Chapter 196: The Holy Pegasus
The sensation of facing Dementors at such close range was nothing short of terrifying!
It felt as though the worst thing in the world was happening right then. The faint, glowing light of the Patronuses the young wizards had cast flickered like candles in a gale, threatening to go out at any moment.
The most horrifying thoughts bubbled up uncontrollably in their minds. No matter how hard they tried to control and suppress their thoughts, their brains began to turn to mush.
What was even more unbearable was the powerful suppression of their life force, which made them want to timidly give up all resistance.
The struggle began to feel futile, yet they knew that giving up would lead to a terrible descent into madness. The confrontation with the Dementors had suddenly become a fight and a tug-of-war with their own minds.
The young wizards gasped, their faces pale. They suddenly felt like they were in a cold, damp dungeon, where everything was rotting and decaying. It was as if they saw a clock's hands spinning quickly, and the decay was accelerating.
They were all desperately resisting the fall.
"Aaaahhhh!"
The dark witch suddenly shrieked in terror, as if her defenses had completely broken down. She began to wave her wand frantically, yelling various malicious curses, but the wand in her hand seemed to be nothing more than a simple twig, unable to help her cast a single spell.
"Don't come closer, please, don't!"
She couldn't scream anymore. Her body went stiff and rigid, as if she was having convulsions. Every part of her trembled irregularly, her skin quickly faded to a ghostly white and then rapidly turned a bruised blue. Her pupils were unfocused, and her expression was one of total collapse.
She floated up, grabbed by the tall Dementor like a lifeless corpse. The Dementor's rotting, gnarled hand grasped her neck, half-dragging her along the ground.
With that done, the Dementor turned to face the young wizards.
Beneath the wide, tattered hood, a face rotted beyond recognition had no features, only a gaping, festering hole where a mouth should have been.
"Expecto Patronum!"
The young wizards all waved their wands in unison. Even though they had been maintaining the Patronus Charm, they still roared and cast the spell again.
A violent, yet ethereal, blast of silvery light shot from the tips of their wands.
They only heard a roar that seemed to echo in their minds, and the Dementor, fearful of the Patronuses' power, quickly flew out of the compartment, dragging the dark witch's body with it.
Thump!
The compartment door slammed shut again.
The young wizards pressed their bodies against the door, breathing heavily. They looked at each other, proud and happy smiles on their faces.
"We did it!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly.
"Hermione!" Ron suddenly shouted in terror, his eyes fixed on the compartment window, causing everyone to look up.
They saw that the glass of the window had melted into a large hole, as if it were a piece of candy. Several rotting, gnarled hands were clinging to the edge, and several Dementor faces appeared there!
Even more horrifying, when they looked out through the gaps between the faces, they could see many more Dementors floating in the air, seemingly noticing them and rushing frantically towards them.
The battle had only just begun!
"Everyone, guard a side!" Harry yelled, running to the window first. He and Draco, who had rushed up at the same time, raised their wands to block that direction.
As the young wizards cast their spells, a silvery, misty light enveloped the entire compartment, making it difficult to discern anything else.
This feeling was not good at all. They had no way of observing what was happening around them.
In the distance, they heard sounds of fighting and screaming coming from other compartments. Someone was shouting something.
"Auror patrol!"
A voice rang out from outside the compartment. "All students, sit in your seats and don't move! Wait for the Azkaban jailers to confirm! Dammit, why do so many of you know the Patronus Charm? Stop resisting! I repeat, stop resisting! This is a Ministry of Magic inspection!"
They all exchanged glances. Ron looked hesitant. "Should we—"
"I don't believe in the Ministry of Magic!" Draco cut him off coldly. "Who cares about the Ministry? We pure-bloods only trust the wands in our own hands. They should be the ones to explain themselves to us!"
As he spoke, he looked at Hermione, knowing she was the core of Harry's group. With a mocking look, he challenged her, "What, are you just going to surrender?"
Hermione's expression shifted.
Just then, the sound of fighting rang out from outside, and Percy's voice could be heard from a distance. Then, some students who were helping him seemed to shout something in unison, and it finally reached their compartment.
"Everyone, be careful! The Aurors and Dementors have spies from the Dark Lord among them, and they've attacked students!"
CRASH!
A tremendous roar accompanied the violent shaking of the entire train. The train rattled and scraped against the tracks with a piercing sound, as if it could collapse at any moment.
"We have to go help them!" Harry's expression changed, and he quickly ran towards the compartment door.
