Chapter Thirteen – Cloaks and Monsters

'Right, where was I?' said Harry as he re-entered his study and closed the door behind him. His son James, who was sitting at the chair in front of his desk, stiff as a board, jumped a little and turned around to look at his dad.

'Oh, you – er – said you were proud of me and that I truly lived up to my grandad's name and that I should keep what you're about to tell me a secret,' he replied sheepishly.

'Good,' stated Harry sitting down at his desk across from his eldest son. 'Now, your mother thinks I'm bonkers for doing this that early – and maybe I am – but I've always thought that Hogwarts was just as much a place for mischief as it was a place of learning. You've proven to me that you are capable of both, and I feel I can now trust you with an object that is very dear to my heart, something that is very precious to our family and to the wizarding world as a whole.'

'Blimey dad… Sometimes I feel like you never take anything seriously, you know?' his son tried to lighten the mood.

Harry, ignoring his son's wisecracks, reached over to a nearby drawer and pulled out a silvery grey, fluid-like cloth that was strange to the touch – like water woven into fabric.

James looked at the Cloak of Invisibility with mild surprise and confusion. 'It's… a weird old blanket?'

'This,' explained his dad, 'is an invisibility cloak. But it's not just any old invisibility cloak, this one – you see – is the perfect invisibility cloak.'

'What – '

'This cloak has been passed down through generations in our family, from father to son over the centuries. Unlike other cloaks, this one will not fail you. It will not fade or tear or lose its function in any form. This one right here is the reason I got away with so much during my time at Hogwarts – well that and the fact that Albus Dumbledore had a soft spot for me,' he said with a wink.

'I – dad – I… well… This isn't some sort of a test, is it? I'm not supposed to refuse it and show that I've got integrity or something right?'

Harry chuckled. 'Not at all. It's all yours. I figured you're already getting into enough trouble, and you're not going to stop, so I might as well assist you a little. Maybe prevent you from actually getting expelled. Here, go ahead try it on.' Harry reached over his desk handing over the cloak to James.

James paused and looked at the cloak for a second before letting a devilish smile spread over his face. He grabbed the cloak out of his father's hand quickly – as if Harry might regret this gift at any moment – and threw the Hallow over his shoulders.

Harry grinned at the sight of his son's head floating over a seemingly empty chair in front of him. James looked down and let out a shriek.

'Merlin's scrotum dad – '

'Language James…'

'This must be SUPER valuable! How come you don't want it anymore?'

'I don't really need it any longer to be honest,' replied Harry. 'I can become practically invisible without the cloak's assistance by now and I figured I should honour our family tradition this Christmas.'

'That's so COOL, thanks dad! And here I was thinking you were a lame old fart… no offence.'

'A little taken, but nonetheless,' said Harry indignantly, 'I do have a couple rules for you. And be warned, if I so much as catch a whiff that you're breaking my rules, that cloak will be out of your hands before you can say Quidditch. Am I making myself clear?'

The serious tone in his father's voice seemed to have sobered James up a bit. 'Er – yeah, hearing you loud and clear.'

'First off, don't do anything I wouldn't do. Meaning don't go sneaking into the girls' showers, or cheating on exams, or into the Forbidden Forest, or anything that wouldn't be considered good fun by me. Second, I want you to watch over your brother and, when the time comes, your sister every now and again to make sure they aren't up to anything dangerous – Merlin knows you've all inherited the danger-loving-idiot gene from me…'

'Right, got it,' replied James, now smiling faintly.

'Third, you are not to tell anybody about this cloak or what it is. Hide it in your dormitory, deep inside your trunk and never speak of it to anyone.'

'Can I tell Fred and Ton about it?'

'Yes, fine, you can tell them but absolutely no one else, not even Hagrid – actually, especially not Hagrid.'

James was now grinning widely, 'And lastly?'

'And lastly, have fun.'

With that being said, James got up from his chair and walked over to his father. It was one of those rare moments where James was emotional enough to actually give his father a hug.

'Run along now. Put it in your room and not a word to anyone, eh?' said Harry as they parted.

Harry grabbed his glass of Firewhisky off his desk and took a swig. He walked over to the window just as his eldest son disappeared behind the door to the hallway. It was raining softly outside again. Harry breathed in, savouring this moment of calmness and the warmth that spread about his body, courtesy of the Firewhisky. He had been consuming way too much of this stuff in recent months. What first was a once-a-week treat to calm himself on the weekends, had now become a bit of a disturbing habit. He couldn't blame himself. The stress that he had been experiencing the last few months started to get to him. Even though most of the Wizarding World had seemed to forget about the Madley case by now, Harry himself kept obsessing over it (to his wife's great annoyance). He felt he had been somehow personally responsible for this mess. Had he not spared some of the lowly Death Eaters from gaol back in the day, had he not allowed Travers to get away, this entire saga of misery could have been avoided.

