Harry had never been part of a stranger group. Crookshanks led the way down the stairs; Lupin, Pettigrew and Ron went next, looking like contestants in a six-legged race.
“That sounds as if it would be an interesting image to see,” Harry said, thinking about it.
“That's true,” Hermione said.
Next came Professor Snape, drifting creepily along, his toes hitting each stair as they descended, held up by his own wand, which was being pointed at him by Sirius.
“Are we sure it's a good idea to let him be the one controlling Snape?” Hermione said.
“I'd say yes, because he just might be able to end up hitting Snape hard enough in the head in order to make him forget about the fact that you, Harry, and Ron all attacked him,” Cedric said.
“I don't think that'll work well,” Harry said. “If us hitting him with the force that we did, didn't do that, then I don't think Sirius will be able to do so.”
Harry and Hermione brought up the rear.
Getting back into the tunnel was difficult. Lupin, Pettigrew and Ron had to turn sideways to manage it; Lupin still had Pettigrew covered with his wand. Harry could see them edging awkwardly along the tunnel in single file. Crookshanks was still in the lead. Harry went right after Sirius, who was still making Snape drift along ahead of them; he kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. Harry had the impression Sirius was making no effort to prevent this.
“I wouldn't be surprised if he was purposely letting it happen,” Hermione said. “It's not like there's any lost love between the two.”
“You know what this means?” Sirius said abruptly to Harry, as they made their slow progress along the tunnel. “Turning Pettigrew in?”
“He's free,” Hermione said.
“And he'll most likely be able to adopt Harry,” Cedric said.
“I wouldn't count on it,” Hermione said. “Between Dumbledore and the fact that Sirius has just spent several years in prison, he would probably be declared an unfit guardian. Not that he's at fault for that, or anything, but I think that Dumbledore would most likely do anything to keep you at the Dursleys, and that's one of them. Plus, honestly, I think he should get a bit used to being free before taking a teenager on. And, we don't even know if he has a place to live at, either.”
“True,” Harry said, deflating a bit from the idea of being able to live with Sirius. The latter part of what Hermione said aside, there was no denying that Dumbledore would make sure that Harry still went back to the Dursleys.
“You’re free,” said Harry.
“Yes ...” said Sirius. “But I’m also – I don’t know if anyone ever told you – I’m your godfather.”
“Oh, I know,” Harry said. “It was quite by accident that I found out, since everyone who knew wanted to make sure I didn't, but I know.”
“Yeah, I knew that,” said Harry.
“Well ... your parents appointed me your guardian,” said Sirius stiffly. “If anything happened to them ...”
Harry waited. Did Sirius mean what he thought he meant?
“I’ll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle,” said Sirius. “But ... well ... think about it. Once my name’s cleared ... if you wanted a ... a different home ...”
“That's going to make me happy, particularly since I'm not going to think that I wouldn't be able to live with him right away,” Harry said.
Some sort of explosion took place in the pit of Harry’s stomach.
“What – live with you?” he said, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling.
“How do you manage to do that?” Hermione asked.
“I'm not sure,” Harry said. “I wonder just how much it hurt.”
“I have to wonder if you even notice it,” Cedric said.
“Probably not,” Harry said. “I have something else on my mind, after all.”
“Leave the Dursleys?”
“Of course, I thought you wouldn’t want to,” said Sirius quickly.
“Please tell me that he doesn't actually think that,” Harry said.
“He could,” Cedric said. “I mean, you've spent a lot of time there, and, well, there's been nothing said that would suggest, to him, that you were unhappy being there. Of course, considering that he was the dog that was watching you back in the Knight Bus chapter, then I have to wonder what he thought of you leaving was about.”
“I understand. I just thought I’d –“
“Ah, that's what he was doing,” Hermione said.
“He just figured that he would offer so that you knew you had a place with him,” Cedric said.
“Are you mad?” said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as Sirius’. “Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?”
“I wonder if he realizes what your quick acceptance means,” Hermione said.
“I have to wonder if he ever learned anything about the Dursleys from my mother, before her death,” Harry said.
“Well, in all honesty, I wouldn't be surprised if prolong exposure to the Dementors caused him to lose some of his happier memories,” Hermione said. “I mean, considering the fact that he was forced to focus mostly on his non-happy memories for so long, it would make sense if he had some trouble finding the happy ones. He might have forgotten some of them. I hope I'm wrong, of course, but I can't see him not having some kind of...consequence for having stayed there so long.”
Sirius turned right around to look at him; Snape’s head was scraping the ceiling but Sirius didn’t seem to care.
“You want to?” he said. “You mean it?”
“Yeah, I mean it!” said Harry.
“Of course he means it,” Luna said.
Sirius’ gaunt face broke into the first true smile Harry had seen upon it. The difference it made was startling, as though a person ten years younger was shining through the starved mask; for a moment, he was recognisable as the man who had laughed at Harry’s parents’ wedding.
