A pale, slimy, mottled hand—more accurately, a decayed ghostly claw—gripped the unsteady door. The temperature inside the compartment plummeted, and a chilling draft swept in, making it feel like the dead of winter despite it being September.
The owner of the claw finally emerged. Cloaked in tattered black robes that seemed to merge with the shadows, it radiated a stench of decay. It had no facial features; its face appeared as a twisted mass, with only a small hole where its mouth should have been.
Jane Yu instantly recognized it and understood why Dumbledore had sent her that letter.
—It was a Dementor, an embodiment of darkness and despair.
Apart from the Patronus Charm, almost no spell could repel them.
Wherever they went, they fed on happiness, leaving only despair in their wake. The hole on their face could drain a person's soul, a process known as the "Dementor's Kiss."
Facing a compartment full of people, the Dementor seemed to perceive a feast. It inhaled deeply, as if savoring their essence, letting out a guttural, satisfied sound.
To the Dementor, this train was an all-you-can-eat buffet.
The act of inhaling was clearly an area-of-effect magical attack, as everyone in the compartment collapsed to the floor.
But Jane remained unaffected. While she felt the cold prickling her skin like needles...
She didn't experience the sensation of her happiness being drained.
She struggled to recall the incantation for the Patronus Charm mentioned in Dumbledore's letter but couldn't remember the full phrase.
"Expecto... what was it again?"
Seeing the Slytherins around her writhing in agony and sliding under their seats with cries of terror and pleas for help, she decided to resort to physical attack. Grabbing her Firebolt, she swung it at the Dementor's head.
Caught off guard, the Dementor took the hit and stopped its feeding, clutching its head with its clawed hands.
Perhaps this was a case of uneven skill allocation. While the Dementor had maxed out its magical defense and attack stats, its physical attributes were clearly lacking.
—After all, they still had physical forms and couldn't pass through solid objects.
Seeing the broomstick's unexpected effectiveness, Jane continued to wield it, striking the Dementor on the head, shoulders, and body.
The Dementor alternated between clutching its head and its body, unwilling to give up on the human before it, brimming with rich emotions.
It took another deep breath, trying to bring its mouth closer to Jane's face...
Only to receive a slap from her!
What in the world?! The food was fighting back!
For the Dementor, this was an unprecedented situation.
Though it didn't possess emotions like frustration or anger, its instincts as a living creature drove it to retreat in the face of a threat.
Seeing its hood knocked off, exposing its scabby gray scalp, the Dementor reluctantly abandoned the compartment and fled out of the carriage.
The train jolted slightly, and the lights in the compartment flickered back on.
Jane opened her trunk, one hand holding down her Niffler while the other pulled out bottles of cheering potion and chocolate, piling them onto the table.
The others in the compartment looked as though they had just survived a severe illness, slumped in their seats.
Theodore and Blaise seemed to be in the worst condition, having slid under the table. Their faces were as pale as parchment, and they had fainted, muttering indistinct "no"s under their breath.
Daphne, Astoria, and Draco, on the other hand, were leaning weakly against the seatbacks, still trembling with fear. They mechanically chewed the chocolate Jane had just stuffed into their mouths.
"That... what was that? And... how did you do that?"
Daphne, who seemed to be in the best shape, still felt as if her limbs were paralyzed.
"A Dementor," Jane replied while pouring cheering potion into Theodore and Blaise's mouths.
It took a few more minutes before the two boys began to feel alive again, realizing they were still in the train compartment.
They didn't speak, their blue and brown eyes blankly following Jane's movements.
Had they been drained into a stupor?
Should she cast Aguamenti on their faces to wake them up?
Jane pondered this with some concern.
Just as she was about to draw her wand, the compartment door slid open again.
It was a stranger, a professor dressed in a tattered robe, likely there to check on them. He was holding a bar of chocolate.
"Children, the Dementor has left. Are you all alright?"
Noticing the chocolate and empty cheering potion bottles on the table, his gaze landed on Jane, the only one still standing in the compartment.
"It seems you've already taken measures. Well done."
"If we were already at Hogwarts, I'd certainly award... er... Slytherin five points for your efforts."
But Theodore and Blaise's condition clearly wasn't good, and the professor seemed to realize something. He added, "I'll inform your Head of House... It's common for those who've experienced more hardships to have stronger reactions when encountering Dementors for the first time."
He closed the door and hurried off to the next compartment.
A heavy atmosphere hung in the air, with everyone looking despondent, as though they would never feel joy again.
"Want to try this? Just infuse it with magic, and you'll feel happy."
Jane pulled out her gaming console and placed it on the table.
After all, this seemed like a perfect opportunity to develop new customers—games were known to boost dopamine production.
Draco's curiosity was piqued. He picked up the console, sneering at its lack of aesthetic appeal.
But as the game music started, he instinctively grasped how to play, quickly forgetting his disdain and shouting in excitement. His body moved along with the pixelated character, looking as though he might leap onto the ceiling.
"No, no! Damn Devil's Snare!"
"Why is there a gap here? Lava?!"
"This Fire Crab eats people? That parasol mushroom is poisonous?!"
Blaise, gradually recovering, glanced sideways at Draco's gameplay and couldn't help but mock him.
"You died there? Seriously? What kind of move was that?"
"Oh, come on, let me have a go!"
They began fighting over the console, mocking each other's skills.
Theodore, too, was drawn in by the antics of the two boys beside him.
Color slowly returned to everyone's faces.
The train soon arrived at the station, accompanied by the sounds of the game.
As soon as they entered the castle, Jane noticed Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape standing at the entrance to the Great Hall, both looking unusually grim.
Just as Daphne had predicted, Snape's expression was particularly sour, almost matching the color of his robes.
"Nott, Zabini, Yu... you three, follow me."
He didn't even bother with titles, addressing them by their surnames, a clear sign of his foul mood.
Hearing Professor McGonagall call out Harry and Hermione's names, Snape's scowl deepened further.
With a dramatic swish of his robes, he gestured for the trio to follow him.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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