162 Chapter 161 Sea and Ship (2 in 1)
Thestrals really don't need to be driven by Jon himself.
They seem to know exactly where they are going next, leading the wagon forward.
The surrounding scenery was receding, and Beech sprawled on top of Jon's head, scratching Jon's hair with his two little paws, the night wind blowing the hair on his body upright.
Jon was taking deep breaths, holding the reins in his hands, and he still had a sense of unreality.
After the opening of the third year not even Halloween has passed, and now the school students and professors are going to be separated, the last conversation between Dumbledore and him meant that the fate of those students who stayed on the wagon is going to be placed in his hands.
And there was also something about finding the reason why Voldemort changed this much?
Jon actually thought about this question almost every day after coming to this world, and now it seems that not only he, even Dumbledore has been trying to find out about this, after all, just like in the original book, if you want to defeat the dark lord, at least you have to understand the source of his power first.
People will not change so much for no reason, something must have happened in the middle of the process, which made the once crazy murderous lunatic become what he is today.
It's just that Jon couldn't figure out what kind of arrangement Dumbledore had made, and even now even though he was holding the reins in his hands, it was not clear where Thestrals were pulling the wagon to.
And just after they had gotten far from the battlefield of the Order of the Phoenix wizards and Death Eaters, the original clear starry sky was suddenly enveloped by an unknown darkness.
Jon subconsciously gripped the wand in his hand and looked up at the sky.
At some point, a huge bat was gliding over the wagon!
The bat's wings are like a canvas the size of a basketball court and fully able to shroud the whole wagon quite easily, after the whole stretch, it was able to cover the sky in a shocking fashion.
When Jon looked up and saw the bat, the bat's cold eyes were also staring straight at him.
In Jon's knowledge, there is only one bat-shaped magical creature of such a large size in the entire magical world.
Lethifold!
An extremely evil dark magic creature, it is very scarce in population and generally lives only in the tropics, likes to sneak up on people while they were sleeping, smothering them with the pair of broad fleshy wings and then eating them, and every time it eats a person, its pair of wings will become thicker and larger.
A normal lethifold is only about the size of an adult, and the one that appeared in front of Jon's eyes now is far beyond the "normal" range!
To be able to grow into its size it must have eaten many, many people, and only human flesh can provide it with the nutrients to keep growing.
This terrifyingly large lethifold stared at Jon for just a second before it began to dive down!
The wide fleshy wings didn't even bother to close up, it was like a black cloth that was going to envelop the whole Hogwarts wagon from above, just like it usually smothered its prey, wrapping all the students along with the wagon in its wings in one go!
"Sectumsempra!"
Without a moment's hesitation, the moment he saw its intention, Jon waved his wand and cast a spell without hesitation!
The invisible blade sliced through the air in a flash and landed on the wide fleshy wings of the lethifold the next moment!
"Poof!"
The sound of flesh, blood and cloth being cut open was heard, this dark curse created by Snape, has both an extremely fast speed and extremely great force, as long as the target does not react at the moment of incantation recited, it is almost impossible to avoid this curse.
Not to mention that the target lethifold is too wide, if Jon's curse can't hit it, then it would be strange.
However, precisely because of the bat's vast size, the damage caused by Jon's attack on it was almost as negligible as a scratch on a human finger.
Its downward falling movement was not half hindered, and the fishy blood just splashed on the top of the wagon, then it wrapped the whole wagon into its wings!
The action of the lethifold did not stop the galloping of the Thestrals, its weight seemed to have no obstacle for these inborn strong Pegasus, it was like a huge black octopus attached to the wagon, and the pair of broad wings were still tightening.
All the students in the wagon, who were all gathered in the great hall at the moment, saw the windows closed by the black flesh wings, followed by a violent and uncontrollable shaking!
The younger first-year students cowered in the corner in panic, they did not know what was happening, but fear filled their hearts.
Even though the senior students also couldn't suppress their inner turmoil, they had experienced more storms than the freshmen after all, and they still had to go and comfort the freshmen who were crying in this situation.
"Why isn't Jon here?" Hermione's face looked a little pale, but she maintained the most basic of composure.
Neville handed a bar of chocolate over to one of the freshmen, his furrowed brow clearly representing concern as well, but he still opened his mouth to think in a good direction.
"Jon is probably with the professors, don't worry, he's certainly not in any danger."
At this point, the students on the wagon were still unaware that their professors had left the wagon to hold off the deadly enemies for them, and the whole school would be left on their own.
The lethifold's movements did not stop there.
Just as it was about to pull the entire wagon into itself, a faint silver light suddenly shone through the gap!
The moment that silver light lit up, it made the lethifold's wings, which were tightening up, abruptly relax.
It was as if it had met the thing it hated and feared the most, and it let go of the wagon that was almost in its bag and rose back up into the sky.
Jon held up his wand, which was constantly swirling with bright silvery light, and stood up from the driver's seat with great difficulty.
He was in a position where there was no cover on three sides, the place where the fleshy wings of the lethifold began to be compressed most after the tightening of the lethifold's wings. But the good thing is that Jon finally used the Patronus Charm for the first time in real combat before the last bit of space to cast the spell disappeared.
Although he has not succeeded in summoning the Patronus, but those wandering silver light has caused enough impact on the lethifold.
This creature has almost no weaknesses, but it is similar to the dementors, inherently fearful of the Patronus Charm, which has nothing to do with how long they can grow in size, but more like a natural restraint.
The unformed Patronus in the end still lacked some potency, and the lethifold still followed the wagon even after releasing it.
