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"Albus, you have to let me explain."
Fudge, who had not been gone long, hurried back. At that moment, he was panting, his forehead covered in sweat.
When he heard that the Dementors had entered Hogwarts without permission, he had nearly fainted from fright.
If one or two students died, then he truly would have to step down.
Fortunately, Dumbledore had acted in time and driven them out of Hogwarts, allowing Fudge to breathe a sigh of relief.
As expected of Dumbledore. At critical moments, he could still be relied on.
"Cornelius, you promised that they would absolutely not appear inside the castle. Why did they still come in?"
Dumbledore said sternly, "You should know what kind of disaster this could cause if handled poorly."
Fudge kept agreeing. But in a place Dumbledore could not see, he frowned slightly. He did not like being spoken to in a tone that sounded as if Dumbledore were scolding his son. The old wizard had humiliated him completely. No matter what, he was still the Minister for Magic.
A person like Fudge was troublesome.
If you spoke to him properly, he would not listen and would only push further.
If your tone was harsher and you humiliated him, he would soften in the moment, but hold a grudge afterward.
If you grabbed his weakness and threatened him while flattering him with your words, he would instead listen to you.
Of course, that assumed he did not dig in his heels.
"What exactly happened? Hurry up and tell Albus."
At Fudge's prompt, a panicked middle-aged man stepped forward. He was Fudge's secretary, and he was also covered in sweat.
"The Dementors said that one Dementor was missing. It disappeared on the Hogwarts Express."
Hearing this, Fudge spread his hands toward Dumbledore. "Albus, you see, one Dementor went missing. That is why they rushed into Hogwar—"
'A Dementor went missing, so you went to look for it in the Great Hall?'
'The Dementors said so, and you believed them?'
'There has to be a limit to being brainless.'
Dumbledore forcefully suppressed the anger in his heart and became even more convinced of Fudge's uselessness. In as patient a tone as possible, he said, "Cornelius, that is the Dementors' excuse. Aside from them, no one can prove whether one is truly missing."
"It is very possible that this Dementor broke away from their group."
"One Dementor has already broken away in a single day. Once the number grows, the consequences will be unimaginable."
"Cornelius, I suggest sending more Aurors to patrol the villages around Hogwarts."
"The number of Dementors must not increase."
Fudge kept agreeing, but he did not take the matter to heart at all.
'Dementors do not have brains. How could this be some scheme of theirs? Albus is simply overthinking it.'
In a way, this was the first time Fudge had been closer to the truth than Dumbledore.
Perhaps the only time.
As the culprit behind the missing Dementor, Dudley was currently in his bedroom studying the Dementor he had caught.
It was trapped inside a barrier Dudley had created with an alchemical array.
Dementors, also known as soul-eaters in some accounts, were said to be artificially created monsters. Beneath their cloaks, they had no facial features, only a huge mouth. They fed on people's happiness and sucked away all human joy and good memories around them.
Those targeted by a Dementor would gradually lose all emotion. In the end, through the Dementor's Kiss, their souls would be taken.
No self-awareness.
No memories.
Nothing at all.
And there was no hope of recovery.
You were merely alive. An empty shell. Your soul was gone and would never return.
Like an empty body that had forgotten how to be a person.
In a way, Dementors were the embodiment of depression itself.
Monsters filled with negative emotion.
"Sectumsempra!"
Dudley casually waved his wand. A streak of dark shadow flashed out and sliced through the Dementor's body. The wall behind it cracked apart as though struck by a giant sword.
Fortunately, Dudley's room was covered everywhere in alchemical arrays, isolating sound and vibration.
'Even a powerful Dark spell like Sectumsempra cannot harm a Dementor.'
Dudley nodded.
Sectumsempra was currently the most powerful Dark spell Dudley knew.
However, although this spell had considerable killing power, it also had many limitations. For example, Sectumsempra had little effect against Inferi.
Mm. Yes. Dudley actually knew very little Dark Magic.
That was still far from the title of top Dark Magic master in the eyes of Slytherin.
After all, Hogwarts was not Durmstrang. Dudley's knowledge came from the Hogwarts library and Flourish and Blotts.
Do not expect those two places to have any powerful Dark Magic to study.
Even the Restricted Section, which was spoken of in almost miraculous terms, did not actually contain Fiendfyre.
Let alone the three Unforgivable Curses. Those were not spells one could learn simply because one wanted to. Someone had to teach you, and the person teaching you also had to not betray you.
As for self-study, no available books recorded them. Generally, they were passed down by word of mouth.
Researching the Unforgivable Curses was a serious crime in the wizarding world, even though many wizards on both the dark and light sides knew them.
Dark Magic was usually passed down orally.
Even Sectumsempra had been learned by Dudley from Snape's notebook.
"Incendio!"
Dudley switched to another spell.
Blazing flames rose into the air, lighting the entire room brightly.
Unfortunately, even fire could not harm the Dementor in the slightest. Even though the flames burned directly below the Dementor and sparks leapt onto its ragged cloak, it showed no reaction at all.
The fire burned. The Dementor floated.
Neither affected the other.
Dudley tried several more spells, but none had any effect on the Dementor.
'Interesting.' Dudley's interest in Dementors increased a little more.
They could ignore a combination of physical and magical force like Sectumsempra, and they could also resist a purely elemental attack like Incendio.
If he could tame a Dementor, that would be quite good.
That trait of ignoring most attacks would be extremely powerful for scouting or assassination.
Unfortunately, Dementors did not belong to the category of magical creatures and could not be tamed.
Dudley slowly put away his wand. He was going to try power from other worlds.
He extended one finger toward the Dementor.
First, the Illumination Spell.
Originally, Dudley had not taken it seriously.
It was only because this was the first spell he had learned that he used it on the Dementor.
Usually, he used it as a free torch.
Illumination was illumination. No matter how strong the light was, it targeted the eyes at most. Dementors did not even have eyes. What was there to fear?
But the instant the strong light from Dudley's fingertip touched the Dementor's body...
"Hiss! Haa!"
Wherever the light touched seemed to ignite, releasing a cloud of white smoke accompanied by a burnt stench. The Dementor, as if seriously wounded, let out a pained hiss.
Dementors were actually afraid of the Illumination Spell?
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