Just a Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor

7pm, London.

Sherlock and Harry arrived on a dirty street with several shabby buildings, a bar, and a messy painted wall.

"Can't we just Apparate into the Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked.

"If you are an employee of the Ministry of Magic, you can directly Apparate into the Ministry of Magic, but visitors cannot. The entire Ministry of Magic has set up anti-Apparition magic, similar to Hogwarts. Only employees with open permissions Then you can go in directly.”

Sherlock led him to a shabby red phone booth, opened the door and walked in.

This phone booth looked really shabby, and there seemed to be something wrong with the door. When it was closing, it suddenly felt some pull and hit the back of Harry's head.

Harry squatted on the ground in pain, holding his head and taking a breath of cold air.

Sherlock reminded.

"Be careful."

"It's okay, I just bumped into it accidentally."

In the past, Harry would have definitely thought that this was because Sherlock had wished him a happy birthday before, but now he just felt that it was because he was careless.

Sherlock held the microphone in his hand. Although it was his first time to enter the Ministry of Magic, how he entered as a visitor was clearly written in the diary of the original owner.

The original owner used this method to get in on the first day he came to the Ministry of Magic to apply for a job.

He pressed the numbers "62442" on the phone, and soon after, a cold female voice rang from above the phone booth.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic, please state your name and your business."

"Sherlock Forrest and Harry Potter were invited by Kingsley Shacklebolt of the Auror Command to help research a case that the Aurors were investigating recently."

Kingsley had obviously greeted the receptionist before, and the female voice soon responded.

"Thank you." The woman said in a cold voice, "Guest, please pick up the badge and pin it in front of your clothes."

Two square silver badges slipped out of the metal chute usually used to withdraw coins. Sherlock picked them up and handed him the one with Harry's name on it.

Harry saw what was on the badge: Harry Potter, assisting in the investigation.

"Guests of the Ministry of Magic, you are required to be checked and register your wand at the security desk. The security desk is located at the end of the main hall."

The receptionist's voice rang again, and after her cold tone ended, Harry suddenly felt that the entire phone booth was falling!

The crosswalk outside rose higher and higher, and soon darkness fell above them.

It took more than a minute to sink before they reached the ground.

Before the phone booth stopped, it suddenly vibrated, causing Harry to lose his balance. His body suddenly leaned forward and his head hit the glass door again.

"The Ministry of Magic hopes you have a nice day," the receptionist said, and the door to the phone booth opened.

Sherlock walked out with Harry, who was holding his forehead again and looking in pain.

"I told you to be careful, now it's better, both front and back were hit." Sherlock said with a shrug.

Harry had a blank look on his face. Once it could be that he was not careful, but twice he felt something was wrong.

But at this time, he was still holding on to luck and followed Sherlock to the foyer to register his wand.

As a British magical government agency, the Ministry of Magic should be built to be magnificent. There is a fountain in the golden hall, and a group of pure gold statues erected in the circular pool, which are larger than life.

The most conspicuous one is a noble wizard, holding his wand high and pointing straight to the sky. Surrounding him are a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin and a house elf.

The centaurs, goblins and house elves all looked up at the two wizards with admiration.

When Sherlock was checking his wand, he was mentally trying to figure out the purpose of this group of statues. Apart from allowing the wizard to enhance his own sense of self-satisfaction, there was no other benefit.

Not to mention that house elves are a completely domesticated race, which will definitely arouse the resentment of centaurs and goblins.

Based on this statue, if he were an elf or a centaur, he would never step foot into the Ministry of Magic.

No wonder the Centaur Liaison Office has not been able to contact a centaur for so many years, and the goblins were only subdued after the rebellion.

After Sherlock took Harry to check the wand, he got rid of the inspector who had noticed Harry's identity and was staring at his forehead, and walked directly into the elevator.

Not only were there people in the elevator, but there were also many paper airplanes coming in and out, and one of them almost hit Harry's injured head just now.

"These are the notes used by the Ministry of Magic to send messages." Sherlock introduced Harry.

In fact, this was also the first time he had seen the real thing with his own eyes. He had only seen it described in the diary of the original owner before.

They took the elevator all the way to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement on the second floor.

Almost no one came down this level, only Sherlock and Harry.

"What case are we here to help with? Professor." Only now did Harry couldn't help but ask.

"A series of murders." Sherlock said solemnly.

After hearing his words, Harry's breathing became heavier and he didn't ask any more questions.

They walked around a corner and came to a room with a door sign that read "Case Investigation Room."

Just when Sherlock was about to knock on the door, the door was suddenly opened from inside.

Kingsley walked out of the house wearing a cloak, his whole body seemed to be soaked in water, and the creature was constantly exuding ashes and despair.

Sherlock frowned and glanced at the monster, recognizing it to be the dementor, the warden of Azkaban Prison.

"Ah, Sherlock, you've arrived." Kingsley had a look of surprise on his face.

Although the aura emanating from the dementors made him feel a little uncomfortable, it had no more impact. Sherlock nodded.

"This is?"

"The dementor leader who came out of Azkaban this time is here to cooperate with us in some investigations."

The moment Harry saw the dead creature, he felt as if he had been suffocated into ice water and couldn't breathe.

He saw the monster's hands, which were covered with scars, as if the whole body was rotten.

The cold breath continued to wrap around him, turning everything in front of him into a gray color. Harry panted rapidly, and the sound of his breathing became louder and louder, until he finally felt that the whole world was spinning.

"Plop!"

A heavy voice sounded, Harry rolled his eyes, fell backwards, and passed out.

This startled Sherlock next to him, and only then did Kingsley notice Harry following Sherlock.

They hurriedly helped Harry up from the ground.

"How did you bring him here?" Kingsley asked with a frown.

