Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
A/N: Since I started this story, I've had several people ask, so I've finally decided to address it, and that is the dementor lifespan. We really don't know much about dementors from the books, so I took license to make them more like creatures than like an immortal demon. They are natural creatures of the world that serve a purpose in my story, extremely misunderstood, but natural all the same. As a natural creature, they do eventually die. They cannot get sick, grow old, or be killed, but their magic eventually fades, and they cease to live. Theoretically, they and all the souls they had consumed would then pass into an afterlife. They will always live to reach the top of a wizard's lifespan since they cannot die from anything besides natural means, but they will eventually die just as all creatures in the world. If you notice, my vampires are not immortal either. This is to distinguish the creatures of the world from what Voldemort is unnaturally doing to himself in twisting and breaking his soul. Also, I don't see immortality as a blessing but as a curse to see all you know or will ever know grow old and die around you. If the dementors were trying to help Harry, I wouldn't want them to curse him in the process. Lastly, this all has the added advantage of making it to where, if Harry takes care of Jamie, he will for at least most of his life be able to walk and interact in both worlds. This is my reasoning, whether you agree with it or not, I hope you can enjoy the story!
Voldemort seemed to temporarily go to ground after the incident at the ministry. He'd lost all of his Death Eaters that he'd broken out of Azkaban, and his spy was found to be a traitor. Sirius told Harry that it sounded like Voldemort was recruiting again, this time overseas as well as in Britain.
"I'm worried about Draco, Harry," Neville whispered as they headed down to Remedial Potions just a few weeks before the end of term.
"Can you convince him to not go home?" Harry asked. Frankly, he was worried to, for both Draco and Graham.
"I told him that Gran wouldn't mind if he wanted to come stay with us, but he just keeps saying that his father won't allow it. I told him to tell his father to go screw himself and just come home with me anyway," Neville ran his hands through his hair, glamour flickering ever so slightly in his frustration. "He just says that he can't and that I don't understand."
"Well, I don't understand," Harry shook his head. "Him and Graham are frankly in more danger than me right now, and that's saying a lot. Voldemort is going to want them to join sooner rather than later, especially Graham."
"Hey," Hestia caught up with them, giving them both a little nod. "I got my father to hire Montague on as an assistant in his law firm. He starts right after term ends, and he's immediately going on assignment to China where my father is working with their ministry on a corporate deal with Gringotts."
Neville and Harry looked at each other. "How did you even hear us?" Neville almost stuttered in surprise.
"Better hearing than Snape," she just grinned at them both. "I can't help with Draco, but at least Graham will be away from all this."
They were only slightly less concerned when they walked into the almost silent common room for the club. As OWLs, NEWTs, and final exams were nearing for everyone in the club, their meetings had slowly turned into something resembling a study hall. The older students helped the younger with questions, even sometimes working on potions, fittingly enough. Harry and Neville claimed what was becoming their usual couch beside Draco and Luna and pulled out their books.
Snape swooped into the room a few minutes later, a sneer firmly on his face. Harry could tell from the aura of the man that he wasn't angry though, he was in pain. A lot of pain if he was reading the aura correctly. "Mr. Montague, I know you had a very bad experience with it, but destroying school property is still frowned upon," he grumbled before pouring himself a goblet of the blood from the snack table.
"I don't know what you're talking about, sir," Graham looked up in confusion from where he was studying for his NEWTs with Matthew.
"The vanishing cabinet, Graham," Severus sighed after a gulp of the blood. Harry was starting to realize the man wasn't in very good condition at all. "Professor Sprout stumbled upon where it was decimated into a pile of sawdust on her way to dinner this evening. Really, you should be more careful about letting your inner gargoyle out in the hallways."
The dark-skinned teen paled slightly at the remark. "But, sir, I haven't gone anywhere near that death trap since Harry pulled me out of it."
Snape looked around the group in confusion. "Well, someone destroyed it completely."
Hestia just snorted from where she was assembling a cricket sandwich on the snack table. "It almost killed Graham and none of the professors had moved it…what'd you expect. Someone had to take care of it," she remarked with a wicked gleam in her eyes.
