Chapter 302

Hagrid who is carrying Ron is first to come out of the hut, followed by another Hermione, after that, a short man tied up tightly floated out, his whole body is in an upside-down position, head down and feet up, and his head hitting the ground from time to time on the rocks, “Ouch!”

The short man’s face swelled up a good chunk, his hands were bound behind him and twisted together, and his clothes were torn and tattered. To avoid the rock, he tilted his head oddly to the side.

“Sirius, please–”

“You earned it, Peter! You should be glad Harry is kind enough …”

A wand reached forward in his hand Sirius’ alert face became visible, and he limped as Harry and Lupin supported him left and right. Walking at the end is Snape, his expression is intriguing, the wand in his hand is aimed at Peter Pettigrew the whole time.

“Sirius, you should go to the hospital wing too,” Harry whispered.

“No! I want to see him damned with my own eyes!” Sirius showed his teeth and smiled ominously, “Better give him a Dementor kiss after that.” His wand lowered downward, and Peter Pettigrew let out an ear-piercing cry of pain.

…

Hermione hid behind the giant pumpkin, probing and peering, “Professor, what are we going to do, Professor McGonagall warned me not to change the past.”

“I also think it is necessary to be cautious, but …” Felix gently hooked his fingers, a small stone noiselessly stuck the Peter Pettigrew, who is falling again.

When they went far away, Felix and Hermione came out of the shadows.

“Professor, what did you just do?”

“I marked Peter Pettigrew with my magic – just in case, as you just said, they would be trapped on the covered bridge, and if he took advantage of the chaos and turned into a rat to escape, I would be able to find him!”

Hermione seriously thought about it, also felt that this is a good idea.

The two stayed far behind them as they walked along, and Hagrid took great strides, and it didn’t take long to leave the rest of them behind, and the “other Hermione” who followed him had to jog after him.

Hermione said with a strange look in her eyes: “From this angle, I looked so silly, Hagrid took one step and I had to take three.”

Felix laughed softly, but soon his expression became serious: “I do not want to touch the forbidden zone of time, so I plan to let everything ‘step by step’ develop until that future that you see arrived, and then I will appear”

Hermione nodded, this should be the best way. She imagined it: when the army of dementors attacked the covered bridge half an hour later, Professor Hap would show up and save everyone in one fell swoop.

At the same time, it did not change what happened in the past, and they also can save everyone.

As the two walked unhurriedly, keeping two or three hundred feet between them and Harry, as Felix inquired, “I have a few more small questions, how did you hear Umbridge and Fudge’s conversation?”

Hermione explained, “I followed Hagrid to the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey said Ron was in no danger, so I returned to check on Harry’s group and ended up accidentally seeing Umbridge greeting Fudge, with a group of Aurors behind him.”

She said angrily, “That woman was so rude, relying on the power of the Minister of Magic, and was particularly rude to Professor McGonagall. If it weren’t for Headmaster Dumbledore’s absence …”

“She had a confrontation with Professor McGonagall?”

“That’s right, Professor McGonagall questioned why she allowed the Dementors into the school, but Umbridge didn’t even look at her and just fawned over Fudge.”

“That’s right …”

Felix looked ahead, with Sirius, the injured man, the guys weren’t walking very fast. Especially since there is an uphill slope to climb, which makes their speed even slower.

The wind carried their conversation over, and it is Sirius’ tangled voice: “I don’t know if anyone has ever told you – Harry, I’m your godfather …”

Ten minutes later –

“Coming!”

Felix suddenly broke the silence, Hermione looked in the direction of his sight and vaguely saw a pink, round gooey shape, she said suspiciously, “Is it that woman?”

Then they heard a long wind whistle, Hermione felt a chill down her spine, a black creature floated from the sky, like a black plastic bag blown by the wind, it quickly flew towards Harry and the rest, and at that moment, Harry and the rest were still some distance away from the covered bridge.

Hermione inhaled deeply, as more and more dementors appeared, they were like the black plague, responding to Umbridge’s call, enveloping a small half of the sky.

“It’s a Dementor!” She heard Professor Lupin’s voice in the distance saying, “How could dementors appear in the school? The Ministry of Magic has guaranteed … quickly use the Patronus Charm!”

At this point, the dusk is approaching, the sunset is half-obscured, with half of the light swallowed up, and the dementors are suspended high in midair, constantly emitting a black mist, as if the night came early.

