"Why haven't the Dementors been withdrawn yet?"
After getting off the Hogwarts Express, they rode toward Hogwarts Castle in carriages drawn by Thestrals. At the entrance to the castle grounds, they once again saw those tall, gloomy figures that made them uncomfortable all over with just a glance.
Only Tris smiled at the sight.
Great, the Dementors were still here.
Probably because Peter's whereabouts were still unknown? That didn't matter, though. What mattered was that Tris had conducted two alchemical experiments over the holidays.
Even with the Philosopher's Stone helping him, the results had been unsatisfactory, and he happened to need more materials.
It was wonderful that the Dementors were still here. Otherwise, he had no idea where Azkaban was, and he wouldn't even have known how to go about catching them.
The Dementors at the entrance had no idea that one of the four children who had just passed them was thinking about how to skin them and pull out their sinews to turn them into alchemical materials. They were still carefully searching every passerby, checking for a familiar trace of a soul.
In fact, quite a few parents were unhappy about the Dementors remaining at Hogwarts.
After all, Peter's escape from Azkaban had already proved that Dementors weren't much use against him. Keeping them around Hogwarts now seemed to serve no purpose beyond making the students and teachers uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, the Ministry of Magic simply didn't have enough personnel. Completely surrounding Hogwarts was clearly unrealistic. Besides, if the Dementors were no use, did anyone think the Ministry's people would be any better?
They were even worse than the Dementors.
"Don't worry!" Harry said with a touch of pride as he looked at the frowning Ron and Ginny. "Remus and Sirius taught me the Patronus Charm over the holidays.