"I was originally going to celebrate his birthday, but I received a letter from you. Harry doesn't want to go back to his aunt's house, and I can't let him stay alone, so I can only bring him here with me."

"Sorry, that's my problem."

Kingsley said reproachfully, and then he looked at the dementor.

"You go first, and remember to restrain your kindred spirits. If there are any dementor attacks, the Ministry of Magic will never let it go."

The dementor didn't give any response. It seemed to glance at Harry who fainted, and then left the corridor in a fluttering manner.

Sherlock and Kingsley carried Harry to the Auror headquarters together, and asked Tonks, who had just joined the job there and was doing odd jobs there, to help take care of him, and then returned to the case investigation room.

"You should have seen the news in the Daily Prophet in the past two days. Blake escaped from that prison."

On the way, Kingsley told Sherlock the purpose of calling him here.

"After Black escaped, the dementors were extremely angry. This was the first time in history that someone had successfully escaped from inside. So they began to leave the prison in large numbers to hunt for the escaped Black. The Ministry of Magic also agreed to this thing."

"But just after these dementors came out of prison, a total of six deaths occurred in these days."

"In the first five cases, Muggles were attacked, and the way of death was the same. The body was still alive, but the soul was sucked."

"The department was still worried about Black during that incident, and the people who were attacked were all Muggles, so the higher-ups didn't take it seriously."

"But just yesterday, a wizard also died. The way of his death was exactly the same as the five Muggles before. Scrimgeour (director of the Auror Office) then took it seriously and specially made an appointment with the leader of the dementors to come to magic. Cooperate with the investigation.”

"The way those people died was completely consistent with the state of the dementors after kissing the prisoners. We have always suspected that it was the dementors who did it. You know, those guys have never been honest, let alone this time. Got out of a prison."

"But the leader of the dementors said that none of the six attacks were caused by them. The dementors said that they had feelings, that something terrible had landed on the island of Great Britain, and that it would eat all the souls of the dead. Lost."

"You have always been an expert in defense against dark magic. You were the one who did the most in-depth research on dementors in the ministry, so I wanted to ask you to come over and help me see if I can discover anything."

Sherlock learned the whole story from Kingsley, and then followed him into the investigation room.

It was empty, with only six beds, and a corpse lying on each bed.

No, it can't be called corpses, because these people can still breathe and have heartbeats, but they behave as motionless as dead people, with frightened and ferocious expressions, but there is only death in their eyes.

For more than a year, Sherlock has been studying the field that the original owner has been studying the most - Defense Against Dark Arts.

Including the two books he wrote and published, "Guide to Identification of Dark Creatures" and "Defensive Spells", Sherlock was familiar with them and studied them thoroughly.

Among them, there is professional research on dementors in the "Guide to Identification of Dark Creatures".

Because creatures like dementors are essentially the darkest creatures in the world.

If there is no way to eradicate it and there is no other better solution, the Ministry of Magic will not compromise.

Yes, letting them serve as jailers in Azkaban is actually a compromise.

Sherlock walked up to a living dead man and tapped various parts of his body with his wand, while Kingsley introduced him to the man's information.

"John Nelson, a native of Norwich, was found dead in the alleyway home five days ago. At that time, Williamson and I rushed to the scene as soon as possible. Later, the Ministry of Magic obtained his death from the Muggle government. I want my body back."

After a series of tests, Sherlock's face slowly turned serious.

"His soul was indeed eaten, but it wasn't caused by a dementor's kiss."

"The Dementor's kiss starts from people's emotions, and its essence absorbs people's positive emotions. For example, happiness, hope, and the desire to live. When these emotions are completely eaten, the human soul will also It’s like being completely destroyed, leaving only endless despair and ashes.”

"But these people are different."

Sherlock pointed at the frightened and ferocious face of the Muggle named Nelson.

"He endured great fear before he died. At that time, he couldn't think of anything else but fear. Then just when his fear reached its peak, something enjoyed eating his soul."

"The soul is the staple food, and fear is the seasoning. It is also enjoying the food, but the way it eats is completely different from that of the dementors."

After listening to Sherlock's words, Kingsley looked at the six living dead and suddenly felt a shiver.

"What kind of creature is that that would do such a thing?"

Sherlock shook his head.

"I am not aware of any known creature of the dark arts that fits this description."

"It's extremely rare for creatures to feed on souls. It's also the first time I've heard of a creature that feeds on souls while also adding a little seasoning."

Kingsley's brows furrowed deeply, and he crossed his arms uneasily.

"Black's escape has already caused enough chaos in the Ministry of Magic. Now that something like this has happened again, the Auror manpower is almost running out."

Sherlock sighed and shook his head.

"You don't need to worry about such things. It's Scrimgeour who should worry about it. He is the head of the Auror Office."

Kingsley nodded heavily, just as he was about to thank Sherlock.

He suddenly recalled that Sherlock today seemed a little different from the one he knew. He looked at Sherlock in surprise, looked up and down and said.

"Teaching at Hogwarts for a year, I feel like you've changed a lot."

Sherlock shrugged.

"How can I be called a person if I stay the same? If you knew what I went through at the end of this semester, you wouldn't be surprised by the change in me."

"It has something to do with the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk." Kingsley was obviously also paying attention to what happened at Hogwarts.

"Yes, that was the time." Sherlock said melancholy, "The time I experienced death myself."

Kingsley looked at the current Sherlock with an unconscious smile on his face.

"I think you've changed well."

Sherlock raised an eyebrow.

"Then do we need to get acquainted again?"

Kingsley smiled and extended a hand to him.

"Hello, my name is Kingsley Shacklebolt."

Sherlock also laughed and took his outstretched hand.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Sherlock Forrest."