Chapter 102 - 102 The flying car has become a sperm.

Chapter 102: Chapter 102 The flying car has become a sperm.

The sudden dull thud left the professors astonished.

"Has Hogwarts been attacked? Have Death Eaters broken in?!" While the professors were shocked, the young witches and wizards in the audience were terrified.

Soon, the entire Great Hall was in chaos.

Professor McGonagall, holding the brand-new Sorting Hat, had a dark expression and shouted:

"Silence—"

The hall gradually quieted down. The new students stood anxiously on one side of the hall, unsure of what was happening.

"Hogwarts Castle is perfectly fine; there is no need to panic. The Sorting Ceremony will proceed as usual." Professor McGonagall reassured the students while giving a knowing glance to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore smiled in understanding, turned to Snape, and said, "Severus, could you please go check what's happening outside?"

Snape nodded and was about to get up when Dracula stood up before him.

"I'll go," Dracula said cheerfully. "Seeing the Sorting Ceremony a second time isn't very exciting; perhaps there's some other fun to be found by checking the situation outside."

Before Dumbledore could react, Dracula downed the wine in his goblet, adjusted his robes, and leaped down from the professor's platform.

"I'll come with you," Snape said, following closely behind as they both walked toward the hall's entrance.

Dracula glanced at Snape and noticed his eyes were fixed on the Gryffindor table, scanning it repeatedly.

"Professor Snape seems quite concerned about Gryffindor," Dracula remarked with a smile.

"Not at all," Snape replied, his voice cold and his jaw clenched as if speaking through gritted teeth. "I just have some issues with the house that stole the Slytherin Cup."

Dracula, intrigued, looked at where Snape's gaze had lingered the longest—Hermione Granger, who appeared anxious and distressed, and the two empty seats next to her.

He then thought of Fred and George's unusual behavior, a hint of understanding crossing his face.

"Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley haven't arrived?" Dracula mused, a smirk forming on his lips. "This seems to be getting interesting."

He quickened his pace, moving swiftly towards the source of the dull sound as if gliding across the ground.

Seeing Dracula's rapid departure, Snape's lip twitched, and he also quickened his pace.

His large cloak fluttered behind him, truly resembling a large bat.

From a distance, Dracula saw a willow tree that was either dancing or, more accurately, going mad.

It was a Whomping Willow, planted at Hogwarts for decades.

At this moment, the tree was wildly swinging its branches, both thick and thin, smashing down on a battered old car—

Countless finger-thick branches were pounding fiercely on the car's front window, causing the windshield to tremble, while a branch as thick as a battering ram was furiously hammering the car's roof. Several agile willow branches were even reaching through the broken windows, attempting to beat up the two young wizards inside.

"This tree is really aggressive, we need to run!" Ron shouted from inside the car, trying desperately to push the door open.

But just then, a branch slipped through the shattered window at an awkward angle, delivering a vicious uppercut that knocked him down onto Harry's lap.

Ron, dazed, stared at the car roof as it was slowly collapsing under the relentless assault of the battering-ram-like branch.

"We're finished!" he groaned, looking at the roof.

At the critical moment, the bottom of the old Ford suddenly vibrated—the engine roared back to life.

"Quick, reverse!" Harry shouted, renewed hope flickering in his heart.

The car zoomed backward.

The tree continued to attack them, furiously whipping its branches at the swiftly retreating car. It bent its trunk in an effort to stretch the longest branches far enough to reach the Ford, almost tearing its trunk apart and causing the roots to creak.

"Merlin, that was close!" Ron, lying on Harry's lap after escaping the Whomping Willow's range, gasped, "Well done, car."

However, it seemed the Ford Anglia had reached its limit with Harry and Ron onboard. With two loud "thumps," the car doors suddenly flung open.

Then, the seats tilted sideways, "kicking" Harry and Ron out onto the damp ground.

After two more heavy thumps, their luggage was similarly ejected from the trunk.

In a rather considerate touch, Hedwig's cage was not thrown directly to the ground but was instead launched into the air. The momentum opened the cage door, allowing Hedwig to fly out.

