Entry for "Halloween Collection Competition" - prompt: 19. Dementor

Entry for "Hopscotch" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

Prompt: (location) Classroom

Entry for "Defense Against the Dark Arts" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

Task: This time around, I expect to read about memories being protected. Min 400 words

Rolanda had been more than shocked when the Dementors had suddenly appeared on the Quidditch Pitch in the middle of the game, attacking Harry Potter.

In front of the students she had not dared to show how much this incident had shaken her, thinking about how they were surely frightened enough by now. The last thing they needed was to see how their Flying Teacher was loosing her mind in front of them.

So, as soon as she was sure that the Potter boy was safely on his way to the Hospital Wing, she left the Quidditch pitch behind, even forgetting her broom that was still lying on the lawn.

She could barely remember how her feet carried her away, and when she could think clearly again, she found herself sitting on the teachers desk of a empty classroom. Her breath was coming out in small pants as she tried to calm herself down, her fingers cramped around the wooden edge of the table.

The Dementors and their dark aura had brought up unpleasant feelings inside of her, ones that she tried to shove away from herself as much as possible without trying to forget them.

Just as she had managed to surpress the need to sob loudly, she could hear someone entering the classroom. Her head snapped up and her gaze left the stone floor, falling on Severus Snape.

"What do you want, Severus?," she hissed, trying to sound as normal as possible while making it clear that she wanted to be left alone right now.

"I saw you practically fleeing from the Quidditch pitch and I thought I should check if you are okay."

"I am fine, Severus. Thank you," Rolanda replied, but he did not leave.

"What did you see when the Dementors were coming and affecting you?," Severus asked, his voice sounding unusually kind and she was surprised as he approached her and sat down next to her on the teachers table, gently touching her hand.

"I... I do not really see anything, it's just... it's just as if their appearance brought up the memories of me seeing how my parents were killed in front of my eyes. And how sad it makes me that I was too young to have any real memory of family moments," she confessed, wondering why the words were coming over her lips so easily.

"Oh...," Severus made, clearing his throat nervously, looking incredibly uncomfortable. "I am sorry, I did not know that they were dead."

"It is something I am keeping away from everyone else because I don't want them to know about my past. I experienced to be wrapped in wadding because of it before and I did not wanted this happening again. I just wanted to live a normal life, without anyone thinking that I needed to be nursed."

"I understand that," he answered and Rolanda wiped the back of her hand over her eyes, trying to hide her tears. "Do you really remember so little about them?"

Rolanda shrugged her shoulders and thought about it for a moment, then she said:"Only snippets, mostly. The melody of the lullaby my mother sang to me to make me fall asleep. The smell of the special eggs my father cooked for me every morning since my first teeth had grown. But... but there is one real memory I have and it is so special to me that I do everything to protect it. Because I could never forgive myself for forgetting it."

She did not know why, but it was easy to tell Severus this secret of hers, as if he was the only person that had ever been meant to hear about this painful part of her life.

"It was only a few days before they were killed... It was winter and over night, a thick layer of snow had fallen and my parents took me outside to build a huge snowman. We were having so much fun that day, even though the three of us were nearly frozen when we went back inside late in the afternoon. And then we cuddled under a blanket by the fire and drank hot chocolate, listening to my mother reading the tale of the Ice Queen to us."

"That sounds like a memory nobody ever would want to forget."

"This is the reason why I have it stored away in more than one way... In my mind, in my heart, and in a crystal vial I am hiding in a drawer. Because I never want to risk loosing it."

Severus looked at her, and it was as if he was showing her a part of himself that had been hidden underneath his sometimes repellent mask as he whispered:"And now I will protect it too."