bantayden Chapter 270, Page 269: The Game of the Black-Robed Skeleton
Chapter 270, Page 269: The Game of the Black-Robed Skeleton
Chapter 270, Page 269: The Game of the Black-Robed Skeleton
Night fell over the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts, and thick fog drifted like ghosts among the shadows of the trees. A cold wind swept through the treetops, rustling mournfully like countless invisible claws scraping against the skin.
It shouldn't be this cold tonight.
however.
Who told the Dementors to be lurking around?
Dementors.
As life forms that do not belong to this world, as species that "mistakenly" drifted into the human realm from a dreamlike illusion, they do indeed possess an immense innate power of restraint over human beings.
"I'm going to die!"
Neville felt his mind was filled with memories of despair and pain.
He thought of his parents and his family.
Tears flowed uncontrollably.
He was still struggling, a commendable display of courage. However, it was all in vain; his strength was utterly negligible against the Dementors.
All Neville had was courage.
Courage is something that can cause pain.
"Clap clap clap!"
Neville's ancestors didn't protect him for long, probably sensing Neville's "disobedience." The Dementors thought of the times Ian would slap them when they disobeyed.
It finally put to use the methods it had learned.
It was very loud.
Moreover, the results are remarkable.
Neville instantly turned into a pig's head.
"Nawei!"
Ron stopped abruptly and turned to see Neville being grabbed by a Dementor. His heart nearly leaped out of his chest. He felt the scene before him shaking violently.
The towering Dementor seemed intent on torturing its friend.
This scene is really scary.
It's terrifying.
It's terrifying.
At least that's how it seemed to Ron, who was rather simple-minded and knew very little about Dementors. Neither he nor Neville knew any detailed information about the Dementor species.
Therefore.
Ron was unaware that he had captured Neville's Dementor and did not engage in the instinctive act of draining Neville's "pleasure," which was highly illogical and completely contrary to the habits of Dementors.
He only saw the Dementors slap Neville a few times, then lift Neville up and shake him violently, as if trying to shake everything off Neville's body—yes, Neville was lifted high, suspended in mid-air like a rag doll, his eyes rolling wildly as if he were about to faint at any moment.
He himself was even less likely to realize that the Dementors' behavior was illogical.
And Ron.
He only felt that it was like the ferocious beasts he knew, that Dementors would play with their prey before "devouring" its soul, and he was completely unaware of the strangeness of Dementors.
"No, nothing... nothing to please... the skeleton..." The Dementor shook itself for a long time, but couldn't shake out what it wanted. Its tone sounded somewhat desperate.
It's just a pity.
Neither Neville, who had been captured, nor Ron, who stood some distance away with a horrified and worried expression, noticed this, nor did they realize that a creature like a Dementor could actually have "emotions." In fact, the fact that it could suppress its instincts alone showed that this Dementor was clearly unusual.
only.
Unfortunately, Neville and Ron were both noobs.
Lacking extensive knowledge and remarkable experiences, his understanding of Dementors was limited to stories he had heard while being frightened, and he was still filled with fear and trepidation, making it impossible for him to realize this.
It lost its external brain.
They essentially lost most of their knowledge about the wizarding world—yes, as children from wizarding families, they might only know a little more about basic wizarding knowledge than Hermione, who was from a Muggle family. In terms of actual knowledge, most descendants of wizarding families gradually fall behind their half-blood or Muggle-born wizarding peers after starting school. This is actually why many pure-blood descendants resist non-pure-bloods.
Perhaps many children from Muggle families are not as outstanding as Hermione, but when they are learning magic, they also have a kind of thirst for knowledge and persistence.
This is a kind of motivation to learn that the descendants of pure-blood families who are used to magic lack. Neville and Ron are examples of this; they don't have the same thirst for extracurricular knowledge as Hermione.
Therefore.
The two of them ended up in this situation where they were "scaring themselves." Ron, in particular, was prone to overthinking, and now he imagined Neville was about to be skinned alive.
"No! Don't touch my friend!"
Ron felt a burning sensation in his stomach, like iron being scorched by a raging fire. He looked down at his hands—they were trembling violently—but he knew he couldn't abandon Neville.
