Chapter 141: Harry's Effort

Following the Christmas holiday, the appointed hour had arrived for Sherlock to recommence his tutoring sessions with Harry. Upon Harry's arrival at Sherlock's office that particular evening, his countenance bore the unmistakable markings of disquiet. The source of his vexation stemmed from Hermione's perceived transgression, wherein she had revealed the enigmatic origins of Harry's Christmas gift to none other than Professor McGonagall. This regrettable disclosure had prompted the stern professor to confiscate Harry's brand new Firebolt, a gift from an anonymous sender. Harry, although aware of Hermione's well-intentioned motives, found himself ensnared in a maelstrom of indignation. Sherlock astutely discerned the shadow that had fallen upon Harry's demeanor, and he discreetly rapped his wand upon the table as a signal to commence their session.

"I'd advise you to brighten your spirits a bit. You see, I've arranged for a special guest, a true gentleman, to join you as your practice partner for today."

Harry was immediately intrigued by Sherlock's words. "Who is it? Professor Lupin?"

"How could Professor Lupin serve as your practice partner for the Patronus Charm?" Sherlock shrugged. Instead of continuing to tease Harry, he gently waved his wand at the cabinet in the corner of the room. The silver thread that was tied to it instantly disappeared, and a creature wrapped in an old rotten robe, tumbled out. Harry was initially stunned when he saw this thing. However, when he carefully observed the creature lying on the ground, he realized it was a living Dementor! Upon recognizing its species, Harry instinctively took a step back and exclaimed, "Professor, is this the practice partner you were talking about?"

The Dementor, which had been tormented by Sherlock for the past few days, wriggled on the ground for a while before slowly floating up in a dazed manner. It was unkillable and had an extremely powerful self-healing ability. Even without feeding, it would slowly regain its strength. Of course, if it had sufficient food, it would recover even faster.

Upon hearing Harry's question, Sherlock nodded and said, "I invited this dear gentleman to my office a while ago. Not only did he generously agree, but he also politely offered to repay me. So, I asked it to help me with a small favor by acting as your practice partner."

Hearing Sherlock's words, Harry couldn't help but show a skeptical expression. Over the past few days, he had learned a lot about Dementors and knew that they couldn't communicate under normal circumstances, let alone come over for a visit and even offer repayment. This definitely must have been Sherlock directly capturing it and forcing it do whatever he willed.

While they were talking, the Dementor had already partially regained its energy. It sensed that in addition to the usual demonic being there now was another presence in the room, a delicious and tender source of happiness and hope. Of course it dared not provoke the evil demon, but greedily wanted to absorb the fragrant happiness and hope emanating from Harry.

At the same time, Harry felt an icy sensation throughout his body, and his mother's plea before she died echoed in his ears. The Dementor floated over from the side of the cabinet, with a hazy, translucent veil-like substance connecting it to Harry. Sherlock did not intend to stop the Dementor from absorbing Harry's positive emotions, but instead shouted loudly, awakening Harry whose gaze had become scattered.

"Use the Patronus Charm I taught you!"

In an instant, Harry snapped out of his dazed state. However, he still felt that chilling sensation deep down, causing his whole body to tremble uncontrollably. Clenching his teeth, he raised his own wand and aimed it at the Dementor, which was slowly drifting towards him, waving his arm and casting the spell.

"Expecto Patronum!"

But no strands of light emerged from his wand and the Dementor was unaffected, instead floating even closer towards Harry! Just then, a silver thread suddenly bound it, and as the thread retracted, it pulled the Dementor back into the cabinet, which was then closed again. Harry's hollow eyes regained their luster and he gasped for breath, as if he had just come back from the brink of death. Sherlock put down his wand and handed him a cup of hot cocoa that he had already prepared in advance. Harry tremblingly took the cup, apologizing, "I'm sorry, Professor. As soon as I saw it, I heard my mother's voice again.. I just can't seem to concentrate and cast the Patronus Charm."

Sherlock had anticipated this. Using the Patronus Charm under normal practice conditions felt completely different from using it against a real Dementor. The despair exuded by the Dementor was enough to deter wizards, preventing them from recalling any hint of happiness and rendering the spells they might normally have been able to use ineffective at critical moments.

However, under the immense pressure of facing a Dementor, it was easier to unleash a wizard's potential, making learning and using the Patronus Charm easier once they overcame the influence of the Dementor itself. Sherlock comforted Harry, saying, "You have to endure much more fear than others when facing a Dementor. However, this emotion can also become your motivation, Harry. Don't dwell on the desperation of your mother's pleas, but think about the courage and strength she showed when trying to protect you. She shouldn't be an obstacle to your learning of the Patronus Charm, but rather your motivation."

Harry held the cup of hot cocoa and listened to Sherlock's words, his gaze gradually becoming more determined. After resting in the chair for a while, he stood up and said, "I want to try again, Professor."

Sherlock naturally complied with his request. He waved his wand once again, the cabinet door opened again, and the Dementor was released from its restraints, slowly drifting out of the cabinet. But this time, it shrank to the side and didn't dare to approach. Just because its thinking was simple didn't mean the Dementor was a fool. It knew very well that the tempting food was just a bait!

It could only watch as it was about to consume its juicy happiness when it would be locked back in the cabinet by that devil. So this time, it wasn't going to fall for it again. Sherlock raised an eyebrow at its uncooperative behavior and a silver thread shot out from the tip of his wand, directly trapping it in front of Harry. But even so, the Dementor still didn't cooperate. It restrained its desires, refusing to display any aggressive posture, only emanating the uncontrollable coldness. Faced with this nonviolent and uncooperative attitude, Sherlock didn't indulge it and tightened the threads binding it, threatening, "You better cooperate. I'll let you go when my student learns the spell. But if you don't cooperate, once the experiment is over, I'll sell you to the sleaziest wizard I can find on the black market!"