A bright silver light pierced the darkness, it is Lupin’s spell, he propped up a silver barrier, it is an incomplete Patronus.

Not far from them-“Let’s get closer,” Felix said, and he covered the two with a light silver glow.

“Professor, what is this?” Hermione looked at her glowing hand.

“Unpleasant memories, the dementors will subconsciously avoid us, of course, provided they have better options.” Felix said.

The two came closer, close enough to see the expressions on Lupin’s face as he shouted urgently, “Harry! Sirius! use the Patronus Charm, and Severus … use it if you can!”

The silver barrier he held up continued to condense, a large-sized solid Patronus appeared, it is a wolf – Lupin’s most loathsome creature, but at the moment he had to use it.

With the appearance of the wolf Patronus, the crisis is temporarily alleviated, the giant silver wolf hissed silently, leaping and slapping away one dementor after another.

Harry’s mind sobered up a bit, his lips trembled, and he subconsciously recited the incantation, “Ex..pec…to Patronum!” A silvery mist flew out of the tip of his wand, and with the shimmering light of the unshaped Patronus, he felt better, the initial feeling of suffocation disappeared, and he breathed heavily.

“It’s not enough! Not enough …” Lupin shouted: “Sirius, Severus!”

However, Snape did not move, his expression stiffened, the wand in his hand clenched tightly, his bone knuckles turned white.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Sirius lightly nudged one leg on the ground, he raised his wand high and kept chanting: “Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum … damn, I can’t do it!”

“What do you mean you can’t do it! we learned it together.” Lupin called out.

“I can’t … all those happy memories related to James.” Sirius covered his face in pain, under the influence of the Dementors, his lips, like Snape’s, became bluish.

Harry looked at Sirius as if he knew the man for the first time and truly recognized his Godfather identity. He summoned up the courage to recall all kinds of happy memories, the silver light kept turning over and over, and something gradually took shape.

But there are too many dementors, “Let’s go to the bridge!” Lupin said decisively.

The bound Peter Pettigrew is placed on the right side, and he rolled his eyes, constantly figuring out the escape route, “Be honest, Peter! There’s a cliff down there …” Sirius said threateningly, pushing him hard and allowing him to walk on his own.

The green light on Snape’s wand disappeared, and he glared at Sirius viciously, as he looked at Sirius perplexed.

They climbed up to the covered bridge as they fought and retreated. Lupin was the only one on the scene with a full battle power, but his Patronus was unable to confront the army of hundreds of Dementors, especially as they kept spewing black smoke. The bone-chilling cold made everyone’s breath smoky white, and they felt like they were going to freeze.

Snape sent several red lights towards the sky, as his face darkened, ” Definitely, some people will be here in a while…”

…

While all the dementors were drawn away, Felix whispered next to her, “When time goes back to normal, you should appear on the other side of the covered bridge, right?”

“Yes, I followed the Ministry of Magic and watched it from afar, then I hid and used the time-tuner.” Hermione said, looking anxiously at the bridge, “It should be soon … people from the Ministry of Magic will be here soon.”

“You should worry about yourself! In a moment, the Ministry of Magic people come over, how will you get through the covered bridge and reach the other side?” Felix asked calmly: “If I remember correctly, after using the time-turner you should return to the initial place, right?”

Hermione gave him a surprised look, “You’re right, Professor, it is necessary to form a closed loop in time and space.” She suddenly realized the problem and screamed, “Then what should I do, oh my God! If I can’t get back in time, I, I-” She winced in fear as she remembered the consequences of abusing the time-turner which she had read about.

” How much time gap between the last time you saw Harry and when you used the time-turner?”

“About seven or eight minutes! A number of students were rushing over here, so I hide in the lavatory to avoid them while using the time-turner.”

“That’s enough. I will create an opportunity for you to … cloak yourself in the invisibility cloak at that time, and with the additional effect of the disillusionment charm, you should be able to pass through them.” Felix looked at her seriously, “Be sure to take advantage of the opportunity.”

Hermione nodded heavily, she did not know what the professor is going to do, but she trusted him completely without reservation.

“For now, you better stay here on your invisibility cloak and be always ready …”

Hermione hurriedly put on the invisibility cloak, and Felix applied various spells to block the smell and sound, and she seemed like she didn’t exist anymore.

