A Professor of Magic at Hogwarts

Chapter 304: Ignition

Hagrid emerged from the house first, carrying Ron in his arms. Right behind him was another Hermione. Following her, a tightly bound, short man floated out, upside down and in a topsy-turvy position, occasionally knocking his head on a rock. "Ouch!"

The face of the short man was swollen, his hands tied behind his back and entangled, his clothes tattered. To avoid the rocks, he tilted his head oddly to the side.

"Sirius, I implore you—"

"You deserve your punishment, Peter! You should be grateful Harry is so kind..."

A wand emerged, revealing Sirius's alert face. He limped along, supported by Harry and Lupin on either side. Bringing up the rear was Snape, his expression intriguing, his wand always aimed at the short figure, Peter.

"Sirius, you should go to the hospital," Harry whispered.

"No! I want to witness his conviction with my own eyes!" Sirius gritted his teeth, a disturbing smile on his face. "It'd be best to give him a Dementor's kiss while we're at it." His wand lowered, and Peter emitted a piercing cry of pain.

...

Hermione hid behind a giant pumpkin, peeking out curiously. "Professor, should we do something? Professor McGonagall warned me not to alter the past."

"I agree that caution is needed, but..." Felix gently flicked his finger, and a small pebble silently attached itself to Peter as he fell again.

As they moved away, Felix and Hermione emerged from the shadows.

"Professor, what did you just do?"

"I magically marked Peter—just in case. As you mentioned earlier, they will be trapped on the bridge. If he tries to escape by turning into a rat, I'll be able to find him!"

Hermione thought seriously and realized it was a good idea.

The two of them walked at a leisurely pace, maintaining a distance of two to three hundred feet from Harry's group. Felix inquired, "I have a few more questions. How did you overhear Umbridge and Fudge's conversation?"

Hermione explained, "I followed Hagrid to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey said Ron wasn't in danger, so I turned back to check on Harry and the others. That's when I unexpectedly saw Umbridge greeting Fudge. There was a group of Aurors behind him."

She said indignantly, "That woman is so rude, using the Minister's power to be particularly insolent to Professor McGonagall. If it weren't for Headmaster Dumbledore not being around..."

"She had a conflict with Professor McGonagall?"

"Yes, Professor McGonagall questioned her about why she brought Dementors into the school, but Umbridge didn't even glance at her. She only fawned over Fudge."

"I see..."

Felix looked ahead. With Sirius injured, the group was moving slowly. Especially since they had to climb a hill, their pace slowed even more.

The wind carried snippets of their conversation. Sirius's voice, filled with hesitation, reached them: "I don't know if anyone has told you, Harry, but I'm your godfather..."

Ten minutes later—

"They're here!"

Felix suddenly broke the silence. Hermione looked in the direction of his gaze and faintly saw a pink, round, bobbing shape. She asked in astonishment, "Is that woman?"

Then they heard a long whistle. Hermione shivered as a black object floated out. It looked like a black plastic bag caught by the wind. It flew rapidly toward Harry and the others, who were still some distance away from the bridge.

Hermione took a deep breath. More and more Dementors were appearing. They seemed like a black plague, answering Umbridge's call, covering nearly half the sky.

"It's Dementors!" She heard Professor Lupin's voice in the distance. "How could Dementors appear in the school? The Ministry guaranteed... Cast the Patronus Charm quickly!"

As the sun neared the horizon, the twilight painted the scene with a half-shrouded rosy hue. Half the light was devoured, and the Dementors loomed high in the air, emitting a black mist, as if night had fallen prematurely.

Silver light pierced the darkness, Lupin's incantation. He conjured a silver barrier, but it wasn't a complete Patronus.

"Not far from them," Felix said. He cast a shallow silver glow over both of them.

"Professor, what is this?" Hermione looked at her glowing hand in wonder.

"Unpleasant memories. Dementors instinctively avoid us, of course, if they have better choices." Felix remarked.

They moved closer, close enough to see the expressions on Lupin and the others' faces. Lupin urgently called out, "Harry, Sirius, quickly cast the Patronus Charm, and Sev... if you can!"

The silver barrier he had conjured kept gathering, forming a massive corporeal Patronus, a wolf—Lupin's most dreaded form, now reluctantly called upon.

With the appearance of the Patronus wolf, the crisis was momentarily eased. The giant silver wolf silently howled, leaping and batting away Dementor after Dementor.

Harry's mind cleared momentarily. His lips quivered, and he subconsciously uttered the incantation, "Expecto Patronum—Ex, Expecto—Expecto Patronum!" A silver mist emerged from his wand, and with the faint light of the Patronus forming, he felt somewhat better. The initial suffocating feeling vanished, and he took deep, gulping breaths.

