The Strange Neville

Dementors are humanoid creatures, about three meters tall, wearing black hooded cloaks, with gray bodies that look like rotting corpses.

Dementors can glide along the ground, but cannot pass through solid obstacles.

When they inhale, they make a gurgling sound in their throats, as if they are inhaling more than just the surrounding air.

The Dementors's hands were grayish-white, gleaming eerily, and seemed to be covered in slime and spots.

They also seemed to emanate a chill.

The Dementors's face has hollow eye sockets covered with a thin layer of skin covered with gray scabs.

Their mouths are large, amorphous holes used to suck away the souls of their victims— the Dementor's Kiss.

This puts the victim in a state worse than death: the Dementors removes its hood and sucks out the victim's soul, leaving the person with only an empty shell, alive but merely a walking corpse.

Most wizards believe that only Patronus Charm can banish this terrifying creature.

But now, something shocking has happened.

From an unassuming fortress on a small island in the middle of the North Sea, a torrent of Dementors surged forth; no one could tell that such a small room could hold so many Dementors.

Furthermore, they were actually expelled and controlled by spells other than the Patronus Charm!

Each Dementors was shimmering with a green light caused by an unknown spell. This green torrent, under the control of the spell, began to circle the island. After an unknown amount of time, a transparent glass dome-like object with a hint of green covered the entire island.

At the same time, the faint sounds began to grow louder and louder.

It was a series of painful whimpers, accompanied by plumes of thick black smoke rising from the fortress, forming a heavy, eerie cloud in the sky.

Crack! Crack!

After the dark clouds appeared, arrows formed from skeletons shot out from the fortress.

The white city walls rise abruptly from the rugged reefs.

The green light shield, the screaming dark clouds, and the white city walls—to the average wizard, these are undoubtedly three different elements, incompatible existences.

But in Ryan's eyes, reflected in the distant waves, an invisible magic coalesced them into one; deep within the fortress, the Antonin Dolohov version of Voldemort had vanished into thin air.

Only a pale skeleton remained.

A heartbeat, audible only to wizards of Ryan's caliber, began to appear.

Voldemort has begun his resurrection ritual.

However, contrary to Voldemort's expectations, no one will stop his resurrection this time.

Because only a resurrected him can truly be killed—by Riddle.

Grindelwald, the only one who might take action, had already been informed of the reason by Dumbledore.

Ryan watched the island gradually disappear into the waves, shook his head, and vanished into thin air.

Thousands of miles away at Hogwarts, Dumbledore, noticing that the address of Azkaban in his memory had become blurred or even disappeared, excitedly clenched his fist.

"Have you heard? Azkaban has disappeared!"

"It is said that the Ministry of Magic went to the North Sea, but they couldn't find the island no matter how hard they searched."

"How could that be? Such a big island, and those Dementors too."

On his way to Charms Class, Harry overheard a conversation between some older students.

"Harry, what kind of tricks do you think Flint might pull?"

"Tomorrow is Saturday—the match between Slytherin and Ravenclaw," Ron said, fiddling with his wand.

This was all because Ron had bought expensive Dragon Hide Tape to wrap around the handle of his wand.

It's practical and beautiful. If he hadn't recently made a lot of money from Smoke Bomb, he wouldn't have been willing to use it.

"Didn't you hear me?!"

"Something's happened in Azkaban!"

"It must be Voldemort!" Harry exclaimed urgently.

"Should we skip class now?" Ron asked anxiously.

He knew what this meant.

Months earlier, Harry had dreamt that Voldemort was going to Azkaban to rescue his minions.

"No, we'll ask Hagrid after class." Harry glanced at Neville and the others not far away and lowered his voice.

Harry finally realized how inconvenient it was, because his year of Ravenclaw always went to and from class together.

"Open your books to Standard Book of Spells, Level Two. Today you'll be learning the Tickling Charm, its incantation is Rictusempra. The Tickling Charm is often used in duels as a way to distract your opponent. Harry, you answer me, why it's ranked as one of the 'Ten Spells That Can Defeat Your Opponent Without Too Much Trouble'." The Charms Class began, and Professor Flitwick stood on the table, calling on Harry, who he saw was currently daydreaming.

"Actually, you can tell from its spell." "The spell for the Tickling Charm, Rictusem pra, comes from Latin, where rictus means to open one's mouth wide and semper means always. Therefore, the literal meaning of this spell is to always laugh."

"And in a duel, this spell can temporarily prevent the opponent from casting a spell. Furthermore, even if the opponent knows the Silent Spell, this spell will affect their concentration." Despite being suddenly called upon, Harry, who had prepared in advance, answered very well.

Ravenclaw a point!

"Do you know why I only got one point? Harry, don't get distracted in class." Professor Flitwick squinted.

As Harry nodded and sat down, Neville raised his hand.

"Longbottom, what are you trying to say?" Professor Flitwick was puzzled.

"I understand why Harry was distracted."

"This is not his fault."

"Professor, Azkaban has disappeared, is that true?" Neville asked, almost pleadingly.

He clenched his fists, as if he were about to punch an enemy who didn't exist.

"Neville," Professor Flitwick said, surprisingly not angrily.

Instead, he looked at Neville with a loving gaze.

"It's true, although the Daily Prophet didn't report it and the Ministry of Magic didn't announce it."

"This is really important to some of you (he glanced at Neville), even more important than this lesson of mine."

"But I hope you won't become complacent because of this and stop paying attention in class."

"Who knows, you might need the spell I taught you in class today someday?" Professor Flitwick advised earnestly.

After answering affirmatively, Neville sat down, his eyes immediately reddening.

He was distracted for the rest of the class.

But Professor Flitwick said nothing.

"What's wrong with Neville?" Harry asked his roommate with concern.

This even made him temporarily set aside his attention to Voldemort.

"I don't know." Ron shook his head.

Although Ron didn't really know Neville well, even though they had a day alone together shortly after Hogwarts.