A/N: Uh Oh! We're getting dangerously close to the end! I hope you've all enjoyed it so far and I thank you all for reviewing! :D It's been a great ride! I have to excuse myself for some spelling/grammar mistakes that I may have missed while trying to 'proof read' I guess I need an editor don't I? Well, I think that's pretty obvious! Blushes

Disclaimer: I do now own or sell Harry Potter… lol. Now how wrong does that sound?

Chapter 23

"Oblivion"

"He's been the Dementor all along! Dumbledore DID kill all of them!" exclaimed Draco.

"Yes and now it will kill you! It will drain Potter and leave only the Dark Lord to rise again and I shall be rewarded for my ingenuity! I was supposed to have been the Dementor originally but see how wonderfully this has turned out, especially with that ring from Dumbledore… The bait has also become the trap!"

The Dementor had stood up and turned its hooded head at Pettigrew after hearing him speak. It soon began to walk towards him but Peter scuttled to the corner of his cell. He shrewd up his face and pointed to Harry.

"Not me, you imbecile! Potter! Take Potter!"

The creature turned again and began to walk slowly towards the group. Ron was the tallest of them all but seemed significantly taller after his transformation. Harry was on guard as Ginny reached for her wand again.

"No, it's useless, remember? Stay behind me!" ordered Draco as he took out the chain. "It looks like we'll have to do it the muggle way,"

"No! It's Ron! We can't hurt him!"

"Ginny! I think he's going to do a lot more damage to us right now!" retorted Draco panicked.

The Dementor then outstretched its hand and breathed out in a horrible screech: "Accio!" and Harry felt himself begin to be tugged forwards. As he was pulled, he felt the same intolerable feeling that came over him whenever he was near a regular Dementor. He felt the air grow cold as the room became darker until he was awoken from his daze by a familiar voice and a red glow. Ginny had begun to scream for Harry and it seemed that his ring had reacted to her pleas. He then took out his sword and batted Ron's hand away with a clang. It seemed that his skin was made out of a near metallic scale. Harry had stopped moving and took out his wand in his other hand.

"Ron… this isn't you! You don't want to hurt me!"

It shrieked again loudly and terribly. The Dementor soon began to run towards him and Harry stood back to summon his Patronus. As the silver smoke materialized into a stag, it instantly began to fend off the Dementor. Harry turned to see Hermione; she was on the floor looking cold and pale. His stare however had not been long lived as the Dementor took a hold of the antlers and ripped the ghostly head off! The Patronus turned back into smoke and disappeared before Harry's eyes. Harry moved backwards and urged everyone to run behind him. He turned tail and picked up Hermione from the floor. They began to run as the Dementor saw their robes disappear into the dark and with a pop had disappeared from the wing. Wormtail had opened his cell door and followed suit after everyone had left. He wasn't about to miss the rebirth of his master after working so long to get it.

They moved to a large room on another part of the floor. Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Draco were all holding a stitch on their sides as they looked behind them. No one was chasing them so they took the moment to rest. Harry looked at Ginny and ran to her and pulled her in a tight hug.

"Thank you… your voice brought me back," he said as he stroked her hair.

"Harry! I'm so worried! I love you so much! I can't… I can't see you dead!" she said tearing.

Harry then put his hands on her face a wiped her tears away. He seized her and pulled her into a kiss. Hermione looked at them and began to cry. How she wanted for Ron to hold her like that but his touch seemed like a distant memory. This was too much to handle. Both her best friends were in danger but what was left to do?

"Hermione –" started Harry.

"Harry… I – I can't deal with this,"

"I know it's hard, but you have the protection orb! Together we have to find a way-"

"But what if we can't? What if he… and you…"

"Hermione, you can't give up! You love him don't you?" said Ginny putting her hand on her friend's shoulder. "You can fight! You have to be strong Hermione! For Ron you must be strong!" she continued.

Hermione wiped away her tears and reached out for the orb that had been glowing in her pocket. Her ring began to glow softly and it was strangely comforting. She remembered the day that Ron had offered it to her and how happy he was. His very smile was just like that glow; warm and reassuring. She looked at Harry and questioned him about the orb.

"Harry, what does this do?"

"It's a protection orb. It has the power to give magical defense to the caster. The last time, Dumbledore had managed to use it as a shield,"

"But how can I use this if normal spells don't work on him. I saw what he did to your Patronus Harry! Just protecting me isn't enough! I'll be useless. Unless…" started Hermione. "The treasures… Maybe if we destroy the pendant Ron will go back to normal!"