“So all he had to do was really smile,” Harry said. “That's nice.”
They did not speak again until they had reached the end of the tunnel. Crookshanks darted up first;
“He probably did that to make sure that the tree was stilled,” Cedric said.
he had evidently pressed his paw to the knot on the trunk, because Lupin, Pettigrew and Ron clambered upwards without any sound of savaging branches.
Sirius saw Snape up through the hole, then stood back for Harry and Hermione to pass.
“How nice of him to let you guys go first,” Luna said.
“You know, this seems to be going all right so far,” Hermione said.
“Yeah, which means that something is going to happen soon,” Harry said.
At last, all of them were out.
The grounds were very dark now, the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Without a word, they set off. Pettigrew was still wheezing and occasionally whimpering.
“I wonder why they let him stay conscious,” Cedric said.
“I probably wasn't willing to let them do something that I didn't pre-approve,” Harry said.
Harry’s mind was buzzing. He was going to leave the Dursleys. He was going to live with Sirius Black, his parents’ best friend ... he felt dazed ... What would happen when he told the Dursleys he was going to live with the convict they’d seen on television?
“They'd probably be frightened at first, and then, once they realized that he was a wizard, complain about the fact that a freak was on normal TV,” Hermione said.
“One wrong move, Peter,” said Lupin threateningly, ahead. His wand was still pointed sideways at Pettigrew’s chest.
Silently they tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Snape was still drifting weirdly ahead of Sirius, his chin bumping on his chest. And then –
A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight.
“Shoot,” Hermione said. “It's probably a full moon, and Professor Lupin didn't take his Potion.”
“Well, it seems I was right to assume that something was going to happen soon,” Harry said.
Snape collided with Lupin, Pettigrew and Ron, who had stopped abruptly. Sirius froze. He flung out an arm to make Harry and Hermione stop.
“At least he understands not to let us go near Professor Lupin right now,” Hermione said.
“I don't think that I'm going to take that well,” Harry said. “After all, Ron is right there.”
“Oh dear,” Luna said. “Let's hope that Sirius can get Ron away from Professor Lupin before something bad happens.”
Harry could see Lupin’s silhouette. He had gone rigid. Then his limbs began to shake.
“Oh my –“ Hermione gasped. “He didn’t take his Potion tonight! He’s not safe!”
“You know, it's kind of sad that, even after it being mentioned, that fact was forgotten about,” Cedric said.
“That's really true,” Hermione said, thinking back to when it was mentioned in the previous chapter.
“Run,” Sirius whispered. “Run! Now!”
But Harry couldn’t run. Ron was chained to Pettigrew and Lupin.
“Knew that would happen,” Harry said.
He leapt forwards
“That's not a good idea,” Luna said.
but Sirius caught him around the chest and threw him back.
“Leave it to me – RUN!”
There was a terrible snarling noise. Lupin’s head was lengthening. So was his body. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws.
“That sounds painful,” Hermione said.
“I've heard that it is,” Cedric said.
“I wonder if that's why werewolves are deadly,” Luna said. “I mean, pain can drive a person mad, so, if they suffer so much pain when transforming, it probably drives them mad as well, and adding that to the fact that they gave animal instincts...”
“I suppose that would make sense,” Cedric said.
Crookshanks’s fur was on end again, he was backing away –
As the werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws, Sirius disappeared from Harry’s side. He had transformed. The enormous, bear-like dog bounded forwards.
“That's good,” Hermione said. “As an animal, he'll definitely be safer than being an actually person.”
“He'll be a bit stronger, too,” Cedric said.
As the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, the dog seized it about the neck and pulled it backwards, away from Ron and Pettigrew. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other –
Harry stood, transfixed by the sight; too intent upon the battle to notice anything else.
“Well, that explains how Trelawney's prophecy is going to actually happen,” Harry said, shaking his head. How easily distracted he...they were, for it didn't seem like anyone else was watching Pettigrew, or even appearing willing to do something about him. He wondered if there was something else that Professor Lupin or Sirius could have done to make sure that Pettigrew didn't attempt to escape, then realized that he'd hadn't really given them a chance to do anything else, not having trusted them not to kill him.
It was Hermione’s scream that alerted him –
Pettigrew had dived for Lupin’s dropped wand. Ron, unsteady on his bandaged leg, fell. There was a bang, a burst of light – and Ron lay motionless on the ground. Another bang – Crookshanks flew into the air and back to the earth in a heap.
“Oh no,” Hermione breathed, worried for both Ron and her cat.
“Expelliarmus!” Harry yelled, pointing his own wand at Pettigrew; Lupin’s wand flew high into the air and out of sight.
“Somehow, I don't think that's going to help a whole lot,” Cedric said.
