Chapter 228 It’s the First Day of School Again
Seeing the dementors who were so arrogant and baring their teeth in front of him being chased by Lupine's patronus like a bereaved dog, Mike breathed a sigh of relief but also felt a little uncomfortable.
At this moment, Lupine's somewhat urgent voice came from behind them.
"Sorry, I'm late!"
Everyone in the carriage quickly looked back and saw Professor Luping running towards him out of breath.
It can be seen that Professor Lupine's body is very weak, and he has a lot of cold sweat on his head after running only such a short distance.
Lupine took the opportunity to greet everyone and rested for a while, then ran towards the front of the car again, and his patronus flew there ahead of him.
This made Mike very jealous. The powerful patron saint can be far away from the releaser. Some powerful wizards have even developed the function of using the patron saint to send messages over long distances.
Not long after Lupine arrived, the train continued to start. Mike did not go with Lupine to check on the driver's condition, nor did he go to Harry's side. Instead, he stayed in the original carriage to accompany Penello.
Perhaps the stimulation given to her by the Dementors just now was too much. From the moment Mike appeared, Penello threw herself into Mike's arms, hanging on him like a koala, and never let go without saying a word. .
Mike could feel that Penello's body was trembling continuously. Mike, who was a little distressed, took out a large plate of chocolate, first divided some among the other people in the car, then took out a water glass, and used a fire spell to melt a cup of hot chocolate. The chocolate was handed to Penello.
"Be good, drink this and you will feel much better."
Penello poked his head out of Mike's arms and opened his mouth but said nothing.
The meaning was already obvious, and Mike took out another spoon and fed Penello one bite at a time.
It stands to reason that the effect of hot chocolate should be better than eating it directly, but Penello's body has been shaking uncontrollably, which makes Mike very anxious.
And Penello seemed to realize that chocolate was not of much use to her. She took a small mouthful of chocolate, put her arms around Mike's neck and kissed him directly.
What does a girl's lips taste like?
Veteran drivers can tell you from experience that it is an extremely special sweet aroma. This taste is so light that you can't feel it at all if you don't taste it carefully.
At this moment, Mike couldn't feel any taste at all. The chocolate in Penello's mouth turned into a burst of rich sweetness that hit his taste buds, making him unable to taste other flavors at all.
Penello's movements were very intense, and Mike responded to her enthusiastically.
Surprisingly, after a period of time, Mike found that Penello was no longer shaking, and his mood gradually returned to calm.
Despite this, the two of them did not stop, but instead became more intense.
However, at this moment, a familiar voice came from the side.
"Oh! Oh! Sorry! Mike, I didn't mean to interrupt."
The two hurriedly separated, and when they saw Professor Lupine, Penello shyly buried his head in Mike's arms like an ostrich, while Mike looked at Lupin speechlessly.
"I just wanted to ask you if you want to go check on Harry. Someone told me that he woke up. It's okay. It's okay if you don't want to go. You can continue." Lupine backed away awkwardly, "To be honest. It’s the right thing to do. Kissing can make you happy as quickly as chocolate. Of course, only if it’s with the person you love.”
After Lupine said these words, he quickly disappeared from Mike, leaving only Mike and Penello, a man and a woman alone, in the dark cubicle.
"He meant what he said and I feel better now."
When Mike heard the sound, he turned around and saw Penello looking at him with bright eyes.
"So, you have to continue..."
Mike was happy when he heard it and said jokingly, but he was gagged before he finished speaking.
…
On the other side, Harry was surrounded by a large group of people.
Most of the people here came to watch the fun, and few were really worried about Harry. After all, the boy who survived the disaster was actually knocked unconscious by the dementors. This is really a funny thing.
In fact, Harry himself thought this way. In the two years since he entered the wizarding world, he had been trying hard to play his role as a savior hero. But at this moment, when no one else was bothering him, he suddenly fainted. This made Harry feel very sad. It's embarrassing, and I have the urge to find a hole in the ground and crawl into it.
Fortunately, Lu Ping arrived in time and dispersed the crowd watching, so this embarrassing scene did not continue.
"Harry, how are you feeling now? Have you eaten the chocolate?"
Lupine asked Harry with concern, but Harry was not in a high mood at the moment. Facing Lupine's question, he just lowered his head and said, "Well, I feel good now."
Although it felt good to say it, anyone with a discerning eye could see that Harry was in a bad mood right now.
After saying that, Harry suddenly raised his head and looked around. Seeing that all his friends were there, but one person was missing, he hurriedly asked: "Where's Mike?"
Harry felt a little sad that Mike was the first friend he had ever known, and yet he wasn't there when he was in trouble.
"He's in the car in front." Lupine said with a strange expression. "His little girlfriend is in a bad situation, and he is comforting her there."
"Oh, is that so?"
Harry didn't notice Lupin's expression at all, he only felt that his mood was slightly better.
‘Mike didn’t mean it, there are people there who need him more. ’ Harry thought.
The train was traveling quickly and arrived at Hogwarts in a short time.
This year's Hogwarts looks particularly eerie. There are many dark shadows hovering over the brightly lit castle in the past, which makes people feel creepy.
Mike and other senior students and freshmen separated at the station and arrived at the castle in a Yeqi carriage.
As soon as he arrived at the castle, Mike saw Professor McGonagall hurriedly running into the students and taking Harry and others out of the crowd.
Mike walked forward calmly, still holding Penello's little hand in his hand.
The woman has returned to normal after being comforted by Mike for a while in the car, but even so she is unwilling to let go of Mike's hand. In desperation, Mike could only hold her hand until they arrived at the castle's auditorium.
The new year's opening dinner has begun again. There is really nothing to say about the process of the dinner. Mike has participated in it twice and is already very familiar with the process.