Once the mark was made, it glowed red and then faded into the car.

"All right, you can leave now," Dracula said, patting the now fully repaired window. "I'll check on you from time to time, so remember not to hide from me."

Hearing this, the Ford's engine roared to life, its headlights turned on, and it soared high into the air.

It turned to face Dracula, wobbled its front end as if nodding to him, and then sped off towards the Forbidden Forest, its bright taillights disappearing into the night.

Harry and Ron watched the car drive away, their expressions blank as they tried to understand the interaction between Professor Dracula and the car, feeling that even in the magical world, this was too surreal...

It wasn't until the taillights were no longer visible that Ron suddenly came to his senses.

"Professor, we can't let it go!" he shouted. "If my dad finds out I lost the car, he'll kill me!"

"You're his son; he won't kill you," Dracula glanced at Ron and said casually. "He might give you a good beating, though. Beating you half to death is possible."

Ron's face fell.

"It's over... The car is gone. What should we do..." he said, looking distraught.

"Professor, can you think of a way... to not let Ron's car go?" Harry hesitated for a while before asking.

"Didn't you see? This car developed a faint consciousness from all your operations. I wanted to observe it for a while longer," Dracula shrugged.

Then he thought about it and decided it wasn't quite right to just let someone else's property go, so he added, "Forget it, I'll cover the loss. Tell me the address, and a new car will be sent over tomorrow."

Ron's distraught expression brightened up suddenly. "Is that true, Professor?"

After receiving confirmation, Ron jumped with joy and quickly gave Dracula the address of the Burrow, thinking he might escape his family's punishment.

Dracula noted down the location of the Burrow and then finally looked directly at Harry and Ron.

"Now that the car issue is settled, perhaps you should explain some other things to me," Dracula said with a cold smile. "Why didn't you two take the Hogwarts Express back to school and decided to drive yourselves instead?"

"Do you think taking the school bus isn't exciting enough and wanted to find a more interesting mode of transportation?"

Mentioning "exciting" and "interesting," Dracula's cold expression suddenly shifted slightly, his eyes lighting up.

Harry nervously observed the sudden change in Professor Dracula's demeanor. He could swear that while sending a new car to the Weasleys, Professor Dracula surely wanted to buy one for himself too!

Ron also breathed a sigh of relief.

After a year of understanding, Hogwarts students generally knew that as long as they could make Professor Dracula show interest, he would become very easy to deal with.

"It seems we've passed this hurdle with Professor Dracula," Harry and Ron exchanged relieved glances.

However, their relief was short-lived. The next second, another sticky, greasy voice sounded behind them—

"It's been a while, the renowned Harry Potter and his good friend Weasley."

Harry and Ron turned stiffly and saw a large hooked nose and greasy hair hanging over the shoulders of the person.

Snape looked somewhat out of breath, having spent quite some time running from the southwest hall to the northeast Whomping Willow.

Even though he was panting, his malicious smile still told Harry and Ron that their situation was dire!

"Good... evening, Professor Snape," Harry forced a smile that was uglier than crying and greeted Snape.

"Good evening, Potter," Snape said coldly. "I see that the very precious Whomping Willow seems to have suffered quite a bit of damage."

"That tree's damage to us is greater than the damage we did to it..." Ron blurted out.

"Quiet!" Snape snapped.

"You two, follow me," he said, looking at the boxes in their hands, his mood brightening up again. "It's a pity you're not students of my house. If I had the authority, I would expel you directly. You wouldn't even need to pack your things."

Harry and Ron cast pleading glances at Dracula.

However, Dracula seemed to have developed an interest in the Whomping Willow, standing under the broken branches of the tree, examining the violent plant, and completely ignoring their gaze.

They noticed that the once extremely irritable Whomping Willow now appeared as docile as a harmless, drooping willow tree in front of Professor Dracula, allowing him to stand by the trunk and smooth out its broken branches.

"What are you two still standing there for?" Snape urged.

Seeing that Professor Dracula had no intention of rescuing them, Harry and Ron despondently followed Snape's lead towards Hogwarts Castle.