Whatever Montgomery was up to he had been hiding it well. Every time Kreacher came back from his surveillance mission he could only report on the everyday tribulations of an average teacher at Hogwarts. Montgomery woke up at 6:00 AM sharp, had breakfast at the Great Hall, taught his classes with almost robotic precision, had lunch and dinner, and spent the rest of his time in his office off of the first-floor corridor – the one that had used to belong to Professor McGonagall – reading articles in Transfiguration Today and grading homework before going to bed. Nothing out of the ordinary and nothing that would warrant any further action. Harry couldn't make any arrests or interviews without evidence, after-all, and the lack thereof had been pestering him for a while now.

As for the interestingly named Thomas Delamont… Well, he too had been as normal a student at Hogwarts – albeit a bit on the moody side – as Montgomery had been a teacher. Both Kreacher and Neville had been observing him closely, and he didn't seem to be behaving oddly at all anymore. Harry figured that Montgomery modified his memory in some fashion and that the boy had been a victim of this plot rather than one of the conspirators. Still, it was an interesting coincidence that, of all the boys at Hogwarts, this particular one – the one who had been under Harry's radar since the beginning – had been chosen by the culprits for their shenanigans. Something didn't sit right with Harry. There had to be something, some bit of information he was missing.

A thunder struck somewhere far. The weather turned a bit stormier now, and Harry's glass ran empty. He would have to get back downstairs for another. Harry sighed and paced over to the door. As he walked back towards the staircase, he could hear James and Fred moving about on the floor above him, undoubtedly playing with James' extraordinary new possession. Harry descended the stairs at a slow, tired pace.

Thunder struck again, this time a little closer. Rain hammered on a nearby window. Harry took another hopeful swig of his empty glass, wishing for another droplet of the warm, amber liquid. I have to control myself better, he thought, this is getting ridiculous.

Another thunderstrike, closer still. A storm was coming no doubt. Was there a storm on the forecast this week? He couldn't remember. Harry reached the first-floor landing and turned.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

That definitely wasn't rain. Someone was at the door, banging furiously to be let in. Harry, suddenly on alert, pulled out his wand and turned back towards the stairs. He descended another flight of stairs and walked through the dimly lit long hallway towards the door.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

'What the hell?' he heard Ginny call from above him. 'Who at this hour on Christmas Eve…?'

Harry got to the door a moment later.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

'Who is it?' he called from behind the door, his wand gripped tightly in his right hand.

'It's Dean! Dean Thomas!' called a familiar voice from the other side of the front door. 'Lemme in Harry, will you?'

Harry made a baffled face – oh God no, what is it now? – and turned the handle. Dean walked in hurriedly, dripping from head to toe. He looked mortified.

'We're effed Harry – '

'Er – Happy Christmas to you as well Dean – '

'No, you don't understand – '

'Hey what's going on?' asked Ginny worriedly from behind Harry.

'I don't know,' answered Harry, 'We're about to find out – '

'Dementors!' yelled Dean.

'What Dementors?' asked Ron who appeared behind Ginny, accompanied by Hermione, Teddy, and Molly II.

'Dementors, hundreds – if not thousands – of them! They're all out and they're all coming in this direction!' called Dean. He sounded panicky.

'That's impossible!' squeaked Hermione. 'We sealed them all in that cave Voldemort used to hide the Locket in!'

'Well somebody – somehow – let them all out! Please, I need you to come Harry.'

Harry's head was spinning slightly. He had a lot of trouble processing the information he was being presented with at the moment. Hermione, McGonagall, Kingsley, and he had worked relentlessly on gathering every single Dementor that had been unleashed by Voldemort and seal them tightly in that cursed, dark, cold cave by the seaside along with the Inferi. It had been nineteen years since, and nobody, apart from these select few, had even known about the cave's location, let alone how to unseal it.

'Harry – '

'Dean,' Harry turned to his old schoolmate and Head Auror, 'gather every single Auror you can find. Bring them – '

'Already told Berrycloth to do that,' answered Dean. 'He's the one who found out about the escape. I also sent a message via Patronus to Seamus to gather all of the old Dumbledore's Army crowd.'

'Good. Good. Show me the way then – '

'I'm coming with you,' said Ron.

'Me too,' added Hermione.

'Don't even think about it – '

'I'm the goddamn Minister for Magic, I can go wherever I – '

'I'm coming too,' stated Ginny.