"Not enough! Not enough..." Lupin shouted urgently. "Sirius, Sev!"

However, Snape remained motionless. His expression was stiff, his wand gripped tightly, his knuckles white.

Sirius lightly tapped his leg on the ground. Raising his wand, he kept chanting, "Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum... Damn it, I can't do it!"

"What do you mean you can't? We all learned it together," Lupin called.

"I can't... those happy memories are all related to James." Sirius painfully covered his face. Under the influence of the Dementors, his lips turned as blue as Snape's.

Harry looked at Sirius, as if seeing the man for the first time and truly acknowledging his role as godfather. Gathering his courage, he recalled numerous joyful memories. The silver light surged continuously, and something started taking shape.

But there were simply too many Dementors. "Let's get on the bridge!" Lupin said decisively.

Peter Pettigrew, who had been bound, was now set free. He shifted his gaze around, contemplating an escape route. "Behave, Peter! There's a cliff below..." Sirius threatened, giving him a shove to make him walk on his own.

The green light on Snape's wand vanished. He glared at Sirius hatefully, leaving him utterly baffled.

They ascended the bridge, fighting and retreating. On the field, only Lupin remained as a complete combatant, but his Patronus couldn't fend off the hundreds of Dementors, especially with their constant emission of dark smoke, their chilling cold causing everyone's breath to form white clouds, almost freezing them.

Snape sent several red sparks into the sky, his face grim. "Others will come, they will..."

...

Seizing the opportunity when all Dementors were distracted, Felix whispered to Hermione, "When time returns to normal, you should appear on the other side of the bridge, right?"

"Yes, I followed the Ministry's people here. I watched from a distance and hid using the Time-Turner." Hermione explained, anxiously looking towards the bridge. "It should be soon... the Ministry people are arriving."

"You should be worried about yourself! When the Ministry people arrive, how will you cross the bridge and get to the other side?" Felix calmly said, "If I recall correctly, when you use a Time-Turner, you should return to your initial position?"

Hermione looked at him in surprise. "You're right, Professor. I have to create a closed loop in time and space." She suddenly realized the problem, screaming, "What do I do? Oh my God! If I can't make it back in time, I... I..." She remembered the consequences of misuse of the Time-Turner that she had read about, shivering in fear.

"How long was it from the moment you last saw Harry and them until you used the Time-Turner?"

"About seven, eight minutes! Many students had rushed over then, so I had to avoid them and hide in a restroom to use the Time-Turner."

"Enough time. I'll create an opportunity for you... when the time comes, you'll be wearing an Invisibility Cloak and with the added effect of the Disillusionment Charm, you should be able to sneak by." Felix looked at her seriously. "You must seize the opportunity."

Hermione nodded vigorously. She didn't know what the professor was planning, but she trusted him completely.

"Stay here for now, and you better put on the Invisibility Cloak now, stay ready..."

Hermione quickly put on the Invisibility Cloak. Felix cast various spells to shield her scent and sound. She looked as if she ceased to exist.

Then, with a Disillusionment Charm cast on him, Felix stepped onto the bridge.

Footsteps echoed from the other side of the bridge. Umbridge's pink attire was highly conspicuous. Smirking, she led a group of Aurors, shrilly announcing, "Minister, it's just ahead!" The stout, short figure at the front was none other than the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge.

Beside him was Professor McGonagall. She glanced at the scene on the bridge and her eyes widened. "Minister Fudge, you must stop these Dementors! They're attacking Hogwarts professors, two of them!"

Umbridge giggled, "That's because they're in cahoots with Azkaban's most notorious escapee. See? They're even attacking Ministry personnel... Millicent, I thought you wouldn't shield them."

"Sirius and Severus wouldn't shield a fugitive!" McGonagall said with restrained anger.

Fudge patted his belly, "Rest assured, Millicent. We can control the Dementors. They won't harm these two professors. Otherwise, I'd have trouble explaining to Dumbledore..."

He signaled Umbridge with his eyes. She pulled out a black whistle from her pocket and blew into it, puffing her cheeks like a puffed-up toad ready to strike.

The whistle sounded, and the Dementors received the command. Their attack intensified, shuttling and swirling through the gaps on the bridge, chilling frost crystallizing in the air.

A thread of black mist wafted over towards the Ministry personnel due to the wind. Fudge shivered, muttering, "Detestable creatures." He tightened his collar, staring at the scene on the bridge. Professor Snape shot an unseen curse from his wand, astonishingly managing to slightly hinder the Dementors' advance.

But... Fudge extended his thick fingers, "Who's that bound person?"

Professor McGonagall scrutinized for a moment and exclaimed, "It's Peter Pettigrew!"