"I owe you one, Hestia," Graham grinned at her widely. "Actually, much more than one at this point."
She just shrugged it off and took a loud crunching bite of her sandwich. Not really caring to begin with, Snape sank into his usual armchair and closed his eyes, looking years older than he had just days before. "S-Severus," Harry sighed, still trying to get used to the first name rule. "You know you can ask for help," he remarked tentatively. "I don't know what everyone in here can do, but you protected us from Umbridge and have provided us with this safe place every week. I'm sure someone in here can help."
Draco looked at Harry with thankfulness in his expression. Harry then remembered that Draco could read auras similarly to him, so he had an idea of what was going on with their professor as well. "I don't need your help, boy," Snape sneered as he cracked one eye open to attempt a half-hearted glare.
"And I can't help you," Harry stood to come closer and look sternly at the man. "I'm a dementor, so unless you're ready to move into the next life, I don't have the kind of help you need. However, you have a fairy who can see magic and how it interacts, a high elf that can control the body's responses to things, a cupid that can use mind-magic, and David healed Hedwig, so he might be able to help as well."
"Eros," Draco automatically corrected with a roll of his eyes.
"Actually, if this is what we think it might be, we're probably the ones you need," Colin Creevey spoke up with a glance to his brother.
"Yeah, everyone's been talking about it," Dennis agreed. "They say You-Know-Who discovered you were a spy and wants you dead. It's the Dark Mark isn't it? By what I've heard, it seems to be ritual magic that created it, so ritual magic should be able to remove it."
"It'd help if we had a Parselmouth though," Colin added with a look to Harry.
Harry just shook his head sadly. "Sorry, Voldemort might giveth, but the dementors taketh away…I can't speak Parseltongue anymore."
"I'd be happy to look at it though. I might be able to give you the same information," Luna stood and joined Harry, looking down sternly at the ex-spy.
"I'm the professor, and you are the students," Snape sighed but with a tinge of hope in his eyes. "You should not be the ones seeing to me. I should be protecting you."
"That's utter shite and you know it," Kara growled, flashing razor-sharp teeth. "It's weakness not to take the help offered to you."
"Yeah, you've honestly protected me better than any other professor at this school," Harry agreed. "It's time someone looked after you for a bit."
Without waiting for a reply, Luna walked up to the man and gently took his left arm. "We're going to help you. If you don't agree, I'll have Neville stun you and we'll do it anyway," she said with a Luna glare, that was definitely scarier than Snape's when she wanted it to be.
Snape slowly put his goblet of blood down on the table beside him and gave her a snort nod in acquiescence. "Awesome! Dennis, grab the chalk, and I'll get the ritual herbs!" Colin yelled as they both sprinted from the room to get supplies.
"I can't believe my fate is in the hands of the Creevey brothers," Snape looked warily at the door they'd just left from.
"I'll step in if needed," Neville remarked as he completely dispelled his glamour to focus on using his magic to run diagnostics on the professor. "I won't let them hurt you on accident."
"I'll rephrase…" Snape rolled his eyes. "I can't believe my fate is in the hands of the Creevey brothers and Neville Longbottom."
Luna tutted but pulled back his sleeve and started unwrapping the potion-soaked bandages. A bright, red, angry brand appeared under the bandages and the snake was definitely writhing around the muscle of the man's arm.
"Oh, Uncle Sev," Draco sighed out in worry. "You should have said something before now."
With the bandages off, Severus just closed his eyes again, seeming to try to meditate past the pain. Luna sat on the floor in front of Snape and stared, just inches from the man's arm, intently at the mark. "It really would have helped if you could still speak Parseltongue," she remarked during her study.
"I'll tell Drake next time I see him that he should've waited a few months before sucking Voldemort's soul-leech out of my body then," Harry rolled his eyes as the rest of the club stared at him in surprise. "What? You don't think surviving a killing curse as a baby didn't come with a downside, did you?" He huffed at them all.
"I swear, you dunderhead, you couldn't keep a secret even if you were mute," the professor cracked an eye open to glare at him.
