It's just a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

Chapter 117 Staple Food and Seasoning

7pm, London.

On a dirty street with a few dilapidated buildings, a pub, and a messy painted wall, Sherlock and Harry came here.

"Can't we Apparate directly into the Ministry?" Harry asked.

"If you are an employee of the Ministry of Magic, you can apparate directly into the Ministry of Magic, but visitors cannot. Anti-apparition magic is set up throughout the Ministry of Magic, similar to Hogwarts, only employees who have been granted permission can Go straight in."

Sherlock led him to a dilapidated red telephone booth, pushed the door and walked in.

The phone booth looked really old, and there seemed to be something wrong with the door. When the door was closed, it was pulled suddenly and hit the back of Harry's head.

Harry crouched on the ground holding his head in pain and took a deep breath.

Sherlock reminded.

"Be careful."

"It's okay, I just touched it accidentally."

In the past, Harry would have thought it was Sherlock who wished him a happy birthday, but now he just thinks he was careless.

Sherlock was holding a microphone in his hand. Although it was his first time entering the Ministry of Magic, how he entered as a visitor was clearly written in the original owner's diary.

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

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 business."

"Sherlock Forrest and Harry Potter were invited by Kingsley Shacklebolt of the Auror Command to help with a case the Aurors are currently investigating."

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

"Thank you," said the woman's indifferent voice. "Guest, please pick up the badge and don't put it in front of your clothes."

Two square silver badges slid out of the metal chute that normally used to eject coins, and Sherlock picked them up and handed him the one with Harry's name on it.

Harry saw the content on the badge: Harry Potter, assist in the investigation.

"Visitor of the Ministry of Magic, you need to be checked at the security checkpoint and register your wand. The checkpoint is at the end of the main hall."

The receptionist's voice sounded again, and after her indifferent tone ended, Harry suddenly felt that the whole phone booth was falling down!
The crosswalk outside rose higher and higher, and soon there was darkness overhead.

After sinking for about a minute, they reached the ground.

Before the phone booth came to a stop, it vibrated suddenly, causing Harry to lose his footing, his body suddenly leaned forward, and his head hit the glass door again.

"The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day," said the receptionist, and the door of the phone booth opened.

Sherlock walked out with Harry, who was covering his forehead in pain again.

"I told you to be careful, this time it's all right, I bumped back and forth." Sherlock said with a shrug.

Harry looked blank, he could have been careless once, but twice he felt something was wrong.

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

As a government agency of the British magical world, the Ministry of Magic should be built magnificently. There is also a fountain in the golden hall, and a group of pure gold statues are erected in the circular pool, which are bigger than real people.

The most conspicuous is a dignified wizard, holding his wand high, pointed to the sky, surrounded by a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin and a house-elf.

The centaur, goblin, and house-elf all looked up at the two wizards with admiration.

When Sherlock was checking his wand, he mentally figured out the purpose of this group of statues. It had no benefit except to improve the wizard's self-satisfaction.

Not to mention the house elves, a race that has been completely domesticated, this will definitely arouse the resentment of the centaurs and goblins infinitely.

Based on this statue, if he was a goblin or a centaur, he would never set foot in the Ministry of Magic.

No wonder the centaur liaison office has not contacted a centaur even after it was established for so many years, and the goblin was only defeated after the rebellion.

After Sherlock led 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.

There were not only people in the elevator, but also many paper airplanes coming in and out, and one of them accidentally poked Harry's forehead which had just been injured.

"These are notes from the Ministry of Magic." Sherlock introduced Harry.

In fact, this is also the first time he has seen the real thing with his own eyes, and he only saw him describe it 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 took Harry.

"What case are we here to help with? Professor." Harry couldn't help asking until now.

"A series of murders." Sherlock said with a serious face.

Hearing his words, Harry couldn't help breathing heavily, and didn't ask any more questions.

They walked around a corner and came to a room that said "Case Investigation Room" on the door plate.

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

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

Sherlock frowned and glanced at the monster, and recognized that it was the jailer of Azkaban Prison - Dementor.

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

Although the aura emanating from the dementor made him feel a little uncomfortable, it had no further influence, and Sherlock nodded.

"This is?"

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

The moment Harry saw the dead creature, he couldn't breathe as if he had been drowned in icy water.

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

The cold air was constantly enveloping him, turning everything in front of his eyes into a gray color. Harry panted rapidly, and the sound of his breathing became louder and louder, until finally he felt that the whole world was spinning non-stop.

"Pfft!"

A loud bang sounded, Harry rolled his eyes, fell backwards, and passed out on the ground.

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

They hurriedly lifted Harry from the ground.

