Silver creatures streaked through the night sky like lightning—a hound guarded the students on the train, while an eagle soared high, then dived down, crashing into the Dementors and scattering their forms.
Countless Dementors finally began to retreat, and their drifting silhouettes blended into the darkness and gradually disappeared.
The lights inside the train flickered once, then suddenly brightened, and the surrounding temperature began to rise rapidly.
A wave of enthusiastic cheers rang out from the train. Many students leaned out the windows and waved vigorously at Professor Abigail.
"Professor! Professor! You came to save us!"
Younger students began crying with excitement.
"Professor Abigail, did you get the message I sent? You came so quickly!"
A few students ran off the train excitedly and crowded around Abigail. They eagerly told her how scared they had been and thanked her for arriving in time.
"You were amazing, Professor! That eagle was so cool!"
These were the students farther away, unaware of the details—they only saw Abigail standing outside the train.
"The eagle is Wade's Patronus! The Doberman is Professor Abigail's!"
A Ravenclaw student loudly corrected them, his face was full of pride and a sense of shared honor.
Many students began chanting Wade's name—
"Wade! Wade! Wade!"
The Weasley twins led the cheer for a while, then even reached out their arms as if to lift Wade up, but Wade waved his wand, and a gust of wind whooshed out, pushing everyone back a step.
Pointing his wand at his throat, Wade said, "Everyone get back on the train before those things come attacking again. They're drawn to happiness, so it's best if we all stay quiet and calm."
Thanks to the spell, Wade's voice was extremely loud, echoing like thunder throughout every corner of the train.
Interrupting others' celebrations is never a popular move, but the students who had just faced the Dementors were instantly reminded of the fear and despair from just minutes earlier, and they quickly took his advice.
The students who had jumped off the train hurriedly crowded around Professor Abigail and boarded again.
They all made "shhh" gestures to each other. A few Gryffindors even jokingly covered the twins' mouths.
The relaxed smiles on everyone's faces gradually faded, replaced by tension and unease. The gloomy sky stirred ominous thoughts in their minds.
—Are those fleeting shadows in the clouds the Dementors still lingering nearby?
Thankfully, the train didn't break down. Accompanied by a long whistle, the wheels slowly began turning again, and puffs of white steam rose from the locomotive's chimney.
Clack-clack, clack-clack, clack-clack…
The rhythmic sound of the wheels clashing against the tracks was strangely comforting.
The silver eagle flew back, gliding from the front of the train all the way to the end. Some students instinctively reached out to touch it, then looked genuinely surprised at the sensation at their fingertips.
"This is an extremely advanced spell…" Penelope said with admiration, "A corporeal Patronus is very rare."
The silver eagle flew down the corridor, leaving behind a trail of silvery mist that washed away the lingering cold in everyone's hearts.
They watched as the Patronus flew to Wade's side. The bird gently bowed its head and brushed its forehead against Wade's cheek.
Wade patted its wing, then pointed toward Harry. The Patronus immediately understood.
It flew over to Harry and landed lightly on him, and its wings covered his head for a moment.
Harry's eyes opened, he was drenched in cold sweat with an expression full of discomfort.
The eagle turned into silver mist and vanished in an instant.
"Hey, mate, are you okay?" Ron pushed through the crowd and helped Harry sit up. "Are you alright?"
Others gathered around as well, and watched him with concern.
"I-I'm fine," Harry gasped as he looked around. "Where did those monsters go?"
"They ran off," Hermione said. "Wade and Professor Abigail drove them away."
Harry glanced at Wade, then quickly looked away, asking, "Did anyone… die?"
"What?" Everyone looked at one another, then replied, "No one died… just a few people fainted. Everyone's still alive."
"That's good..." Seeing their confused expressions, Harry felt the need to explain. "It's just—I heard this terrible screaming…"
Everyone looked puzzled.
There had indeed been screams of fear when the Dementors appeared, but to them, it didn't seem to rise to the level of "terrifying."
Still, figuring Harry was probably trying to cover up the embarrassment of fainting, they kindly chose not to call him out.
"Have some chocolate," Neville offered him part of his chocolate frog. "My gran says no matter what happens, a bit of chocolate will always help you feel better."
