After a short chat, Audrey was slightly surprised. Remus Lupin might look destitute, but his speech and demeanor were filled with confidence.
'Is this because of his early reunion with Sirius, giving him new hope for life?'
Regardless, Audrey was very attentive to her family, even potential future family. Seeing Lupin in such a good state, she felt very gratified.
"You must be Arthur and Molly's child?" Sirius looked at Ginny and asked with a smile.
"Yes, Professor, I am..."
"Don't be stiff," Sirius said. After several months of recovery, the marks Azkaban had left on his appearance had gradually faded, and he had regained about eighty percent of his former dashing looks. His appearance could be described as quite handsome.
"I am Harry's godfather. I heard that you and he have quite a good relationship. Perhaps you will become Harry's wife in the future. I'm looking forward to that day!"
Ginny's face turned red instantly, and she looked even more uneasy.
"Padfoot, don't be like that!" Lupin said with a laugh. "That's no way to talk to a young girl!"
"Heh, should I be like you? At your age and without even a girlfriend."
"Don't talk about me; don't you also lack a girlfriend?"
"Who said that! Just last week, Amelia and I..." Sirius suddenly stopped. "Anyway, I'm not like you. Just you wait, I'll definitely get married before you!"
"Is it Bones?" Lupin laughed. "Back in school, she seemed to take quite a liking to you."
"Nothing of the sort, Moony. When did you start paying attention to these things?"
The two new professors began bickering unscrupulously in the carriage.
Luna gently tugged on Ginny's sleeve and whispered in her ear, "Ginny, is Professor Black related to Audrey?"
"Why do you say that?" Ginny asked in confusion.
"A feeling. I just feel like it... Look, Professor Black seems very familiar with Audrey, extremely familiar! And don't you think their eyes and noses look very similar?"
Audrey rubbed the bridge of her nose and interrupted the two professors' conversation.
"I say, you two, did you come to my carriage just to perform bickering for me?"
Sirius laughed. "Of course not. Neither of us has been a professor before. We heard you did quite well last semester, so we came to ask for some teaching experience!"
...
...
Audrey was drowsy. An eight-hour journey was nothing short of torture.
Her eyelids gradually closed.
Seeing her eyes closed with her head leaning against the carriage window, the older men immediately lowered their voices.
"Zzzzzzz——"
With a violent tremor, the Hogwarts Express stopped again.
Yes, again.
Audrey shook her head. "Isaline, are we there?"
Isaline shook her head. "Not yet."
She looked at Audrey with a strange expression. "Ever since you entered Hogwarts, the Hogwarts Express always seems to stop midway on the way to school. It seems to have become a tradition!"
First year, the Water Snake's Fang kidnapped the Little Water Snake.
Second year, Aurors were hunting Sirius.
Now it's the third year, who knows what trouble is brewing.
Audrey looked out the window and then turned to Sirius.
"Professor Black, I suggest you go protect your godson now, because the Dementors are here—a reminder, Harry has almost no resistance against Dementors due to his childhood experiences."
Sirius looked out the window. Under the dark clouds, tattered rags floated down. Having spent ten years in Azkaban, he was all too familiar with these things.
He and Lupin exchanged looks, both seeing panic in each other's eyes.
Chapter 153: The Dementors Arrive as Expected (2 / 2)
The two of them rose together and ran toward the carriage where Harry was.
Audrey rested her chin on her hand, quietly waiting for the Dementors' audience.
Luna's silvery eyes stared blankly at Audrey, and she suddenly said, "Why do I feel like you're exactly the same as those Dementors, Audrey? Do you have Dementor blood in you?"
Audrey turned her head in surprise; Luna's intuition was frighteningly accurate.
"Luna, perhaps both the Dementors and I have the ability to attract souls. They use their mouths to suck, while I use my singing."
Luna nodded. She only had that intuition and didn't know the specifics. Audrey's explanation was reasonable, so she accepted it.
—This girl was actually quite easy to fool.
It could be seen from her firm belief that Wrackspurts, Nargles, and Crumple-Horned Snorkacks were real—she believed whatever her father said.
One dared to speak, and one dared to believe.
"Indeed, Audrey's singing has magic," Luna said with a smile. "It really feels like it can pull the listener's soul out. At least, I feel like I'm floating on clouds."
As they spoke, the air suddenly grew cold. A large number of Dementors gathered outside Audrey's carriage.
Isaline and Ginny were both girls with strong inner strength, but being in such close proximity to Dementors still made them uneasy.
Luna, however, did not panic. She just looked curiously at the Dementors floating outside the window, as if watching a rare animal in a zoo.
Audrey opened the window directly, causing Isaline to scream in shock.
"Audrey, what are you doing?"
Audrey smiled slightly. "Nothing, just having a chat with them."
She leaned halfway out of the window, and the Dementors immediately swarmed around her.
"..."
"..."
So that was it.
Audrey sat back in her seat, pulled the window shut again, and waved the Dementors away.
"Audrey, I think you're still more like a Dementor,"
Luna's large eyes bulging as she looked at Audrey strangely.
"Maybe you really do have Dementor blood in your body!"
"Luna," Audrey replied with a perfunctory smile, "Dementors don't have junk, they can't have children."
Taking advantage of the gap while Luna's pupils were shaking from the shock, Audrey closed her eyes in thought.
The Dementors' target was Barty Crouch Jr. This was why Old Barty hadn't dispatched Aurors but used Dementors directly—after all, the matter of Barty Jr. was hard to explain.
He had given the Dementors orders that once they found Barty Jr., they were to give him a Dementor's Kiss immediately to eliminate any future trouble.
Audrey had originally intended to remind Old Barty to deal with his unfilial son at the end of this semester, but she didn't expect that Barty Jr.'s escape from the Crouch manor would be a whole year early!
For the sake of his position as Minister, it was understandable that Old Barty would strike so ruthlessly!
As for why the Dementors surrounded the Hogwarts Express?
—It was because Barty Jr. had previously attacked Mundungus Fletcher and Mrs. Figg.
He learned about Mrs. Figg from Mundungus and then used the Cruciatus Curse to torture Mrs. Figg, discovering Harry Potter's whereabouts.
—If Harry hadn't stayed with Sirius for the latter half of this summer vacation, Voldemort might have been fully resurrected by now!
Because of the testimonies from Mrs. Figg and Mundungus, Old Barty knew that Barty Jr.'s target was Harry Potter, which led to the current scene of Dementors surrounding the train.
Audrey sighed. Even though the plot of the original universe had been messed up beyond recognition by her, this event still happened in the third year.
One had to say, the convergence of the world lines was truly powerful.
Of course, it might just be a coincidence.
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