The Dementors Are Here
"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good."
Sirius' dark eyes searched the Marauder's Map laid on his desk. Then abruptly, he gave a loud growl and stormed out of his quarters.
*
"Is there something we're not doing right?" April threw up her hands in exasperation, before shooting Snape a dirty look. "Will you stop ignoring me?"
"We are here to brew potions, Miss Flamel. Not to chit-chat," he replied coolly without turning his gaze from the ingredients he was carefully weighing.
"April. You're supposed to call me April. We have a problem on our hands, Severus! And when there's a problem, the only way to go about it is to try to solve it."
"I don't see a problem, Miss Flamel." He uttered the last two words slowly.
She rolled her eyes. "Their patronuses are so weak! How are they going to fight away the dementors?"
When she did not get a reply, she decided to taunt him. "Didn't you say you wanted to prove that Slytherins are superior? At this rate, they'll be the laughing stock of Hogwarts."
"You've not figured out the reason?"
April frowned at the Potions Master, confused.
"What did Daniel Johnson tell you when you asked for his happiest memory?"
She rolled her eyes. "He beat up his younger brother for stealing his books."
"And how did Brigette Cleveland reply to the same question?"
"She made some Hufflepuffs pay for her candies during the last Hogsmeade visit."
"And Clifford Mason?"
"He stole a galleon from his mother and got off scot-free when she decided to punish his older brother instead." April sighed as she began to understand what Snape was inferring. "Are these kids so sick in their minds that these things are the only stuff that make their day?"
"Those were the thoughts they focused on when they worked the spell."
She chewed her lip thoughtfully. "So tomorrow, we should remind them to concentrate on other thoughts. Those that really make them happy and not just – wait a second – is there a chance that they are so conditioned when they're with fellow Slytherins that they unconsciously call out those memories that would make them fit in? Something that they can feel smug about in front of their classmates?"
Snape looked up finally, with a faint smile playing on his lips. He was about to say something when the door to his office burst open with a loud bang. His features immediately went hard again and he glared at the intruder with clear anger and disdain as he held out his wand.
At the doorway, Sirius was pointing his own wand directly at Snape.
"What are you doing here?" April asked Sirius as she quickly stepped between the two men.
"Leave with me."
"I can't. I still have work to do."
"Let's go. Now." He grabbed her wrist and turned to leave.
She impatiently shook off his grasp. "Don't be ridiculous, Sirius."
He stared at her in mixed disbelief that soon gave way to fury. "Fine, suit yourself. I don't care," he said in a tight voice as he stormed off.
April's eyes darted helplessly from the doorway to Snape, and then back to the doorway again. "I'm be back soon," she muttered under her breath as she dashed out of the dungeon.
*
"Sirius! Wait up!"
He turned, still raging. "Why bother coming after me? If you like his company so much, that's perfectly fine! Stay with him all you want! Just don't come crawling to me when he shows his true colours!"
"Stop being unreasonable! Believe it or not, Severus is –"
"Severus?" he echoed incredulously. "Since when did that git become darling Severus?"
"Sirius Black! You'd better quit this nonsense right away!"
"Are you defending dear old Snape now?"
"He's not going to hurt me."
"Just how many times must you be hurt before you learn your lesson? You may not get lucky every time. If Moody hadn't –"
"If Moody hadn't stopped the curse, I'll not be standing here right now?" She took a deep breath to calm her rising anger. "Please, Sirius. I know you're concerned about me, but I'm not a kid anymore. Can you trust me to make my own decisions?"
"You can't blame me for worrying." He fought to regain his composure. "It's bad enough that you're spending hours in the day with him and those Slytherins. Now you're holed up in his office in the evenings and nights too!"
"We only have two days left. There's so much to do and I – well – Severus has something that may come in useful and I'm just helping him with it."
"What's the chief snake up to?"
"I'll leave it to Severus to tell everyone. It's his idea after all." She licked her lips. "All of us are under so much stress lately and I'm really exhausted and have no excess energy to bicker. Can we not fight please?"
