This is a true guardian patronus.
Compared to his slow and lazy young cat patronus, it was much larger in size and moved much more flexibly and gracefully.
The image of the guardian patronus here is an adult deer.
However, it does not have the pair of sharp and huge antlers of the male deer. Instead, it has two triangular ears.
So to be more precise, it's a silver doe.
The Dementor that had just tried to approach Astoria fled away like a sheep seeing a wolf... In just a few seconds, it exited the car door and floated back into the air.
It wasn't just this one Dementor. Almost all of them were affected by the silver doe and they all started to leave the train. In the sky, countless black shadows could be seen flying away.
Jon quickly put away his wand and flashlight, then supported Astoria.
She had completely lost consciousness by now.
...
...
Jon helped her to her feet, and while the silver doe was gone.
Then, Severus Snape, dressed in a black robe, rushed in.
He just glanced inside the compartment, and then said coldly: "Take her and follow me!"
Jon quickly carried Astoria. She was very light and it was not difficult to carry her. Following Snape's steps, they walked into the aisle.
The aisle was littered with all kinds of suitcases, due to the chaos caused by the Dementors' forced entry.
Professor Snape waved his wand gently, and the suitcases returned to their respective compartments one by one, while also making way for them.
After crossing a distance of more than a dozen compartments towards the front of the train, the train started again.
Jon and Astoria almost fell to the ground together because they couldn't stand firmly for a moment, but an invisible force seemed to lift them up in time.
"Be careful!" Professor Snape shouted sternly, and then continued walking forward without looking back.
…
A few minutes later, they arrived at a compartment in the front part of the car.
This compartment is almost twice the size of the other compartments.
Like Snape's office, this place is also filled with various bottles and jars.
Snape waved his wand and a hammock appeared in the empty space in the compartment.
Jon quickly carried Astoria over and placed her on the hanging platform.
Then, a wisp of silver flame suddenly appeared beside them. It was a very gentle flame, without a trace of burning sensation, only emitting a faint warmth. Jon noticed that Astoria's eyelids began to tremble slightly.
"Hart, come and help me!" Snape ordered rudely, "Help me get the valerian root, peppermint and daisy roots."
Then, a crucible appeared in front of Snape, and he had added half a bottle of glycerin into it.
Although Snape's medicine rack looked messy, the herbs were arranged in a very orderly manner according to their type and initials; so it didn't take Jon too much time to find those herbs.
"Grind the valerian root into powder and chop the daisy root into pieces!" Snape ordered while operating his hands quickly.
Jon watched Snape's movements out of the corner of his eye.
This was almost the first time Jon saw Professor Snape prepare a potion. He had almost never demonstrated it in Potions class before.
And now Jon finally understood why Severus Snape was considered a well-known potion master throughout Europe.
His technique was extremely skillful, and every step was done just right... The herb peppermint, which was known for its instability, became extremely well-behaved in his cauldron.
Originally, Jon thought he had some talent in potions and was a little complacent; after seeing him today, he realized that there was still a qualitative gap between him and a real potion master.
Several medicinal herbs were added to the crucible one after another...
Just a quarter of an hour later, Snape's potion was ready, although Jon didn't know what kind of potion it was.
Astoria gradually woke up, her face extremely pale.
"Let her drink it!" The pot of light blue potion was put into a glass bottle and floated into Jon's hands.
Jon hurried to the hammock, through the silver flames, and held Astoria.
"Drink it!" he whispered.
Astoria nodded obediently, then frowned and drank the potion in the bottle bit by bit.
All I heard was a violent cough.
Her pale face became rosy again.
"Professor Snape..." she said softly.
"Mrs. Greengrass wrote to tell me," Severus Snape said coldly, "she said that there might be Dementors stopping the car for inspection today, so she asked me to look after you!"
Snape paused, then continued, "But I didn't expect you weren't in the same compartment with your sister, Miss Greengrass!"
"I'm sorry, Professor Snape..." Astoria lowered her head.
"As for you, Hart!" Snape ignored her and turned his sharp gaze to Jon: "Dumbledore told me more than a month ago that I should teach you how to use the Patronus Charm when I have time..."
"But obviously you have already learned it... although I don't know who taught you; but I guarantee that the crappy and crippled 'Patronus' you summoned will make him feel ashamed!" Snape said sarcastically.
Jon had no choice but to lower his head.
"Listen, Hart!" Snape shouted, "The headmaster wants me to teach you the Patronus Charm, so you come to my office this Saturday afternoon, understand?"
"I understand Professor!"
"Then get out now!"
Astoria had already walked out of the cubicle.
Jon was about to leave when he suddenly had an idea and turned back: "Professor, the one who saved us before should be your patronus; it seems to be a..."
"It's a goat!" Snape roared. "Get out!"
Then he pushed Jon roughly out of the compartment and slammed the door shut.
...
....
.....
Soon, they returned to the previous compartment.
For the rest of the journey, neither Jon nor Astoria said anything more about what had just happened.
Astoria's expression seemed to have returned to its usual innocence, as if the Dementors had never appeared. She began to ask about Headmaster Dumbledore's home visit with a smile:
"By the way, Jon, what did Professor Dumbledore ask when he visited your home?"