"Yes, we have to fight!" Hermione made her decision in an instant, yelling to the others, "If we stay in here, we won't know what's happening outside!"
However, before they could open the door, an even more violent explosion sounded outside the compartment. The surrounding metal walls and glass windows were all shattered into dust. Everything seemed to burst apart, and countless fragments were swept up by the shockwave, flying towards them.
In that instant, they all felt as if their thoughts had been stretched to an extreme length.
In their ears, there was a strange, repeating screeching sound, like a continuous scraping. Their minds were blank.
Their bodies seemed to be involuntarily swept up by the shockwave and were sent flying out of the compartment, into the air.
Everything around them was tumbling: fragments, wizards, Dementors, Aurors—
The scene in front of their eyes quickly pulled away. They first saw a curse explode outside their compartment.
When the shockwave pushed them into the air, they saw the entire train split in two where their compartment had been, with both ends flying up. Finally, they were so high up that they could see a whole group of wizards floating above the train, which was surrounded by countless Dementors.
Among the wizards, a tall figure in a large wizard's robe, whose face was obscured, elegantly held a wand and aimed it towards their compartment.
It was clear that this person had attacked them.
But they couldn't think anymore.
They felt weightless, as if they had died in the explosion and were about to fly into the vastness of death.
Time seemed to have lost its meaning; everything was slow. Space also seemed to lose its meaning, and everything began to distort.
Finally, they felt a reassuring firmness beneath their feet!
Click!
It was as if a stopped clock had started ticking again, making a single click.
All their senses returned to normal.
Ron and the others fell to the ground, rolling for a long distance, tumbling in a pile with many other young wizards from other compartments.
Some of them struggled to their feet, some got down on their hands and knees to observe their surroundings, and others hugged each other tightly, hoping to find mutual support.
But they quickly felt a sense of stability and safety and looked around, trying to figure out what was happening.
Then they saw a sight they would probably never forget for the rest of their lives.
A Pegasus.
An incredibly gigantic, silver Pegasus.
Its massive wings elegantly spread out, as if they could blot out the entire sky.
Its back was so vast, so warm and soft, that it was big enough to carry everyone who had been on the train.
Yes!
They were all on the back of a Pegasus!
Flying away from the exploding train.
"Look!"
Someone yelled, pointing towards the horse's head.
They looked up and saw a tall figure standing on the horse's head, his large wizard's robe fluttering in the high-altitude wind. He looked incredibly dashing.
"Professor Lockhart!"
Hermione screamed with delight, as if she had found a savior.
Her expression was so entranced and fanatic, even more so than when she first met her idol in her second year. She had a crazed smile, but this time she didn't get a single sarcastic comment from Draco.
Because Draco looked exactly the same.
In fact, it wasn't just him; there were too many other young wizards around who were screaming "Professor Lockhart!"
But they were like little insects on the horse's back, and they didn't catch the attention of the tall figure on the horse's head.
Suddenly, a silver, misty light began to envelop them on the horse's back, firmly holding them in place. The gigantic Pegasus swiftly dodged several attacks from the dark wizards above the distant train.
Lockhart raised his arm, pointed his wand at the sky, and streaks of lightning quickly spread and surged above. The clouds were illuminated by the flashes, as if a terrifying blaze were raging within them.
He did not launch an attack first.
The current level of spell-casting, a Patronus of this immense size, was something he had never attempted before, and he was already at his limit, protecting all the students and the others on the train.
"Voldemort—"
Lockhart stood on the horse's head, looking at the figure in the distance who was floating in the air without any help. His voice was clear and loud. "No one can harm these children in my presence, and besides, Dumbledore and the others will be here soon!"
As he spoke, terrifying bolts of lightning fell from the sky, connecting heaven and earth, illuminating everything.
The roar of the lightning, along with the sizzling sound of electricity burning through the air, was truly horrifying.
"Bluffing!" Voldemort sneered.
"Is that so?" Lockhart laughed heartily, a bright smile on his face. He waved his wand, and a massive, distorted vortex quickly formed where the lightning tore through the air.
People looked at the vortex and felt as though they could see the Hogwarts castle complex through the chaotic, swirling image.
"Mass-Apparition?" Voldemort looked up at the vortex in disbelief, and then suddenly realized something.
He quickly yelled at his followers around him, "Stop him!"
With that, he was the first to wave his wand and cast an attack towards Lockhart.
His followers quickly waved their wands.
In a flash, streaks of terrifying and dangerous curses streaked across the sky, contrasting with the falling lightning.
............
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