Zheng Qing landed on the streets of Hogsmeade Village, carrying the scorched smell of burnt ash.
Several charred black streaks now marked his once-clean green robes, remnants of the first bolt of lightning. Caught unprepared, he had taken that lesson head-on.
The good news was that Qilin, who stood slightly taller than Zheng Qing, had absorbed most of the blow. Its beautiful fur was now more than half singed black, making it look particularly ugly.
The bad news was that during the short flight from Hogwarts Castle to The Three Broomsticks Inn in Hogsmeade Village, he had been struck by more than a dozen lightning bolts. Fortunately, after the first strike, the prepared Zheng Qing had waved The Wand and successfully diverted the remaining bolts, avoiding further injury.
Even so, just before he dismounted, the dark cloud overhead had seized its last chance to hurl down another bolt. The surrounding Dementors halted one after another, hesitantly glancing at the young wizard.
The young wizard, face dark, tossed aside the broomstick still smoking beneath him.
The brand-new Nimbus 2000 from moments ago now looked more like a Black Nimbus 2000. More than half of its neatly trimmed bristles had been burned away. Most of the damage had been caused by the first lightning bolt; though only an aftershock, it had still severely damaged the broom.
Qilin—Yellow Flower Cat, in other words—rarely refrained from swearing.
It merely stared at the dark cloud overhead, its face full of hatred.
Zheng Qing did not waste his strength dispersing the weather phenomenon. Instead, he vented his anger on the sinister figures around him. Streaks of green light wrapped in pale red spell-glow flew in every direction, landing precisely on the Dementors.
The Dementors fell like wheat cut by a scythe, row after row dropping flat.