The six people began the long walk back up to the school. Harry was being held up by both Hermione and Neville, though they were holding onto him now more for emotional support than physical. The young Auror, who had introduced himself as Auror Moonshine, was complaining to himself as he marched the two prisoners in front of everyone else. The backup he had called for hadn't turned up, and he was going to have to do a LARGE amount of parchment work when he got back to the ministry.
LeStrange was cursing everyone at the top of her voice, saying that she "will have each of you begging at my feet when my lord returns." Malfoy was being uncharacteristically quiet. He hadn't once said to the Auror, "You're gonna be sorry", "Do you know who I am?" or "When my father hears about this."
The walk back to the school gate was uneventful, though slow. Despite the moon being full, the odd cloud blocked out the light making the uneven ground a little tricky to walk over. They were through the gate soon enough, however, and their pace picked up as they crossed the more even kept grounds of Hogwarts. The chill in the air made Harry, Hermione and Neville regret their lack of cloaks. The warmer weather was here with the start of summer just around the corner, but it was still Scotland and the night could get chilly throughout the year.
Harry wondered what was going to happen with Malfoy and LeStrange. The rumour going around the school was that the Prophet had published a story stating Minister Fudge had given the Dementors a Kiss-on-sight order for LeStrange. But LeStrange had been caught by an Auror, not a Dementor, so would they just chuck her to the dementors or would there be a hearing of some type?
And what of Malfoy? He would need to go in front of the Wizengamot for sure, would Harry, Neville, and Hermione have to testify? Probably, Harry couldn't imagine that the Wizengamot would try Malfoy without witnesses for either the defence or the prosecution. Maybe the defence counsel will plead they need LeStrange to be kept whole so that she can testify in Malfoy's favour? That seemed like the kind of trick the Malfoys would come up with, and LeStrange was their family, from both what Auror Tonks had said and the fact that she was calling Malfoy "nephew".
Harry shivered from the cold. He pulled Hermione closer to himself and covered them both with a warming charm. Hermione murmured her thanks as she cuddled into his side. He was glad that despite how bad the night had been he had gone to get Hermione back. Harry couldn't easily imagine life without his cuddle-meister, and it would be cold and empty, like having a Dementor as a roommate. He shivered again at the thought and pulled Hermione tighter into him.
They were halfway to the castle before anyone realized that the chill in the air was more than just the night air. Harry looked around for them while he checked his robe pockets for a bit of chocolate. There was none available. It wasn't long until they were spotted, the five dark-hooded figures gliding over to the group. The Dementors left a faint fog of chilled moisture in their wake, but Auror Moonshine turned and started the group right towards the nightmare-inducing abominations.
"About fuc- uh, about bloody time they showed up!" he almost swore worse but corrected himself as he eyed the group of teens. He obviously didn't want to swear so strongly in front of them, which amused both Harry and Hermione who had heard worse coming from people half their age. "I'll be glad when all of them are sent back to Azkaban where they belong. I don't know what the hell Fudge was thinking, letting these damn things around people." Auror Moonshine ranted. He cast a Patronus as they heard the group of Dementors. It was a flimsy joke of a Patronus, even to Harry and Hermione who hadn't perfected theirs yet. They had given up the Patronus lessons after the last half-term break, choosing instead to focus on preparing for their exams.
During their last lesson with Professor Lupin, they still couldn't get their Patronus's form's to coalesce. They did get an impression about the forms, but that was all. Hermione thought hers looked to be some type of big cat, while Harry thought his might be a horse or something similar. The Patronus Auror Moonshine called forth was just a cloud of silvery mist that surrounded them. It warded off some of the Dementors' effects, but Harry could still feel that empty void creeping into his chest. Harry wanted to cast his own Patronus to push back the vile things but suspected that Auror Moonshine had cast a low-power variety of the spell intentionally. He wanted to hold off the effect that the Dementors had on people, not chase them away.
"You lot took your time. I called you about half an hour ago to help me catch LeStrange and you come gliding over here after I have done the job."