"How did you bring him here?" Kingsley asked, frowning.

"I was going to celebrate his birthday, but I received a letter from you. Harry didn't want to go back to his aunt's house. I couldn't leave him alone, so I had to bring him with me."

"Sorry, that's my problem."

Kingsley said with self-reproach, and then he looked at the dementor.

"You go first, remember to restrain those of your kind. If there is any dementor attack, the Ministry of Magic will never let it go."

The dementor didn't give any response, it seemed to glance at the fainted Harry, and then drifted away from the corridor.

Together, Sherlock and Kingsley carried Harry to the Auror Headquarters, let Tonks, who had just joined the job there not long ago, help take care of him, and then returned to the case investigation room.

"In the past two days, you should have seen the news in the Daily Prophet that Black 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 successfully escaped from it. So they began to leave the prison in large numbers to search for the escaped Black. This was also agreed by the Ministry of Magic. thing."

"But just after these dementors came out of prison, there have been six deaths in total these days."

"The first five cases were all Muggles who were attacked, and died in the same way, the body was still alive, but the soul was sucked."

"At that time, the incident department was still troubled by Black's matter, and the people who were attacked were all Muggles, so the higher-ups didn't pay much attention to it."

"But just yesterday, a wizard also died. The way of death was exactly the same as that of the five Muggles before. Scrimgeour (director of the Auror Office) paid attention to it, and specially invited the leader of the dementors to come to magic. Cooperate with the investigation."

"The way those people died is exactly the same as the state of the dementor after kissing the prisoner. We have always suspected that the dementor did it. You know, those guys have never been honest, let alone this time. out of prison."

"But the leader of the dementors said that none of the six attacks were done by them. The dementor said that they had feelings. Something terrible landed on the island of Great Britain. The souls of the dead were all eaten by it. Lost."

"You have always been an expert in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Back in the ministry, you did more in-depth research on dementors, so I would like to ask you to come over and see if you can find anything."

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

It was empty here, with only six beds, each with a dead body lying on it.

No, it can't be called a corpse either, because these people can still breathe and have a heartbeat, but they behave like dead people motionless, with horrified and hideous expressions, but only ashes in their eyes.

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

Including the two books he wrote and published, "Guide to Identification of Dark Creatures" and "Defense Spells", Sherlock has read them thoroughly and studied them thoroughly.

Among them, there is a professional study of dementors in the "Dark Biometrics Guide".

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

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

That's right, letting them serve as jailers in Azkaban is actually a compromise.

Sherlock walked up to a living dead man, and tapped his body lightly with his wand, while Kingsley introduced him the information about this man.

"John Nelson, from Norwich City, was found dead in the alley home five days ago. Williamson and I rushed to the scene at the first time. Later, the Ministry of Magic took his body from the Muggle government. The body wants to come back."

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

"His soul was indeed eaten, but not from a dementor kiss."

"The dementor's kiss starts with people's emotions. 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 also It is tantamount to being completely destroyed, leaving only endless despair and ashes."

"But these people are different."

Sherlock pointed to the frightened and hideous face of the Muggle named Nelson.

"Before he died, he endured great fear. At that time, he couldn't think of anything other than fear. Then, when his fear reached its peak, something ate his soul with great enjoyment."

"The soul is the staple food, and fear is the seasoning. It is also enjoying the food, but it is actually completely different from the dementor's eating method."

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

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

Sherlock shook his head.

"I don't know. Among the known dark magic creatures, there is no creature that fits this characteristic."

"Creatures that feed on souls are already extremely rare, but this is the first time I've heard of souls being eaten with a little seasoning."

Kingsley frowned deeply, and he folded his arms on his chest anxiously.

"The fact that Black escaped has caused enough confusion in the Ministry of Magic, and now that something like this has happened again, the Aurors are almost running out of manpower."

Sherlock sighed and shook his head.

"You don't need to worry about such things. This is Scrimgeour, and he is the director of the Auror office."

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

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

"Teaching at Hogwarts for a year, I feel that you have changed a lot."

Sherlock shrugged.

"Can you still call someone if it's always the same? If you know what I went through at the end of this year's semester, you won't be surprised by my change."

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

"That's right, it was that time." Sherlock said melancholy, "I experienced death myself."

Kingsley looked at Sherlock now, with a smile unconsciously on his face.

"I think you've changed a lot."

Sherlock raised an eyebrow.

"Then do we need to get to know each other again?"

Kingsley held out a hand to him with a smile on his face.

"Hi, my name is Kingsley Shacklebolt."

Sherlock laughed too, and took his outstretched hand.

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

(End of this chapter)