"How's that possible? Isn't he dead?" Fudge asked, skeptical. He felt something was off, that something had gone awry—someone who had been dead for over a decade suddenly reappeared. It just didn't make sense.

Umbridge's eyes flickered, "Minister, maybe this hero didn't die back then; perhaps he lost his memory. Recently, he learned about Sirius Black's escape, had his memory restored due to the shock, and decided to confront the enemy he faced over a decade ago..."

Fudge's eyes lit up. "You're making sense—"

"No!" Professor McGonagall interrupted suddenly. "Peter Pettigrew is the illegal Animagus, he disguised himself as a rat, lived with one of my students for over a decade! Dumbledore suspected there was another traitor alongside betraying the Potters. Minister Fudge, you should cease the attack and uncover the truth."

Fudge furrowed his brow. Anxiously, he said, "What are you saying? Peter Pettigrew is a Ministry-recognized hero, a First Class Order of Merlin recipient. How could he possibly..."

But he knew Professor McGonagall's character. She never spoke falsehoods. Fudge hesitated, gazing uncertainly at the ongoing battle on the bridge.

At this critical moment, Snape had been using discreet Dark Magic. Its effect against the Dementors wasn't overly apparent, only barely holding them off.

The Dementors grew increasingly agitated. The flames Sirius was conjuring were growing weaker. Finally, one Dementor glided past him, carrying away his remaining happy memories.

"No—" his wand drooped.

A gap appeared in their defense, and more Dementors swarmed in. The silver mist that Harry was conjuring grew thinner and thinner. He felt like he was holding up a mountain, bending down under the weight.

Various illusions began to cloud his mind. Once again, he heard his mother's voice, clearer than ever before. He struggled against it, but his resistance was growing weaker.

Then, Harry found himself enveloped in a warm power, and he heard a gentle voice say, "Harry, gather yourself, think of happy memories..."

Harry sensed himself breaking free from the influence of the Dementors. He came back to his senses, quickly scanning around. He noticed Snape's wand tip glowing with a silver light, but before he could think further, just seven or eight steps away, he saw his godfather lying on the ground, a Dementor leaning in close, lifting the tattered hood on its head to reveal a rotted hole that resembled a mouth. Harry even caught a whiff of its putrid breath.

"No, no!" Harry desperately tried to imagine the feeling of having a new home, the image of living with his godfather. "Expecto Patronum!" he shouted loudly. An unprecedented surge of power welled up within him, magic converging continuously. The silver mist rolled like endless waves, forming a dazzling silver creature. It stood still, and ripples of silver spread outward, hurling the Dementors far away.

In the following moments, it began to circle around Harry, its magnificent silver antlers knocking Dementor after Dementor away. The Dementor army was pushed back, disorganized and defeated.

Umbridge and Fudge were left speechless. "Is this Harry Potter?" Fudge asked incredulously.

Umbridge was taken aback for a moment and then blew her whistle vigorously, urging the Dementors to attack.

"You insolent toad! What do you think you're doing!" A curse shot out from a corner, hitting Umbridge's black whistle directly, causing it to explode with a loud bang. Umbridge screamed and fell to the ground.

"Who! Who dared to attack a high-ranking Ministry official!" Fudge shouted in anger.

Professor McGonagall raised her wand, joined by the students behind her. She suppressed her anger and said sternly, "Minister Fudge, order the Dementors to cease their attack immediately. If anything goes wrong, you will regret it."

Fudge's attitude softened as he hesitated, looking around. He had never experienced so many wands pointed at him before. He saw young, angry faces all around, and even his elite Aurors seemed to have lost their spirit. They couldn't harm the students.

Fudge's voice trembled as he tried to defend himself, "I actually... I didn't mean to..." He stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds, then turned and loudly commanded, "Call back the Dementors, Aurors, do not harm anyone!"

One of his subordinates reminded him in a low voice, "Minister, the whistle controlling the Dementors exploded."

Fudge erupted in anger, "So you're telling me that the damn whistle is the only thing controlling the Dementors?"

The man looked terrified, "Under normal circumstances, yes. But now, they're severely wounded and urgently need to feed..."

Fudge's pupils dilated, seemingly responding to his words. The dispersed Dementors began to gather again. They weren't dead, but their cloaks were tattered, some of them had prominent holes in their chests.

These wounds were inflicted by Harry's Patronus, but they weren't fatal, not even minor injuries. For Dementors, physical forms were secondary. What mattered to them was their hunger, and a feast lay before them.

They targeted the students behind the Aurors, circling and swooping like ominous black birds. However, facing their former captors, they seemed hesitant. They hovered around, drinking in the air, causing the temperature to plummet visibly. White clouds of breath formed as many students paled in fear.