'No Ginny, I need you to stay here – ' started Harry.

'If you think I'm gonna let you run off and – '

'No Ginny listen to me. This might be a trick. A diversion. Something big to draw me and everybody I know out of our homes to fight while somebody goes and grabs our kids, or worse. I need you to stay here with your mum and dad and Andromeda, make sure nobody comes knocking while I'm away. Ron, Hermione,' he turned to his two old friends, 'come with us if you wish but be prepared. I know you haven't practised combative magic for a while now. Molly, I need you to go call every of-age person here to see if they would come and help – '

'I'm almost of age, I'm coming too – ' began Molly.

''Fraid not Mol. Not unless your dad allows it, which I doubt. No, don't argue, just go, NOW! Teddy,' Harry spoke to his godson last, 'are you coming with me?'

'To hell and back,' replied Edward Lupin courageously while pulling out his own wand. Harry nodded in appreciation. He had been training Teddy secretly in defensive magic since the week after Hallowe'en to compensate for his alleged poor performance in his Auror training. Though he had a bit of trouble when it came to functioning under pressure, Teddy did display a decent amount of talent. Harry knew he wouldn't miss a chance to fight alongside him. He also knew that he would do anything in his power to protect the boy, keep him alive for Remus' sake, even if it killed him.

Less than half a minute later everybody Harry had summoned, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Percy, Audrey, George, and Angelina, all assembled at the entrance to Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

As they stepped into the cold, stormy night Harry yelled over the loud, rippling rain: 'You know, Dean, just once I wish you'd pop by with some good news for a change!'

Rain poured heavily onto the grassy hills near Nether Loxwich. In the distance, some quarter of a mile or so away, the small lights of the Muggle village gleamed and flickered through the darkness. Lightning struck nearby trees with excessive frequency, and the thunders that followed sounded unnaturally strong. The people of Nether Loxwich would have been suspicious of the unusual cold and harsh weather were it not for the fact that they had all been struck by the sudden and intense urge to leave the village immediately. Taking their children and pets and leaving all their possessions behind, running off to the other side of the country for the next few days.

Harry Potter, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, stood at the head of a small army of witches and wizards. To his right his most loyal friends, Ron and Hermione. To his left, Dean Thomas – the Head Auror under him – and his godson Edward Lupin. All stood wet and shivering in the cold night showers. The low humming of a thousand rattling breaths echoed in the distance.

'Can you hear them coming?' Harry asked his fellow combatants. They all nodded in unison. 'Right then, get ready.'

Harry pointed his wand at his throat and began to speak to the crowd behind him. 'Get ready everyone they are almost here. We must stand our ground. Don't break formation.' Harry felt like he was the Gryffindor Quidditch Team captain again, readying his team for another match. 'We cannot let the Dementors reach London under any circumstance. Those of us who are able to summon Patronuses please do so once we have them in our field of vision. Those who cannot – it is perfectly understandable we are dealing with a whole lot here – fire is your safest bet. Stick in the middle and don't let them get near you.'

They stood for another minute or so in the gushing rain, silently shaking.

'So – er – remind me what's the plan once they get here then?' asked Ron over the sound of bellowing thunder.

'I had two separate teams push them towards us, one from the north the other from the south,' explained Harry. 'This is the most sparsely populated area in South England I could find on a short notice. Figured it would make the most convenient battleground away from the sea where they can escape and where we won't have Muggle witnesses or casualties. Once we get them under control, we will push them back towards the cave and seal them again… And I'm gonna make bloody sure that there's a twenty-four-hour guard duty on that place until we catch the f – '

Harry's words were cut short by the terrible sight that appeared before him. Hundreds upon hundreds of Dementors, emerging from the darkness, flying through the air towards them. Their horrible breaths sounded supernaturally strong despite the pouring rain and the thunder. They weren't alone though. The brigade of Dementors was accompanied by dozens of gaunt, lifeless bodies that ran below; Inferi.

'Oh, bloody hell… not them too,' called Ron hopelessly.

'Stand your ground!' called Harry. 'Don't panic, use Incendio for the Inferi. Are we ready then?!'

He looked over his shoulder and around him one last time to reassure his comrades. He saw the fear in their eyes, the hopelessness, he would have preferred not to put so many people in immediate danger… But then again, he needed enough Patronuses to repel pretty much all the Dementors in Britain. Harry turned to the coming horde, chills running down his spine, he forced himself to stare into the face of darkness. He could hear a faint, almost undetectable screaming of a woman – his mother – as if from very far away. At an instant, he was that 13-year-old boy again, standing at the edge of the Great Lake, protecting Sirius. He wouldn't just be protecting one innocent man now; he would be shielding millions from a terrible fate. With all his might Harry thought of his children, his wife, his friends, of the – now so far away – beginning of the night, of his warm fireplace and his whiskey…

'EXPECTO PATRONUM!' he shouted.

