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Harry hurriedly withdrew his wand, and the Patronus vanished with it. Looking at the Dementor that had been beaten half to death, his face filled with apology.
"Harry, congratulations. You have fully mastered the Patronus Charm."
Dudley was the one who spoke, offering Harry his sincere congratulations at once.
"It was only a Boggart hit by a Confundus Charm and stuck in a Dementor shape. If this one is gone, I can catch another. There are plenty outside anyway."
Listening to Dudley's utterly unconcerned tone, Lupin's eyelids twitched.
That was a Dementor. A very dangerous Dark creature. Dudley made catching Dementors sound as easy as catching gnomes by the roadside.
'What kind of family is Sister Lily's side, exactly? Why did James and Lily never mention this before?'
Of course Lupin would never have heard James mention it. The first time James and Lily met Petunia, he had nearly gotten into a conflict with Vernon.
Dudley took a potion from his pocket and tossed it onto the Dementor. Before long, the Dementor's injuries had recovered.
"Everyone, Harry has already grasped the essence of the Patronus Charm. Is there anyone else willing to come up and try?" Lupin asked encouragingly.
With Harry opening the way, the young witches and wizards eagerly volunteered.
Even with such an excellent teaching tool, class time was limited. Not every student could get practical experience, so the earlier they stepped forward, the better.
Not everyone was named Harry Potter, and not everyone had Harry's talent.
Most of the students still could not produce a fully formed Patronus. They could only release a few silver threads, and that level of Patronus Charm was basically useless against Dementors.
One eager student after another walked down from the front with a pale face.
The quickest lasted less than three seconds.
Facing a Dementor directly was not something everyone could do. Most wizards were ordinary people, and even practical combat required a great deal of time before they could grow.
At the same time, the Dementor also looked a little unnatural.
It had eaten a little too much.
This continued until the other members of the disciplinary group stepped up.
The second was Neville.
Before long, he also successfully cast a proper Patronus Charm.
His Patronus was a cabbage.
Yes. The same kind they had seen in the castle garden.
The third success was Ron.
He summoned a Niffler.
In general, most wizards' Patronuses took the form of ordinary animals, but magical creatures did appear as well. Dumbledore's Patronus, for example, was a phoenix.
The fourth was Hermione.
Hermione was an academic genius, yes, but academic geniuses were not all-powerful. Her strengths lay in Charms and Transfiguration. Dark Magic and Defense Against the Dark Arts counted as her weaker areas.
Her Patronus was a cat. It was still not solid enough, so no one could see the exact breed.
The last was Draco.
By rights, Draco should have been second only to Harry in mastering the spell, but he insisted that if he could not take first place, then he would make the final appearance.
That was why he did not step forward until now.
"Expecto Patronum!"
The silver threads flowing from the tip of his wand gathered into a silver peacock. Judging from the long tail feathers trailing behind it, it was definitely a male peacock.
Aside from those five, none of the other students succeeded. Only a few could barely gather the light enough to form vague animal shapes.
The Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson passed in direct confrontation with the Dementor.
Even the students who failed benefited greatly from this practical lesson. Given a little more time, they should be able to master it completely.
"I imagine all of you will want to practice the Patronus Charm properly when you go back, so I will not assign homework today."
Lupin's suggestion after class won everyone's approval, including Hermione, who liked homework most.
"No homework. That means I have time to practice other spells."
That was what Hermione said after Dudley had corrected her.
Doing the right things with limited time was the most correct choice.
After class, the students who walked out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom had slightly pale lips, but their spirits were extremely high. They wished they could have another lesson immediately.
That excitement lasted until they returned to their common rooms.
Soon, news that Sirius Black had broken into the Gryffindor common room and nearly destroyed a student dormitory spread through all of Hogwarts. The school, which had only just calmed down, exploded again.
The complaint letters Fudge received once again covered his entire desk.
The facts proved once again that Dementors simply could not find Sirius Black. Aside from causing panic among the students of Hogwarts, they were completely useless.
On the very day Sirius broke into the Gryffindor common room, Harry received an unsigned anonymous package.
After Harry unwrapped the thick oil paper, the thing inside made his eyes light up.
Inside was the best-performing racing broom currently available in the wizarding world: a Firebolt.
It was the standard broom for the Quidditch World Cup, and the broom every Quidditch-loving wizard wanted most.
It could accelerate to 150 miles per hour within ten seconds. In ordinary terms, this thing was equivalent to a top-class supercar.
Of course, its price was also worthy of the title "wizarding world's supercar." It was currently the most expensive racing broom available, and its price was not something an ordinary wizard could afford. Even Harry, who owned an entire vault, could only look at it and hesitate.
To sum it up in four words: Ex-pen-sive.
After suddenly receiving such an expensive gift, Harry felt surprise, but even more than that, he wanted to know who had sent it.
Harry asked Dudley whether he had bought it. Among the people Harry knew, only Dudley had that kind of money.
But Dudley told Harry very clearly that it was not him.
Dudley would buy Harry a house, but he would absolutely not buy him a broom.
If it was not Dudley, not the Hogwarts professors, not Headmaster Dumbledore, and even less likely to be his good friends Ron and Neville...
It could not have been Draco, could it?
Harry stared at Draco seriously for a long time. Only after making the other boy thoroughly uneasy did Harry shake his head.
The Malfoy family might have money, but Draco clearly did not have that much spending power.
In the end, Harry still got the answer from Dudley.
"Probably Sirius."
As Dudley spoke, he distributed several vials of potion to the members of the disciplinary group. They were the magical potions he had made earlier that could grant the strength of four animals. It was always better for each person to carry a little.
No one treated Dudley's words as a casual guess. In everyone else's eyes, if Dudley said it, then it was probably true.
"So it was Sirius."
Harry looked at the Firebolt with great regret.
If Sirius had really sent it, then he could only hand it over to Professor McGonagall and the others to handle.
He did not play Quidditch, but he still could not refuse a wizarding-world supercar.
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