v3 Chapter 7： absent Dumbledore

"Tom, Tom! Are you all right?" Hermione took Tom in her arms after expelling the dementors, shaking his shoulders gently.

Along the ray of light, Tom emerged "to the surface" and regained his senses. He could see the bright dome light on the top of the box, and he could feel the vibration of the train floor - the train went on again.

When he saw the light again, his eyes were stimulated, and tears poured out uncontrollably. He twitched twice and found himself in Hermione's soft embrace, Crookshanks rubbing his head against his hand.

He tried to speak, but found that the muscles on his jaw were out of control, and he could only make a "uh, ah" sound, and he tried to roll over and sit up, when he realized that the problem was serious: he seemed to lose his sense of self. body control.

It felt like the soul was pulled out of the body and stuffed back in. Fortunately, he could feel that his soul was quickly adapting to the body, so this gaffe was only temporary.

Tom's embarrassment did not attract other people's attention, because only he and Hermione who was holding him knew his state. Harry next to him made a louder noise: he fell to the ground, twitching continuously, Beads of sweat the size of soybeans ooze out of his face, and he still said something vaguely in his mouth.

Ron, Neville and Ginny formed a circle around him, Ron and Ginny looked nervous, while Neville was pale and his lips trembled.

Seeing Tom wake up, Hermione hurriedly helped him to the seat. Tom slumped on the seat like a mass of mud, and might have slid down if it wasn't for Hermione's pull.

Harry opened his eyes suddenly.

"Are you all right?" Ron asked nervously, mixing Harry back into his seat.

Harry had recovered quickly and looked towards the door. "Where's that monster? Who was screaming just now?"

Ron glanced at Hermione with awe. "The guy just grabbed Tom's neck. Granger said something, and a silver thing came out of the wand and drove him away."

"That's the Dementors, Azkaban's keeper," said Hermione from the side. "Only the Patronus Charm can drive them away. The professor—" She turned to Lupin, hoping for help—though she had no idea about dark magic. The defense professor has lost hope, but subconsciously seeks help from the only adult present.

Turning her head, Hermione saw that Lupin took a large bar of chocolate from the box, broke it into several pieces, and distributed it to everyone present.

"Eating it will help, she's right, a dementor just broke in." He tucked the chocolate wrapper into his pocket, "Excuse me, I need to talk to the driver. "

He slid past Neville and Ginny on his side, and Hermione tried to grab him and let him take a good look at Tom, but Tom stopped her with a little recovered strength.

"I...it's okay..." He squeezed these words out of his teeth, and at the same time, he found that his hands were shaking uncontrollably.

Lupin had disappeared down the aisle.

Hermione sat next to Tom and held the chocolate to Tom's mouth, but he couldn't chew it at all, and could only let his saliva melt the chocolate a little bit.

The chocolate worked so well that immediately after it entered the stomach there was a stream of heat that rushed to the limbs, like glue holding the loose soul and body together.

After about a minute, Tom was able to swallow. After eating the whole piece of chocolate, he basically regained his mobility, but his hands were still shaking slightly uncontrollably.

"It's terrible, did you feel that the whole car got cold when it came in?" Neville said in a high voice.

"I feel weird, like I'll never be happy again." That was Ron and Ginny's opinion.

"Dementors feed on human happiness," said the recovered Tom, his voice so hoarse, as if his throat had suddenly forgotten how to control his vocal cords, "it will bring back the worst memories in people's hearts, which is to say People who are happier on weekdays are less affected, and dementors have a big impact on people who have experienced something or have a weak soul."

It turned out to be the case, everyone was suddenly enlightened. Harry was a little embarrassed on the side, and he didn't even notice it himself, and he was a little lucky that Tom passed out too - at least he didn't pass out alone, wasn't he?

"Tom..." Hermione put her arms around the poor boy, she couldn't imagine the suffering he had to go through to be so vulnerable in front of the Dementors.

Tom lay softly in her arms, feeling the touch of softness and the warmth coming from the back of his head, his nostrils filled with the good smell of Hermione.

Thank you, Dementor.

This is his idea.

As for the reason why he is so vulnerable in front of Dementors, he also has a general guess: his soul and body are not 100% compatible, which is a shortcoming of himself.

After Tom lay down, Crookshanks also lay on his stomach to warm him up. Ron raised his eyebrows at Harry and shrugged his shoulders, while Ginny looked at Hermione with some envy, regretting that she should have picked up Harry herself.

When everyone had almost eaten the chocolate, Professor Lupin came back.

"It will be Hogwarts in ten minutes. It seems that you are all recovering well. Remember to change your clothes. It has rained outside and it is very cold."

Finally, the train stopped at the Hogsmeade platform, and there was a loud noise outside, and the scene was chaotic. Tom patiently waited for most of the people to get off before getting out of the car and walking towards the path where the Thestral carriage was parked.

Hermione wore a Hogwarts wizard's robe over her pink sweater. The wizard's robe tightly wrapped herself, revealing only the small black leather shoes and grey long wool socks on her feet~www.novelhall.com ~ To keep warm, she also brought a blue scarf.

When we came to the side of the road, there was not much left of the carriage. The four of them were full of Harry and Hermione and Tom chose the Thestral carriage behind them. After getting in the car, Hermione closed the door so that no one else would disturb them.

The carriage started wobbly, and when it stopped, Hogwarts had already arrived.

As they got out of the carriage, Tom heard the sound of scattered footsteps, and he saw Malfoy swaggering towards the four of them. But when he saw Tom behind Harry, his expression changed, he turned his head 180°, turned his head and left.

They followed the crowd up the stone steps, through the grand oak gates, and down the lit foyer into the Great Hall, already a sea of ​​pointed wizard hats.

As soon as he entered the auditorium, Tom, like other little wizards, locked his eyes on the teacher's chair.

There, the very middle position, is empty.

Headmaster Dumbledore was absent from the opening ceremony.