The night shrouded the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts, with thick mist prowling among the tree shadows like ghosts. A chilling wind swept through the treetops, letting out mournful whispers like countless invisible claws brushing against the skin.
Tonight shouldn't be this cold.
Yet.
Who is to blame for the Dementors roaming around?
Dementors.
As beings that don't belong to this world, a species from the Misty Illusion Realm that mistakenly ended up in the Human World, they indeed have a formidable innate restraint against human creatures.
"I'm going to die!"
Neville only felt his mind filled with memories of despair and pain.
He thought of his parents and his family.
Tears flowed down uncontrollably.
Yet he was still trying to struggle, such admirable courage. However, it was of no use; his strength was absolutely insignificant in the face of the Dementor.
All Neville had was courage.
And courage is a painful thing.
"Slap slap slap!"
Neville's ancestors didn't protect him for long; perhaps feeling Neville's "disobedience," the Dementor recalled the scene when Ian would slap it for being disobedient.
It finally used the methods it had learned.
Loudly.
And effectively.
Neville instantly turned into a pig-headed appearance.
"Neville!"
Ron suddenly halted, looking back to see Neville captured by the Dementor. His heart almost leaped out of his chest. He only felt the scene before him shaking violently.
The towering Dementor seemed intent on torturing his friend mercilessly.
This scene was truly terrifying.
Very horrifying.
Very frightening.
At least to Ron, with a simpler mind and little understanding of Dementors. He and Neville didn't know much about the details of this species called Dementor.
Precisely because of this.
Ron didn't realize that the Dementor grabbing Neville wasn't sipping "happiness" from Neville, which was entirely unreasonable and completely against the habitual behavior of Dementors.
He only saw the Dementor slap Neville a few times, then lifted him up violently and shook him as if trying to shake something out of him — yes, Neville was lifted high, dangling like a rag doll, his eyes spinning madly as if about to pass out at any moment.
He definitely couldn't feel that the Dementor's behavior was abnormal.
As for Ron,
He only thought that this was like those predators he learned about; the Dementor seemed to "play" with its prey before "devouring" its soul, completely unaware of the Dementor's strangeness.
"No, no flattery... skeleton thing..." The Dementor shook for a long time but didn't get what it wanted, and its tone actually sounded somewhat desperate.
Unfortunately.
Neither the captured Neville nor the distant Ron, whose face was filled with horror and worry, noticed this, much less paid attention to the fact that even beings like Dementors could have "emotions." Actually, just the fact that it could resist its instincts indicated this Dementor was quite unusual.
It's just that.
Alas, Neville and Ron were both rookies.
With little knowledge and no spectacular experiences, their understanding of Dementors was limited to the stories they heard when being scared, now even more fearful and alarmed, they couldn't possibly realize this.
Lacking external brains.
They almost equated to having lost most of the knowledge about the Wizarding World — yes, as children from wizard families, perhaps they only knew a little more of common wizard knowledge compared to Hermione, who was from a Muggle family. In terms of genuine knowledge, in fact, most offspring from wizard families gradually cannot keep up with their same-aged half-blood or Muggle-born wizards after going to school. This is also a reason why many pure-blood offspring resist non-pure-bloods.
Perhaps many children from Muggle families weren't as excellent as Hermione, yet, when they learn magic, they have a kind of hunger and perseverance.
This is the learning motivation that the offspring of pure-blood families accustomed to magic do not have. For instance, Neville and Ron were like this, they didn't crave extra knowledge as much as Hermione did.
Precisely because of this.
The two thus fell into the current "scaring themselves" situation. Especially Ron, who was prone to overthinking, now imagining Neville was on the verge of being skinned and gutted.
"No! Don't touch my friend!"
A burning sensation arose in Ron's stomach, like a piece of iron roasted with intense flames. He lowered his head, looking at his hand — trembling violently, but he knew he couldn't give up on Neville.
Only he could save Neville.
Courage.
In this moment overcame the fear.
Frankly, despite Ron's jealousy, resentment of wealth, and pettiness, none of these flaws could conceal his strength of loyalty and camaraderie.
And so.
Seeing his best friend caught, a surge of hot blood overcame Ron, directly suppressing the fear in his heart. Although he couldn't find a suitable weapon after looking around.
But this didn't stop him from wanting to save a friend.
"I'll fight you!"
As these words of rage burst out, his voice was hoarse and trembling, yet this didn't stop Ron from grabbing two stones off the ground, bravely charging towards the Dementor without fear of death.