A/N: Hi all! Here is my story for Round 8 for the the Quidditch League Fanfic Comp. My topic was Dementors and my prompts were the following: beastly (word), demon (word) and "The marks humans leave are too often scars." ― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars (quote). Please review and check out my others stories!
Enjoy!
Dementors (Common Noun): A living yet non living creature that is used to suck the life out of another human being, witch or wizard, or animal. They are placed in Azkaban Prison to make the prisoners weak and loose hope. Also see 'Dementors Kiss.'
I slam the book shut, wanting to block out even more unhappy thoughts. At least Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Potions and Transfiguration can be taken without worrying that you're going to be tortured. Hagrid gave us all the Ministry of Magic's definition's - which seem to be a lot more gruesome that the 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.' I bring my quill to my page and re-write my definition.
They drain everything out of you. Every happy memory, every living joy, all your energy. They are beastly. Evil. Dangerous. They're like a demon - a muggle version of an evil spirit or something like that. Every inhumane word that you can think of - well, that's them.
I lie in my hammock, which has been magically stringed up in the Room of Requirement. Mine's the highest up, sitting next to Luna Lovegood's hammock. I look down at the scattered yellow, red and blue robes walking around the massive area below. It's like all the Common Rooms have been matched and the room keeps getting bigger and bigger with each new group of students that come to seek refuge. We recently had a group of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Third years come.
"Ginny, are you going to come and do you homework?"
I peer over my hammock and Luna's there, swinging on the rope ladder that allows us to actually get up here.
"Yeah," I answer, swinging my legs over and dropping to the ladder next to my hammock, feeling the familiar feeling of my stomach swooping up to my mouth.
We both climb down the ladders. I give a sigh when my feet lightly touch the ground. I find my bag, sit down and start on the treacherous Defence Against the Dark Arts, which may as well be called 'Hey, let's all learn how to be Death Eaters!'
"Hey everybody! I have a surprise!"
I look up and see Neville standing in the open painting. I can see figures behind him, but can't make out their faces. A flicker of hope ignites inside me, hoping that it's Harry. But as soon as it ignites, it's blown out again.
Of course it's not Harry.
I duck outside of the Room of the Requirement and walk to the Great Hall. I can see that there are five Dementors looming in the four corners of the hall. I feel the warm glow of air that was around me disappear and turn to ice. Chills go down my spine and I quickly turn out again. I hear heeled footsteps and quickly hide behind a statue.
"Harry Potter was sighted in Hogsmeade. He's either here, coming here or will be here. I want extra security on every single entrance and exit in the castle. No one is to leave."
That's Professor Snape.
"Of course, Severus."
That's 'Professor' Carrow.
I hear them both walk away. I start to sprint back, thought whizzing past my mind. Harry? In Hogsmeade? Or here? But that only means…
Voldemort.
I walk quickly past the wall, and as soon as the door has formed, I push it open. I can hear cheering and shouts of 'Harry!'. I quickly walk to the crowd, and it parts, leaving a space to walk. And there he is. He's standing there, looking determined and I start to feel myself fall for him again. I shake the feeling off.
"Snape knows. He knows that you were sighted. He knows that your either here or coming here," I say.
I see Ron raise his hand in greeting but my eyes are really only focused on Harry.
"It's like I'm a franky first year. I mean, I'm her brother. And I haven't seen her for bloody six months," I distantly hear Ron say.
A small smile spreads on Harry's face.
"Well, there's only one Harry Potter," Seamus laughs.
"Shut up, Seamus," he says.
~~~~~~~~~~**********One Hour Later**********~~~~~~~~~~
"Girls, just arm the castle - do you duty! Shoot spells into the air, and it will form a dome," Professor McGonagall says to Cho, Lavender, Parvati, Padma and I. Luna went to the toilet, I think. She said something about Rowena Ravenclaw.
"I'll meet you guys in the courtyard," I tell them.
I can see Harry's head bobbing up stairs, Ron and Hermione following him. They stop and I start to run down the stairs that I'm on. I push and shove past people that are in my way - bustling around I loose sight of Ron and Hermione, who have run off. Harry turns around and start to walk up the stairs. I feel a desperation to get to him and push harder to get through the throng of people. My hand reaches out and grabs his shoulder pulling him around.
"Ginny," he says, at the same time as I say 'Harry.'
I grab his face and our lips crash together, all of our emotions melding together. We pull back and he opens his mouth to say something.
"I know," I whisper.
He gives me one last kiss and runs off. I watch him go, then remember that I need to get to the courtyard. As I weave my way through the castle, a certain memory forms itself into my mind.
"Hermione, tell me why I keep falling for him, even though I know that we can never be together. Tell me why," I cry.
"Aww, gorgeous girl, come here," she says.
I lie in her lap, feeling the tears start to cease.
"The reason is that the marks humans leave are too often scars. You want him, he wants you, but you can't work it out and when two people love each other - and you might say you only like them, but I can see in his eyes that he loves you, even if he doesn't know it yet and I can see in your eyes that you love him too - it will work itself out. Trust me," Hermione says. "Should we get some sleep?"
"Yeah," I smile, resting my head on the pillow.
I smile at the memory. Even to this day, I remember her words every single day and somehow, I feel something will happen. I come out into the starry night. I feel a deep dread about what's going to happen. I can see a shimmer of orange in the sky and I find everyone else. I join in, bringing my wand up.
"Lumos, Agumenti, Confringo, Experlliarmus, Levicorpus, Obliviate, Rictusempra, Stupefy," I say. Each spell shoots out of my wand and hits the forcefield, making it stronger. I keep repeating the spells over and over again. I remember that I've forgotten my favourite one.
"Expecto Patronum!" I call, feeling the magic run from the tip of my wand, through my hand to my arm and into my body. I watch my horse burst from my wand tip and gallop up to join the force field of sorts. It disappears in an abundance of silver sparks.
I can see the dementors that were trying to encroach on the castle disappear from my view and I smile, despite the situation I'm in.
I go back into the castle and see a matted plait of dirty blonde hair. Luna. I run and grab her arm.
"Are you ready?" She asks me.
"To fight?" I reply.
She nods.
"Hell yeah," I smile.