"Right like that's easy!" said Draco rolling his eyes. "Getting close to the thing just makes us go into a daze! And I don't want to relive the moment that Crabbe and Goyle died before I do thanks,"

They stood there in silence momentarily until without warning the Dementor appeared before them! Draco had taken out the chain again as the creature lifted its hand: "Redusen!" it screeched as a silvery light made its way towards them. They dodged it and the beam hit the sidewall, leaving a very large hole in its wake. They all strived to keep their hair out of their eyes because of the very violence of the wind that had entered. They could hear the crash of the tide when it hit the rock with great power as the creature attempted the Reductor Curse a second time. "Redusen!" Another blast came and it created a new hole in the ground. Harry fell off his feet because of the shock. The Dementor then towered over him and moved his hand for a final blow. "Redu-" it began until Draco had thrown the chain around its arm and pulled the scaly green hand away from Harry. The boy scrimmaged and returned to his feet. However, with a thrust of the Dementor's swing Draco, whose hands were still firmly gripping the chain, was sent flying into the opposite wall.

The Dementor outstretched its arm again and hissed: "Immobiolous!" The air seemed to shake and suddenly they all froze except Hermione and Harry. Their rings had managed to make them invulnerable to the spell. It came for Harry and he tried to ward it off as best as he could, the tip of his sword dinging the rough scales. The length of his weapon was still not long enough to prevent him from feeling the cold that swept across the room whenever the Dementor came near. The sword then snatched the end of its hood as the wind aided in tossing it off and revealing the Dementor's face. Harry screamed for Hermione to do something but she was frozen with shock from the sight. The face of the Dementor was just like the others except for one major distinction. It had eyes. It had the same blue eyes she had known forever. The sight was stupefying.

"Hermione!!!" yelled Harry as he continued to spar.

"Hermione! Use it! Use the orb!" yelled Ginny glued to her spot from the spell.

In a mighty slash, Harry's sword bathed in a glow of deep red and managed to hurt the creature making it scream in pain. Harry smiled. He had managed to wound it and took out his wand. He knew the only way he could harm it now was to attack the gash he had made. Hermione felt her body shiver and soon she seemed to have a second sight. Within the terrifying, large silhouette was the very same image of Ron grabbing his arm in pain. She could see his contorted face and his fingers clutching his injury. She was as frozen as her friends were but it was not by magic. Harry could fight him easily because he only saw the Dementor… but what about what was inside? Did he forget Ron?

"Harry NO!" she yelled as the boy turned his head.

The Dementor then managed to take a hold of Harry's robes and pulled him in. The gaping hole began to widen and Harry's eyes had begun to roll back. He dropped his wand and let it roll to the entrance of the room. He could feel the cold, he began to hear the screaming in his head again and a green light had begun to shine from the Dementor. He was about to deliver a kiss. The green pendant had then slipped out of his robes and Hermione looked at the terrible scene her nerves in knots. Wormtail had entered to witness the sight and looked very excited.

"Yes!! Take Potter and leave only Lord Voldermort!" he cackled.

"The orb Hermione… Please! HARRY!!" yelled Ginny.

"Potter…" muttered Draco still feeling the impact of his flight.

Hermione lifted the orb and took out her wand. She pointed it towards Ron as he began to lean close to Harry's face. "Please save them both… please," she thought in deep prayer and closed her eyes letting her wand drop and point at Harry through the yellow sphere. There was only one spell that came to her mind, one she had just been preparing for in her N.E.W.T.s studies. And so with this one glimmer of hope she looked at the scene and cried: "LUMINOS ARA!!!" It was then that a beam of bright yellow light emerged from Hermione's wand and passed through the orb. It soon surrounded Harry in an eerie glow just as Ron had begun to deliver the kiss. Harry opened his eyes to see the terrifying creature going not for his face, but begin to drain him of something from his forehead. To Harry, it looked like a green mist was entering the Dementor. He clenched his sword again and was about to strike in anyway he could but his attention was soon drawn to the glowing pendant that fell out of the cloak. It looked like the green mist was seeping from the Dementor into the stone. He stretched out his arm with great difficulty and saw the last of the mist enter it. He then, ripped the pendent off from Ron's neck. There was an ear-piercing scream and the Dementor pulled back and let Harry fall out of his clutches. It fell to the floor and began to shake uncontrollably like it was suffering from a severe shock. It took the cloak and once again threw it over its head.

