A/N: Thanks for the reviews!

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Chapter 16: The Dementor's Kiss

I had never been part of a stranger group. Crookshanks led the way down the stairs; uncle Moony, Pettigrew, and Ron went next, looking like entrants in a six-legged race. Next came Professor Snape, drifting creepily along, his toes hitting each stair as they descended, held up by his own wand, which was being pointed at him by dad. Harry, Hermione and me brought up the rear.

Getting back into the tunnel was difficult. Uncle Moony, Pettigrew, and Ron had to turn sideways to manage it; uncle Moony still had Pettigrew covered with his wand. I could see them edging awkwardly along the tunnel in single file. Crookshanks was still in the lead. I went right after dad, who was still making Snape drift along ahead of them; he kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. I had the impression dad was making no effort to prevent this, not that I really cared.

"You know what this means?" dad said abruptly to us as we made our slow progress along the tunnel. "Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You're free," I said.

"Yes…" said dad. "But I'm also — I don't know if anyone ever told you, Harry — I'm your godfather."

"Yeah, I knew that," said Harry.

"Well… your parents appointed me your guardian," said dad stiffly. "If anything happened to them…"

I waited. Did dad mean what I thought he meant?

"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," said dad. "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 my stomach.

"What — live with you?" Harry said, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. "Leave the Dursleys?"

"Harry living with us?" I asked.

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," said dad quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd —"

"Are you insane?" said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as Black's. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

"That would be awesome! Wait do we have a house? I thought our house was sold?" I said.

Dad turned right around to look at us; Snape's head was scraping the ceiling but dad didn't seem to care.

"You want to?" he said. "You mean it? And you would be okay with this Aurora?"

"Yeah, I mean it!" said Harry.

"Of course! Are you kidding me, I would love that! It would make up for all the birthday and Christmas present you've forgotten." I said to him with a smirk.

Dad's gaunt face broke into the first true smile I had seen upon it. The difference it made was startling, as though a person ten years younger were shining through the starved mask; for a moment, he was recognizable as the man who had laughed at his wedding.

"I'll make it up to you, Aurora, I promise!" he said.

We did not speak again until we had reached the end of the tunnel. Crookshanks darted up first; he had evidently pressed his paw to the knot on the trunk, because uncle Moony, Pettigrew, and Ron clambered upward without any sound of savaging branches.

Dad saw Snape up through the hole, then stood back for Harry, Hermione and me to pass. At last, all of us were out.

The grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Without a word, we set off. Pettigrew was still wheezing and occasionally whimpering. my mind was buzzing. I was going to live with Sirius Black, my father. And Harry was going to live with us … I felt dazed… Living together with my father, my godfather and my best friend. I smile broke out on my face.

"One wrong move, Peter," said uncle Moony threateningly ahead. His wand was still pointed sideways at Pettigrew's chest.

Silently we tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Snape was still drifting weirdly ahead of dad, his chin bumping on his chest. And then –

A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Our party was bathed in moonlight.

Snape collided with uncle Moony, Pettigrew, and Ron, who had stopped abruptly. Dad froze. He flung out one arm to make Harry, Hermione and me stop.

I could see uncle Moony's silhouette. He had gone rigid. Then his limbs began to shake.

"Oh, my —" I gasped. "He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!"

"Run," dad whispered. "Run. Now."

But I couldn't run. Ron was chained to Pettigrew and uncle Moony. Harry leapt forward but dad caught him around the chest and threw him back.

"Leave it to me — RUN!"

There was a terrible snarling noise. Uncle Moony's head was lengthening. So was his body. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws. Crookshanks's hair was on end again; he was backing away —

As the werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws, dad disappeared from Harry's side. He had transformed. The enormous, bearlike dog bounded forward. As the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, the dog seized it about the neck and pulled it backward, away from Ron and Pettigrew. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other.

I stood, transfixed by the sight, too intent upon the battle to notice anything else. It was Hermione's scream that alerted me — Pettigrew had dived for uncle Moony's dropped wand. Ron, unsteady on his bandaged leg, fell. There was a bang, a burst of light — and Ron lay motionless on the ground.

Another bang — Crookshanks flew into the air and back to the earth in a heap.

"Expelliarmus." Harry yelled, pointing his own wand at Pettigrew; uncle Moony's wand flew high into the air and out of sight. "Stay where you are!" Harry shouted, running forward.

Too late. Pettigrew had transformed. I saw his bald tail whip through the manacle on Ron's outstretched arm and heard a scurrying through the grass.

