Chapter Fifteen

Unexpected Allies

Jennifer stood up in surprise when she saw Severus' deathly white face as he entered his office, and she called out his name in alarm.

"Are you all right?" she asked. Severus took something out of his mouth and tossed it in the drawer.

"They're going to be missing me before too long. I need to go back. We're on our way to Azkaban. Voldemort has gone to help the Dementors revolt before the retrials. He's going to release the rest of his supporters and kill the other prisoners. Go tell Dumbledore. Now!" Jennifer nodded and left the room. Fumbling with his potions, he quickly drank one down, pocketed two others, and Disapparated.

In the dead of the night, the Owlery suddenly seemed to burst open as dozens and dozens of messages took flight on owl wing. Jennifer Craw stayed behind with Minerva and Rolanda, their wrists sore from tying the notes to every one and sending them off to every friend of the school and anyone else honorable they could think of.

"All right, everyone to your posts," Minerva said, heading down to account for all the students and secure the halls. Rolanda turned into a falcon, taking the perimeter, while Jennifer clamored down the stairs, hurrying towards Hagrid's Hut. Hagrid was already out at the pens, and he did something that Jennifer had never seen him do: he opened them all.

Beasts of every kind and shape rushed out and covered the school grounds, making Jennifer dive to get out of the way.

At Hagrid's call, she looked over to see him on Babe, leading Ruby over to her. "Thar ya go, Professor, good luck."

"You too. Hopefully they won't come this way, but Dumbledore said to be prepared," she said, hopping on Ruby with ease.

"Hello down there!" a man on a hippogriff waved down at them from just above. "Is Harry all right?"

"He is in some discomfort from his scar, but he is safe," Jennifer answered. "Are you going to help Professor Dumbledore, Mr. Black?"

"I'm going to see what I can do at the prison, but if they come this way, I'll be here before they can," he said. "Nice to meet you, Professor Craw, is it? We'll have to meet on better terms sometime!" he said, and nudged the hippogriff up.

"All right Ruby, over the grounds and forest now," she told her mount, making her first round.

The screams coming from inside were horrifying, and every so often one would just sharply cut off mid-wail as a Dementor's Kiss hit a victim. Along the shores of the island outside of the prison walls, a large group of wizards and witches spread along an invisible line before the gates.

"I think we should go in after them," Remus Lupin said to Dumbledore, who was standing beside him.

"We would be outnumbered to say the least, and in unfamiliar territory," Dumbledore pointed out. He frowned slightly, listening.

"The screaming stopped," Arthur Weasley said, taking out his wand.

Suddenly the great iron doors began to corrode like worms, a curse oozing over the metal and eating rapidly through it. One by one wands began to appear in hands as the door disappeared and waves of Dementors rushed out of the prison.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Waves of light began to shoot through the night like stars, gallant steeds of light attempting to keep the Dementors at bay. Dementors fled from Dumbledore's range, quickly coming around the sides.

"Work together! Don't let them get around us!" Arthur Weasley shouted, firing off another shot. "Try to catch any witches or warlocks that come out. They can't Apparate inside the main structure!"

Remus Lupin nodded to Arnie, Ederick, and a couple of his own friends, trying to work a path closer to the door. Shots of light came from above as Sirius surveyed the area. He watched as a second wave of Dementors came out, swiftly moving like a surge of blackness floating over the water and off the island. Suddenly, he noticed that one of the hooded wizards flew over the wall of fear that the Dementors created. Sirius dove down and pointed his wand with a loud, "Stupefy!"

Just as the bolt hit, the hippogriff squawked with such fear Sirius had to pull up, turning to see he had just hit Macnair.

"Remus! Pick him up, quick! I can't get close!" Sirius yelled. As he allowed Buckbeak to get higher in the sky, he saw a wave of Dementors and knew without a doubt where they were heading. Somehow, he managed to coax the hippogriff over to the group of wizards on the shoreline. "Arthur! The Death Eaters are starting to come out now, but the Dementors seem to be veering off! I need to go warn the school!"

Arthur nodded as he pulled off another spell, trying to move towards Dumbledore as Sirius flew back to Hogwarts at top speed. Had Sirius looked back, he would have seen a larger group of figures on brooms beginning to shoot through the doors of the prison.

Jennifer felt it coming before she saw it. Her mind had begun to wander over the missing parts of her memory and she frowned, trying to concentrate on her patrol over the outer grounds. Ruby, it seemed, was also sensing something. She was getting very nervous and it became increasingly hard to keep her paced. Finally Jennifer made the decision to veer the Pegasus towards the feeling she was getting, but Ruby fought back, nearly tossing her off.