And out of his wand burst the same familiar stag, a warm, light presence in the cold bottomless darkness that surrounded him. Before long, he heard others all around him call 'Expecto Patronum!' one after another. He saw Ron's Jack Russell terrier, Hermione's Otter, Teddy's wolf – of course it's a wolf, he thought to himself merrily – and others. Silvery, warm, dogs, cats, horses, bulls, monkeys, and other animals surrounded them, protecting them from the cold harsh outside.

'CHARGE!' he called at once, running forward with everyone at his heels.

The Dementors recoiled at the sudden resistance they were facing. They all routed, changing direction, flying up instead of forward.

'Oh blimey Harry! They're gonna fly over us!' called Ron.

Harry laughed. 'Thought about that possibility already. Look to the sky!'

A couple dozen Patronuses lit up in the dark cloudy night sky. Their owners, a small brigade of Aurors on brooms, enclosed the horde of Dementors from above. Harry's other two teams showed up from behind with Patronuses and streams of fire. They were enveloped.

Cheers sounded from all around Harry now.

'It's not over yet. Now for the Inferi – '

'Protego Maxima!' Harry heard Hermione call out.

A vast shield of light blue sprouted from the ground in front of Harry, shielding them from the wave of animated corpses in their way. The Inferi struck the protective wall with the ferocity of a tsunami, but it held.

'Good one Hermione!' he shouted. 'Now, when they're all enclosed just a little bit tighter, we keep pushing them while the other teams navigate us back to the cave. Keep your eyes on them, they all know what to do!'

A moment or two later the rear teams began retreating a little in the direction they came from. Harry and his squadron kept pushing, walking forward at a fast pace.

'Not too fast now!' called Harry. 'We don't want to rush the teams on the other side!'

'Oh no,' said Teddy.

'What – '

Harry saw what immediately. Several Patronuses flickered in the distance, the Dementors were gaining ground a little.

'Don't worry, they'll hold! Keep concentrating on your own charms!'

'Harry, I don't think that – OUCH!' Hermione tripped on a stone and fell.

'Oh FUUUUUUU – '

'INCENDIO!' screamed Harry. His stag disappeared, giving way to a colossal torrent of fire that came out of his wand, catching nearby Inferi. It wasn't enough, Harry heard shrieks of fear from behind him. Patronuses flickered and disappeared, the Dementors' rattling breath intensified.

Harry saw Ron helping Hermione up in the corner of his eye. He saw her escaping his grip and pointing her wand at the ground, muttering something. Harry felt the ground rise beneath him. A large steep hill, wide enough to hold them all, sprouted and carried them all high above the crowd of Inferi. He heard screams of horror as he turned to see one of the wizards at the back falling to his death.

'NO!' shrieked Hermione.

'It's-too-late-not-your-fault!' he heard Ron scream before shouting 'Incendio!' and lighting up a group of cold dead bodies.

'Bombarda!' shouted Harry, exploding another group of Inferi ahead of him.

The Dementors were free now. In a single wave, they bypassed the Aurors on top. Going over their wall of Patronuses and coming back at them from above. Harry, in his horror, saw bodies fall from the sky and into the sea of Inferi below.

Harry's ears were ringing, his head hurt, he felt sick. He just led countless – who even knows how many – to their deaths. On Christmas Eve, he uprooted them from their families to die cold, hopeless, and afraid.

'Bloody hell…' he heard Teddy whimper.

'Stay with me! Screw the Dementors we'll deal with them later; we've got to make sure none of the Inferi make it out of here and into a Muggle town!'

'In case you haven't noticed we're not exactly in a position to stop anybody!' yelled a voice from behind Harry. He recognised Josiah Smith's voice.

'I've got a plan,' said Harry. At times of peril Harry always liked to rely on what he did best. He pointed his wand to the sky and 'Accio broom!'

One of the abandoned brooms left hovering by Harry's sky team shot straight into his hand. 'Ron, Teddy, Dean,' Harry turned to the people around him, 'I need you to do the same and come help me rescue whoever's left of the other groups. Hermione, can you seal all the Inferi with a dome charm? Protego horribilis should do the trick,' she nodded at him.

'Make sure everybody's okay up here!' said Harry as he got on his broom. He waited for Ron, Dean, and Teddy to summon their own and then kicked off and shot up in the air.

