ATTACK OF THE DEMENTORS
Natasha had never been part of a stranger group. Crookshanks led the way down the stairs as though it was the leader of the group; Lupin, Pettigrew and Ron came next and Ron was looking at Pettigrew like he was the dirtiest person in the world and wanted to be nowhere near him, holding his hand was Simran who was helping him to walk. Then came Professor Snape who was drifting in mid-ai, like Natasha had seen in Horror movies like a person who was processed by a demon his toes were hitting the statirs as he descended and was held up by his own hand by Sirius. Natasha felt really bad for him and wanted to somehow wake him up, but somehow she knew that, she was the only one in the group who felt pity for the professor. Natasha and Hermione was the last in the line. The journey back to the tunnel was difficult than they thought. Lupin, Pettigrew and Ron had to adjust a little bit sideways to manage it, and Simran went back and joined Sirius.
"So, you are a transfer student here huh?", Sirius asked.
"Yep. The name is Simran.", Simran said. "But how did you know that?"
"Oh I do hear the student's talk. Much of the information about you four I have got like that.", Sirius said.
Natasha saw that, Lupin, Ron and Pettigrew were struggling to go through the tunnel in a single file. Crookshanks was still in the lead. Natasha went right after Simran and Black, who was still making Snape drift along ahead of them; he kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. Natasha had the impression Black was making no effort to prevent this for which she was getting angry with Black.
"Can you please put Professor Snape in a good position?", Natasha asked Black. "He is definitely getting hurt here."
Black gave Natasha a curious look that he had given her whenever she was defending Professor Snape and put him in a comfortable position although hesitantly.
"I am sure that, you know what it means to turn Pettigrew in.", Black said to Natasha in an abrupt way after he put Professor Snape in a better position.
"You will be free," said Natasha happily
"Yes.", said black nodding. "there is also the fact that, I am your godfather. I don't know if anyone has mentioned that to you.
"Yeah. I did hear about that. Though I was very angry at you that time.", Natasha said.
"Well. Your parents wanted me to be your guardian, I case if anything happened to them.", said Black swiftly. "But then again, my foolishness made me go after the rat."
Natasha blinked and waited for Black to say it. Did Black mean what she wanted him to mean?
"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," said Black. "But… well… think about it. Once my name's cleared… if you wanted a… a different home…", Some sort of explosion took place in the pit of Natasha's stomach.
"You mean, I can live with you?", Natasha said suddenly and cracked her head on a rock that was protruding from the roof. "You mean I can leave the Dursleys?"
"Yes. But I thought that you might be happy there and you wouldn't want to.", said Sirius quickly. "I understand what you are telling. I thought that I had-"
"Are you mad?", said Natasha excitedly, her voice was squeaky and excited. " Of course I would be glad to come with you. I want to live with Wizards. Have you got a house? Can I move in?"
Sirius turned around to look at Natasha. "You want to come with me?" he said. "You mean it?"
"Yeah, I mean it! I want to live with you." said Natasha and gave Sirius a hug.
Sirius was now smiling at her. It was the first true and kind smile that, Natasha had seen on his face. It made a big and startling difference and it gave the glimpse of a person that was years younger, and for a moment she saw the man who was laughing and waving cheerfully and her parent's wedding. This made her give a smile back.
They did not speak till they reached the end of the tunnel they were going through. Crookshanks went out first and touched his paw on the root of the trunk and then Lupin, Ron and Pettigrew went up without any kind of attack from the tree with anger issued.
Black let Professor Snape go through first, and then waited for the three girls to pass, and at last all of them were out and Natasha found that they were well into night time.
The grounds were very dark now with faint moonlight coming out of the clouds and the light coming from the windows of the castle that was far away. Pettigrew was still wheezing and crying. It was evident that he was still looking for mercy from his friends. Natasha was in a really cheerful mood. She was now going to leave with someone who was a best friend to her parents. Though Dursleys were not behaving bad towards her for the past two years, she was still glad to get out of their home. Natasha knew that, even the Dursleys would be glad to get her out of their home and would agree to this right away.
"Don't make even one wrong move, Peter.", came Professor Lupin's voice. His wand was still pointed at Pettigrew's chest.
"One wrong move, Peter," said Lupin threateningly ahead. His wand was still pointed sideways at Pettigrew's chest.
Then Simran came to Natasha and said, "Why do I have a feeling that something is about to go wrong?"