Harry didn't know how he expected the dementors to respond. He knew they couldn't talk, and he guessed they must have some way of communicating with the ministry. What Harry wasn't expecting was sign language.
It wasn't the same sign language he saw on TV occasionally, relaying what was being said for the deaf. It was still obvious that the precise moments that the bony extremities covered in decaying flesh that the Dementors called hands, were communicating with the Auror.
"No, you can't have her now." Auror Moonshine shaped.
More gesturing from the Dementors as their presence slowly sucked the warmth from them all.
"I don't give two shits what the Minister said. I just caught her teaching someone to use an Unforgivable! Her statements are needed to try his case so she is coming back to the Ministry with me!" Moonshine was half shouting by the end.
The largest of the horrors pointed at both LeStrange and Malfoy, accompanied with another set of hand gestures.
"No I will not just give you both of them!"
A shudder passed through the three unbound teens as they realized what the Dementors wanted. Harry noticed that Draco, while still silent, was trembling in fear. LeStrange was shouting something about gathering all the mudblood filth in the school and bribing the Dementors to join her with them. Auror Moonshine quickly lost his patience with her and with a flick of her wand she was gagged.
"Why not?! Why not?! I'll tell you why not! Because every Wix has the right to a trial before execution that's why not! As you well know. No, my word is final. You can put in a request with the D.M.L.E., it won't take long and she will be sent to the dinner table for you. That is the procedure, and you'll probably be given this" he jostled Malfoy "for your larder as well."
Harry was a little sick at the slang the Auror used. He remembered the first time he heard it, Trainee Auror Tonks (LeStrange's niece) had referred to 'the dinner table'; he hadn't understood the reference at the time, but once he learned about the Dementors' Kiss it made sense. With that as context, it wasn't much of a leap to understand that 'the larder' was how Auror Moonshine referred to Azkaban. Neither Harry nor Hermione really liked how disrespectful it was to be so light with the topic. It's one thing to put people there if they deserve it for their crimes but it wasn't a topic to joke about.
The dementors left after finishing their talk with Auror Moonshine. "Bloody bottom feeders. Makes me sick." He cursed as they left. He reached into his robes and pulled out a hand full of chocolate quaffles and gave one each to Harry, Hermione and Neville before selecting one for himself.
Hermione looked at the chocolate ball in her hand and then at Malfoy and LeStrange. "What about those two?" Her voice didn't hold any conviction like she didn't feel they deserved the remedy, but she felt she had to ask.
"Prisoners don't get Dementor remedies unless they are about to be interviewed or go in front of the Wizengamot. The effect of the Dementors is part of their punishment. D.M.L.E. rules."
"Then why before interviews and going in front of the Wiizengamot?" Hermione asked, more curious than anything else. She popped the ball of cheap chocolate into her mouth after she asked her question.
"They need clear heads for interviews and to defend themselves in court. It's difficult to hold a fair trial when the defendant is a jibbering wreck." Auror Moonshine explained.
Harry thought about that. "Wait, people are sent to Azkaban before they get a trial?" Harry asked, offended by the injustice.
The Auror looked at him. "No, most remain at the ministry til' after their trials. But often there is more than one trial. For example, new evidence may come to light and there has to be a new trial or we may find that someone in Azkaban had committed more crimes before they were caught than they were convicted of. And then, sometimes prisoners are summoned to give evidence in another trial. Only people who are considered extremely dangerous are housed at Azkaban before being given a trial."
Harry snorted in disgust. He remembered that Hagrid had been sent to Azkaban without any trial for attacking students last year, a crime for which he was completely innocent. Hagrid had spent months in the hellhole that was what passed for a prison in the magical world and even though Hagrid hadn't really said anything about it Harry knew he was still affected by his time there.
"And what happens if the person you send to Azkaban before they get a trial is innocent? Then you have tortured them for nothing?" Harry demanded.
"Doesn't happen kid. If they are sent to Azkaban early it means there is enough evidence that the trial is just a formality, or they attacked a D.M.L.E. officer and that will get them sent to Azkaban anyways."
