Disclaimed!

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The Basement

By Marz

Chapter 6: Dementors

The last truck let us off a few miles past Braemar Castle. There were a lot of tourists around, so we didn't look out of place. We didn't get to see the castle. I was about to request a side trip, before remembering I would be asking an escaped felon. As soon as the truck had driven out of sight, Black lead us off the road. We walked through a lot of fields. I got very sick of fields. After the fields, the land was sort of lumpy. We were constantly going up and down little hills. It was cloudy again, so we couldn't see into the distance.

"How far away is Hogwarts now?" I asked. We'd taken a short break and I was trying to re-lace my shoes so they would stop rubbing all the skin off of my feet. I wasn't having too much success.

"We'll be in Hogsmead by nightfall; you can go on your own from there. It's about a twenty minute walk to the school."

He was a good judge of time. Just as the sun was setting we came over another hill, and saw the village. No one was out on the streets. I would have thought it a ghost town, if not for the lights just barely showing through some heavily curtained windows. There weren't any street lamps, so night was coming on fast.

"That path there," Black said pointing, "will take you up to the school."

I nodded. "So if the rat really is Peter, how am I supposed to tell you?"

"I'll be near by." Black said.

We stood in silence for a while, and it grew darker. Black looked as if he wanted to say something.  I thought I should say something as well. How are you supposed to say good bye to the person who kidnapped you and locked you up in a haunted house for almost two months? I was trying to think of some noncommittal, polite farewell, that some how included a request for my wand back, when Black leaned forward and grabbed me.

I thought he was going to tackle me and I started to shout that I wasn't trying to get away. Then I noticed I wasn't being knocked off my feet. He just had his arms around my back and he was holding me against his chest. After a very confused moment, I realized he was hugging me.

I didn't get a lot of hugs growing up, I think I mentioned the "raised in a cupboard" aspect of my childhood before, so when people hug me, I feel horribly awkward. When my friend Ron's mum hugged me last year I felt a little uncomfortable.   Black's bizarre expression of affection made me concerned I would vomit on myself.  I held absolutely still, sort of hopping he would forget I was there and go take a walk or something.

"Be careful Harry," he said over the top of my head.  There was a popping noise. I stumbled a bit to get my balance after my sudden release. I barely saw the tip of the dog's tail disappear around the edge of a house, and then Black was gone. For the first second I was just dumbfounded. Then I started feeling lonely and scared, and I almost yelled for him to come back. I was about to head for the path when I saw Black had left his back pack on the ground. I looked inside and found my own wand, and Hermione's. I was worried then, that Black would come back, so I grabbed up the wands and the pack and ran as fast as I could.

I got out of breath very quickly. Only a few hundred meters outside the village I had to slow to a walk again. I guessed it would take me a while longer to get over my captivity. Dusk faded completely away a minute later, leaving me in the dark. Since I was almost at school, I thought I wouldn't be in too much trouble for using magic. I cast the Lumos spell, and a little light appeared at the tip of my wand. I thought then about the possibility of my being expelled for accidentally using magic on Aunt Marge, but I thought Dumbledore would at least let me into the castle. I had been traumatically kidnapped after all. 

It was closer to forty minutes then twenty before I could see the castle gates and my feet were killing me, but I was so happy right then I could have run the rest of the way across boiling lava.

 Ice water poured over me. At least I thought so at first. I was horribly cold and shaking all of a sudden. I looked up at the castle lights. They seemed to be fading away.

I looked around. The way in front of me seemed clear, but when I turned I saw a huge cloaked figure coming up the path behind me. The man seemed to be having trouble breathing. I could hear him from twelve meters away, making this raspy almost strangling sound. I was about to ask if he needed a doctor when another cloaked figure came gliding out of the field to my right. He sounded just like the first. Then I saw neither of them had feet. I dropped the packs and ran.

At first I thought my ears were ringing. There was a high pitched background noise that would not go away, but as I got closer to the gate I realized it was screaming. It was a woman screaming. It got colder. I stepped in divot in the path. My shoe caught for a second, but I stayed on my feet, stumbling a little. I had Hermione's wand in one hand and my own in the other. The light at the end of my wand was fading. Out of the corner of my eye I saw another one of those things gliding towards me. I realized then that they were bringing the cold. As they gained on me the shivering grew worse. Then I saw the gates were closed.

I ran up to the iron bars and shook them with all my might.

"I'm a student! Please let me in!" They didn't respond.

I pointed my wand and shouted Alohamora, but nothing happened. The bars didn't even twitch.

White fog seemed to be swirling around me and the screaming got louder. I could make out the words.

The woman was shrieking "Please no…Mercy!"

I stuffed the wands into my pocket and tried to climb up the bars. I was shouting to be let in the entire time, but no one was answering me. Hand over hand I pulled myself up. My feet scrabbled against the iron trying to find purchase.  My arms burned, and the fog was so dense I could barely see, but the stone boars that decorated the gate were only a couple of meters further. I could make it. I could get over!

It touched my calf. That icy thing only brushed over it for an instant, but I couldn't stop my self from shuddering. My hands started to slip. I started making funny noises then, strange pleading baby talk.

"Na…No…staaah…stop…help…uh…"

I pulled harder, trying to regain lost height; the creatures hadn't been that tall. A hand wrapped around my ankle. It didn't even have to pull. My hands couldn't hold on anymore. I knew I was falling, but all I could feel was the icy water closing over my head, and the slimy hands on the side of my face.

All I heard was the shrieking woman in my head.

"Please…have mercy…"