Chapter 141 "Christmas Day"

The fire in the office kept waving. However, after Sherlock lifted the spell on the Dementor he had brought over and took off the sack, the gloomy coldness that permeated the whole room swept through the room.

A bone-chilling cold emanated from the Dementor, and its face took in hope and happiness from Sherlock, who was close at hand. Sherlock didn't care about it. Compared with the Fiddlesticks, the despair spread by the Dementors was nothing.

He waved his wand and tightened the silver strands that bound the Dementor again. It can be clearly seen that the Dementors are in pain, and the things released by the Patronus are the natural enemies of these creatures.

Although the original Sherlock was not proficient in the Patronus Charm, during his research in Azkaban, he specially used the Patronus Charm without a specific representation to conduct experiments on Dementors.

Dementors like human beings' positive emotions the most. They eat human positive emotions while gaining feedback from fear.

The Dementors are not just simply sucking hope and happiness. After sucking these emotions away, the person who is sucked will show fear and despair to satisfy them.

The reason why the Patronus Charm is the natural enemy for Dementors is that those silver strands of light contain positive emotions of hope and happiness, and the summoned Patronus is a creature condensed from positive emotions.

The Patronus will only have positive emotions but will not produce fear. So the Dementor has no way to do any harm to it and will be expelled by this strong positive emotion.

As the most evil creature in the world, Dementors cannot be killed. Since the discovery of this creature, there has never been a case of a Dementor's death. Even the most powerful Patronus Charm can only drive them away or reduce their power.

Of course, these are the experiences summed up by the predecessors. Sherlock intends to try it himself today to see if it is accurate. He aimed at the Dementor and summoned the Patronus, and the silver bird fluttered its wings and hovered above the Dementor.

The Dementor clearly showed a restless expression. It seemed to be escaping from here, but it was tightly bound in place by the silver strand, unable to move at all. Under Sherlock's control, the crow Patronus finally fell on the Dementor's head.

The Dementor seemed to be in extreme pain, and gray smoke was constantly coming out of it. In a few minutes, it became extremely weak and collapsed to the ground. But there was nothing after that. The Dementor fell softly to the ground, Sherlock's Patronus stood above its head, and the gray smoke gradually stopped coming out.

At best, Dementors act as if they have lost the vast majority of their powers. Normal magic spells, even Killing Curse, are ineffective against them. Physical attacks won't even scratch these creatures. The only thing that can affect them is the Patronus Charm.

Having verified these things, Sherlock can understand why the Ministry of Magic finally cooperated with these creatures. Dementors must be human beings' mortal enemies. But this kind of creature cannot be killed, and normal means can't harm it.

Magic like the Patronus Charm is among the most difficult defensive spells, and very few wizards can use it. If hordes of Dementors are roaming around, wizards simply don't have enough power to drive them out.

The best way is to gather them together and give them enough "food" to appease them so that they don't make trouble in crowded places. The best solution is to turn Azkaban into a prison and send those convicted wizards in to feed the dementors.

The Dementor doesn't care who was the person they were eating. As long that person provides them with enough food, they will listen.

Sherlock smacked his lips when he saw the Dementor lying on the ground. At first, he thought that this kind of creature might be completely drained out, but now it seems that it wasn't the case.

After hiding the Dementor in the cabinet and blocking it with the strands of the Patronus Charm, Sherlock clapped his hands and went to the Hall to help Professor Flitwick decorate tomorrow's Christmas decorations. 

The Dementor is still useful. He can't let it go back to it for the time being.

On Christmas Day the next day, Sherlock woke up early and found a small pile of gifts on the head of his bed. He stared at the gifts for a while, thinking about what he received last year. It seemed that he had more gifts than before.

Of course, Sherlock sent many gifts, unlike last year, when he only sent Dumbledore a Christmas card. However, he did not write Christmas greetings on the gifts he gave.

Because a week ago, Harry happened to be in the office preparing gifts. When he saw Sherlock writing the cards for Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and others, his face turned pale with fright.

Harry told him that he would do it for him to write these cards for him. Sherlock doesn't agree with him at first, but seeing Harry's appearance and that he is about to cry, he finally gives in and lets Harry write the greeting card on the gift instead of him.

When Harry wrote the greeting card on Sherlock's desk, he was extremely happy and proud in his heart. He felt like a hero, saving Mr. Weasley, who would have been jinxed at Christmas.

The first thing he does when he wakes up at Christmas is open his presents. Professor McGonagall gives him some knitted hats, but this time, they are black. Mrs. Weasley sends him a pair of sweater pants, and Kingsley sends him a file of an ancient defense magic book.

Others include a complete wand care kit from Fleur and a brand-new quill from Silk. Sherlock was quite surprised to receive a gift from Silk. He never thought that with her character, she would give gifts at Christmas.

So did Fleur. He didn't expect that half a year had passed and she still remembered him. The most important thing is that he did not prepare gifts for the two of them.

This embarrassed Sherlock. But Christmas has already begun, so he has no way to make up for such a mistake. He can only wait until the next Christmas to make up for it again.

After unpacking the gifts, Sherlock went to the Hall for breakfast. He also helped Professor Flitwick arrange some ribbons for the Hall that had not been arranged yesterday. 

In the morning, he did not go back to the office but chatted with Professor McGonagall in the teachers' lounge about some things.

The Christmas atmosphere in this year's castle is much emptier than last year because very few students are staying in the school, and only a few professors have settled in.

But the atmosphere was still lively. The joy of Christmas made Harry forget about Black for a while, and this morning, he received a new type of broom, "Firebolt," as a Christmas gift from someone who didn't know who it was.

At the dining table, Dumbledore nudged Snape to open his gift. Snape reluctantly opened it, and a large wizard hat popped out and fell on his head. He pulled it away and pushed the hat to Dumbledore, who immediately put it on his head happily.

There was one less person at the table today, Lupin.

Professor Trelawney found out about it, and Dumbledore used the excuse that he was sick again to cover it up. These few days happened to be the day when the full moon appeared in December. Lupin should have drank the Wolfsbane Potion that Snape prepared for him.

At the end of the Christmas dinner, Sherlock returned to his office to continue performing a series of magical experiments on the Dementor.

When night fell, and the moonlight shone through the glass, he put the Dementor he had tortured back into the cupboard and took out the locket around his neck. 

He found that it seemed a little more pristine than before. The change in this locket is insignificant, but after so many days, it can be clearly seen that it is somewhat different from when it was first found.

Although the whole is still dark gold, the rust-like spots on the surface have disappeared, as if it has been repaired. Such a change is enough to confirm Dumbledore's words.

This locket is slowly repairing itself. What will happen when it is repaired is still unknown. Sherlock hoped that it would best be like Dumbledore said: when it can be opened, it can be taken off his neck.

Judging from its current speed, it is estimated that it will not take long.