From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

'This doesn't make sense. After overcoming my fear of Dementors, I shouldn't be so affected by the weather...'

'Could it be related to practicing dark magic...? Blake has been putting too much pressure on me lately, causing me to become too obsessed with dark magic...'

William tried to calm himself down and stop thinking about random things, while at the same time he had to take out the chocolate from his pocket and feel the strength and warmth it brought him.

"Professor, are you feeling unwell?"

Harry's voice suddenly interrupted William's brief enjoyment of the chocolate. He looked at Harry and then noticed that Lupin was also curiously focusing his attention on him.

“It’s alright, nothing serious,” William forced a smile. “Don’t wander around, Harry. Although there was a little accident today, the journey ahead is probably the most dangerous.”

"Professor William, did you tell him?"

Lu Ping's previously calm expression suddenly changed. "He's only in third grade!"

“I told him,” William said, glancing at Harry before replying to Lupin. “He’s not a child anymore, and students his age have an intense desire to know the truth. Rather than letting him run around and get himself into trouble, letting him know that a dangerous dark wizard is trying to hunt him down will reduce his risks.”

"He's only thirteen years old!"

Lupin looked very angry, but William had no time to consider his new colleague's thoughts—he just wanted to curse himself for the summer.

Why should I practice so much dark magic?

"What's done is done, Professor Lupin, and you should go to the school and check out Mr. Filch's archives... just how common it is for Gryffindors to be caught violating the rules and have points deducted every year..."

William regretted his words as soon as they left his mouth. He wasn't in a good position to control his emotions, and there were students around. How could he make such an evaluation of a student in front of the students?

Hearing the professor beside him speak so highly of Gryffindor, Harry blushed instantly—he had made many outstanding contributions to the school…

"That can't be done..."

Lupin glanced at Harry, then at William, muttered something, and fell silent.

'Oh, right, Professor Lupin is also a Gryffindor…'

This idea popped into William's mind, only to be scattered by other thoughts that came to mind.

'If that's the case with the new colleague...'

'No, what am I thinking…'

'It's so cold...'

The thoughts in his mind grew increasingly strange, and he felt colder and colder. William even thought about covering himself with a blanket and curling up there, motionless...

'I want to lie down…'

'think…'

'wrong!'

When the cold seeped from his bones, William realized something was wrong. Even if it was a side effect of dark magic, it was too much. He couldn't possibly be this dejected.

The rain wasn't that heavy, and the feeling it gave off was a familiar yet nauseating sense of déjà vu...

He drew his wand almost instantly and then shouted it out in the voice of a novice spellcaster.

"Take the God's Protection!"

As William shouted the incantation in a voice that even he found unfamiliar, the heat emanating from his wand intensified. A tiny hummingbird, its wings barely visible in flight, flew out of William's wand with a streak of silver light and hurtled directly toward the train window.

Then, as if ice had met the blazing sun, the chilling aura was driven away from all parts of William's body by the warm current and vanished.

'Almost…'

William took a deep breath, then waved his wand and cast a spell towards the sky.

As a spell with an orange glow exploded in the sky, the sky, which was shrouded in both rain and night, was briefly illuminated.

Through the rain-drenched car window, William could clearly see dark patches rapidly approaching the Hogwarts Express in the distance, as if someone had used some filthy paint to create dirty stains in the rainy night.

Even from a distance, William recognized the visitors.

"Dementor."

He tried to utter the word calmly, then began to strengthen the hummingbird he had summoned with the Patronus Charm—giving it joy and hope along with the magic—and then waved his wand toward the window.

Then, the small guardian spirit, which seemed so small that it could be easily controlled with one hand, shot off like an arrow.

"professor?"

"Crouch down, or better yet, lie face down! That damn Sirius, he's got Dementors under his control and's planning to wipe out the Hogwarts Express in one fell swoop!"

William gave Harry instructions at top speed, not even bothering to watch how his Patronus was fighting the Dementors.

'Hold on, hold on for three minutes, no, just five minutes...'

With this thought in mind, William quickly cast the Ironclad Charm on himself and then spoke in a loud voice.

"I am William, the professor of self-defense! From this moment forward, I demand that the train driver increase the train's speed and not stop!"

"All students must remain in their designated cells and are strictly prohibited from moving around! Anyone found doing so will be immediately expelled upon returning to school and prosecuted for suspected dark wizardry! All prefects, form patrol teams immediately. If anyone attempts to continue walking in the corridors, I authorize you to immediately use spells to subdue them without verifying their identity!"

Under the spell's influence, William's voice pierced through the entire train, even drowning out the rumbling thunder outside.

