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I looked at Greengrass. The blonde noticed my gaze and showed me her empty palms.
"Keep an eye on Daphne."
"Fine," Hermione smiled and quickly pointed her wand at the girl, but she didn't conjure anything.
I outlined a circle over my head with my wand as if I were unwinding a lasso, but really I was just channeling a lot more magic through my wand than usual, pulling the guys' bodies together in one pile with a childish trick, telekinesis.
"Incarcero Maxima, Somnus," making sure that the whole bunch of bodies fell asleep and were tightly bound, I looked back at Greengrass.
"What are we supposed to do with you? Leaving the enemy behind is not the best gesture. Especially because of us, your knight in shining armor didn't show his best side by running away...unsuccessfully."
"I am not your opponent."
"Controversial..."
"Max," Hermione, standing next to me, poked me in the side, and the "mask" flew off of her instantly, bringing back the serious girl. "Do you feel that?"
Without asking, I listened to the sensation.
"Dementors..."
"Dementors?" Greengrass turned pale, though it seemed that her pale skin couldn't be whiter anymore.
"What a bad time."
Looking around, I saw five black hoods flying toward us from a forest that was abruptly beginning literally a dozen yards away. It was getting cold.
"Max, that's a problem," Hermione nodded towards the tied-up and sleeping boys. The girl stoically tried to keep her face, but her pallor betrayed strong worry, as well as a slight fear in her eyes.
"Bring the boys to their senses with Finita and Enerweit."
"I know."
"Hurry up. Greengrass, collect your comrades' wands. Don't even think about doing anything else."
The blonde nodded and began conjuring Accio, adding "wand of this and that" to the verbal formula. Hermione quickly brought the boys to their senses and removed the ropes. They wanted to be indignant, but just one nod in the direction of the Dementors forced this bunch of jerks to yell and run. Only Greengrass looked at her fellow House members with such incredible reproach in her eyes that even I was ashamed of them.
It all happened in a couple of moments, but the Dementors were already literally a few meters away from the three of us. We were on the hill, next to the Shrieking Shack, in the open, and nowhere to go - the shack wouldn't stop them, so...
Feigning incredible happiness, I simultaneously increased the feeling of warmth in the chest and pointed my wand at the Dementors.
"Expecto Patronum," said the key of the spell in a low and even voice.
The tip of the wand began to glow a soft blue light. The source of the light grew larger and larger, and a huge, meter-wide, thick, dense mist burst from it. The mist stretched out in a long stream, reaching the Dementors very quickly. The creatures howled and hurried away, and the mist still stretched from the wand. But nothing lasts forever. The Patronus Mist began to melting fast, but the Dementors were in a hurry to get away as well.
"Faster to the castle."
No one asked any questions, and we just ran to the castle gates - Dementors can return. They feel no pity or compassion. But they feel great hunger and are terribly vindictive - this is an irrefutable and proven fact, not once or twice indicated in textbooks on all kinds of monsters.
I had to slow down, though. It's me and Hermione who run like crazy in the morning and have been doing something for the third year. But Greengrass fizzled out very quickly - running through the undergrowth, over rough terrain, this is not a joke to you.
"Eh, and I wanted to..." Hermione took a deep breath. "Wanted to put on pants... But no... Listening to mom is good ... but your mind is closer to your body ..."
We reached the castle without too much trouble. Greengrass said she would return the boys back their wands, and we parted ways for the feast. But first, to our rooms and change.
At the festive dinner, the Great Hall, as in previous years, was decorated in Halloween's tradition. Subdued light, carved pumpkins with candles everywhere, ghosts showed a master class in scary pantomimes. Particularly zealous were those ghosts that did not die by their own death, including Headless Nick. He quite colorfully, but at the same time caricatured and with a grain of irony, depicted a scene of incomplete cutting off of his head.
At the table, the guys enthusiastically shared their impressions of the trip with each other, and Ron dumped a whole heap of various sweets in front of Harry.
"As promised, the most interesting stuff, buddy."
Hermione and I sat next to each other. I couldn't taste the food. Dementors are no joke. They are not a simple, ministry-controlled revision of the train - they are clearly starving creatures who have chosen to disregard the controlling charms. They can. It is not for nothing that their hazard class is, in fact, out of categories. It's just that the ministry keeps them on a starvation diet, and they show not even a third of their abilities. In fact, this is a miracle of necromagic and necromancy itself, an incredible alloy. A couple of Dementors at their peak can cause trouble even for Dumbledore - let alone ordinary wizards.