Dudley stared at the scene before him, scarcely able to believe what he had witnessed. Black had gotten the Dementor's Kiss, Lupin was a werewolf, Snape had saved them, Snape had gotten injured, Lupin was dead.
There was a faint rattling noise of rasping breath and Dudley felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The Dementors were coming back.
Silently, they glided out of the trees—three of them. They bypassed the motionless, soulless form of Sirius Black. One hesitated before moving towards Snape who was lying still on the grass, blood pouring from his mauled arm.
The other two glided to where Dudley, Hermione and Luna were.
"We've got to move!" Dudley shouted in panic. Already he was growing cold. Already he could hear Riddle whisper to him. Already he could almost sense the basilisk gliding out of the grass.
"We can't leave Snape!" Hermione argued. Her face was wet with tears.
"Expecto patronum!" she shouted. Nothing happened. "Come on try! It's what Snape did!"
"Expecto Patronum!" Dudley shouted, waving his wand.
Nothing happened.
"Fire!" it was Luna speaking. "Set fire to their capes."
"Good idea," Dudley grunted. "Incendio!" he fired a blast of fire at the nearest Dementor which let out an ear piercing squeal as its robes set ablaze.
Luna did likewise, aiming her wand at the second Dementor approaching them while Hermione aimed carefully at the third Dementor, which was staring menacingly down at the prone form of Snape.
The Dementors back off, breathing deeply, they seemed like they were threatening to suck all the life out of the air around them. It was black—the only light came from the flames bursting from Dudley, Hermione's and Luna's wands.
Dudley could feel himself growing weaker. The flames didn't seem to hurt the Demenators much. The one that had been set ablaze was hovering even as its cloak burned as if merely waiting for them to stop. Luna was the first to fall, her wand dropped from her grip—the effort of keeping the incendio spell had drained her.
Dudley collapsed to his knees—his head spinning as inside the head he heard a tumultuous racket of cries and screams and hisses. He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling certain Slytherin's basilisk was coming to get him. He couldn't see anything, he barely heard Hermione cry out as she too fell. He didn't noticed the Dementor lowering its hood to bend down towards Snape. He barely felt the scabbed hand raise his own chin for the Dementor's kiss.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" the voice, echoing with strength and power cut through the night sky.
The screams and sounds faded. Dudley's head cleared. A silver bird shot over his head, a silver tabby cat running along beside.
The Dementors fled before the duo of patronuses.
"Drive them back, Minerva!" he heard Dumbledore call, faintly, as if down a long tunnel. "No more are Dementors going to blight Hogwarts!"
He forced himself to a kneeling position. The lined, ancient face and the steely blue eyes of Albus Dumbledore were peering at him.
"Eat this," Dumbledore said, forcing a square of chocolate into his hand. "I need to check on Severus."
Dudley forced himself to eat the chocolate. Luna and Hermione did likewise. Both girls were pale, hair askew and breathing heavily. In the woods, they could see the flicker of McGonagall's patronus as she pursued the three Dementors.
Closer, Albus Dumbledore was crouched over Snape. He was doing a wordless spell, tracing his wand over Snape's wounds. By the light of the phoenix aptronus which hovered overhead, Dudley could see that Snape was in a bad state. His arm was torn to pieces and he was also bleeding from the neck where Lupin had bit him.
Lupin! Dudley looked over to where the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher lay and almost threw up.
The man had reverted back to his human form. He was dead. His skin black and blistered from Snape's fiendfyre.
Dumbledore stood up, having attended to Snape.
"Cranky, Tuft-Ears, Patch!" he called.
There were three sharp cracks and three house elves appeared.
They bowed and started talking but Dumbledore raised a hand to silence them.
"Cranky, inform Madame Pomfrey that she will be receiving two patients—one has a broken leg, one has been badly bitten by a werewolf," Dumbledore said, calmly.
"I will obey," the first elf, who was the same one that Dudley had brought to class, said.
"Tuft-Ears," Dumbledore said. An elf with long tufts of white hair coming out his ears stepped forward.
"Go and fetch the Minister of Magic. Tell him we have caught Black," Dumbledore said.
"Right away, Professor Dumbledore, Sir!" Tuft-Ears did three bows and apparated away.
"Ah, Minerva, are the Dementors gone?" Dumbledore asked.
"I have driven them beyond the school's boundaries," McGonagall said, stiffly.
"Good … they will never step foot on the grounds of this castle again. Now, Minerva, could you and Patch take Severus and Miss. Lovegood to the hospital wing?"
"What about Dursley and Granger?" McGonagall said.
"I need a word with them," Dumbledore said.
"Albus, really? Can't it wait? They …"
"They will be along shortly," Dumbledore said, in a voice which stopped any further argument.
"Dudley, Hermione, with me," Dumbledore said.
He waved his wand, casting a quick spell which immediately cleared Dudley's head and made him feel revitalized.
"Where are going?" Dudley asked.
Dumbledore didn't reply. He led them through one of the castle's small side doors, usually only used by Filch, and inside a small room where there was just a table and a dusty armchair.
Dudley started to speak, but Dumbledore silenced him by raising a hand.
"The Minister of Magic will be here shortly," he said in a low voice. "Professor Lupin is dead. Sirius Black has received the Dementor's kiss. Severus Snape has received life-altering injuries. Even I do not understand all that has transpired tonight, but I believe there is a way to fix things."
He looked at Hermione.
"We need more time," he said pointedly.
"Oh… Ohhh!" Hermione said.
Dudley looked at them both dumfounded as Hermione pulled a long chain from within her robes.
"Two turns should do it," Dumbledore said. "If you are lucky, you may be able to prevent some of which happened tonight."