Because the order was so terrifying, even the most mischievous Gryffindor students dared not take any special action—last year's Basilisk incident had taught many people how to act in dangerous times.

But that didn't stop them from sticking their heads out the window and observing what was happening.

William had just used a spell to light up half the sky in order to see clearly what was happening.

The bolder students quickly spotted the tattered cloths floating in the air through the windows, and upon seeing them, almost everyone instinctively pulled their clothes down.

"What is that...?"

"I have no idea…"

"A corpse?"

The sixth-grade students looked out the window, speculating.

"No, but it's very evil... I haven't seen it in the textbook..."

This is normal; as employees of the Ministry of Magic, it's only natural that most textbooks would remove them.

"It's a Dementor... one of Azkaban's guards..."

The student who was speaking almost cried out in alarm... Everyone who knows about Dementors knows about Azkaban, and also knows that these things are inextricably linked to top dark wizards.

Look over there!

A sharp-eyed student spotted a flash of silver light and called out to his classmates.

Then, everyone in the private room saw a silver streak stretch out in the air, disappearing directly into the group of Dementors, like a spark about to fall into a wide, dark lake.

Then, they ran out of energy to watch—just as William began his shout, the Dementors, as if enraged by something, rushed toward the train.

The train was so long that the animals could easily scatter and find their own destinations.

Just as the Dementors approached the train, almost everyone felt something gently choking their necks, neither too hard nor too soft, but with a chilling sensation. They didn't know when it would suddenly tighten its grip, making it impossible to breathe.

Then came the biting cold and the sudden surge of fear. The students who had been laughing and joking stopped what they were doing. Even the Weasley brothers, Hogwarts' most notorious troublemakers, looked at each other and their eyes welled up with tears.

"Damn it! Are those hitters trash?"

William roared inwardly, but he had neither the time nor the energy to shout—he now had to be wary of Sirius's approach.

Those Dementors can only be saved by the Guardian Deities.

Although he had only given the other party the order to expel the Dementors, William did not know how long it could last—each person's Patronus power was different, and he had no way to actually capture a Dementor to experiment on.

-

"Mom, I don't want to study anymore, I don't want to do my homework, I..."

"I don't want to do the problems anymore, I don't want to fail..."

"No, my teddy bear..."

Almost instantly, the train descended into chaos. Then, a silver light whizzed back from the outside, shooting towards the black-robed figures floating in mid-air before quickly passing by and rushing towards the next carriage.

Halfway through its flight, the silver light finally slowed down and then slowly disappeared…

'joke…'

William, who was already on high alert, had no choice but to cast a Patronus Charm and then reluctantly activated his loud voice again.

"Beaters, what are you doing?"

To William's disappointment, there was still no response after his urging—the feedback from the second summoned guardian spirits was that only a few scattered, ineffective mist-like guardian spirits were summoned, which was of no use at all.

"Take Harry to the front carriage, Professor Lupin! Otherwise, Black won't even need to lift a finger; the Dementors will suffice!"

William called out to Lupin, who was standing to the side—the guardian spirit that Professor Lupin summoned was a silver light that had no shape. It was probably like him before, unable to summon a fully formed guardian spirit.

"Harry, stay close to us!"

However, just as William was in a hurry to set off, the situation ahead changed.

Perhaps the second summoning of the guardian spirit completely enraged the Dementors, who abandoned the students and pounced directly on the carriage where William and his companions were.

"We have to come again, Professor Lupin!"

William smiled at Lupin and summoned his Patronus for the third time.

"Take the God's Protection!"

Chapter 265 Arrival at School

The guardian spirit summoned for the third time was much weaker than the one summoned the first two times.

Just like the story about Illyrus and Ratchedion that every wizard who learns the Patronus Charm has read (Note: click to view), the Patronus will be gradually defeated when faced with a continuous barrage of Dementors.

However, it remained as heartwarming as ever, dispelling the chill brought by the gathered Dementors the moment it appeared.

Even the slightest interval between the Patronus's summons made Harry, who was hiding in a corner on the ground, feel a bone-chilling cold.

It felt like something had exploded from his lungs, pressing down on him so hard he couldn't even breathe.

A sudden chill, like being immersed in ice water in winter, invaded his senses, seeping in through his fingers, nose, ears, eyes… everywhere, omnipresent.

"what!!!!!!!!!"

Harry thought he heard someone shouting; the sharp scream pierced his eardrums and slammed into his forehead like a nail.

Just as he was struggling to the surface like a drowning man, finally managing to breathe a little air, a swear word that Harry had never heard before entered his ears.