Chapter 94 Filch's Office
"Rest is needed. The three of you should not linger."
Madam Pomfrey looked disapprovingly at Evan, Ron, and Hermione, chastising them for the water and mud stains dripping from their clothes.
"Besides, one of you needs to fetch your nutritional supplements. It will aid in your recovery!"
"I will go."
Evan noticed Ron had something to tell Harry and that it shouldn't be a task for Madam Pomfrey to handle. He stood up and followed her out of the room.
"Did I really see many Dementors?" whispered Harry, but his mind kept dwelling on the appearance of the dog.
"There were over a hundred Dementors, Harry!" Hermione said tremulously. "I was afraid and didn't know what to do. All I could think of were dreadful things. But thanks to Evan and his Patronus, we were able to wake up..."
Suddenly, Hermione thought of Evan's Patronus, which was exactly the same as the strange black cat she had met at the Leaky Cauldron the night before school started.
Could there be a connection between the two? Hermione recalled Evan telling her that he had learned to be an Animagus during the summer holidays but always refused to reveal his transformed form. Initially skeptical when she saw Evan's Patronus on the train, it was too similar to the black cat she had seen before, and Evan had been stubborn at that moment. Could that strange black cat be his Animagus form?!
Hermione's face instantly flushed as she remembered holding the cat in her arms.
God, if that were true, it would mean she had revealed herself in front of Evan...
"It's okay, Hermione," Ron said angrily, observing Hermione. He shouted, "Evan's Patronus was useless. It was Dumbledore who saved Harry and drove away the Dementors."
"What...?" exclaimed Hermione.
"Everyone saw it, Evan's Patronus charged at those monsters and they fled and couldn't hold on for more than a few seconds." Ron avoided looking at Hermione and said, "His Patronus was of no use. Harry eventually fainted, and we lost the match!"
"But it was Evan's Patronus that gave courage and hope to everyone. All the others were able to conjure their Patronuses. I also released my full Patronus for the first time, it was like an otter."
"Don't you get it yet?" Ron panted. "There were so many Dementors out there. If it weren't for Evan's Patronus, maybe Diggory would have fainted too. If that had happened, Gryffindor wouldn't have lost."
"What are you talking about, Ron?" said Hermione, surprised. "If Evan hadn't bought Dumbledore time, Harry would have fainted sooner from a greater height!"
Seeing Hermione's gaze, Ron became increasingly irritated.
There was an unexplainable anger in his heart that he wanted to release. He had also been on the Quidditch field, and his wand glowed for a moment, then the light vanished immediately.
It was far from comparable to Evan's full Patronus, or even Hermione's.
This made him very uncomfortable. He shouted, "He was more of a hindrance than a help, and none of this would have happened if not for him. Percy was just slower than him..."
"Alright, you two won't allow me a moment of peace!" breathed Harry.
Ron's voice lowered and the room fell awkwardly silent.
Harry didn't understand what had transpired between Ron and Hermione. It was odd they didn't care about his physical condition. Instead, they were arguing over whether Evan's Patronus played a role in saving him or not. Particularly, the fact that they were discussing behind his back made Harry feel uneasy.
"Forget those cursed Dementors. Has anyone taken my Nimbus 2000?"
When they heard that, Ron and Hermione quickly exchanged glances.
"Oh..."
"What?" Harry suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Oh, when you fell, they flew away with it," Hermione said hesitantly. "Then it crashed and hit the Whomping Willow."
Harry felt anguish in his heart. He had seen the Whomping Willow last semester. It even wrecked Mr. Weasley's car.
"And then?" Harry whispered, afraid to hear the answer.
"Harry, you know that Whomping Willow," said Ron. "He doesn't like anything hitting him."
"Professor Flitwick just took it back before you woke up," Hermione said in a low voice.
Slowly, she reached for her school bag at her feet and turned it upside down.
A dozen pieces of wood and bits of the broomstick's tail fell onto the bed. That was the ruin of Harry's faithful defeated broom.
When Evan returned to the room with nutrients, he saw that none of them were talking. The atmosphere was dreadful.
Harry sat on the bed, staring at the pieces of his broom in shock. Ron and Hermione also sat silently in chairs as if they had just fought.
"Don't be sad, Harry!" said Evan, pushing aside the potion on the table, consoling him and saying, "You can use my Nimbus 2001. I'll give it to you. You know it's no use to me."
After receiving the broom, Evan tossed it under the bed. It hadn't moved except for a few occasions when it was borrowed by Ron.
"Thank you, Evan! I just..." Harry looked at the fragments of his Nimbus 2000 and didn't know what to say.
This broom was beyond repair. He should discard it. But Harry didn't want to. He felt like he had lost one of his best friends.
By nine o'clock in the evening, Evan, Ron, and Hermione left Harry.
They had just left the school hospital, and Evan noticed Ron walking alone in the common room, not waiting for him and Hermione.
"What's wrong with him?" said Evan.
"Maybe the Dementors affected him!" Hermione didn't know what to say, or if she should tell him about what Ron said.
Then, when she thought of the black cat, Hermione's face suddenly turned red. She didn't know whether to confirm it with Evan.
In case of a misunderstanding, there didn't necessarily have to be a connection between the Patronus and the Animagus, and if there was, wouldn't it be too embarrassing to ask?
Hermione thought for a moment that this matter should be kept secret for a while, at least until she discovered the truth.
Wait, if the black cat really is Evan, what should she do?
Evan and Hermione walked back in silence. They had just turned the corner of the stairs on the second floor when they saw Nearly Headless Nick suddenly entering through the wall. His long, curly hair was adorned with a very elegant feathered hat, wearing a knee-length tunic with a crumpled wheel-shaped ruff.
As if made of thin cigarette smoke, Evan could see the dark sky and heavy rain outside through his body.
Since Nick had often contributed articles to the "Hogwarts Magic News" over the past year, Evan and Hermione had become very familiar with him.
"You're all right!" Nick said with a melancholic voice. "I just heard what happened on the Quidditch field. It's terrible. There's nothing wrong with Harry, is there?"
"He's fine. He has no choice but to accept reality," Hermione whispered. "You know, this is his first defeat in Quidditch."
"Yes, yes, Gryffindor is clearly the strongest, but we always lose for a variety of reasons," Nick sighed deeply. "This time it was because of the Dementors. I had already been..."
Nick's words had not yet finished when Evan saw a cat with eyes as yellow as lamps that suddenly emerged from behind him and meowed.
It was Mrs. Norris, the dusty-colored cat raised by the caretaker Filch and serving as his lieutenant in the endless battle between him and the students.
"It would be best if you left immediately," Nick said quickly. "Filch is not in a good mood. He caught a cold. While he was at the Quidditch field, someone ransacked his office. Things were everywhere. He's searching for the intruder in the castle."
"You are right," Evan hastily pulled Hermione up the stairs and was about to head to bed. He didn't want to be stopped by Filch and interrogated again.
But it was strange, who would go to Filch's office to cause trouble?
Fred and George could have done it, but they had just been at the Quidditch match and obviously wouldn't have had time. Peeves was also a possibility, but it shouldn't be him, and it's not his style to flee without boasting of his deeds.
Besides them, who else could it be?
Nick mentioned that Filch's office was turned upside down. Perhaps someone wanted to find something in it. Filch had confiscated many things from the students.