bioinnovel Chapter 187 A Stormy Night
Chapter 187 A Stormy Night
Chapter 187 A Stormy Night
For the next few days, the only topic of conversation throughout the school was Sirius Black.
All the students were talking about how Sirius managed to break into the school without the Dementors outside noticing him.
Some people say he flew into the school walls, others say he Apparated in. These students clearly haven't read "Hogwarts: A History of the School".
Hogwarts has all sorts of magical protections, with anti-Apparition being the most common. Even powerful figures like Dumbledore and Voldemort cannot Apparate at the school.
There are also some very outlandish claims, such as Hannah Abbott of Hufflepuff spending a lot of time telling people that Sirius Black will turn into a flowering bush.
Hannah Abbott, a purebred young girl, may have made outlandish claims, but they actually offer a perspective that comes close to the truth.
Sirius Black is an Animagus with considerable shapeshifting abilities, but he can only transform into a large black dog, not a flowering bush.
Speaking of the infamous Sirius Black, one cannot help but mention the portrait of the fat lady that he ruined. The frightened and damaged fat lady was unable to continue working for a while, temporarily relieving the dormitory supervisor of her duties.
The Gryffindor students lost their dorm supervisor, but they welcomed their new dorm supervisor, Lord Cadogan, and a fat gray horse.
Belvina mentioned in her Muggle studies class that in the wizarding version of the Arthurian legend, Sir Cadogan was one of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table who risked his life to defeat the Wywing dragon.
It is said that Sir Cadogan was married three times in his life, but was abandoned by his wives each time.
Furthermore, Sir Cadogan is rumored to be the father of seventeen children—his fertility was the envy of the dwindling Black.
After Sir Cadogan became the head of the dormitories, he spent his days either provoking Gryffindor students to duel with him or pondering complicated and absurd passwords, which greatly displeased the Gryffindor students.
But the Gryffindor students had no choice but to endure Sir Cadogan's absurdity, for no other portrait was willing to guard the Gryffindor Tower; they were all terrified by the Fat Lady's fate and feared a recurrence of Sirius Black's folly.
Blake.
Apart from Sir Cadogan, who was brave to the point of madness, Sir Cadogan volunteered to guard the Gryffindor Tower.
Amidst the enthusiastic discussions among the entire school about Sirius Black—and of course, the portrait was also being discussed—the first Quidditch match was drawing ever closer.
The opening match of the new Quidditch season is highly anticipated, with defending champions Gryffindor taking the lead against their old rivals, Slytherin.
In preparation for this highly anticipated opening match, both teams practiced extensively before the game. The two team captains, Wood and Flint, were also very competitive, and neither mud, strong winds, nor torrential rain could dampen their enthusiasm for Quidditch.
Students would often see two teams of team members covered in mud and frozen stiff in the castle at night, gurgling as they walked through the corridors, leaving a trail of muddy footprints, which infuriated the caretaker, Filch.
As the opening match date approaches, the weather is getting worse and worse than in previous years, with strong winds and heavy rain often raging all day long.
The day before the match, the terrible weather showed no signs of abating, with howling winds and torrential rain.
The area outside the castle was a vast expanse of water, and the corridors and classrooms inside the castle were dark and gloomy, requiring torches and lanterns to be lit even during the day.
For some unknown reason, when Snape was teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, he started talking about werewolves, which was the last chapter of the textbook.
To the Gryffindor students, Snape was deliberately making things difficult for them before the match; to Belvina, Snape was retaliating, nitpicking Lupin's trivial issues.
In the Defense Against the Dark Arts class taught by Snape, Gryffindor lost twenty points.
Ron Weasley was even punished with confinement, and he had to clean the toilets in the school hospital by hand.
As expected of you, Severus Snape.
On the morning of the match, Belvina woke up exceptionally early, awakened by the rumbling thunder outside her window.
The weather outside the castle was terrible; the wind was lashing the walls, the rain was pelting the windows like bullets, and the creaking of trees breaking was clearly audible into the castle.
Belvina got out of bed, drew back the thick curtains, and the sound of the storm grew louder, making her feel irritated.
She stood before the rain-soaked window, her gaze unable to penetrate the heavy curtain of rain outside, the large raindrops making the windowpane patter loudly.
Gale-force winds, torrential rain, and rumbling thunder raged across the vast expanse of water, showing no signs of abating.