First, the Sorting Hat presented the song he had prepared for a whole year, and then the freshmen were sorted one after another...
The only difference here is that the old students in major colleges are much more enthusiastic than in the past two years. Every time a new student is successfully sorted into a college, his college will burst into deafening cheers.
Mike understood their behavior. He had just experienced that kind of fright on the train. Now it is normal to release his inner fear in this way. This is called compensation psychology.
In their hearts, they want to rely on this carnival to make up for themselves.
This kind of mentality will also appear in people who usually have a hard time working.
The actual manifestation is that a person often works overtime, which is very miserable. But the more this happens, the more he won't take a rest whenever it's time to rest. Instead, he will go to bars, clubs, Internet cafes and other exciting places to have carnivals. This is to make up for it.
In this happy atmosphere, Mike seemed a little lonely. The dementors on the train just hit him hard.
He originally thought that with his current level of the Patronus Charm, let alone being able to drive away the dementors, he should at least have the power to protect himself.
However, reality gave him a big slap in the face.
Let alone self-protection, if Lupine hadn't arrived in time today, both his and Penello's lives would have been in danger.
Releasing the Patronus Charm during training and releasing the Patronus Charm in front of Dementors are two completely different experiences. During training, you are in an absolutely safe environment. In this case, you can easily generate positive emotions. .
However, when facing a Dementor in actual combat, your subconscious is always warning you to get away from that monster. This sense of danger will make people very nervous, which will affect the release of the Patronus Charm.
Not to mention, Dementors themselves are able to absorb joyful emotions. With this double superposition, the difficulty of casting the Patronus Spell increases exponentially.
Speaking of which, Mike's ability to use the Patronus Charm in front of the Dementors is already very good. Most beginners will freeze in place with cold hands and feet when facing Dementors for the first time, unable to cast it at all. Spell.
"are you OK?"
Penello looked at Mike worriedly and held Mike's hand tightly at the same time.
She had noticed when they were in the car just now that Mike was in a very low mood.
At first, she thought it was the side effects of the dementors that had not subsided, so she kept looking for Mike for comfort. She was not a particularly strong desire in this area, she just wanted to use this method to help Mike recover.
However, judging from the current situation, Mike's emotional problems should have another hidden meaning.
Feeling the warmth in his hand, Mike showed a forced smile on his face and said firmly: "It's okay, I will take care of it!"
Penello looked at Mike with big eyes. She didn't understand what Mike was trying to accomplish. But these are not important. Penello has strong confidence in Mike. Since Mike said he will get it done, it must be okay.
"Yeah! I believe you!"
Looking at Penello's sincere smile, the smile on Mike's face gradually became real.
At the same time, the sorting ceremony had ended, and Principal Dumbledore slowly walked onto the podium and began his annual speech to encourage students.
"Welcome! Welcome back to Hogwarts! I have a few things to tell you, one of which is extremely important, so..." Dumbledore paused, "So I think it's best to be honest. You guys enjoy a delicious meal and it would be better if I told you before your brains get confused.”
Dumbledore's British cold joke once again amused many people in the audience, but Mike remained indifferent. He didn't feel the point of the joke at all, all he felt was embarrassment.
"Our school is currently hosting several Dementors from Azkaban, sent by the Ministry of Magic on official duties, as you already know, because they searched the train."
Dumbledore paused again here. Mike noticed that Dumbledore's expression looked particularly ugly under the candlelight. It seemed that Dumbledore was also very dissatisfied with the behavior of these dementors.
"What I want to say is that the nature of Dementors will not understand any excuses and sophistry, so I remind everyone here not to give them a reason to hurt you. They will be stationed at various entrances to the school and will not allow anyone to leave. Leaving school without permission. No trick, trick, or disguise can fool them, including invisibility cloaks and invisibility spells."
When Dumbledore mentioned the Disillusionment Curse, he glanced at Mike, which made Mike's heart tremble. It seemed that Dumbledore had long known about his use of the Disillusionment Curse to travel at night.
Fortunately, Dumbledore only glanced at him and then withdrew his gaze and continued: "Okay, let's talk about something lighter. We have two new teachers this semester."
Dumbledore stretched out his hand to Lupine and said, "First of all, Professor Lupin. He came to Hogwarts at my invitation to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Lupine straightened his clothes and stood up, nodding to everyone in the audience.
Except for Slytherin, the students from the other three houses gave their warm applause. The students were so awe-struck by Lupine's performance on the train just now that they ignored his poor appearance.
Next, Dumbledore once again introduced the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Hagrid.
At this moment, the applause from the students in other houses except for Gryffindor students seemed a bit perfunctory. There was no way, Hagrid was offended by choosing the biting book "The Monster Book of Monsters" as his textbook. A lot of people.
There were few students present who had not been bitten by this book.
I don’t know if it was because of his lack of brains, but Hagrid didn’t feel embarrassed at all when faced with this situation. He was even moved to tears. He was wiping his tears with a tablecloth and blowing his nose from time to time. .
His disgusting behavior made Professor Flitwick, who was sitting next to him, look very bad. Professor Flitwick glanced at Hagrid helplessly and silently moved his seat further away.
Next came the annual feasting moment. After Dumbledore gave the order, the auditorium instantly turned into a battlefield, with young wizards from various colleges sweeping up the food in front of them.
After the dinner, Mike did not follow the large group back to the dormitory. Instead, he secretly left the crowd and came to the only way from the auditorium to the Defense Against the Dark Arts office.
He planned to express his stance to Lupine tonight. The sooner he learned the Patronus Charm, the greater the advantage would be for him.
However, while he was hiding in the corner waiting for Professor Lupine to appear, he heard the sound of Professor Lupine and Snape arguing.