113- Dentors and Albatross
Many Thanks to ana carolina hernandez for becoming a Patron!♥♥
___________
These Ministry people were there to protect Harry, and for once, John got to enjoy the privilege of having a Ministry escort clear the way.
Upon arriving at the station, Mr. Weasley didn't relax. He stayed close to Harry as they entered Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
John walked in with Percy, chatting along the way.
"This year feels like another unsettled one," Percy said, now speaking with an official tone befitting his new Head Boy status. He lowered his voice and added, "And sohow, all of this always seems to involve Harry."
Percy had hit the nail on the head. John nodded in agreent and glanced at the visible Ministry personnel stationed around the platform. He calmly replied, "We can't let our guard down, not even on the train."
Great minds think alike.
Percy and John got on the train and walked in different directions.
Prefects and Head Boy have special carriages, and they need to move around frequently to maintain order.
Just as John was about to head to his compartnt, the Weasley twins approached from behind. George dramatically asked, "What did His Excellency Percy say to you?"
Fred pointed to his head, shaking it as if to suggest Percy had lost it. "Maybe he's trying to recruit John to his little empire."
John, looking at the two troublemakers clearly plotting sothing, sighed helplessly. "Looks like you guys need sothing from again."
Without hesitation, the twins each took one of John's arms and carried him off to a compartnt with practiced ease.
Inside, they found Gryffindor's Lee Jordan, who had a pet tarantula with him.
"Hey, we can't just prank Slytherins here!"
Lee Jordan, seeing the twins dragging soone into the compartnt, shouted in protest.
"Shut up, Lee Jordan," the twins snapped, squeezing John between them, one on each side.
John was confused.
After returning last night, the twins had already sent their future business plan to Johnny Silverhand, and he had approved it. So why were they coming to him now, looking like they needed help again?
With excited gleams in their eyes, George stared at John and grinned, "John, the idea of owl delivery is really pure genius."
Fred, with a mischievous smile, added, "If you could give us the specifics on how to execute it, you'd truly be the smartest Slytherin."
Ah, so the two were still hung up on the owl delivery plan. John smirked and said, "What's in it for ?"
He wasn't about to give away his ideas for free.
Honestly, with the Weasley twins' intelligence, just hearing the na should have been enough for them to figure out how to run it at school. But the two had co to John because they wanted to offer sothing in return.
"What's in it for you?" Fred raised an eyebrow.
"We can share the profits with you," George continued.
"Whether it's the funds..."
"Or pranks," the twins said, this ti with uncharacteristic seriousness. Their mischievous smiles remained, but there was a sense of earnestness behind them.
John thought about it. While the twins weren't top students, their alchemy skills were very good. Maybe they inherited it from their father who made the flying car, too bad he didn't pursue that area and beca a Ministry employee.
The twins' endless stream of joke products proved that their heads were full of inventive ideas.
"Alright, forget about the money. But I'm planning to create a club, and you two might want to join," John said, shrugging.
Money? He didn't need it.
Pranks? Not really his thing.
While he might wander around at night, he never indulged in practical jokes.
What truly interested him was talent. The twins had potential in alchemy.
In the future, they could very well beco suppliers for Johnny Silverhand's speciality store.
"Deal," the twins replied in unison.
Feeling left out, Lee Jordan imdiately protested, "What kind of club? I want in too!"
"As long as you don't mind Slytherins being part of it," John shrugged nonchalantly.
Hearing there would be Slytherins, the Gryffindor-loyal Lee Jordan suddenly lost interest.
The train slowly started to move.
After so ti, Percy walked by outside the compartnt.
The twins imdiately started mocking their older brother again, and John pushed Fred to sit across from him. Having three people squeezed into one seat was just too uncomfortable.
The four of them continued chatting, and the atmosphere was quite pleasant. The twins talked about their plans to open a joke shop, while Lee Jordan ntioned his desire to beco a full-ti Quidditch comntator after graduation.
John wanted to say, with your biased comntary that leans all the way to oblivion, I doubt many people would want you as their announcer.
Though John and Lee Jordan weren't particularly close before, Lee's humor quickly helped him bond with John.
As they continued chatting, the train gradually ca to a halt.
John frowned, looking outside. They hadn't yet arrived at Hogwarts.
