Chapter 4

At eight, Remus and Kingsley knocked on the door. Kingsley had brought Teresa McKinney, the Auror that Harry had met at St. Mungo's along for the day. Harry went over the plan. Remus and Hermione would be stationed at the north end of the village. Kingsley and Ginny would patrol the south end of the village. Harry and Susan would watch the east side, while Teresa would walk the streets in the center of the village. In the event that they saw trouble, they would send up red sparks and use the Cannon Blast charm to alert the village.

At nine, everyone was in place. Professor Anna Daily, Minerva, and Sprout escorted the students out the door and down the mile and a half road to the village.

McKinney had been surprised and honestly somewhat insulted when Harry had bluntly asked her if she could cast a Patronus charm. The arrogant wanker. He couldn't be more than 15 or 16. The cheek. She had no clue what her friend Tonks saw in him. He wasn't that handsome, like Kingsley. Going around acting like he was in charge. Rumor had it that he was dating Director Bone's Grand Niece, and all of a sudden it's kiss-up time. Cor, she was a fourth year Auror. Now she was stuck on her day off watching a bunch of school kids go to a candy store. Besides it was freezing out here.

At ten, the students started filtering in to town in little packs. Some went to the candy shop, some to Gladrags, some to the book shop, while a few tried to sneak into the Hogs Head pub. She knew that school legend had it that the proprietor would serve under aged kids hard liquor. McKinney watched a half dozen of the older boys go in. She'd give them five minutes and go have a look. Nothing was happening out here. It was too foggy and chilly out. Come to think of it, she thought that it was even colder now than an hour ago.

She walked into the pub and the old bartender gave her an appraising look. Looks like the old coot's trying to mentally undress me, the perv. The six boys were sitting at one of the back tables having butterbeers and playing cards. No law against that, she thought. After looking around for another ten minutes, she stepped out again. Blimey, it's cold, she thought as she walked southward down the street. BANG!!! What the…? A dozen dementors had started to surround her. She ran down the street as fast as she could go, every bad memory that she'd ever had coming to mind. Someone down the road called "Get inside. Now." She heard the magnified voice and ran towards it. She tripped, and everything went fuzzy and then she passed out.

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Remus and Hermione heard the Cannon Blast charm and saw the sparks to the south. They looked around and started moving down the road. A jet of green light flew in the direction of Remus. Hermione saw it first and conjured a slab of marble. The spell hit the slab shattering it. She conjured a second barrier and crouched down behind it. Remus had been hit by several of the pieces and was unconscious. She silently cursed the fog.

She saw shapes move towards her. It looked like they could be Death Eaters, but she couldn't be sure. They could be scared kids. More comfortable with her wand than her untested staff at the moment, she drew it, and quietly tried to revive Remus. He was bleeding, but not badly. The Death Eaters were about thirty feet from her when she stuck out her head to the side and quietly muttered, "Stupefy". One went down. A second later she heard a spell hit her barrier. As it hit, she stood and stunned the second Death Eater. She restunned the first one before returning her attention to Lupin.

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Meanwhile Kingsley and Ginny had somehow separated. Kingsley was firing spells at a pair of Death Eaters, while fifty yards away Ginny had been surrounded by dementors. Tom, Tom. I don't know what to do. She cleared her mind and thought of Harry. "Expecto Patronum." An amazing bright fox leapt from her staff and chased the dementors away, at least for the moment.

She saw that Kingsley had his hands full in the street fight that he was in. Having a different angle than he did, she had a pretty clear shot at one of them. She pointed her staff like a rifle and called "Stupefy." A huge jet of red light shot from her staff and knocked the Death Eater back nearly thirty feet! The other stood to run away and Kingsley hit him. He gathered their wands and placed one of each of their arms in his anti-apparation manacles.

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Inside the Three Broomsticks it was chaos. Two hundred or so of the students had dashed inside when they heard Harry's voice. Many were in tears, while others were shouting or talking noisily. "SILENCE." McGonagall could truly be commanding when she needed to be. "Is anyone badly hurt?" No one was. She quickly used her wand and moved all the furniture to the back wall.

"Please line up by houses and year," she said. "If anyone can cast a Patronus, please step forward. Absolutely stunning her, a dozen students came forward. "I don't have time for a wisp of vapor, Longbottom. Please step aside."

Then she heard him say, "I can do a bear cub."

Someone else said, "I can do an owl."

"Mine's a badger."

Shamus said, "Mine's a skinny cat."

"I can do a Duck."

"A dog."

Lavender said, "My form is a bunny, Professor."

She looked at Shamus. He simply said, "Harry taught us." The others nodded.

"Right," she said, embarrassed, but glad. "On the count of three, I'm going to open the door and I want everyone to cast their best Patronus."

