just the general terms for male and female deer.
From appearance alone, male deer were slightly larger with antlers on their heads, while female deer were slightly smaller without antlers.
So, the two could be easily distinguished.
Hearing that his parents' Patronuses were a stag and a doe, Harry froze.
"Dad... Mum..."
Sherlock also showed a thoughtful expression.
"Alright, continuing to practice like this won't be very aningful anymore. Next, we'll prepare to practice with a Dentor."
Lupin put away his mories about Harry's parents, and his gaze beca serious.
"Casting the spell into empty air is completely different from facing a real Dentor. I think you both understand this very well.
When the surrounding environnt is normal, recalling happy things and successfully casting the spell is quite easy.
But when you face a Dentor directly, it will drain all the happiness from the surroundings.
Combined with that cold, damp environnt, you'll often find it very difficult to recall happy things, thus making the Patronus Charm difficult to cast successfully."
After seeing both Sherlock and Harry nod, Lupin's gaze moved back and forth between them before finally speaking.
"Harry should go first—the boggart will only transform into a Dentor when it sees you.
After Harry, Sherlock will take over."
Harry naturally had no objection.
Sherlock also thought this arrangent was reasonable—even if Harry fainted again like the previous tis, he could still use the boggart for practice.
However, since it was a Dentor transford from a boggart, Harry wouldn't faint again, would he?
At this mont, Lupin turned to Harry and, looking into his green eyes, asked. "Harry, are you ready?"
"I'm ready."
Harry nodded, gripped his wand tightly, and walked to the center of the empty classroom.
He tried hard to think only of the image of flying into the sky for the first ti, but he just couldn't concentrate.
Because as long as he faced a Dentor directly, he could hear his mother's voice.
Professor Lupin had just inford him of his mother's Patronus, which made Harry's longing for his mother even stronger.
'So, I'll be able to hear Mother's voice again...'
But he imdiately realized he shouldn't think this way.
Even if he wanted to hear his mother's voice, it should be her gentle whispers to him, not her agonized cries before death.
Just then, Lupin grabbed the lid of the trunk and yanked it open.
A Dentor slowly erged from the box.
It was tall, gripping its cloak with a hand that glead with a cold light and was covered in scabs.
Sherlock in the distance narrowed his eyes and frowned at the sight.
Because this Dentor transford from a boggart was nearly identical to a real Dentor.
Similar appearance was one thing—after all, that was the boggart's magical nature.
But when its hooded face slowly turned toward Harry, the classroom lights flickered several tis and went out.
Then a damp, cold atmosphere began spreading through the classroom.
This was what surprised Sherlock.
A Dentor transford through a boggart could affect the surrounding environnt to this extent?
At this rate, Harry might really faint.
The Dentor had now completely erged from the box.
As if sensing Harry's fear, it accelerated its gliding motion toward him, while making a low, rattling wheezing sound.
At the sa ti, Harry felt a bone-penetrating cold envelop him.
He imdiately sensed sothing was very wrong.
Harry had long forgotten that the monster before him wasn't a Dentor but a boggart.
He only knew this was the closest he had ever been to a Dentor.
Whether on the train or on the grounds, he had never been as close to a Dentor as he was now.
He reflexively waved his wand and shouted loudly.
"Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum! Expecto—"
However, before he could summon a Patronus, he found the classroom and the Dentor slowly disappearing, and he himself, as before, once again fell into thick white fog.
"Riddikulus!"
Seeing Harry collapse to the floor with a thud, Lupin roared the incantation and rushed forward.
Sherlock raised an eyebrow.
With a loud crack, the Dentor in front of Harry disappeared directly, transforming into a full moon.
Lupin first drove the boggart back into the trunk with his wand, then while relighting the lamps with his wand, he said anxiously to Sherlock.
"Sherlock, quickly check how Harry is!"
Just like last ti on the train, Sherlock crouched down for a careful examination, then quickly stood up.
"Sa as last ti, shock, nothing serious. I brought brandy..."
"No, I brought chocolate!"
Lupin said firmly, "Hard liquor isn't suitable for the upcoming training. When Harry wakes up, having him eat so chocolate will be better."
"Alright."
Since Lupin insisted, Sherlock didn't object.
However, he glanced at the other man and said quietly. "Professor, you seem a bit too anxious."
"Uh, that's true," Lupin smiled bitterly and shook his head. "I'm not even as calm as you. It's quite embarrassing."
"Concern leads to confusion—that's human nature, nothing strange about it."
A hint of inquiry appeared in Sherlock's gaze.
"What I find strange is that a Dentor transford from a boggart actually possesses so of a Dentor's characteristics.
Just now, even I, as an observer, could feel happiness being stripped away. And the classroom lights went out too."
"Mm, the mont the transformation is complete, we can actually treat the boggart as a Dentor.
However, it's ultimately not a real Dentor, so when I appeared before it, it imdiately changed form.
I must thank you, Sherlock. Thanks to you thinking of using a boggart to substitute for a Dentor in practice, otherwise this really would have been difficult."
"Nothing difficult about it. Just have the Ministry send over a Dentor to cooperate."
"..."
'Is that sothing you can just cooperate with whenever you want? Do you think the Ministry of Magic belongs to your family?'
Lupin barely stopped himself from saying this aloud, managing to maintain his professorial image.
Unexpectedly, the next mont, Sherlock's words almost made him lose his composure.
"So... can it also suck out people's souls?"
Lupin looked at Sherlock in shock. "What did you say?"
"You just said that the mont the transformation is complete, the boggart becos a Dentor."
