The black hole under the cowl devoured the surrounding light and heat.
The tattered, decaying black robe billowed without wind, and a hand covered in gray scabs, like a bloated corpse, extended from beneath the robe, slowly reaching for the doorframe.
A chill exploded directly from the bone marrow, threatening to freeze the flowing blood into ice shards.
Harry's face instantly drained of color. He opened his mouth but couldn't make a sound, his mind replaying various spells over and over, yet his hand couldn't pull out his magic wand.
Ron, even more dazed, stared blankly ahead, the Chocolate Frogs stuffed in his mouth falling out one by one.
The temperature in the compartment was plummeting wildly.
The frost on the windows grew into intricate fern-like ice flowers, and the half-cup of water on the table made a crisp
Lia felt two fatal pulls.
One was aimed directly at Harry, purely greedy like a hyena smelling the blood of dying prey.
The other, even colder and more massive, was locked onto her!
Dementors have no visual organs, but Lia's Eye of Truth clearly
Deep within the darkness under that cowl, an invisible perception penetrated her flesh, staring directly at the
A double feast! A vibrant, life-filled soul, plus a fragment of a once incredibly powerful soul tainted by countless deaths!
For Dementors, this was a supreme delicacy etched into their twisted instincts, an irresistible and fatal temptation.
As Harry and Ron were engulfed by despairing memories, and even Hermione's thoughts stalled due to the chill deep in her soul.
Deep in Lia's sky-blue eyes, an extremely fine, dark green halo, like an ancient snake's pupil, quietly emerged, slowly rotating, carrying an absolute indifference that overlooked life and death.
She calmly raised her right hand, fingers spread, her fair palm pointed at the monster that was almost sticking its head into the compartment.
No spell, no magic wand.
A dark magic, mixed with wildness and deathly silence, suddenly exploded from her palm!
The air in front of her formed a visible crease, like a black curtain violently pushed, intending to crush, devour, and reduce everything in its path to nothingness.
The Dementor, greedily sucking Harry's happy emotions, seemed to have run headfirst into an invisible siege hammer.
Its massive body flew backward, emitting a piercing shriek that belonged to no known creature.
This brutal and unreasonable force forcibly blasted the Dementor out of the compartment, slamming it heavily into the wall of the carriage opposite the corridor. Its huge body was shattered on the spot, turning into thousands of struggling black wisps of smoke!
Lia did not stop her magic output, her palm still facing forward.
Under the continuous crushing of the magic, the black smoke repeatedly gathered and reshaped only to be instantly pulverized, emitting silent wails.
The green halo in her blue eyes grew brighter and brighter, almost dyeing her entire pupil an eerie emerald green.
Hermione suddenly snapped back to her senses, her voice filled with an unprecedented urgency.
Without hesitation, she picked up a large piece of Honeydukes chocolate that was already on the table, hugged Lia's soft body tightly from behind, and directly put a piece of chocolate to Lia's mouth, soothing her gently but firmly.
The sweet scent of chocolate and the warmth of Hermione's embrace transformed into two warm currents, mixed with a series of commands, pouring into Lia's senses.
The dark green halo in her eyes flickered violently a few times, becoming unstable, and finally, unwillingly, slowly faded away.
Her gaze gradually shifted from cold indifference to a bewildered and confused blankness.
Just then—
The compartment door was violently pulled open from the outside by an even greater force. A man wearing a faded, patched old robe rushed out.
His face was pale and haggard, his light brown hair streaked with premature gray, but his eyes were unusually bright, now filled with anxiety and solemnity.
The new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Remus Lupin.
He took only 0.1 seconds to scan the scene inside the compartment—an exhausted Harry and Ron, a wary Hermione holding a Cat-girl radiating dark embers—and immediately identified the source of the threat. He stepped into the corridor, his magic wand already in hand, its tip aimed at the Dementor that was struggling to reform and drift back.
Lupin's voice was not loud, but it was full of warmth and power.
A dazzling, solid beam of silvery-white light erupted from his magic wand tip. The light condensed and transformed in the air, forming a shimmering wolf.
The wolf Patronus leaped silently in the narrow corridor, carrying pure joy and hope, and charged towards the struggling black mist.
Facing this natural enemy, the monster let out a dying, terrified shriek, unable to coalesce any further. It turned and fled, scrambling away and disappearing at the other end of the carriage.
The silver wolf ran a circle in the corridor, dispelling all lingering coldness and despair, then slowly dissipated into countless warm specks of light.
The afterglow of the warm light swept through the compartment.
Harry and Ron gasped for air as if they had just been pulled from icy water, their eyes filled with lingering fear, but even more with undisguised shock and bewilderment in Lia's direction.
That dark power, which had made their souls tremble, had come from Lia, who usually hung around Hermione?
And when the after-effects of that light gently brushed Lia's body, Lia paused slightly, unconsciously looking towards Lupin.
That light not only dispelled the cold. It was a gentle yet highly effective sedative, instantly soothing the turmoil and tearing sensation in her soul caused by wielding dark power.
The last trace of dark green in her eyes completely vanished, replaced by a pure, captivated longing for that light.
What is this? So warm... so comfortable... Lia had never felt such pure and vast warm energy.
This was different from Hermione's embrace; Hermione's warmth carried her unique scent and affection, a private sanctuary.
But this power was the pure vastness of the sun itself, capable of purifying all gloom and defilement.
She instinctively poked her little head out from Hermione's embrace, her restored sky-blue eyes staring unblinkingly at the man who had just put away his magic wand.
Lupin walked in, his face showing apology and lingering fear.
When he offered a piece of chocolate to Hermione, Lia actively stretched her neck.
She didn't take the chocolate, but rather, on the warm, dry back of Lupin's hand, she gently and curiously sniffed.
Warmth, loneliness, suppressed sadness, and... the scent of a kindred spirit. A scent of a beast, rejected by the world.
Lupin's hand froze in mid-air. His expression instantly changed.
Just seconds ago, the dark magic that erupted from this Cat-girl was pure and evil, full of primal predatory instinct. Its sheer quality almost reminded him of the Death Eaters he hated most, those who followed Lord Voldemort.
He even thought Bellatrix Lestrange had infiltrated the Hogwarts Express.
But at this moment, what emanated from her was the purest closeness and reliance on the Patronus's light, like a plant chasing the sun.
Deep vigilance and confusion flashed in Lupin's eyes. He subtly withdrew his hand, handed the chocolate to Hermione, but his gaze never left Lia.
Hermione took the chocolate, a polite smile on her face, but the smile was cold and did not reach her eyes. A strong, uncontrollable wave of displeasure and possessiveness surged from the depths of her heart.
Hermione subtly tightened her arms around Lia, pulling the little one in her embrace even closer.
At the same time, her other hand, hanging behind her, seemingly casually, precisely pinched the tip of Lia's curiously wagging, fluffy long tail.
Lia trembled violently and quickly covered her mouth.
An irresistible tingling current shot straight up her spine to her brain, her legs instantly turned soft, and she immediately whimpered, shrinking back into Hermione's arms as if all her bones had been removed, no longer daring to look at Lupin.
Then, she lowered her head and gently, yet firmly, nipped Lia's flushed cat ear with her teeth, whispering into Lia's ear in a voice only the two of them could hear, laced with absolute warning:
Lia buried herself in Hermione's neck, her whole body burning, and could only nod obediently with all her might, truly afraid that if she opened her mouth, some strange, off-key whimpering sound would escape.
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