“I don't, either,” Harry said.
“Stay where you are!” Harry shouted, running forwards.
“And that definitely isn't going to happen,” Harry said.
Too late. Pettigrew had transformed. Harry saw his bald tail whip through the manacle on Ron’s outstretched arm, and heard a scurrying through the grass.
There was a howl and a rumbling growl; Harry turned to see the werewolf taking flight; it was galloping into the Forest –
“At least you won't have to worry about it going after you,” Luna said.
“Sirius, he’s gone, Pettigrew transformed!” Harry yelled.
Sirius was bleeding; there were gashes across his muzzle and back, but at Harry’s words he scrambled up again, and in an instant, the sound of his paws was fading to silence as he pounded away across the grounds.
“He's probably going to try and catch him,” Cedric said.
“Pettigrew's got a bit of a lead on him, though,” Hermione said.
“And we already know that he'll make it to Riddle,” Harry said, sighing.
“At least, this time around, we can hopefully stop this from happening,” Hermione said.
“Hopefully,” Harry said. “I really would like to be able to get to know Sirius.”
Harry and Hermione dashed over to Ron.
“What did he do to him?” Hermione whispered. Ron’s eyes were only half-closed; his mouth hung open. He was definitely alive, they could hear him breathing, but he didn’t seem to recognise them.
“What did he do?” Hermione said, emphasizing the second word.
“I don’t know.”
Harry looked desperately around. Black and Lupin both gone ... they had no one but Snape for company, still hanging, unconscious, in mid-air.
“And he doesn't actually make that good of company,” Cedric said.
“He most likely makes better company being unconscious than being awake,” Harry said.
“We’d better get them up to the castle and tell someone,” said Harry,
“That's probably a good idea,” Luna said. “The sooner you get some help for Ron, the sooner he can be better. Plus, if you get help for him quickly, then changes are, if there are any long term effects to whatever curse hit Ron, they'll end up minimized than actually effecting him.”
pushing his hair out of his eyes, trying to think straight. “Come –“
But then, out of the darkness, they heard a yelping, a whining; a dog in pain …
“Sirius,” everyone said, sounding worried. Did something else attack him...
“Sirius,” Harry muttered, staring into the darkness.
He had a moment’s indecision, but there was nothing they could do for Ron at the moment, and by the sound of it, Black was in trouble –
“Well, it seems you know how to prioritize,” Hermione said. “I guess that's good.”
Harry set off at a run, Hermione right behind him.
“I really doubt I'd let you go alone,” Hermione said.
The yelping seemed to be coming from near the lake. They pelted towards it, and Harry, running flat out, felt the cold without realising what it must mean –
The yelping stopped abruptly. As they reached the lake’s shore they saw why – Sirius had turned back into a man. He was crouched on all fours, his hands over his head.
“Why did he turn back into a man?” Luna asked.
“Nooo,” he moaned. “Noooo ... please ...”
And then Harry saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake towards them. He spun around, the familiar, icy cold penetrating his insides, fog starting to obscure his vision; more were appearing out of the darkness on every side; they were encircling them …
“Could they force him into turning back into a human?” Hermione asked.
“If they could, he'd never been able to be a dog in the first place, and keep his mind,” Cedric said. “Of course, it's possible that the amount of themselves might have something to do with it.”
“Hermione, think of something happy!” Harry yelled, raising his wand, blinking furiously to try and clear his vision, shaking his head to rid it of the faint screaming that had started inside it –
“Somehow, I don't think I'll be able to do it,” Hermione said. “I have to at least be able to get used to a spell before I can do it straight away. Maybe if I had read and practised it beforehand, I might be able to, but I haven't. And, to do it for the first time under pressure...”
“Professor Lupin did mention that it was harder to do the more dementors were are,” Cedric added.
“So even I will probably have trouble with it,” Harry said.
“Probably,” Luna said.
I’m going to live with my godfather. I’m leaving the Dursleys.
He forced himself to think of Sirius, and only Sirius, and began to chant: “Expecto patronum! Expecto patronum!”
Black gave a shudder, rolled over and lay motionless on the ground, pale as death.
He’ll be all right. I’m going to go and live with him.
“Expecto patronum! Hermione, help me! Expecto patronum!”
“I get the feeling that you're having trouble concentrating, especially since it's not just the spell that's needed,” Cedric said. “I mean, even though Harry told you to think of a happy memory, it's not like you for sure know why that's needed.”
“And, by the time I realized why he told me that, I probably would have a hard time trying to find a happy memory,” Hermione said, sighing.
But she couldn’t do it. The Dementors were closing in, barely ten feet from them. They formed a solid wall around Harry and Hermione, and were getting closer …
“I really don't think that's something good,” Luna said.
“I have to agree with you,” Hermione said.
