The sky was still frighteningly dark, but the originally pouring rain suddenly froze in mid-air.
The whistling wind stopped, the roaring thunder disappeared, and the whole world was depressed, with uncontrollable anger rising up.
Harry's thin body fell rapidly from the sky without any consciousness. There seemed to be another figure above him riding on a broom trying to catch up with him, but he could not catch up with his falling speed at all.
But in such a dark weather, Harry was not discovered by the young wizards in the audience until he was about to fall to the ground.
"Look up at the sky! That's... that's Harry Potter!" someone exclaimed.
"Cedric, the one following Potter? Which of them caught the Snitch?"
"They are going too fast, isn't that a bit strange?"
"… "
The crowd couldn't see clearly what was happening and were discussing it in their respective seats.
"Why don't I see any movement from Harry... Wait, where's his broom?" Ron heard the discussions around him, frowned and looked up into the sky, then his eyes widened in horror.
"Harry didn't slow down at all!" Hermione shouted anxiously, "Don't you feel the coldness all over your body? It must be the Dementors again. Harry fainted after seeing the Dementors last time!"
She stood up and pointed her wand toward the sky.
However, it was too dark and Harry was too small. Hermione, who was only a third-year wizard, had no ability to cast the spell on Harry accurately and could only watch him falling rapidly.
At this moment, an old and deep voice came from the highest stand -
"Arresto Momentum—"
This voice seemed to have a soothing power. The panicked little wizards immediately calmed down and felt completely relieved.
They recognized Dumbledore's voice.
Harry's falling speed immediately slowed down, and the anxious Cedric finally caught up with him, loosened his hands that were tightly gripping the broom and supported Harry.
Fred and George finally reacted, and hurriedly flew to Harry's side. Together with Cedric, they held him up and landed on the still muddy ground.
"Cedric, what just happened?" Fred asked impatiently, "Why did Harry suddenly fall from the sky? Where is his broom?"
"We just encountered Dementors... Countless Dementors, they were wandering in the air, densely packed." Cedric said with lingering feelings, "Then Harry fainted and fell off the broom."
"How did the Dementors get into the Quidditch pitch?" George waved his fist angrily and said angrily, "They almost killed Harry!"
At this time, Wood also flew over with the three chasers and landed on the ground.
"How's Harry?" Wood asked.
"He's fine, Captain Wood... but I'm afraid we can't continue today's game." Cedric sighed and said softly.
Wood looked at Harry with concern and was about to carry him on his back and send him to the school infirmary.
Then, Wood noticed a ray of golden light flashing in Cedric's hand as he supported Harry's back.
"That's..." He was stunned for a moment, and suddenly Tong Kong shrank, "Diggory, you caught the Golden Snitch?!"
"What?" Both the Weiss twins were startled and looked at Cedric's clenched right hand in shock.
Seeing that he couldn't hide it anymore, Cedric had to spread out his palms.
In his palm lay a metal ball as big as a walnut, and on the bright golden ball was a pair of sparkling little wings that flapped constantly.
"In fact, if it weren't for the Dementors, Harry would have a great chance of getting the Golden Snitch." Cedric said, "I won this match unfairly. I suggest we have a rematch. Let's find a better day for a serious match."
"No need," Wood said. His voice seemed to come out of his throat. "A real Quidditch player won't make excuses because of external factors. Your victory is yours. No need to replay."
After saying this, Wood breathed heavily, as if saying this had used up all his strength.
"but… "
Cedric wanted to retort, but the referee, Madam Hooch, had already come to the Quidditch field with another witch who was older than her and inserted herself between them.
"Ms. Hooch, Cedric has caught the Golden Snitch, the game is over!" Wood suddenly shouted.
Madam Hooch looked at Wood in surprise, took the Golden Snitch from Cedric, and approved the result of the competition.
"Dududu—"
She blew the whistle, announcing the Hufflepuff team's final victory.
At this time, Professor McGonagall also hurriedly trotted onto the court with an extremely anxious look on her face. She didn't care at all that the muddy grass had splashed many spots of mud on the hem of her decent wizard robe.
"Madam Pomfrey, is there anything wrong with Potter's health?" she asked hurriedly to the witch who had followed Madam Hooch here.
"Nothing serious." Madam Pomfrey, the head nurse in a white wizard robe, quickly checked Harry's body, then turned to Professor McGonagall and said, "It should be just a convulsion under the influence of the Dementors, but the specific details cannot be determined now. I will take him back to the school infirmary for a thorough examination."
She waved her wand, controlled a stretcher, took Harry from Cedric and others, and floated towards Hogwarts Castle.
"That's good," Professor McGonagall breathed a sigh of relief, then looked up at the sky with a bad look on her face, "This is really terrible. How could the Dementors appear here? This is definitely an act of usurpation and offense!"
"When I passed by that stand just now, I seemed to see Dumbledore looking very angry," Madam Hooch held her broom and sighed softly, "How will he deal with this matter?"
"It's been a long time since I've seen Albus so angry." Professor McGonagall nodded, then said hesitantly, "But this time, it seems that someone has dealt with it for him first..."
As if to confirm Professor McGonagall's words, a dazzling silver light suddenly appeared in the gloomy sky, occupying the entire sky, like a silver moon shining in the heavy dark clouds!
The sky, which seemed to be in a state of stillness, suddenly changed. The thick clouds slowly began to rotate with the silver moon as the center.
As time passed, the speed of rotation became faster and faster, and the height of the center of the cloud became lower and lower, gradually forming an hourglass shape, as if a tornado that spread across the sky and the earth suddenly blew up above the cumulus clouds!
All the little wizards present opened their mouths wide and looked at the scene in the sky in extreme shock.