It stared at the silver light at the tip of Jon's wand, as if it knew very well that the Patronus Charm he used would not last long, and as long as it waited until the moment the light went out, it could swoop over and eat everyone on the wagon!
When it comes to this kind of situation, Jon becomes calmer and calmer, he raised his wand high, so that the overflowing silver light flows around the wagon.
Thestrals are still galloping forward, as if they also heard Dumbledore's last advice to Jon, to keep moving forward!
Jon can not stop casting the Patronus charm, the floating lethifold in the sky is like a jackal following the prey on the grassland, once he showed the slightest timidity, then this creature will not hesitate to eat this most delicious delicacy.
So now Jon must find a way to break through the current dilemma as soon as possible, such a high-intensity emotion required magic spell like Patronus charm, he can't cast it forever, and before long, it will be time for him to run out of strength and has no way to continue to use the charm.
He held his wand in one hand, holding the reins in the other, his brain was working rapidly, but before he could think of a way, through the dim moonlight, he suddenly saw that in front of the wagon, there was a steep cliff!
Subconsciously, Jon held his breath!
He gripped the reins in his hands firmly, the first thing that came to his mind was to change the direction of the galloping Thestrals, but before he put this idea into action, the advice that Dumbledore had given to him before the trip surfaced in his mind.
'No matter what you encounter, or what obstacles lie ahead, remember my words now, go forward, keep going forward!
Jon did not know whether this was Dumbledore's spiritual encouragement to him or guidance in action, but he knew that Dumbledore's words could not be without purpose.
He gritted his teeth, and did not try to tug hard on the reins, his eyes just fixed dead ahead!
Thestrals did not intend to stop either, and Jon gave up on the idea of driving them to turn.
Not only did their speed not diminish, but they were getting faster and faster, faster and faster as if they were going to take everyone up!
The lethifold was also hoisting itself up, and it looked at the wagon with a humanistic mockery, as if it had seen the end of the wagon!
Unseen by Jon, the Thestrals spread their dark wings and rose sharply into the air as they raced to the highest point of the cliff!
The cords hauled on by them and the cords attached to the wagon suddenly relaxed and re-tightened abruptly.
Under the night moon, the wagon seemed to hover in mid-air!
Jon grabbed the reins in his hands, and the entire back half of Beech above his head flew up with inertia, and he held on to Jon's hair with his two paws in front of him!
Under such a situation, Jon naturally had no way to continue to maintain the casting of the Patronus charm, the silver light at the tip of his wand began to become faint, and when it was about to go out, the lethifold in the sky above the wagon aimed at the best gap, its vast body suddenly crashed into the wagon!
Under such a huge force, the wagon plummeted, and the Thestrals which originally spread their wings in the sky, did not put up any struggle or resistance, they obediently followed this force, spreading their wings, and glided down along the cliff.
Underneath, there is not a flat land, but an endless sea!
Jon can not see the Thestrals, so naturally, he can not see their actions at the moment, but in the first moment when the wagon began to fall, he saw the sea waves below.
At this moment, his mind, for some reason, recalled a question he had asked that old man at the beginning of the year.
[Then why do we have to stay in Britain, Professor Dumbledore?]
[ -It is in fact inherited from the Hogwarts castle eight years ago before it was invaded, and has a very special sense to this land. This causes its wheels to only ever turn on the British land, without the ability to reach the land outside the Isle of Great Britain.]
The wheels can only turn on British land. Without the ability to reach the land outside the Isle of Great Britain.
"Poof!"
The wagon fell into the raging sea, splashing a wave more than ten meters high.
The lethifold hovering in the sky circled around the sea for a while, as if hoping that one or two survivors would come up from the sea and serve as its dinner tonight.
But to its disappointment, no one seemed to have escaped from the wagon that sank to the bottom of the sea and submerged in the waves that were churning.
Lethifold did not stick around, it began to return to the direction it came from, its master who is feeding it is still waiting for it to go back after completing its task, now even if it is not able to eat these human pups, it can still go back and give an account, to get more rewards.
This "dark cloud" that blocked a large part of the starry sky flew away, being swept by the cold October night winds and waves constantly lapping the reefs in the sea, and there is no trace of any person or wagon there.
However, not far from this sea, an area away from the coastline of the ocean.
A huge old wooden ship silently emerged out of the sea, and then leapt to the surface!
Seawater slid off the deck and splashed down on the surface, resounding a pleasant sound of water.
Jon was sitting dumbfounded at the helm of this wooden ship, looking behind him, as an ancient yellowing-white sail slowly rose on the mast.
The white sail has an extremely conspicuous emblem, which shone in the light of the moon.
A lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a capital "H" emblem.
The white sail was raised completely and the rudder in front of Jon turned by itself!
The long sails veered, and the huge wooden ship, which from the looks of it seemed to have originated in the Middle Ages, began to move forward in the direction it had been destined.
Beech jumped down from the top of Jon's head excitedly, and his movement also made Jon, who was in shock, come back to his senses.
He had never thought that the wagon would actually be able to have such incredible changes even in the magical world!
Dumbledore had told him that the wheels of the wagon could only travel on the land of Britain, but what Jon had never thought about was that, since it was not possible to travel to foreign lands on the ground, why not go on the ocean?
The wooden ship sailed on the wind and waves, the sound of the waves around the sea echoed in Jon's ears.
Beech is running around curiously on the unfamiliar deck; even if he can't see, it's obvious that the Thestrals that were originally pulling in front of the wagon are also on the deck, as the sound of the wooden boards creaking under their hoofs was heard.
All of this is telling Jon that he and the others on Hogwarts are starting a new journey!
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[Author:]
2 in 1 chapter, the start of the new volume, grinding keyboard in preparation to write more today!
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