Chapter 10 – Of a Hogsmeade trip interrupted
"Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you." Carl Jung
"She let you do what?" Ron yelled, as they sat in the common room that night, huddled around the table near the fireplace, doing their homework.
"She didn't tie me up like she said she would. But she did lock me in a cage. I waited for ages, but nobody came to fee me. Killian went off, to check on you lot, she wouldn't tell me what you were facing, but she came back looking amused. We got bored of waiting, I got annoyed really, I mean come on it couldn't have been that bad really. So she took out a few chocolate frogs and other sweets and stuff and shared them with me. I even found Agrippa," Harry rubbed it in. Ron had been looking for Agrippa for years, Harry remembered Ron mentioning it on their very first trip in the Hogwarts Express.
Ron who still had a limp from twisting his ankle, muttered under breath.
"I thought Killian would be a good teacher. I didn't think she'd try to murder us," he complained.
Hermione stayed quiet. She'd hardly said a word since Killian's lesson. They'd heard from Parvati that her, Hermione's, boggart would turn into a centaur. Harry was surprised by this, but he did remember that Hermione's failed plan to let the centaurs take care of Umbridge. He had stopped himself from laughing just in time, by the look on Hermione's face.
"I wish I was the prisoner. Why couldn't I have got the green dot? I could have sat there in the cage, doing nothing, eating chocolate frogs," Ron muttered dreamily.
"And pumpkin pasties," Harry added.
"And pumpkin pasties…"
"And liquorice wands," Harry said, suppressing his laughter.
"And-" Ron abruptly cut himself off and stomped off to the dorms leaving all his stuff behind. Harry, Neville and Ginny gave into their laughter behind him.
Ron came down seconds later, chomping on a chocolate frog, his pockets bulging.
The weekend passed quickly. . They went down to visit Hagrid who tried to feed them rock cakes, which they refused as politely as they could.
When they asked about Grawp, he told them that Dumbledore had helped relocate him to some mountains. The giants had definitely sided with Voldemort, because they had immediately attacked the other convoys that Dumbledore had sent out. This news disheartened them, all wondering how much damage the giants would do under Voldemort's command.
They left Hagrid soon after, when Ron said that giants didn't need much prompting to cause much damage anyway; it was just in their nature. Harry was about to furiously point out that Hagrid wasn't dangerous. But Ron already went ahead and said, "Lucky Hagrid is only half-giant. And that he respects his father's memory and Dumbledore's trust to do anything."
Harry snapped his mouth shut. It had been the most mature thing he had ever heard Ron say. Sort of.
Monday morning they only had single potions before lunch. Snape was still in a bad mood and he snapped at anyone who put their hands up to ask a question, even the Slytherins.
They were half way through Potions when there was an explosion. Harry turned around to see who potion had exploded, but everyone's still in their cauldron. They all looked around bewildered and jumped when they heard the door slam shut; Snape was nowhere to be seen. Harry exchanged a look with Neville who shrugged. No one was working when Snape stormed back in barely two minutes later, slamming the class room door behind him, muttering furiously under his breath. Harry didn't catch the words but he knew they wouldn't be sweet to the ears.
He snapped at them to continue working and spent the rest of the lesson stalking up and down the aisles and criticised everyone's potion work. Even the Slytherins. Suffice to say that everyone was glad when Potions was over.
The rest of the day was relatively uneventful.
In Defence Moody showed them a cleaving spell, a spell miners used to when trying to create a new tunnel. Of course the backlash also created cave-ins, so they were told to be careful if they ever used the spell. They also learned a tree uprooting spell, a spell that literally dragged the tree up from the roots. Harry knew these were dangerous spells, but he wondered what they had to do with defence.
"Killian told me the results of the maze," Moody started just before the end of the class. "Pathetic. You've handled all them creatures before, there should have been no problem. I suppose the troll was a bit too much, but Owl team handled it well. But the boggart and the pixies and the small arachnids, barely bigger than your feet, you could have stepped on them. I repeat, pathetic. First years could have done better. Now, I'm gonna give you all a project. You're all gonna go back into your teams. Next lesson until Christmas. You're all gonna encounter the maze twice more before Christmas, with all them obstacles and more. In your group come up with a possible list what creatures you're gonna encounter and how to defend against them. Learn everything you can. Meet once a week outside of lesson. Compare your lists, work together, devise a plan. What strengths? What weaknesses? Work them out together. Improve on them. Dismissed!" he barked.
