Hogwarts: Even Voldemort Can't Stop Me From Studying

The room felt unusually cold as Vid slowly exhaled, forming a mist of white vapor in front of his face.

Mabel found it amusing and mimicked him, exhaling a long breath before breaking into a smile.

A white eagle perched on Vid’s shoulder, emitting a gentle, faint white light, allowing them to feel only a subtle chill without succumbing to the emotions of despair and sadness.

The other people in the room didn’t enjoy the same treatment as a silhouette radiating a terrifying, cold aura glided forward, reaching out a decayed and shriveled hand...

At that moment, it was Michael’s turn to deal with the ”Dementor.” He stood in the center of the living room, raised his wand, and muttered through chattering teeth, ”Expecto... Expecto... Expecto Patronum... Expecto Patronum...”

From the tip of his wand sputtered intermittent wisps of silvery mist that never fully formed, leaving no way to block the Dementor.

The Dementor’s hand was about to touch Michael when Theo grabbed his shoulder, pulling him behind the sofa. Leian jumped out in front of Michael, yelling, ”Expecto Patronum!”

A misty silver shadow shot out from the tip of the wand, barely holding off the Dementor as it retreated two steps.

A few seconds later, the shadow disappeared. Then Theo stepped forward, casting a malformed Patronus charm.

He persisted for a while before almost collapsing in trembling exhaustion, at which point Michael rushed forward again.

Using the Patronus Charm to ward off Dementors isn’t easy—even if this Dementor is a Boggart version, the pressure and despair it brings remain undiminished.

Moreover, using such a high-level spell is a test of both magical power and physical endurance for young wizards whose magic levels and understanding of spells are not up to par.

The group was drenched in sweat, their bodies soaked, trembling all over. Lupin strode over and said, ”That’s enough. You need to rest for a while... Hilarious hilarious!”

With a loud snap, the Dementor turned into a chew toy, which Lupin tossed back into the box, and the Guardian God on Vid’s shoulder disappeared as well.

Michael instantly lost all his strength and lay down, panting, saying dejectedly, ”How did this happen? I can definitely summon a Patronus usually.”

”This spell is too advanced, taking your time is normal.” Harry pulled him up, consoling him, ”Remember back on the train? I didn’t succeed then and even fainted.”

”But now you can handle that guy completely...” Michael said, ”So I need more practice!”

Everyone couldn’t help but laugh at Michael’s unexpected determination given his reputation for slackness.

”Don’t rush, you’ve already done very well.” Lupin handed out chocolate to the group, saying, ”Focus on thinking happy thoughts and don’t get caught up in terrifying memories.”

He gently advised everyone on how to maintain a more stable mindset. Harry joined Vid and Mabel just as Mabel was asking, ”What were you all laughing about just now?”

”Even the guy who loves to slack suddenly got diligent.” Vid said lazily, ”Feels like the sun rose from the west.”

Confused, Mabel let out an ”Oh,” not understanding the humor, then asked with concern, ”Is Mr. Magic Cube and the others okay? I kind of miss them.”

”Mr. Magic Cube?” Harry repeated the strange name, looking puzzled at the girl supposedly a distant relative of Lupin.

Mabel had taken Polyjuice Potion, and in the eyes of Harry and others in Hogsmeade, she appeared as an ordinary girl with freckled cheeks and braided hair from the United States, temporarily away from school due to health reasons, staying at Lupin’s place.

As for the health reasons, Harry and his friends considerately didn’t ask but seemed to regard Mabel as a werewolf like Lupin from their expressions.

”Mr. Magic Cube is Vid’s poppet.” Mabel chuckled, ”And there are others; they’re all very interesting.”

She didn’t elaborate on the poppets’ ventures over a thousand miles to rescue their master without orders, leaving Harry imagining various fist-sized poppet pets.

Having poppets around Vid was normal for Harry, who turned his attention to ask, ”Where’s Carrel? Didn’t he come along with you?”

”No, he’s got other things.” Vid didn’t want to recount the bothersome process, asking, ”Have you been practicing spells this intensely recently?”

”Next time we meet the enemy, we mustn’t be as useless as before, right?” Harry said, his tone a bit heavy, ”I don’t want to faint again.”

Vid remembered the crises Harry would face a year later in the original story, nodding, ”It’s good to practice more. This world is becoming increasingly dangerous.”

”Indeed,” Harry remarked, ”Dementors, Obscurus, Witch Pure Party, and Death Eaters like Malfoy’s father who escaped consequences... Percy said that in previous years while they were at school, the Magic World was peaceful, and the biggest news was about another mishap with the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor...”

—And the resurrection of Voldemort.

Vid flashed on this thought before hearing Harry’s last words, saying with resignation, ”Ever since we started school, trouble keeps cropping up; in a novel, this would be called the protagonist treatment.”