"One, two," she threw the door open. "Three."

"Expecto Patronum," they shouted. A dozen different shapes flew out, and she quickly closed the door again. The different Patronus forms chased the nearby dementors a ways down the street before vanishing.

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Meanwhile, Harry and Susan were in a virtual hurricane of trouble. Susan was casting stunners at anyone who moved, and Harry was casting his Patronus. They were surrounded by forty or fifty dementors. Harry blocked out their magical mind probing. His mind got quiet. The other Death Eaters must have felt them and left the area. Susan was shaking badly. Harry held her and said, "Susan, block them out with Occlumency. We'll cast a Patronus together. Use your happiest memory and your new staff. On three. One, two three."

"Expecto Patronum." A gigantic stag and what would have been a 200 pound beagle leapt from their staffs! They chased the dementors for a moment, and then an amazing thing happened. Susan's beagle form bit a dementor at the same time that Harry's form gored it. The foul creature gave an unholy cry and crumpled. Amazed, Harry and Susan cast another and another. Soon there were a dozen empty cloaks on the ground.

In the last seven hundred years, a dementor had not been created or killed, and within the last minute twelve of their number had fallen!!! Sensing their danger, the other dementors fled to the north. Harry and Susan each cast another charm from their staffs, and four more of the foul creatures fell before they were gone.

Sensing that the battle had been lost, the remaining Death Eaters set the outside of the Three Broomsticks on fire, and charmed the doors shut before they apparated away and vanished into the fog.

Harry, Susan, Remus, and Hermione met up outside the flaming building. Remus and Hermione desperately tried to put the fire out. Susan used the Sonorus charm and said, "Get away from the front door." Harry pointed his staff and cried, "Reducto." Boom!!! A garage door sized hole was blown into the front wall!!! Students began running out of the burning building.

Inside several students had been knocked unconscious by the blast. "Get out now," Susan shouted. After a moment, the four ran in and searched the building. "Lumos," called Harry. His staff lit up like a car headlight! Together, they found four students and a badly shaken Madam Rosmerta, then quickly got everyone out of the flaming building.

Dumbledore appeared a moment later and passed out a length of rope, telling all of the students to grab a piece. A moment later, he tapped the rope and they were gone. Dumbledore said, "Harry, if you can please use your remarkable search light for a few more minutes in the fog and check that no one else is nearby. Remus, please evacuate the different shops to the south. I'll check to the north." He gave them each another length of rope to get the reaming students back to the castle with. "Please be back at the castle in ten minutes."

Pop, POP, Pop, Pop, Pop – A dozen Aurors and several Mediwitches appeared, and started searching the area. After a few minutes, Harry and Susan used the portkey with the few students that they'd found and the injured Auror. Several of the teachers conjured a stretcher to take her to the hospital wing.

A minute later Dumbledore had everyone in the Great Hall. He said, "Heads of Houses, please report."

Sprout started, "Hufflepuff is all present and accounted for."

Flitwick said, "Ravenclaw is all present and accounted for."

Daily said, "Slytherin is missing two students."

McGonagall said, "Gryffindor is all present and accounted for."

Ginny said, "The Apprentices are all present."

Dumbledore asked, "Professor Daily, who is missing?"

Daily replied, "Blaise Zabinni and Gary Flint, Professor."

Hermione said, "I stunned them, Professor."

"Thank you, Miss Gr, er, Hermione. Thank you very much." She could never recall Professor Dumbledore calling her by her first name in front of anyone before.

Dumbledore resumed, "Students, please go to your common rooms and wait there until you are called for. Staff and Apprentices go to Professor Potter's room please." Within two minutes, the students had cleared from the Great hall and were on their way to their rooms.

Dobby and Winky appeared in Harry's classroom. She had brought several pizzas and Dobby brought a case of butterbeers, and several mugs of cocoa. Dumbledore conjured a table and twenty chairs and they sat down.

"Please tell me what happened."

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Gathering the different stories, Dumbledore started to summarize the information. "From Harry's first warning until I portkeyed into town was about five minutes. Assuming that you didn't all see the same ones, we can estimate that there were about a hundred dementors. We can estimate the Death Eaters at between ten and twenty. We believe that there were between four and eight Death Eaters apprehended."

Amelia walked in. Dumbledore started to recap for her. She cut him off. "Please pardon my abruptness, Professor, I need to speak with you and your Apprentices now."

After the others had left the room, Bones sealed the door and pulled a cloak out of a bag that she'd been carrying. "Can anyone explain this?"

Susan said, "Auntie, they were dementors. Harry and I killed some of them when they attacked us."

Hermione started to say, "You can't kill a dementor," but Dumbledore cut her off.