Sherlock looked at the still-shaking trunk, the inquiry in his gray eyes growing more intense.
"From its performance when it first appeared, it indeed seed no different from a real Dentor.
So does that an it can also suck out souls through the so-called Dentor's Kiss, just like a Dentor?"
Lupin was silent for quite a while before shaking his head.
"You've really stumped , Sherlock.
I've never thought about this question—in fact, there are very few people who can make a boggart transform into a Dentor. I've only seen it happen with Harry.
However, I think its ability to simulate the cold and sense of despair brought by Dentors is already its limit. The Dentor's Kiss is a Dentor's core ability. I don't think it can do that... probably..."
"Then a question arises, Professor."
Sherlock said calmly.
"To what degree does a boggart's transformation achieve perfection?
It simulated the cold, despair, and even the core trait of draining happiness from Dentors.
So, as a Dentor's most core power, its most fundantal purpose—the ability to devour souls through a kiss—has it truly fully simulated that?"
The muscles on Professor Lupin's face tightened all at once.
His usually gentle eyes beca alert, staring intently at Sherlock as he asked incredulously.
"Sherlock, what do you an by asking this? You're not planning to experint on Harry, are you!"
The air seed to freeze. The classroom lights that had just been relit seed to beco unstable due to Lupin's tension, casting ominous, wavering shadows on the trunk.
Harry still lay unconscious on the floor, unaware.
"Absolutely not!"
Lupin's voice was adamant. "Harry is not an experintal subject! How could you think of verifying your hypothesis by risking his soul's safety?
Sherlock, I'd rather you were just joking! This idea itself is as dangerous as dark magic!"
No wonder Lupin would think this way. Because Sherlock's words were logical, calm, and clear, stripped of all emotional coloring, leaving only naked inquiry.
In this suffocating confrontation, the mask of calm on Sherlock's face finally showed a crack.
He raised an eyebrow slightly, and the corners of his mouth curved up in an arc tinged with mischief.
"Ha..."
A brief, light laugh escaped his mouth, breaking the frozen air.
"Relax, Professor. Your nerves are about to snap."
Lupin froze, not imdiately understanding. But he continued staring warily at Sherlock, as if not comprehending what he was saying.
"Professor, I never knew you had such a leaping thought process.
Life and souls have never been experintal materials that can be casually manipulated in a cauldron. And..."
Sherlock shrugged, his gaze naturally sliding from Lupin's tense face to fall on the unconscious Harry.
Lupin noticed that the casualness was instantly mixed with unfeigned concern.
He was too familiar with this kind of look—he used to look at Jas and Sirius the sa way.
"I would never put my friend in danger."
Lupin was sowhat confused by Sherlock's sudden relaxed attitude and clear positioning, his expression turning puzzled.
"But you just seriously asked whether a boggart could..."
"Ha! That was rely pure curiosity.
I pressed on about the limits of a boggart's simulation ability only because I was shocked that its replication of Dentor characteristics went so deep.
This indeed rits deep understanding of its chanism, but...
The premise of all inquiry is that no one can be placed in uncontrollable risk."
Sherlock shook his head sowhat helplessly.
"Rember I said concern leads to confusion?
You were too anxious and acted too quickly.
The mont you saw Harry fall, you imdiately rushed forward to intervene, but you forgot that Harry isn't the only person learning magic with you today."
This ti, Lupin finally understood what Sherlock ant.
The taut strings of his heart completely relaxed. Thinking of his rash action just now, he felt embarrassed as his doubts dissipated completely.
"Sorry, Sherlock."
Lupin's voice carried apology as he scratched his hair embarrassedly. "I was too impulsive. You're right, I completely forgot about that."
However, even though standing before him was rely a fourteen-year-old boy, just now he had truly believed Sherlock would have such an idea.
The oppressive presence emanating from Sherlock was so strong that even now, thinking back, he found it sowhat unbelievable.
Sherlock watched Lupin's embarrassed yet relieved expression, his smile deepening, that relaxation regaining the upper hand.
"Professor, have so confidence in yourself. I'm just a fourteen-year-old boy.
Even if I really wanted to do sothing, you could stop instantly."
"Sherlock, I'm not Fudge. I've never regarded you as an ordinary boy."
Lupin said seriously.
Sherlock smiled slightly, his gaze returning to the floor. "Harry's awake."
Hearing this, Lupin imdiately bent down and crouched, gently calling Harry's na.
White mist shrouded Harry's consciousness. Around him moved large, blurry shapes. A man's voice was calling out tensely.
"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off—"
Soone stumbled out of the room. A door burst open, followed by piercing, cackling laughter.
"Stand aside—stand aside, you foolish woman—"
"Not Harry! Not Harry! Please—I'll do anything—"
"Harry—Harry!"
When he heard soone continuously calling his na, the white fog before Harry's eyes dispersed and he suddenly ca to.
He lay on his back on the floor and found the classroom lights were on again.
Without asking, he already understood what had just happened.
"Here!"
Lupin quickly handed him a piece of chocolate. "Eat this first, then we'll try again.
I never expected you to succeed on the first try—honestly, if you had actually succeeded, I would have been shocked."
Harry took the chocolate from Lupin's hand but didn't imdiately eat it.
Cold sweat stread down from his glasses, mingled with his tears.
"This ti I heard Mum's voice louder, and Voldemort, and...
I heard my dad's voice. This is the first ti I've heard his voice.
He wanted to hold off Voldemort by himself, to give my mum ti to escape..."
Harry murmured.
At this mont, tears stread down his face.
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