"Potter, stay behind. I want a word."
Harry sat back down
Waiting for them at the quidditch pitch for Killian, was not only Killian herself but also Moody, Shacklebolt and Gallagher.
"Gather round, come on, hurry up," Killian said as they all scurried towards the waiting teachers. "Now I know how you were all looking forward to running laps around the pitch for the whole lesson but Moody convinced me that you'd enjoy it too much. Which is why we've come up with another exercise for you to do."
Moody continued after her, " Today we're gonna have you all do target practice. Aiming your wand is important, hitting your target is even more so, especially if it's a moving one."
They were told to split into their animal groups again.
"The challenge," Gallagher said, "is this: in the middle of the pitch is a big cage – in that cage will be four prisoners, one from each team. Placed as far away as possible from the cage is the base for each team. From your team you will select two collectors and the remaining members will be shooters. Professors Killian and Moody will be the disc tossers. They will shoot out the discs that will transform into pigeons once they hit the air. The shooters job will be shoot the pigeons using reducto only. If your spells hit the pigeons it will burst and tiny multi coloured rubies will drop out. The collector's job will be to go out into the field and collect as many rubies as possible. The rubies will help you free the prisoners. The catch: you will need the same amount of each coloured ruby. The cage where the prisoners are held had four walls, on each wall the will be four tubes with the animal of your team, so you can only free the prisoner of your own team. You will need the same amount of each ruby so once you put them in they wont come out, so you need to top up the other colours to the same amount.
"However it will not be as easy as that. Professor Shacklebolt and myself will be your enemies. We will shoot two coloured paints at you; red is to stun, blue is to neutralise. If you are hit be red paint do not move until you are revived, so to speak, by one of your team members. The red paint will automatically disappear once you are hit by the reviving spell. The blue paint is neutralise, once you are hit then you won't be able to move until it automatically disappears after 60 seconds. Shooters will not be allowed to step out of the base . You can only use reducto to blast the bird. Collectors; you are not allowed to summon the rubies. Once you have released your member, make your way to base quickly as possible because neither I or Shacklebolt will spare anyone.
"If anyone breaks the rules you will be disqualified, which would not only disadvantage your team, but the rule breaker and the whole team will be penalised by spending the rest of the lesson running laps around the pitch and even them you will not be spared by the red and blue paints.
"Now, go to your bases. Choose your collectors, shooters and prisoners. Come on Kingsley, let have some fun."
Harry found their base on the far end of the quidditch pitch, it was a large mat shaped like the eagle. All the bases were placed near the edge of the pitch as far away from the cage that was in the middle of the pitch.
They made their way to the base and looked at each other.
"Any volunteers for prisoner?" Padma asked.
"I will," Millicent said immediately,
"I'm shooter," Malfoy announced.
"So am I," said Harry.
"I'll go for collector," said Padma and Dean added that he would too.
Hannah joined Harry and Draco as shooter. Millicent jogged off to the centre of the pitch to join Killian who had stayed behind to secure the prisoners.
Harry saw Pansy from the Crows, Ernie from the Roosters and Theodore Nott from the Owls as the prisoners. Killian locked them and went to join Moody.
He took out his wand and saw Padma and Dean pick up some sacks, presumably to put the rubies in.
"Don't forget to watch out for us Harry," Dean said. "If we get shot by the teachers you'll have to revive us."
Harry laughed.
"Okay guys, listen up," Gallagher's voice resounded over the pitch. "Everybody at the bases. When you hear the first whistle shooters start shooting. Collectors, don't start running until you hear the second whistle. Your birds will be moving targets so be careful and aim well. Good luck."
