The room felt unusually cold, and Wade slowly exhaled, a white mist forming in front of his face.
Mabel found it amusing and, imitating him, let out a long breath before smiling.
A white eagle stood on Wade's shoulder, emitting a soft, faint white glow, which made them feel only a slight chill rather than a sense of despair or sorrow.
The other people in the room weren't so lucky. A figure, exuding a terrifying, icy aura, glided forward, its decaying, withered hands reaching out…
It was Michael's turn to face the Dementor. He stood in the middle of the living room, raising his Wand, his teeth chattering as he stammered, "Exp-Exp-Expecto...Expecto Patronum...Expecto Patronum..."
Small puffs of silver-white mist intermittently sprayed from the tip of his Wand, but they never materialized, nor could they stop the Dementor.
Just as the Dementor's hand was about to touch Michael, Theo grabbed his shoulder and pulled him behind the sofa. Ryan then jumped out to shield Michael, shouting, "Expecto Patronum!"
A misty silver shadow shot from the tip of his Wand, barely pushing back the Dementor, making it retreat two steps.
A few seconds later, the shadow disappeared. Immediately after, Theo stepped forward, casting an unformed Patronus Charm.
He held on for a while, and just as he was trembling and almost falling, Michael rushed forward again.
Using the Patronus Charm to fend off a Dementor was no easy feat—even if this Dementor was a Boggart version, the sense of oppression and despair it brought was undiminished.
At the same time, using such a difficult Spell was a double test of Magical Power and stamina for Young Wizards whose Magical Power and understanding of Spells were not up to par.
The few of them were sweating profusely, drenched, and their hands and feet were trembling. Seeing that they couldn't hold on much longer, Lupin strode over and said, "That's enough, you need to rest for a bit...Riddikulus!"
With a loud crack, the Dementor transformed into a dog chew toy, which Lupin tossed back into its box. The Patronus on Wade's shoulder also dissipated.
Michael immediately lost all his strength, lying down on the ground to catch his breath, saying in frustration, "How could this happen? I can usually summon a Patronus."
"This Spell is too advanced; it's normal to be slow at it," Harry said, pulling him up and comforting them. "Remember on the train? I didn't succeed either, and I even fainted."
"But you can completely deal with that guy now..." Michael said, "So I still need to practice more!"
Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but laugh, especially since it came from Michael, who was usually the biggest slacker.
"Don't rush it too much; you've already done very well," Lupin said, handing out chocolates to everyone. "Focus on happy thoughts, don't get stuck in terrible memories."
He gently guided them on how to maintain a more stable mindset. Harry walked over to Wade and Mabel, just as he heard Mabel asking, "What were you two laughing about earlier?"
"Even the guy who loves to slack off the most suddenly got diligent," Wade said lazily. "It feels like the sun rose from the west."
Mabel gave a confused "Oh," not understanding what was funny about it, then asked with concern, "Are Mr. Rubik's Cube and the others doing well? I miss them a bit."
"Mr. Rubik's Cube?" Harry repeated the strange name, looking curiously at the girl who was supposedly Lupin's distant relative.
Mabel had taken Polyjuice Potion, and in Hogsmeade, to Harry and the others, she was an ordinary American girl with two braided pigtails and freckles, temporarily out of school due to health reasons and staying with Lupin.
As for what health reasons, Harry and the others considerately didn't press, but judging by their expressions, they seemed to regard Mabel as a Werewolf, just like Lupin.
"Mr. Rubik's Cube is Wade's Magic Golem," Mabel smiled and said. "And the others, they're all very interesting."
She didn't elaborate on the feat of the Magic Golems traveling thousands of miles to rescue their master without orders, so after Harry heard this, the image in his mind was of various fist-sized Magic Golem Pets.
It was normal for Wade to have many Magic Golems, so Harry didn't dwell on it and instead asked, "Where's Carlyle? Didn't he come with you?"
"No, he has other things to do," Wade said, not wanting to recount the messy process. He then asked, "Are you all practicing Spells so intensely these days?"
"We can't be useless like before the next time we encounter an enemy, can we?" Harry said with a heavy tone. "I don't want to faint again."
Wade remembered the crises Harry would face in the original story a year later and nodded, "It's good to practice more. This world is getting more and more dangerous."
"Yeah," Harry said with a sigh. "Dementors, Obscuruses, the Alliance, and Death Eaters like Malfoy's father who escaped justice...I heard Percy say that the Wizarding World was very peaceful when they were at school a few years ago. The biggest news was always that the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was in trouble again..."