"Please continue, Miss Bones."

"About forty had surrounded us. I about passed out when Harry told me to use Occlumency. He told me to think of my happiest memory, and to use my new staff. We cast a Patronus charm together and they attacked a dementor at the same time. It kind of sizzled and evaporated. I remember that it really stank. We did that three or four more times and they all glided away."

Dumbledore was amazed. Sipping his cocoa, he said, "Remarkable Miss Bones. Please demonstrate your Patronus." Susan cast it and it was a regular sized beagle.

Before anyone could say anything, Harry said, "Wait Professor. Susan come here. Let's do it together like we did out there. 1,2,3. "Expecto Patronum." A giant beagle and the whitest, brightest stag that any of them had ever seen appeared. They leapt from their respective staffs, looked around, walked about the room for a minute and vanished. Everyone's eyes were dazzled from the brightness. Somehow they felt refreshed as the beautiful forms vanished.

Amelia said, "We transported six stunned Death Eaters back to the ministry, and found sixteen of these. Dumbledore does any of this make any sense to you?"

Dumbledore beamed at Harry and replied, "Amelia, I'm positive that everything that your very capable Grand Niece told you was truthful, accurate, and complete. In my rather extensive lifetime, there has not been a recorded death of a dementor. Fortunately, until this year, there has not been a reason to search for one. Now it appears that sixteen of their number have been eliminated. It would appear that the sum of Susan and Harry's efforts far exceeded their individual pieces. Miss Weasley, please stand by Mr. Potter and cast your Patronus charms together. One two three."

"Expecto Patronum." A gigantic owl and another large stag appeared.

"Curious, Amelia, let's try together." A normal sized phoenix and a regular sized fish appeared. "Curious."

"Professor," asked Harry, "Where is Auror McKinney?"

Dumbledore smiled. "She is at the hospital wing, Harry. Perhaps you and the others would like to see her for a moment. We can take this up later. Director, are there any other questions that you need answered right now?"

"No. That will do for now." She was slightly embarrassed that the teens asked about McKinney before she had.

"Perhaps Susan would like to show you her living area. I need to get the staff back together for a few moments. Amelia, if you don't have other plans, perhaps you would like to stay for dinner?"

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Since everyone was back by noon that afternoon, Dumbledore announced that there would be an informal dance that evening, open to all of the students. It would take place after the regularly scheduled Halloween feast. Hermione, Ginny, and Susan each decided that they needed to get back to their room to get ready.

Harry went to visit Auror McKinney. She was in the bed shaking. Harry went up and held her arm. "Hi. I'm sorry if we got off on the wrong foot today. I'm really glad that you came today to help us. I'm sorry that things didn't turn out so well." He conjured a dozen roses and a vase to set by her nightstand. He got up to leave.

Tears were welled in her eyes. "Wait. I'm sorry. Tonks said you're a great guy. I thought she was just saying that because you're famous. Did you really make those horrors go away?"

Harry replied, "I tried to. I had a lot of help. Did they hurt you?"

Tears were running down her face by now. Harry gave her a friendly hug. After several minutes she had calmed down and somehow felt a bit better. "Thanks. Thanks for rescuing me, and thanks for coming to see me. You really are a great guy."

"I'm grateful that you were there for Tonks. I'm just trying to repay the favor. I'll stop by to see you in the morning if you don't mind?"

She nodded.

In the other office, Poppy just smiled to herself.

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Harry went back to his room to take a nap. The morning had somehow left him exhausted. Three hours later he felt better.

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Harry thought that informal was one of the most misused words that he knew of. Walking out of his room in grey slacks and a blue oxford shirt, he knew that he was in trouble. The witches were all dressed up for the dance. One disapproving glance from Hermione, and without a word, Harry went back into his room. Returning five minutes later wearing black pants, green dress robes, dress shoes, a white shirt and tie, Harry heard Susan tell him to "lose the tie."

Walking back in his room, he took off his tie, and shirt. He returned a minute later wearing a black, banded collar shirt under his robes. "Perfect," said Ginny, giving him a lusty smile. "Now let's have a butterbeer before we go."

"But we'll be…"

"Sit, Potter," commanded Susan.

"What guidebook have I forgotten to read?" asked Harry, recalling seeing Susan the last time, and smiling to himself.

"Ours," said Hermione, giving him a lusty smile. "You were supposed to read our minds, silly."

The women all looked beautiful, and Harry told them each of them that they all looked fantastic, gorgeous, and stunning.

"Thanks," they said. "You clean up pretty good yourself."

Ten minutes later, they walked down the hall to get to the Great Hall. Seeing no one in the corridors along the way, Harry concluded that they were late. As they walking through the doors and down the steps to the Great Hall, the room went stone silent. The only sound that could be heard was their footsteps as they reached their spaces at the table. Dumbledore rose, and as on cue, each of the students stood.

