Endless darkness completely filled the Quidditch pitch, and the young wizards silently watched the Dementors floating over them, with terrible things flooding their minds.
They felt depressed, powerless, and terrified, as if the end of the world had come.
"Expecto Patronum!"
Just when everyone was in despair, a slightly young but firm voice rang from the Gryffindor stand.
Like a ray of dawn in the darkness, a silver-white animal popped up, becoming the only source of colour and light to that black and white dark world.
The little wizards turned their heads together. They saw a thin boy with his wand standing up to over a hundred hideous Dementors. The light from the tip of his wand formed a strong wall in front of the Dementors, just like the light of dawn ends the darkness.
This picture is to be printed in their memories for many years to come.
"It's Evan Mason, that's his Patronus."
Nobody knew who shouted that, but everyone suddenly remembered that they saw an article on the Dementors in the "Hogwarts Magic New", and how "Patronus Charm" was the only thing that can resist them.
The little wizards hurriedly pulled out their wands and casted the spell at the sky.
Like little stars in the night's sky, silver-white lights shined on the stands.
Soon, Evan knew how many people secretly practiced the Patronus Charm. About 600 silver-white lights appeared in the grandstand.
The thick fog of light made by all of their wands blew away the fear and coldness of the moment.
Many of them began to condense a corporeal Patronus.
Percy's Patronus took the lead in rushing out of the fog. It was like a weasel. Behind it were more than a dozen patronuses of all kinds.
Evan also saw an otter on the tip of Hermione's wand. It circled around twice then flew to the Dementors.
Following those complete ones, the white light fog floated upwards and countless Auras began to emerge.
Like a sharp arrow, the light fog hit the Dementors under its caster's will.
The Dementors never seemed to have encountered such a situation. Faced with so many Patronuses and a large amount of smoke made out of happy emotions, they panicked and retreated. These creatures that have always brought fear and despair to others, felt for the first time the taste of fear themselves and they instinctively wanted to run away.
A moment later, a beautiful voice came from the top of the castle.
That was the Phoenix's voice. Evan once heard it in the secret room in the previous semester. He turned back and saw a giant silver-white phoenix flying out of the Headmaster's office. It was the Patronus of Dumbledore, a very rare and powerful magical creature.
It moved closer to the Quidditch pitch with a huge white Aura more dazzling than all the other Patronuses. Under its illumination, the Dementors, who were slow to escape, turned into a cloud of smoke under the sight of everyone present and completely vanished.
Common Patronuses can only chase away the Dementors, but Dumbledore's Phoenix can actually kill them.
The Dementors who broke into the castle, made the greatest White Wizard of modern Times really angry.
Next to the path of the Phoenix flight, Evan saw Harry falling from high altitude and hurried to the centre of the Quidditch pitch.
Ron and Hermione were stunned for a moment and hurried to follow.
.......................... ............….
"Luckily the ground is so soft."
"I thought he would die, but he didn't even break his glasses."
Harry heard their whispers, but he couldn't understand what they were talking about.
He didn't know where he was, nor did he know how he came there, or what he was doing before he got there.
All he knew was that he was feeling pain all over his body, as if he had taken a beating.
"Fortunately, Evan and his Patronus woke us up from fear and despair!"
"A hundred Dementors, this is the most terrible thing I have ever seen in my life."
Yeah, the most terrible and scariest thing! Harry remembered the dark shadows of the scarfs and the terror underneath it…
And also, he remembered the chilling screams that constantly slammed his mind, and the man who seemed to say something in the end.
The next time Harry opened his eyes he was lying in the hospital's bed.
Gryffindor's Quidditch team members were splashed with mud from head to toe, and they were surrounding his bed. Evan, Ron, and Hermione were also there, looking like they just climbed up from the swimming pool.
"Harry, Harry! How do you feel?" Ron's face looked pale.
"What happened?" Harry's consciousness came back quickly; he suddenly sat up and saw several people around him startled.
"You fell down from above fifty feet." said Ron.
"We thought you were dead!" Alicia followed. She was standing there trembling.
When she heard her, Hermione uttered a shrill, low-pitched voice, and her eyes went red.
"But the game…" Harry said. "What happened? Can we play again?"
No one spoke, and Harry started realizing the horrible truth.
"We haven't… lost?"
"Diggory caught the Snitch!" said Fred. "Just after you fell, he didn't understand what was going on. When he looked down and saw you fall to the ground, he planned to interrupt the game to replay it later."
"But they won with fair play, and even Wood admitted this." George followed.
"Where's Wood?" Harry looked around and suddenly realized that Wood wasn't there.
"He's still in the rain!" Fred said. "We think he's going to drown himself."
Harry buried his face between his knees and grabbed his hair with both hands.
"Well, Harry, you used to always catch the Snitch," Fred said.
"You're going to miss so of them!" Said George. "The tournament is not over yet!"
"We lost a hundred points, didn't we? So, if Hufflepuff loses against Ravenclaw and we defeat Ravenclaw and Slytherin…"
"Hufflepuff must lose at least two hundred points," said George. "But if they beat Ravenclaw…"
"No way, Ravenclaw is great. But if Slytherin loses against Hufflepuff…"
"It all depends on their scores; whoever wins gets a hundred points."
Harry laid in his bed and listened to the discussion between Fred and George. He didn't say a word.
They lost because of him. He lost for the first time in Quidditch.
About ten minutes later, Madam Poppy Pomfrey came to tell the team members to let Harry rest.
"We'll see you later." Fred told Harry, "Don't blame yourself, Harry! You're still our best Seeker."
The team went out leaving a trail of mud behind them. Madam Pomfrey closed the door behind them and looked unhappy.
Evan, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other and stayed.