Chapter 75: First Encounter with Dementors

Ivan ran back to his room at full speed, he made sure to be careful with his Animagus form from now on, he mustn't let Hermione find out it was him or all that awaited him would be death.

There was a fight going on in the next room, Percy had lost his prefect badge and suspected Ron had hidden it, the two were arguing. In fact, Ivan saw on his way up the stairs that Fred and George had taken Percy's badge and changed the wording on it to Headsman.

He turned and looked up at the dimly lit ceiling, his thoughts soon drifting further and further away.

The next morning, Ivan woke up and went down to breakfast, everyone else was already awake.

Mr. Weasley was there reading 'The Prophet' newspaper as he frowned and Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were talking.

Ivan made his way to his seat and sat down, turning his head sharply and acted as if he didn't know anything when he heard Hermione next to him talking to old Tom about the cat.

To his left, Ron was grumbling to Harry about Percy with an annoyed look on his face.

"The sooner we get on the train, the better! At least at Hogwarts, I don't have to be around Percy all the time," Ron said, "He was accusing me of throwing tea on a picture of his girlfriend, Penelope."

Harry tried to persuade Ron to calm down while Fred and George, who sat across from them, were delighted, laughed and congratulated Ron on successfully pissing Percy off.

Their laughter further infuriated Percy, who glared at them angrily, then quickly ate his breakfast and removed his belongings from the bar.

Then there was chaos, everyone ran to the Ministry car. Ivan saw Mr. Weasley call Harry around the corner, and after a minute, Harry came out with a pale face.

Hermione was still looking for the black cat from last night, and Ivan hurried to help her with her luggage, Crookshanks was in a wicker basket, purring noisily.

Hearing this, Ron unconsciously held Scabbers tightly.

The journey to king's cross was uneventful and they arrived at the station twenty minutes before the train was due to depart. The Ministry conductor helped them find a trolley to push their luggage.

Everyone walked through the wall to platform nine and three quarters, this was Ivan's first time here, he was curious to see what it looked like. The platform was full of children, on the platform was an old-fashioned scarlet steam locomotive.

It gave him the feeling of having been transported back in time to the great age of steam.

They boarded the train, passing through the crowded carriages, until they reached a carriage that looked empty, where Mr. Weasley helped them place their suitcases.

Then they all stepped off the train in turn, waving goodbye to the Weasleys, Mrs. Weasley kissing each of the children goodbye and Mr. Weasley still whispering instructions to Harry.

Harry's face looked confused and uncomfortable, and when the train had moved on, he whispered to Ron and Hermione, "I need to talk to you two in private!"

"Go away, Ginny!" said Ron, as he waved his hand at her.

"Fine," Ginny said proudly as she walked away, Ivan froze for a moment and then followed her.

Harry, seeing Ivan get up, said, "Ivan, you don't have to leave."

"You guys talk first, I have some things to do, I'll be back soon," Ivan didn't pause for a second, he knew what Harry was going to say, but he had his own plans. It was going to be easy for him to sort out this year's series of events, Peter Pettigrew is much easier to deal with than Tom Riddle.

He followed Ginny to a compartment near the end. Colin and Neville were sitting in it, the two entered and greeted them.

Colin told them excitedly about his summer vacation in the countryside, as the Hogwarts Express moved on, the scenery outside the window becoming more and more rustic, but also becoming darker.

Knowing that Ivan was sitting here, people came constantly to greet him.

Most of them were readers of the 'Hogwarts Magic' newspaper. It wasn't long before Luna came and put a magazine in Ivan's hand, she told him that it was the latest article about Shriveled Horn Snorlax.

Even though Ivan had repeatedly told Luna that he wasn't interested in Snorlax or anything like that, Luna still gave him every issue of the Qisquilloso throughout the vacations.

As he flipped through the pages, it was getting dark outside.

Soon it began to rain, and the silhouette of the rolling hills outside the window became a blur.

The door soon opened and three unwelcome guests entered, Malfoy walked in followed by his two henchmen Crabbe and Goyle.

As if they had just visited Harry's compartment, Malfoy said in a long slow tone, "Dirty blood, why aren't you sitting with Potter?"

"None of your business!" said Ivan quietly, Neville, Colin and Ginny raised their heads nervously.

"Potter has abandoned you, he must be sick of you and your stupid paper." After Malfoy finished, Crabbe and Goyle laughed.

"Get out, you're not welcome here!" Ginny shouted.

"Did you hear what Ginny said?", Ivan pulled out his wand and narrowed his eyes and said, "Or do you want to experiment with a few new spells I learned over the vacations?"

Malfoy sneered, "Pay attention to your tone, you dirty blood, or ti...."

He was interrupted when Harry, Ron and Hermione came over.

"Fuck off, Malfoy!" shouted Ron as he walked in, "We don't have time to listen to your nonsense!"

Malfoy hesitated, he was now outnumbered, he involuntarily took a step back.

At that moment, the train came to an abrupt halt.

Inside the carriage, all the lights suddenly went out and they were in total darkness.

Malfoy shouted, "Bloody hell, what happened?"

Ivan heard Malfoy shout, there was constant movement outside the carriage.

"Lumos!" whispered Ivan, a light appeared at the tip of his wand.

The dim glow at the tip of the wand was not pleasant at all, and it was not known if it was an illusion, but it seemed that the light was getting dimmer with each passing moment and the temperature in the compartment dropped lower and lower, it dropped until it felt like the arctic.

There was a strange noise outside, something was approaching. Malfoy, Goyle and Crabbe rushed to the compartment.

The door slowly opened and Ivan could feel Hermione, standing next to him, grip his arm tightly, her body trembling slightly.

Ivan held Hermione's hand and squeezed it gently, which reassured her a little.

The door was wide open and standing in the doorway, illuminated by Ivan's 'Lumos' charm, was a creature dressed in black as tall as the ceiling.

Its face was completely hidden under the hood, with one hand outstretched from the cloak, the hand was gray, thin and scabbed over, it was as if something dead had rotted in the water.

The creature, as if sensing the gaze of several people, suddenly retracted into the folds of the black cloak. Then the thing under the hood, whatever it was, breathed, long and slowly and shakily, as if trying to suck in something other than the air around it.

Some of the children in the wagon screamed, but their voices were very faint, as if coming from far away.

Ivan tightened his grip on his wand, it was a Dementor!