"It happened last year. Hagrid was sent to Azkaban for attacking students and he was innocent!" Harry was again half shouting.
The Auror nodded. "We know that he was innocent now but not at the time, remember that he had a conviction on record for accidentally causing the death of a student. A conviction he never served any time for, so for Mr Hagrid it wasn't a case of being imprisoned without any trial but closer to a violation of parole."
Harry didn't have a comeback for that. He still felt that sending anyone to the merciless care of the dementors without first proving they were guilty was wrong.
They started back towards the castle again. As much as Harry hated the hospital wing, he was almost looking forward to Madam Pomfrey taking care of his injuries. Not because of her friendly bedside manner, but because he hurt. With the injuries that the Whomping Willow gave him, followed by not one but two fights with LeStrange, then followed by Malfoy using him to learn the Cruciatus curse, he wasn't surprised that almost every part of his body was protesting that he was still moving. A part of him just wanted to lie down where he was and just go to sleep.
The castle stood in the distance as they tracked towards it. A number of the windows were lit up with warm candlelight and the glow of the castle was charming. The only thing that broke the picture of serenity was the small shape that was rushing towards them. Harry couldn't tell because of the darkness but it looked to be the size of a small cat.
Harry walked towards it a few steps trying to see what it was. At first Harry wondered if it was Crookshanks coming to greet Hermione, only as it got closer he realised it was smaller and darker coloured than Mione's idling motorbike with fur. Harry was just about to warn everyone that something was headed for than when he recognised the shape.
"Hey Mione look it's Scabbers!" Harry pointed at Ron's rat that was now only about thirty feet from them. Hermione, Neville and Auror Moonshine all turned to look at the approaching shape just in time to watch as the rat started to grow and shift and in the space of a few seconds there was a man charging towards them in place of Scabbers.
Auror Moonshine was quick, his training kicked in and the response to being rushed by an unknown individual was well drilled into him. Unfortunately, the one thing Auror Moonshine didn't have time to do was aim. He pointed his wand and yelled "stupify!" The red spell was just wide, missing Scabbers by less than an inch.
Scabbers, or the man pretending to be Scabbers, raised his wand in retaliation and yelled "Avada Kedavra!" The spell shot from the short stubby wand he pointed towards them, and the eerily familiar green of the spell passed Harry and struck something behind him, and there was a thump as something hit the floor. Harry froze. He knew that spell. It had haunted his nightmares for his entire life. First as an uneasy flash of green and then more vividly since the quidditch match against Hufflepuff. He knew what the spell had done. He was terrified, he didn't want to see what had happened.
Images of Hermione laying on the ground, unmoving, totally absent the signs of vitality and energy that she often showed, The thought of her never again cuddling up to him while she read a book, they all flashed through Harry's mind. A part of him, a selfish part, prayed that it was anyone else rather than Hermione. For a second he dreaded telling Madam Longbottom her grandson was dead and that her family was gone, yet that felt as if it would be instantly easier than faceting Dan and Emma without Hermione.
Harry's panic was interrupted by a scream of pure terror. It was chilling and set Harry's teeth on edge, yet at the same time, he felt a part of him relax. It was Hermione's scream, and that meant she was alive.
Another few clicks of the man's wand and the shackles holding LeStrange and Malfoy were clattering to the ground and the spell keeping her silent was removed. Harry turned around at the sound of the manacles hitting the floor. The first thing he felt was an overwhelming sense of relief; not only was Hermione standing but so was Neville, and both of them were staring at the body of Auror Moonshine. Then, Harry was filled with a sense of dread. The Auror was dead, LeStrange and Malfoy were freed. There was now a third person helping the two and this person obviously had no problems with killing, and LeStrange was diving for the body of Auror Moonshine, evidently intent on getting back the wand she had taken from Neville.
Harry did the only thing he could think of, the only thing that made any sense to him. He dove at LeStrange with all his might, knocking them both to the ground. Harry may be tired he may be hurting, but he knew that if LeStrange got her hands on a wand it was over. Harry's desperation gave him a strength that was able to match LeStrange, which considering 12 years in Azkaban and a year on the run wasn't that great, yet she was no pushover either.
