Chapter 121: Fear

"I think you've met your match." McGonagall couldn't help but say; Harry even felt she was holding back laughter.

Just when they were deadlocked, Jin Ni and Ivy walked into the Great Hall. They looked at the table and said in surprise: "Eating turkey so early in the morning?"

With this, the atmosphere between Zhang Qiu and Trelawney eased up quite a bit.

Dumbledore added new chairs for them with a smile.

"Wake up, Jin Ni." Luo En knocked on her head. "It's already noon!"

"Oh, sorry, we slept a bit late last night." Jin Ni yawned again.

"The moon last night was too beautiful, so big and round." Ivy sat down and said when taking potato chips.

Harry recalled the moon phase, then squinted his eyes and looked at Zhang Qiu.

"I didn't want to either, but divination just said so." She shrugged.

"Oh, I remembered one thing, where is our dear Professor Lupin?" Trelawney suddenly said this. Harry felt she really knew how to pick the wrong thing to say.

"He is sick." Snape said stiffly. "I have already prepared the potion for him; he should be better soon."

"Getting sick on Christmas, it's truly too pitiful. Of course, I have already foreseen it, just wanted to remind everyone..." Trelawney said in a low voice.

"Ah! This sausage is truly too delicious!" Harry suddenly shouted to change the subject. "Can I have some more?"

"Of course." Professor Doudou said while handing the sausage to him, "This has to mention the EU standards newly passed by Muggles. If it weren't for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement strongly holding back the pressure, we wouldn't be able to eat authentic British sausages now."

"I heard this news the year before last." Ivy inserted a sentence.

"Yeah, but the problem is that Hake has no other political achievements to show." Professor Doudou said. "So every time he gives a speech, he has to emphasize the sausage matter."

The adults laughed out loud at the political joke, and Harry also laughed along. Only Trelawney still looked unhappy, and even seemed a bit humiliated.

The feast could have lasted until the evening, but Harry and Luo En were worried about the Firebolt. Seeing that Professor Doudou found an excuse to leave halfway, they also prepared to take their leave after eating their fill. Not long after they left, Zhang Qiu also chased after them. She suggested that they should show Wood before mounting the brooms.

"That will have to wait until Wood returns to school." Harry said with dissatisfaction. "But we can't wait anymore."

"Alright, this is also harmless." Zhang Qiu sighed. "Then I'll go back to the dormitory; I'm not interested in brooms."

From this afternoon on Christmas, the rest of their holiday was almost entirely occupied by the Firebolt. Until after school started, finally someone said different opinions out of envy and jealousy.

"I feel what you are doing is very dangerous." Hermione said to them as soon as she returned to school. "The broom might have been sent by Black; he knows you can't resist the Firebolt."

"Are you teaching me how to do things?" Harry imitated Professor Doudou's tone. "We have ridden for so many days; obviously there is no problem with this broom at all."

"Yeah, and Professor Doudou and McGonagall have both checked it." Luo En added. "Harry suspects it was sent by Snape, but Snape 'unofficially' denied this point."

"If I remember correctly, the Firebolt is very expensive, right?" Hermione said hesitantly.

"Expensive, more expensive than the seven brooms of Slytherin combined!" Luo En gestured with his hands and feet. "It's hard to imagine Snape has earned so much black-hearted money over the years; perhaps he is selling house points in private."

"If you have to calculate it this way, it's much cheaper than a Rolls-Royce." Harry shrugged. "Don't be too entangled in these; for me, what's more important is that I need a broom to play the match now. If he sent me the Nimbus series, I would still be just as happy."

"Snape heard your words and changed the Firebolt to a Shooting Star overnight." Luo En poked him.

"Then I'll change the gift I give him to shampoo." Harry said fiercely.

Hermione looked at the two playing tricks on each other with confusion, sighed with words stopping, and then shook her head and left.

In the first week after school started, Harry couldn't help but go find Lupin to ask about the Patronus Charm again, and this time he got a satisfactory answer.

Lupin told him that he would conduct individual training for him every Thursday. The reason for emphasizing individual was because he couldn't use real Dementors to help Harry train, and could only use a Boggart instead. And only Harry would see a Dementor in the Boggart; if others came together, it would form interference.

Learning this news, Harry had to cross out the "learn the Patronus Charm together" line from the note; he was worried Zhang Qiu would see that terrible dark wizard in the Boggart again.