Then, Felix covered himself with a disillusionment charm, then stepped on the covered bridge.

Across the bridge footsteps heard, Umbridge in her pink dress stood out conspicuously, she appeared with a smile on her face leading a dozen or so Aurors as she said in a shrill voice: “Minister, just ahead!” The short, stout figure leading the group is none other than the Minister of Magic – Cornelius Fudge.

He is followed by Professor McGonagall, who took one look at the scene on the covered bridge and her eyes immediately widened, “Minister Fudge, you have to stop these Dementors! They’re attacking a professor of Hogwarts or two of them!”

Umbridge giggled, “That’s because they’re mixed up with the most vicious fugitive from Azkaban – you see, they’re also attacking members of the Ministry of Magic … Minerva and I thought you won’t cover for them.”

“Severus and Remus won’t shelter a fugitive!” McGonagall said angrily.

Fudge patted his stomach, “Don’t worry, Minerva, we can control the dementors, and they won’t hurt either of the professors, or I won’t be able to explain to Dumbledore …”

He used his eyes to indicate Umbridge, Umbridge pulled out a black whistle from her pocket, puffed out her cheeks, and blew it, she looked like a toad that is ready to hunt its prey.

The whistle sounded, the dementors received the command, and their attack became more violent, constantly shuttling and flying through the gaps on the covered bridge, and the air solidified into ice crystals.

Wisps of black mist were blown by the wind and drifted toward the people of the Ministry of Magic, then Fudge winced and muttered in a low voice, “Nasty things.” He tightened his collar and watched the bridge with rapt attention as the professor named Snape shot out an invisible spell from his wand that, magically, slightly halted the Dementors’ attack.

But … Fudge held out his thick stubby finger, “Who is that man tied up?”

Professor McGonagall looked carefully for a moment and exclaimed, “It’s Peter Pettigrew!”

“How is it possible, isn’t he dead?” Fudge asked in disbelief, he felt a hint of ominous feeling, as if something had gone wrong – the sudden appearance of a person who had been dead for more than ten years, no matter how you think about it, is not normal.

Umbridge rolled her eyes, “Minister, maybe this hero did not die back then, just lost his memory, he recently saw the news of Sirius Black’s escape from prison, and got stimulated as he recovered his memory, at the same time decided to fight against the strong enemy from more than a decade ago again …”

Fudge’s eyes lit up, “What you say is pretty much the way-”

“No!” Professor McGonagall suddenly said, “Peter Pettigrew is an illegal Animagus who disguised himself as a rat and spent more than ten years in the house of one of my students! Dumbledore suspected that the Potters were betrayed by someone else. Minister Fudge, you should stop attacking and figure out the truth first.”

Fudge frowned as he said uneasily, “What are you talking about? Peter Pettigrew is a hero recognized by the Ministry of Magic, a recipient of the First Class Order of Merlin, how can …”

But he knew Professor McGonagall’s character, she never spoke falsely, Fudge sort of uncertain, hesitantly watching the battle on the covered bridge.

This moment is already the most critical point, Snape has been using covert dark magic, the effect is not really obvious on the Dementors, but can barely support it.

Dementors became irritable, the flames that Sirius cast out became weaker and weaker, and finally. One of the Dementors flew past him, sweeping away the only happy memories he had left.

“No–” His wand dropped.

There came a gap in the defense, and more Dementors pounced on him. The silver mist that Harry held up became thinner and thinner, and he felt like he is holding a mountain, as he bent down overwhelmed.

Various visions began to appear in his mind, and once again he heard his mother’s voice, this time its exceptionally clear, he tried his best to struggle against it, but his response became weaker and weaker.

Immediately afterward, Harry found himself surrounded by warmth, and he heard a gentle voice say, “Harry, pull yourself together and think of happy memories …”

Harry found himself free of the dementor’s influence, and he regained consciousness, glancing quickly around the scene, keenly noticing the silvery glow brewing at the tip of Snape’s wand, but he has no time to think about it, seven or eight steps away from him, he saw his godfather slumped to the ground, a dementor leaning close and lifting the tattered hood from its head, revealing a rotting hole that looked like a mouth, and he even smelled putrid breath.

“No, no!” He shouted, he felt a surge of greater power that he never had before, the magic continued to converge, the silver mist rolled like a continuous wave, from the surface of the water a dazzling silver creature stepped out, standing still, a silver ripple rippled apart, tossing the dementors far away.