Only he can save Neville.
courage.
I overcame my fear at that moment.
To be fair, although Ron is jealous, resentful of the rich, and stingy, and has many flaws, these cannot overshadow his virtue of being a loyal and righteous person.
All I saw was...
Seeing his good friend being captured, Ron felt a surge of righteous anger that overwhelmed his fear. He looked around but couldn't find a suitable weapon.
But that didn't stop him from wanting to save people.
"I'll fight you to the death!"
When he let out that roar, his voice was hoarse and trembling, but that didn't stop Ron from grabbing two stones from the ground and charging fearlessly at the Dementors.
Yes.
That's why they say ignorance is bliss. Ron is a typical example of someone who doesn't know the characteristics of Dementors and just thinks that stones can harm them—a brave guy with that mentality.
He charged resolutely and fiercely towards the Dementor. The Dementor turned to look at the young wizard; its empty eye sockets without eyes looked terrifying.
However, it was actually confused and bewildered.
"Put down my friend!"
Ron roared and charged madly at the Dementors, snapping tree branches beneath his feet. The wind howled in his ears, and blood roared in his eardrums.
Even the world suddenly became unusually clear.
He sensed it.
This was perhaps the power bestowed upon him by the bond of friendship. Ron felt his entire body brimming with strength, and he was certain that he could successfully save Neville with the help of friendship.
And at that very moment.
"Phew~"
The Dementor tried to mimic Ian's gasp of surprise.
but.
It absorbed all the heat from the surroundings.
The air suddenly dropped again.
It seemed to clear Ron's mind a bit.
"Die, monster!"
Ron suddenly stopped about two meters away from the Dementor. Although he was still hot-blooded, he simply raised his hands and threw stones at the Dementor.
"Bang!"
"Snap!"
There are only two stones in total.
One of them went astray.
The stone that was thrown didn't hit the Dementors, but rather Neville, whose eyes were rolling back in his head. It jolted Neville awake from his unconscious state, adding a bruise to his already swollen face.
"Hold on, Neville! Don't pass out!" Ron, extremely embarrassed, found a "reasonable" excuse for his behavior, and then bent down to pick up a few more stones to throw at the Dementors.
I guess it's related to dealing with Dementors.
Only he could come up with such an absurd and hilarious idea.
"Put down my friend!"
Ron roared again, and at this moment, bonds and courage were displayed in him, and the brilliance of a Gryffindor student shone through—however, it was all for naught.
"Splash~"
The Dementor seemed to realize that Neville was about to hit it, so it suddenly lunged forward and, just as Ron picked up the stone and was about to get up, grabbed Ron by the foot and lifted him up.
"Let me go! Let me go—"
Ron's bravery did not bring about a miracle. It proved that if you are not strong enough, even if you talk about bonds and such, you still cannot turn the tide.
In front of the Dementors.
Without even a wand, Ron clearly had no hope of turning the tide. He was filled with fear and struggled incessantly, but he looked like a fish being caught upside down by a Dementor.
Struggling is pointless.
Neville, who had been woken up by the blow, saw that Ron had also "died," and his pale face was filled with despair. Neville was too frightened to speak, and tears welled up in his eyes.
"Help!"
He kept screaming.
However, the sound was not enough to reach the castle—no professors came out to rescue them from the quiet castle, after all, it was late at night, and most of the professors were already asleep.
Not everyone is being watched by professors all the time.
"We're really going to die, we're really going to die, damn it, why are there Dementors in Hogwarts? Why isn't anyone coming to save us!" Ron was being dragged and shaken by the Dementors.
He felt dizzy and nauseous. At this moment, Ron was also experiencing the same treatment Neville had received, with the Dementors dragging him around and shaking him as if trying to shake something out of his body.
however.
Ron had even less on him than Neville, after all, he was a notoriously poor guy. Apart from half a sandwich, the Dementors only produced some random junk.
It's obvious that these are not the things the Dementors are looking for.
"No...no..."
The Dementor seemed even more desperate than the two young wizards. However, the two young wizards couldn't discern its emotions at all; they simply kept wailing in its grasp.
