A/N Hi again! Thanks for the reviews :) I'm probably going to update every other day until the Third book is finished, which has actually only two more chapters to go after this one, so it won't be long. I'll hopefully get the next one out soon too, I'll PM people if needs be or else put me on alerts or something, I have no idea hahah :) Happy reading, even though this is a ridiculously short chapters, so actually, I might update tomorrow because the next chapter is so much better ... hmmm ... sorry for rambling, there's more here than the whole chapter probably :/
Chapter Nineteen
The Dementors' Kiss
The group of seven made their way back through the Shrieking Shack. Crookshanks was leading the way, his tail still held high. Ron, Lupin and Pettigrew went next, awkwardly manoeuvring themselves; Snape drifted along behind them, with Sirius holding his up, not caring what Snape hit. Harry went after Sirius whilst Amara and Hermione bought up the rear. Amara was fine now everything had come out. She couldn't be bothered to be concerned about how much trouble they'd be in once back up the school – or worse, when Snape finally woke up. He'd leave no time in explaining how they all shot a spell at him. She was ignoring the throbbing pain on her head, where there was most definitely a bruise.
Going through the tunnel was very awkward. Ron, Lupin and Pettigrew had to crawl sideways and single-file to manage it. Amara felt sorry for Ron's leg. Snape went next, sliding painfully across the roof of the tunnel, which Sirius had no care about, as he came next.
"You know what this means?" Sirius said abruptly, as they made their slow progress along the tunnel. Amara tried to tune out, because she knew it was focused on Harry, rather than her and Hermione. "Turning Pettigrew in?"
"You're free," said Harry.
"Yes...," said Sirius. "But I'm also - I don't know if anyone ever told you-I'm your godfather."
"Yeah, I knew that," said Harry.
"Well... your parents appointed me your guardian," said Sirius stiffly. "If anything happened to them..."
Amara shared a glance behind her at Hermione, who's eyes were shining.
"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," said Sirius. "But... well... think about it. Once my name's cleared... if you wanted a... a different home..."
"What - live with you?" he said, and Amara saw him accidentally crack his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling, she winced in his pain. "Leave the Dursleys?"
"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," said Sirius quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd -"
"Are you insane?" said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as Sirius'.
"Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"
Sirius turned right around to look at him; Snape's head was scraping the ceiling but Sirius didn't seem to care.
"You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"
"Yeah, I mean it!" said Harry.
Sirius' gaunt face broke into the first true smile that Amara had seen all day. She smiled herself, happy for Harry. She was glad he finally had someone to live with that loved him.
Finally, they reached the entrance of the tunnel and everyone clambered through, the Whomping Willow not reacting, for Crookshanks had evidently pressed the knot on the tree trunk.
Sirius saw Snape up through the hole, and then stood back for Amara, Harry and Hermione to pass.
The grounds were completely dark – the only light source was coming through the distant windows in the castle. They set off up the lawns.
"One wrong move, Peter," said Lupin threateningly ahead. His wand was still pointed sideways at Pettigrew's chest.
Silently they tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Snape was still drifting weirdly ahead of Sirius, his chin bumping on his chest. And then -
A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight.
The group of three had frozen. Snape crashed into the as Sirius stopped abruptly.
"Oh no," whispered Amara, watching Lupin. He had gone completely rigid. Then he began to shake. Amara felt sick again.
"Oh, my -" Hermione gasped. "He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!" This did not make it any better.
"Run," Sirius whispered. "Run. Now."
Amara had frozen stiff. Ron. Her mind screamed. Ron was still attached to Pettigrew and Lupin!
"Leave it to me - RUN!"
There was a terrible snarling noise. Lupin'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, Sirius disappeared. 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.
Amara unfroze herself and saw Pettigrew trying to dive for Lupin's wand. She raced forwards as Hermione screamed. She leapt on Pettigrew's back and toppled him over, but he had already shot a spell at Ron that made him unconscious. He did the same to Crookshanks before trying to turn the wand on her. Amara punched him in the face just as he shot another spell. Amara leapt off him and the spell missed her by inches. She rolled along the ground as Harry disarmed the rat, but she turned in time to see Pettigrew shrinking down into a rat.
"NO!" she yelled and crawled forwards quickly, squinting at the undergrowth for a sign of a tail. But she couldn't see anything, so she jumped up at the sound of the werewolf taking off into the forest.
"Sirius, he's gone, Pettigrew transformed!" Harry yelled.
Sirius was bleeding badly; there were gashes across his muzzle and back, but at Harry's words he scrambled up again, and in an instant, the sound of his paws faded to silence as he pounded away across the grounds.
Amara, Harry and Hermione 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, they could hear him breathing, but he didn't seem to recognize them.
"I don't know..."
"He's unconscious," Amara said, looking at him once over. "Nothing else – apart from his leg – has been damaged, I don't think. I'm not sure about his head though …"
"We'd better get them up to the castle and tell someone," said Harry, pushing his hair out of his eyes, trying to think straight. "Come -"
But then there was a yelping, from a dog.
"Sirius," Harry muttered, staring into the darkness.
Harry set off at a run, and Amara and Hermione ran right behind him. The yelping seemed to be coming from the ground near the edge of the lake. They pelted toward it, but Amara felt a wash of coldness sweep through her and felt her heart drop. Dementors.
The yelping stopped abruptly. As they reached the lakeshore, they saw why - Sirius had turned back into a man. He was crouched on all fours, his hands over his head.
"Nooo," he was moaning. "Nooo... please..."
And Amara saw the Dementors swarming towards them. Never had she felt so cold, it was leaking into her very heart, covering it and squeezing, making it hard to breathe. She remembered when her grandmother died, when her parents were yelling at each other as she lay in her bed … she comforted Tessie as Ethan was in hospital after falling from a tree …
"Amara, Hermione, think of something happy!" Harry yelled, raising his wand.
Amara tried to wash away her thoughts of dread as she raised her own wand. She gulped and tried not to choke.
"Expecto patronum! Amara! Hermione, help me! Expecto patronum!"
"Expecto -" Hermione whispered, "expecto-expecto -"
"Expecto Patronum!" gasped Amar, trying to find something happy. But nothing was coming, nothing happy was turning up.
The dementors were closing in, barely ten feet from them. They formed a solid wall around Amara, Harry and Hermione, and were getting closer...
I'm sorry Harry.
I can't do it. Amara felt something obscure her vision. Nothing was working; she dropped her wand and turned to see Hermione collapse next to her.
Hermione! Hermione! Amara's mind was screaming. If Hermione can't do it … you can't either …
She saw a wisp of silver escaping Harry's wand.
"Expecto-expecto patronum -" Harry was chanting. He sounded weak and helpless.
She wanted to help, she really did, but nothing … she couldn't do anything. Her knees hit the floor and she took a deep, shuddering breath before kneeling over, blackness obscuring her vision completely.
She suddenly knew no more.