"I don't want to fight with you either. But –"
"No buts, Sirius. Just trust me and let me work with Severus for these few days." She took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
He regarded her thoughtfully for several long moments. "All right. If that's really what you want," he agreed grudgingly. "But you have to promise that you'll come to me if he gives you any problems."
"I will." She gave him a quick hug. "See you at breakfast tomorrow."
"You're dismissing me already?"
"I have to get back to work. You agreed to let me –"
"Yeah, I know." He forced a smile. "Our cold war is officially over and you're sitting right next to me at breakfast, understand?"
"Yes, sir!" She grinned and made her way back to the dungeon.
Left alone, Sirius shook his head and wished fervently that he would not regret his promise this time.
*
The adults gathered in the inner hall after lunch on Monday.
Dumbledore was examining the four lists in front of him. "Ravenclaw seems to be doing well. Two hundred and thirteen students."
Professor Flitwick stood up straight. "Yes, yes. The students are trying their best. I must add that Professor Lupin is a wonderful teacher."
"I can't take the credit from Professor Flitwick and Madam Hooch," Remus said modestly.
The headmaster smiled. "Gryffindor is not doing too badly either. Two hundred and nine students."
"Harry helped," Sirius said proudly. "He has been practicing with his housemates in the Gryffindor common room daily."
"Hufflepuff!" The headmaster looked at a third list. "Fifty-six students?"
"They'll buck up soon," Moody promised, his magically eye rolling to his back to stare at Professor Sprout. "These are dire times and we must learn that to be overprotective will not help them in any way."
"Is there a problem?" Dumbledore asked the Hufflepuff Head-Of-House who was looking ill at ease.
"It's just…just that…well…"
"Speak your mind please."
Professor Sprout kept her eyes carefully averted from Moody. She had always found his magical eye rather intimidating. "The children are all trying very hard. Many of them are bursting into tears from the pressure. It doesn't help that Moody is scaring them every few minutes with reminders of what the dementors can do to them."
"They must know!" Moody bellowed. "It'll do them no good to be kept in the dark. They have to know to be prepared!"
Dumbledore raised a hand to silence Moody and looked at the last list. He studied it for a while without speaking.
"So how did Slytherin do?" Professor McGonagall asked, curious.
"Two hundred and seventy-five."
"What?" McGonagall and Sirius responded together. They did not expect the Slytherins to be doing so well.
"Professor Snape and April have done a good job. But there's a little hitch. Professor Snape's report states that their patronuses are weak."
Sirius snorted and Remus had to put a restraining hand on his friend's arm to stop a smug remark.
"But Professor Snape is working on it, and I trust that he'll find a solution soon," Dumbledore continued.
"Speaking of which, where is Professor Snape and April now?" McGonagall asked.
"They are brewing the Laetificus potion for everyone. It's Professor Snape's idea and April has volunteered to help him with it.
"I've always thought that man has some sense in him," Moody said approvingly.
Remus automatically looked at Sirius. The latter kept his eyes glued to the ground, an unhappy frown appearing on his face.
*
Hogwarts was unusually quiet after nine on Tuesday night. All students were under strict areas to retire to their dormitories and get some rest. Although the headmaster had made no confirmation, it was not difficult for the students to guess that something might happen the next day. As a result, no one slept fitfully. Most of them stayed up in their dormitories discussing the strange turn of events in hushed fearful tones till uneasy sleep overtook them one by one.
It was no better for Harry. In fact, it was worse. The Boy-Who-Lived laid in his bed, listening to Ron snoring and Neville muttering in his sleep. He was wide-awake and his senses refused to shut down. As he stared at the ceiling, his emerald eyes began to glaze over before he realised that his face was wet with tears. The sense of guilt was overpowering. He had already caused the death of one innocent person – Cedric Diggory. Was he going to bring about more deaths? Surely the death eaters would not be attacking Hogwarts if he, Harry Potter, were not in the school? The magnificent castle was the first place he could call home. Now his only refuge was about to be beseeched by dark creatures that turned his insides cold. Tomorrow, he would once again be forced to relive the sweet haunting voice of his mother uttering her last words before the Avada Kedevra curse was cast. He would relive the moments of how she had protected him at the cost of her life. Voldemort had asked her to stand aside, but no, she would not leave her only son to his mercy, or rather, the lack of.