Harry shrugged. "I've kept the club a secret…well, except from Sirius and Remus…but Remus already sort-of knew about it."
"Maybe we need to come up with some kind of vow or contract to keep loose-lipped dementors from blabbing about things," Draco narrowed his eyes at the teen.
"Sirius…as in Sirius Black," Brook gasped in surprise.
"Point," Snape raised a long finger accusingly.
"He's innocent and was framed," Harry rolled his eyes. "Fine, I might have a problem keeping secrets, but I am an excellent judge of character and wouldn't tell anything that would put anyone in danger."
"We're back! What'd you find out, Luna?" Colin panted out as he and his brother skidded to a halt with bags in their hands in the middle of the room.
"He's used binding runes, a soul tether, and what looks to be a blood spell to hold it all together," Luna remarked as the brothers both removed their shirts and the glamour covering the dark runes inked into their skin.
"We'll need a stabilizing circle with runes for separating and strengthening," Colin instructed Dennis who immediately moved a table out of the way and began drawing on the floor in chalk.
"Er…professor…how against blood magic being performed in Hogwarts are you?" Dennis looked up with a worried expression in his eyes.
"He'll live regardless," Kara glared at the man who really seemed more like he was interested than he'd actually care. "Eir and I can take that part of the spell. Valkyries learn blood magic as toddlers," she remarked as she and Eir both pulled silver blades from somewhere on their persons that Harry wasn't able to even guess where.
"Benjamin, you're up!" Eir motioned to the other vampire in the room with her blade. "We just need a little blood from another vampire, no maiming necessary."
The third-year vampire stood with a roll of his eyes and cut a small gash in his arm with a fang. "I'll do it myself, if you don't mind," he remarked as Colin pulled a silver cauldron out of a bag and held it out for Eir.
The Valkyries plus Benjamin got to work in the corner of the room while Colin placed bowls of herbs around the ritual circle Dennis was still working on. "I can ward the room to keep any magic in, I guess," Matthew stood, looking like he really wanted to be helping with something.
"I can help with that," Graham joined him at the door with their wands drawn.
"Draco would make a good anchor since he's Severus's godson," Luna commented over to Colin.
"No, I don't want Draco to have any part in this. The Dark Lord will most definitely look into his mind at some point this summer," Severus protested as he looked in awe at the activity going on around him.
Draco scoffed. "Please, I'm an eros. My occlumency shield are extraordinary. Plus, if he were to get in, I've done many more things than this that would get me killed," he said before walking over to Colin. "Where do you want me?"
"Hold his right arm, opposite from where the Dark Mark is on his left," the druid waved over to Severus in a business-like manner. "Lower your glamour too, we can't have any extra magic interfering."
Draco shot him a glare, but sighed as large, white and gold wings with a ten-foot span unfolded from his back and stretched to well over his head. "He's beautiful," Neville whispered in awe beside Harry who just patted the elf on the arm awkwardly, not knowing what to say to that.
It took another good thirty minutes to set everything up, but eventually, the HSMC members who weren't part of the ritual were shuffled off to the far corner of the classroom and ordered to stay out of the way. Snape was now sitting in the middle of the runic circle with Draco holding his right arm and Luna standing with fluttering wings over him and monitoring the magic levels. Neville stood just off to one side in case he was needed for healing, and Kara stood with the silver cauldron, ready to drop in the ritual herbs when told.
Harry watched in awe and amazement as the Creevey brothers began speaking in what sounded like Welsh and each rune chalked on the floor would glow briefly before a corresponding rune on their bodies would glow to match. It was lucky that Matthew and Graham had warded the room because as the ritual finished there was a massive surge of magic that pushed everyone to the ground before the vampire in the middle of the circle screamed in pain.
"Uncle Sev, are you ok?" Draco asked frantically as the Creevey brother picked themselves up off the floor. The eros turned over Snape's left arm to see pale, unmarked flesh. "Uncle Sev, it worked."
