<h4>Chapter 210: Bogart and the Dementors</h4>
Fudge and the other Ministry of Magic officials left with the dementors satisfied;
Dumbledore was equally satisfied to have both the Ministry of Magic''s promise to corral the dementors froming near the castle and to have the Order of the Phoenix get a promotion at the Ministry;
And Drac was satisfied.
The collection of dementors in the garbage can he''d imposed the no-trace stretching spell had doubled in number, and Fudge hadn''t even noticed that he''d gotten a fraction of the dementors.
The wizards in the Ministry of Magic all used the dementors as nothing more than tools to watch over their prisons, who would seriously count the number of these dark, decaying creatures?
...
After another weekend had passed, Harry recovered and was discharged from the school infirmary.
On Monday, he arrived on the second floor of the teaching block with mixed thoughts, ready toe to his first Defense Against the Dark Arts ss since being discharged from the hospital -
"What did Professor Lupin teach everyone in the previous sses?" Drac asked as he stood on the podium after the ss bell rang.
As a matter of fact, ever since Lupin reced Drac to teach the ck Magic Defense ssst Monday, Drac once again did not hold back hisziness and directly let Lupin substitute for the ss for a whole week.
If it wasn''t close to the night of the full moon, Lupin had to drink the wolfsbane potion that Snape had boiled and his body would have a period of weakness, and at the same time Dumbledore persuaded Drac on the grounds that Lupin still had to inspect Sirius ck''s trail, I''m afraid that this substitution time would have to continue to be prolonged a little more.
"Professor, Professor Lupin told us about the Cabal and the Boggart and took us through practice." Hermione was the first to raise her hand in reply.
She had had to take a few days off after Drac confiscated her time converter and took a few sses off.
It was only when Dumbledore got the fully charged time converter sent by the Ministry of Magic again that the schoolteacherdy finally resumed her continuous study life again.
Luckily, after those few days of adjustment, her mental condition had improved a lot, and now she was back to studying as efficiently as before.
"Cabba and Bogart, is it?"
Drac thought for a moment, remembering that Lupin had even dutifullye to his office over the weekend to hand over his teaching duties, and seemed to have mentioned that he''d found a boggart in one of the castle''s outdated closets.
"Let''s see ... Well, sure enough, here you are, found you." He quickly retrieved a boggart from a chest inside the lectern and took it out of the chest, "Alright, let''s go over what we''ve covered before this ss starts ..."
Halfway through his words, Drac''s expression suddenly sank.
Only the shape of the boggart was changing, as if it was thinking about what exactly the Drac in front of it would be afraid of.
Finally, it shifted its body fiercely and turned into a very regr sphere, with a picture inside the sphere -
A figure with an uncanny resemnce to Drac was sitting on a chair in a pensive state, with nothing around it, and a lifeless, bored expression on the figure''s face.
Drac: "..."
"What an unappealing species ..."
In order for the ss to continue, he forcibly suppressed his inner desire to destroy the boggart, before stuffing it inside the box once more.
"Line up one by one, I''ll see if there''s anyone else who hasn''t learned to cope with boggart, and I''ll take good ''care'' of him!"
The young wizards on the stage lined up with interest and stood in front of the lectern in turn, eyeing Drac.
Professor Lupin''s ss had been very clear, and they were all very confident that they would be able to deal with Bogart easily, with only Neville crying his eyes out -
Neville had taken on the form of his worst fear, Professor Snape, when Bogart had confronted him alone inst week''s Defense Against the Dark Arts ss.
With Professor Lupin following his lead, he had managed to magically turn Snape into augh-inducing figure, walking around the Defense Against the Dark Arts ssroom in Neville''s grandmother''s clothes, female.
The little Gryffindor wizards watching the fun quickly spread the story.
When Snape learned of the incident, he unleashed an even meaner retaliation on Neville in Potions ss. Neville wondered what Professor Snape would do to him if he had to deal with Bogart again ...
In addition to a crying Neville, Harry raised his hand at a loss for words.
