Wait, it wasn't this cold just a moment ago!
Realizing something was wrong, Hermione unhesitatingly took off her wizard robe and draped it over Lynn, while calling out softly.
"Lynn, stop reading. Something is wrong."
Hearing her full name, Lynn instantly snapped out of her study state and immediately felt the surrounding cold.
Looking down at the two wizard robes draped over her, Lynn took them both off without hesitation and draped them over Hermione instead.
Before Hermione could voice her refusal, Lynn drew her wand and walked toward the compartment door.
Her lips, slightly pale from the cold, spoke as calmly as ever. "Abnormal temperature drop. Sirius Black's escape. Azkaban wanted list."
Lynn paused for a moment. "Dementors searching the train. 95% probability."
After she spoke, her body suddenly shot up in height, and her powerful tail flicked gently, guarding Hermione in her seat.
Her two-meter-tall frame blocked the compartment door completely. Her front claws nimbly gripped the door as Lynn looked out into the corridor.
Dementors evoke the most painful and desperate memories in a person's heart while feeding on their joy, but their influence on animals is much smaller.
That was why Lynn had transformed into her Animagus form; it allowed her to block the door and protect Hermione and the others while minimizing the Dementors' influence on her.
Though she didn't believe she had any painful or desperate memories that could be evoked, because she didn't have those two feelings... she was certain of it herself.
"Dementors searching the train!" Hermione cried out. She had read about Dementors in books; they were extremely dangerous Dark Arts creatures.
"Lynn! Come back!"
Hermione struggled to sit up, but she was kept pinned to her seat by Lynn's tail, unable to move an inch.
Harry and Ron, sitting in the same row, were the same; they could only watch helplessly as Lynn blocked the compartment door.
The freezing sensation intensified, and ice began to form on the compartment's windows and glass door. Lynn let out a huff of breath and looked toward the train door.
A decayed hand reached through the train door; it was a Dementor.
Lynn confirmed this with extreme calm, watching as Dementors entered the train, one of them heading straight for their compartment.
Her claws shifted slightly, and Lynn's slit pupils contracted as she watched the Dementor arrive before her.
A bone-chilling sensation washed over her, and Lynn's brain momentarily stalled.
Even her Animagus form could not stop those memories—which were written as calm but were actually painful—from being forced to the surface.
When she was hit with Bamboo Canes because she couldn't solve Sixth Grade problems during a routine Kindergarten test... When she knelt in the school corridor because she failed to calculate the first Calculus problem she ever encountered in the Sixth Grade... When she lay on that cold operating table, looking at her mother's excited and expectant gaze... "Roar!"
A long, mournful cry rang out, feeling as if something was being sucked away.
The memories of the past two years were rapidly slipping away—being cared for, being protected, being taught to value herself... Lynn felt as if she had returned to the time she was kneeling in the snow in only thin straps, kneeling until she was delirious.
Her sharp claws dug deep into the compartment's glass door as Lynn's roars continued to ring out.
Hermione and the other two roared loudly, trying to stand up, but even though Lynn was already swaying and her wails were unending, she did not loosen the strength in her tail, still gently but firmly pinning them to their seats.
It's so cold in the snow... My knees hurt so much... Is this pain?
But I shouldn't be able to feel pain.
Why does my heart hurt too... I'm so tired, can I rest?
But I shouldn't rest. I'm being punished because I didn't study hard enough and got a question wrong on the exam.
But did I learn my lesson... No, I haven't learned the Patronus Charm.
Hermione... Harry, Ron, they're all behind me, but I can't use the Patronus Charm.
The "Lynn" kneeling in the snow looked up with blurred eyes at the man and woman standing in front of the Villa.
Useless... idiot. I really am.
"ROAR!!!"
The final roar was plaintive and desolate, echoing throughout the entire hogwarts express.
In the compartment, Hermione struggled while crying out, her face covered in tears, and Harry and Ron also fought desperately to stand up from their seats.
In other compartments, Maranhao and the other two forced themselves to stay alert, covering their mouths and rushing out. They couldn't have mistaken that cry; it was Lynn's Animagus!
The Ravenclaws sitting with them or nearby also immediately rushed out after seeing them. Gradually, students from the entire Ravenclaw House were rushing toward the source of the sound.
At the same time, the man in the compartment, who was extremely weak due to the Full Moon two days ago, finally woke up. He struggled to pull himself up, his face pale as he drew his wand.
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