A/N: Chapter names are hard
Chapter 43: On dementors
"Hogwarts' Headmaster's Office." I mutter before stepping into the floo-fire.
Dobby had graciously brought my uniform to my flat to save me changing later, he really is fantastic. I should get him a tiny house-elf sized bike or something, I'm sure he'd love it.
"Ah, Harry, just in time." Albus is standing by his desk.
"For what?" I ask, rubbing my eyes. I didn't go for a run this morning, so I'm not entirely awake. Ten to seven.
"I was just about to walk down to the Great Hall, perhaps you could accompany me?" His polite way of saying - "I'm going down to eat breakfast, come on."
"Sure, sure. I see Moody wasn't happy when you got back." I gesture to the floor where they'd been standing yesterday.
"Alastor, like many others, dislike the effects of dementors." Albus says as we walk down his stairs, the gargoyle twists out of the way for him.
"Oh, I got a new friend." I say, suddenly remembering the snake coiled around my forearm. I hold my hand for Albus to see. I don't have my robe on, and my sleeves are rolled up… He probably noticed her already. "This is Albus." I explain to Nysa. "Remember not to bite him. Or anyone else."
"Yes, Master." Was that sarcasm? She's asleep again. I managed to find the laziest snake in existence. Is it too late for a refund.
"Delightful." Albus' eyes twinkle. "I trust you can keep..."
"Nysa." I supply the name.
"...Nysa under control?"
"She won't bite anybody that doesn't bite her first." I drop my arm back to my side. Nysa's head sits against the outside of my hand. Maybe this will become the latest fashion? The plausibility of it worries me. I wouldn't put it past people to do it because I do… Well they never copy what Albus wears, so maybe they won't care?
"Excellent." He smiles as we continue our trek, he bids the paintings a good morning as we pass them. "I suppose you won't tell me exactly what you saw on Wednesday night?"
"Dementors, the things that built the place." I shrug. "I'll probably tell you everything eventually." He smiles knowingly. "Any plans on how to deal with Senior?" I ask quietly. A potentially delicate subject.
"The manner in which the evidence was uncovered, by means of your abilities, makes the process somewhat difficult. I cannot always challenge them to force Veritaserum onto an outwardly upstanding citizen." He sighs.
"Try not to leave it too long, he did use an unforgivable, multiple times. It's only terrifically illegal." As walk down the last flight of stairs approaching the Great Hall, I hold up Nysa again. "Do you think this will catch on in the world of fashion?" To his credit, he actually seems to consider it.
"Harry, I once knew a wizard who wore an extra pair of shoes dangling from his knees, I dare say I will never understand fashion." He replies sagely as we turn into the room. The hall hushes and turns to look at us, Albus continues to walk towards his seat, I stand still like a plonker. Play it cool. I walk over to the Slytherin table and sit on Draco's right.
"Morning, Draco."
"Potter." He says lazily, reading the letter in his hands. From his mother, judging by the flowery writing.
"Is there a reason why I'm being stared at?" I ask lowly. He hands me the front page of the Daily Prophet without saying anything. Shit. "Harry Potter, blah blah blah, Azkaban, Dementor attack. 'Later spotted in the company of a buxom brunette in Magical Menagerie'?" Tonks'll absolutely love that. "Nysa." I scold the snake as she scares Draco by snapping at his food. "What did I say about snatching?"
"Sorry, Master." Her tongue flits out onto my hand.
"Sorry, Draco – She's still getting used to not being locked in a display case." I glance up to the other students briefly. I can't say I'm completely without blame when it comes to drawing attention to myself. It's a shame Nysa doesn't like coiling around the wand holster on my right arm, else I could look super cool by casting with a snake wrapped around my wrist.
"I don't see you for one day and you come back with a snake." Much to my surprise, he doesn't angry, just curious and wary of Nysa.
"Yeah, I came to the realisation that I'd never really done much with parseltongue. A shame to let it go to waste."
"And the… dementors?" He looks along the table for eavesdroppers. "That happened?"
"Yes." I nod, watching Moody as he leans down to Albus' ear to talk to him. "It wasn't entirely pleasant." What are they talking about?