"Professor! Professor Craw, they're coming!" Sirius Black dropped out of the sky, "There are a lot more of them than we anticipated. They'll be here in a few minutes."

"Where's Dumbledore?" Jennifer asked.

"He's at the prison still, some of the other Death Eaters must be holding him up. We'll have to try and keep them off ourselves." His face told her more than she wanted to know. There were too many for a handful to handle. "We're going to have to land; there's no way we can do an aerial assault. The mounts can smell the fear on the Dementors' breaths."

Suddenly Jennifer remembered something, growing wide-eyed.

"Mr. Black, you're a genius!"

"Well, if I'm a genius, you can call me Sirius! What did I do?" he demanded, watching the darkness increase.

"Find the falcon and tell Madame Hooch what we've got incoming. She'll call the rest of the professors to help. Stall if you have to!" Jennifer dove towards the ground, leaving Sirius to wonder about how anyone could stall an army of Dementors.

Landing on the grounds at the Forest's edge, Jennifer hopped down, dashing into the Forest at a reckless pace. She headed towards the center, thinking she should have run into a centaur by now, but they weren't there. Where were they? Suddenly, she saw a flash of white in the distance and ran towards it.

"Wait! Wait, please wait, we need your help." She knew that it was there, knew it was close and listening to her. Somehow, it had understood her. "Please, I need your help. Voldemort let loose the Dementors and they're heading this way now." Jennifer explained, growing impatient. "Look, I know that you are afraid, but so am I, and I know you can do it because your breath saved my life. It can save all of us if you would be willing to help me. You can't just let Voldemort get the better of Hogwarts. Who would be left to protect the Dark Forest if we're not there?"

She suddenly heard a neigh right by her ear and jumped in surprise. The Unicorn stood there watching her as if she was expecting something, snorting impatiently.

"What? You are going to help?" Jennifer asked and looked in the Unicorn's face. Somehow Voldemort had hurt them, but she couldn't tell how. All she knew was that she was insistently being directed to get on. Jennifer's eyes grew wide for a moment but finally hopped on, trying to figure out where to hold onto. Immediately she was washed with a new energy that calmed her panic.

"Ok, fine. I'm on a Unicorn. Um, now what do I do?"

Jennifer had meant to say it to herself and not out loud, but the Unicorn shook its white mane and she grabbed hold. The Unicorn then neighed; a loud, signal-like neigh. In the blink of an eye, she found herself with a herd all around her, and the one she was on begun to speed through the trees as if they had no substance at all.

"Stupefy!" rang out in several directions as a line of brooms came out the door, some of them sending curses down to the crowd below as they passed.

"Avada Kedavra!" rang out, and a green wave hit Macnair, killing him instantly.

"That's him, hit his broom!" Dumbledore said from the crowd, trying to get a view.

"Which? Where?"

"Get him!" Arthur yelled as he dove a green ray.

"They're leaving, where are they going?" Ederick asked, trying to set fire to one of the brooms as it sped away.

"Hogwarts would be my guess," said Remus, "and it looks like the rest of their Dementor friends are following."

"Dumbledore? Where did he go?" someone asked. Arthur, realizing none of the teachers were any longer with them, began to direct those remaining to the prisoners at hand.

Minerva stood on the parapet, looking over the mob angrily through Omnioculars, wondering at their numbers. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Albus, are you all right?"

"Yes, for now, but it looks like we're going to have a battle on our hands. Voldemort and the Death Eaters are on their way behind the Dementors." Just then, something caught Dumbledore's attention, and gazed off in the distance. "Minerva, may I borrow those for a moment?" Taking the Omnioculars, he glanced through them towards the streak of movement he saw coming from the forest.

"What is it, what do you see?" Minerva asked, expecting the worst.

"Allies unlooked for are coming to our aid like the ray of hope they are…Voldemort has many enemies," he smiled, unnerving Minerva with the sudden change of optimism.

"Are you going down there?" she asked.

"No, no, not yet. Somebody down there deserves a moment of glory." Dumbledore decided, glancing through the Omnioculars again.

"At least let me have my Omnioculars back so I can see what's going on!" Minerva pleaded.

Sirius Black's voice was nearly cracking from overuse as he attempted to halt the progress. Hagrid had finally returned to with a small group of centaurs, attacking the Dementors at the edge of the Dark Forest with Wild magic no longer used by man.

