Chapter 78: Silent and Warm

In a rare moment of collective silence, the opening dinner came to an end, with everyone reveling in the shocking news that Dementors were stationed at Hogwarts.

It is well known that Dementors, one of the most evil creatures known, roam in packs in the darkest and dirtiest of places, rejoicing in corruption and despair, sucking all hope and joy from the air around them.

Get too close to a Dementor and any good feelings you have, any happy memories you have, will be sucked out of you. You will be left with only the worst memories of your life.

For a long time, these horrible creatures had guarded Azkaban for years, imprisoning the most evil dark wizards in the magical world.

But now they were at Hogwarts, and what does that mean?

Everyone seemed to realize something, but no one wanted to think about it.

Everyone went back to their common rooms in silence, no one said anything, but Ivan heard a lot of chatter, the words Dementors, Azkaban, Sirius Black and Harry Potter were mentioned over and over again, and whether it was an illusion or not, he noticed that many students, especially students from wizarding families, were unconsciously turning away from Harry, they must have heard something from their parents.

It was no secret that Sirius Black had been captured thirteen years ago, but no one wanted to talk about it.

The oppressive atmosphere was uncomfortable for Ivan, and the lack of knowledge about Dementors and rumors spreading was not a good idea to let the panic continue. He hesitated a bit, saw it was still early and decided to strike while the iron was hot and write a series of articles about Dementors while all the young wizards were still interested.

He talked to Colin and went straight to the library to look for information.

In the library, Mrs. Pince eyed Ivan suspiciously, apparently she had an impression of him.

Last year, Ivan had looked at almost everything in the library in a single year. He looked at the simplest to the most taboo spell, most of which was beyond the knowledge of a boy his age.

Mrs. Pince shook her head, she thought that when she was in her second year, she could only cast simple spells how to make her wand glow, but this boy...

She remembered Dumbledore's reaction when she told him about it.

Dumbledore calmly told him not to bother with him and even allowed the boy to look at the books in the restricted section.

Madam Pince thought Dumbledore might have lost his mind.

She wouldn't be surprised if he became a dark wizard in the future, look at the books he is reading, they are all about Dementors.

Mrs. Pince shuddered when she heard the name of those vile creatures, it was so horrible, what normal second year student would come in on the first day of school to look up books about such dark creatures?

Ivan had no idea that the image of him in Mrs. Pince's eyes was that of a dark wizard.

When he returned to the common room, carrying a dozen heavy books on magic, he found everyone except Hermione back in their dormitories.

"You're back!" Hermione looked at Ivan as she pointed to a steaming mug and said, "I heard from Colin that you went to the library to look up information about Dementors, so I decided to wait for you for a while and made you some hot chocolate."

"Thank you," Ivan said gratefully as he took a mug to drink, it felt good to come back from a hard night in the library and have someone to....

Before swallowing it, he immediately spat it out, with a pained expression, there was no sugar in the hot chocolate, the taste was extremely bitter.

It seemed Hermione was expecting that reaction, she smiled and said, "When I need a little energy, this helps me wake up."

She had the same in her cup, it was already half empty.

Ivan forced himself to take a sip and swallow it, but he couldn't, he saw Hermione organizing her schedule and curiously asked, "Hermione, what are you doing?"

Hermione said, "I'm redoing my schedule, you know, I have a lot of classes this semester, I'm afraid..."

In the firelight, Ivan saw Hermione's full schedule.

If he didn't know she had a time-turner, he would have thought she had made some mistakes.

For example, tomorrow morning, at nine o'clock, she had Divination class, and at the same time, she had Muggle Studies class.

"Even if you have almost everything marked, don't force yourself, Hermione," Ivan said, "even if you have the help of a time-turner, you shouldn't take so many lessons at the same time. With that workload, your body won't be able to handle it."

"Oh, I suppose you should know that, after all, you used one last year." Hermione pulled a pocket watch out of her dress, "Don't worry, Ivan, I've had a deep conversation with Professor McGonagall."

"Don't think I don't know what you're going to do, you're going to ignore your physical condition," Ivan said hastily, "Hermione, you're not like a ghost, you can't give up sleep. In my opinion, there are some courses that you don't need at all. For example, Divination, Arithmancy and Muggle studies will be completely useless for you."

"But it would be fascinating to study it from the wizarding world's point of view," Hermione said as she looked at Ivan with a sincere face.

Still, Ivan said, "Listen to me, you have to give up a few..."

"No, I want to try!" insisted Hermione, "You know we're Muggle wizards, I want to prove that I'm no worse than the others."

Ivan looked at her and said, "You don't have to prove anything, you're already the best!"

"That's not good enough, Percy got top marks in twelve subjects and compared to you, I..." Hermione's voice was getting lower and lower.

There was a sudden silence and neither of them said anything.

Crookshanks was licking himself in front of the fireplace, purred in comfort and looked at Ivan and Hermione quizzically.

"Well, if you insist." sighed Ivan, "But you have to promise me you'll take good care of yourself, okay?"

Hermione blushed and nodded her head, sensing that the atmosphere was a little strange, it was as if Ivan was....

She was quick to point to the books Ivan had brought and said, "Well, have you found any books about Dementors?"

Ivan nodded and said, "All the books on Dementors are in this pile, I need to write a topic on Dementors, so are you ready to help me?"

"Of course!" nodded Hermione.

The silver moonlight slowly crept in and illuminated the common room as the fire burned quietly.

Contrary to the atmosphere of terror and despair outside the school, caused by the occasional movement of Dementors, the Gryffindor common room was calm and quiet.

Together, Ivan and Hermione studied all about Dementors, their habits, their ways of attacking, their histories, and ways to defeat them.

"The Patronus Charm is used by thinking of the happiest moment you have ever lived," With her finger on the contents of the book, Hermione said softly, "When the spell is most powerful, it can summon a guardian, and each person's guardian is unique, a guardian usually takes the form of the animal with which you share the deepest affinity."

Hermione read the words twice, "A guardian generally takes the form of the animal with which one shares the deepest affinity." She looked up and said uncertainly, "Ivan, I remember the guardian you called on the train, it was..."

"Don't be ridiculous, Hermione!" Ivan's eyes couldn't help but fall on the fireplace where Crookshanks had been sleeping, he stared at her for a while before blushing and slowly explaining, "It must have just been a coincidence, that's all!"

"Really?" Hermione narrowed her eyes, a little unsure when she heard Ivan say that.

The compartment was dark and Ivan's Patronus was flickering, so Hermione wasn't sure if she had seen it correctly, maybe it was just a coincidence.