Chapter 203: Containing Sirius! Hogwarts Express × Terror Devotee ✓
But Ethan had no intention of letting Sirius escape again.
With a shout, like those cabinet monsters from video games, he grabbed the edge of the closing door!
Meeting Sirius's shocked gaze, he held two fingers together and called out, "'Universe in the Wardrobe' – Open!"
Swoosh! A deep brown solid wood wardrobe suddenly materialised! Ignoring all spatial constraints, it unfolded directly in the narrow broom closet with impossible geometry.
This is magic!
Sirius's pupils contracted sharply, then dilated in dawning horror. Within the opening wardrobe, he saw a sea of iridescent stars—as if the cosmos from fairy tales had been compressed and packed inside.
Individual colourful spherical planets floated in the deep, flowing void, deeply attracting his vision and consciousness. Until those "planets" connected in a chain, hooking Sirius like a grappling line and dragging him bodily toward the wardrobe—only then did he snap back to reality!
What kind of bizarre magic is this?!
Sirius felt like he hadn't been imprisoned for just over a decade but for several centuries. The magical world had advanced far beyond his understanding.
"WOOF!" Sirius roared, fangs bared, claws scraping desperately against the ground, frantically resisting this enormous gravitational force! Eyes wide with panic, staring at Ethan with genuine terror!
He'd rather die, jump from this moving train, or be caught by Dementors than fall into this lunatic's hands!
Ethan leaned close and whispered conspiratorially, "I know Wormtail is the traitor."
One sentence made Sirius's eyes widen in complete disbelief as he stared at Ethan: "What—"
Before finishing, that moment of shocked distraction caused him to be yanked into the wardrobe with violent force!
BANG! The cabinet door slammed shut before Sirius's eyes. His vision went pitch black.
"You're supposed to tell me how you know!" Sirius shouted into the darkness. "I never said I wouldn't cooperate!"
He felt utterly played, frustrated to the point of explosion, wanting to curse profusely at his terrible luck.
"Scratch scratch!" His claws desperately scraped the cabinet door before he finally remembered to transform back to human form. Using the wand he'd "borrowed" from a Knockturn Alley merchant, he cast several Blasting Curses—bang bang—to absolutely no effect.
"Damn it, what does that brat want—" Sirius gritted his teeth, irritably running his hands through his dishevelled hair.
Turning around, he came face-to-face with a giant beast composed of countless iridescent "planets" wandering through the captured universe. Skull-like face, skeletal body, spanning across the artificial starry sky in unimaginably massive proportions, watching him with those faint, black-hole-like eyes.
Sirius stared in resigned defeat: "..." His hanging heart completely died. Hogwarts has started breeding cosmic horrors now, hasn't it?
Putting away the wardrobe with satisfaction, Ethan exhaled a long breath and broke into a huge smile. "Sirius capture—complete!"
Helped Dementors find their way to the afterlife AND settled the wandering Sirius. I feel like a huge weight has lifted—like finishing all homework on summer vacation's last day. Thoroughly refreshed, completely satisfied!
"Now, just wait to return to school, find a place no Detection Charm can find, and have Sirius voluntarily take me to the Black family's ancestral home..." Ethan muttered thoughtfully, licking his lips, eyes flashing with barely contained anticipation.
Though this trip really drained enormous amounts of energy. Artwork magic is truly powerful, but magic consumption increases exponentially with each use.
Ethan put away the hammer and protective veil, pulling out a vial of Invigoration Draught from his pocket and downing it in one gulp.
"Ahh~" Satisfying.
As the "Paradise Pure Land" artwork's effect dissipated, accumulated snow on the ground gradually melted away into nothing.
"Ethan!" A shout rang out urgently.
Ethan turned to see Professor Lupin stumbling toward him with obvious concern.
"Were you just talking to someone?" Lupin blurted out, his eyes full of intense suspicion and urgency.
Ethan blinked with perfect innocence, "No."
I was talking to a dog.
"Oh, I see." Lupin seemed either relieved or disappointed—perhaps both.
For a moment there, he'd thought Ethan might be colluding with Sirius. No, how could that be? Ethan's on the side of justice. How could he conspire with evil Sirius?
Lupin shook his head at his own paranoid thoughts. "Sorry for asking strange questions, Ethan. You're not hurt, are you?"