"Oh come on, Simran. What could go wrong?", Natasha asked.
They went through the rest of the grounds silently, as the castle lights started growing larger. Professor Snape was drifting ahead of Sirius. Natasha wanted the Professor to get well soon and he will not be angry at the four of them. They took a turn in the path towards the castle and then-
A cloud shifted a little bot more and now there were clearer shadows of people. Now the moon had come out of hiding and they were bathed in moonlight.
The four of the people who were ahead stopped abruptly as they collided with each other. Sirius also froze on his tracks. He had an idea about what was happening and he knew that it was bad, really bad. He flung his arm to make the three girls to stop.
Natasha saw Professor Lupin's silhouette and found that he had become rigid and he was shaking. "What in the world is happening?", Simran asked staring wide eyed at her Professor.
"Oh my-", Hermione gasped. Her eyes had gone wide. "He didn't take his potion tonight! He is not safe!"
Natasha and Simran took two steps back in horror, but then realised that Ron was with Professor.
"You have to run!", Sirius said. "You have to get away from here! Now!"
But the three girls couldn't run. They knew that, Ron was in danger as he was chained to Pettigrew and Professor Lupin. The three of them were ready to run to Ron, but Sirius took Natasha's hand and said, "Leave it to me. I will handle this. Run!"
Then there was a terrible snarling noise. Lupin was slowly transforming. His head was lengthening along with his body. Hair was sprouting out of every inch of his body, and his hands were curling into clawed hands or rather paws. Crookshanks was also backing away in fear and his hair was on end again.
As the werewolf was getting fully transformed, Sirius disappeared from the girls' side. He had fully transformed to a dog. The enormous dog snarled and started running forward. As the werewolf threw away the bindings that was making it hard to move, the dog went and seized the wolf around the neck and tried to pull the beast away from Ron and Pettigrew. They were now clearly in fight mode, with their jaws locked and claws trying to rip each other.
Natasha was completely frozen by the sight, and was worried for Sirius to notice other things. Simran looked at the scene in atmost horror. The two girls were alerted by Hermione's scream of horror.
Natasha saw that, Pettigrew jumped and tried to get Lupin's dropped wand and Ron fell as he was attached to Pettigrew and he was unsteady due to his leg. There was a burst of light and a bang with that, Ron laid motionless on the ground and with another bang, Crookshanks also fell unconscious. The three girls screamed at this, but thankfully the wolf was too busy in fight to notice,
Taking all the courage Natasha pointed her wand at Pettigrew and yelled, "Expelliarmus."; Professor Lupin's wand flew into the air and went out of sight. "Stay where you are!", Natasha shouted and the three girls ran forward.
But it was too late as Pettigrew had already transformed. Natasha saw that he escaped easily through the restraints and was heard running through the grass. There was a howl and a rumbling growl; Natasha turned to see the werewolf taking flight; it was galloping into the forest —
Too late. Pettigrew had transformed. Natasha saw his bald tail whip through the manacle on Ron's outstretched arm and heard a scurrying through the grass.
"Sirius, he is gone! Pettigrew had transformed!", Natasha yelled. She knew it was hopeless now. Without Pettigrew she knew that, Sirius had no chance of getting out without Pettigrew.
Sirius was bleeding; there were deep scratches across his muzzle and back, but he got up as he heard Natasha's words, and he ran away through the grass and they could hear the sound of his paws as he ran away across the grounds as he ran to get Pettigrew.
The three girls ran over to Ron. Simran and sat and took him in her arm and started shaking him. "Please Ron! Stay with us!", she cried
"What did he do to him?", Hermione whispered in a panicky voice. Fortunately, Ron's eye was only half closed and hid mouth was open. He was definitely alive as they could hear him breathing. The only thing was that, he didn't seem to recognize him.
"I have no idea!", Natasha said.
Natasha looked around desperately for any adults nearby. Black and Lupin were both gone, and Professor Snape was still hanging in the air unconscious.
"We three can carry him to the castle and tell someone about all this. Hopefully someone will believe us.", said Natasha. Simran and Hermione nodded at her in agreement.
But then, they heard yelping and howling of a dog which was obviously in a lot of pain. The three of them turned and looked into the direction from which it came from.
"Sirius.", Natasha muttered and saw nothing but darkness in the direction of the sound.
She then made a decision. She will make Simran wait with Ron, and Natasha knew from the sound of the dog, that Sirius was in trouble and she had to help him.
