Edward did not dare to perform any more alchemy on his automail because of all the heavy damage it had undergone. Instead, he quickly drew out a canon from the ground. The creature did not even flinch and came charging at him.
Being mindful that the creature was still Lupin, Edward replaced the metal shell to hard earth. He let loose the weapon of distraction and the ball of earth bowled Lupin over. The creature stilled instantly.
While it did not have the same destructive effect as a metal canon ball, the ball of earth delivered the same amount of bone crushing power. Same mass, same inertia, same kaplooey. Unlike the earth ball though, metal canons would burst into millions of tiny shrapnel upon contact which was the main culprit in crippling or even killing the victim.
Edward's canon merely exploded into clumps of earth but it was perfect to knock the creature out cold.
Carefully, Edward inched forward until he could almost touch the creature's head. It looked humanoid, now that Edward was looking at it without the danger of being ripped into shreds.
Its head was skull like but the bones were elongated at the muzzle to give a slightly wolfish appearance. The limbs were splayed all around its body which was not normal for an animal but perfectly normal for a human with free moving joints.
The limbs twitched and Edward blinked. He had a split second warning and it was not enough. The creature snapped at Edward and its teeth came down on his leg.
Despite hating magic, Edward was not going to be stupid and ignore everything he knew. Like how werewolf bites were infectious and getting bitten by one was not going to be pretty.
The creature look confused when it realised it could not clamp down onto Edward's leg. Edward grinned fiercely and used his flesh leg to kick open the creature's jaws. The teeth sprang open and a blast of putrid hot air shot towards Edward.
"Didn't anyone tell you about flossing?" Edward roared and leapt nimbly away just as the creature tried to snap at his flesh leg.
Edward laughed maniacally when the creature missed him. Adrenaline was making him drunk.
The creature scrambled towards him, clawing away earth around it. The flurry of wet earth blinded Edward for a moment but it was enough for the creature to pounce on him. Its claws were sunk into the ground on either side of Edward's head. Edward grunted, disoriented. His head might have hit something on his way down. He smelled its breath even before he saw the creature open its jaws.
He wasted no time. He clapped and pressed his hands onto the ground. Twin columns of earth from where his palms were shot upwards at the vulnerable underbelly of the creature.
The creature was thrown off him but it recovered quickly. It growled and Edward sat back up quickly, prepared to alchemise a metal cage to restrain it. There was no need.
The creature's growl turned into a frantic whimper and it glanced behind. It hunched its shoulders and crept in the opposite direction of the lake. Ignoring Edward completely, it dashed off.
"COME ON!" Edward heard his own voice yell from the lake. He hurried to his feet and ran to the edge of the forest cover.
He saw himself dragging Black along. They were not making much progress. The dementors were far away but Edward still felt a slight chill from the effects.
The Edward in the lake was fighting off the dementor. He had used wind alchemy which looked really feeble from a different perspective. It was incomparable to Lyra's alchemy. Edward made a mental note to work on that more.
Lake Edward had stuck the lance he had alchemised into the dementor's midriff but it was useless. The dementor simply floated forward towards Edward, ignoring the weapon inside him.
Another dementor was creeping up behind Edward and he began to shout a warning. But he remembered Granger's warning and bit his bottom lip painfully. A third dementor was already bending down to Kiss Black.
From his vantage point, he could see Lake Harry, Granger and Weasley at the opposite side of the lake, far away from where Lake Black and Edward were. Edward hoped Harry was not doing anything stupid like trying to summon his father to save them. He would not have time to run across to stop him.
The two dementors had disabled Lake Edward who was looking extremely disoriented. It was one thing to look at death in the face. It was another to look at yourself looking at death in the face. Edward's hands itched and he barely stopped himself from charging down the slope to the lake.
It was like flies drawn to light. There were only three dementors at first. Then, five more appeared, hungry for a meal.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
The cry startled Edward who whipped around and saw Harry flinging himself out of the bushes on the opposite side of the lake.
Startling silver burst from Harry's stick and a huge animal burst out. It was too far to see clearly but Edward thought it looked like a horse.
The horse was galloping around Lake Harry, Granger and Weasley, scattering dementors as it went. It was amazing to watch. The dementors seemed to melt away into wisps as they retreated away from the horse and into the darkness. Harry's patronus was… was like magic. It danced so gracefully it could not have been real. It glowed with a stunning warmth as it trotted elegantly back to Harry. It was beautiful.
The dementors had drawn away from Lake Harry, Weasley and Granger and Edward saw Harry climb back into the bushes. A tiny whimper drew Edward's attention back to the lake. Black was thrashing on the grass, mouth opened and a silver wisp was being drawn upwards from it. Lake Edward was moaning but not thrashing as much. There were more dementors pinning him down. One dementor had clamped its hollow mouth over Lake Edward's face.
Edward froze. Harry's patronus was too far away to drive off the dementors at this side of the lake. It probably did not even realise the threat here at all. Harry was far gone and no amount of calling would bring him back to help.
Black gasped, moving feebly now. There was not much time. Where was Harry? He should know Edward was missing. He should be here by now to help.
"AL!" Lake Edward screamed suddenly and went limp.
Edward plunged his hand into his pocket and drew out his stick. Al.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Edward roared.
The silver python shot out, and slithered swiftly towards the dementors. The dementors instantly let go but the python was relentless. It coiled up and raised its head. It hissed and snapped forward, pushing the dementors back until they disappeared into darkness.
The python slid back up the slope to where Edward was. It reared its head, as if to attack and Edward took a step back cautiously. However, it bunched up its coils, twisted upwards and disappeared.
Edward pushed the stick back into his pocket. Aware that Lupin was still somewhere in the forest, Edward skirted around the edge of the forest and made his way to where he last saw Harry appear. Edward moved quietly, deep in thought. Unlike the previous times, his arm did not tingle from disgust from using all the hocus pocus. Maybe it was because his life was in danger and he did not think so much about it. Maybe he was already used to the hocus pocus around him that it no longer bothered him. Whatever it was, Edward did not like this new feeling. His feelings of disdain for all the illogical things happening around him were so much easier to deal with.