Moody broke the silence, saying, "Good work, you four."

Dumbledore put his hands together and the entire room applauded them. After a minute he said, "Well done indeed. We are all in your debt, Miss Bones, Miss Granger, Miss Weasley and Mr. Potter. There is much to be said, but now is not the time, so if you would, tuck in." Everyone sat down and enjoyed an exceptional dinner and a wide selection of deserts.

Harry noticed that Director Bones, Remus, Kingsley, and Auror McKinney were also at the head table. He nodded to each of them. After dinner, Dumbledore cleared away the long tables, and replaced them with forty round tables that each sat ten.

From a lot of perspectives, the string quartet that Dumbledore found at the last minute worked much better than the Weird Sisters. For the inexpert dancers, the slower tunes required only a basic box step and remembering to avoid stepping on your partner's feet. Hopefully with experience comes at least some wisdom. Harry had worn his black dress loafers as they had the softest soles of any dress shoes that he owned.

Another difference between tonight and the ill-fated dance held during the tri-wizard tournament was that this year, Harry had nothing to prove, and wasn't nervous in the least. He danced with Ginny, Hermione and Susan three times each. In each case, it was like dancing with an angel. He loved holding them. They were so beautiful and graceful. Strangely, the other students didn't ask Harry's girls to dance until he'd had left the dance floor to get a butterbeer.

As Harry was in line to get a butterbeer, Katie Bell came up to him, and said "Hi Harry. Care to dance with an old friend?"

He gave her a little hug. "I'd love to Katie. You look really great. I've missed visiting with you."

"Me too. By the way, thanks for saving all of our lives today."

"No worries. It seemed like the right thing to do." They both looked at each other and smiled sad smiles. It was easier to smile than cry. She hugged him back.

"Seriously Harry, after all you've done, I feel like a fool for asking anything of you, but could you possibly spend an hour working with Dennis Creevey? He's the new seeker this year. He's not a bad flyer, but he's not you." She held him a little tighter than necessary for their dance.

Harry replied, "As a teacher, I can't go flying with him, but I can meet with him at four tomorrow, after D.A."

"Thanks Harry." She kissed him on the cheek. "I really appreciate it. So how's the saving the world business?"

"Huh?" Harry missed a step, and stepped on his own foot.

Guiding him, so he wouldn't fall over, Katie said, "Harry, it wasn't hard to figure out that it was you who nabbed Umbridge, Lestrange, Malfoy and Edgecombe over the summer. Who did you get in July? I couldn't figure that one."

"I found the wizard who had betrayed my parents, and helped get them murdered, Peter Pettigrew. It wasn't published, and it's kind of a secret." Harry didn't mention taking any of the Death Eaters' lives at the Weasleys. If Katie suspected or knew anything about that evening, she said nothing.

She replied, "I won't say anything. You're a good man Harry. I'm very proud to call you my friend."

"Likewise, and you're a great dancer, Katie. I enjoyed visiting with you."

"The pleasure was mine. Thanks for the dance Harry." She kissed him on the cheek again.

"Bye."

After dancing with Katie, Harry looked over at Auror McKinney. She was sitting by herself. Glancing over at Ginny, who nodded, Harry walked up to her table and asked, "Auror McKinney, are you up to one dance this evening?"

She smiled at him and said, "Certainly Mr. Potter. Please lead the way."

Harry did at least a decent job with his box step. There were no toe injuries on either side and no near misses either. She seemed to be having a pleasant time, so Harry tried his hand at conversation. "Teresa, I wanted to thank you again for coming to help us today. I know that this was your day off. I really do appreciate it. I'm also very glad that you seem to be feeling better. I'm really glad that you're here." He looked into her light green eyes for a moment.

"Mr. Potter, it's my pleasure. Thanks again for saving me."

"The pleasure was mine. Thanks for the dance too."

Harry was about to sit down when Ginny shook her head, and pointed to Poppy. Knowing better than to argue, he walked up to her table and asked, "Healer Pomfrey, may I have the honor of this dance?"

Pomfrey beamed at him, surprised that he'd take the time to spend with someone old enough to be his grandmother. "Why thank you, Mr. Potter. I'd be truly delighted."

After visiting with her for a dance, Harry was also directed to ask, little Hanna Smith, and Director Bones for a dance each. When Harry had finished, they thanked him for a lovely evening. Finally when Harry looked back at the table with his housemates, the three witches each waved him over. "Thank you Harry. They each really appreciated your thoughtfulness. You'll be well rewarded. Please take us back to our room now."

The three witches were good to their word. Harry was treated very well that evening.

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