“EXPECTO PATRONUM!” Harry yelled, trying to blot the screaming from his ears. “EXPECTO PATRONUM!”
A thin wisp of silver escaped his wand and hovered like mist before him. At the same moment, Harry felt Hermione collapse next to him.
“I don't think that's going to really help you out all that much,” Luna said.
“Know I'm completely alone, no it's not,” Harry said.
He was alone ... completely alone ...
“Expecto – expecto patronum –“
Harry felt his knees hit the cold grass. Fog was clouding his eyes. With a huge effort, he fought to remember – Sirius was innocent – innocent – we’ll be OK – I’m going to live with him –
“Expecto patronum!” he gasped.
“I don't think I'm going to be able to continue this,” Harry said.
By the feeble light of his formless Patronus, he saw a Dementor halt, very close to him. It couldn’t walk through the cloud of silver mist Harry had conjured. A dead, slimy hand slid out from under the cloak. It made a gesture as though to sweep the Patronus aside.
“And that right there says that the Patronus is extremely weak,” Hermione said. “At least, I assume it does, because I don't think that it would be able to sweep the Patronus asside otherwise.”
“I have to agree with you there,” Cedric said.
“No – no –“ Harry gasped. “He’s innocent ...”
“Remember what Hagrid said. They don't care if someone is innocent or not,” Luna said.
“expecto – expecto patronum –“
He could feel them watching him, hear their rattling breath like an evil wind around him. The nearest Dementor seemed to be considering him. Then it raised both its rotting hands – and lowered its hood.
Where there should have been eyes, there was only thin, grey, scabbed skin, stretched blankly over empty sockets. But there was a mouth ... a gaping, shapeless hole, sucking the air with the sound of a death-rattle.
“I don't think I'm liking the sound of that,” Cedric said.
“You don't think...” Harry started to say.
“I think we are about to find out why this chapter's called Dementor's Kiss,” Luna said.
“It's going to try and kiss me,” Harry said, looking petrified. “You know, I thought I would be a bit safer because this doesn't have to do with Riddle, but after hearing this...”
“You're really considering not going to Hogwarts,” Hermione said. “You're not the only one.”
A paralysing terror filled Harry so that he couldn’t move or speak. His Patronus flickered and died.
White fog was blinding him. He had to fight ... expecto patronum ... he couldn’t see ... and in the distance, he heard the familiar screaming ... expecto patronum ... he groped in the mist for Sirius, and found his arm ... they weren’t going to take him …
“I really don't think it's him they're wanting right now,” Cedric said.
But a pair of strong, clammy hands suddenly wrapped themselves around Harry’s neck. They were forcing his face upwards ... he could feel its breath ... it was going to get rid of him first ... he could feel its putrid breath ... his mother was screaming in his ears ... she was going to be the last thing he ever heard –
The group of four, as one, looked at the other four books on the table, and let out a breath. Since it was obvious that the books were about Harry, the fact that there were four others was relieving to them, particularly reading this part. After all, no one knew where Harry was exactly at the moment, so it wasn't quite so obvious in the book that he was going to be saved, so the presence of the other four books reassured them.
And then, through the fog that was drowning him, he thought he saw a silvery light, growing brighter and brighter ... he felt himself fall forwards onto the grass –
“Thank god, someone came,” Cedric said.
“I wonder who it is that's saved us,” Hermione said. She didn't doubt that she and Sirius wouldn't be suffering the same fate once Harry was finished. Heck, they probably were picked up by other Dementors just as Harry was.
Face down, too weak to move, sick and shaking, Harry opened his eyes. The blinding light was illuminating the grass around him ...
“I think that it's a Patronus, a powerful one if it's shining so brightly,” Luna said.
“It probably is if it stopped the feeding frenzy,” Cedric said.
The screaming had stopped, the cold was ebbing away ...
Something was driving the Dementors back ... it was circling around him and Sirius and Hermione ... the rattling, sucking sounds of the Dementors were fading. They were leaving ... the air was warm again …
“Whoever it is, they want definitely want you to be protected,” Luna said.
With every ounce of strength he could muster, Harry raised his head a few inches and saw an animal amidst the light, galloping away across the lake. Eyes blurred with sweat, Harry tried to make out what it was ... it was bright as a unicorn. Fighting to stay conscious, Harry watched it canter to a halt as it reached the opposite shore. For a moment, Harry saw, by its brightness, somebody welcoming it back ... raising his hand to pat it ... someone who looked strangely familiar ... but it couldn’t be …
“Who is it?” Hermione asked.
“It has to be someone that Harry can't believe seeing and is familiar to him,” Cedric said, though he frowned as he did so. He couldn't really think of who Harry might be seeing.
Harry didn’t understand. He couldn’t think any more. He felt the last of his strength leave him, and his head hit the ground as he fainted.
“That's the end of the chapter,” Luna said, handing the book over to Harry.