Volume 3: A Tombstone Stained with Sin and Blood Chapter 149 Gray and Silver
"Maybe the traitor who sneaked into the carriage went with the traitor." Ron speculated while cutting onions.
He was now unwilling to even mention Percy's name, instead referring to him as a traitor.
Compared to the others, Neville was obviously much more perceptive. He washed the potatoes and shook his head.
"The purpose of the traitor cannot be just to take Percy away. It is not even as meaningful as him staying in the carriage and reporting our location to the Ministry of Magic at all times."
"I don't dare sleep alone lately. I can only share a bed with Hermione." Lavender came over with a bucket and said irritably.
Hermione, who was stirring the cream, turned around and looked at her helplessly.
"We have to share two quilts tonight. You always like to take away the quilt at night. I'm about to catch a cold."
"In fact, there's no need to be too nervous even if we don't catch that person." Jon said calmly, "After he helped Percy leave the carriage, if he really wanted to do something harmful to us, he should have done it earlier, and he wouldn't have waited until everyone was on guard before taking action."
He put Neville's washed potatoes and Ron's chopped onions into a large basin, then he and Justin lifted it up and walked towards Hamton and the others who were boiling a large pot of hot water.
"Let's wait for news from the professors. I hope today's search will yield some results."
They had been preparing for the sumptuous dinner in the evening all day, but the lunch was not bad either. The professors had cast Muggle-Repelling Spells on the places where the carriages stopped, so as long as they did not leave the designated areas, the students could move around freely here without worrying about being discovered.
At lunch time, Dumbledore and other professors got off the carriage. Looking at the faces of Professor McGonagall and the others, most students could guess that this search would probably not yield any valuable clues.
This was indeed not a normal thing. This carriage, which was used as the last escape from Hogwarts, had quite complete protection measures. Unless Dumbledore and a professor on the carriage staged their own show like they did the year before, even if a wizard could sneak in, it would be very difficult for him to hide.
But this is a welcome dinner after all. The freshmen who have just been picked up by the carriages can clearly feel the tense atmosphere these days. Today it is time to let them relax a little.
A long table was placed on the grass. This table was much larger than the one Jon had just entered school. The table was covered with a white tablecloth and filled with food that the students had been busy preparing all day.
Dumbledore never gave a long speech on such occasions, he knew that children were always eager for delicious food and dinner.
But before the banquet officially began, he still mentioned it with a smile.
"Don't worry about the danger on the carriage. Although we still haven't gained anything today, we have found a way. I believe we will see results soon."
Naturally, the students had 100% trust in his words. Except for the first-year students, the lingering pressure in the hearts of all the little wizards was immediately relieved, and there was more laughter and joy at the dinner.
There are no new professors to introduce this year. Lupin has been teaching the students on the carriage for nearly half a semester and has become familiar with them.
The students on the carriage were still as enthusiastic as usual. They introduced the professors sitting at the front of the long table to the freshmen and explained to them their future life in school.
Those students from Hogwarts Castle who had just arrived at the carriage this year had long lost the reservedness they had when they first arrived here. They looked no different from other children. The life of being treated as slaves in the castle had long been suppressed in their hearts by the happiness of today. Except for the occasional recall of the unbearable past before going to bed, which would cause their bodies to tremble, the rest of the time they lived as if they were brought to this carriage from the beginning.
The dinner finally ended at nearly ten o'clock. Led by Dumbledore, the students sang the Hogwarts school song towards the starry sky above their heads. Then most of the students returned to the carriage to rest. Only all the freshmen and one student from each grade from second to seventh were left to clean up the mess.
Jon was one of the students who stayed to help. Dumbledore did not leave either. He asked the professors who had been busy all day to go back to the carriage to rest. He and Filch helped and took care of the students here.
He took out his wand and knocked casually at the long table covered with food residues. The plates and cups on it became extremely clean. Then, students in grades six and seven used spells to gather the tableware and stacked them neatly together. The rest of the students were cleaning up the garbage left on the ground.
Gabrielle did not return to the carriage immediately. She floated beside her "roommate" Luna, directing her to pick up the fruit peels.
But she soon felt bored and floated to Jon's side, talking happily about how wonderful the dinner was. She now wanted to come to this Hogwarts carriage instead of going to Beauxbatons when she was old enough, but she didn't know whether her parents would agree.
Jon was thinking about something and didn't pay much attention to the little girl's chatter. He just used his wand to restore the flattened grass on the ground to its original state and nodded continuously to show that he was listening.
Gabrielle soon noticed his perfunctory attitude, so she pouted and floated to the grass at the edge of the carriage to play with the fireflies.
Jon was not thinking about anything else, he was just thinking about what Dumbledore said before the banquet, that there was already a solution. He did not think that this was a groundless consolation, since Dumbledore said this, it meant that he must have had an idea.
Just as the students who stayed behind to clean the place had tidied it back to the way it was before they arrived, the freshmen who had the lightest workload were preparing to step up the stairs and return to their carriages.
A shrill scream suddenly broke the quiet night sky!
"ah!!!"
It was a delicate female voice, and the moment it sounded, all the students present, as well as Dumbledore who had not yet returned, all turned their heads to look in the direction of the voice.
Gabrielle, who was originally floating around the grass with the fireflies, hugged her head at some point. Her cloud-like silver hair trembled behind her body. Her body, which originally seemed transparent under the moonlight, became even more illusory at this moment.
In front of her, a creature wearing a gray cloak and as thin as a bamboo pole, more than two meters tall, floated out silently from the woods!