There was quiet in the pitch as everybody waited for the sound of the first whistle. Suddenly there was a sound like a gun shot and Harry looked up in time to see the discs transforming into a pigeon. There was shot and another disc flew through the air and turned into another pigeon. After two more shots the four birds flew around the pitch waiting to be shot down. They heard the first whistle and instantly with the sounds of the blasting curse and gunshots permeated the air. Somehow in all the noise they heard the second whistle and Dean and Padma raced into the field with the sacks, already collecting the rubies falling to the ground. The rubies shined in the light, looking like multi-coloured stars falling from the sky and Harry couldn't believe there were that many so fast, with more raining each minute,
He could hardly see the cage there was that many rubies raining down on them, obscuring the view to see if their collectors were hit. The collectors were bent over the ground, picking up rubies and probably ripping the grass with them. A few like Dean were running around with the mouth of the sack open and letting the rubies drop in, trying to protect their faces at the same time.
He saw Seamus the collector from Owls stand still, his t-shirt all coated in red paint. he was stunned but no one from his team had realised it yet. Harry was tempted to 'revive' him but knew his team mates wouldn't thank him for it.
"Reducto," he shouted and the spell hit the wing of the pigeon making it explode and add its bounty to the already speckled ground.
He saw Dean make for the cage, he must have collected enough rubies to add to the cage. He hoped they had enough, as he saw Padma go to help him. Between them they should have more than enough.
The grass was patched with red and blue from the teachers had missed the collectors. Padma was hit with blue paint so Dean carried on without her.
He saw Crabbe from Crows and Parvati from Roosters get hit with red paint. Dean barely missed getting hit with red paint himself and rolled out of the way, wincing and dropped several rubies in the process. He ignored them and carried on running to the cage, adding his rubies to the tube.
Padma's t-shirt turned back to normal and she joined Dean at the cage, Harry stopped shooting and from the lack of shouts behind him Hannah and Draco must have too. Harry frowned at the amount of time they took pouring the rubies into the tube. he saw them digging out the rubies, probably looking for particular colours.
Padma stuck her hand deep into Dean's sack, frowning and shaking her head when they couldn't find the colour they wanted.
He saw the collectors for the Owls make their way to the cage. Dean and Padma both got hit by red paint which meant they were both stunned.
"Damn it" he heard Draco curse,
"Ennervate!" Harry shouted as he aimed for Dean, echoed by Draco who aimed for Padma. The spells missed, deflected by the still falling rubies. They tried again but Goyle got in the way of both spells as he was on his way to the cage,
Goyle yelped as if he'd been shocked and carried on normal otherwise.
The Crows and Owls both got to the cage and started pouring their rubies in.
"Ennervate!" Hannah shouted and aimed her wand at Padma. Again it was deflected by a falling ruby.
How were they supposed to revive them from so far away?
"Ennervate!" His aim was true this time and the spell hit Dean whose t-shirt turned black again.
They all aimed for Padma and it was Hannah's spell that revived her, as Draco's and Harry's spells were deflected again.
Dean and Padma carried on collecting the rest of the colours they needed. He was glad to see they hadn't fallen behind because the other collectors were stunned or neutralised. Oddly Goyle was the only ones who weren't hit with paint. But not for lack of trying. His side of the wall was covered in red and blue paint and his fellow collector Parvati was stunned.
Finally he saw Dean and Padma open the cage door to let Millicent out and quickly they raced across to get to their base. The rubies stopped falling. The three ran back together; barely made it out of the way before the pitch of grass behind them turned red. The teachers were shooting to take them out of the game.
"Run! Go!" Harry yelled. His shouts of encouragement by Hannah and Draco.
"Millicent, hurry up!" Draco yelled.
Millicent slipped on a patch of red grass, taking Dean and Padma with her.
"Get up! Get up!" Harry and Hannah yelled together.
He heard similar shouted of encouragement and realised that the Roosters had released their prisoner Ernie.
Padma got hit with blue paint and again, whilst Dean rolled out of the way from the red paint. He helped Millicent to her feet and ran only for them to get hit with red paint.
Immediately Harry and the others raised theirs wands again and shot the spells needed to revive them. Padma's blue paint has faded and she started running again only to get hit with red paint. They all started incanting. The quidditch pitch didn't seem that big when you're trying to win it felt like a 10 mile stretch. As quick as they were to revive their team mates - they were just as quickly stunned or neutralised again.
Harry realised that all the teachers must have started shooting paints instead of discs otherwise there wouldn't be so much red and blue paint everywhere.