"Professor, I didn''te to ssst week and I don''t know the spell to deal with Boggart." He said.
"That''s fine, you can best in line." Drac smiled indifferently, "Have a good look at what the students in front of you are doing, or have Miss Granger give you a refresher course, and when it''s time for you to practice, I want you to be able to sessfully cast the corresponding spell."
Upon hearing this, Hermione nodded confidently to Drac and pulled Harry aside to whisper to him about the properties of Boggarts and defensive spells.
The other young wizards then began to move up to deal with the poor Boggart in turn -
Parvati Petyr saw a mummy-yin, which she skillfully undid its bandages with the corresponding spell, revealing the somewhatical skin of its air-dried interior; Seamus Finnigan saw a green-faced female ghost, which he magically transformed into a beautiful female apparition; Ron saw arge spider, which he put butchered skates on; and Hermione saw Professor McGonagall holding up an Hermione sees Professor McGonagall holding up a report card and telling her that she''s failing all her exams, and she magically turns the "P" on the report card into an "O" ...
The spell against Bogart wasn''t too hard, and everyone did pretty well.
When it came to Neville, however, he stood a little hand-wringingly at the back of the group, hesitant to step up to the front of the podium.
"You''re the only one left besides Potter, Mr. Longbottom." Drac urged, "Come quickly, I''m still waiting to see what Professor Snape looks like in women''s clothing!"
The ssroom erupted in heartfeltughter.
Neville stifled a red face, and after all, not wanting to keep all his ssmates waiting for him alone, he took two steps forward.
"St," and Bogart had indeed transformed into Snape - a
Slim build, t greasy hair, waxy skin, cold, unfathomable eyes,rge hawkish nose ... Except that from Neville''s behavior, it could be seen that this time Snape seemed to be even more terrifying thanst time.
He held the textbook of the Potions ss in his hand and took a step towards Neville, the corners of his mouth curling slightly upwards in a sneer, as if to say, "Having fun in the Defense Against the Dark Arts ss, aren''t you, Longbottom?"
Neville was shaking with fear, trembling and cupping his wand for half a second before he had the courage to raise it.
"Didn''t you finish quite well in Professor Lupin''s ss, Mr. Longbottom?" Drac''s voice appeared in Neville''s ear, "Imagine something funny, you just have to force it to be an image you find ridiculous."
"Doesn''t Professor Snape''s women''s clothing make you happy?"
"But ... but, Professor Snape would never leave me alone if he heard about what happened in this ss." Neville stammered.
"Don''t worry, if hees after you for this, then I will definitely go after him for you." Dracughed softly, "Don''t doubt it, I''ll do what I say."
Neville looked up at Drac''s eyes that seemed to calm his mood, and gradually a hint of courage grew in his heart as he slowly raised his wand.
"Riddikulus (Riddling)!" He shouted as he mentally thought about the clothes his grandmother used to wear.
The image of Snape, transformed by Boggart, immediately changed, the ck robe on his body turning into a long, embroideredce woman''s dress, a tall hat on his head with a worm-eaten specimen of the old apocrypha on the top, and a huge red handbag waving in his hand.
"Snape seemed startled and staggered backward two steps to Drac''s side.
Drac eyed the female Snape with interest and tsked.
"I heard it was Professor Lupin who suggested that you think of your grandmother''s style of dress to change the image of the boggart?" He asked pleasantly.
"Well ... if it wasn''t for Professor Lupin, I wouldn''t have thought of that method myself." Neville said weakly.
Although his speech was still a bit unsteady, at least he wasn''t as scared as before ... Snape in his olddy''s attire just couldn''t get the fear up.
"Tch, looks like Professor Lupin isn''t as decent as he seems." Dracughed softly, "So it seems as if Snape is familiar with Lupin and Sirius ck, why don''t we go and ask Snape what he thinks about that Azkaban fugitive?"
"Professor! Is it my turn?"
Harry''s voice interrupted Drac''s thoughts.
Drac turned his head to see Harry ready to walk to the podium next to the Boggart in front of him.