Harry stumbled backwards and fell to the floor tiered. He had dropped everything in his hands and let himself slump on the floor. His hair was utterly messy and his fringe was nearly covering his eyes completely. The charm had warned off and Ginny ran in and threw her arms around Harry. She then looked at the mass that lay on the floor worriedly. Draco also moved slowly near them and looked onto where Ron had fallen. He was near the large gap in the wall that he had created when attacking Harry.

Hermione began to move towards the Dementor. She looked at the blue fabric fearfully. What if it didn't work? What if she'd be looking at Ron's dead demon figure? Would she be ready for something like that? "You have to be strong Hermione!" came Ginny's voice in her mind. She then moved away the material and saw a site that made her breath easily again. Ron's red hair had returned and his pale face now had some color restored. However, there was still the fact of him being alive to be determined that is until Ron swayed and turned his head to Hermione and slowly opened his eyes.

"Hermione…" he muttered blinking.

"Ron," she smiled. "How are you?"

"I have a massive headache!" he said putting his hand on his head.

Hermione began to laugh uncontrollably.

"I'm glad to see my pain makes you laugh," he said tiredly and slowly sitting.

"You… have no idea… how long it's been… since I could laugh like this!" she said water swelling in her eyes and taking him in her arms.

"Careful! Careful! How did you get here anyways? What happened?" he said smiling.

"It's been a bad dream Ron… all a bad dream," she said taking his lips delicately.

Ginny and Draco helped Harry up and they began to walk over to see Ron but Draco had nearly slipped over something… he soon realized what.

"What in the – NO! Wormtail!!!" he shouted as he dove to where he saw a rodent scurry. It had made its way to the pendant on the floor and grabbed it with its teeth. Escaping Draco's plunge it transformed into a human looked furiously at the teenagers.

"No!!! This isn't right!!" screamed Wormtail as he took out an object from his pocket. "It's ruined! Everything is ruined! All because of you, mudblood!!" he said his round face reddening with anger and pointing what was revealed as Harry's dropped wand.

"HEY!" came Draco's voice as he stood up. "Don't call her a mudblood!" he said grinning defiantly only inches away from the wand tip.

"Like I care what you think! I still have this! And I can still destroy you!"

"Pettigrew… the magical barrier won't allow it! The wand won't work!" said Hermione as a-matter-of-factly as Ron stooped up to see what was going on.

"It will with this," he said lifting the pendant into view.

"You're bluffing…"

"Wish to test that statement Mr. Malfoy?"

He began to indicate for Draco to move back to where Harry and Ginny where and slowly moved closer to Ron and Hermione. He was right beside them still dangerously pointing his wand at who ever would dare move but focusing it more importantly on the couple that lay huddled on the floor. The wind began to blow violently through the gap as Peter stood before it. The Raven-cloak, still latched onto Ron's back was fluttering madly.

"This is it! You'll both suffer for what you have ruined! After all the effort I put into making it seem like nothing was wrong! Averting all signs that anything was happening! It was insufferable writing to Ginny about how happy you were here so Potter wouldn't be tipped off!" he began as Ginny's face flushed with anger. "I did the impossible to make this work for my master! And you – Erg! But I can continue his legacy with the Snake Pendant and I'll start by sending you two into oblivion! AVADA -"

"No!!!"

As he pointed his wand to mutter the rest of the spell, Peter suddenly felt a force push him back! It was Ginny! She had vigorously pushed the round-faced wizard back before he could say another word. Harry had screamed for her but was relieved to see her fall backwards on the floor. Pettigrew however, stumbled upon his feet and couldn't seem to maintain his balance. He felt himself slip on some loose stones on the edge of the gap on the floor. He was going to fall to his death! Before loosing all his equilibrium he had gotten a hold of Ron's cloak and tried to use him to pull himself back but it was no good! Soon they both were dragged downward by gravity and began to plummet into the chasm!

A/N: I hope I get as many reviews! I'm a humble little writer just trying to get people's attention cause I'm insecure that way… umm… wait a minute… That wasn't supposed to come out like that.

I also want to point out to a reviewer that all the 'children' in this series are 16 to 18 years old (by 18 I mean Ron of course since he's born in March) so yeah, they would talk more like adults but as for the 19th century bit… sorry, I wasn't there so I don't know how that sounds… This is how I talk to my friends! Wonders