No one talked again till they reached the end of the tunnel. By this time, everyone still conscious gave a sigh of relief as Calleigh began to stir. By the time they all had gotten out of the tunnel she was able to walk on her own, against Sirius protests. Once she had convinced him she fell back with Harry and Hermione.
"Are you alright? What happened?" Hermione asked in a concerned tone.
"I really don't know. It was like, the more emotions that came into that room, the worse I felt. Then, I just started to feel so weak. It is hard to explain," Calleigh explained as best she could.
"Calleigh, what would you think if I came to live with you and Sirius?" Harry asked offhandly.
"Really? Your not joking. That would be great, really great. You deserve to get away from the Dursleys."
The grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. They silently tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. A cloud shifter overhead. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight.
"The world hates us," Calleigh whispered while she pulled Harry and Hermione to a halt.
Everyone ahead of them collided with Lupin, Peter and Ron. Sirius stood frozen gazing at the silhouette of Lupin. Lupin had gone rigid and his limbs began to shake.
"Run," Sirius whispered. "Run, now!"
But Harry couldn't run; he couldn't leave Ron. He and Calleigh leapt forward but Sirius caught them.
"I am not losing!" Calleigh hissed, her eyes gleaming in the moonlight.
"I'm not going anywhere. Now leave it to me and Run!"
"Harry, we have to go. For the love of – Harry if there is one thing you owe him and your parents is to keep yourself alive. Now run!" Calleigh yelled, grabbing him by the arm.
Because of Harry's reluctance to leave Ron, they made a circle round and came back to find Ron and Snape the only ones around. In the distance they heard a dog yelping in pain.
While Harry had a moment's indecision, Calleigh had already bolted off ahead of him, to where the sound came from. She started to feel cold, and pulled out her wand. She knew how to do it, she hoped. Unlike Harry, Lupin didn't practice to the same extant with her as he had with Harry. She knew what she needed to do, and that was all she needed.
When they got there, they saw a man crouched on all fours, his hands over his head. "No," he moaned. "No, please…."
That was when Harry saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, were gliding in a black mass around the lake toward them. The icy cold began to penetrate his insides.
"Hermione, think of something happy!" Calleigh hissed, looking drained, bent over Sirius.
Harry became engraged at Calleigh for not doing anything. But what Harry didn't realize was that Calleigh was searching for the happiest memory she ever saw. Before realizing it, she found it. The happiest memory she had. Her first birthday. She remembered it all vividly. The look on their faces was priceless and she wished she could have seen that her whole life.
"It will be alright, dad, we will save you. You promised you wouldn't leave. I will hold you to that promise. I love you daddy," she whispered, before getting up and standing beside Harry and the very weak looking Hermione.
"It is about time. I was trying to find a happy memory!" Calleigh yelled through the screaming in her own ears. "Expecto Patronum!"
A full fledged Patronus flew from Calleigh's wand, but couldn't take all of the dementors that were about. As her single Patronus galloped around, she saw Harry collapse to his knees beside her. She had to help him; she wouldn't lose them, not her father, not her friends.
White fog began to cloud Harry's vision and Calleigh hauled both him and Hermione over to Sirius, She felt terrible, she hadn't been able to help enough. With that thought, her Patronus flickered and died. The lat thing she remembered was a bright light.
The next thing they knew they were all in the hospital wing, all except Sirius. Against Madam Pomfrey's council Calleigh was up and about, pacing back and forth, needing something to do
"Sit down Ms. Black!" she ordered, but Calleigh didn't seem to hear.
She was too absorbed in what she was thinking. She hadn't been happy enough. She didn't trust herself enough. She wasn't strong enough. Not matter what she thought she couldn't figure out another reason to why she had collapsed in the Shrieking Shack.
It wasn't until Harry had woken up, that Madame Pomfrey had been able to get Calleigh to at the very least sit down. She paid no attention to what was happening until she heard Dumbledore say that the three of them could save more than one innocent life that night.
The first thing they did was save Buckbeak. Then they waited. All they did was wait for all of the events to unfold again. They had to wait until finally they had all be brought back to the castle. Where the three of the promptly got on Buckbeak and flew up to Sirius.
"You foolish, yet brave kids. Thank you," Sirius said, getting on Buckbeak quickly.
"Keep your promise," Calleigh cried before he took off.
"Call, I always do. Now the three of you be good and stay safe," Sirius said while he flew into the sky.
The three of them rushed back into the Hospital Wing just in time. Nothing as eventful as that one night happened the rest of the year. They all regretfully got on the train, Calleigh most of all. She thought for even a little while that she would finally be awhile from her Uncle. But that thought was only a dream at the time.