Harry flew alongside his squad, shooting fire at the waves of Inferi underneath and scouting the ground for signs of life. He dodged a Dementor that flew his way.

'Expecto Patronum!' The stag appeared again, protecting Harry from any oncoming Dementors. Though many of them had seized the opportunity and fled, some of the Dementors still remained around the battlefield. Furious, hungry, they were out for blood – or souls more like.

Harry lowered his broom. Spotting an arm raised among a jumble of smoke, fire, and animated corpses, he reached out his hand and grabbed it.

'Oh thank god Harry!' said Ernie Macmillan as Harry pulled him onto his broom. 'I thought I was toast.'

'Did anybody else survive from your team?' asked Harry dreading the answer.

'Yeah, everybody so far, at least I think so. They're just routed. We saw your shield go out and your Patronuses die, and my men lost their heart. Began to run!' he puffed up. 'I don't know what's happened since.'

'Let's get you to safety, I'll go back for the rest afterwards,' replied Harry.

Harry dropped Ernie off at the island with Ron, Teddy, and Dean bringing an Auror each with them too. As he went back for more, Harry heard Hermione whispering complex enchantments, sealing them all with the Inferi. Good, thought Harry, we can get this under control again.

After a few more rounds Harry concluded that there were no more Aurors to rescue. With a heavy heart, he landed back at the – now slightly overflowing – island in the middle of all the chaos.

'What's next?' asked Hermione, looking around at the waves of Inferi they were now trapped with.

'I think… I hope I remember how to do this…' answered Harry.

'Whatever it is, make it quick, I don't think we can hold on much longer…' she retorted.

Harry breathed in deeply. He had only experienced this spell once in his life. Heck, he had only seen another person perform this spell once in his life; Dumbledore…

'Let's hope this doesn't end up killing us…' he whispered as he pointed his wand at the sky again and concentrated. 'Turbine Ignis!' he called.

Through the darkness, fire erupted from his wand: crimson and gold, a ring of fire surrounded the squadron of witches and wizards. Harry moved his wand in a circular motion, raised like a torch. From its tip, flames emanated like a vast lasso, encircling them all with warmth.

Cheers were being heard again as Harry drove the horrific army away to the edges of the dome. With nowhere to go, no water to protect them from a fiery end, the Inferi surrendered to their fate.

Exhausted, beaten, and with scorched tips, Harry apparated at the dimly lit square in front of 12 Grimmauld Place. What a horrible night, he thought to himself as he approached his home. Thirteen casualties, most of them young, from Teddy's class. He had to send people to their family homes and tell their mothers that their sons and daughters had just spent the last Christmas they would ever have at home. The very last Christmas, before Harry Potter had summoned them to come die for him. Just like so many others…

He hated himself. Hated the feeling that somehow, this had all been his fault. Harry couldn't grasp how, after nineteen years, Voldemort was still causing so much mayhem and misery from beyond the grave.

And it wasn't over yet. No. Though Harry had managed to eradicate the army of Inferi that had escaped – one plan went right tonight at least; they weren't anywhere near water – there was still a horde of Dementors on the loose. He imagined the Muggle news would be reporting the same stuff they had been nineteen years ago: dreary weather, unnatural cold, fog, gloom, and mysterious disappearances all around. He would get right on routing all the Dementors tomorrow. Now he just needed to go to bed. That and maybe a glass of Firewhiskey…

Harry sighed heavily. He felt so alienated from the relative happiness he felt at the beginning of the night. So detached. It felt as if it had happened in another life. In many ways it did, thought Harry as he climbed up the small steps at the front of his house. In many ways it –

He paused suddenly. At the foot of his door laid a big box. Decorated eloquently with ribbons and red paper.

'What the – ' he whispered.

Approaching the mysterious package, Harry pulled out his wand and lit it. He really didn't need any more surprises tonight. There was a note attached to it. Harry raised his wand to see it better. It read:

To: Mr Harry Potter,

Merry Christmas!

From: the fine residents of Malmire.

Harry made a face. What in the name of Merlin does that mean…?

He didn't have to wait long. As he approached the package further, it opened, revealing the only sight that could have made this night any worse. The only sight that was less welcome than the rattling breaths of a thousand Dementors. Worse than the wails and cries of dying Aurors. Worse than his own death.

Harry's hand shot up to his face, but it was too late. He leaned on the railing and retched the contents of his stomach over it. A deep voice spoke with booming leer: 'Stay out of our lives Potter, or we'll come visit yours!' as the shrunken, decapitated heads of Dennis Creevey and his men gazed at Harry from inside the box.