Around 11 a.m., the entire school faculty and students, as usual, went out of the castle to watch the game. The terrible weather could not dampen their enthusiasm for Quidditch.
The teachers and students ran along the lawn toward the field. Their umbrellas were almost all blown away by the strong wind. The lighter students were also blown about and could not even stand up.
Wearing a thick cloak, Belvina stood in the castle hall, her entire being screaming "no." Was she really going to go out to watch the game in such extreme weather?
Belvina doesn't really like Quidditch. It's supposed to be a team sport, but it's full of extreme individual heroism, where a top Seeker can be worth the entire opposing team.
"It's alright, it's alright, it's just a drizzle," Bassheda patiently reassured her. "Just cast a water-repelling spell and a cold-proof spell, and you'll be fine!"
Bassheda, also dressed in a heavy cloak, kept urging Belvina to go to the stadium with her.
Before Belvina returned to teach at Hogwarts, Quidditch was Bassheda's only form of entertainment at the school, and she always regretted not being able to join the Hufflepuff team.
"You call this a drizzle!" Belvina exclaimed, her eyes wide with surprise. "Darling, are you sure you don't need to go to St. Mungo's to have your brain and eyes checked?"
The torrential rain connected the gloomy sky with the muddy earth, and the relentless downpour was more intense than a showerhead turned up to its maximum. Belvina had no doubt that she would be soaked to the bone in a minute.
"I mean, is this stupid match really something we have to watch?" Belvina muttered. "What's so interesting about a bunch of students playing? Are they going to turn their opponents white, or pull out a giant cleaver and cleave the goalkeeper's head in two, or release a hundred vampire bats from under their jerseys?"
"Darling, this is just the opening match of the Hogwarts season, not the World Cup final in 1473," Bassheda said. "While Slytherin's methods are a bit dirty, they won't use all seven hundred fouls."
The two female professors, pulling and tugging at each other, made their way to the castle, which was ravaged by the raging wind. They ran towards the stadium in the pouring rain. Waterproofing spells would keep them dry, and cold-proofing spells would protect them from the cold. Their combined weight would prevent them from being blown away by the wind, thus avoiding a repeat of the tragedy of Maggie Dursley.
Having finally arrived at the packed audience, Belvina began to worry again about the rumbling thunder overhead, which seemed to be right next to her ears.
If a bolt of lightning were to strike and happen to hit Harry Potter, the Seeker, that would be absolutely hilarious!
Death Eaters are overjoyed! Voldemort is doomed!
At 11:00 AM sharp, Ms. Huo Qi blew the whistle for the competition, but the scene of fifteen flying brooms taking off simultaneously did not occur; the urgent whistle was drowned out by the strong wind and torrential rain.
It wasn't until Madam Hooch took off on her flying broomstick that the Gryffindor and Slytherin members realized what was happening. They frantically tried to control their broomsticks, resulting in a chaotic and disorganized launch, completely ruining the opening match.
The wind was blowing so hard that fifteen flying brooms wobbled and twisted in the wind, and the heavy rain obscured everyone's vision.
The opening match was made extremely difficult by the extreme weather. With howling winds and torrential rain, the players were unable to communicate effectively. The shrill whistle sounded very distant, and the players on the field were not even sure how the game was going.
The game became extremely difficult, and the viewing experience was equally terrible.
All the teachers and students in the stands could see were blurry figures, and even the commentator Lee Jordan's hoarse shouts could not penetrate the torrential rain and fierce wind.
One flash of lightning after another illuminated the field, and one rumble of thunder after another echoed in the ears, but the golden snitch, which symbolized the end of the game, never appeared, and even if it did, no one might be able to see it.
After an unknown amount of time, Belvina in the stands suddenly felt very cold; the bone-chilling cold made her feel as if her internal organs were about to freeze.
With the protection of the cold spell, Belvina shouldn't feel cold.
Belvina quickly got up, squinted and looked around, realizing something was wrong.
Having visited Azkaban many times, Belvina had dealt with Dementors quite a bit, and she was very familiar with the bone-chilling cold and the feeling of having her internal organs cut out.
Belvina's worst fears came true: the Dementors couldn't resist the allure of the students and broke into the school they were supposed to protect.
As the chill intensified, the professors in the stands stood up one after another, searching for the Dementors.
Another thunderous roar erupted, and zigzagging lightning illuminated the entire dark sky. The stadium fell into an eerie silence. The Dementors had arrived!