"He didn't ask any questions. He just chatted with my parents and ate nearly a pound of dessert..."
"A pound?"
"Yeah, you wouldn't have thought! Professor Dumbledore is so old, but he still likes sweets so much. His appetite is so huge!"
"It's incredible…"
…
...
...
Almost an hour later, the train finally stopped at Hogsmeade station.
It was a real mess when we got off the train. There were owls hooting, cats meowing, and even toads croaking...
In addition to the suitcase, Astoria was also carrying an owl cage, in which a beautiful white owl was sleeping quietly...it was the one that delivered the letter to Jon yesterday.
"My grandma gave it to me!" Astoria winked. "I named it Joe Green."
"Really? It sounds nice!" Jon said casually as he opened his umbrella.
The Hogsmeade platform was chilly and icy rain was pouring down.
"First-year students, come to here!" a familiar voice called out.
At the other end of the platform the large figure of Hagrid could be seen beckoning the panic-stricken new students to take them on the traditional journey across the lake.
"Remember us at this time last year?"
Astoria whispered. "We were just as panicked as they were, and full of curiosity about Hogwarts."
"Yeah!" Jon nodded. "We seemed to have had a fight around this time last year!"
The two looked at each other and smiled.
It was raining heavily, and they followed the other students of the school up a rough, muddy road, at the end of which at least a hundred carriages were waiting for them.
Each carriage was pulled by an invisible horse, or to be more precise, an invisible Thestral... Jon and Astoria boarded a carriage by the side, and soon two more people squeezed in.
"Astoria, I finally caught up with you!" Daphne Greengrass said a little breathlessly, and she automatically ignored Jon on the side.
"Sister..." Astoria said softly: "And, hello, Draco!"
"Jon, this is Draco Malfoy!" she introduced quickly.
"Draco…this is Jon Hart, my friend."
"Good evening, Astoria!" Draco Malfoy straightened his back, his light blond hair slightly lifted, and he just glanced at Jon.
Jon ignored Malfoy and sat calmly in his seat as usual.
The carriage started moving very quickly, bumping along the way.
To be honest, it was a bit uncomfortable to ride in a carriage with three Slytherins at the same time.
…
The carriage continued to move on the muddy road.
Draco Malfoy talked loudly in the carriage: "Next June will be the Quidditch World Cup, held in England. My father got a few tickets for the best boxes through special channels... The team I support most in the World Cup is..."
"Hey" Jon couldn't help but interrupt him and complained, "Why are you all talking about Quidditch all the time?"
In the Hufflepuff common room, Zacharias and his group were playing Quidditch all the time; in the Diagonal and Leaky Cauldron, the voices of boys, those Quidditch enthusiasts, could be heard every few steps; the Gryffindors on the protagonist's side were basically the same...
Jon said he really didn't understand. Is it possible that there are no other meaningful things in the lives of these boys?
"Because Quidditch is the most popular sport in the world!" Malfoy raised his head high and looked down at Jon: "Hart, I think your Quidditch level must be very low, so you can't understand the joy of this sport!"
There was no doubt that there was an undeniable contempt in his eyes.
"Low?" Jon smiled and said, "Maybe... My flying class results seem to be the best in the first grade!"
"First place?" Malfoy couldn't believe his ears.
"Yes!" Jon nodded. "Madam Hooch also asked me to take the advanced flying class in my second year!"
"Advanced class?" Malfoy couldn't help but raise his voice: "I have never heard of Quidditch classes having advanced classes!"
"Of course you don't know!" Jon stretched out his index finger and waved it: "Only students who have achieved outstanding results in the first-year flying class are eligible to participate in the second-year flying class!"
"This is impossible!" Malfoy screamed, his face full of shock and disbelief.
"What's impossible?" Jon said confidently, "Principal Dumbledore even visited my home on July 15th and gave me the transcript showing that I won first place in my flying class, and also gave me the invitation letter from Madam Hooch for the advanced class."
"What?" Malfoy looked completely hopeless.
"Well, actually, it's normal that you don't know!" Jon said carelessly, "After all, only students who have achieved special results in the first-year flying class are qualified to know about the advanced class... Others are generally kept in the dark."
"Potter!" Draco Malfoy suddenly growled.
"Huh?" Jon was stunned this time.
"Potter must have taken advanced flying lessons last year!" Malfoy gritted his teeth and said, "So I couldn't beat him even with my Nimbus 2001!
"Pfft…" Astoria on the side couldn't help laughing out loud: "Hahaha…Jon, you're so funny!"
…
The carriage rolled forward, and in front of it was a pair of magnificent cast iron doors. On the cast iron doors, the golden words "Hogwarts" were clearly visible.
They had arrived at the gate of Hogwarts, and Jon saw two tall, hooded Dementors standing guard on both sides of the gate.
Astoria began to shiver slightly again, and Jon quickly assured her.
"It's okay!" he whispered soothingly.
Fortunately, this chill didn't last long...
The carriage increased its speed on the sloping driveway, and soon they arrived in front of the castle.