They managed to revive all three team members who ran like hell, weaving in and out dodging the paint. Finally they got to the base where they collapsed on the eagle map and lay they refusing to budge. Harry sat down next to Dean and they laughed as they say Dean's face spattered with red and blue paint.
Five minutes later they heard a shrill whistle and realised the others must have made it back to their bases.
"Better! Much better!" Moody growled. "Your aims were good but you need to improve on them. Your dodging work needs a hell of a lot of improvement though We'll see what exercise we can come up with for that then. Good team work. 10 points for everyone. Now off you."
Harry acknowledged that it was a bizarre feeling that after so many years of having incompetent professors or professors who were trying to kill him and/or trying to erase his memory that they actually had not one but 6 Defence teachers who they were learning so much from, not to mention being able to apply it to their DA practices.
After the fiasco of Umbridge the previous year if felt good to be learning something worthwhile. Homework-wise all the professors were going considerably easier on them this year. They all knew that this was the calm, the war against Voldemort hadn't started in earnest yet, but they was definite air of caution and fearing around them. Essays and tests were taking a back seat (much to Hermione's dismay), the most research they had to do was when they needed to prepare the theory work for the next spell or charm that they had use for the next lessons. The teachers were trying to prepare them all and Harry was trying to help his friends as well. He knew that there was so much out there that they still needed to know yet this year he felt a little more empowered. Less afraid of the unknown. Armed with a little extra knowledge and all that extra physical training that Killian was putting them through Harry was a little more prepared.
If he only he could say the same about his upcoming date with Katie. He'd never thought about Katie that way before, Harry thought to himself as he made his way out of the Common Room towards the entrance.
Previously, Katie had been nothing more than a teammate. She had spent more of her time with the twins, and Angelina and Alicia. Since he had become co-captain with Katie in quidditch they has started a lot more time together alone, discussing plays and what not. Somehow quidditch talk had turned into some general chit chat. Katie had told him about her extremely short relationship with Oliver, most of which had been taken a backseat to Oliver's manic love of quidditch rather than the two of them.
Harry in turn told her about his disaster of a relationship, if you could call it that, with Cho Chang, and to his relief Katie told him that not all girls liked going to Madam Puddifoots.
Slowly his feeling for Katie changed, and he wondered what it would be like to be with her on a day to day basis, rather than discussing sports and brooms. He had resolved to ask Katie to the next Hogsmeade weekend and to his relief she's said yes.
He desperately hoped this date would go better than the one with Cho did. He was wearing some of the new clothes bought by the Dursleys. It was one of the first chances he got to wear them since summer. Apart from his school uniform and his Defence gear, courtesy of the Defence professors he'd never had clothes that had fit him before. He didn't have that many clothes that were first hand and decided that he would look around to himself some more today if possible, maybe after his date with Katie.
At the moment he was wearing one of the new jeans he'd worn once at the Dursleys and a blue shirt that was slightly tight across the chest. It felt a little annoying as it was a brand new shirt; however, it also meant his exercises and daily workouts were working. He gaining some muscles. After all he didn't want to be a scrawny looking wizard for the rest of his life.
He stopped at the Entrance Hall where he and Katie had agreed to meet. He heard someone coming up behind him and saw Neville and Ron walking towards him chatting amongst themselves.
"You're here." said Ron. "Come on, let's go."
"Actually," said Harry, "I'm waiting for Katie. I asked her out to Hogsmeade last practice."
"You asked her out? Just like that?" Ron said incredulously.
Harry grinned, deciding not to mention that it wasn't 'just like that'. He was sure he had felt less nervous facing the dragon in Tri-wizard tournament.
"We can meet up at the Three Broomstick if you want?" Harry offered.
"I don't have a date," Ron said dejectedly.
Harry grinned again, which wasn't very sympathetic of him, as he knew that Ron would be by himself before they could all meet up. Neville had plucked up his own Gryffindor courage and asked Hannah Abbott from Hufflepuff. Hermione and Ginny had made plans of their own. Luna would meet them all up later as she had stated that she was waiting for some of her things to come back to her before she could meet up with them. Harry made a mental note to help research some jinxes that would help Luna keep her belongings to herself. Surely there was something that would help her.