So students stepped out of their compartnts to see what was going on.
At that mont, John noticed the windows.
A layer of frost was forming on the glass, as if cold air was blowing directly onto it.
"Why is it suddenly so cold?"
George rubbed his arms to stay warm, while Fred noticed Draco Malfoy strutting by outside, followed by his usual entourage.
The lights on the train began to flicker and go out, and terrified screams echoed from outside the compartnt.
The door to the carriage creaked open, as if sothing was boarding the train.
"George, switch seats with ," John said, noticing sothing strange passing by the window. He spoke up, requesting to switch places.
The cold grew more intense.
Suddenly, a panicked Draco Malfoy stumbled into their compartnt without even looking who was inside.
He was followed closely by Crabbe and Goyle, who squeezed their large fras into the already cramped space.
John was shoved by soone's rear, and with an irritated expression, he decided to leave the compartnt altogether.
Walking along the corridor, John saw one compartnt after another being opened.
He spotted the creatures responsible. They were draped in tattered cloaks, their bodies appearing as if they had been soaked and rotted in water, with scabbed, decaying hands.
Azkaban guards. Dentors.
John watched as they opened compartnt doors, causing the young wizards inside to recoil in terror, like cans of joy being drained by the Dentors.
His brow twitched at the sight, and one of the Dentors took notice of him.
Several Dentors drifted closer to John, and he could feel his happiness being drained away. Dentors had the ability to suck out a person's joy, turning any place they occupied into a living hell.
"There's no one here that you're looking for," John said coldly, but the Dentors kept advancing.
In a panic, Malfoy shouted, "John, get back inside!"
As the Dentors closed in, John reacted swiftly.
"Expecto Patronum!"
A silver mist shot out of his wand, and the Dentors recoiled as if encountering their natural enemy.
John kept the Patronus spell flowing, and from the silvery glow, an albatross took shape. Its wings spread wide as it flew swiftly along the length of the train, passing by each compartnt.
The Dentors it touched emitted strange, unintelligible noises, retreating quickly as they were expelled from the train.
In a compartnt near the back of the train, another Patronus Charm had been cast. A silver mist had just begun to form when several Dentors were driven out, startled by the forceful expulsion.
Lupin stood there, montarily stunned.
He hadn't expected that soone else on the train knew how to cast a Patronus, especially one so advanced that it could take a corporeal form.
The Dentors were chased out of the train, and the young witches and wizards, having narrowly escaped, erged from their compartnts, shaken but relieved.
They watched as the beautiful albatross circled back to John, flying gracefully around him.
"You did it, John, you're a hero!" Lee Jordan cheered, leading the others.
John, however, remained frowning.
The Dentors had overstepped their bounds by entering the train. If Dumbledore had allowed these creatures into the school, it wasn't just about Sirius Black; the students were also in danger.
"John, what just happened? Was that a…?" Percy arrived with the prefects, just in ti to witness the Patronus fading away.
"Dentors," John said seriously. "They suck out happiness. I need you to check if anyone's been hurt."
Percy, understanding the gravity of the situation, quickly organized the prefects to inspect the compartnts one by one.
The final report concluded that only Harry had fainted.
"Pfft, stupid and cowardly Potter," Malfoy jeered, taking the opportunity to mock Harry without rcy.
John shot him a glance. Just monts ago, Malfoy had scrambled into soone else's compartnt, panicked and terrified. It was a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Tapping his wand against the compartnt door, John activated the supersensory spell.
John noticed that the Dentors hadn't completely left. Instead, they had gathered in the sky above the train, forming a dense and terrifying mass of darkness.
Suddenly, a phoenix-shaped Patronus appeared, driving all the Dentors away.
It was Dumbledore who had acted. The train soon resud its journey.
anwhile, Malfoy and his two cronies were unceremoniously shoved out of the compartnt by the Weasley twins. Feeling uneasy, John decided to join the prefects on their patrol rounds.
No one objected. In fact, John's presence gave the prefects a sense of security.
When the train arrived at Hogsade Station, John spotted Hagrid looking unusually serious.
Clearly, he was also aware of the Dentors nearby. Noticing his vigilant stance, John greeted him with a nod.
__________
Read 12 Chapters ahead at my Patreon!
User Comments
0 comments from readers