On the other side, Harry leaned against the railing, gasping for air. He was utterly exhausted, barely keeping himself from collapsing. His Patronus trotted back to him. It wasn't a horse or a unicorn but a stag. Its entire body glowed, and when Harry reached out to touch the antlers on its head, the Patronus dissipated.

He had succeeded! He had saved Sirius, Professor Lupin, and... Snape. Harry's gaze swept around, finding his godfather lying on the ground, breathing heavily, the expression of a survivor on his face. Lupin was sitting on the ground, worn out.

He turned to look at Snape and saw Snape, wand wavering, sending a chilling green curse shooting from his wand. Harry's eyes widened, reality seemed to overlap with a dream. He heard his mother's scream once again, followed by a blinding flash of green light filling his vision...

It was the Avada Kedavra curse!josei

Why would Snape use that curse? No, who was he using it on?

Only now did Harry realize that Wormtail was gone. All that remained were his clothes on the ground. His gaze followed Snape's spell, and he saw a rat frantically fleeing.

Snape wanted to kill Wormtail!

But just then, a hand emerged from thin air, grabbing Snape's wand. "Severus, he's not worth it," Felix said, his voice calm. Felix cast a spell, and suddenly the rat began to glow, its body elongating, transforming. It shed its Animagus form and fell to the ground, now kneeling and trembling.

Wormtail's luck had run out. He had just managed to reach the other end of the bridge. Several steps away stood a group of Aurors and students, who had been watching the restless Dementors. They were now captivated by this sudden turn of events.

Seven or eight Dementors glided in, and one of them grabbed Wormtail by the neck, lifting the tattered hood on its head—

"No! Spare me! I shouldn't have betrayed you all, James, Lily, it was Voldemort who forced me, he was too powerful... you don't know what he's capable of!" Wormtail cried out in despair.

The Ministry's Aurors stared wide-eyed, wands held aloft, including Professor McGonagall. Everyone froze in place, shocked by Wormtail's sudden revelation.

In his final moments, he had finally awakened. He cried desperately, "He's coming back! The one whose name we must not mention is coming back! I did wrong, forgive—"

His voice cut off abruptly as the Dementor sucked away his soul.

Snape stepped back a few paces, his body slumping to the ground in a daze. He sat there, seemingly paralyzed, covering his face, muttering to himself.

After a while, Fudge shouted loudly, "Absurd! What nonsense is he spewing!"

Professor McGonagall retorted sharply, "Only you would think that. He was perfectly clear. And your Dementors have gone berserk!"

The Dementors had indeed gone out of control. Wormtail's soul had agitated them. No longer satisfied with circling around the feast, they began to approach.

Fudge retreated in fear, cowering within the crowd. "Protect me! Use the Patronus Charm!"

Unfortunately, the Patronus Charm wasn't common knowledge, and even the Aurors wouldn't necessarily know it. Among the people present, only four knew how to cast a Patronus, including Professor McGonagall.

McGonagall frowned. She hadn't expected the Ministry to be so ill-prepared, especially Minister Fudge. He seemed utterly terrified. She followed Harry's lead, summoning a powerful Patronus, an intense light gathering. But then she heard Felix's voice.

"Now's the time!"

What time? She turned around in surprise, her eyes widening. Felix stood at the edge of the bridge, an invisible vortex held in his hands. His body radiated blue magical energy, and one by one, Dementors were torn away, shrinking into the vortex.

One by one, ten by ten... The Dementors, now out of control, were drawn away from them and plummeted from the sky like a torrential black rain.

Felix maintained the magic, light flashing around him. Gracefully, Hermione, hidden under her Invisibility Cloak, slipped past the Aurors and Professor McGonagall. She navigated through the crowd of students. "Who bumped into me?" someone grumbled. "Don't push, we can all see clearly. Professor Harp is just too cool, and Harry's Patronus, Merlin, it's unbelievable!"

After a dozen seconds, the sky was void of Dementors. Felix held the spherical vortex and looked at the dumbfounded Ministry officials and Aurors. He said softly, "Since these Dementors have gone berserk and attacked students and Ministry officials, there's no need to keep them around..."

"Ventus!"

White flames ignited within the spherical vortex. It spun violently, spewing thick black smoke that morphed into distorted faces. But the flames quickly consumed them, and one after another, the black spots within the vortex disappeared as if they had never existed.

Umbridge, bloody and unconscious, opened her eyes and witnessed Felix incinerating the Dementors. Memories from the past flooded her mind, and she screamed before fainting.

"Mr. Harp..." Fudge trembled.

Felix smiled, his teeth gleaming white. "No need to thank me. It's what I should do."

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