Chapter 336: Chapter 336: Patronus (Edited)
"The timeout is coming to an end, so if you want to eat something, hurry up," Richie reminded his teammates, telling them to watch their time and hurry.
Hermione appeared once again, running up to Tom and placing a still-warm ribbon around his neck. It was a ribbon made up of small hollow squares, with a silver rose embedded in it.
It was the white-rose bracelet that Tom had given Hermione before.
Tom stroked the ribbon that still retained Hermione's body heat, feeling a warm current flowing from the ribbon to his chest, spreading throughout his body. Suddenly, his numb body from the cold warmed up.
"It's very warm and fragrant," Tom caressed the ribbon, adjusting its position.
After tying the ribbon around Tom's neck, Hermione didn't rush to leave. She rushed down from the stands to deliver the "warmer," not just for that, but also to tell Tom something that had occurred to her.
"Be careful with the Dementors!" Hermione quickly said, "I read in a book that Dementors feed on happiness, and now in this environment, I'm afraid that-"
"Exactly what I was thinking," Tom stroked Hermione's head, fixing her messy hair falling over her forehead. "I'll be careful."
Seeing that Tom was prepared, Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'll be watching you from the stands, so keep playing," Hermione said before leaving without looking back, returning to the Ravenclaw stands. The halftime break was over, and the fourteen players flew back into the sky.
The quality of the bracelet was excellent, and while flying in the air, Tom didn't feel the cold at all; it was as if he had a heated pad stuck to his body.
"Ugh!" Tom threw the Quaffle into Gryffindor's goal, and there was a groan from the Gryffindor stands right in front of him, but it was immediately drowned out by cheers from the Ravenclaw stands behind.
Tom took the opportunity to move away from the goalposts, looking for an advantageous position after Wood threw the Quaffle.
At that moment, a zigzag-shaped lightning bolt illuminated the playing field, and Tom's gaze shifted to the Gryffindor stands in front of him. A dark figure caught his attention: a large black dog with unruly fur, crouching in the highest row of empty seats in the stands.
Just at that moment, Wood, next to Tom, shouted desperately, "Harry, behind you!"
Immediately, Tom saw Harry move his broom and fly into the sky, followed by Albert. Tom felt the urge to follow them but ultimately stopped his broom and glided toward the Ravenclaw stands. He knew that, without surprises, the match was about to end.
At this moment, the players from both teams were exhausted and had no intention of launching more attacks; they all watched the two black dots in the sky, awaiting the final outcome. Even Wood was only holding the Quaffle and panting, determined to delay the throw as much as possible. At this moment, Gryffindor could no longer afford to lose more points; even if Harry caught the Golden Snitch, they couldn't win.
If the point difference between the two teams exceeded one hundred and fifty points, even if the losing team caught the Golden Snitch, they couldn't win the match. This situation had occurred more than once, and the reason was the peculiar rule that the match would only end when the Golden Snitch was caught. If a Quidditch match lasted a long time, the point difference could easily exceed one hundred and fifty points, so the possession of the Golden Snitch wasn't as crucial.
There was no need to keep fighting; Tom was happy to rest. Unlike his teammates, the two people suspended in the air didn't interest him at all. Instead, he was more interested in the young wizards around him. Tom looked toward the Ravenclaw stands, and the first thing he saw was a massive raven, the size of an eagle. Of course, the raven was just an ornament, and its owner was Luna, who had added a raven to her hat as decoration.
Luna saw Tom looking at her and stroked the raven, which opened its beak and cried out loudly, "Cheer up, Tom Yodel! Ravenclaw will triumph!"
"A little interesting thing," Tom chuckled at the comical appearance of the raven. However, he was more interested in finding Hermione. His gaze wandered until he finally spotted her near Luna. She stood at the front of the Ravenclaw stands, where there was no shelter from the rain, but she was closer to the players on the field.
Tom froze when he saw rainwater cascading from Hermione's forehead, running through her hair and face, soaking her completely. In the midst of the storm, Hermione's figure seemed fragile, as if she would collapse at any moment.
She was like a stubborn and beautiful flower.
In a flash of lightning, Tom saw that Hermione's face was pale, colorless, but her eyes still gleamed, staring at him without wavering.
Tom felt a pang in his chest and quickly gestured for her to come to a place without wind and rain, otherwise, she would surely get sick if she continued to be soaked like that.
Hermione could clearly see Tom's movements, but she just waved her hand without paying attention. Suddenly, her expression changed, and she anxiously pointed toward the sky. Tom followed the direction of her finger and saw how the horizon turned strangely dark, not the darkness of a rainy day but a color of death.
The Dementors had arrived.
"What's happening?" A young wizard noticed the anomaly with his sharp instinct. "Why does it look like that?"
He pointed to the deathly sky in the distance and exclaimed. His voice attracted the attention of others, and more and more people noticed the anomaly.
Hermione felt a chill run through her body, and she staggered a bit before reacting. She drew her wand and shouted into the sky, "They're Dementors! Tom, come back quickly!"
Whether out of fear or from the cold, her voice trembled.
The young wizards around her were bewildered by her words and instinctively didn't believe such claims. But the next moment, the Dementors personally demonstrated Hermione's words.
Hundreds of Dementors emerged from the clouds and circled high in the sky like tattered bags. Albert, who was closest to them, pulled back abruptly and began descending rapidly from a great height, with a thin layer of ice even forming on his broom.
Harry's situation was even worse; he appeared to have lost consciousness and fell headfirst from the sky.
Hermione's fingers trembled slightly as she aimed her wand at the group of Dementors and spoke the incantation with a trembling yet firm voice, "Expecto Patronum!"
Tom, who was close to her, also instinctively drew his own wand and shouted after Hermione, "Expecto Patronum!"