Neville rushed over and put a hand on the man's head. "He's just unconscious. I'm going to siphon off some of his pain." Neville looked around before motioning Harry over. "Hey, I need to move the pain somewhere, it won't hurt a dementor…do you mind?"
"Of course not!" Harry shook his head and quickly lay on the ground, rising from his body to hold a skeletal arm out for Neville to grasp.
It felt a bit like his arm had gone to sleep with some pins and needles feelings that radiated from Neville's hand and up to his shoulder, but it actually felt quite pleasant instead of painful surprisingly. "That's good," Neville finally let go of Harry's arm with a tired sigh. "He should feel much better when he wakes up. It'd be best if he could sleep it off in bed though. Anyone know where his quarters are?"
Draco spoke up while Harry raised a pale arm. Harry floated back down into Jamie as Draco cast a featherlight charm on the man and picked him up off the ground, Draco's wings folding down and disappearing in the process. "I'll go with you. Snuffles can watch over him until he feels better."
"The dog?" The blond questioned with a raise of his eyebrow.
"I'll fill you in on the way," Harry promised as they left.
Apparently, when Sirius owed someone a life-debt, he took it to an extreme. Although he pretty much did everything to an extreme, so it wasn't much of a surprise in Harry's opinion. The ex-convict turned into a tall, lanky version of Mrs. Weasley as soon as he was tasked with the care of a recovering Severus Snape. Harry visited every day for the week it took until Snape was back on his feet, and every time Harry walked into the Potions Professor's quarters, Sirius was trying to feed the man something. Dumbledore was also frequently there, as he seemed to have made himself at home in Snape's quarters and not really left even when he got his job back, and he always made sure there was a cup of tea and a plate of lemon drops within Snape's reach. Harry was positive Snape had never touched a lemon drop in his life though.
Dumbledore and Sirius both were surprisingly good about being told by Harry and Draco that they were not allowed to ask questions and that Severus would be fine. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled like Christmas lights when he saw Harry and Draco standing together and tucking in the Potions Master who was definitely unconscious or who would be hexing them. "Look, it involved Luna, does that tell you enough?" Harry huffed at the headmaster who kept shooting him questioning looks.
"Ah…yes, I do suppose that gives me some idea…and maybe a reason for the secrecy as well," he nodded, still looking like he really did want to ask a million more questions, but realizing that Luna, and any other creature that might be involved in saving his young friend, might not want to talk about it.
"Great, I wasn't here. I don't know anything about Sirius Black being in the school. And Harry and I still hate each other," Draco drawled before exiting Snape's chambers with a haughty air.
"He has quite the presence for someone who doesn't exist," Sirius chuckled as he started making soup to force the injured man to eat.
Snape did eventually recover fully, and unfortunately for the students, well in time for final exams. Harry's OWLs were surprisingly uneventful. He kept waiting for Voldemort to try something since their last encounter wasn't quite at the end of the year like usual, but he must still have been off recruiting because, besides almost getting skewered by a unicorn again during his Care of Magical Creatures exam, the tests went smoothly and without interruption.
The only interesting thing that happened before leaving the school were the delivery of two letters. The first was dropped off by a put-upon looking Abaddon who seemed incensed that he had to wait for a reply. Harry happily penned a note agreeing to the dementors' invitation to visit them at the end of his summer break for a week before the haughty owl flew off once more. He was really excited to see the new prison and the ocean as well. Harry wondered if dementors could get a tan…he was fairly positive that was a 'no' though.
The second letter came by school owl and was on very nice parchment with flowery calligraphy. "Luna!" Harry yelled across the Great Hall at breakfast to the Ravenclaw table causing many sleepy students to jump.
Luna looked up from her tea with a smile at him. "Yes, Harry?" She called back.
"Will you be my date to a wedding in late June?!" He yelled over, wide grin on his face as the other students looked back and forth between the two.
"Can I bring the tent you bought me and we camp out after?!" She asked hopefully.
Harry shrugged. "Sure, it's here at the school though!"
"Ok, we'll camp with the thestrals then. I'm in!" She called out, causing Dumbledore and McGonagall to sputter loudly about not being allowed to camp in the forbidden forest even during a break.