Harry punched and kicked at the woman as they rolled around on the ground, ignoring her biting and scratching at him only guarding his eyes. He barely even noticed when Malfoy started to kick him in the back, and he was completely oblivious to the fight Hermione was having with the Scabbers impersonator as the two dodged the spells thrown at each other. Malfoy threw himself to the floor then and covered his head hoping that he would be forgotten in the fighting and Neville was crawling over to Auror Moonshine's body in the hope to retrieve the wands before LeStrange could get to them.
Even with the adrenaline-fueled desperation, Harry wasn't able to keep up his attack for long. He was just running on empty and there was little he could do to keep going. His scrap with LeStrange soon shifted from attacking to defending, and as LeStrange gained more of an upper hand, from defending to barely protecting himself at all.
Harry used the last of his strengths and pushed LeStrange off him, he rolled so that he was above her and he went for her neck. He put his hands around her throat and squeezed as hard as he could. She fought back, trying to push him off, but Harry resisted, turning his face up to keep his eyes safe from LeStrange's nails. Her flailing scratches were getting weaker but Harry held on. He was fully aware of what happened when he showed this creature any kind of mercy. If he let go before she was truly unconscious or even dead, she would kill all three of them. He thought of Hermione and how she had been hurt and drew on his last reserves of will and held on. Harry knew once he was finished with LeStrange he wouldn't have anything left to deal with the wizard who had been a rat. As much as he wanted to help he would have to trust that Hermione or maybe Neville would take care of it.
Suddenly, the whole world started to spin rapidly before Harry could begin to understand what was happening. Pain bloomed as he was hit from multiple directions. His arms, back, shoulders, chest, legs, and every other part of his body collected a fresh layer of bruises on top of everything else that had happened tonight.
Soon the world stopped spinning and the hits stopped with it. It took Harry almost a full minute to get his thinking straight. It hadn't been the world spinning, it had been him, and the hits were from his body bouncing over the ground after a spell from the rat wizard knocked him off of LeStrange and away from everyone.
Harry tried to get up, but he just didn't have the strength left. He collapsed against the floor looking towards Hermione and Neville, hoping that he would see an unconscious LeStrange and a victorious Hermione. However, he only saw the strange wizard standing over LeStrange helping her to her feet, and Hermione and Neville both lying on the ground unmoving.
"Good evening Bella." The strange wizard had a high squeaky irritating voice that reminded Harry of a rat. Everything about this short balding wizard just screamed 'rat' to Harry
"You're late." LeStrange rasped.
"I was distracting the dementors to give you a shot at the boy." he looked at Harry with a strange expression on his face then flicked his wand at Harry and cast a full body bind. "You seem to have had some trouble."
"That dam Auror showed up and got in the way."
"He should have been werewolf kibble long before that. I told you all about Lupin's little cage, I told you about the passage in and out of the castle, I even told you about the damn Hippogriff's trial! What more do you need from me, to gift wrap the kid for you?!" The balding wizard ranted.
"I have no clue how he and the other brats escaped from the mutt but I will deal with it right now," LeStrange responded angrily. She raised her wand and pointed it at Harry, only for RatFace to slap her arm down.
"No, I told you the Dark Lord will want Potter for himself. You had your shot at the Longbottom kid, now we are doing this my way and we are leaving for the continent." There was a steel in the voice of the wizard that seemed out of place with his squeaky voice.
"Traitor! I should have known that you couldn't be trusted!" LeStrange screamed at him.
"I'm not the one putting off finding our master for her own personal little obsession. I told you months ago that he still lives and needs our aid. I told you he was here two years ago. It's time to return to our lord." Harry understood now, RatFace was another Death Eater and he intended to go help Voldemort return from being that strange vapour thing he had become.
LeStrange turned her wand on RatFace and he was sent flying across the grounds. "How dare you imply that I am disloyal. I spent a decade in Azkaban rather than deny my lord. I suffer for keeping faith while you hide as a rat getting fat on good food and having every need taken care of! You fucking traitor!" She bounced him over the grounds twice now as she ranted.
