Dufftown is a small town less than 20 kilometers from Hogwarts. Like Hogsmeade, it was also founded by a wizard on the run.
However, Dufftown is different from Hogsmeade; it is not a purely magical village. Due to its historical development and favorable climate, Dufftown is naturally perfect for brewing, which, of course, attracted many brewers, including Muggles.
Every household in Dufftown has a private brewery, so as soon as you get close, you can smell the faint aroma of alcohol in the air.
Harry, following Hedwig's feather, flew over a part of the Forbidden Forest and landed in Dufftown. He weaved through a crooked alley and arrived in front of a winery.
The feather floated into the winery. Harry knocked on the door, but no one answered, so he anxiously pushed the door open and went in.
He saw many barrels of red wine that hadn't been sealed yet placed in the yard. In a corner of the yard, a white snowy owl was drowsily perched on an oak log, swaying as if it were about to pass out.
"Hedwig!" Harry excitedly shouted when he saw the familiar owl and ran toward her.
He took the snowy owl down from the log, and seeing how lethargic she looked, he anxiously asked, "Hedwig, what happened to you?"
"Hoo..." Hedwig weakly responded with a cry and closed her eyes again, falling back asleep.
Just then, a middle-aged man with a handlebar mustache came out of the house inside. He saw that Harry was dressed like a Hogwarts student and asked curiously, "Oh, son, you must be a young wizard from Hogwarts, right? What are you doing here?"
"I'm sorry, sir," Harry said, turning around while holding Hedwig. "I'm looking for my owl, but I don't know why she's like this."
"So this owl is yours," the man walked over. "When I came back to the brewery this morning, I suddenly saw her soaking in a barrel of wine. It looks like her wings got tangled in the nets of those bird-eating spiders on the roof, so she couldn't fly. I thought the poor thing was dead, but to my surprise, she was still alive when I pulled her out. She seems to have had a bit too much to drink."
"Drunk... drunk?!" Harry was shocked, his face scrunching up in disbelief.
He had no idea that after all his anxious searching, he would find out his owl was simply wasted...
Still, it was enough that he had found Hedwig; the reason was just an afterthought.
Harry sighed in relief and then thanked the man. "Thank you for saving my owl, sir. You said Hedwig fell into a barrel of wine. How much does the soiled wine cost? I'll pay for it."
"Two Silver Sickles will do," the man replied with a smile.
The man had thought Harry, being a young wizard, wouldn't have any money to compensate him, but he was pleasantly surprised that the boy was so willing to take responsibility. It greatly lifted his previously dampened mood.
Harry quickly took two Silver Sickles out of his pocket and gave them to the man.
Just as he was about to take Hedwig back to Hogwarts, countless dark figures descended from the sky, bringing with them a frigid chill.
The residents of Dufftown looked up at the sky, sensing something was wrong. They saw countless Dementors hovering over the town.
"What are those?!" some Muggles in town shrieked.
They had never seen such creatures before and could feel the malice radiating from them, but they were frozen in place and didn't think to run.
"Dementors... they're Dementors!!!" a wizard immediately shouted, beckoning the people around him. "Get back in the houses now! Don't provoke them!" With that, he ran back into his pub and slammed the door shut.
The rest of the town's residents and tourists, both wizards and Muggles, scattered and hid in their homes.
"Son, hurry up! Dementors are not creatures you can reason with! Even with the Ministry of Magic's restraints on them, no one knows what they might do!" the man said in a low voice, anxiously trying to get Harry inside. But Harry was still standing there, holding his owl, refusing to move.
Harry looked up at the Dementors gathering above him. He had a strong feeling that these Dementors were after him. Perhaps he had accidentally attracted them when he flew through the Forbidden Forest.
Although he didn't know why these disgusting dark creatures were targeting him, Harry felt he had to take responsibility.
He had brought the Dementors here, and he couldn't let them harm the town's residents!
And so, Harry quickly ran into the middle of the wide street, jumped up, and flew toward the edge of the town.
The Dementors in the sky, of course, saw Harry moving quickly. One after another, they followed the boy out of the town, bringing with them a frigid wind.
"Hedwig, wake up! Wake up now!" Harry said, shaking the owl in his arms while flying.