"Winky, we RSVP yes!" Harry called out again, ignoring the professors, before a piece of treacle tart popped into existence on his plate.
"You going to eat that?" Ron asked as Harry poked at Winky's gift tart with his fork.
The dementor pushed it over to his friend. "I don't think she realizes that I can't taste food anymore, but it's the thought that counts," Harry smiled and instead stuck with his very healthy cup of fruit.
"Potter, you do realize, normal people talk to each other when there isn't half of the school between them," Snape drawled as he glided past Harry to leave breakfast.
Harry straightened the silver visitors' badge he was still wearing that said 'Dementor Shield' on his robes with a grin. "Now, professor, you of all people should know that I've never fit anywhere in the realm of normal." With all his other odd jewelry, no one had even questioned the badge it when it appeared, except for Ron and Hermione that is, and he ended up telling them the entire story.
"Brat," the vampire snorted as he continued walking, but Harry would swear there was a hint of fondness in his tone.
Harry left the Great Hall and caught up to where he could see Neville frantically talking with Draco just down the hall and towards where Malfoy had probably been heading to the dungeons. With a sigh, Draco took something from Neville before turning on a heel and heading towards his dorm. "What was that about?" Harry asked, looking after the blond.
"I gave him my family's emergency portkey," Neville looked tired and anxious, and more than a little frustrated.
Harry looked at him for a bit in concern. "Nev…tell me if I'm wrong, but that sounds like something you aren't supposed to give to another person. Something that's supposed to stay in the family."
"He needs it more than I do," the elf slowly started to make his way towards the tower to finish packing for break. "I only hope he'll use it if he gets in trouble. He thinks You-Know-Who will kill his mother if he doesn't go back. That's why he's insisting on going home."
"He's going to break your heart, you know that right," Harry put a hand on Neville's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "He has a mate out there, one he has to be with…"
"I know," Neville sighed and gave Harry a little smile. "It's already too late though."
Harry stopped and quickly pulled his friend into an alcove before throwing up the HSMC privacy ward. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Harry hissed in concern at his friend.
Neville just shrugged and looked away from the dementor. "I got too invested…my elf already decided. High elves can pick their own mates, but they only get one choice. Once it's made…there's no going back."
"Merlin, Neville!" Harry gasped out with wide eyes. "What happens when he finds his mate in just over a year?!"
"Maybe it'll be me?" the teen looked up with sad hope in his eyes.
"It might be, but what if it isn't?!" Harry insistently pressed forward.
He took a deep steadying breath. "Then I'll get a kneazle, I'll take up my seats on the Wizengamut and work for creature rights, I'll be a good friend to you and Luna, and the best Uncle Neville possible to your kids and Draco's kids."
"And you'll be alone forever," Harry voiced what Neville hadn't said.
"It might not be so bad," Neville cancelled Harry's ward and took his friend's hand, pulling him towards the tower. "Besides, I'll still have Draco as a friend, and all of you guys."
"Merlin!" Harry ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Yes, Nev, you'll always have me. No matter what happens."
Remus was the one that picked up Harry from Kings Cross at the end of term. Dumbledore had tried one more time before he left the school to convince Harry to go to the Dursleys. Harry had just stared at the man coldly for about fifteen minutes before he eventually gave up. After that, Harry ordered them tea from Winky and changed the subject, never to visit the earlier one again. "Padfoot has been so excited for the summer ever since he got back to the house a few days ago," Remus filled him in. "I don't know how he managed to stay hidden at Hogwarts for months, but he seems calmer and less erratic now. Though he immediately started trying to make soup for Severus. Luckily Kreacher stepped in since that man really can't cook."
"Yeah, he's turned into a bit of a mother hen where Snape's concerned. I think he's overcompensating," Harry agreed vehemently about Sirius's culinary skills.
"I'm taking bets on when Snape gets fed up and starts cursing Siri," Remus grinned deviously. "You want in? The twins each have a galleon on next week."