Harry took the opportunity while they were dictated to change a little power into his ring and summon his wand to his hand. It took three attempts for the wand to land so that it was pointed at him and with the wand touching his hand.
Harry had never even attempted silent casting before, he didn't even have a clear understanding of how it was done. He just started chanting the all-purpose dispelling charm in his head hoping it would work.
Finite incantatem
Finite incantatem
Finite incantatem
Finite incantatem
Finite incantatem
As he did this RatFace had gotten out his wand and was now fighting back, LeStrange was pulled into the air by one of her ankles and RatFace overconfident that he had the upper hand was suddenly found himself belching slugs.
Then two things happened at about the same time. Hermione who had also been trying to unfreeze herself from her own full-body-bind stood up and pointed her wand at LeStrange. Harry was flooded with relief, Hermione was still alive. Before Hermione could cast a spell on the witch hung in the air, however, the area around them was suddenly filled with Dementors as their dark forms flew out of the darkness, converging on the escaped convict and blocking Hermione's line of sight.
Hermione lowered her wand letting the abominations take care of LeStrange and the strange wizard. Hermione instead rushed over to Neville and after a quick muttering and a wave of her wand he was moving as well. Harry was glad that his friend was ok but the sight of Auror Moonshine's body kept him from feeling happy. He kept trying to release himself from the bind, still chanting the spell in his head as he watched one of the Dementors grab Malfoy and begin to draw in rattling breaths through its hood. The already pale teen drained of any remaining colour and his skin took on the shade of new parchment.
Harry felt his body relax; he had finally managed to silently cast the first-year spell and free himself from the full body bind. Ratface and LeStrange stopped fighting each other and turned on the Dementors. RatFace was first, throwing dangerous and deadly spells at the mockeries of life that were surrounding them, LeStrange righting herself and soon joining him. The night was transformed into a rainbow lightning storm as spell after spell lit up the area.
The Dementors were barely affected by the spells and kept coming. Harry had intended to stand up and go to Hermione and Neville, but instead, he got lost in his own head as the Dementors once again took him back to that night. The next thing he knew, he was being picked up by one of the Dementors. It grabbed the front of Harry's robes with one of its hands, lifting him until he was head height. Harry tried to fight it off but it was useless, he didn't have anywhere near the strength left to resist.
It used its other hand to pull back its hood, revealing a pale imitation of a face. There were no eyes, no nose, just pale scaly skin and a mouth that was more hole than anything else. It pulled Harry in closer, its face now mere inches away from him. Harry could faintly smell rotten meat. It brought it's head forward obviously intending to lock its jaws over Harry's mouth.
"Harry!!!" Harry heard Hermione scream his name.
Thinking of Hermione was enough to snap him out of the Dementors' influence enough. He focused on Hermione and with the final effort he could muster called his Patronus.
His Patronus wasn't much more than a feeble mist that leaked from his wand more than flowed, but it was enough to push back the evil thing. It didn't go far, however, only a few meters away, and it was soon joined by others. They were circling just outside the effect of the mist waiting for their opportunity to get through to him.
Hermione cast her own Patronus, but with so many Dementors around suppressing any happy thoughts, she was only able to call forth a mist. A number of the Dementors now focused on her. Even the one that was holding Malfoy dropped him in favour of stalking Hermione. That mist was still enough for her to act, and she grabbed Neville and pulled him over to Harry.
Hermione's Patronus merged with Harry's, pushing the dementors even further back. It did little to help as more of the disgusting vultures started circling around the three teens just waiting for their chance. Harry was trying to think of a solution but was shaken out of his thoughts when he was jostled from behind. Malfoy had run over to the three of them seeking protection from the Dementors.
Harry considered just throwing the vindictive little prick to the Dementors. It would serve him right for what he had done. The problem was that Harry just didn't have the strength left to do it. As long as he was just hiding in the Patronus mist from the Dementors, Harry had bigger things to worry about.
