[HP] Astringent

Dahei anxiously grabbed the door of the carriage and wanted to rush out, but Vanessa hugged it and closed the door behind her back, and said softly: "It's frightening, baby. It's okay, it's all over..."

It looked at the door without blinking, and Vanessa asked, "Are you worried about Harry?"

Dahei barked twice, and she patted it on the head: "Harry is fine, be obedient, I will get off the train in a while and take you to find him."

Dahei gradually quieted down.

Vanessa fell back to her seat as if she had been emptied.Pulling out the wand, rubbing the tip of the wand, and waving it lightly, a silver-white bat flew out, rubbed against her face affectionately, hung upside down on the wand, folded its wings and curled up into a cocoon.

She looked at this little thing she hadn't seen for a long time, with a warm smile on her face.

Vanessa didn't master the Patronus Charm until she graduated from Hogwarts.This is not something to be proud of, after all, there are many people who can successfully cast the OWLs in the fifth grade.If there is anything to be proud of, this is the first spell she has successfully taught herself.

At that time, the You-Know-Who had just been wiped out, and the wizards in England were partying all night.She hastily packed her luggage and rented a dilapidated one-person apartment in a poor area of ​​New York with the little money she had.

She didn't sell her mother's house, and left most of the family savings to Harry's aunt.She did not touch all the inheritance of her fiancé John, and donated it all to the London Orphanage.

There are only a few coins left in her pocket, which are the money that the landlord gave her as alms because of her pity.She still doesn't know what to do with her next meal, how to apply for long-term residency at the US Department of Magic, or where to find a job.Luckily America also spoke English, she just had to put up with their loud accents.

During those difficult years, what Vanessa felt most was not hunger, but boundless loneliness.She was unaccompanied and alone.When she was packing her luggage, she accidentally discovered that she had brought a Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook.She flipped through it aimlessly, and stopped on one of the pages—a lifelike bat was drawn on it, with her fingertips brushing its spread wings.

She remembered the class, a Defense Against the Dark Arts class shared between Gryffindors and Slytherins in fifth year, where Professor Jones was teaching them the Patronus Charm.

Potter, Black, Lupine and Lily completed the spell in turn, but Snape, who had always had good grades, was unable to succeed.Thin white mist spewed out from the tip of his staff, his brows were frowned, he had no time to care about Potter's provocation, and focused on the textbook in front of him.

Potter directed his conjured stag to rampage through the classroom, fighting with Black's big dog.

Vanessa looked at Snape, his overlong sleeves bobbing up and down with the movement of his wand, like a bat.She found it very interesting, and described on the pages of the book what she imagined him to be like, with sharp teeth, pointed ears, alert to the dangers around him, always accompanied by darkness.

Vanessa tore out a page from the back of the notebook and wrote, "Relax and think about happy things." With a tap of her wand, the paper turned into a dry butterfly and flew towards Snape.

He opened it in displeasure, quickly scanned the line of words on it, and stared back at Vanessa.She wrote another line: "Aren't you happy, then think about me."

This time Snape didn't even look back, he waved his wand, and the note crumbled to pieces.Vanessa looked at his annoyed look amusedly.

Professor Jones came to her side, and she pretended to say a spell: "Protect yourself."

A silvery-white light rushed out of the wand, and a faint figure of an animal swayed a few times before disappearing with the white light.After Professor Jones left, she looked at Snape again. He was staring at Lily's back in a daze. The witch was carefully teaching her friend.

Vanessa wrote: "You should look back more often, maybe the person who makes you happy is right behind you?"

The butterfly flew crookedly towards Snape, and he knocked it off with his hand, and the butterfly landed on the textbook.When the bell rang for the end of get out of class, Snape swept the books into his schoolbag. The shriveled paper butterfly fell to the corner of the schoolbag and followed him out of the classroom.

Vanessa uttered the spell with little hope, she just hoped to conjure up something to keep her company.Memories flooded, and she tried the spell over and over like a headless chicken.I don't know which memory brought her happiness, maybe it was the ordinary school time that she once thought was ordinary, and she finally realized the warmth of life. The silver-white creature became more and more clear, and turned into a little bat. .She couldn't touch it, but she could feel her restless heart being soothed.

It was not given to her by others, and this peace was created by her own strength.

She once wondered why many people would never encounter a dementor in their lifetime, so why would they learn such a useless spell.But at this moment, she realized that the darkness is not only brought by the dementors, but also comes from the heart.

It was this little bat that accompanied her through the long and lonely years.

The sound of the wheels became much quieter, and the train stopped smoothly.Vanessa let her patron saint dissipate, she picked up the suitcase, and led Dahei off the train.The first-year students took a boat across the Black Lake under the leadership of Hagrid, while Vanessa waited behind the group of students for the carriage.