"Thanks, Neville."
Harry took the chocolate, but didn't eat it. Instead, he looked at Wade and, full of shame, said, "Sorry… I couldn't cast my Patronus just now."
He'd been practicing the Patronus Charm with Lupin for quite a while and could barely manage a vaguely shaped figure—something like a horse, maybe a deer, but still vague and wispy.
Harry knew his Patronus wasn't as good as Wade's, but he hadn't expected to be completely useless—and even pass out.
He spotted Ginny—despite her pale face and tear-filled eyes, she was still standing strong.
But Harry himself felt weak and helpless, he trembled all over and cold sweat ran down his forehead.
Holding the chocolate frog, Harry wished he could just crawl into a hole.
"There's nothing to apologize for," Wade shook his head and said. "The Dementors affect you more strongly because you've been through worse things than most. That's not your fault."
Harry was stunned.
Wade nodded to the group and said, "I'm going to find Professor Abigail, I need to ask her something…"
"Go ahead," Michael waved his hand. "We're not kids anymore—we can take care of ourselves."
So Wade turned and left.
Everyone fell silent for a moment. There wasn't much to say. No one dared to play games anymore either; they just offered each other a few comforting words before tidying up their scattered snacks and trinkets.
Almost everyone's Book of Friends began to heat up in waves—that was their parents, anxiously checking in. The students returned to their compartments, sat down, and began sending messages to let family and friends know they were safe.
Harry touched his own Book of Friends, which had remained quiet the whole time. His mind drifted back to what Wade had said earlier—
"The Dementors affect you more strongly because you've been through worse things than most."
And then, belatedly, he remembered what he had heard back then—
"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead… Not Harry! Please... have mercy... "
Suddenly, it all made sense. What he had heard wasn't the screams of a fellow student—
It was… it was my mother's voice… The last sound she left in this world…
Harry's eyes welled up with tears. His throat tightened as he struggled to choke back the scream and sob rising within him. He sniffled and took a fierce bite of the chocolate frog.
…
Wade made his way down the train corridor, passing students as he went.
Most of the younger witches and wizards stared at him from their compartments with wide, awestruck eyes.
A few bolder ones gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder and said things like, "Nice going, Grey!" Some even solemnly asked to shake his hand.
Leading that group was none other than Percy Weasley.
The tall, freckled redhead shook Wade's hand with great seriousness and said:
"As Head Boy, I want to thank you for your efforts in protecting this train and the students aboard it, Wade Grey. I'm counting on you for the rest of the journey."
"And… that was a very impressive Patronus, Wade."
Wade felt deeply uncomfortable under Percy's praise. He'd never had much patience for overly formal types like him.
He quickly shook Percy's hand, asked where Professor Abigail was, and left without delay.
Professor Abigail was currently in a compartment near the back of the train, surrounded by a chattering group of students—most of them girls.
As Wade approached, he spotted Pansy Parkinson pacing outside the compartment in the corridor. She looked like she wanted to go in, but something was clearly holding her back.
She turned when she heard footsteps and, upon seeing Wade, quickly looked away, clearly flustered.
Wade pretended not to notice and raised his hand to knock on the door—when suddenly, a hesitant voice came from behind him:
"Um… Grey…"
The voice was soft and hesitant, like it had been squeezed through a hole the size of a toothpick.
Wade turned around and saw Pansy still staring at the floor. He asked uncertainly, "Were you calling me?"
"…Yeah," Pansy's face flushed red as she stammered, "I heard… I heard Potter fainted, but you managed to wake him up right away…"
Wade raised an eyebrow. "News travels that fast?"
Pansy bit her lip, then mustered her courage and continued, "Draco fainted too… could you… could you maybe check on him?"
She had every reason to be worried. One of the Dementors had entered the train right next to their compartment. Malfoy had stepped out to investigate and ran straight into the creature.
Dementors aren't exactly intelligent—they don't recognize or care who the heir of the Malfoy family is.
Even if a Dementor didn't perform a direct soul-suck, just draining a person's happiness could be enough to trigger depression or even madness.
And the only two people on the train who could cast a Patronus were Wade Grey—who'd clashed with their group multiple times—and Professor Abigail, who, while popular among most students, was not well-liked by the Slytherins.