Harry looked around to see what RatFace and LeStrange were doing. The pair of them were still trying to overpower the few dementors that had remained focused on them, but their spells seemed to do little to slow down the demons.
"Harry, we need to do something!" Hermione's panicked voice pulled him back to his planning.
After about half a minute (that felt like half an hour) Harry had a plan that he thought might work. "Mione! Recast your Patronus while standing in the midst of my Patronus." She looked at him, not understanding why he wanted this. "Trust me." he finished.
At his words, Hermione just nodded and cancelled her Patronus. The mist instantly started to fade back to just what Harry was producing. The Dementors took the opportunity to close the gap between them and the four teens, some passing so close that Neville (who was closest to the edge) could have reached out and touched one if he was crazy enough. The mass of black cloaks grew so thick that Harry couldn't see past them.
"Expecto Patronum!" Hermione recast her Patronus. Harry was right, with Hermione being inside the effect of his own Patronus she was partly shielded from their effects and was able to call a much stronger Patronus. Like in their last lessons with Professor Lupin, Hermione was able to call her Patronus in an almost complete state. Harry could see that it was an animal, it had four legs and was powerfully built, but it was like an animal made from clouds and didn't have enough features to identify it.
The Patronus, though unfinished, was more powerful than the mist he and Hermione had called combined and the Dementors were pushed back. Harry cancelled his own Patronus and concentrated; if he could summon his own Patronus, even the incomplete one, they should be able to walk back to the castle.
He started by focusing on his memories of New Year's Eve, the elation he felt when Hermione and he had finally said those important words - 'I love you'. Then he added memories of the two of them in the Room of Requirement, searing French pastries on her birthday, ice skating on a frozen pond, the hot spring, and Hermione giving him a key to her home. He actually had a home now. He added in the small things: the two of them cuddled up on a sofa reading a book together, her smile over something as small as a pack of sweeteners, and of course the feel of her lips on his, sometimes soft and gentle, others rough and needy.
He took all these images and pushed them together until the only name that fit them was 'Hermione' - no, 'My Hermione'. Harry raised his wand, pointed it at the Dementors, moved the tip of his wand in a complete clockwise circle from 12 o'clock to 12 o'clock before bringing it straight down cutting the circle in two. As loud as he could, with every ounce of will he could still summon, he yelled "Expecto Patronum!"
For the first half, a second nothing happened, and Harry was terrified that his plan had doomed them all. Then a blindingly bright light burst forth from his wand, filling the area with its pure white glow and making stars dance in the eyes of everyone in the area. It took Harry a moment to clear his vision and when he did there in front of him watching him was a beautiful and proud stag.
The stag looked at him for a few moments almost like it was sizing Harry up. Harry did not know how to feel when it turned away from him and to Hermione's Patronus. The stag leaned down so that its face was level with the rough head of Hermione's Patronus and then he touched it with his nose, and Hermione's Patronus instantly flew apart into a mist. Hermione looked scandalized for a few seconds and was about to ask Harry what he was doing, when the mist of Hermione Patronus flowed back together, into an animal glowing just as brightly white as Harry's Patronus.
Their guesses about Hermione's Patronus being a powerful predator of some kind proved spot on, and now that they could see its final form it was almost too obvious in hindsight. The lioness touched her nose to the stag in a way that almost looked like a kiss. Then the two shining animals that were white enough to make snow look grey turned their attention on the Dementors.
The Dementors fled as the Patroni gave chase to them. RatFace and LeStrange took the opportunity to run as well, convinced that the light show would bring attention to their current location. Once the Dementors were far enough away from the Patroni, they did once again turn their attention to the two fleeing criminals. However, RatFace and LeStrange were able to get to the school gate first, and as soon as they passed it they disappeared into the air with loud cracks.
The stag and the lioness returned to stand in front of their summoners and looked at them. Harry felt a little weird doing it but he thanked the stag, then reached out to pet his Patronus. However, they both dissolved before he could touch it. Harry felt a wave of fatigue hit him like a speeding truck, and then both he and Hermione collapsed against each other unconscious.