Chapter 77 - 78

The cold rain poured down, everyone walked into the castle, everyone felt a sense of relief.

The scent of food floated out from the Great Hall; it made all the young wizards feel happy.

Evan sniffed and rubbed his belly.

It was a pity that he couldn't see the sorting ceremony or eat last year.

As he was about to enter the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall's voice suddenly sounded out.

"Mason, Potter, and Granger, I want to see you three!"

They turned their heads in surprise, they saw Professor McGonagall come over with a stern look, Evan tried to think if he had done anything.

"You don't have to be so sad; I just want to talk to you in my office." She turned her head, "Weasley, Creevey, you may go to the party first."

Ron and Colin stared at Professor McGonagall as she led Evan, Harry, and Hermione away.

They walked to her office; it was a small room with a welcoming fire in the fireplace.

The three of them were astonished to see that Madam Pomfrey was there waiting for them.

"Professor Lupin sent an owl, saying you passed out on the train, Potter." Professor McGonagall looked worried, "As for you, Mason, Lupin said that you used the Patronus Charm, which is incredible considering your age but the strain on your body must be immense."

"No, Professor...."

Before they could finish their words, they were interrupted by Madam Pomfrey.

"You two!" said Madam Pomfrey in an enlightened voice, "I thought... You're not going to do anything dangerous like you did with the basilisk."

"Dementors at Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall.

They exchanged an inconspicuous wink and Madam Pomfrey exhaled a deep breath of cold air with an unfavourable giggle.

"Setting Dementors around the school." muttered Madam Pomfrey while examining Evan and Harry, "He won't be the last one to collapse. You are all clammy. They surely are terrible creatures, the effect they have on people who are already delicate…."

"I'm not delicate!" said Harry angrily

"Of course, you're not." said Madam Pomfrey absentmindedly, "You look good, what do you need, bed rest or...."

"I think we are fine; I think I have a lot of happy things to remember. The spell wasn't as hard as I thought it would be," said Evan hastily.

Since taking the potion, his mana has clearly increased by a good margin. The use of the Patronus charm is too much for a regular young wizard's body. Evan was curious as to why he had started to form the guardian even though he couldn't remember anything happy in his mind.

"I don't need anything!" nodded Harry, "Professor Lupin gave me some chocolate and I feel much better now!"

"So, we have a Professor who knows his remedies," whispered Madam Pomfrey.

After Evan and Harry repeatedly insisted, they were all right, they went out with Madam Pomfrey. Professor McGonagall had something to say to Hermione.

"What does Professor McGonagall have to talk to Hermione about?" asked Harry curiously.

"It should be about some of her classes time conflicting so perhaps Professor McGonagall is persuading her to give up a few classes." Said, Evan, even though he knew Professor McGonagall is giving Hermione a time turner.

He used one at the end of last year but the time turner he used was made by Rowena Ravenclaw herself, it was powerful enough to bring him back a thousand years.

Unfortunately, when he came back Ravenclaw didn't just say Merry Christmas take your stuff.

Evan thought there might be something else in the secret room he got the time turner but the basilisk was going to many different places he couldn't be sure of its exact location. And he didn't have a clue where to find the secret treasures.

As Evan was in thought frowning, Hermione came out looking very happy, behind her was Professor McGonagall, she walked down the stairs to the Great hall with them.

In the great hall was a sea of black hats, each table was filled with student, thousands of candle lights shone on their faces, the candles were suspended in mid-air above the table. Professor Flitwick was walking out of the Great Hall with an old hat and a three-legged stool.

"Oh, my God!" said Evan as he slapped his forehead, "I missed it two years in a row, how."

"Yes, you are very unlucky!" said Colin while looking at Evan sympathetically.

By the time Evan sat down he noticed there were a few new faces at Gryffindor's table which should be the new first years.

He doesn't know them but they seem to know him.

They turned around and looked at Evan and Harry, he told them a summary of what had happened on the train.

The people where all very interested in the matter, whether it was Harry who had fainted or Evan's use of Magic to defeat the Dementors.

Perhaps after the story of "Me and the Basilisk at Hogwarts," will be "Me and the Dementors at Hogwarts," as long as it's in Lockhart's style it will be very popular.

After a while a warm sound of applause filled the great hall, he saw Hagrid's flushed face, he stood in the teacher's seat with his smile hidden by his messy black beard.

Dumbledore had just finished introducing the two new professors, Lupin was as expected a professor of defence against the dark arts and Hagrid was the professor of the care of magical creatures.

Hagrid didn't have to say much since most of the students were already familiar with him.

As for Professor Lupin, the students who had experienced the Dementors attack on the train applauded even though he was dressed very shabbily, everyone was delighted to finally have a proper Professor for defence against the dark arts.

Even Malfoy, Goyle and Crabbe applauded but they soon stopped.

Evan saw Snape staring at Professor Lupin.

The expression on Snape's face seemed a little irritated, the look on his face would make any person shudder.

Next Dumbledore announced that the Ministry of Magic has stationed Dementors on the school grounds and everybody should stay clear of the dementors since they would take any action of not cooperation as provocation and attack.

When Dumbledore finished, the atmosphere turned heavy.

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Soon the opening dinner was over, everyone was immersed in the news of the Dementors.

Dementors are some of the evilest creatures known to walk the earth, they live in the darkest dirtiest places, and suck all the joy from the air.

If you get to close to dementors all your happy memories will vanish. You will only be left with the worst memories of your life.