Hedwig groggily opened her eyes, and her head suddenly turned 180 degrees as she stared at her master in confusion.
"Hedwig, hurry back and tell the Guild Master! I need backup!"
With that, Harry immediately threw the still-dazed Hedwig toward the ground. The rapid free fall instantly sobered Hedwig up. With her eyes wide, she quickly flapped her white wings and flew straight toward Hogwarts.
A moment later, a roar like a dragon's bellow suddenly came from a forest not far from Dufftown, followed by the flash of fire.
Meanwhile, at Hogwarts, Victor was madly using his Hitler chainsaw to tear apart the Dementor he had captured. Spent bullet casings littered the floor, and a dozen replaced gun barrels lay next to him.
Hermione and the others had long since left, unable to stand the sound of the gunfire, and Luna had been pulled away by Zoe to prevent her from being a bad influence on the girl.
Before leaving for the Great Hall, Cedric had even put up a sign on the door of the Room of Requirement that read:
A temporarily deranged Guild Master is inside.
Proceed with caution!
— Cedric Diggory
Next to the sign, he had drawn a small cartoon of "a person holding a chainsaw, facing a Dementor."
Back at the main plaza of the Fairy Tail Guild...
DUDUDUDU...
The loud gunfire came to a sudden stop. Victor put down the machine gun, took off his goggles, and walked over to inspect the state of the Dementor target.
Unsurprisingly, it was completely undamaged.
"What is this thing made of? It completely defies the laws of physics," Victor said, examining the Dementor's body and stroking his chin in thought. "Does this mean not even a atomic bomb can kill a Dementor?"
From the side, the Weasley twins, who had been eyeing the various weapons on the table, saw that Victor was finally finished. They both came up and asked in unison: "Master, what are these things?"
"They look so fun! Can we try them?"
"Get lost! These aren't for you!" Victor glared at them coldly. "These aren't some kind of prank toys. You can touch the cold weapons, but if you even dare to touch the others, I'll throw you into the mermaid village in the Black Lake!"
Hearing the word "mermaids," some bad memories instantly flooded their minds. Fred and George suddenly felt nauseous, and their faces turned pale.
Just as Victor was about to pick up the rocket launcher, an extremely subtle magical fluctuation suddenly appeared. Victor immediately frowned and looked in the direction of the fluctuation.
This kind of magical fluctuation only occurred when a magic circle was used. But if it was within the Hogwarts grounds, the fluctuation he sensed couldn't be so small.
So there was only one possibility: the strange magical fluctuation had come from far away.
And coincidentally, at this moment, Harry was the only Fairy Tail member who was far from the castle.
"Master, is Harry here?" At that moment, Ron, who had just come out of the Gryffindor common room, ran to the guild looking for his friend.
"Harry went out to look for Hedwig. Is there something you need?" Victor replied.
"He still hasn't found Hedwig!" Ron was stunned for a moment, and then he began to explain, "I was doing my homework in the Great Hall when I saw in the newspaper that Sirius Black had appeared in Dufftown. I thought I needed to tell Harry about it."
"Tell him later," Victor said, rolling up his sleeves. "Get everyone back here. It's time for a group battle."
"Group battle?!" Ron looked confused, a question mark hovering over his head. "What do you mean?"
Meanwhile, Harry was locked in an intense battle with the Dementors.
A red magic circle slowly unfolded, and with a wave of his holly wand, a spiraling torrent of blazing flames forced all the Dementors to retreat.
Because he didn't know the Patronus Charm, and regular spells couldn't even repel the Dementors, he could only desperately maintain his Fire Dragon Slayer Magic to ensure the Dementors wouldn't get close enough to give him a kiss.
At the speed Hedwig was flying, Harry knew he would have to hold on for at least an hour.
But it was clear that the Dementors, who were craving a delicious meal, weren't going to give him that much time.
Harry's presence seemed to have a very special attraction for the Dementors.
At that moment, several Dementors had already crossed the wall of fire and were flying straight toward Harry.
When he saw their disgusting faces so close, Harry was so scared that he fell backward, tripping on a rock. His wand slipped out of his hand and landed off to the side.
The Dementors took advantage of this opportunity and swarmed forward to enjoy their meal.
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