The Dementor seemed to understand his words, trembling all over, and reluctantly showed its readiness to feed towards Harry again.

Harry saw Sherlock bullying the Dementor like that, and couldn't help but feel sorry for it. His fear of it wasn't as strong anymore. The bone-chilling cold returned, but this time Harry tightly gripped his wand. As the Dementor started to suck out the positive emotions from his body, he heard his mother's voice again in his mind. He didn't tremble this time, but instead stood firm and confidently waved his wand. "Expecto Patronum!"

The pronunciation of the incantation perfectly matched the tone Sherlock had taught him, without a single mistake. In the next moment, the tip of his wand suddenly emitted a huge silver shadow, which hovered between him and the Dementor. Despite feeling weak in his legs, Harry managed to stand on his own, even though he didn't know how much longer he could stand. And at the same time that Harry's Patronus charm took effect, the Dementor skillfully dodged and finally retreated into the wooden cabinet where it was usually kept. Seeing that Harry had taken a huge step towards success, Sherlock praised him without reservation and clapped his hands. "Well done, Harry! I didn't expect you to make such rapid progress under pressure, I should've done this right off the bat."

This was indeed beyond Sherlock's expectations. He originally thought it would take Harry some time before he could conjure a Patronus, but he didn't expect him to be so effective under the pressure of facing the Dementor, allowing Harry to achieve this step already. He took out a piece of chocolate from a drawer and handed it to Harry. "Here, eat some. You've done very well. The rest is just long-term practice, getting familiar with that feeling."

But Harry didn't appear too excited. "I still couldn't summon a corporal Patronus like you, Professor."

Sherlock chuckled. "Don't be too hard on yourself. Do you know how long it took me to fully master the Patronus charm?"

Harry looked at him puzzled, and Sherlock held up a finger. "One year. It took me one whole year to completely master this spell. If you can use it within a month of learning, doesn't that show that my talent is really lousy?"

Harry said dejectedly, "You definitely didn't have anyone teaching you or a Dementor to practice with."

Sherlock shrugged. "Even if you take that into account, Harry, you're truly gifted.You don't seem to realize it, but with persistent effort you could become an exceptionally powerful wizard."

Harry surveyed the three rows of bookshelves in Sherlock's office and could sense that he was doing exactly what Sherlock was talking about. "I will work hard, Professor!"

"Work hard again next week. It's already late now, and you're tired. Go back and get some rest."

In the darkness of night, Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room. He didn't tell Sherlock about his discovery regarding Black. These days, he hadn't mentioned it again to anyone, and Hermione and Ron thought he had forgotten about it. But in reality, he kept it firmly in his heart, yet could only keep it to himself, as no one seemed to understand how he felt. After the Christmas holiday, the students returned to the castle, and Hogwarts became lively once again. With the start of the second half of the school year, fifth and seventh year students entered the final sprint before their level exams.

Sherlock developed a structured study plan for them, ensuring that they didn't waste a single day. Even the usually mischievous Fred and George were now working hard, not because they had suddenly developed a conscience and wanted to achieve good grades, but because the studying atmosphere around them had changed.

When all the fifth-year students were focused on their studies, no one appreciated their pranks or cheered for their creativity. Without even realizing it, Fred and George had joined the ranks of everyone else. In their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Sherlock handed out sheets of parchment that were nearly half a person tall using the levitation spell.

"In the past, there was barely any practice material for the theoretical exams. This here is what I compiled and wrote last year, with some additions this year. There are a total of seventeen papers, which include every type of question seen in previous exams. If you master these questions, getting a perfect score on the theory exam will be a simple task."

"I have bound them into booklets, which I will distribute to you later. You are expected to complete one page per week throughout this term. In class, I will go through them one by one at the end of each week. We should be able to finish discussing all the papers by April, after which we will focus on intensive revision and practice for the practical exams."

"The practical exams in the Ordinary Wizarding Level are actually the easiest to score. The Ministry of Magic will not choose highly dangerous Dark magical creatures for you to face. The highest level of danger you could face will be something like Triple X. And the weaknesses of these magical creatures, as well as the methods to deal with them, are of course things we have tirelessly discussed countless times."

The students below listened attentively. The fifth-year Wizarding Level exams could be considered the most important exams in their magical careers. These exams were equivalent to their basic qualifications in the magical world, and they only had this one chance to do well. The final exams in the seventh year, on the other hand, were more like advanced exams, where the importance was not as great as the Ordinary Wizarding Level exams. Sherlock waved his wand, distributing the papers to each student and began today's class. "I hope that during the break, you haven't forgotten everything I taught you last term. Let's start with the Shield Charm. Can anyone tell me the incantation for its advanced usage?"

Quickly, the students below raised their hands. Sherlock randomly pointed to one boy. "The incantation is Protego Totalum, Professor."

"Can you tell me what changes occur in the Shield Charm's effectiveness after the use of the advanced incantation?"

It was clear that the boy had a deep understanding of this topic, and he answered without hesitation. "The Shield Charm expands its protective range and provides full protection to the caster, without any blind spots. However, this charm needs to be cast in advance by the wizard in order to be effective, otherwise, there may be gaps in the protection."

"A perfect answer, 5 points to Ravenclaw!"