Chapter 23-Dementor Bait
Harry followed Professor McGonagall down the long changing staircases of Hogwarts castle. She was moving very swiftly for a woman of her age and Harry had to break into a slight jog in order to keep up with her. When they arrived at the large oak doors that led to the grounds he saw all of his teachers huddled together around the large pointed hat that belonged to Professor Dumbledore.
McGonagall ran towards the group of her fellow staff members and Harry followed the booming voice of the headmaster giving orders to his staff.
"And finally," Harry heard him say as he got close enough to the circle, "I want another group to head out to the Astronomy Tower before they come too close. Now everyone move out," and with a quick clap of Dumbledore's hands, the staff before him scattered away into different directions, leaving Harry, McGonagall and Dumbledore standing alone.
There was a long period of silence in which Harry just took to staring at Dumbledore who was watching the rest of the teachers spread out along the grounds. McGonagall kept looking over her shoulders nervously, for what, Harry didn't know. Harry kept his gaze fixed on his headmaster who was currently staring out towards the horizon as the last few professors disappeared into the blackened sky. Dumbledore finally met Harry's eyes and sighed heavily.
"Harry," he said quietly, turning towards the young wizard. "To think that I have known you all of your life," he started. "And here you stand before me. Willing to risk your life for something you believe in, unsure of the result yet having the burning passion to continue anyway. I just never thought it would be so soon," he said shaking this head. "I was greatly hoping that it would never come down to this, but Harry, I need you to do me a favor."
"Anything Professor," Harry said, allowing Dumbledore's words to sink in. He didn't understand why it was so hard for him to believe. Harry thought that he had made it clear this was what he had always wanted, and Dumbledore couldn't be oblivious to something so obvious. And what exactly did he mean by he wished it wouldn't come down to this?
'He's ashamed of having an adolescent wizard do his job for him,' an angry voice said in the back of his thoughts, but Harry shook it off before he could even process what it said.
"You always have been very enthusiastic," Dumbledore said, smiling down at Harry. Harry gave a small smile and took a deep breath. "So what is it you need me to do."
"Let us just get one thing clear Harry. By law, you are too young to participate in this battle in any way, and if the Ministry finds out about this they'll have my head, as well as yours. But I think I have found a way around the rules. The laws of the Ministry clearly state that you are not permitted to practice in any type of magical duel regarding wars, battles, etc. However," he paused, "they state nothing about using underage wizards as a diversion."
"A d-d-diversion?" Harry stammered. 'Fantastic, I'm being used as Dementor bait.'
"Yes Harry, a diversion. This may be a very dangerous task Harry, and if you'd like to turn back now I…"
"No!" Harry yelled, his voice echoing in the silent night. "I WANT to do this," he said firmly.
Dumbledore studied him carefully and then nodded. "Very well Harry. Now, first things first, Minerva," he addressed Professor McGonagall. "Please bring Harry's broom down here. It's key to the success of this tactic."
McGonagall nodded and sauntered towards the doors of the castle. "You want me to fly Professor?" Harry asked, a bit confused by the headmaster's request.
"Yes Harry. I just need you to fly around the castle until the Dementors spot you. But keep in mind there are two clusters so you must always be on your guard. Once they have seen you, fly as quickly as your Firebolt can take you to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. There'll be a regiment of wizards waiting there to fight against the Dementors. Of course, I've taken some safety precautions. There are groups of teachers spread out along the grounds. If you should run into trouble send up red sparks from your wand."
Harry nodded energetically to Dumbledore's request and looked up at the sky, wondering how much closer the Dementors had gotten to the school in the last half hour. "It doesn't seem too hard," Harry said to himself.
"Don't let your guard down Harry," the tall wizard warned him. "Always be alert. But don't get yourself too hyped up, otherwise you'll never be able to distinguish the Dementors from the night sky. Don't be afraid to protect yourself if need be."
Harry gave Dumbledore an odd look. To hear him speak that way about his task scared Harry. Dumbledore recognized his look of shock and tried to calm him down.
"Try thinking of it this way. Its like a Quidditch match. You're the Snitch, and the Dementors are all the Seekers trying to get a hold of you. With your flying skills, I think that you'll be ok. Just remember what I told you about the help signal."
"I will professor, thank you."
"Now, if I'm correct that's Minerva with your broom now," Dumbledore said, tilting his head up past Harry to look towards the doors McGonagall had passed through a few minutes ago. She was jogging towards them, clutching Harry's Firebolt in her wrinkled hands.
"Here you go Potter," McGonagall panted, handing Harry his broomstick. "Take it and go quickly."
Harry nodded and mounted his broom. He gave a hard kick-off and felt himself hurtling upwards into the air. It had been weeks since he'd been able to ride his broom and despite the soul-less monsters flying towards the castle that very moment, Harry felt giddy. He smiled to himself and looked down at Dumbledore giving him a small wave, which Harry returned and began to accelerate.
After getting over the excitement of flying again, Harry became quite anxious. He agreed with Dumbledore that he'd be safe due to his flying skills but there were still some risks. Harry had taken on Dementors before but never had he needed to distract two full fleets of them. And who knew exactly how many there could be?
These thoughts raced through Harry's head as he felt a chilling wind sweep through him, he looked towards the horizon and saw the patch of black was moving closer towards Hogwarts at a surprisingly fast rate. Harry's breath caught in his chest as he watched the group of Dementors slowly start to take shape.
For a while Harry just sat midair above the school watching the group come closer and closer. He wasn't sure what to do at this point. He was pretty sure that this batch would be able to see him but there was still the second cluster to worry about.