Immediately after, it began to run in a circle around Harry, silver horn tip sent one Dementor after another flying, the Dementor army backed away and scattered.

Umbridge and Fudge felt surprised to the point that their mouths could not close, “This is Harry Potter?” Fudge asked oddly.

Umbridge froze for a moment, then took the whistle and blew it hard, urging the Dementors to attack.

“What do you want, old woman!”

Unbeknownst to them, a group of students gathered behind them, and they said with righteous indignation, a spell flew out from the corner and hit Umbridge’s black whistle directly, the whistle exploded with a bang, and Umbridge fell to the ground with a cry.

“Who! Who attacked the Ministry of Magic’s high officials!” Fudge exclaimed angrily.

Professor McGonagall raised her wand, followed by the students gathered behind her, she suppressed her anger and said sternly, “Minister Fudge, order the Dementors to stop attacking immediately, if something goes wrong, you will definitely regret it.”

Fudge looked around blankly, he never experienced having so many wands pointed at him, as far as his eyes could see there would be a young, angry face, even the elite Aurors he had brought with him did not have the slightest fighting spirit, they can’t fight against this many students.

Fudge’s attitude softened, and he tried his best to defend himself: “I’m, actually … not …” He froze for a few seconds, turned around, and ordered loudly, ” Bring the Dementors back, Aurors out, don’t hurt anyone!”

A subordinate next to him whispered a reminder, “Minister, the whistle that controls the dementors blew up.”

Fudge thundered, “Can’t control the dementors without that damn whistle?!”

The man said in horror: “Normally you can, but right now they are badly traumatized and desperately need to feed …”

Fudge’s pupils dilated for a moment as if responding to those words, the scattered Dementors regrouped, they did not die, but their robes got tattered and torn, and a few had large, bright holes in their chests.

These got poked by Harry’s Patronus, but they aren’t considered fatal wounds, not even a minor one. The form is dispensable to the dementors, but they feel the hunger, and there’s a feast right in front of them.

They aimed at the students behind Aurors and kept circling like funeral crows, only they looked a little apprehensive in the face of their former controllers, as they sucked the air in the periphery, the temperature dropping visibly, and many students exhaled a white mist with pale faces.

On the other side, Harry leaned against the fence, breathing heavily, he is dead tired, barely keeping himself from collapsing. The Patronus jogged back toward him, neither a horse nor a unicorn, but a stag. It glowed all over, and when he reached out to touch the sharp horns on its head, the Patronus dissipated.

It worked! He managed to save Sirius, Professor Lupin, and … Snape. Harry’s eyes swept around, his own godfather lying on the ground, breathing heavily, his expression is one of relief after getting robbed, Lupin sitting wearily on the ground.

He turned his head to look at Snape, only to see Snape dragging his shaky body, waving his wand like a sharp blade, shooting a haunting green magic spell from the tip of his wand, his eyes widened for a moment, the reality seemed to overlap with the dream, he once again heard his mother’s screams, followed by the green light that filled his vision …

That is a killing spell!

How can Snape use this spell? No, who was he using it on?

Harry realized with hindsight that Peter Pettigrew had disappeared, leaving only his clothes on the floor, and his eyes followed the direction of Snape’s spell to see a rat desperately fleeing.

Snape wanted to kill Peter Pettigrew!

But just then, a hand appeared out of the air and gripped Snape’s wand, “Severus, he’s not worth it.”

“Don’t stop me, Felix!” Snape’s face twisted, and in his eyes were biting with hatred, more intense than Harry had ever seen, “Let me finish my revenge … I beg you!”

“There’s a better way,” Felix said, he flung out a magic spell, the rat’s body suddenly lit up, its head stretched, as did its torso, he broke away from the state of Animagus and stumbled to his knees.

Peter Pettigrew had the worst luck, he only just ran to the other end of the bridge, and a dozen steps away, there is a group of Aurors and students, who originally staring uneasily at the restless Dementors, but at this moment, they can’t help but be attracted by this unexpected sight.

Seven or eight dementors glided and floated down, and one of them strangled Peter Pettigrew’s neck and loosened the hood on its face –

“No! Spare me, I shouldn’t have betrayed you, James, Lily, it was the Dark Lord who forced me, he’s too strong …