"You're too late, Moony," Harry shook his head with a chuckle. "Snape already got fed up and has hexed Siri at least once a day for the past week. I think Sirius has developed a bit of a masochistic complex or something though as he still hasn't let up. It's probably from being in prison and around dementors for so long," he added on thoughtfully at the end. "Maybe I should get a friend of mine who's good with mind-magic to visit sometime."
"Potter," Snape grumbled in greeting when Harry and Remus entered the kitchen at Grimmauld. "Wolf," he added in another grumble at the end.
"Vampire," Remus said in the same tone but with a grin on his part.
Snape narrowed his eyes but went back to reading the paper and drinking his tea. "You are not allowed in my potions lab," he added on for Harry. "I won't have any repeats of what happened at Christmas."
"That wasn't exactly my fault," he huffed, but went about making himself a cup of tea.
"Pup! I missed you so much!" Sirius ran into the room and grabbed onto Harry, planting sloppy kisses on his cheeks.
"Ew, it's only been a couple days, Siri!" Harry protested, pushing the manic man away.
"Sirius told me you're officially dating the fairy girl," Remus laughed at the two of them and sat beside Snape at the table. "Is she coming for a visit sometime this summer? I'd love to get to talk with her more. She was only a second year when I was teaching, and I didn't get to know her well."
"Er, yeah, we're going to Dobby and Winky's wedding at the end of June. She'll stop by first. We're going camping for a day or two after that though," Harry smiled at him.
"Um…" Sirius looked really confused. "Are you supposed to ask me stuff like that before you decide? Like, you know, asking your guardian if you can go camping with your girlfriend alone?"
Harry looked at him with a blank gaze. "The tent has two bedrooms…why would I need to ask?"
Snape sighed deeply. "Potter, that's something you ask your parent or guardian ahead of time, and they would usually say no."
"Oh…er, I'm also going to the Caribbean in July to stay for a week at the prison. Was I supposed to ask about that one too?" Harry genuinely asked Sirius.
"Probably," the animagus nodded slowly. "Merlin, we really aren't good with this whole parent-like situation thing, are we?"
Harry shrugged. "I've never had a parent or a guardian who cared…so yeah, I guess we'll figure it out."
"You still haven't asked," Snape rolled his eyes at the two of them.
"Asked what…" Harry looked at him confused.
"If you can go…" Snape said slowly as if talking to a small child.
"Oh, er, nah…I don't want to set a dangerous precedent. Hey, Siri, I'll bring you something good back from the Caribbean," Harry grinned at his godfather as Remus softly beat his head on the wooden table in frustration.
"Sure thing, pup! Oh, bring me cake from the wedding too," he added on with a grin.
"Can do! Dobby makes excellent cake…or so I hear since I can't really taste it," Harry stood to go set up his room and get settled.
"I'm living with idiots," Snape sighed and opened his newspaper once more.
Up Next: The cup horcrux...
Updated HSMC Characters and What Harry Currently Knows:
Severus Snape - Sponsor, Slytherin Head of House, Vampire
Graham Montague - Seventh year, Slytherin, Gargoyle
Matthew Bastien - Seventh year, Hufflepuff, Veela
Hestia Talon - Sixth year, Ravenclaw, Unknown
Brook Baye - Sixth year, Hufflepuff, Naiad
David Birch - Sixth year, Hufflepuff, Drus (Dryad)
Harry Potter - Fifth year, Gryffindor, Dementor
Neville Longbottom - Fifth year, Gryffindor, High Elf
Draco Malfoy - Fifth year, Slytherin, Eros (Cupid)
Luna Lovegood - Fourth year, Ravenclaw, Fairy
Colin Creevey - Fourth year, Gryffindor, Druid
Kara Brynhildr - Fourth year, Slytherin, Valkyrie
Aurora Jones - Third year, Hufflepuff, Half-Werewolf
Aurelius Jones - Third year, Ravenclaw, Half-Werewolf
Bartholemew Beedle - Third year, Ravenclaw, Vampire
Dennis Creevey - Second year, Gryffindor, Druid
Eir Herja - Second year, Gryffindor, Valkyrie
Aceline Hesop - First year, Slytherin, Veela