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Chapter 9: Dementor Lessons

Harry made his way to the History of Magic classroom at eight. The room was empty, Professor Lupin hadn't arrived yet nor had Elizabeth. Harry lit the lamps and only had to wait five minutes before Lupin arrived.

"I thought Eliz…Ms. Dolohov was coming." Harry said when Lupin arrived alone.

"She said she would be a little late." Lupin said, "And it's alright to call her Elizabeth, she hates her last name." Harry wanted to ask why but he noticed the briefcase in Lupin's hands tremor.

"What's that?" Harry asked a little frightened.

"A boggort." Lupin said, "I finally found another one; it will turn into a dementor when you stand before it."

"Okay." Harry said trying not to sound apprehensive.

"So…" Lupin took out his own wand and indicated to Harry to do the same, "The spell I'm going to teach you is very difficult; not even grown wizards can do it. The spell is the Patronus Charm."

"How does it work?" Harry asked.

"When conjured properly the Patronus will ward off the dementor and protect its conjurer. Dementors feed off happiness and a Patronus is just that, except it cannot feel despair like a human so the Dementors cannot hurt it."

"What does a Patronus look like?" Harry asked curiously.

"It's unique to the conjurer."

"How do I conjure it?"

"You have to concentrate on your happiest memory and say the incantation." Harry racked his brain for his happiest memory, knowing that it had nothing to do with Durselys, so he settled on the first time he rode a broom.

"Alright." He told Lupin still trying to recall all the details of his memory.

"The incantation is Expecto Patronum." Lupin said. Harry repeated it a few times before positioning himself in front of the briefcase on one of the tables, "Are you concentrating on your memory?"

"Oh yeah."

"Ready?" Lupin asked. Harry nodded, repeating the incantation in his head as well as concentrating hard on his happiest memory.

Lupin clicked opened the briefcase and the dementor slowly rose from it. The lights flickered and went out. The dementor slowly turned towards Harry, its breath rattling in the darkness.

"Expecto Patronum" Harry yelled, "Expecto Patronum. Expecto Pat…" The room began to dissolve away and Harry felt he was falling through a fog; his mother's voice began engulfing him.

"So, I'm guessing it's not going that well." Elizabeth said walking into the room just as Harry crumbled to the ground.

"It's just his first try." Lupin said, kneeling down next to Harry, "He did conjure something." Elizabeth nodded and sat on one of the desks, "Harry!"

Harry sat up abruptly; the classroom was lit again and Elizabeth was sitting on one of the desks.

"Are you alright?" Elizabeth asked him.

"Yeah." Harry said as he used on of the desks to lean against.

"Eat this." Lupin orders Harry, handing him a chocolate frog, "That was very good for your first try. I didn't expect you to get it on your first try."

"It's getting worse." Harry murmured, "I could hear her louder that time and Voldemort."

Lupin looked paler and Elizabeth perked up.

"If you don't want to…"

"But I do." Harry interrupted.

"Alright." Lupin said.

"Harry, what memory did you select?" Elizabeth asked, sliding off the desk.

"The first time I rode a broom." Harry said.

"No, no, that isn't strong enough." Lupin said, "You have to think of a stronger memory." Harry nodded and searched for happier memory. Harry repositioned himself and gripped his wand tight.

"Ready?" Lupin asked.

"Ready." Harry said. Lupin opened the briefcase again and the dementor slithered out once again.

"Expecto Patronum." Harry yelled, "Expecto Pat…" He felt himself fall into a fog and the room disappeared; voices filled his head, this time the voice of his father.

"Harry, Harry." Elizabeth was smacking his face. Harry woke up to Elizabeth hovering over him and Lupin locking the briefcase.

"I heard my dad." Harry said propping himself up on his elbows. Elizabeth hopped away from him as if he had a contagious disease, "I never heard him before."

"You head James?" Lupin said in a far off voice, "Perhaps we should leave it here for tonight."

"No!" Harry cried, "I'm not using a happy enough memory, that's all." Harry concentrated hard on his happiest memory, the moment he found out he was a wizard and would be leaving the Dursleys.

"Ready?" Lupin asked but looked as though he was doing this against his better judgment. He opened the briefcase once again.

