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HP: Bloodraven Chapter 206 - Expect—No You Don’t! (III)
🕑 Added 2025-07-12 20:07:10 +0000 UTCThere were two reasons why Maverick had chosen to travel to Hogwarts via the Express today. First, he wanted to see whether events would truly unfold as they had in the original story. And second—because Jean was on board.
He would make absolutely sure nothing happened to her. If she lost control, there was no telling what the consequences might be, and Maverick wasn’t about to leave that to chance.
Aside from that, he had no intention of interfering with the Ministry officials or their reckless plan to bring Dementors on board.
Chooh! CHOOOOO!
Two loud whistles echoed from above, and Maverick felt the train begin to slow. He sat up straight and slipped off the narrow bed.
Then, with a nudge of magic to the ring on his finger, his clothes began to change—morphing smoothly into the full-body black suit. A soft hum followed, and the next moment, he vanished from the spot and reappeared above—already in motion, flying along the top of the train as it gradually decelerated.
With his magic suppressed as much as possible, invisibility in place, and the extraordinary trait of true concealment masking his presence entirely—not even the Dementors’ senses could detect him gliding silently over the train.
Dozens—perhaps more—he could see the creatures flying overhead, slowly entering the train one by one from the front. The two officials were giving them verbal instructions, and what he saw next made him raise a brow—the Dementors actually nodded, as if they understood and intended to carry them out.
It was a strange sight. Everything happening was now within his range of observation as he silently landed atop the second-to-last carriage—the very one where Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Jean were seated. The train had slowed down considerably by now, and soon, it came to a complete halt.
The inspection had also started, beginning from the front carriages, as one Dementor after another opened the compartment doors.
Maverick’s senses were on full alert, but he would only step in if a student’s life was truly in danger. Until then, he would be just a spectator—watching this so-called inspection play out from a third-person point of view.
Hmm… one particular carriage caught his attention—a group of Gryffindors were seated inside, and…
Remus Lupin? he thought, spotting an adult sleeping in the same cabin.
The lights were off, and when the train had stopped, the kids inside had stirred awake. One of them he was quite fond of—a bit of a genius in his alchemy class—Neville Longbottom, the other boy-who-lived.
The Dementor opened the door, and the children inside, obviously, went pale with fear. But then…
Maverick’s brow furrowed. His magical sense picked up one of the students’ magical energy being drained rapidly. No… two. Longbottom and the kid next to him were both reacting the same way.
Sure enough, the creatures couldn’t help themselves and were feeding on them. Not to life-threatening levels, but subtly—and even so, they were just kids. It would leave a scar on their minds.
And it wasn’t just that carriage. Maverick noticed the same thing happening in several others. Some of the Dementors were doing it intentionally—or more accurately, they were simply helping themselves to a small bite of the feast Fudge had practically laid out for them, probably thinking it wouldn’t matter to anything.
Maverick’s eyes narrowed as he raised his hand, ready to put a stop to it all.
But just as he was about to act, he sensed a sudden movement—the sleeping man jolted awake, sprang up, and with a flick of his wand, blasted the Dementor in his compartment.
It was a Patronus.
A wolf—of course. And it did the trick. The Dementor fled, but Lupin didn’t seem to want to stop there.
Maverick observed as the man said something to the students in that cabin, then stepped into the corridor before unleashing an even stronger Patronus. At his command, it surged forward from carriage to carriage, scattering the Dementors like shadows chased by sunlight.
Quite impressive—and with that thought, Maverick slowly lowered his hand and turned his focus back to the carriage beneath him.
One of the Dementors had just entered. He saw Granger bravely shielding little Jean, and across from her, Harry stood ready as well. The boy did look frozen for a moment, but then he pulled himself together—and it seemed the scene from the original story, where he fainted, wouldn’t be repeating itself.
What followed was the two of them—Harry and Hermione—doing their best to cast the Patronus. They weren’t having much success, though. Understandable, after all—they had only come across the spell about a month ago.