These horrible creatures have guarded Azkaban for years, they guard the most wicked dark wizards of the wizarding world.

But now they are at Hogwarts, what shall happen now?

Everyone seemed to realize something but no one wanted to think about it.

Everyone silently returned to their common rooms, it was eerily quiet but Evan did hear the occasional small talk, Dementors, Azkaban, Sirius Black and Harry Potter's name were repeatedly mentioned. Quite a few people are keeping their distance from Harry especially those born from wizarding families, they must have heard something from their parents.

The reason Sirius Black was arrested thirteen years ago was the furthest thing from a secret but no one wanted to talk about it.

The Atmosphere was gloomy, everybody lacked knowledge about the dementors. Evan decided to strike the iron while it was hot, if the young wizards were so interested in Dementors, he might as well write a few introductory articles about them.

He spoke to Colin and went directly to the library to find the information.

In the library Madam Pince looked at Evan suspiciously, she apparently had an impression of him.

Last year, Evan had looked at almost everything in the Library in a single year. He looked at the simplest spell to the most complex one, the vast majority of information were things not meant for his age.

Madam Pince shook her head, she thought while she was in her second year, she could only cast simple spells like making her wand glow but this child...

She remembered the headmaster's reaction when she told Dumbledore about it.

Dumbledore calmly told her to not bother with him and he even allowed the child to look at the books in the restricted section.

Madam Pince thought Dumbledore might have lost his mind.

She wouldn't be surprised if he became a dark wizard in the future, look at the book he's reading it's all about the Dementors.

When she saw the name of those vile creatures, she shivered, they were too scary. It is something a normal second year shouldn't look at.

Evan was clueless that the image in Madam Pince's eyes was one of a dark wizard.

When he came back to the common room with over ten books everyone had already gone to their bedrooms except Hermione.

"You're back!" Hermione looked up at Evan while pointing to a steaming glass and said, "I heard from Colin that you went to the library to look for information on the dementors so I decided to wait for you for a while and I prepared some hot chocolate for you!"

"Thank You!" said Evan gratefully while taking a cup to drink, this is nice, after searching in the library for a while and coming back...….

Before he swallowed it, he immediately spit it out, he wore a pained expression, there was no sugar in the hot chocolate what so ever, the taste was extremely bitter.

It seems Hermione expected this reaction, she smiled and said, "When I need a bit of energy this helps me wake up!"

She had the same stuff in her cup, it was already half drunk.

Evan forced himself to take a sip and swallow it but he couldn't, he saw Hermione organizing her schedule so he curiously asked, "Hermione what are you doing?"

"I'm redoing my schedule, you know, I have a lot of classes this semester, I'm afraid…."

By the light of the fire, Evan saw Hermione's full schedule.

If he didn't know she had a time turner, he would have thought she had made a few mistakes.

"You have almost everything marked, don't push yourself Hermione!" said Evan, "Even if you have the help of a time-turner, you still shouldn't take so many lessons at the same time. With that workload, your body won't be able to handle it."

"Oh, I guess you should know, after all, you used one last year." Hermione took a pocket watch out from her dress, "Don't worry Evan, I've had a thorough conversation with Professor McGonagall!"

"Don't think I don't know what you're going to do, you will ignore your physical condition." said Evan hurriedly, "Hermione, you are not like a ghost, you can't forgo sleep. In my view, there are some courses that you don't need at all. For example, Divination, Arithmancy, and Muggle studies will be completely useless to you."

"But it would be fascinating to study it from the viewpoint of the wizarding world," said Hermione while looking at Evan with a sincere face.

"Listen to me, you need to give up a few…"

"No, I want to a lest try!" insisted Hermione, "You know we are muggle-born wizards; I want to prove that I'm not any worse than anyone else."

"You don't have to prove anything, you're already the best!"

"That's not enough, Percy obtained top grades in twelve owls and compared to you, I'm..." Hermione's voice was getting lower.

The atmosphere became silent, the two people didn't speak.

Crookshanks was grooming himself in front of the fireplace.

"Well, if you insist." sighed Evan, "But you have to promise me you will take good care of yourself, okay?"

Hermione nodded with a red face, she felt a bad vibe, Evan was a little bit like….

She hurriedly said to Evan, "Well, have you found any books about the Dementors?"

"Every book on Dementors is right here in this pile, I need to write a topic on dementors so are you ready to help?"

"Of course!" nodded Hermione.

The silvery moonlight slowly crept in and illuminated the common room while the fire was silently burning.

The Gryffindors common room was serene while the Dementors were roaming the grounds of the school.

Evan and Hermione studied everything about the Dementors, their habits, their ways of attacking, their histories, and the ways to defeat them.

"The Patronus Charm is used by thinking of the happiness thing one can think of."

With her finger on the contents of the book, Hermione softly said, "When the spell is at its most powerful, it can summon the guardian, and each person's guardian is unique, a guardian generally takes the shape of the animal with whom they share the deepest affinity."

Hermione read, "a guardian generally takes the shape of the animal with whom they share the deepest affinity." she kept looking at those words and said, "Evan, I remember the Guardian you summoned on the train…."

"Don't think about it, Hermione!" Evan's eyes couldn't help but fall on the fireplace where Crookshanks has been sleeping, he stared at it for a while, he slowly explained, "It must have just been a coincidence, just that!"

"Ok?" said Hermione

The compartment was dim and Evan's Patronus was flashing so Hermione was unsure if she had seen it correctly, perhaps it was just a coincidence.