"You both stay here, and look after Ron. I have to go and look for Sirius.", Natasha said to Simran and Hermione.
"We are not going to leave you alone!", the two girls protested.
"There should be someone to watch out for Ron, in case Pettigrew decides to comeback!", Natasha said.
"I will come with you.", Hermione said.
"And I will look after Ron.", Simran said nodding.
Natasha went in the direction of the sound and Hermione was right behind her. The yelping seemed to be coming from somewhere near the edge of the lake. They ran towards the lakeshore and Natasha felt the cold sweep through her without even realizing about what was happening.
The yelping stopped suddenly. They saw why, as they reached the lakeshore. Sirius had transformed back into a man and was crouched on all fours, with his hands over his head.
"Nooo.", he let out a moan. "Please no…"
And then Natasha saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake toward them. She spun around, the familiar, icy cold penetrating her insides, fog starting to obscure her vision; more were appearing out of the darkness on every side; they were encircling them…
"Hermione, think of something happy!" Natasha yelled, raising her wand, blinking furiously to try and clear her vision, shaking her head to rid it of the faint screaming that had started inside it — I'm going to live with my godfather. I'm leaving the Dursleys.
She forced himself to think of Black, and only Black, and began to chant: "Expecto patronum! Expecto patronum!"
Black gave a shudder, rolled over, and lay motionless on the ground, pale as death. He'll be all right. I'm going to go and live with him.
"Expecto patronum! Hermione, help me! Expecto patronum!"
"Expecto —" Hermione whispered, "expecto — expecto —"
But she couldn't do it. The Dementors were closing in, barely ten feet from them. They formed a solid wall around Natasha and Hermione, and were getting closer…
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Natasha yelled, trying to blot the screaming from her ears.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
A thin wisp of silver escaped her wand and hovered like mist before her. At the same moment, Natasha felt Hermione collapse next to her. She was alone… completely alone…
"Expecto — expecto patronum —"
Natasha felt her knees hit the cold grass. Fog was clouding her eyes. With a huge effort, she fought to remember — Sirius was innocent — innocent — We'll be okay — I'm going to live with him
—
"Expecto patronum!" she gasped. By the feeble light of her formless Patronus, she saw a Dementor halt, very close to her. It couldn't walk through the cloud of silver mist Natasha had conjured. A dead, slimy hand slid out from under the cloak. It made a gesture as though to sweep the Patronus aside.
"No — no —" Natasha gasped. "He's innocent… expecto expecto patronum —"
She could feet them watching her, hear their rattling breath like an evil wind around her. The nearest Dementor seemed to be considering her. Then it raised both its rotting hands — and lowered its hood.
Where there should have been eyes, there was only thin, gray scabbed skin, stretched blankly over empty sockets. But there was a mouth… a gaping, shapeless hole, sucking the air with the sound of a death rattle. A paralyzing terror filled Natasha so that she couldn't move or speak. Her Patronus flickered and died.
White fog was blinding her. She had to fight… expecto patronum… she couldn't see… and in the distance, she heard the familiar screaming… expecto patronum… she groped in the mist for Sirius, and found his arm… they weren't going to take her…
But a pair of strong, clammy hands suddenly attached themselves around Natasha's neck. They were forcing her face upward… She could feel its breath… It was going to get rid of her first…She could feel its putrid breath… Her mother was screaming in her ears… She was going to be the last thing she ever heard —
And then, through the fog that was drowning her, she thought she saw a silvery light growing brighter and brighter… She felt himself fall forward onto the grass… Facedown, too weak to move, sick and shaking, Natasha opened her eyes. The Dementor must have released her. The blinding light was illuminating the grass around her… The screaming had stopped, the cold was ebbing away…
Something was driving the Dementors back… It was circling around her and Black and Hermione… They were leaving…
The air was warm again…
With every ounce of strength she could muster, Natasha raised her head a few inches and saw an animal amid the light, galloping away across the lake… Eyes blurred with sweat, Natasha tried to make out what it was… It was as bright as a unicorn… Fighting to stay conscious, Natasha watched it came to a halt as it reached the opposite shore. For a moment, Natasha saw, by its brightness, somebody welcoming it back… raising her hand to pat it… someone who looked strangely familiar… but it couldn't be…
Natasha didn't understand. She couldn't think anymore. She felt the last of her strength leave her,