There was a howl and a rumbling growl; I turned to see the werewolf taking flight; it was galloping into the forest —

"Dad, he's gone, Pettigrew transformed!" I yelled.

Dad was bleeding; there were gashes across his muzzle and back, but at my words he scrambled up again, and in an instant, the sound of his paws faded to silence as he pounded away across the grounds.

Harry, Hermione and me dashed over to Ron.

"What did he do to him?" Hermione whispered. Ron's eyes were only half-closed, his mouth hung open; he was definitely alive, we could hear him breathing, but he didn't seem to recognize us.

"I don't know…"

I looked desperately around. Dad and uncle Moony both gone… they had no one but Snape for company, still hanging, unconscious, in midair.

"We'd better get them up to the castle and tell someone," said Harry, pushing his hair out of his eyes, "Come —"

But then, from beyond the range of our vision, we heard a yelping, a whining: a dog in pain…

"Dad," Harry muttered, staring into the darkness.

I had a moment's indecision, but there was nothing we could do for Ron at the moment, and by the sound of it, dad was in trouble —

I set off at a run, Hermione and Harry right behind me. The yelping seemed to be coming from the ground near the edge of the lake. We pelted toward it, and I, running flat out, felt the cold without realizing what it must mean –

The yelping stopped abruptly. As we reached the lakeshore, we saw why — dad had turned back into a man. He was crouched on all fours, his hands over his head.

"Nooo," he moaned. "Nooo… please…"

And then I saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake toward them. I spun around, the familiar, icy cold penetrating his insides, fog starting to obscure my vision; more were appearing out of the darkness on every side; they were encircling us…

"Hermione, think of something happy!" I yelled, raising my wand, blinking furiously to try and clear my vision, shaking my head to rid it of the faint screaming that had started inside it —

I'm going to live with my father. Harry is moving in with us.

I forced myself to think of dad, and only dad, and began to chant: "Expecto patronum! Expecto patronum!"

Dad 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, Harry 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 Harry, Hermione and me, and were getting closer…

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" I yelled, trying to blot the screaming from his ears. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A thin wisp of silver escaped my wand and hovered like mist before me. Harry was in the same situation, only a thin wisp of silver in front of him. At the same moment, I felt Hermione collapse next to me. Only me and Harry now…

"Expecto — expecto patronum —"

I felt my knees hit the cold grass. Fog was clouding my eyes. With a huge effort, I fought to remember — dad was innocent — innocent — We'll be okay — I'm going to live with him —

"Expecto patronum!" he gasped.

By the feeble light of my formless Patronus, I saw a Dementor halt, very close to me. It couldn't walk through the cloud of silver mist I 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 —" I gasped. "He's innocent… expecto expecto patronum —"

I heard Harry falling to, I was alone now, completely alone…

I could feet them watching me, hear their rattling breath like an evil wind around me. The nearest Dementor seemed to be considering me. 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 me so that I couldn't move or speak. My Patronus flickered and died.

White fog was blinding me. I had to fight… expecto patronum… I couldn't see… and in the distance, I heard the familiar screaming… expecto patronum… I groped in the mist for dad, and found his arm… they weren't going to take him…

But a pair of strong, clammy hands suddenly attached themselves around my neck. They were forcing my face upward… I could feel its breath… It was going to get rid of me first… I could feel its putrid breath… My mother was screaming in my ears… She was going to be the last thing I ever heard —

And then, through the fog that was drowning me, I thought I saw a silvery light growing brighter and brighter… Another light joining the first. I felt myself fall forward onto the grass… Facedown, too weak to move, sick and shaking, I opened my eyes. The Dementor must have released me. The blinding light was illuminating the grass around … The screaming had stopped, the cold was ebbing away…

Something was driving the Dementors back… It was circling around me and dad. Another one was circling around Harry and Hermione… They were leaving…

The air was warm again…

With every ounce of strength I could muster, I raised my head a few inches and saw two animals amid the light, one galloping away across the lake, the other running… Eyes blurred with sweat, I tried to make out what they were… They were as bright as a unicorn… Fighting to stay conscious, I watched them come to a halt as they reached the opposite shore. For a moment, I saw, by its brightness, somebody welcoming them back… raising her hand to pat it… someone who looked strangely familiar… but it couldn't be…

I didn't understand. I couldn't think anymore. I felt the last of my strength leave me, and my head hit the ground as I fainted.

A/N: you all know what to do, review! Thank you