Volume 4: The Sea and the Ship Heading North Chapter 161 Sea and Ship
Jon really didn't need to drive away the Thestrals himself.
They seemed to have a very clear understanding of the journey ahead and led the carriage to keep running forward.
The surrounding scenery was constantly receding. Bitch was lying on top of Jon's head, grabbing Jon's hair with his two little paws, and the night wind blew all the hair on his body upright.
Jon took a deep breath and gripped the reins tightly in his hands. He still felt a sense of unreality.
Halloween had not even passed yet, and now the students and professors in the school were forced to separate. The meaning of Dumbledore's last conversation with him was to put the fate of the students left on the carriage in his hands.
And we have to find out why Voldemort became like this?
In fact, John has been thinking about this problem almost every day since he came to this world. Now it seems that not only him, but Dumbledore has also always wanted to find out the truth about this matter. After all, just like in the original book, if you want to defeat this dark devil, you must at least understand the source of his power first.
People would not change so much for no reason. Something must have happened in the meantime that turned the demon who was once like a murderous madman into what he is now.
But Jon didn't understand what arrangements Dumbledore had made. Even now, with the reins in his hands, he still didn't know where the Thestrals were going to pull the carriage.
And just when he was far away from the battlefield between the Order of the Phoenix wizards and the Death Eaters, the originally clear starry sky was suddenly shrouded by an unknown darkness.
Jon subconsciously tightened the wand in his hand and looked up at the sky.
At some point, a giant bat was gliding above the carriage!
The bat's wings are like a piece of black cloth as big as a basketball court. When they are fully stretched out, they give people a shocking feeling of covering the sky and the sun.
When Jon looked up and saw the bat, the bat's cold eyes were also staring straight at him.
As far as Jon knows, there is only one such huge bat-shaped magical creature in the entire magical world.
The bat!
An extremely evil black magic creature, very rare, generally only living in tropical areas. It likes to sneak attack people while they are sleeping, suffocate them with its broad fleshy wings, and then eat them. Every time it eats a person, its wings will become thicker and its body will become larger.
A normal bat is only about the size of an adult, but the one that appeared in front of Jon was far beyond the "normal" range!
In order to grow to such a size, it must have eaten a lot of people. Only human flesh can provide it with the nutrients it needs to continue growing.
This terrifyingly huge bat only looked at John for a second before it began to dive down!
Those broad fleshy wings showed no intention of being retracted at all. They were like a piece of black cloth, wrapping the entire Hogwarts carriage from above, just like they usually suffocated their prey, wrapping all the students in the carriage into their wings!
"God's sword has no shadow!"
Without any hesitation, the moment he saw its intention, Jon swung his staff and cast the spell without hesitation!
The invisible sharp blade cut through the air in an instant, and the next moment it landed on the broad fleshy wings of the crouching bat!
“Puff!”
The sound of flesh being cut was heard. This black magic created by Snape had both extremely fast casting speed and extremely high power. As long as one did not react at the moment the caster chanted the spell, it would be almost impossible to avoid this spell.
What's more, the target of the Voldemort is so large, it would be strange if Jon's spell couldn't hit it.
But because of the huge size of the bat, the damage caused by John's attack was almost negligible, just like a cut on a person's finger.
There was no sign of its falling being hindered, and the smelly blood splattered on the roof of the carriage, then wrapped the entire carriage in its wings!
The actions of the creeping bat did not stop the Thestrals from running. Its weight seemed to be no resistance at all to these natural divine horses. It was like a giant black octopus attached to the carriage, and its broad wings were constantly tightening.
In the carriage, all the students who were gathered in the dining hall at this time saw the windows of the carriage being blocked by black flesh wings, followed by an extremely violent shaking!
The younger first-year students huddled in a corner in panic; they had no idea what was happening, but fear filled their hearts.
Although the senior students could not suppress their inner anxiety, they had experienced more storms than the freshmen after all, and in this situation they still had the experience to comfort and take care of the crying freshmen.
"Why isn't Jon here?" Hermione looked a little pale, but she still maintained the most basic calmness.
Neville handed a piece of chocolate to a freshman. His furrowed brows clearly showed his worry, but he still tried to think positively.
"Jon may be with the professors. Don't worry, he will definitely not be in any danger."
At this time, the students on the carriage did not know that their professors had left the carriage and blocked the last enemy for them. They were the only ones left in the entire school.
The bat's movements have not stopped yet.
Just when it was about to pull the entire carriage into its body, a faint silver light suddenly shone out from the gap!
The moment the silver light came on, the bat's wings, which had been tightening, suddenly began to relax.
It was as if it had encountered the thing it hated and feared the most. It let go of the carriage that was almost in its pocket and rose into the sky again.
Jon held up a magic wand with silver light constantly emanating from it and stood up awkwardly from the driver's seat.
He was in a position with no obstructions on three sides, and it was the place where the space was compressed first after the bat's wings were tightened. Fortunately, Jon finally used the Patronus Charm for the first time in actual combat before the last bit of space for casting spells disappeared.
Although the patronus has not been successfully summoned, the scattered silver light has already had enough impact on the bat.
This creature has almost no weaknesses, but like the Dementors, it is naturally afraid of the Patronus Charm. This has nothing to do with how big they can grow, but is more like a natural restraint.
However, the unformed guardian angel still lacked some effectiveness. Even if the bat let go of the carriage, it still followed closely above the carriage.