"I heard a rumour this morning that it was you that cast the patronus." Draco continues. "The papers only said they were dealt with, but not who did so."
"And you believe the rumours?" I look back to him after Moody retakes his seat again.
"You almost killed my father-"
"Out the kindness of my heart."
"-so I think you can cast a patronus." He ignores my input.
"I might just have done so, pressure does strange things to magic." I say ambiguously.
"So you couldn't do it again?" He looks down at his letter again as somebody walks behind us, as if to make it look like we weren't talking or something. How can I explain that I can cast the spell through the Elder Wand because of some bizarre bond I have with it? I could probably replicate the feeling of the spell itself with my holly wand.
"Probably." I shrug.
"Can you teach me?" Teach him?
"Draco, I don't even know how I did it myself." I drum my fingers on the table whilst mentally reviewing the theory. "Why do you want me to?" He looks confused for a split second.
"Oh, I didn't give you the rest of the paper, did I?" He drags the inner pages from beneath his plate. "Yesterday the Ministry announced that they would be posting extra security here during the tournament."
"Right, Tonks said the Auror department would be out in force." I nod.
"No, they mean dementors." He jumps. Probably because I just slammed my hand down onto the table. I snatch the paper and devour the follow up article. Why didn't I read the paper yesterday?
"How could they do this? After I was almost killed too? It's sick, disgusting that they would even consider it." I growl through gritted teeth. They have no place on the grounds of Hogwarts. If a staff member isn't about and one fancies a snack? That's a student's life gone right there. Trying to snatch a soul just to foolishly attempt to re-enter the portal beneath Azkaban. I screw the paper into a ball. It's only mildly related, but I blame Voldemort.
"Come on, Professor Moody was exceptionally moody yesterday, I don't want to run the slightest risk of being late. I grunt in response as we stand up. Albus told me that Moody requested that Gryffindor and Slytherin were not to have DADA together, no time for their petty squabbles when he's trying to teach.
Fucking Voldemort.
"Now, because I'm sure none of you are going to shut up about it, Professor Dumbledore has agreed to bring this lesson forward from it's schedule." Moody glares at the fidgety class. "Get your textbooks out and turn to page 600." A collective groan resounds. "Ungrateful whelps!" He shouts, causing the front row to jump. "Today I will teach you to identify the effects and characteristics of dementors." This draws everyone's attention. "Quiet!" He barks as hushed chatter breaks out.
"If you're lucky, he might teach you how to cast it." I whisper to Draco. It's always been funny to me that nobody else sits with people of other houses. Petty. "A real instructor, rather than my conveniently timed luck."
"Potter! Don't think you can ignore this one!" I duck to avoid the potted plant he throws at me. He's a lot more reserved when it's just the Old Man Adventure Squad. I suppose this method gets people to pay attention to him more. Definitely worked with Tonks.
"Sorry, Professor." Draco smirks when I roll my eyes.
"So, who can tell me what a dementor looks like?" Moody scans the room. "Mister Goyle, on your feet." The boy shakily stands up.
"Um..." Whilst I wouldn't ever, ever, attribute heightened intellect to Gregory Goyle, I'm sure he can- "Tall?" I smack my forehead. Was he dropped on his head as a baby? Repeatedly? Maybe a hippogriff kicked him in the head as a young boy.
"How are you even friends with him?" I ask Draco quietly. He just shakes his head slowly, giving his childhood friend a look of exasperation.
"Sit." Goyle hastily complies, eager to be out of Moody's firing line. "Anyone else?" He examines the rows for his next victim. It's no wonder people don't raise their hands in his classes. "Greengrass. Up." He clunks over to the girl. "What're you waiting for, girl? Give us a description." Pomfrey or Moody, who is worse?
"Black, hooded cloaks. Skeletal hands, they are supposed to fly." She looks down at the book. "Nobody knows what they look like under the hood." I snort at that.
"Not many can tell the tale afterwards, that's for sure. Good, 10 points. Does anyone else have anything to add? Maybe you, Potter, as you're so eager to chatter back there." Translation – Stand up and talk.