"Don't worry, we'll beat them! I have foreseen that we will! Keep shooting!" Trelawney insisted as she cast another Patronus at them. Rolanda took a split second to give her a dirty look before continuing to work at increasing the water level of the lake, flooding the land in front of the main school. Living Stone was darting out from the tip of Flitwick's wand, recently having joined them from the prison fight.

Suddenly the ground started to shake and a sound began to thunder from behind them. Hearing Hagrid shout in surprise, Sirius turned, fearing the worst, and saw something completely unexpected.

"DUCK!" he shouted, and everyone did as the Unicorn herd jumped over them, neatly missing the group and creating a line between the lake and the forest. On the lead Unicorn before the pack, hair down and eyes full of anger like an angel of justice, Sirius Black saw an entirely different Jennifer than the one he had met earlier. A strange silence fell on both sides as the line of brooms came to a halt.

"Professor Craw? What in blazes are you doin' ridin' a Unicorn? They don' normally like tha'" Hagrid asked softly, more out of surprise than expecting her to hear him.

The Unicorn snorted with anger. It went straight through the mane and into Jennifer, mixed with another surge of bravery. There was no reason for her not to be brave. Every fiber of her being knew for certain that not one of the dark wizards could touch her at that moment. Forward as one the Unicorns pranced, and quickly the Dementors recoiled, backing away.

"So, this is your army?" Jennifer found herself saying, her voice strange even in her own ears. "Impressive, I guess, but not impressive enough. I suppose you believed that with Dumbledore gone that Hogwarts would be easy game," some of the Unicorns neighed, their heads slightly down. She looked up knowing exactly which one was Voldemort, staring at him with not one ounce of fear in her. "But you have a lot more to worry about than just Dumbledore, or Harry Potter, or me, for that matter. You can't control people who are dead, and pain does nothing but make people defy you more. There is more to truth than death and pain, and the truth is that no matter where you are, no matter where you go, your little group of friends will never be enough to protect you from entire races of enemies you've made over the years. I don't fear you, and I don't fear your name, Voldemort. You'll never win, no matter how many people you kill or maim! There will always be more to come after you, and that's the only truth I see."

The Unicorns reared before she even heard the words to the Killing Curse, and the curse dissipated against them as they acted as one giant white wall to block the green light from hitting her. With one neigh from the Unicorn, the herd drove into the Dementors in a stampede of light with Jennifer clinging on the leader's back, watching as the Dementors ran in a desperate attempt to flee. Jennifer was partially aware that behind her the teachers had taken to their brooms and mounts, and myriads of spells blasted above them.

Every time a Unicorn's hoof touched a Dementor, it shrieked in horrible pain and dissipated, and every time it happened, Jennifer felt more and more elated as the fears on the ground ebbed away. She quickly lost track of time as feelings of abated anger, satisfaction, and triumph poured through her, her conscious thought only stirring when the last of the enemies had been vanquished or driven off. The lead Unicorn then reared up and turned, leading the herd deep into the forest, and Jennifer felt again what it was like to run through the trees as if they weren't even there.

And it was then as the Unicorns began to fade into the trees and the one she was on began to slow that Jennifer knew for certain that she was never, ever going to experience that bond as completely again. It was a very curious feeling because she was so sure of it; yet at the same time, she knew that ride had changed her. As Jennifer felt her strength wane, she also knew that she had to be who she was meant to be, and had to become who she was meant to become. She slipped off the beast with a growing feeling of sadness. It was somehow bearable to leave, more bearable than she might have guessed it would have been. She hugged the Unicorn's neck warmly, and then the Unicorn nudged her gently with her muzzle.

"Yes, I know, I know. But I just want you to understand that even if I never see you again, I will always be your friend." Jennifer said, touching her nose one last time.

When she turned around to head back to the castle, she knew that the Unicorn was already gone. For a few moments she wandered aimlessly in the darkness, wishing to be alone and yet trying to hold onto those feelings at the same time, and trying to sort out which of those emotions had been hers and which had been the Unicorn's. And then, at last, she came to a very strange realization… that her thoughts weren't the only ones that had changed during the battle; the beast's thoughts had as well. The Unicorn had been influenced by the emotions running through her, heightening the experience for both of them. That, she thought to herself, explained a great deal to her about why Unicorns hardly ever let anyone ride them, afraid to be tainted and thus lose that which made them Unicorns. Lightheaded, Jennifer at last turned towards the school, exhausted but still feeling unafraid as she walked through the forest.