“Harry! Harry! Are you okay?” Someone patting his face.
Harry opened his eyes. Everything went back to normal – the train continued to move, and the lights remained on. He sat up from his seat, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and stared blankly at the interior of the compartment.
Ron and Hermione stood closest to him, Neville looking at him with a worried face, and Ginny curled up in the corner.
Lupin pulled a bar of chocolates out of his pocket and broke it up to share with everyone.
“Here’s yours, Harry. Also, very excellent disarming charm.”
Harry took a chunk of chocolate, and he suddenly asked, “Did I pass out … No, the woman – was she saved?”
“Who?” Lupin asked casually.
“It’s when that weird hooded freak came out, there was a woman, I think she was an adult by the sound of her voice, she …” Harry suddenly stuttered, If there is an adult woman on the train, and that would be the witch pushing the food cart.
But that’s not the voice he heard.
Lupin’s hand froze in place as he grunted and left after saying, “I’m going to have a word with the driver, sorry …” and left in a hurry.
The door slammed shut.
“Harry?” Hermione looked at him worriedly.
He forced himself to calm down, sat back in his seat, took a bite of chocolate, a warmth spread throughout his body, which made him feel happy again.
“Can anyone tell me what just happened?” Harry asked.
“We felt cold, as if we had fallen into a hole through the ice. Then we saw your charm, a blinding red light … the cold subsided a bit, then you fell to the ground and Professor Lupin spoke to that thing: that there is no Sirius Black hiding here, he raised his wand and sent out a silvery-white light, then the cold wave subsided completely, and the train continued to move.” Hermione described what she saw.
Harry chewed his chocolate in silence, he didn’t really care much about this, he just wanted to get a hint about the female voice from the others, but the result disappointed him.
Everyone looked uncomfortable, Ginny whimpered and sobbed, and Neville mumbled from the sidelines, “It’s horrible, I recalled the worst memories.”
“It’s like all the happiness left you.” Ron chimed in, but he gave Harry a punch in the arm, “That’s a great spell you got there, Harry! With that, we can teach Malfoy a lesson, the thought of him being sent flying out and rolling around makes me feel happy again.”
“Not exactly doing that …,” Harry shook his head as he regained his composure. “What the heck was that cloaked monster?”
“I guess it’s a dementor, I’ve seen something like that in comic books, it’s like a rotten piece of cloth with no bones.” Ron described.
Harry looked at Hermione, of the three, Ron is most familiar with the wizarding world, but his knowledge is very shallow, while Hermione’s knowledge, though mostly from books, can provide more accurate details.
Hermione explained, “Dementors are the guards responsible for guarding Azkaban, they feed on positive human emotions – especially happy ones, normal spells are ineffective against them, and the only known useful spell against it is Patronus Charm.”
“Patronus? You mean Professor Hap’s rain swallow and Professor McGonagall’s cat?” Harry asked.
“That’s right.”
“That’s right.”
Hermione and Ron said respectively, Hermione had seen the Rain Swallow Patronus, Ron had seen the Cat Patronus, and Harry is no stranger to either.
No one spoke anything for the next ten minutes or so, and after ten minutes, the train stopped.
However, they didn’t wait for Professor Lupin, “Come on, he will remember to get his luggage.”
The great hall.
Hagrid dressed formally, in a large suit, his hair and beard well-groomed, “How do I look, Felix?”
“… great.”
Hagrid’s eyes whirled with tears as he swapped the umbrella to the left hand and pulled a dirty handkerchief from his pocket, wiping the corners of his eyes. “It’s great … I’ve been looking forward to this day.”
He’s not only going to be appointed as a professor of Care of Magical Creatures, but also will be cleared of any infamy – Dumbledore submitted a complete chain of evidence, from the incident in the chamber of secret, about the killer, as well as Myrtle’s personal testimony, the Ministry of Magic has no reason to bar him, they had to revoke the ban from fifty years ago.
Hagrid was “suspected of killing Myrtle”, and got subject to two punishments: one being expelled from school and the other being having his wand broken, and even some people suggested that he should be sent to Azkaban, because of Dumbledore’s good grace he was spared.
And now that the ban is lifted, he can use his wand openly.
Felix looked at the large red umbrella in Hagrid’s hand, ” is your wand hidden there? I’ve wanted to say it for a long time, very good hidden spot.”
Hagrid raised his hand, “It was Dumbledore who fixed it for me, I’ve always had scruples, you know … in theory, my wand has been snapped off by the Ministry of Magic, so…”
Felix looked at him with a peculiar expression, and he lightly asked, “Dumbledore fixed your wand? The one that was broken by the Ministry of Magic?”