Harry closed his eyes as more hot tears spilled over. He was wrong to think that he had only caused the death of one person. When he was as young as one year old, he had already brought about the death of his own mother.
He fought to push memories of his past to the back of his mind. He had to look to the present and future to keep his sanity. But was there a future for him? He should have known that things were going too well. Just when he was finally looking forward to a new home with Sirius, he had to receive news of this attack. Over the past months, he had often imagined what it would be like to stay with Sirius. And just a couple of weeks ago, his imaginary dream had been slightly altered to accommodate April too. The more he thought about it, the more he was used to the idea of living with both Sirius and April. She would make his godfather a very happy man, and there were few things in the word Harry wanted more than for Sirius to be happy. Harry's fantasy life also included being surrounded by regular houseguests, namely Remus, Ron and Hermione. It would be fun to have the entire Weasley family over too. He had imposed on them at the Burrow often enough and it would be fun to be able to host them for a visit. At his own home.
He gave himself a mental shake. This was not the time to dream up fantasies. If he wanted his dream to come true, the only way was to concentrate on the present and make sure that all who were important to him escape unscathed. No, not just them, Harry thought wearily. No one in Hogwarts should be harmed at all. He couldn't bear to be responsible for more loss of lives.
After what seemed like an eternity, Harry got up of his bed and crept downstairs to the common room. He needed some time alone to think things through. As he descended the staircase, he noticed a dim light in the common room. A small fire was burning in the fireplace and a familiar figure was hunched on the couch, leaning towards the source of heat. And in his hands was the Marauder's Map. Harry rushed down the remaining steps.
"Hey, buddy. Can't sleep too?" Sirius responded in a quiet voice, eyes not leaving the map. "All the kids are in bed. What are you doing here?" The boy sat beside him and the dots marked Sirius Black and Harry Potter came close together.
"What are you doing here?" Harry echoed.
"Making sure you do not do anything rash?" Sirius smiled stiffly. "Just kidding. Someone has to stay guard here and I offered to let the two women get some sleep."
"You ought to get some rest too."
Sirius shrugged. "I'll not be able to sleep anyway. Might as well make myself useful here."
"Are Professor Lupin and April are up too?"
"Remus got off. Flitwick is watching the Ravenclaws." He folded up the map and put it away. "It'll be full moon in two days and Remus is tiring out. It sure doesn't help that he has not been getting much rest lately."
"April is in the Slytherin common room?" Harry asked tentatively. Actually, he already knew the answer for a fact as he had accidentally caught a glimpse of dots representing April and Snape deep in the dungeons.
"I don't understand why she wants to waste her energy on those snakes. It's not as if their Death Eater fathers will send dementors after them."
Harry fell silent for a while. "Sirius?"
"Hmm?"
"In my third year when I still thought you were…well…responsible for my parents' deaths, I told…er…I told Professor Lupin that you deserve Azkaban. And then he said something that stuck in my mind for a long time."
"What did he say?"
"He asked me if I really thought anyone deserves to be sent to Azkaban. I guess it's the same case here. None of us, even the Slytherins, deserve to be in the dementors' presence." He took a breath and added softly, "I hope no one gets hurt tomorrow."
Sirius had the grace to look shamefaced for a second. "You're right. No one deserves to be near those freaks. We have to kick some ass tomorrow."
Harry glanced at his watch. "We have to kick some ass today. It's already past three in the morning."
"It's time to get some sleep, Harry. You have a long day ahead of you."
"Can I keep watch with you?"
"There's no need to wear both of us out."
"I can't sleep anyway. I'm staying," the boy said stubbornly.
Just as Sirius was about to protest, the portrait door opened and a House-Elf climbed through the hole. He was holding a crate of vials filled with bright orange liquid. "Professor Black!" He bowed deeply. "Sooty delivers for Professor Snape, Sir. Professor Snape asks Professor Black to distribute these to Gryffindors, Sir."
