The Banquet of Dark

The good news was that Harry wouldn't be expelled from Hogwarts just for inflating his aunt; Barnaby hadn't been worried for a second, not with Dumbledore's apparent obsession with the boy.

The bad news was that Harry would have to return to live with his aunt and uncle once the school year ended, just as always.

As for neutral news, Barnaby told Harry who Sirius Black was, how he was related to him, and seriously advised him not to seek revenge.

Harry was far too weak in comparison and simply couldn't afford it.

No one had any issues with Harry staying temporarily at Hagrid's place. He was safe at Hogwarts, under Dumbledore's watchful eye, and he occasionally helped Barnaby and his father with various tasks.

The advantage was that since he was on school grounds, he could practice magic without any consequences!

This turned out to be a great help for him, as he received private lessons from Barnaby during their free time, focusing on his weakest subjects, and finally grasped many things that had previously been difficult for him.

Barnaby was scandalized by Harry's lack of knowledge in Defense Against the Dark Arts and could only cross his fingers, hoping that this year's professor wouldn't be another incompetent fool.

In the blink of an eye, the day came for the Hogwarts students to take the Express back to school, but Barnaby was pacing back and forth, a bit nervous.

His girlfriend, Tonks, had "tipped him off" that Sirius Black's escape had made the Ministry jittery, and they might do something rash. Last night, Aunt Pomona had informed him that Dementors would be sent to "guard" the school and keep the students safe from a potential approach by Sirius Black.

When he heard that, he looked around the greenhouse to see if Pomona had smoked something strange, but Tonks' confirmation of the news later that night left him stunned.

Sending those cruel creatures that feed on happiness to a place full of children—wasn't that just provoking them to feast constantly?

"Send Aurors instead, you bunch of idiots!" he had muttered.

Fortunately for Harry, he had already moved into the Gryffindor dormitories; otherwise, he would have heard words he didn't know could be used with such creative cursing.

Even someone like Calcifer took notes for later use in secret.

"I won't let those things get near our home," Barnaby nearly growled, suddenly stopping in his tracks. "Wait… they're not going to send Dementors to inspect the Hogwarts Express carriages, are they?"

Mentally reviewing the copy of the Ministry Auror manual that Tonks had let him read, Barnaby paled a bit as he realized that the possibility was quite high. He lifted his head to glance at the wall clock, hesitated only a moment, then left his house and disappeared into a thicket of shadows.

It didn't take him long to reach the station where the Hogwarts Express was about to depart, and he sat cross-legged on the roof under an invisibility spell, waiting to see if what he feared would happen, and thinking about how to handle it if it did.

They were halfway through the journey, and Barnaby was about to sigh in relief—after all, by this point, nothing should happen.

And just when he thought that, he was wrong.

The temperature began to drop, and a thin layer of frost formed on the windows of the carriages, while hooded figures in tattered dark robes floated closer to the school train.

"I don't know why they train talented Aurors like Tonks and then leave the job to these things," Barnaby muttered angrily as he watched the Dementors draw nearer.

The staff in his hands began to vibrate strongly as Barnaby summoned a creature to deal with the Dementors.

He couldn't even understand why they hadn't set up checkpoints on the boarding platform or at the arrival station. No, they decided it would be a great idea to barge in halfway through the journey and send a bunch of soul-sucking creatures to do their damned job.

A figure began to emerge, as if passing through a thin, invisible film. A large body covered in black scales, with four legs and two large wings armed with crimson claws. The wings' membranes were covered in short fur, while its head lacked eyes.

Perhaps the most sinister part was the black mist that continued to emanate from its scales, as if it were some kind of pollen.

"Devour them, Gore Magala!" Barnaby raised his staff and pointed at the Dementors, before disappearing into a cocoon of shadowy brambles.

He was never there.

Lifting its head and inhaling deeply, the Gore Magala roared to the world and began flapping its wings, leaving a thin trail of black mist in its wake.

The Dementors, who were drawn to the laughter-filled carriage, froze in mid-air when they heard the roar, and a deep fear awoke within them, as if they had encountered their natural predator.

Their reactions were too slow.

Hungry as if it had found its favorite treat, the Gore Magala began to bite, tear apart, and devour these cruel creatures known as Dementors, performing complex aerial maneuvers to ensure that none could escape.

The Dementors tried to defend themselves by feeding on their aggressor's happiness, hoping to weaken it, but…

All that was in the mind of the one devouring them was hunger and a thirst for destruction.

The Dementors had never dealt with emotions so negative and powerful; they couldn't even give it a "kiss" because they needed their victim to be still and weak.

In just a few minutes, the Dementors assigned to inspect the carriages were decimated and swallowed up by the jaws of darkness.

Meanwhile, inside the carriages, the instincts of a certain werewolf were screaming at him to run—run as fast and as far as possible without looking back!

Death was at his side.

He mustn't look Death in the face.

Death.

DEATH!!!

"Hey, this guy just fainted!" Ron said to Hermione when Lupin collapsed, foam bubbling from his mouth as he shook.

"I think he ate too much chocolate…" Hermione wasn't sure what was wrong with their future professor, but there were a lot of chocolate wrappers in the compartment when they came in.

Could he have overdosed on chocolate?