"Are you sure this is the practical experience Albert talked about?"
Kenneth held up his night-vision goggles with trembling hands, staring at the army of Dementors and Inferi pouring into Hogwarts through the blasted-open iron gates. The muscles in his cheeks twitched slightly.
If not for the large group of Defense Association companions around him, he would have turned and fled immediately.
There was no helping it. Those were only the enemies they could barely make out; who knew how many Death Eaters or Dark Wizards were secretly controlling the Inferi and attacking Hogwarts?
No matter how he looked at it, this did not seem like an attempt to draw the Hogwarts professors' attention from the front. Kenneth felt that Albert's definition of "not much risk" needed to be reconsidered.
"Don't make such a fuss." George soothed everyone's nerves. "Inferi fear light and fire. As long as you've properly studied Defense Against the Dark Arts, there's no reason to be afraid of these pieces of trash."
"There's even less need to fear an army of Dementors. We've practiced the Patronus Charm for so long, and now we finally have Dementors to test how effective our Patronuses are." George's words quickly calmed the restless group.
"You seem to have forgotten," Fred said, glancing at Kenneth with a teasing grin. "Someone apparently hasn't managed to summon a corporeal Patronus."
Kenneth's face flushed bright red. Who else could that someone be but him?
It was rather strange, really. Aside from Kenneth and one other unlucky fellow, virtually every member of the Defense Association had successfully summoned their own corporeal Patronus.
If the Aurors at the Ministry of Magic learned of this, they would probably shed tears of humiliation.
"Stop arguing. Those Dark Creatures have entered the school and are coming this way," Cedric