This time, his Patronus changed.
Chapter 337: Chapter 337: Two Corporeal Patrons (Edited)
The stadium descended into chaos due to the appearance of the Dementors, with screams and exclamations echoing endlessly. Many wizards abandoned their seats and desperately fled through any exit leading out of the stadium, blocking the stands' exits in the blink of an eye.
"Hurry up! What are you waiting for?!"
"Someone has fallen!"
"I'm the Prefect, everyone must remain calm..."
However, not everyone was fleeing; some were doing their utmost to help. Ron watched Harry falling from the sky, desperate to find a solution. At that moment, he had a sudden idea and remembered a spell.
He raised his hand and pointed his wand at Harry, saying, "Wingardium Leviosa."
He cast the spell, but Harry's fall only slowed down slightly, continuing at a great speed toward the ground. The Levitation spell also had its limits. It was evident that Harry, falling from such a height, was beyond those limits.
Fortunately, there were still two trusted adult wizards on the field: Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall. Both were standing in the stands of their respective houses, with pale faces. An event as significant as a Quidditch match could not take place without the supervision of adult wizards. If it weren't for Professor Dumbledore, who had urgent matters and couldn't attend, he would also be there today.
Professor McGonagall was furious; she already knew that placing Dementors near Hogwarts would cause a great disaster, but she didn't have the power to change the Ministry of Magic's decision. Now she could only find a way to fix this disaster on behalf of the Ministry.
Initially, Professor McGonagall thought about summoning her Patronus to drive away the Dementors, but when she saw Hermione Granger taking out her wand, she changed her mind and decided to maintain order in the stands. She was giving Miss Granger the opportunity to prove herself. Professor McGonagall would be attentive to changes in the situation, and if Hermione couldn't resolve the issue, she would intervene to support her.
"Arresto Momentum," Snape used a deceleration spell, which was more useful at this moment than the Levitation spell. The spell greatly reduced Harry's falling speed, and he finally hit the ground at an acceptable speed, sinking into the mud without even breaking his glasses.
After completing all of this, Snape put away his wand and averted his gaze from Harry, but he was surprised to see that the Dementors were still circling above the field and some were even descending, seemingly with the intention to feed near the stands.
"What is Minerva doing?" Snape was surprised and angered. "Why are you just standing there, Minerva?" he shouted in his mind.
He had thought that while he caught Harry, Minerva would summon her Patronus to drive the Dementors out of Hogwarts, but he didn't know what had happened to her, and she hadn't summoned the Patronus yet.
He knew that at this critical moment, it should be him who summoned his Patronus, but he really didn't want to reveal his Patronus's form in front of everyone.
He was sure that Minerva knew Lily's Patronus form. If he summoned a Patronus identical to Lily's, how could he face Minerva in the future?
Hesitating like this, it seemed like he was leaving everything hanging. Seeing Professor Snape standing still in front of the stands, many Slytherin wizards felt instant respect.
"Why doesn't the professor use the Patronus Charm to drive away the Dementors?" asked a naive young wizard to his older companions around him, but no one answered him. Not even Malfoy, who was next to him and always took any opportunity to boast about his pure-blood lineage, responded to his question.
Because the people who could answer that question wouldn't reveal the answer in public: those who had been corrupted by the Dark Arts and had lost the power to summon a Patronus couldn't do it. That is, if Professor Snape couldn't summon a Patronus, it basically meant that he had been a staunch supporter of the Death Eaters in the past.
How could the understanding young Slytherin wizards expose their Head of House in public?
As Snape watched the Dementors approaching closer and closer, he took a deep breath and knew he couldn't delay any longer. Just as his wand was sliding into his palm, he saw a bright silver flash in the Ravenclaw stands next to him.
Snape could clearly see that Hermione Granger was summoning her Patronus. Not only her, but Tom Yodel, flying on his broom, was also summoning his Patronus.
"That know-it-all young lady is still reliable." The ice on his face melted for a moment.
"Expecto Patronum!"
"Expecto Patronum!"
Two dazzling silver lights ignited on Hogwarts Quidditch field, the white light dispelling the darkness that the Dementors had brought, and the chill of the young wizards disappeared like dew under the sun.
The young wizards who had previously been in chaos calmed down and stopped in their tracks, looking up at the sky, observing those two silver lights.
"Woof, woof, woof!"
A miniature three-headed dog emerged from Hermione's wand tip, quickly wagging its tail. Instead of running and attacking the Dementors immediately, it hovered in the air, waiting for something.
Soon, everyone knew what it was waiting for.
Something strange happened with Tom.
Previously, Tom's Patronus Charm could only summon mist, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't summon a Patronus with a defined shape. But today things changed.
The mist he summoned seemed to boil and churn. In the end, the main body of the mist transformed into a dog, while the two smaller residual masses on the sides formed two smaller dog heads, attached to the body of the dog. The silver mist swirled and eventually formed a three-headed dog identical to Hermione's Patronus.
Was Tom's Patronus also a three-headed dog? Hermione's eyes widened as she saw the two three-headed dogs standing side by side.
Once they were close to each other, they began to emit silver vapor, and with the vapor rising, their bodies began to shrink slowly, like dry ice evaporating.
Their vapors intertwined and formed a huge silver whirlwind in the stands, illuminating the entire field as if it were daytime, looking like a round cauldron filled with boiling water. The whirlwind seemed to breathe, expanding and contracting gradually, solidifying, and finally turning into a dazzling radiance.
The gazes of everyone present were drawn to this amazing phenomenon. The whirlwind seemed to have the power to purify their souls, and negative emotions of unease, anxiety, and fear faded away like retreating waves, making the world around them colorful once more.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
0 Power
stone 
Paragraph comment