—And Voldemort, who was preparing to return.
This thought flashed through Wade's mind. Then he heard Harry's next words and said helplessly, "Since the year we started school, trouble has been non-stop. In a novel, this would be called 'protagonist treatment.'"
Harry laughed out loud.
Mabel looked at the two of them, then stared at Harry and asked, "The Obscurus didn't cause you any trouble, did it? Why is it included?"
"Huh?" Harry had said it casually without thinking much. Now, when the girl asked, he scratched his head and said, "Maybe because I often see that name in the newspaper? I subconsciously grouped it together..."
Mabel looked deeply at Harry. Seeing that he didn't seem to have discovered anything, she turned her gaze away.
Wade was about to say something when the corner of his eye caught a silvery shadow.
A Phoenix Patronus flew through the window and landed beside Wade, emitting Dumbledore's voice: "Please come to the Shrieking Shack immediately, Wade."
...
The Shrieking Shack and Lupin's home were not far apart. When Wade arrived, he saw Dumbledore standing beside the desolate shack, wearing purple Robes adorned with golden stars.
"Professor Dumbledore," Wade walked over and asked, "What happened?"
"Carlyle has escaped from Hogwarts," Dumbledore extended his arm, signaling Wade to take it, and said, "Come with me; I might know where he went."
With a *bang*, the two disappeared from where they stood, then reappeared in an unfamiliar city. Wade saw a fenced-in yard ahead, surrounded by shrubs, with a six-story white building inside.
A sign next to the gate indicated it was a sanatorium.
Dumbledore led Wade towards the sanatorium, saying, "Not long ago, Professor McGonagall informed me that Carlyle attacked Hermione in the Gryffindor common room, stole her Time-Turner, and escaped."
Wade frowned, "He must have gone back in time and then left Hogwarts through a Secret Passage... A few hours would be enough for him to escape anywhere in Britain."
"That's what I thought, but I'm afraid Carlyle went back much further than allowed."
Dumbledore said gravely, "Because just an hour ago, when I finished my meeting with Madame Maxime, I received a letter... a letter that was written over a year ago and designated for a specific delivery time."
Wade's brow furrowed. "From Carlyle?"
"Yes."
As they spoke, Dumbledore led Wade into the sanatorium. A female doctor, around forty, who had been leaning over a patient in a wheelchair, immediately approached them when she saw them.
"We meet again, Mr. Dumbledore. You returned so quickly."
The doctor ignored their "unusual attire" and looked at Wade with surprise. "Oh, you must be Wade Gray! You look exactly like your picture!"
Wade was taken aback. "Picture?"
"Yes." The doctor glanced around, then led them into her office. She pulled a photo from a drawer. In the center was Harry, with Wade, Hermione, and others beside him.
Wade recognized it immediately. It was likely a photo taken by Colin Creevey of Gryffindor, a huge Harry Potter fan who loved taking pictures of Harry and occasionally included Wade and the others.
Wade took the photo back and asked, "What's going on?"
The doctor sighed deeply, her expression a mix of fear, disbelief, and finally, relief. She said mysteriously,
"Actually, last year... oh no, the Christmas before last, I encountered a ghost."
Wade: "...A ghost?"
He looked at Dumbledore, who gestured for him to continue listening.
"Yes." The doctor shivered. "One night, when I was alone in the office, it suddenly appeared... No, not appeared, it just suddenly spoke..."
"What did it say?" Wade asked.
"It told me to take a patient home, hide her, and take good care of her. Until January 30, 1994, when a young man named Wade Gray arrived, only then could he take her away."
Fear showed in the doctor's eyes. "It also said it placed a curse on me. If I didn't comply, my family and I would die unnatural deaths. When Wade Gray arrived, he could help me lift the curse."
"I initially thought it was a prank by a patient or something, and I told it I'd call the police if it didn't stop fooling around. But... but everything in my room suddenly started shaking, the light bulbs flickered and then exploded, and I even floated up from the floor! I could even feel a pair of hands choking my neck!"
The doctor touched her neck, still shaken, as if reliving that terrifying night.
"I... I had no choice. I took the person back... But the next day, the next morning... there was an identical corpse in the hospital bed... And her cause of death was very strange, she was..."
The doctor lowered her voice, trembling. "She was strangled by her own necklace!"
"When I saw the body, I immediately ran home to check, but the person I took back was still there... but then her corpse was back in the ward... I didn't know what was happening, I didn't even know which one was the ghost..."