"Aunt Vanessa, why are you here?" Ron didn't have time to talk to Vanessa on the train, and squeezed to Vanessa's side with the big spotted cage.

She looked back and saw several familiar faces, and said hello: "You will know in a while."

"It shouldn't be, there is only one vacancy in Defense Against the Dark Arts." Hermione bit her lower lip and whispered.

Seeing Harry, Dahei couldn't help wagging his tail, sniffing carefully as if checking Harry's safety.Harry knelt down and hugged Dahei.Dahei looked sideways at the cage in Ron's hand, and Ron quickly lifted it up: "Crookshanks alone is enough to threaten, Banban is really a poor mouse."

"How is Banban recently?"

"Thanks to your cage, at least I don't have to worry about it being eaten by Crookshanks when I sleep at night."

"Ronald!" Hermione snapped angrily.

Ron frowned helplessly, and said to Vanessa, "Is this your dog? It's really unlucky."

Black dogs have always been a sign of death in the wizarding world. Legend has it that anyone who sees a black dog will suffer misfortune.Vanessa wanted to scare Ron, and said mysteriously: "I still picked up the big black one in the cemetery."

Ron took two steps back in horror, Vanessa and Harry looked at each other and laughed.Ron argued: "Uncle Billyers saw one, and it died after 24 hours!" He continued to back away while saying this, collided with the people walking behind, and Spotted's cage almost fell to the ground .

"Be careful." Lupine quickly grabbed the cage and handed it back to Ron.He thanked him sheepishly.

Lupine's gaze was fixed on Dahei, his whole body was shocked, and he asked, "Do you have a dog?"

"Well, I picked it up in Godric's Hollow not long ago, and it's very obedient." Vanessa didn't notice him, and patted Dahei's head: "Quick, say hello to Remus."

The big black tail drooped down, retreated a few steps, and hid behind Vanessa.She smiled apologetically: "Dahei is not like this usually, maybe he was frightened when he met a dementor today."

Harry nodded and said, "Dahei is usually lively."

"Have you been in contact with him... it?"

"Yeah, I help take care of Dahei when Ms. Weasley is busy." Harry thought for a while, and added, "something happened a while ago, anyway, we all live in the Leaky Cauldron."

Lupine stared thoughtfully at Blackie, who slumped down at his front paws.Vanessa squatted next to it worriedly: "It was fine just now, what's wrong?"

Suddenly it broke free from her embrace and barked at Ron. Ron turned pale with fright, and tightly hugged the cage in his hand: "What wind is it sending out?"

"Da Hei, don't bark, that's Ron's pet." Vanessa reprimanded in a low voice.

"Scabbers?" Lupine looked sideways at the cage. Scabbers was hiding in the sawdust, but Lupine didn't see anything.

A scrawny, winged horse-like creature pulled up beside them in a wagon.

"Thestrals?" Vanessa smiled, "So it's thestrals." She had never read "A Piece of Hogwarts School History", and never knew what was pulling the carriage.

"What?" Harry asked.

The sturdy Thestral moved its ears, frightened away the little flying insects around it, stomped its front hooves twice, and urged them to get on the car quickly.Vanessa shook her head: "Hogwarts always brings surprises to people." She let the three of Harry get into the car first, and she and Lupine got into the back one.Dahei curled up quietly at Vanessa's feet.

"Maybe I'm hungry." Vanessa said to herself.Lupine was more silent than usual.

As soon as they got off the carriage, they saw a platinum-blond boy blocking Harry and the three of them with two big men, and said loudly: "Did you get in too, Weasley? That scary guy Did it scare you too?"

"What's the matter?" Lupine asked mildly.

The boy glared at Lupine arrogantly, looked at Lupine's patched wizard robes and tattered boxes with distaste, and said sarcastically, "Oh, no, oh, Professor." There was a malicious smile on the corner of his mouth , raised his chin at the two big men, and led them up the stone steps.His well-tailored wizard robes were embroidered with fine silver embroideries, dimly illuminated by the street lamps, and reflected in his hair.

"The boy from the Malfoy family?" Vanessa could see Lucius Malfoy's figure from his back. He must have been spoiled and grown up, with a luxurious appearance, but he didn't learn his father's tact.

Vanessa also glanced at Lupine's clothes, and said earnestly, "Don't you men know how to take care of yourself?" Snape's image appeared in her mind. He should have no worries, but he is still young. As overworked as ever.He has been berating himself, punishing the mistakes he made with an attitude of indifference to himself.

She said softly: "Don't mind me talking too much, but I have a book on repairing clothes that is quite practical. If you need it, I can lend it to you first."

Lupine smiled mildly and nodded his thanks.