"Tattered black cloak with a full face-hood." I stand up. "The skin on their hands is more like dirt packed onto the bones than real skin. No fingernails nor hair. Not a single ounce of fat on any part of the body. Underneath the hood, they have no eyes, no nose – Just a mouth in the centre of the mottled flesh, grey and limp." I shrug. "And, as Gregory correctly pointed out, they are quite tall."
"Sit. 5 points for Ravenclaw." He stumps back over to the front of the room.
"Quite tall?" Draco whispers.
"What? It's true." I assure him, lounging back on my chair.
Despite Hedwig's best efforts to convince me otherwise, I don't skip Herbology. Hermione had tried to squeeze me to death in a hug the moment she spotted Hedwig and I walking towards the greenhouses. She shared my outrage at the mere thought of having even a single dementor near Hogwarts. She'd tried her best to not ask me about Azkaban too much, which hadn't really worked. She seemed envious about the books I'd stolen, but frowned deeply before telling me to either turn them over to the authorities (Hah!) or be incredibly careful.
"So, portal to dementor land?" Hedwig asks, sitting atop the greenhouse as an owl.
"Dementorland would be the worst theme park ever." She hums in agreement. "I don't fancy going through, it didn't look like Ekrizdis made it back… Not as a human, at least."
"You think he was turned into a dementor?"
"I don't know, but he definitely didn't stroll back out. I suspect he just died as he stepped through it, the wards around the island shut off not long after he went through." I explain, she might already know, we've never really figured out quite how well she experiences my memories.
"What about all the souls in the base? Can't you free them or something?"
"It might upset the dementors, or the portal. I don't want to risk turning it into a big hoover, sucking everything through it." I shudder.
"Harry?" Hermione catches my attention. "Are you alright?"
"Just thinking about how heavily it would weigh on my mind if I killed everyone on Earth by mistake." She closes her eyes and lets out a long breath.
"That's nice." She shakes her head slightly.
"You're going to age the poor girl prematurely." Hedwig butts in.
"I'm thinking one day she'll just break down and hex me." Question is, do I shield myself from the hex, thus making her angrier, or take the hex and be hexed? "What do you think of Nysa?"
"The basilisk corpse, or your new pet?" Hedwig asks sarcastically.
"We'll go with Nysa the second."
"She's still up here with me. Might be dead." I look through Hedwig's eyes and see her prod Nysa with her talon. Angry hiss. "She's fine. I hope you don't expect me to feed her whilst I'm baby sitting."
"Sprout said she couldn't come in here with us." I remind her. "I can just ask Dobby to find something for her to eat. Maybe you could bond, do some hunting together?" Hedwig scoffs.
"Lying in wait for something to wander into biting range isn't hunting."
"Maybe you could drop her onto something?" I suggest.
"That sounds awesome." She sounds excited. "Shame I don't speak snake to coordinate."
"Dementors, Albus." I grouch, pacing up and down before his desk. "It's sick. I won't allow it."
"I'm afraid neither one of us have any say in the matter." He sighs wearily, removing his glasses to clean them.
"I understand that your hands are tied, but mine are not in the same way." I stop and tap my finger on his desk. "Albus, this castle is my home. I can say with a fair amount of confidence that I've seen more of it's history that almost anybody else. I watch as the Founders worked together to create the establishment, as Nysa the First would pester Godric whilst Salazar claimed to have no part in it. Almost every sportsman in the country that have risen to Quidditch stardom have schooled here. The original Wizard's Council. Every Minister of Magic or Head Auror spent their teen years learning about the world right here. I watched you blow your Professors away, I watched Tom Riddle seduce his peers into his wicked mindset, and I watched my parents fall for each other in the same rooms that I sit down in every day." I take a breath. "I hate dementors. For everything they symbolise and the torment they dealt Sirius, and many other innocent people.
Even if I have to devise a way to kill every single one of them, I am not letting those demons near my school."
It might just a load of hot air, but I'll find a way to get rid of them.
A/N: Hogwarts patriotism!
Not sure what's happening next chapter, hopefully it won't take too long to create.
Enjoy!