“He’s quite the all-rounder, isn’t he?” Hagrid said happily.
“Yeah, right.” Felix agreed.
After a while, Hagrid walked out of the great hall to greet the new students, and the professors made their final preparations. Professor McGonagall is communicating with one of the kitchen house-elves about the dinner.
“It’s all finished, Professor.”
“Very well, good work, guys.”
It didn’t take long for a rush of young wizards from second through seventh years to come in, and the great hall buzzed with the sound of a crowd that Felix felt as if there were hundreds of baboons clamouring with excitement.
But then his eyes fell on a male wizard –
He wore a tattered robe with patches around the edges that hinted at the owner’s poverty; he looked exhausted, probably having just got rid of a troublesome event; his face looked young, but his brown hair is already laced with gray …
Professor McGonagall walked up to the male wizard, welcomed him warmly, and led him to the Faculty table.
An intense look of hatred fell on the male wizard, and Felix saw in the afterglow that the silver fork in Snape’s hand bent into a half fold.
Professor McGonagall introduced the other professors to the male wizard, though she deliberately avoided Snape.
Soon, she came to Felix.
“Felix, this is Remus Lupin, a former student of mine, he is a very friendly and gentle person, you will get along well.” Professor McGonagall said.
Felix and Lupin looked at each other, a hint of inquiry flashed in both of their eyes.
Felix curled his mouth as he extended his hand, “Hello, Professor Lupin, I heard about you before from Professor McGonagall, you must be her most outstanding student?”
Lupin also extended his hand, “I’m just the most inconspicuous one. On the contrary, I heard a lot of rumours about Professor Hap all the way on the train …”
“I hope it’s not some weird talk.”
“No, how could it be? I’m a little jealous of all the praise they gave you.”
The two shook hands together until Lupin voluntarily let go of his hand.
Soon, Hagrid arrived with the first-year students, who looked like wet chickens. To Felix’s surprise, it is not Professor McGonagall who presided over the sorting ceremony, and he looked around and did not catch a glimpse of her.
Professor Flitwick carried the Sorting Hat and a roll of parchment, with a small round stool floating behind him.
He passed the freshmen one by one, and with a wave of his wand, they found their wet clothes becoming dry and comfortable as if they had been basked in the midday sun.
“Form a line and follow me.”
One by one, the young wizards came forward in the order of their last names and waited for the sorting, but first, they were greeted by a song crafted by the Sorting Hat, and the young freshmen watched in awe as the Hat sang passionately.
This is perhaps the most impressive thing Hogwarts has shown them so far.
The Sorting began-
“Newman Balk.”
“Gryffindor!”
“Dennis Creevey.”
“Gryffindor!”
“Oliver Dana.”
“Hufflepuff!”
“Grantham Foley.”
“Ravenclaw!”
“Astoria Greengrass.”
“Slytherin!”
…
At the end of the Sorting Ceremony, Felix noticed Harry and Hermione sneaking through the corner to the Gryffindor table, and Professor McGonagall appeared a little later.
Headmaster Dumbledore then rose to give his speech, and his welcome speech is as succinct as ever.
After moving on to the main topic, he gravely explained the presence of the Dementors, “They will be stationed at all entrances of the school for official duty of Ministry of Magic, and no one is allowed to leave the school without permission during their stay.”
“The Dementors do not accept any excuses or deceptions – this includes invisibility cloak – and they cannot distinguish between legitimate reasons and excuses, so do not give them the opportunity to harm you. Head of the houses, as well as perfects, you need to make sure that no students clash with the dementors.”
When the young wizards had finished digesting this information, Dumbledore merrily introduced the two new professors, who were, in his words –
The former being ” Professor Lupin, who has graciously filled the vacancy of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class,” and the latter being “Rubeus Hagrid, who, in addition to his duties as a forbidden forest guard, also holds the position of Professor of Care of Magical Creatures.”
At the same time, Dumbledore expressed his sympathy, and apologies for the injustice suffered by Hagrid, “For half a century, we have ignored his point, it is time to correct this mistake.”
Hagrid stood up and waved his hand excitedly, and from his red umbrella flew a series of red sparks, to which the students responded with enthusiasm, with particularly enthusiastic applause from the Gryffindor table.
“We should have known better!” Ron yelled, pounding the table hard, “Who else would have let us get a book that bites?”
After the dinner concluded, the students strode out of the great hall, along with the sound of lively discussion.
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