However, it didn’t take long before, from Miss Know-It-All’s wand tip, a faint white mist began to form. It wasn’t anywhere near a corporeal Patronus, but even that was enough to keep a Dementor from at least approaching.
Again, quite impressive, Maverick remarked inwardly. He was ready to act should they fail to hold it—even if it was just a small whiff of their emotions, he didn’t plan to let it happen, not with Jean involved, considering the unknowns.
Harry was trying too, muttering the spell again and again, but the savior still wasn’t quite there. The Dementor lingered at the doorway, hesitant, watching the flicker of magic—which, to it, though faint, was like a piece of the most disgusting thing standing between it and its meal.
Maverick’s focus shifted to Jean—and he was surprised to see that her expression wasn’t quite like that of a frightened child. She wasn’t exactly calm, but she wasn’t frozen in fear either. He watched as her hand rose slowly, as if preparing to cast a spell of her own—wandlessly.
No… Maverick thought sharply.
Was she about to use her mutant ability?
Would it even work against a creature like that?
But she didn’t get the chance, as suddenly—
“EXPECTO PATRONAAAM!”
Harry’s voice rang out loudly and, surprisingly enough, was strained with frustration rather than fear.
A white mist, slightly brighter than Hermione’s, burst from his wand and began to fill the cabin.
“YOU SHALL NOT PASS, EVIL CREATURE!”
Harry shouted again, and from Maverick’s perch above, one of his eyes twitched.
“Is this kid Gandalf now?” he couldn’t help but mutter amusedly.
The Dementor gave a screech of frustration and bolted from the compartment—only to fly straight into an enormous form of a silvery wolf that lunged and bit into its ragged cloak.
Lupin’s Patronus wasn’t exactly a werewolf, but more like a Mackenzie Valley wolf—one of the largest wolf species in the world.
Maverick watched as the Dementor struggled for a moment, then finally broke free and tore away like its robes were on fire.
Whoever said Dementors couldn’t be harmed clearly didn’t know what they were talking about. Maverick could sense it—the creature’s magic, foul as it was, had diminished noticeably from just that brief clash.
All in all, it seemed he wouldn’t have to take action personally today. The sorry excuse for what they dared call an inspection finally came to an end. The Dementors—all of them—began to leave, heading off to Merlin knows where, and Maverick spotted the two officials yelling frantically into the air at their hasty departure.
It was clear now that the whole operation had been a complete failure. Dozens of compartments remained unchecked, and from what Maverick gathered while eavesdropping on their panicked conversation, their main concern wasn’t exactly the unfinished job, but the fact that several students had nearly passed out being drained of their emotions.
Nothing akin to a permanent injury to their bodies or magic, but still—they were just students, and it was sure to be a scarring experience.
Worse still, a number of those students were heirs to noble houses—some aligned with factions directly opposed to Fudge’s own. Once word reached their parents, the Ministry would undoubtedly be in for a storm.
Watching the two men bicker over what excuse they could offer, Maverick’s lips curled into a knowing smile. He already planned to have the details of this disaster spread to every corner of the country by morning.
Time crept by, and at last, the Hogwarts Express lurched forward once again to finish its journey toward Hogsmeade Station.
Maverick had no reason to linger any longer. After casting one last glance—using his Magical Sense—through the roof at the compartment below to make sure the children were alright, his body rose silently into the sky.
There were still around two hours left before the train would reach its destination. Then, a moment later, a sharp snap echoed where he hovered—and he vanished, returning to Hogwarts for the first time since the holidays had begun.
Comments
Bluerain22
Yay Remus and his patronus! Please don’t give him the cure that greatly diminishes his magic. As a little kid who was bitten by Greyback, I’m hoping there is a lot more positives in store for him. Fudge - horrible, I’m looking forward to his life crumbling down.
Brommier
In the paper? It’s gonna be all over wizard tv
QuantumServer
Thanks for the chapters
Dark_pheonix
Thanks for the chapter!
André Lange
He should get an article in the papers about it. Something like “kids attacked en route to Hogwarts by Dementors” That should put some pressure on fudge.