Luna herself never worried too much, or at least she never showed it. But Harry felt protective of his friend and would make Luna know she could come to him.
Harry and Neville reassured Ron they would all meet up. Harry saw Ginny, Katie and Hermione and together they set off towards Hogsmeade; with Harry and Ginny trailing a further behind.
As they all entered the Hogsmeade village they veered into different directions. Katie and Harry happily walked together, away from the others. Being on a date with Katie was different to being on a date with Cho. Katie wasn't pining for anyone, or wanting to talk about Cedric and the things they did together. Katie wasn't jealous of Hermione because she knew they were only friends.
Harry really enjoyed his date with Katie. Together they walked into Honeydukes Sweetshop, sampling the new sweets in store. They came out later, Harry still wiping whipped cream from his ears, ( a third year had tripped and sent it the nozzle flying in every direction) Katie couldn't stop laughing. They also walked over to the joke shop just looking around not buying anything out of loyalty to the twins. Besides which, the twins refused to charge anything from Harry so he got all his joke products for free.
They bumped into several of their friends along the way, including several of Katie's friends who stared speculatively from Harry to Katie, not saying much but walking away in giggles. Katie smiled at him apologetically, but Harry didn't mind. Without realising how much time had passed they quickly made their towards the Three Broomsticks to meet the others.
They saw Shacklebolt, Gallagher and Perenelle Flamel apparate away just as an owl flew away from them. He wondered whether something had happened. Inside, they saw Nicolas Flamel, McGonagall, Killian and Flitwick. Harry thought they must have come to Hosgmeade to patrol as extra security. Killian was holding her head as if she had a headache and kept rubbing her arms shivering. He didn't think it was that cold.
He walked over to where Ron was sitting with Neville and Hannah. As he walked closed her realised that he and Katie were the last ones there. Seated at the table was Hermione, Ginny and Luna who must have found all her things and had managed to join them. Ron was still nursing a full mug of butterbeer, laughing and joking with the rest as he and Katie approached.
Katie sat down at the table as Harry went to fetch their order of butterbeers, when he came back with two mugs the rest were talking in quiet voices about the DA. The conversation somehow veered into an argument of the scariest pets Hagrid had got so far. Hannah didn't take Care of Magical Creatures, Ron argued that it the Aragog and the spider colony, Katie thought the thestrals were really creepy as she couldn't see them and Harry said he was still quite wary of Fluffy, Hagrid's three headed dog, who they hadn't seen or dared ask about since the Philosopher's Stone incident. Neville, who didn't mind the thestrals and hadn't seen either Fluffy or Aragog was voting for the Skrewts. Hermione, Ginny and Luna had abstained.
They moved onto other topics when suddenly Harry felt a warm feeling against his leg. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his fake galleon. Three initials popped up in quick succession; PP, EM, LB. The others looked at him, coins in hand.
"Someone's in trouble. Come on, let's go," he said.
They left their half drunken butterbeers and took out their wands. They rushed outside,, and wondered which direction to go in. He looked down at the coin which was still clutched in his first and saw that it was helpfully pointing an arrow in the direction they need to go on. He looked in that direction and realised that Parvati, Ernie and Lavender were on the opposite side of the village near the Hogs Head. They ran in that direction, closely joined by a few more members of the DA who must have also have seen the messages on the coin, not knowing what they were expecting.
As he got closer Harry felt a chill and wished he'd brought a cloak. He heard a scream echo in the distant recesses of his mind and realised what was happening. Summoning his happy memory he shouted "Expecto Patronum!" at the top of voice. The others followed his lead and incanted the same spell and sent their animals of in direction help was needed, sprinting after them.
Their combined patroni drove away the dementors that had cornered Parvati, Ernie and Lavender, who shakily got their feet, wands clutched in hand still trying to cast a patronus. Before Harry anyone could say anything, they heard a scream behind them and realised that there were plenty more dementors gliding about. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, a lot more than what had turned up at the quidditch match in his thirds year. He was glad he had reviewed the patronus this year, and professors had also gone over the spell in class, giving Harry a knowing look when they saw that three thirds of the class were competent with the spell due to him.
