The Hogwarts opening feast was always grand and warm.
Thousands of floating candles illuminated the long tables of the four Houses, golden plates were piled high with fragrant food, and the students' joyous laughter converged into a warm current, dispelling the storm raging outside the windows.
However, when Dumbledore stood up to announce an important notice, the warm atmosphere in the Great Hall was instantly extinguished as if by an invisible hand.
"...At the request of the Ministry of Magic, Dementors from Azkaban will be stationed around Hogwarts for a period of time until Sirius Black is apprehended."
The Principal's voice was calm and strong, but his usually gentle, sparkling blue eyes were now sharp as an eagle's, devoid of any smile.
"I must remind every student that Dementors are creatures that feed on fear; they do not distinguish between their targets and those who stand in their way. Therefore, I strictly forbid any student from leaving the Castle without a Professor's escort. They will not heed any excuses or pleas."
"Buzz—"
The Great Hall erupted like a beehive hit by a giant rock. Students whispered to each other, the color draining from their faces at a visible speed, replaced by terror and unease.
"Dementors? Merlin's beard, they'll kill us!"
"My dad works at the Ministry of Magic, and he said if you get too close to them, all your happy memories will be sucked away, and you'll become an empty shell!"
"Is Black really that terrifying? Do they need to use such monsters against him?"
Lia sat beside Hermione, calmly cutting the steak on her plate, her expression seemingly serene.
But in reality, she didn't need to listen to the discussions to 'feel' the spread of fear more clearly than anyone else.
Waves of negative emotions, mixed with panic, worry, and despair, rose from every student around her like an invisible, gray smoke with a rotten, cloying smell.
They gathered above the Great Hall, forming a thick, viscous, nauseating 'cloud of emotion'.
This immense negative emotion made her feel extremely uncomfortable, as if she were in a giant, rotting, stinking garbage dump, her stomach churning.
She instinctively put down her spoon, her fluffy long tail tightly wrapped around Hermione's warm arm, leaning gently on Hermione's shoulder, greedily drawing in the reassuring scent of books and faint fragrance.
Hermione immediately noticed her unease, gently and rhythmically stroking Lia's long tail with her hand, while glaring sharply at the chattering Ron beside her, making him instantly shut his mouth.
The new school year began in such an eerie and oppressive atmosphere.
A few days later, it was the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class for third-year Gryffindors.
Students curiously entered the classroom to find no desks, only a giant, wobbly old wardrobe standing in the center.
As soon as Lia stepped through the door, her Danger Intuition began to alarm wildly, her skin breaking out in fine goosebumps, causing her an instinctive aversion and repulsion to the wardrobe.
Professor Lupin stood by the wardrobe, smiling, his expression gentle, showing no trace of the solemnity he had displayed on the train that day.
"Can anyone guess what's in the wardrobe?" he asked.
Hermione's hand immediately shot up. "It's a Boggart, Professor."
"Absolutely correct, Miss Granger. Ten points to Gryffindor." Lupin nodded approvingly, "A Boggart is a shape-shifting creature that will see into your deepest fears and then transform into that very thing."
A small stir rippled through the classroom.
"Fortunately, there's a very simple spell to deal with a Boggart, and the key is concentration." Lupin picked up his magic wand. "The spell is 'Riddikulus'. When you cast it, you must imagine something funny in your mind, and use your laughter to weaken it."
He had the students line up, with Neville first.
The wardrobe door opened, and Professor Snape emerged with a gloomy face. Neville's face turned pale with fright.
Encouraged by Lupin, Neville tremblingly raised his magic wand, imagining Snape in his grandmother's clothes.
"Riddikulus!"
With a'snap,' Snape's Black robes instantly transformed into a emerald green lace dress, topped with an exaggerated women's hat adorned with a giant stuffed vulture.
The entire class erupted in thunderous laughter. Neville straightened his chest, a confidence he had never shown before radiating from his face.
Next, Ron faced a spider the size of a millstone. He shrieked and used the spell to put roller skates on all eight of the spider's legs, making it comically spin wildly on the floor.
Parvati Patil's Boggart was a cobra, which she turned into a spring-loaded jack-in-the-box clown.
The atmosphere became light and joyful.
"Next, Lia." Lupin's gentle voice sounded.
Everyone's gaze focused on this special student. Even Malfoy, who had been stony-faced, cast curious glances.
Everyone wondered what this soft, cute little creature, who always clung to Hermione, would be most afraid of? A fierce big dog? Or thunder?
Under Hermione's encouraging gaze, Lia walked step by step towards the still slightly swaying wardrobe. The closer she got, the stronger the unease in the depths of her soul became.
The wardrobe door slowly opened with a grating 'creak'.
No monster emerged from within.
No traps, no knives, no hideous Dark Wizards.
What walked out was Hermione Granger.
Or rather, an empty shell 'Hermione' radiating the aura of death.
Her hair was still bushy, but it had lost all its luster, her face was covered in a cold frost, ashen and faded like old parchment soaked in water.
One of her legs was twisted at a grotesque angle, with stark white bone shards piercing through the skin, exposed to the air. With every step, she dragged a dark red trail on the floor.
Her skin was covered in cracks, revealing gray flesh.
Most terrifying were her eyes; those brown eyes that once burned with wisdom and vitality were now hollow and vacant, clouded by a gray film.