The doctor looked at Wade with longing eyes, then at Dumbledore, and asked, "You'll take that thing... I mean, that person away, right? My task is complete, can the curse be lifted now?"
Wade understood now. He was silent for a long while before asking, "Where's the extra body?"
"Oh, since no one claimed it, and the matter was very... strange, it's still in the morgue."
The doctor led them to the morgue. Dumbledore signed some documents, and then the doctor pulled open the cabinet that had been sealed for a year.
Dumbledore didn't lift the cloth covering it. Transfiguration or Polyjuice Potion could completely alter all physical characteristics, but one thing couldn't be changed.
The old man extended a slender finger and pulled up the leg of the hospital gown slightly.
On the corpse's emaciated ankle was a pair of iron rings, as thick as fingers, a measure Aurors used to prevent criminals from escaping.
After a long silence, the old man covered the white cloth back and asked, "Where is the person he entrusted you to care for?"
"He?" The doctor paused at the word, then said, "The lady is recovering very well. Although she hasn't regained her memories, she has regained the ability to care for herself. Her condition isn't suited to staying cooped up in a house, so I've settled her at my father's farm."
The doctor requested leave from the sanatorium and drove Wade and Dumbledore to the farm.
Soon after, Wade saw Carlyle's true mother — Mrs. Annie Johnson.
She was wearing a loose, simple blue dress, sitting on a hay bale, combing a fat cat.
Unlike her usual tense and unapproachable demeanor, Annie Johnson now appeared relaxed and peaceful, her gaze gentle, with a faint smile on her face.
Wade thought of the corpse in the morgue and felt a pang in his heart. He pressed his lips together tightly and turned his gaze away.
The doctor didn't dare approach Mrs. Johnson, stopping far away and looking at the two of them. "I took good care of her, didn't I? Can this be over now?"
"Of course."
Dumbledore sighed, reaching out and gently touching her forehead. The doctor immediately felt a warmth spread through her body and looked at Dumbledore with surprise.
The Headmaster nodded and said, "The curse has been lifted. We will take both the person and the body. Thank you for your efforts during this time."
There was no curse to begin with, but the Headmaster knew that saying so would put her more at ease.
"I'll send you some money for your care during this period," Wade added. He recalled the average fees for most sanatoriums, then increased it by fifty percent, asking, "Thirty thousand pounds, okay?"
The doctor initially didn't want any money related to the "ghost," but upon hearing that figure, she couldn't help but be tempted.
She was only a resident doctor, and her annual income was roughly twenty to thirty thousand pounds.
After a moment of hesitation, the doctor nodded. "Of course... that's more than enough... Um, actually, it also left a box for you... Oh, I wasn't trying to hide it, I just hadn't had a chance to tell you."
A few minutes later, the doctor retrieved a long, rectangular box from the farm's warehouse. Written on it were the words "To Wade."
The box had a complex lock, but of course, that was no challenge for two Wizards. The doctor watched as they barely made a move, and the sturdy latch clicked open, filling her with awe and curiosity.
She realized she had probably glimpsed a corner of a world ordinary people could not perceive.
Wade opened the box to find Harry's Firebolt and Invisibility Cloak, Hermione's Time-Turner, and a letter inside.
He unfolded the letter, and Carlyle's somewhat messy handwriting immediately caught his eye—
"Wade, by the time you read this letter, I'll likely be long dead, won't I? I hope you don't feel sad for me, because I deserve everything that's coming.
I'm sorry, but I have no regrets. My mother did nothing wrong; it was all because of me, her son, that she suffered so much. So, if someone has to die, let it just be me… Anyway, with time rewound this far, I'm already doomed. I'd rather sacrifice myself to bring her back.
I know the consequences of this are severe, but I'll try my best not to alter any known history. If there truly are repercussions like time disruption… well, there's nothing I can do, so I can only wish you good luck.
Perhaps you hate me intensely right now? But for the sake of the cookies my mother baked for you, please help her. Let her escape the Wizarding World and live a peaceful life… without having to recover these painful memories.
If one day you ever meet my father, please tell him for me: I'm sorry, and I love him.
—C.J."
-----------
Machine Translation by: https:// randomtranslator.com/
Read ***+ original & fanfic translations in English, Español, Português, Deutsch, Français, or Русский
Or Translate for free at : https:// randomtranslator.com/translate
Join our Discord: https:// discord.com/invite/XXUR9nkjwa
-----------