Most of the students of the DA had mastered the spell within classroom settings, but knew from experience that casting the spell within the safety of the classroom and in front of an actual dementor were two different things.
The dementors seemed to be everywhere, as if they were multiplying as they landed. Many witches and wizards ran out of the shops defending themselves, trying to get their friends and families to safety. Those who couldn't cast the patronus gathered up the younger students and headed far away from dementors as possible.
McGonagall and the other students were standing outside the Three Broomsticks casting their dementors repelling spells as well. Harry and the others ran towards them.
"Potter!" McGonagall called. "Potter, you can cast the patronus. Can you all cast the patronus?" She waited for their nods
"All right, here's what I want you to do. Split into two groups and stick together to them. Go around the village, help the students who can't cast and tell them to head over to the Shrieking Shack. Professors Killian and Lupin are waiting there; they have opened up the Shack to allow the students and the villagers entrance towards the castle. GO!"
"Be careful!" he heard one of the professors yell and he nodded and turned away.
Harry, Katie, Neville, Hermione and Luna stayed together. Lavender, Ernie, Parvati, Ginny and Ron decided they would all go in the opposite direction. They all had their instructions and knew they had to make their way with everyone to the Shrieking Shack.
"Be safe!" Harry said to Ron and Ginny.
Harry and his friends made their way to through the village their patroni guiding the way. Everyone they met they pointed in the direction of the Shrieking Shack. Everyone was scattered, the dementors seemed to coming forth from every shadow.
Before deciding that they would head back to the Shack themselves they saw a family with a small child. A young girl cowered behind her father, tears in her eyes which she bravely refused to let fall. The father had a look of determination and desperation about him to protect his family. The girl clung to her father, surrounded by ten dementors, the adult's patronus just keeping them at bay but unable to give them a chance to run. The woman didn't even have wand out and seemed in worse shape than the lot. Harry and Neville commanded their animals to help and together they managed to give the family a chance to run. Keeping their patronus in front of like shields Harry dug into his pocket and pulled out a chocolate frog he'd bought from Honeydukes and gave it to the girl. Neville also carried a supply with him smiled tiredly at her as he handed her another one. Looking at her mum and dad for permission she took both and thanked them in her shy, tremulous voice.
"Mum! Dad! Chrissy!" Harry turned as he heard the voices. Harry thought he recognised them from the DA. David and Mark Andrews; they were brothers, they never came very regularly, they had other commitments apparently. One was Ravenclaw and the other was Hufflepuff. They both taken into a tight hug by their mum which they didn't mind considering the circumstances.
"Come on," Mark said, "we were told to go Shrieking Shack."
"Okay," the dad said, picking up his daughter who still clung to his leg. He whispered something to her, rubbing her back gently. She nodded into the crook of his neck.
They headed towards the Shrieking Shack, where they saw a cluster of students and professors warding away the dementors to give the younger students and the villagers who couldn't cast a patronus a chance to safety. Harry and the others quickly joined, and Harry was relieved to see that Ron and Ginny's group were already there.
"I'll lead them away, force them to follow me," he heard Killian saying to the other professors. "That spell you've been working on, we're going to have to test it now."
"That's too risky Killian," Flamel was saying, as Harry and the other made their way to the professors. "The spell's completely untested, it's still all theory."
"What spell?" Lupin asked.
"It's supposed to do more that just drive away the dementors," Killian said before Flamel could even answer. "Nicolas has been working on it for years. There's too many dementors and not enough people who can cast the Patronus."
Harry looked towards the dementors and knew it was true. From the look on his face Flamel knew it was true as well. Quickly they came up with a plan. Lupin walked back to the Shack to ask for volunteers with people who could cast the spell fully, and a few people stay at the Shrieking Shack to help guide the people who were making their way.
Harry and his friends were asked to stay behind to help with the spell. They would cast the patronus at Flamel's command. He saw that Mark and Andrew's dad had handed his daughter to wife and told her to stick with the boys who would take them back to the castle. He realised with a start that the woman must be a muggle, in the midst of all this danger she didn't have her wand out, because she didn't need one not having any magic of her own. She couldn't see the dementors but she certainly would have felt them. He watched them disappear into the Shack, the girl keeping her eyes on her dad the whole time.