It stared closely at the silver light on the tip of John's staff, as if it knew very well that the Patronus Charm he cast would not last long. As soon as the light went out, the bat would pounce again and eat everyone in the carriage!
The more times like this happened, the calmer Jon became. He held up the magic wand in his hand, allowing the continuously floating silver light to flow around the carriage.
The Thestrals continued to run forward, as if they had also heard Dumbledore's final advice to John, to keep moving forward!
Jon couldn't stop casting the Patronus spell. The flying bat in the sky was like a jackal following its prey on the grassland. Once he showed the slightest sign of timidity, the monster would eat this most delicious delicacy without hesitation.
So now John must find a way to break through the current predicament as soon as possible. He cannot cast a high-intensity spell like the Patronus Charm endlessly. Before long, he will be exhausted and unable to continue casting the spell.
He held the wand in one hand and the reins in the other, his brain was working rapidly, but before he could think of a solution, he suddenly saw a steep cliff right in front of the carriage in the faint moonlight!
Subconsciously, Jon held his breath!
He suddenly tightened his grip on the reins, and the first thing that came to his mind was to change the direction of the Thestral. However, before he could put this idea into action, the advice Dumbledore left him before leaving came to his mind.
'No matter what you encounter, or what obstacles are ahead, remember what I am saying now, keep moving forward, keep moving forward!'
Jon didn't know whether Dumbledore was giving him spiritual encouragement or guidance for action, but he knew that Dumbledore's words could not be useless.
He gritted his teeth, didn't pull the reins hard, and just stared straight ahead!
The Thestrals showed no intention of stopping, and Jon gave up his original idea of driving them to turn.
Not only did their speed not slow down at all, but it became faster and faster, so fast that it seemed like they were going to take everyone flying!
The prone bat was also raising its altitude. It looked towards the carriage with humane mockery, as if it had seen the end of the road for everyone in the carriage!
Unable to see Jon, the Thestrals spread their dark wings and suddenly took off into the air when they ran to the highest point of the cliff!
The ropes pulling on them and connecting them to the carriages suddenly loosened and then suddenly tightened again.
Under the moonlight, the carriage seemed to be suspended in mid-air!
Jon held the reins tightly in his hands, and the entire hind half of Beech above his head flew up due to inertia, and he could only use his two front paws to tightly grasp Jon's hair!
Under such circumstances, John naturally had no way to continue casting the Patronus Charm. The silver light at the tip of his wand began to dim, and just as it was about to go out, the bat flying above the carriage seized the best opportunity, and its huge body suddenly crashed into the carriage!
Such a huge force caused the carriage to fall suddenly, and the Thestrals, which were originally spreading their wings in the sky, did not struggle or resist at all. They obediently followed this force, spread their wings, and glided down the cliff.
What's below is not a flat land, but an endless sea!
Jon couldn't see the Thestrals, so naturally he couldn't see what they were doing at the moment, but the moment the carriage began to fall, he saw the waves below.
At this moment, for some reason, his mind recalled a question he had asked the old man at the beginning of this year.
[Then why do we have to stay in England, Professor Dumbledore?]
[…It actually inherited the Hogwarts Castle before it was conquered eight years ago, and it has a very special meaning to this land. This means that its wheels can only turn on the ground of Britain forever, but it has no way to touch the land outside the British Isles. ]
The wheel can only turn on the ground of Britain... There is no way to touch the land outside the island of Great Britain...
“Plop!”
The carriage fell into the turbulent sea, splashing waves dozens of meters high.
The flying bat circled around the sea for a long time, as if hoping that one or two survivors would float up from the water to serve as its dinner for the night.
But to its disappointment, it seemed that no one escaped from the carriage that sank to the bottom of the sea, and it was submerged in the surging waves.
The prone bat did not stay there any longer. It began to return in the direction it came from. Its owner was still waiting for it to report. Now, even if it did not eat these human cubs itself, it could still give an explanation when it returned and get more rewards.
The "dark cloud" that obscured a large area of the starry sky flew away, and the cold October night wind carried the waves that kept beating against the rocks in the sea area. There was no trace of any person or carriage.
However, not far from this sea area, there is a piece of sea water far away from the coastline.
A huge, old wooden boat rose silently from the sea and then jumped out of the water!
The sea water slid down the deck and splashed on the sea surface, making a pleasant sound of water.
Jon was sitting in the helmsman's seat of the wooden boat in amazement, watching behind him, an old yellowed white sail was slowly rising on the mast.
There was an extremely conspicuous emblem on the white sail, shining brightly in the moonlight.
It was an emblem of a capital "H" surrounded by a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake.
The white sail was completely raised, and the rudder in front of Jon began to turn by itself!
The long sail changed direction, and this huge wooden ship, which looked like it only existed in the Middle Ages, began to move in its predetermined direction.
Beech jumped down from Jon's head excitedly, and its action also brought Jon, who was originally in shock, back to his senses.
He had never imagined that the original carriage would undergo such a change that was incredible even in the wizarding world!
Dumbledore told him that the wheels of the carriage could only run on the land of Britain, but he never thought that since other lands were not allowed, why not the sea?
The wooden boat sailed through the waves, and the sound of the surrounding waves echoed in Jon's ears.
Beach was running around curiously on the unfamiliar deck; even if one couldn't see it, one could clearly feel that the Thestrals that were pulling the carriage in front of it were also on the deck, stepping on the wooden boards that were making squeaking sounds under their feet.
All of this is telling Jon that he and everyone else at Hogwarts are embarking on a new journey!