Harry felt the cold of the Dementor, "Expecto Patronum." He bellowed, "Expecto Patronum!" Harry started to hear the screams in his head but they were distant. The dementor had faltered and huge silvery cloud came bursting from his wand. It hovered between him and the dementor then Harry started to feel his legs go weak.

"Riddikulus!" Lupin roared, sending the boggart back into the briefcase while Harry collapsed into a chair.

"Excellent." Lupin said.

"The was wonderful, Harry." Elizabeth patted his back and handed him a chocolate bar.

"Can we have another go?" Harry asked with big eyes.

"Not now." Lupin said, "I think you've had enough for one night."

"Eat that up." Elizabeth said motioning to the chocolate while she helped put out the lights and Lupin gathered the briefcase.

"Professor Lupin?" Harry asked, "If you knew my dad, you must've known Sirius Black as well." Lupin turned quickly, so did Elizabeth.

"What gives you that idea?" He asked quickly.

"Nothing- I mean, I knew they were friends at Hogwarts too…" Lupin looked a little relaxed.

"Yes, I knew him." He said, "Or I thought I did." Elizabeth's eyes turned to sorrow at Lupin's words, "You better be off, Harry. It's getting late."

They continued their after hours practice and Elizabeth joined in most of them and even taught a couple when Lupin seemed extra tired but Harry was disappointed in himself that he hadn't mastered the charm yet.

"You are making wonderful progress." Elizabeth told him during their fourth week of practice.

"You are expecting too much of yourself." Lupin added.

"But I thought that the Patronus would charge the dementor." Harry said dispiritedly.

"A true one does do that." Lupin said, "But I have all the confidence in you. But I think you've earned yourself a treat, something you haven't had yet." Lupin pulled out three bottles of butterbeer.

"Butterbeer." Harry cried, "I love the stuff."

Lupin raised an eyebrow as he handed Elizabeth a butterbeer.

"Hermione and Ron brought me back some." Lupin still looked suspicious and Elizabeth had a big smile on her face.

"What's under a dementor's hood?" Harry asked a few moments of silence.

"No one knows, well the ones who do know are in no condition to tell us." Lupin said, "It only lowers its hood to use its most dangerous weapon."

"What's that?"

"The dementor's kiss." Elizabeth said quietly.

"I suppose they have some kind of mouth because that's how they suck the soul from their victim." Lupin said.

"They kill-"

"No, it's worse then death. A person can live without their soul but they are just a memory of their old self, a vegetable of sorts." Lupin said, "It's what awaits Sirius Black, I read in the Prophet today." Elizabeth's bottle clanked on the floor.

"What?" She asked in disbelief.

"The ministry has given the order to the dementors to invoke the kiss when they find him." Elizabeth had gone very pale.

"He deserves it." Harry said.

"You think?"

"Yes" Harry said, "For what he did…"

----

Elizabeth ran though the castle towards Dumbledore's office. When she arrived a grave looking Ron excited, being escorted by McGonagall; Elizabeth darted up the stairs to Dumbledore's office.

"What happened?" She asked out of breath when she burst into the room. Snape and Remus sat in front of Dumbledore's desk.

"It seems that Mr. Black got inside the Gryffindor Tower and attacked young Mr. Weasley." Dumbledore said as she sat down next to Remus.

"How could he have gotten in?"

"He seemed to have had the password and a list of passwords were found next to Mr. Weasley's bed." Elizabeth looked perplexed, "He wasn't any where to be found." Elizabeth nodded.

­­­----

Elizabeth stood under the warm water of her shower. The steam filled the room while the hot water engulfed her. She was massaging the shampoo into her hair when she thought she heard something. Elizabeth poked her head out the shower door but she couldn't see anything. The mirrors in her bathroom were all fogged up when she wrapped her towel around her after she got out and the cold floor sent a chill through her. Elizabeth pushed opened her bedroom door when someone wrapped one arm around her body and another covered her mouth.

A/n: I'm a writing fool! I figured since I was home for the holiday I would utilize my use of the Potter books while I'm here; most of the dementor lessons is from the book but I didn't change the lines around. I hope you all love the cliffy. Don't forget to review, I have a chapter 10 written but I think I'm going to make it chapter 11 and write another inbetween but all you guys have to do is review to encourage me!