Thursday night at eight o'clock, Harry left the dormitory and came to the History of Magic classroom. Lupin thought this place was more spacious and very suitable for practice.

Five minutes later, Lupin brought a Boggart in a suitcase to the classroom.

"Now..." Professor Lupin took out his own wand and instructed Harry to do the same action. "The spell I am about to teach you is extremely advanced magic, Harry... ordinary wizards have no way to do it well. It is called the Patronus Charm."

"I'm ready." Harry said eagerly.

"Very good. When it is executed correctly, it will summon a Patronus with the spell," Lupin continued: "A Patronus is a positive force. Dementors cannot make people truly feel despair, so they cannot harm the Patronus, but instead fear it. But I must warn you, Harry, this spell might still be too advanced for you. Many proper wizards have difficulty using it."

"What does a Patronus look like?" Harry asked curiously.

"Every wizard summons a unique one."

"Then how to summon it?"

"Use a spell; this spell will only be effective if you concentrate all your spirit on a very happy memory."

Harry thought roughly about the happy memory fragments. He decided to think about the moment of winning the championship last year, using outstanding performance and teamwork on the pitch to defeat the opponent squarely and win the trophy. The cheers of teammates, the ribbons thrown by the audience—that golden rain was worth remembering for a lifetime.

"Alright." Harry gripped his wand tightly.

"The spell is like this..." Lupin cleared his throat: "Expecto Patronum!"

"Expecto Patronum." Harry recited a few times in a low voice, then he pointed his wand forward and said loudly: "Expecto Patronum!"

With a puff, a group of silver mist sprayed from the tip of Harry's wand, but it quickly dissipated in the air.

"Did you see it?" Harry said excitedly: "Something appeared!"

"Very good," Lupin said with a smile: "Right, then... are you ready to confront the Dementor?"

"Yes." Harry gripped his wand tightly and said, "Open the box."

Lupin opened the box, and bursts of black mist drifted out. For a moment, Harry's heart rose to his throat; he felt the Dementor would appear from the mist immediately.

But it didn't. The rolling black mist gradually covered the entire room, and Harry was still holding his breath, waiting for the appearance of the Dementor.

Lupin realized something was wrong; he gripped his wand and looked at Harry.

Harry's breathing became more and more rapid, and the black mist became thicker and thicker. His thoughts began to drift; it seemed that what was in the mist wasn't a Dementor, but Voldemort; or it seemed it wasn't Voldemort, but other more terrible things. He seemed to hear someone whispering, and seemed to hear someone crying loudly.

Finally, a figure walked out of the black mist. It looked like a Dementor but wasn't a Dementor, carrying a huge scythe on its back, and slowly spat out a sound from under the cloak: "Peverell..."

Harry couldn't endure it anymore; he finally realized what his true fear was—not a Dementor or Voldemort, but that taboo standing at the end of magic, that great terror that usually appeared in the form of Death. He originally thought he had almost forgotten about this matter.

"Riddikulus." A voice came from the side, but it wasn't Lupin.

Death suddenly lifted its robe, revealing a pair of long, sexy beautiful legs.

"I know you might not want to go with me, but what if I wore black silk?" The face under the hood also turned into a beautiful girl.

Harry came back to his senses from the terror; he discovered Zhang Qiu was looking at him with a smile.

The Boggart also discovered Zhang Qiu, and it took out that strange belt again, "Cobra...".

"Riddikulus!" Zhang Qiu said again.

"What happened? What happened? What happened?"

The belt suddenly grew a mouth and shouted loudly. Finally, it didn't turn into a strange dark wizard, but turned into a girl wearing armor.

"I have to admit, my plan failed; the Boggart didn't turn into a Dementor in front of you." Lupin said with some embarrassment. "But the good news is, I am very happy to see Miss Zhang can overcome fear and defeat the Boggart again."

"If you want to practice the Patronus Charm secretly, you should have called me." Zhang Qiu blinked. "Actually, I can summon a Dementor."

"What?" At this, even Lupin and Harry showed surprised expressions.

"The third volume of the Xuanjun Seven Chapters Secret Scripture, the Dementor and Ghost Restraining Record." She said, "The effect is to summon or drive a Dementor." ===== CHAPTER 122 =====

"What?" At this, even Lupin wore an expression of surprise along with Harry.

"The third volume of the Secret Scripture of Master Xuanjun, the Record of Capturing Demons and Binding Ghosts," she said. "Its effect is to summon or command a Dementor."