"Leave them in the corner."
"Professor Snape says –"
Sirius growled. "I don't care what Snape has to say."
The House-Elf hurried to deposit his load at the nearest corner and left the room hastily.
"What's this?" Harry asked, peering at the vials.
"The Laetificus potion. It's supposed to make a person feel more light-hearted by reinforcing happy thoughts."
Just as Harry was about to raise another question, Sooty the House-Elf appeared at the doorway again.
Sirius scowled. "What is it this time? Professor Snape discovered that he gave Gryffindors the wrong potion?"
"No, sir. Sooty has an urgent message from the headmaster, sir. The headmaster says to tell Professor Black that the first wards have been broken."
Both Sirius and Harry leaped to their feet, staring down at the elf.
"The headmaster says that the students –"
"We have to gather in the Great Hall immediately?" Harry finished quickly.
Without waiting for a response from Sooty, Sirius began to bark orders as he rushed up the stairs, "Harry! Go wake up the boys. I'll take care of the girls. You - what's-your-name–"
"Sooty!" the House-Elf supplied eagerly as Harry ran past Sirius to the boys' dormitories.
"Right, Sooty. You're to stand guard at the door and make sure everyone who passes through it takes a vial and empties every drop into his or her mouth in front of you. Understand?"
"Very well, sir!"
Sirius nodded his approval and rushed up the remaining steps.
In the meantime, Harry burst into a dormitory occupied by a group of seventh-years. "WAKE UP! THE DEMENTORS ARE HERE!"
***
Lil Lupin: Hmm...maybe. You'll find out which of my characters will be killed. He/she/they can be in any of my three fics.
MalletWielderofDoom: Harry did not try to goof off, so Sirius did not need to be lenient on his godson. Instead, he's very proud of Harry cuz the boy ended up helping to teach fellow Gryffindors.
nunnya buiznes: I'm too eager to get over this dementor attack to dwell on the training. Hope you'll like this chapter all the same.
moe: Hope you'll like my Snape more & more!
padfoot-dreamer: Two more chapters and he'll propose.
Summerkins: My dear, I did not mention you simply cuz you did not review!
lildarkkitty: I've given up on Hogwarts Castle too. You'll hang around ff.net more often, right? Please do!
uNoeWho: There u go - the dementors are here. Ok lah, I cheated. They just arrived.
peachgirl1608: Sorry hor. I had a SERIOUS mental block.
Sallymander: April survived her time with Snape. ;) As for the other favour, you'll find out later.
Huskerinexile: Thanks for your encouraging words.
ANNE( v )79: Have you resolved your doubts yet? If not, feel free to ask in your reviews. You know how much I LOVE LOOOOOOOONG REVIEWS. ;)
Tanglise: That was the best chapter? I'm glad, but I do hope the best is yet to come!
love-that-dog: I'll reserve my final verdict till the film is out then. I really hope you're right about the casting of Oldman & Thewlis.
Katani Petitedra: Yay! I'm glad that I got Snape right.
elvesmagic010: I LOVE cliffies!!! ;)
Diosa Alexia: April is not a werewolf!
potts & black-cat-on-the-wall: I'm not revealing much about the letters just yet. The only way to find out is to keep an eye on this fic over the next 2-3 months! ;)
phoebe666: Prank on Snape? Hmm...I can only promise you that I'll consider doing so.
starangel2106: Only 5 points? Hehe...just kidding. Thanks for the points.
Sirius-Hotness: Glad you think this fic is still going great. I have about ten more chapters to go, I think.
LILRKCHK: You want romance for Remus & Snape? Sorry, but that may not take place in FBOFW. But they'll both find romance in my other fics.
OutofAzkaban: Welcome back, old friend! :)
funky*superstar: Thanks for adding me to your list of favourites!
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Please remember to review this chapter. If you have time, please read & review 'I Can See You' and 'Strangers From The Past' too! :)
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