Not only the young wizards, but even the knowledgeable professors were no less shocked, they all opened their eyes wide like ignorant children, staring blankly at the violently spinning cloud column.
Their eyesight was much better than that of the little wizards. They could see that there was not only the rotating cloud pillar and the silver moon in the sky, but also countless corrupt and dark creatures struggling desperately beside the cloud pillar, trying to escape the hurricane.
Those dark creatures were all dressed in rotten cloaks, which were rustling in the fierce wind, as if they were about to be torn apart completely... Who would have thought that they were the Dementors who were so arrogant and domineering just a few minutes ago
The cloud column was spinning faster and faster, and the wind was getting stronger and stronger. In the silver light, it seemed as if silver bats appeared out of thin air and danced around in the wind.
Every time a bat touched the Dementor's body, the Dementor, which was about to escape from the tornado, seemed to lose all its strength and was instantly deprived of its ability to move, no longer able to struggle.
In this way, all the Dementors in the sky were sucked into the violent tornado.
Then, all the rotating cumulus clouds gathered with the flow of the wind and disappeared into the silver moon.
The moon gradually shrank, and was finally gently grasped by a slender hand and held in the palm of the hand.
The moonlight faded, the dark clouds dissipated, the sky turned the long-lost blue, and the ground was filled with warm sunshine.
The figure floating in the air frowned, took a step forward, and disappeared in an instant.
The wizards present stared blankly at the golden light in the sky, feeling the warmth they had not felt for many days.
If the lawn had not been still muddy, they would have thought they were just dreaming.
…
The next day, people from the Ministry of Magic rushed to the office of the Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts via the Floo Network.
Professor McGonagall received them in her office. Of course, she did not show any good face to these culprits who almost caused Harry to fall to his death and caused her house to fail to win the Quidditch game.
Dumbledore and Dracula sat in the headmaster's office on the eighth floor, chatting idly while waiting for the Ministry of Magic officials to arrive.
"How's Potter?" Dracula picked up the Sorting Hat as usual, and asked casually while turning the hat.
"Thanks to you, Harry woke up not long after Poppy took him to the school infirmary." Dumbledore smiled, "His friends all went to the school infirmary to visit him."
"There's actually nothing wrong with Harry's health, but Bobby insists that he stay there until the weekend, so I have to ask Professor Dracula for leave on his behalf," he said.
"A week's vacation? I see." Dracula thought for a moment and nodded, "But I heard that he was not in a very good mood. Was it because he lost the game? Their captain was quite free and easy when he refused to replay."
"That's one reason, but it's not the only one." Dumbledore shook his head and said, "Harry's broom hit the Whomping Willow and was torn to pieces by the angry willow. It's probably beyond repair."
"Professor Dracula, you know, a broomstick is to a Quidditch player what a wand is to a wizard, it is their best friend. So Harry losing his broomstick is like losing a good friend, of course he will be sad for a while..."
"I don't really understand." Dracula chuckled and threw the Sorting Hat back on its stool, then casually took out his wand. "If you hadn't insisted that I prepare this wand, I wouldn't even bother to use it."
"Of course you are special, Professor Dracula. It's good that you roughly understand what I mean." Dumbledore said helplessly, "Anyway, Harry is fine. We should now consider how to deal with the Ministry of Magic's attack."
"Oh?" Dracula looked at Dumbledore and raised his lips slightly. "Why should we deal with their attacks instead of us?"
There was a hint of surprise in his eyes at first, and then a hint of mockery.
"Don't tell me... you're not going to let me hand over those Dementors this time?"
"They entered the Hogwarts territory without my permission. Of course, they will have to pay a price." Dumbledore's voice turned cold. "Although Hogwarts is just a magic school, it does not mean that we will be bullied by others."
Just then, there was a knock on the principal's office door.
Dumbledore and Dracula looked at each other and nodded.
"Come in."
Dumbledore raised his hand and the door opened automatically.
Professor McGonagall walked in with several wizards in formal attire.
"Albus, the person is here," said Professor McGonagall.
"Thank you for your hard work, Minerva." Dumbledore's expression turned gentle again. "I would also like to trouble you to tell Remus to take Professor Dracula's place for two classes. I don't think we can solve this problem in a short time."
Professor McGonagall nodded, then glanced coldly at the officials of the Ministry of Magic, turned and left the headmaster's office, closing the door behind her.
After Professor McGonagall left, the headmaster's office fell into silence for a short while.
Dracula watched with interest Dumbledore, who was leisurely drinking tea, and several Ministry of Magic officials who seemed a little uneasy in their movements. He found it very interesting.
No matter what status people hold, no matter how self-important they are, when they really face Dumbledore, the great wizard who is like the ceiling of the wizarding world, they will involuntarily show a bit of fear.
"Well, Principal Dumbledore, we are here mainly to solve the problem of employees of the Ministry of Magic being captured arbitrarily by your school. This is against the rules..."
The leading Ministry of Magic official in a pinstriped suit couldn't help himself and spoke first, breaking the quiet atmosphere in the office.
"Is this what you think, Minister Fudge?" Dumbledore put the teacup back on the table, glanced at him, and said indifferently, "I have to say that our views on this matter are somewhat different from yours."
"Please go ahead." Fudge wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.
Then, as if he felt that his performance was a bit cheap, he forced himself to straighten his back, and his bulging belly almost pushed off the buttons on the front of his clothes.
"Well, let me tell you what I think," Dumbledore said coldly.
"All I know is that yesterday a large number of Dementors broke into the Quidditch pitch where a game was in progress, attacked a Quidditch player, and nearly put the player's life in danger!"
…
…