Chapter 185: Comforting

When the crowd was cheering, the anxious members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team surrounded Harry.

"Don't worry about Harry, it's just that the Dementor was too close to him this time, so he was affected more," said Arthur, and George and Fred nodded in agreement.

After hearing Arthur's explanation, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Arthur glanced at the Slytherin seats and saw Snape wearing a raincoat, standing there and holding his wand tightly.

If Arthur hadn't intervened, Snape would probably have been the one to save Harry, right?

Snape also noticed Arthur's gaze, and they locked eyes for a few seconds before Snape turned and left the pitch.

Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall rushed to the scene from the castle.

Since Dumbledore wasn't at the school, Professor McGonagall had taken on more work than she could handle.

This meant that she didn't even have time to watch Quidditch, which she loved.

After the students explained to her what happened, an angry Professor McGonagall led several Heads of Houses and stormed into the Forbidden Forest to confront the Dementors.

Watching the occasional silver light coming from the Forbidden Forest, Arthur could tell that the Heads of Houses and the Dementors seemed to be having a "pleasant" conversation.

The next day, Harry appeared at the Gryffindor table, but his face was still pale. At this moment, Harry looked somewhat sad.

Just like in the original story, his broomstick had flown into the Whomping Willow and was torn to pieces by the angry tree.

Yesterday's incident with the Dementor invading Hogwarts made it to the front page of the Daily Prophet, and Fudge was criticized for not doing enough to control them.

"We cannot know if, one day, the Dementors will force their way into each of our homes."

"We hope that Fudge can come forward and show that the Dementors are still under the control of the Ministry of Magic."

It was a heartless article, and Arthur looked at the author's name.

Rita Skeeter.

Wasn't she the reporter who appeared during the Triwizard Tournament?

Arthur looked at the familiar name and tried to recall some memories he had of it.

Cho boasted, "My mom said that the Ministry was almost buried in howlers yesterday, and they had to clear out a room just to dispose of them."

Cho successfully caught the Golden Snitch in yesterday's match, but she wasn't satisfied with this kind of victory.

She wanted to beat Gryffindor on her own, without help from outside.

Professor McGonagall refused Cho's request for a rematch but praised her greatly.

This won her favor from many of the little lions and eased the disappointment of losing the match.

In the end, Fudge publicly apologized and brought closure to the matter. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Fudge fulfilled his promise to compensate Arthur.

Cho's parents were promoted and currently hold positions at the Floo Network Authority of the Department of Magical Transportation.

As for Luna, Fudge arranged for the Ministry to subscribe to "The Quibbler" for ten years as compensation.

Fudge was quite skilled at winning people over, and even Cho's view of him improved after learning about her parents' promotion.

As for Harry, Fudge also gave him a Nimbus 2000, but Harry refused it and passed it on to Wood.

He would rather ride a Cleansweep Seven to the match than use another Nimbus 2000.

Harry was extremely frustrated by his passing out once again, which made him even more determined to learn the Patronus Charm.

But as the saying goes, the more you hurry, the slower you go.

As Christmas approached, Harry still hadn't made any progress.

With the interference of the Dementors, all he could conjure were weak wisps of white mist.

"Harry, I suggest you put aside your Patronus charm studies for now,"

Arthur rubbed his forehead; he didn't expect this process to be so difficult. As expected, was Harry cheating in the original story?

Arthur had just spent the whole morning teaching one-on-one with Harry, but unfortunately, there was still no progress.

Hermione was nearby and barely stayed awake while listening to Harry recite spells.

"Why? I feel like I'm about to succeed."

Harry said this anxiously when hearing Arthur's suggestion, thinking that Arthur was giving up on him.

Arthur pressed his hands down, first calming Harry down before speaking, "My suggestion is that you should learn another spell first: Occlumency."

"Occlumency?"

Harry, who didn't do well in school, looked confused, and Hermione answered for him.

"The Occlumency spell is a magic spell that shields the mind from outside mental intrusion. Arthur is suggesting you learn it to resist the influence of the Dementors."

Hermione explained. Arthur nodded and patted the young witch's head to encourage her.

Harry didn't pay attention to the couple's affection. While he was excited to learn such an incredible spell, he had no idea there was a spell like that.

Arthur made a copy of the Occlumency textbook for Harry and instructed him to train during the Christmas break.

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere during the Christmas holidays. I'll focus on learning Occlumency,"

Harry promised earnestly, but he was a little sad.

"Even Ron and the others aren't staying at school this year. It seems like I'm the only student left here for Christmas," he said with a tinge of frustration.

Due to the Dementors, many students didn't want to spend their Christmas holiday at Hogwarts.

Even the Weasley family was the same. In previous years, the Weasley brothers would stay at school until the summer break.

But Harry couldn't go back to the Dursleys, or rather, everyone believed that staying at Hogwarts was the safest option for Harry so that Sirius wouldn't have a chance to attack.

Of course, he himself didn't want to go back to that horrible place.

Seeing Harry feeling a bit down, Arthur hurriedly comforted him, saying, "Cheer up, Harry. You won't be alone. You have a group of Dementors to keep you company outside of school."

Both Harry and Hermione's mouths twitched.

Did anyone say something like that to comfort me?

But after Arthur's interruption, Harry felt like his feelings were all over the place.

Perhaps this was Arthur's unique way of comforting?

...

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