She was like a puppet from which the soul had been drawn, her limbs stiff as she walked step by step towards Lia.
That wasn't Hermione.
That was the dead Hermione, whom Lia had seen countless times in her deepest nightmares, in her illusions.
"Boom—!!!"
Lia's mind instantly went blank.
The bone-chilling cold of being buried alive in heavy snow.
The heart-wrenching pain of her leg being snapped in a hunter's trap.
The madness of her soul being crushed when tortured to death by a Dark Wizard's Crucio.
The icy emptiness when everything turned to nothing after being hit by Quirrell's Killing Curse.
The deathly stillness of life rapidly draining away when petrified by the Basilisk's gaze.
All the death memories etched deep into her soul were simultaneously ignited at this moment!
These memories overlapped and merged with the terrifying sight of 'Hermione's death' before her, forming an unprecedented, destructive mental storm.
The ultimate fear of death and the ultimate fear of losing Hermione, two parallel fuses, burned to their ends at this moment.
Her sanity instantly collapsed.
"Riddikulus?"
The word completely vanished from her mind.
Funny? What was funny about this?!
A darker, more violent primal instinct broke through her mental defenses.
"No—!!!!!"
A shriek, utterly unlike anything a human could produce, filled with endless pain and towering fury, erupted from Lia's body!
The sound was shrill and piercing, as if it could tear one's soul, savagely piercing the eardrums of everyone present.
Students painfully covered their ears, Ron's magic wand clattered to the floor, his face showing a look of horror.
Accompanying the shriek, the temperature in the classroom plummeted, and the air seemed to solidify.
A tangible, pitch-Black shadow exploded from behind Lia!
The shadow twisted and expanded wildly in the air, light strangely deflecting around it.
It instantly transformed into a hideous claw, as large as half the classroom!
The surface of the claw was covered with countless bizarre, ancient runes that slowly writhed like living things, exuding a nauseating aura of ancient brutality and destruction!
It didn't hesitate for a moment, moving at a speed beyond visual capture, with a shriek that seemed to tear space, fiercely clawing at the 'Hermione' Boggart that was still stiffly moving forward.
No comical transformation, no ridiculous sound.
Only the purest, most primal, most violent shredding!
However, the massive claw stopped abruptly just before it landed on the 'Hermione' Boggart's head.
Lia trembled, grabbing her own wrist and pointing it at the descending giant claw.
Hermione rushed forward almost the instant the giant claw appeared behind Lia.
"Riddikulus!"
Hermione pointed her magic wand at the Boggart version of herself, and the next second the Boggart turned into a sleeping white kitten—Lia.
The entire room fell silent.
You could hear a pin drop in the classroom; even breathing sounds disappeared.
All the students stood frozen, as if stared at by Medusa, their faces undeniably pale and terrified.
They dared not move, only staring fixedly at the terrifying Black giant claw hovering before Lia, not yet completely dissipated.
What kind of power was that?
Lupin's expression changed the moment the shriek sounded. He immediately rushed forward, spreading his arms to shield the trembling Lia and the other students with his body, isolating that chilling dark aura.
He wanted to stop it, but the power erupted too quickly and fiercely; it was over before his spell could even be uttered!
His heart churned with shock; the quality of this power... pure, primal, predatory, even more violent than when he lost his mind in his Werewolf form!
Hermione ignored the dark energy that stung her skin, pulling the violently trembling body into her embrace.
Lia's eyes were completely unfocused, the emerald green halos in her beautiful blue eyes spinning wildly, like an abyssal vortex threatening to completely swallow her sanity.
At this moment, it was only her instinctual unwillingness to harm Hermione—not even an illusion.
This was what suppressed the giant claw's attack.
"Lia! I'm here! Look at me!"
Hermione cupped her terrifyingly cold little face, forcing her to look at her, repeating over and over in her ear.
"I'm here! Do you feel it? Look at me, Lia!"
Hermione's voice, filled with love and urgency capable of melting ten thousand years of ice and snow, pierced through that barrier of madness.
The warmth of her embrace, her scent, her voice... these constituted the only 'reality' in Lia's world.
The emerald green halos in Lia's eyes flickered violently a few times, their rotation gradually slowing, and finally, little by little, they receded, revealing the clear, confused, yet helpless azure beneath.
The terrifying giant claw also transformed into a wisp of smoke and vanished without a trace.
Lupin waved his magic wand, closing and locking the still-shaking wardrobe with a 'bang,' then announced in an unprecedentedly serious tone: "That's all for today, class dismissed."
The students, as if granted a great pardon, fled from the classroom that would forever be etched in their memories.
When only the three of them remained in the classroom, Lupin turned and looked at Hermione, who was holding Lia.
His gaze was extremely complex.
He pulled out a thick, old-covered book from a box on the podium, his voice returning to its gentle tone, but with a hint of solemnity.
"Miss Granger," he stepped forward and handed over the book, "I think you might need this. Lia's situation... is very special. She isn't corrupted by darkness; she might herself be a vessel for an ancient power we don't yet understand. This book might offer you some insight."
Hermione shifted her gaze from Lia's sweat-dampened silver hair to the book in Lupin's hand.
The title was—"Know Thyself: A Self-Soul Analysis for Magical Creatures and Wizards."
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