The professors ultimately found no clues inside Hogwarts Castle.
When Sean heard this news, he wasn't surprised. Of course they couldn't find any clues. By the time they searched Hogwarts castle, Sirius had already left through a secret passage and hidden in the Forbidden Forest. It would be strange if they could find anything.
As for Sirius, Sean wasn't planning to deal with him for now.
Sean wasn't reluctant to go, but the Forbidden Forest was enormous, and he'd never explored it properly. Without knowing where Sirius was hidden, charging in would just tip him off that someone was looking for him.
Rather than searching for a needle in a haystack, it was better to keep an eye on the prey right under his nose.
Over the next few days, Hogwarts students kept talking about Sirius Black. As the discussions continued, true and false news quickly spread throughout Hogwarts.
Such as Sirius Black turning into a flowering bush, Sirius Black being able to travel through paintings, Sirius Black being able to transform into anyone to avoid detection by Dementors and professors, Sirius Black being able to transform into animals to infiltrate Hogwarts castle...
Listening to these rumors, Sean couldn't help but sigh.
Sometimes, the truth was hidden precisely among these true and false speculations.
The buzz around Sirius Black at Hogwarts quickly gave way to excitement over the approaching Quidditch season.
Sean vaguely remembered that those Dementors would be attracted by the joyful emotions of the audience during Quidditch season, like hungry people facing a feast. No Dementor could resist the temptation of these happy emotions. The final result would naturally be the Dementors attacking the young wizards at the Quidditch pitch.
Although in Sean's memory, this incident was quickly resolved by Dumbledore's intervention, many things had changed since Sean came to this world, so he couldn't guarantee there would truly be no changes then.
Of course, Sean could choose not to watch the Quidditch match, which would definitely be safe.
But there was no point in being on guard against thieves for a thousand days. Sean didn't like being in a situation where he couldn't fight back, so as the Quidditch season gradually approached, Sean intensified his pace of learning the Patronus Charm with Lupin.
"Sean, since we can't capture real Dementors for practice, I've thought about it and decided to use a boggart to practice the Patronus Charm. So now the only problem we face is that neither of us fears Dementors most. Can you tell me what we should do now?"
Hearing Lupin's question, Sean immediately answered: "We can use a Confundus Charm, Professor."
"A very correct answer. Are you ready, Sean?"
"Of course, Professor."
"Then let's begin now!"
As his words fell, Lupin immediately opened the old wardrobe.
The boggart floated out in the form of a moon emitting silver light. Lupin raised his wand and aimed it at the boggart.
"Confundus!"
A light that seemed mixed with various colors fell on the boggart, making it bubble continuously like boiling liquid. But these bubbles didn't burst. Instead, they expanded and then quickly contracted back.
This change lasted for about ten seconds. Finally, when facing Sean and Lupin, it transformed into a creature wearing a tattered black cloak, its entire body seemingly rotted by water, with pale, scabbed, and rotting palms like a corpse. Its face was shrouded by the cloak with no features, only a gaping hole where the mouth should be.
A Dementor!
Very strangely, although it was just a boggart transformed into a Dementor, it could truly absorb happy emotions.
Sean looked at the boggart-turned-Dementor in front of him, feeling his body grow cold as scenes of sad memories buried deep in his heart came flooding back, filling his mind.
It was a person who looked completely different from Sean. He had an Eastern face. He lay on a hospital bed, dying. He had no parents, no family, only himself, lying alone and sadly on the bed waiting to die. He wanted water but couldn't speak. The caregiver hired by the hospital just sat to the side eating fruit brought by his colleagues who came to visit, playing with her phone, only pretending when doctors came by.
Looking at that face that had become strange, Sean felt somewhat dazed. He had almost forgotten what he looked like back then.
"Sean, recall happy memories, blissful memories! Don't indulge in sad memories!"
Lupin's voice seemed to come from very far away, echoing in Sean's mind.
Hearing Lupin's words, Sean took a deep breath and summoned his memories. Yard and Martha waiting for him at home, Aldrich and Jansen following by his side, Blaise and Andy, who would put their arms around his shoulders, and little Caesar, who would smile and reach out his hands whenever he saw him.
"Expecto Patronum!"
Hum...
Silver-white mist like steam gushed from Sean's wand, forming a silver-white shield that blocked the boggart-turned-Dementor.
"Adjust your memories. Real or imagined, either works. Make your Patronus manifest! Only a manifested Patronus can truly help you drive away and defeat Dementors!"
The boggart-turned-Dementor kept crashing against the shield formed by Sean's Patronus Charm.
Following Lupin's guidance, Sean continuously adjusted his memories. He thought of many things. Those happy, joyful ones that continuously welled up from his heart, transforming into positive magical energy that flowed into Sean's Patronus Charm.
Faintly, a slender shadow appeared in the silver-white mist of Sean's Patronus Charm. As soon as this shadow appeared, it directly crashed into the boggart-turned-Dementor, knocking it back into the old wardrobe.
With the Dementor defeated and no external pressure, Sean's Patronus Charm instantly dissipated.
Lupin looked at Sean, who had trained for less than a month, only two hours twice a week, yet had already condensed a rough shadow of his Patronus Charm. Such talent was unheard of to Lupin.
Lupin was in shock.
Sean was no exception.
When he had just defeated the boggart-turned-Dementor, the panel immediately sent him a notification. Sean opened the panel's prompt, which unsurprisingly showed abilities gained from defeating the boggart.
When dealing with the boggart in class before, Sean hadn't received any panel notifications. He had thought then that boggarts might not trigger the panel's duel notifications, but now it seemed that the previous encounter wasn't considered a duel by the panel. This time the panel recognized it as a successful duel, so after Sean defeated the boggart-turned-Dementor, he gained the boggart's ability!