Chapter 151 149 Gray and Silver (Four Thousand)

Chapter 151 149. Grey and Silver (4,000)

"Did the traitor who sneaked into the carriage go with the traitor?" Ron speculated while cutting onions.

He was even reluctant to mention Percy's name now, and instead referred to him as the traitor.

Compared to the others, Neville was obviously much more perceptive. He washed potatoes and shook his head.

"The traitor's purpose could not just be to take Percy away. This is not even as meaningful as him staying in the carriage and reporting our location to the Ministry of Magic at all times."

"I dare not sleep alone recently. I can only squeeze into the same bed with Hermione." Lavender came over with a bucket and said irritably.

Hermione, who was stirring the cream, turned her head and looked at her helplessly.

"We have to share two blankets tonight. You always like to take all the blankets away at night. I'm about to catch a cold."

"In fact, even if we don't catch that person, we don't have to be too nervous." Jon said calmly, "After he helped Percy leave the carriage, if he really wanted to do something harmful to us, he should have done it long ago, and he wouldn't have waited until everyone was on guard to start doing it."

He put Neville's washed potatoes and Ron's chopped onions into a large basin, and then he and Justin lifted them up and walked towards Hanton who was boiling a large pot of hot water.

"Wait for news from the professors. I hope today's search will have some results."

They have been preparing for the sumptuous dinner in the evening all day, but the lunch is not bad. The professors have cast Muggle-repelling spells on the places where the carriages stop, so as long as they don't leave the designated area, students can move around here without worrying about being discovered by anyone.

At lunch time, Dumbledore and other professors also got off the carriage. Looking at the faces of Professor McGonagall and others, most students could guess that this search would not yield any valuable clues.

This was not a normal thing. The protective measures on this carriage, which was the last escape from Hogwarts, were quite complete. Unless Dumbledore and a professor on the carriage directed and acted like they did the year before, even if a wizard could get in, it would be very difficult to hide.

However, this was a welcome dinner after all. Those freshmen who had just been picked up in the carriage could clearly feel the tense atmosphere these days. Today, they should relax a little.

The long table was placed on the grass. This table was much larger than the one when Jon first entered school. The table was covered with a white tablecloth and filled with food that the students had been busy preparing for a day.

Dumbledore never made a long speech on such occasions. He knew that children were always impatient when facing food and dinner.

But before the banquet officially started, he still mentioned it with a smile.

"Don't worry about the dangers on the carriage. Although we haven't gained anything today, we have found a way and I believe we will see results soon."

The students naturally have 100% trust in his words. Except for the first-year students, the lingering pressure in the hearts of all the little wizards suddenly eased, and there were more laughter and joy at the dinner.

There are no new professors to introduce this year. Lupin has taught the students on the carriage for nearly half a semester and has become familiar with them.

The students on the carriage are still as enthusiastic as usual. They introduced the professors sitting at the front of the long table to the freshmen and explained their future life in school to them.

Those Hogwarts Castle students who came to the carriage this year have long lost the restraint when they first came here. They look the same as other children. The life of being enslaved as slaves in the castle has long been suppressed by the happiness of today. Except for the occasional recollection of the unbearable past before going to bed, the body will still tremble a little. The rest of the time is just like being brought to this carriage from the beginning.

The dinner was about to end at nearly ten o'clock. Led by Dumbledore, the students sang the Hogwarts school song to the starry sky above their heads. Then most of the students began to go back to the carriage to rest. Only all the freshmen and one student from the second to seventh grade were left to clean up the mess.

Jon was one of the students who stayed to help. Dumbledore did not leave. He asked the professors who had been busy all day to go back to the carriage to rest. He and Filch helped and looked after the students here.

He took out his wand and knocked on the long table full of food residues. The plates and cups on it became extremely clean. Then the sixth and seventh grade students used spells to gather the tableware and finally stacked them neatly together. The rest of the students were cleaning up the garbage left on the ground around them.

Gabrielle did not return to the carriage immediately. She floated beside her "roommate" Luna and directed her to pick up the fruit peels.

But she soon felt bored and floated to Jon's side, talking happily about how great the dinner was today. She now wanted to go to this Hogwarts carriage instead of going to Beauxbatons when she was old enough, but she didn't know if her parents would agree.

Jon was thinking about something and didn't pay much attention to the little girl's chatter. He just used his wand to restore the flattened grass on the ground to its original state and nodded to show that he was listening.

Gabrielle soon discovered his perfunctory attitude, so she pouted and floated to the grass beside the carriage to play with the fireflies.

Jon was not thinking about other things. He was just thinking about what Dumbledore said before the banquet, that there was already a solution. He did not think that this was a groundless comfort. Since Dumbledore said so, it meant that he must have had an idea.

Just as the students who stayed to clean up the place had tidied it up to the original state before they came, the freshmen with the lightest workload were preparing to step onto the stairs to return to the carriage.

A shrill scream suddenly broke the quiet night sky!

"Ah!!!"

This was a delicate female voice, and as soon as this voice sounded, all the students present, as well as Dumbledore who had not yet returned, turned their heads and looked in the direction of the sound source.

Gabrielle, who was originally floating around the bushes with fireflies, hugged her head at some point. Her cloud-like silver hair trembled with her body behind her. Her body, which was transparent under the moonlight, became even more illusory at this time.

In front of her, a creature wearing a gray cloak and as thin as a bamboo pole, more than two meters tall, floated out of the woods silently!