—Mainly because getting hit by her spells really hurt. Most pure-blood students had rarely experienced that kind of punishment.
Worse, many of them had embarrassed themselves in her Defense Against the Dark Arts class. As petty revenge, they'd encouraged their parents to try to have her removed from the school—unsuccessful, but it had still caused her a decent amount of trouble.
That's why Pansy had been pacing outside the compartment earlier.
She felt like Professor Abigail seemed easygoing, but was actually quite difficult to approach.
After some hesitation, she saw Wade coming down the corridor and instinctively blurted out the request.
She immediately regretted it, thinking she'd only set herself up for humiliation.
Wade wasn't planning on agreeing. He was about to ignore her when Dumbledore's words suddenly echoed in his mind—
"Don't push away people who might stand on our side. Show them respect and kindness."
—Ugh, fine.
Even if Wade felt like some people didn't deserve that respect, this was just a small favor. No need to stir up resentment over it.
So the words took a turn on their way out of his mouth, and he said, "…Let's go."
"…Huh?" Pansy didn't register it at first.
Wade looked at her. "Didn't you want me to check on Malfoy?"
"Oh… right… thank you!"
Pansy turned to lead the way, awkward enough that she nearly tripped over her own feet. Along the way, she kept sneaking glances at Wade, as if afraid he'd ditch her halfway.
Malfoy's compartment was very close. He was lying across a seat, with Goyle and Zabini sitting nearby.
But unlike the scene when Harry had fainted—where people had crowded around to check on him—these two just sat across from Draco with indifferent expressions on their faces. Goyle was even rummaging through snacks on the table.
"Draco!"
Pansy didn't notice the expressions of the others. As soon as she entered, she rushed over and reached out to touch Malfoy's forehead. Then she turned around and asked, "What should we do? He's been like this and hasn't woken up."
When they saw that it was Wade who had entered, the two people in the compartment were shocked and stared at him in astonishment.
Wade raised his wand. "Expecto Patronum!"
The silver eagle appeared once again. It circled around the ceiling of the compartment before landing on Malfoy.
The Patronus Charm is an extremely ancient magic. It existed even before Dementors came into the world.
The Patronus summoned by the incantation is the embodiment of positive force and emotion. It could resist dark creatures that disturbed people mentally and could also dispel emotional darkness.
"I'm not a Muggle, you liar!"
Malfoy suddenly shouted and sat up abruptly—smashing his forehead directly into Pansy's chin as she leaned over to check on him.
They both cried out in pain at the same time—one clutching his forehead, the other her chin—hissing and gasping. Pansy was in so much pain that tears welled up in her eyes, and she couldn't speak for a long moment.
Zabini snorted with laughter and said meaningfully, "—A Muggle?"
Malfoy shot him a glare, then looked around nervously. "Where's that monster?"
"Chased off… by that guy, Grey…"
Zabini glanced toward the door, surprised to find that Wade had already left silently.
He didn't bother hiding anything and said bluntly, "He just saved you, by the way! Otherwise, you might've stayed unconscious until the train ride was over."
"—He saved me?" Malfoy said with a sour and ugly face. "Who asked him to?"
Zabini shrugged, but Pansy glared at Malfoy.
Malfoy shrank back a little, and his forehead was still throbbing.
"Want some chocolate?" Goyle offered him a piece.
Malfoy took it and stuffed it into his mouth in one bite, then mumbled reluctantly, "Can someone just tell me what exactly happened?"
…
Knock knock knock.
There was a knock on the door.
Train compartments weren't fully sealed; through the glass door, they could see Wade Grey standing outside. The students, who had been chatting and laughing, instantly went quiet.
They exchanged looks. A girl sitting near the door stood up, blushing, and opened it. "Um… Grey? Did you need something?"
"Sorry to bother you," Wade said. "I'm looking for Professor Abigail."
Through the group of students, he spotted Professor Abigail sitting at the far end.
"Oh…"
Abigail was briefly stunned, then said, "The train's almost at the station. Kids, go get your things ready…"
She looked at Wade and smiled. "We have some things to discuss."
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⭐Harry Potter: Becoming a Study God (HP:BSG)- +235 Chapters
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