Nicolas ordered them all to drop their patroni at once; at which point they were all to take a bite of the piece of chocolate that Gallagher and Perenelle Flamel had handed out. At the same time Killian performed her part of the plan. Her eyes turned gold as if she was having a vision, and oddly her white hair turned a deep black from root to tip. A dark aura emanated from and the dementors seemed to moved forward as one entity, in a macabre sense of anticipation. Killian looked towards them, her eyes literally glowing gold and looking incredibly fierce she shot up into the sky.
Incredibly every single dementor took to the skies after her. Higher and higher she flew until they lost sight of her but the dementors were obviously had her in their sights, an huge black mast flowing behind her. Everyone on the ground couldn't keep their eyes off the happening of the skies.
A few stragglers had appeared and ran towards the Shack, quickly guided inside by Lupin. They were told that those who could had apparated to safety, taking a few by side along, but most were actually making their towards the castle right at that moment.
"Look!" Seamus Finnegan shouted, as if most of them already weren't.
Killian seemed to make her way back towards them, her cloud of dementors still behind. She coming down really fast, but seemed to struggle. With horror he realised a few dozen of the dementors had latched onto Killian with rotten, shredded robes. The dementors robes seemed to stretch and wrapped themselves whatever part of Killian they could reach created the effect of a very sinister sort of parachute. Killian didn't even try to shake them instead just put more energy into reaching the ground.
"Get ready to cast the spell and once you cast don't stop until you're told!" He heard Flamel in the distant.
The taste of chocolate still on his tongue and warmth flowing throughout him, Harry readied his wand.
"Now!"
There was a deafening chorus of "Expecto Patronum!" in the air as they all put as much power into the spell as they could.
Dozens and dozens of patroni hit the ground and flew in the air, already heading towards where Killian had landed; the dementors descending immediately, blanketing her with their suffocating and menacing presence. They surrounded her at once, more of them bound to her with the rope like robes.
A strong voice cut through the eerie silence.
"Pyralis Dusha Dementors!"
Nicolas Flamel had cast his spell. A gold beam shot over their heads.
Harry couldn't have believed what had happened next if he wasn't seeing it right now. The gold beam spread over every single patronus dissipated, turning their silver animals into gold. Their patroni charged, over land and air, as one towards the dementors converging on Killian.
As soon as the animals made contact the dementors and unearthly shriek was heard. Harry covered his ears, as did many around him, the noise as excruciating as the dementors effects. But watching the damage being inflicted by made it all bearable. Watching the menagerie of animals, from his stag to rabbits, dragons, lions, cat, dogs and a whole gamut of others ruthlessly bite, gore, slash, slice, stab and stomp their way through the dementors was extraordinary and also oddly satisfying.
The horrible screeching didn't stop at all. It only intensified. Some of the dementors, in an effort of self preservation fled the scene. Others who had latched onto Killian had tried to flee but were trapped due to their own eagerness to keep hold of the prize. They were all trapped within the circle of gold patroni.
Harry felt the energy slowly draining from him the longer his stag was corporeal but was determined to keep going. The dementors seemed to fall, their robes collapsing to the ground as if the bodies inside were melting away. For a full minute after the dementors' shrieks had died down and robes fells to the ground the golden animals gave one last cry of triumph and converged into one enormous ball and an explosion of gold light blasted over the ground of dementors in all directions, blinding Harry with it's brightness.
Silence descended on them and no one moved.
"Killian?!" Flamel's voice called out cautiously.
As if he voice had been another command, many students fainted dead away from exhaustion. Harry wanted to follow suit. Around him not a single person had looked like they actually walk under their own steam, let alone move a single muscle.
They waited for Killian to get up, but only saw a mass of black robes. There was no movement.
Flamel, determined to find his friend in the mountain of smoking robes, moved forward. As he got close, he stopped. Harry saw Flamel put his hand over him mouth and nose, as if trying to stop himself from being sick.
He heard a gagging sound behind and wanted to turn around to see who it was but literally didn't have the energy.
Then it hit him. The stench of decayed dementors. He swayed on the spot and fell down, gladly giving into the darkness.