At the moment this monster appeared, a cold winter-like chill enveloped the entire venue. Every student who saw it seemed to be frozen by this biting cold, and their bodies couldn't stop trembling. A sense of dead silence and despair rose in their hearts for no reason!

The moment he saw this monster, Jon's name rose in his mind-

Dementors!

"Expecto Patronus!"

Almost in the blink of an eye, Dumbledore's voice chanting a spell sounded behind him. Jon also raised his wand and ran towards Gabrielle without any hesitation.

"Back to the carriage! All students, back to the carriage!"

The silver light illuminated the field, and Dumbledore's calm but obviously angry voice sounded, which made the students who had been stunned by the Dementor come back to their senses. They quickly returned to the carriage according to their grades.

Dumbledore's spell did not summon the Patronus, but the silver light was like another moon in the night, piercing the cold that had already enveloped this area.

The Dementor floating in front of Gabrielle began to retreat. It seemed to feel extremely uncomfortable with the silver light. It did not dare to move forward easily, but returned to the darkness behind the bushes.

Jon's hand passed through Gabrielle's cold body. The little girl who had been stunned finally came back to her senses. She cried and called Jon's name, and then stretched out her transparent hand to grab the corner of his robe.

Jon held the wand in his hand, soothing her softly while leading her back. With the help of the warm silver light behind him, he could see the scene behind the bushes where there were no fireflies flying.

Dementors, groups of Dementors!

They hid in the woods where the silver light could not reach. It was hard to see their number, but at a glance, they were everywhere!

"Take Gabrielle back, Jon."

Dumbledore's voice sounded right behind Jon. At this time, there were only two of them left on the field, and the other students had returned to the carriage.

Hagrid waved the reins and sat in the driver's seat. The Thestrals, which could only be seen after contacting the death of a living person, roared restlessly. Jon did not stop for a moment. He quickly jumped into the carriage with Gabrielle, who had been holding the corner of his clothes.

After he got in the car, Dumbledore also walked to Hagrid's driving seat. The silver light from the tip of his wand gradually stopped deterring the hundreds of Dementors behind him. These monsters, wearing tattered gray robes, rushed out of the woods!

"Go, Hagrid!"

Hagrid immediately pulled the reins after hearing the order. The Thestrals didn't need him to drive them at all. After receiving the order to run wildly, they ran towards the golden wheat field in front!

Before the horses' hooves trampled on the wheat, which was almost ripe, they fled to both sides in a hurry, just like pedestrians blocking the road. The carriage was galloping, but the Dementors did not give up their goals.

They flew up from the woods, like countless kites with broken strings, into the night sky!

The originally clear starry sky was blocked, and the suffocating coldness pressed down on the ground from mid-air like a blizzard!

Hagrid, who felt the silence most directly, had turned pale, but he still tried his best to hold the reins tightly.

"It takes time for the Thestrals to speed up! Sir! We can't get rid of them for the time being!"

Dumbledore's expression did not change much, but under the half-moon glasses, he narrowed his eyes at some point and raised his wand again.

He did not answer Hagrid's words, but calmly recited the spell again.

"Expecto Patronus."

At the moment the spell fell, a silver light that was more than ten times brighter than before illuminated half of the night sky!

Under the overwhelming light, a bird that looked very similar to Fawkes emerged from the silver light!

Unlike Fawkes's gorgeous golden and red appearance, its lifelike feathers were all silver like moonlight, and every time its wings flapped downward, silver light would sway at the end of the wings.

The moment this silver phoenix patronus appeared, the gray sky was pierced by this brilliance!

The monsters that originally blocked the entire night sky began to scramble back, but their speed was obviously not as fast as the phoenix flying in the air. The gray silence was dissipating, and the silver light in the sky recalled the starry sky again.

Hagrid showed an extremely excited expression.

"We got rid of them, sir!"

Dumbledore's face was still so calm. He looked at the faded gray and said softly.

"We only got rid of them temporarily, and the fundamental problem has not been solved."

The Thestrals completed the initial acceleration, and the surrounding scenery was like a slide that was flipping down quickly, constantly passing by both sides of the carriage.

In a very short time, they crossed the entire wheat field, passed the village, and passed by a city.

After making sure that the Dementors behind him were completely thrown off, Dumbledore returned to the carriage from the door of the driver's seat.

In order to prevent someone from creating more chaos by taking advantage of this chaos, the students were arranged to the dining hall by the professors who returned to the carriage. When Dumbledore pushed the door and walked in, all the students looked at him with uneasy expressions.

The originally old and calm face always showed a gentle smile when facing these children.

"Go back to sleep, the things outside have been solved. Remember to wake up your roommates if you want to go to the bathroom at night."

After hearing his words, the students all breathed a sigh of relief and returned to their dormitories under the separate arrangements of McGonagall and Flitwick. Before leaving the dining hall, each of them did not forget to say "Good night, professor" to Dumbledore.

Jon had already calmed Gabrielle's emotions and asked her to go back to the dormitory with her roommates Luna and Ginny.

When he and Neville passed by Dumbledore, Jon actually had some questions to ask the old man, but after looking at Dumbledore's bright eyes that vaguely revealed a little fatigue, he temporarily swallowed these words.

The night gradually deepened, and tonight Hogwarts returned to the uneasy calm.

This is to make up for yesterday, and there will be another chapter of 4,000 words later, which will be a little later