Lupin quickly handed Ethan a large chocolate bar, pulling out his wand to check Ethan from head to toe with diagnostic charms—despite looking even more pale and weak than Ethan himself.
"I'm fine, Professor Lupin. Here, have a drink," Ethan said, offering an Invigoration Draught with the tone of someone humouring an elder.
He smiled warmly at the professor, "As recognition for your bravery facing countless Dementors earlier."
Professor Lupin choked at this backwards logic, looking with complex emotions at the high-quality emerald potion—a precious magical elixir he normally couldn't afford to purchase.
His throat bobbed before politely declining, "Thank you, Ethan. But I'm not at the point of needing potions yet."
"Oh, okay." Ethan didn't mind, directly uncorking the bottle and downing it himself without hesitation.
After all, my enormous magic consumption can't be replenished much by just a few Invigoration Draughts anyway.
This smooth action made Professor Lupin fall silent once again. Really want to complain but don't know where to start. In short, not quite human-like behaviour.
After a long while, Professor Lupin suddenly remembered what he'd wanted to say.
"I must express sincere gratitude to you, Ethan." Professor Lupin crouched down, looking up at Ethan from a slightly lower angle, saying earnestly and solemnly:
"Without you just now, I truly don't know what those Dementors would have done! Not just to me—they even tried to give Harry a 'Dementor's Kiss'! This is absolutely terrible. The Ministry must be held accountable."
Professor Lupin's face darkened with righteous anger, but he quickly changed the subject, eyes shining with genuine admiration:
"How did you do it, Ethan? I've never heard of magic that can truly destroy Dementors! Even the powerful Dumbledore can only drive them away with his Patronus Charm!"
Recalling that surreal "snowy chase" scene, Lupin deeply felt: Earth is too small to contain this force of nature named Ethan Vincent.
Undoubtedly, news of "killing Dementors" would cause a massive sensation in the magical world once it spread! Countless factions would want to recruit Ethan to control or at least influence this incredible power!
Though the Ministry would certainly try desperately to suppress this explosive news, there would always be powerful elites who learnt the truth through their networks.
Professor Lupin swallowed hard, saying with genuine complexity, "You're going to be famous, Ethan."
Ethan raised an eyebrow, suddenly grinning with complete confidence, "Only now?"
I've been famous for ages. This time is just giving the wizarding world another little shock.
Hearing this, Professor Lupin raised both eyebrows in surprise, then smiled with weary relief.
The magical world's end isn't far off at this rate...
As the atmosphere gradually calmed and normalised, seeing an adult standing up to "defend" Ethan, students poked their heads out from compartments one by one, staring at Ethan with obvious awe—like viewing a completely different species.
The Weasley twins were among the few extremely excited observers. They hung dramatically on the doorframe, worshipping with utmost admiration, wishing they could prostrate themselves just to learn a fraction of Ethan's essence!
"So incredibly cool—" "Like Merlin's spinning rainbow dentures—" "Better than Percy's stupid prefect badge—"
"Oh no, it's not stupid anymore because the words on it now say 'Inufferable Git'! Hahaha!"
"WHAT?!" Percy's shocked, embarrassed shriek came from a nearby compartment.
Hufflepuff's Cedric Diggory had tears in his eyes, staring at Ethan like he was viewing a legendary hero who'd slain dragons single-handedly, constantly muttering things like "Must follow Ethan's example" and "Wonder what training regimen Ethan follows."
Some bold girls also gazed at Ethan with sparkling, admiring eyes. Is third-year Ethan this impressive right from the start of term?
In their compartment, Ron was completely dumbfounded, "Bloody hell—is this really bloody hell?"
"Why is everyone so fanatical?! Am I the only one who finds Ethan terrifying?!"
Ron turned to his best friend Harry for validation, only to see him suddenly stand up, run to Ethan in a few quick steps, and concernedly hand him an orange pumpkin juice.
"After walking so far, you must be thirsty. Here, have a drink, Ethan," Harry said with genuine care.
Ethan took the drink with a brilliant smile, "Thank you, Harry. So thoughtful of you."
Harry scratched his head in embarrassment, blushing slightly, "It's—it's nothing... hehe..."
Ron stared in complete betrayal: Ш(°〇°)Ш?!
You've become a stranger, brother. How did you also get infected with this Ethan devotion?! Someone save our protagonist Harry!