Lupin, who was facing the Dementor, heard another harsh cat howl behind him and, fearing that Fish had attacked the Dementor without knowing what he was doing, raised his wand to use the Patronus Charm.
No sooner had he raised his hand than he felt something hit him in the back, and Lupin, already weak, staggered and advanced towards the Dementor.
Fortunately, he turned his body in time, stumbled two steps to the left, hit his head against the sliding compartment door, and then sat down on the floor.
Lupin, who fell to the floor, ignored the pain in his body and didn't even have time to stand up. He simply sat on the floor and backed up on hands and feet, away from the Dementor in the doorway.
After a quick retreat, Lupin found that the Dementor was not focused on him and, at the same time, a blast of hot air hit the back of his neck, sending shivers down his spine.
The tiger-spotted cat behind him had disappeared and had been replaced by a huge white tiger, with a tiger's head hanging just behind him, very close.
The warm air now was the tiger's breath.
"Puff..."
Another hot breath hit Lupin's stunned face, making him shiver, and then Lupin rolled and fled to the side again.
As the distance shortened, Lupin could see more clearly that it was an imposing white tiger over two meters long.
Unlike the grayish color of the silver tabby cat's fur, the color of the white tiger's fur is black and white and exudes an impressive sense of oppression.
As he watched, Lupin tensed unconsciously, the white tiger in front of him was like a... superior or his natural enemy, making him want to flee, and even the Dementor's influence weakened.
The white tiger, however, paid no attention to Lupin, its eyes stared at the Dementor in the doorway, fierce glares in its green eyes.
Lupin shook his head, repressed the idea of running away and looked at the white tiger facing the dementor with a confused expression....
The whole thing unfolded too quickly, which made his head a bit unable to grasp the matter.
After being stunned for a while, Lupin roughly guessed what was going on with the white tiger.... In fact, it couldn't be anyone else except Fish.
It's just that guessing is guessing, whether he accepts it or not is another matter....
Although the silver cat and the white tiger are somewhat similar in some ways....
But cats and tigers are totally different concepts.
Is a natural Animagus such an amazing being?
Lupin thought he had seen a lot, but he was still amazed at the transformation of turning from a cat into a Fish tiger.
After finally calming down from the shock he received, Lupin didn't speak rashly, because Fish's current situation was obviously a bit off, which reminded Lupin of his state when he turned into a wolf.
Considering the presence of Harry and the others, Lupin tightened his grip on his wand, not daring to let go.
After a few moments of facing the Dementor, the white tiger Fish had transformed into made a new move.
The limbs, which had been slightly flexed, suddenly straightened, the chest rose, the hair around the head bristled, and at the same time Fish threw his head back, opened his bloody mouth and let out a roar like thunder.
"Roar~!!!"
The roar was so loud that it made the windows of the train shake slightly, and Lupin's face went pale as an uncontrollable sense of fear gripped him, and his already tense body tensed to the point where he didn't dare move a muscle.
The already timid Neville was sweating profusely, his face was pale and his lips bloodless, and he looked as if he would faint at any moment.
But at that moment Fish paid no attention to them,
The white tiger ducked slightly before pouncing on the dementor outside the door, its huge paws hissing with a red glow as it slapped at the dementor.
The narrow frame of the compartment door was broken by the sliding door.
The Dementor was hit by Fish let out a bloodcurdling, piercing scream and crashed into the corridor wall, but due to the ghostly nature of the Dementor's body, it hit the wall lightly and did not fall.
However, its black cloak had been torn by Fish's claws, revealing a grayish-white body that looked like rotting flesh, and there were four marks from Fish's claws on it.
The flesh wounds caused by the claws were twisted, but there was no blood, only a viscous, pus-like liquid and a faint puff of black gas.
The wounded dementor emitted a series of rapid, strange tones, apparently in anger, but was answered by a tigerish roar from Fish.
"Roar~!!!"
Fish let out another roar, his sharp claws scored the floor, his body lowered once more in a lunge.
The dementor seemed frightened by Fish and lunged straight for the hallway window.
The dementor, though seemingly large, was actually very "slender," or rather, slinky, so it passed through the window without difficulty, as if it were a cloud of black ink, "flowing" through the small window, and soon disappeared into the dark, rainy night.
"Boom!"
Fish, who wanted to chase after him, broke the window, but the small window was not big enough to get out, and the enchanted metal casing of the Hogwarts Express was not as easy to break as the wooden sliding door of the compartment.
"Roar~!!!"
Seeing his prey moving away, the furious Fish hit the walls of the corridor with several times, leaving craters and claw marks, and his whip-like steel tail lashed, striking the already broken sliding door and sending splinters of wood flying.
Fish, unable to destroy the carriage, scratched the floor with his claws in irritation, scraping the train floor and carpet to pieces, then turned his head and looked at everyone in the compartment.
"Desmaius!"
"Petrificus Totalus!"
"Incarcerous!"
Lupin, who had been waiting for the battle, pointed his wand at Fish and fired several spells.
But the spells hit Fish's body, only to make him shake his head in annoyance, and then get even angrier.
"Roar~!!!"
Feeling provoked, Fish immediately changed his target and ran towards Lupin.
"Impedimenta!"
"Protego!"
"Protego Totalum!"
Lupin's face changed slightly and he quickly used several defensive spells, judging from the brief encounter he had just had with Fish, he was still a very competent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
Unfortunately, Fish, in his white tiger form, had already exaggerated his power to a level far beyond that of ordinary magical creatures, and Lupin's defensive spells were almost instantly destroyed in the face of his bright red tiger claws.
"Boom!"
The huge tiger claw slammed into Lupin's body, and his slender body was thrown off by Fish's slap, crashing into the compartment's luggage rack and fainting.
Seeing that Fish wanted to continue attacking Lupin, Hermione, who was also paralyzed with fear before, didn't know where the courage came from at that moment, and suddenly ran in front of Fish and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"No, Fish, stop!"
Hermione was trembling as she held the white tiger's head, suppressing her fear and softly saying, "It's okay, it's okay now..."
Fish turned his gaze back to Hermione, and his body stiffened for a moment as his heavy, hot, wet breath hit her face, but soon he was back to stroking the fur on Fish's neck and rubbing his cheek against Fish's head, his voice, which had been trembling a little, gradually calming down.
"There, Fish, the bad man is gone, Professor Lupin is not a bad man..."
As Hermione reassured him, the fur around the white tiger's head gradually retracted, the fierce green eyes calmed down, and the huge body quickly shrunk back to its human form with cat ears and tail.
"Hey... it's Hermione..."
Fish gave Hermione a goofy grin and then moved his head towards her face, as if he wanted to rub up against her.
As a result, as soon as his body leaned forward a little, he felt his whole body relax. Immediately after. Fish's eyes closed and he fell directly into Hermione's arms.