"Oh? I see you''ve learned the spell to ward off Boggarts." He nodded, "Come on over then, let''s see what kind of level you''ll be at the first time you use this spell."
Drac looked at Harry expectantly, specting on what exactly this Dumbledore''s chosen savior would be afraid of.
Would Boggart just turn Voldemort''s big bald head? That would be a lot of fun.
Harry took a deep breath and walked over to Snape, who was dressed in women''s clothing.
"Snape hesitated for a moment when he saw Harry, and his body suddenly swelled up. ...
As Drac watched with interest, Bogart suddenly transformed into a tattered ck cloak.
Just when he thought that the next thing on top of the ck cloak was Voldemort''srge bald head, a rotting, glowing hand slid shakily under the cloak. Followed by a long, shuddering breath from an unseen mouth ...
Harry''s greatest fear was not surprisingly Voldemort, but Dementors!
The Boggart-turned-dementor slid silently towards Harry, taking a deep breath on one side, so prating that it seemed to submerge Harry''s entire being in the icy water ...
"Slippery ..., slippery ...," Harry, his sanity somewhat molded, spat out the incantation for the spell with slurred speech.
Obviously, this method of reciting the spell did absolutely nothing.
The methods of defense that he had previously conceived in his mind were all useless, and only when he actually faced the dementors did he realize how much this deepest fear could affect him.
The entire Defense Against the Dark Arts ssroom and the dementor seemed to melt in Harry''s eyes ...
Once again he was falling downwards through the thick white mist, the woman''s voice was louder than ever, it echoed in his head-
"Don''t move Harry! Don''t move Harry! Please ... I''ll promise anything ..."
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way, woman in the way!"
"..."
"Harry!"
Harry came back to reality and found himself lying on his back on the floor. The view of the ssroom returned, and Hermione and Ron gathered around him, looking at him with worried faces.
"I''m sorry, Professor ...," he murmured feebly, sitting up from the floor, feeling cold sweat pouring down behind his sses, "I''m sorry I didn''t fulfill your assignment."
"There seems to be something special about your situation." Drac said thoughtfully as he looked at Harry, who was covered in a cold sweat, "Dementors apparently arouse your deepest fears more than Boggart, so Boggart opportunistically took on the form of a dementor."
He had by now grabbed Bogart and retrieved him in his original case, some curiosity in his gaze.
"Would it be convenient to tell me exactly what kind of sight you saw before you passed out?" Drac asked.
Harry opened his mouth, his lips quivering, hesitant to use the words that forced him to describe the image he had seen earlier.
"It''s okay if you can''t say it, just take your time and get used to it." Drac waved his hand, "Looks like I''m going to have to teach you to defend yourself against two kinds of dark creatures at the same time, or else you won''t even be able to pass the Boggart''s exam."
"Two creatures ...," Harry froze for a moment, and then a sh of joy appeared on his face.
He suddenly realized that Professor Drac was going to teach him not only how to defend himself against Boggarts, but also how to defend himself against Dementors at the same time!
"Alright, review time is over." Drac casually threw the box containing the boggart into the cab under the lectern, and then walked up to the podium, "Next, let''s start our content for today-"
"How to fend off Dementors!"
He thought of those annoying dementors that the Ministry of Magic had arranged around Hogwarts, and thought of the little wizards'' distaste and rejection of those dementors, and an extremely amusing image sprang up in his mind -
A group of young wizards holding up their wands, each summoning a daemon, fighting off those dementors with a silvery glow, driving them far away from the castle.
The image must have been spectacr and soothing.
It''s just that the difficulty of reaching it is a bit high.
"Professor, as far as I know, the Patronus spell isn''t a magic we can learn in our year." It was Hermione who raised her hand high in the air and retorted, "I''ve heard that even adult wizards are rare to be able to use this spell skillfully."
"Of course, Miss Granger, there''s nothing wrong with the conclusion you''re talking about." Dracughed softly, "But isn''t that kind of thinking ... meant to be broken?"