The moment this monster appeared, a chill as cold as winter enveloped the entire venue. Every student who saw it seemed to be frozen by the biting cold. Their bodies trembled uncontrollably, and a sense of death and despair rose in their hearts for no reason!
The moment he saw this monster, its name popped up in Jon's mind -
Dementors!
"Expect God to Guard!"
Almost in a flash, the sound of Dumbledore chanting a spell sounded behind him, and John raised his wand and ran quickly towards Gabrielle without any hesitation.
"Get back to the carriages! All students get back to the carriages!"
The silver light illuminated the field, and Dumbledore's voice, calm but obviously angry, rang out, bringing the students, who had been staring at the Dementor in a daze, back to their senses. They quickly returned to the carriage in order of age, from youngest to oldest.
Dumbledore's spell did not summon a patronus, but the silver light was like another moon in the dark night, piercing the coldness that had enveloped this area.
The Dementor floating in front of Gabrielle began to retreat. It seemed to feel extremely uncomfortable with the silver light. It did not dare to move forward easily, but returned to the darkness behind the bushes.
John's hand passed through Gabrielle's cold body, and the little girl who had been frightened finally came back to her senses. She cried and called John's name, then stretched out her transparent hand and grabbed the corner of his robe.
Jon held the wand in his hand, and while he gently comforted her, he continued to lead her back. At the same time, with the help of the warm silver light behind him, he could see the scene behind the grass where there were no more fireflies flying.
Dementors, hordes of Dementors!
They hid in the woods where the silver light could not reach, and it was impossible to see their numbers clearly, but at a glance, it seemed that they were everywhere within sight!
"Take Gabrielle back, Jon."
Dumbledore's voice sounded right behind Jon. At this time, they were the only two left on the field, and the other students had returned to the carriage.
Hagrid waved the reins and sat in the driver's seat. The Thestrals, which could only be seen after experiencing the death of a living person, let out an agitated roar. Jon did not stop for a moment. He quickly jumped into the carriage with Gabrielle, who had been holding on to the corner of his clothes.
After he got in the car, Dumbledore also walked to Hagrid's driving seat. Gradually, the silver light emitted from the tip of his wand could no longer intimidate the hundreds of Dementors behind. These monsters, covered in tattered gray robes, surged out from the woods!
"Go, Hagrid!"
Upon hearing the order, Hagrid immediately pulled the reins. In fact, the Thestrals didn't need him to drive them at all. After receiving the order to run wildly, they galloped towards the golden wheat fields ahead!
The wheat that was almost ripe fled to the sides in a hurry before being trampled by the horses' hooves, just like pedestrians blocking the road. The carriage was galloping, but the Dementors did not give up their target.
They flew up from the woods and into the night sky like countless kites with broken strings!
The originally clear starry sky was blocked, and the suffocating coldness pressed down to the ground from mid-air like a blizzard!
Hagrid, who felt the dead silence most directly, had turned pale, but he still tried his best to hold the reins tightly in his hands.
"It takes time for the Thestrals to accelerate! Sir! We can't get rid of them for now!"
There was no particular change in Dumbledore's expression, except that he narrowed his eyes under his half-moon glasses and raised his wand again.
He did not answer Hagrid, but instead recited the spell again in a calm voice.
"Expecto Patronus."
The moment the spell fell, silver light that was ten times brighter than before illuminated half of the night sky!
Under the overwhelming light, a bird that looked extremely similar to Fox emerged from the silver light!
Unlike Fox's gorgeous golden and red appearance, its lifelike feathers are all silver like moonlight. Every time it flaps its wings downward, silver light sways at the end of the wings.
The moment this silver phoenix guardian appeared, the gray sky was pierced by this brilliance!
The monsters that originally blocked the entire night sky began to scramble to retreat, but their speed was obviously not as fast as the phoenix soaring in the air. The gray silence was dissipating, and the silver light in the sky called back the starry sky.
Hagrid showed an expression of great excitement.
"We're free of them, sir!"
Dumbledore's expression remained calm as ever. He looked at the fading gray and spoke softly.
"We have only gotten rid of them temporarily, the fundamental problem has not been solved."
The Thestrals completed their initial acceleration, and the surrounding scenery was like a rapidly sliding slide, constantly passing by both sides of the carriage.
In a very short time, they crossed the entire wheat field, passed the village, and brushed past a city.
After making sure that he had completely gotten rid of the Dementors behind him, Dumbledore returned to the carriage through the driver's door.
In order to prevent anyone from taking advantage of this chaos to create greater disorder, the students had been arranged to the dining hall by the professors who had returned to the carriage. When Dumbledore pushed the door open and walked in, all the students looked at him with uneasy expressions.
That originally old and calm face always showed a gentle smile when facing these children.
"Go back to sleep. The matter outside has been resolved. Remember, if you want to go to the bathroom at night, you must wake up your roommates."
After hearing his words, the students all breathed a sigh of relief and returned to their dormitories under the arrangement of McGonagall and Flitwick. Before leaving the restaurant, each of them did not forget to say "Good night, Professor" to Dumbledore.
John had calmed Gabrielle down and asked her to go back to the dormitory with her roommates Luna and Ginny.
When he and Neville passed by Dumbledore, Jon actually had some questions to ask the old man, but after looking into Dumbledore's bright eyes, which hinted at fatigue, he swallowed the words for the time being.
As the night deepened, Hogwarts returned to its uneasy tranquility tonight.