Nevertheless.
Instead of bending down to suck the souls of humans as a normal Dementor would after grabbing them, the Dementor used its rotting arms to lift the two high as if assessing something.
"Toys... I need toys... to replace, to replace me." Its body trembled slightly, and a muffled whimper came from under its hood, as if it were both afraid and expectant.
have to say.
Compared to the very beginning.
The Dementor Ian is raising is definitely speaking much more fluently now. It's understandable, considering Dementors are always pushed to their limits in the Room of Requirement.
It is only natural that human language is becoming more and more fluent.
"It's torturing us! It's enjoying our despair!" Ron's teeth chattered, and his breath condensed into white mist. Neville's lips turned purple and he trembled violently upon hearing this.
"Could it be... that they've already eaten everyone in the castle, and now it's our turn?" His voice trembled with tears, and he couldn't contain his imagination.
They appeared desperate and helpless.
The young wizards often misjudge the strength of the Hogwarts professors and fail to understand that even hordes of Dementors cannot breach Hogwarts.
And it was clear that Neville had already started using his imagination.
Ron's imagination began to run wild: "That must be it! It killed everyone! So now there's no one who can come to save us!"
"This is all Snape's and those dark wizards' plan. They're going to leave us until the end and torture us slowly!" His body twisted violently, but he couldn't break free from the Dementors' cold grip.
"Waaaaah! Everyone's dead!"
Neville burst into tears.
"That must be it! Otherwise, why wouldn't it be interested in us?!" Ron's voice was filled with despair. "It must be full and now it wants to keep us for a midnight snack!"
have to say.
Ron's imagination is truly extraordinary.
"It would be better to just devour our souls now!" Neville felt he had had enough and wanted to die as soon as possible to be free. He stopped struggling like a salted fish.
Under the influence of the Dementors, the chill seeped into their bones, dulling their minds as if they were about to be frozen.
"I see I'm too naive..." Neville's voice grew weaker and weaker, his eyes unfocused. Ron also felt his consciousness fading, and he saw hallucinations of himself about to die.
Just when the two thought they were about to ascend to heaven, the Dementor suddenly moved. It slowly turned its body, as if searching for something, and finally, its face locked onto the shadows in the distance.
"They're here..."
The Dementors were extremely nervous.
She led the two young wizards to the defensive line she sensed.
As Ron and Neville hung upside down, they saw a scene unfold before their eyes: a dark figure slowly approaching in the moonlight, looking icy cold and devoid of any kindness.
"Dark Wizard!"
Ron screamed in terror, the adrenaline instantly sobering him up.
"Damn it!" Ron started struggling again. "I get it! I get it! This Dementor is waiting for its master! We're going to be sacrifices for dark magic experiments!"
His imagination remains remarkably consistent.
Neville was terrified, as if he had Parkinson's: "A dark wizard who even Dementors have to submit to... how terrifying must he be... Waaah, could it be that the Mystic has been resurrected?!"
All I saw was...
The figure in black robes drew closer, its long robes fluttering in the night wind. With each step closer, the Dementor trembled more violently, desperately raising the two little wizards in its hands.
"really!"
This further confirmed Ron's suspicions.
When the woman in black robes walked up to the Dementor and looked up, the moonlight finally revealed her appearance—a woman with a skull face, and her white bones were faintly visible beneath her black robes.
A deep, eerie flame flickered in his eye sockets.
"Aaaaaah!"
Neville's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed limply in the Dementor's grasp.
"What is this?!"
Ron's mind went blank for a moment. He struggled frantically, but the Dementors' hands gripped him like iron clamps, even pushing him and Neville forward.
"Play...play them, no, don't play me." The Dementor pleaded with the black-robed skeleton in a hoarse, stuttering voice, repeatedly pushing Ron and Neville towards itself.
The black-robed skeleton drew closer, its empty eye sockets fixed on the two young wizards. Ron's fear completely shattered his last defenses; everything went black, and he lost consciousness.
next second.
"Splash—"
Ron's pants finally got wet.
(End of this chapter)