'I have to find a place where they could both find me,' Harry thought to himself. He shifted his weight on his Firebolt and started zooming upwards into the sky. The school seemed to shrink beneath him and stopped flying when he was a solid mile above the castle.
Harry craned his neck down, trying to pinpoint the exact middle of the school. If he could find it, then it would be easy enough for both groups to follow him to the edge of the forest. It was hard to tell what exactly was the middle of the school, due to all the different hallways and towers, but after further inspection he found that above the Great Hall should be the exact spot.
Harry tilted the handle of his broom downwards again and tried to focus on the spot as he was hurtling towards the roof. He pulled out of his dive at the last second at examined his surroundings. To his right he could see a very large patch of black moving towards him and to his left he saw a slightly smaller patch, moving at a slower speed. From what he could tell, it looked like one set would arrive before the other.
'I've got to get both of them out of the way,' Harry told himself rationally. He set off again but this time he was heading in the direction of the cluster that was farther away, constantly checking back to make sure that the other set hadn't disappeared from sight. Within a few minutes he found himself equally distant from both swarms. Now all he had to do was wait.
But something happened that he didn't expect, the groups started heading in two different directions. One headed towards the lake at the back of the school and one seemed to be heading towards the front doors. If the two groups changed their course Harry didn't know how he'd be able to lure them towards the forest.
He racked through his brain for any kind of spell or charm that would keep them on the path he had expected but nothing seemed to fit. In anxiousness, he started twiddling his wand in his hands, hoping that maybe seeing it in front of him would give him an idea, but nothing came to him.
Harry's panic grew with every passing second. He thought about luring one group at a time but by the time he had distracted one and came back for the other, they could've breeched the school by then. Angered at his lack of choices he started slamming his wand against the handle of his broom.
"Do SOMETHING you stupid thing!" Harry yelled, and as if on command, his wand vibrated violently in his hand and sent an enormous bolt of lighting into the sky, illuminating all of Hogwarts for a short amount of time. In this time he glanced at one of the pack of Dementors and saw that their hooded heads had turned in his direction, wondering where the sudden disturbance had originated.
Even as the lighting stopped Harry could make out the shape of the Dementor fleet to his right hurtling towards him at an alarming speed. He turned to the left and saw the other group had mimicked this behavior. Harry smiled to himself but quickly shook it off as he had to make sure that their curiosity didn't falter.
He did everything wizardly possible to keep them occupied. He dove, flipped, turned, and spun every which way to keep their attention. And slowly enough he began to feel the chill creep up his fingertips and puffs of smoke exited his mouth with each breath.
Looking out of the corner of his eye, he saw the forms were but a few yards away from him and upon noticing this he jetted off towards the Forbidden Forest, the Dementors trailing behind. He could hear the hum of their raspy breaths behind him, letting him know that they were coming for him, but Harry didn't let that intimidate him. He flew full speed toward his destination, knowing that soon this nightmare would be over.
Harry craned his neck to look behind him, just for reassurance that they were still taking the bait only to find that they had stopped moving. They were just looming at the horizon and seemed to be waiting for something. Harry pulled out his wand and shot up another bolt of lightning to catch their attention again but what he found surprised him.
With the illumination from the lightning bolt he saw black figure lurking behind him. Harry spun around and found himself face-to-face with a Dementor. It swooped around him menacingly and began taking in deep breaths, trying to suck the joy out of Harry and was succeeding.
Harry felt himself growing weaker and more miserable by the second but in the back of his mind he kept telling himself to hold on. He told himself that by getting over this, he would've single-handedly save Hogwarts from great peril. Cassie wouldn't be able to accuse of him of going into a goofy super-hero mode, Malfoy would forever be in Harry's debt, Hermione would lay off his back, and more importantly everyone would be proud of him.
Harry found just enough strength to regain control of his broom and fly out of the Dementor's reach. He focused his thoughts on how things would be after this whole mess and managed to utter "Expecto Patronum," as he pointed his wand at the Dementor. It wasn't brilliantly strong but it was just enough to create a shield of light to send the Dementor flying backwards.
Obviously this Dementor wasn't very strong and began to flee back to the rest of its kind which had now formed one enormous cloud. As it floated along back to the others, Harry watched the cluster come hurtling towards him at breakneck speeds.
Harry put his top of the line broom to good use and zoomed off as fast as his broom would take him. He didn't know how the Dementors had become so speedy but he wasn't in a hurry to find out either. Even as he thought he was getting far enough away from them he could still feel the bone-chilling sensation throughout his whole body.
He looked over his shoulder and his breath caught in his chest as the stampede of Dementors lingered only a few feet away. Harry closed his eyes and put all of his energy into trying to make his broom go faster. The only problem was that he was going so fast as it was that it was becoming increasingly harder to hold on to the handle.
He looked below him desperately to see exactly where he was above the school and he gave a gasp of relief when he saw the large trees outlining the Forbidden Forest not far off. Harry pointed his broom downwards and a gust of wind went through him as he flew crashing towards the ground. He was nearly in the clear until he felt cold steady breaths behind his neck.
He wouldn't let the Dementors take him now, not when he was so close to succeeding. He put all of his weight towards the front of his broom and felt himself fall faster. He could see the grass below him and he could just picture the faces of his professors, anticipating his arrival.
For a few seconds, Harry felt that he was on top of the world. He had succeeded in his task, but just as the though crossed his mind he felt like a vacuum cleaner was sucking him backwards, back towards the sky. He heard people screaming, people he could not identify, but one voice stood out against all of the others:
"Come on, you can do better than that!"
He heard the triumphant scream of a woman and before he hit the ground with a thud, everything went black.
