The Shopkeeper of All Worlds in the British Wizarding World

Chapter 215 Dementors and Firebolts

At Hogsmeade Station, the returning students boarded the carriages heading to Hogwarts Castle. Because the students did not return to school very frequently at the end of Christmas, there were not many people riding the carriages. Ryan and Hermione easily found an empty carriage and got on.

"Ryan, what on earth is that cart pulling? Why have I never seen it before?" After getting in the car and taking a look at the front of the car, Hermione asked in surprise.

"Thestrals." Ryan answered concisely. He believed that Hermione must have already previewed the entire book "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", so a brief reminder would be enough at this time.

"Because we saw human death in the pyramid temple?" Hermione suddenly realized after hearing Ryan's answer.

The carriage fell into an awkward silence, and in the silence the carriage rolled forward. After passing the school's Black Lake, there was a pair of magnificent cast iron gates in front of them, with many stone pillars on both sides and winged wild boars at the front. They saw two tall, hooded Dementors standing on both sides of the gates to guard them. At the same time, the temperature around them dropped a lot.

"Take this." Seeing Hermione sitting opposite her with a bad look on her face, Ryan took out a soul-protecting rune stone and handed it to her. After taking the rune stone, Hermione felt a warm current coming from the stone in her hand, flowing through her arms and all over her body. The pressure and coldness brought by the Dementors before all disappeared.

"I really don't know why these things were sent to the school?" Ryan looked at the slowly receding gate and shook his head and complained. However, the rune stone just now also proved that in addition to the Patronus Charm, there are other means to fight against Dementors.

When we got back to school, it was lunchtime, and many of our classmates looked at Ryan. It seemed that the news that he had won the Order of Merlin, Second Class, had spread.

While he was eating a piece of grilled chicken breast, someone came over and patted him on the shoulder. Ryan looked up and saw dazzling red hair. "Ron, long time no see."

"Ah, I didn't expect your outing to be so thrilling this time. Unlike us, we are trapped in school and have to endure Dementors flying around the school." Ron said with some envy.

"Thrilling? I'd rather stay in school with the Dementors. We almost lost our lives this time when we went out. If it weren't for Ryan's help, I might not have come back." After hearing what Ron said, Hermione said a little unhappily.

"Well, let's not discuss this." Ron turned to Ryan and said, "You know, Harry received a Firebolt for Christmas this time. We have a lot of luck in winning the House Quidditch Cup this time."

"Firebolt? I saw it during the summer vacation. It's not cheap." Ryan said with some envy. Harry's black dog godfather is really rich. Firebolt is like the top sports car in the Muggle world. Although the real top treasures of wizards cannot be bought with Galleons, such as Harry's invisibility cloak, among the treasures that can be bought with money, the Firebolt should be considered as the top product.

"By the way, who spent so much money to buy Harry such an expensive broom?" Hermione asked suddenly as if she had thought of something.

It is normal for her to ask such a question, just like if someone we know gives an acquaintance a top-of-the-line sports car as a gift, we will definitely ask who gave it to us.

"I don't know either." Harry came over at this time. "There's no card, and there's no sender. It's a completely anonymous package."

"Well... who would give Harry something so valuable and not tell him who it was?" Hermione asked. Before Harry could say anything, Professor Mac came over and said, "I heard someone gave you a broomstick, Potter."

After asking and finding out that no one had said who sent it, Professor McGonagall went upstairs with Harry. After dinner, Ryan and Hermione got the timetable from Professor Sprout and returned to the common room. As soon as they entered the door, they saw a circle of people gathered there. In the middle was Harry sitting behind the table, holding his head in frustration, and Ron comforted him.

"What happened?" Ryan asked curiously.

"Harry's Firebolt was confiscated by Professor McGonagall, who was worried that it was a trap set by Sirius." Percy came out of the crowd and said to Ryan. "But to be honest, I think Professor McGonagall did the right thing. Harry always gets into trouble on the Quidditch field every year. What if he gets into trouble again because of this broom?"

"Who told Professor McGonagall?" Ron put his hand on Harry's shoulder, stood up and looked at the people around him.

Ryan saw that the situation was not good and quickly squeezed to the front and said to Ron: "Don't doubt your classmates. We have had this broom for a whole Christmas holiday. Have you been hiding this broom and not telling others during this time?"

Harry pulled Ron's clothes and asked him to sit down, then said to the students around him, "I'm sorry, Ron was just a little too anxious when he saw the Firebolt was taken away. I don't think it has anything to do with you. After all, during the holidays, I took the Firebolt to the common room every day to clean it, and even flew it twice around the playground outside. In this case, Professor McGonagall must know that I have a Firebolt."

"Yes." Percy also stood up. "If Harry receives such a valuable gift, Professor McGonagall will definitely ask who sent it. If he tells the truth, it is inevitable that the broom will be taken back for inspection. After all, Professor McGonagall has always been a very serious person. She will never be vague about something that may endanger Harry's life."

Now that the matter had been made clear, everyone quickly dispersed, with only Quidditch Captain Wood and several of his teammates surrounding Harry, talking in a flurry and trying to come up with a solution.

After all, Harry lost the last game because he was affected by the Dementors and fell from the sky, so the next game was very important. The Firebolt was the most important hope for a comeback, so all the members of the Quidditch team gathered around Harry to discuss and try to find a way to get Professor McGonagall to return the broom as soon as possible.

"I really don't understand why Ron is so emotional. Doesn't he know that he almost made Harry hate me so much? Fortunately, Harry reacted in time." Hermione and Ryan said after sitting down on the sofa by the fireplace.

It seems that after Hermione joined the after-school homework group for a few years, her emotional intelligence has indeed increased much faster than when she was with Harry and Ron in the original book. Ryan smiled like an old father when he thought of this and said, "But at least these people are straightforward, and you don't need to spend time guessing what they are thinking when making friends with them. After all, there is no perfect person in the world. As long as it is not a matter of principle, we must learn to tolerate the flaws of others."

"That's true." Hermione stared at Ryan and said, "I think my overconfidence in the past may have caused you a lot of trouble. Now that I think about it, you helped me a lot when I had problems communicating with others when we were doing homework together. So - thank you."

"It's nothing." Ryan smiled and began to read the notebook Percy had just lent him, while Hermione was also writing something. The last night of the holiday was spent in this quiet and warm atmosphere.

(End of this chapter)