"I...I don't understand. You have to leave?" Connie was staring at him, looking bewildered.
"It's the only way," Steven said. He grimaced. "We've been over it a thousand times and this is the only thing that will keep everybody safe."
"There's got to be another way!" she said. "You can't just give up."
"As long as we're here they'll keep coming," Steven said. "And as long as the Earth has any use to them, humanity will be in danger."
"We'll fight!" Connie said. "Humans aren't worthless."
"You haven't seen what I've..." Steven shook his head. "This isn't about that. It's already started...soon this place will be poison to the gems and me too."
She was quiet, staring at him. "Take me with you."
He stared at her, his mouth open. "What about your parents? Your family? You have people who love you."
"I don't care," she said. "I just want to be with you."
Steven closed his eyes for a moment, then said, "No human can survive where we're going. I can't even take my dad."
She started crying and he could feel his heart breaking.
Steven blinked, and he was back in the present. The cloaked creature in front of them was at least a foot taller than Garnet, and the room was deathly cold. It's breath rattled within the cloak, and its hands were bony and clawlike.
It was breathing in, as though it was drawing the life from the room.
Harry had fallen to the ground beside him, unconscious.
Steven grimaced as he felt a wave of sadness roll over him. He'd never see his father again. He'd never know what he'd had with Connie ever again in his life. They'd been part of one another and now that she was gone, he was less than whole.
He'd never be happy again, and his life didn't have a purpose. He wasn't even a real wizard. He was just existing, hoping that Garnet and Pearl would come back to him.
They might never come back. Garnet had been the closest when the thing was detonated. She'd assured them that she was the only one who was fast enough and strong enough to survive. No human could have activated the thing, and even from the distance she'd been at she'd been mortally wounded.
It occurred to him, not for the first time that Garnet might have lied. She might have sacrificed herself, sacrificed Ruby and Sapphire for the human race.
The thought of losing her ripped the hole in his heart open a little wider.
Even Pearl, who'd saved Ruby and Sapphire's gems had been exposed enough that she might never recover.
Steven stared at the creature in front of him and gritted his teeth. This wasn't like him; his life had been happy in his last world and it was happy in this one. It was this creature that was making him think about these things again, and it was this creature that was hurting his friends.
His mother's shield formed in front of him, and he charged.
The creature wasn't incorporeal at least, he though as the creature scrabbled at the edges of the shield. He shoved it across the passage and a moment later through the window.
It wasn't hurt at all; it simply floated outside, pulling at his happiness.
Steven started as he felt a hand on his shoulder. The Professor who'd been asleep was now awake, and his wand was held out before him.
"None of us has Sirius Black," the professor said. "Go!"
The creature ignored him, simply floating outside the window.
"Expecto Patronum," the professor said.
His wand flared with light, and a wolf exploded from it, running out into the air.
The creature shrieked and a moment later it was gone.
"Are you all right?" the man asked.
"I'll be fine," Steven said. He shuddered for a moment. "I'm worried about Harry though."
Harry, fortunately was already waking up.
"What happened?"
The professor was already breaking an enourmous slab of chocolate into pieces. He handed a piece to Harry, followed by giving one to everyone else. "Eat it; it'll help."
"Did you hear the screaming?" Harry asked.
The others looked at him like he was crazy, but Steven stared at him thoughtfully. He'd been forced back to one of his worst memories, the day he'd made Connie cry.
It could have been any of a number of memories; Lion dying, Lapis being lost, being forced to leave his father. Instead it had been that one.
He suspected that if Pearl had been here it would have been the loss of his mother.
Whatever memory Harry had had to relive, it couldn't have been anything good. From what he'd learned over the past two years, Harry hadn't had many good memories. He'd had plenty over the past two years alone, much less a childhood that sounded like an incomprehensible nightmare.
Harry's childhood was as alien to Steven's experience as that of the gems, and they didn't actually even have childhoods.
He blinked and realized that the others had been explaining what had happened to Harry.
"I've never seen anyone manhandle a dementor like that," the professor murmured to Steven.
"It didn't do any good," Steven said. He tightened his fists. "There wasn't anything I could do that would have made any difference."
"Dementors aren't ordinary creatures," the professor said. "They aren't alive or dead, and they're impossible to kill."
"How did you send it away then?"
"Advanced magic," the professor said. He broke off another piece of the chocolate and handed it to Steven before taking one for himself.
"I'm Professor Lupin by the way," the man said. He bit into the chocolate.
He glanced over at the rest of the group, who were huddled around Harry.
"We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes," he said. "Are you all right Harry?"
Harry was huddled in on himself, but he nodded and took a bite of his chocolate. Unconsciously Steven followed suit and he was surprised to find that he started feeling better almost immediately.
They were all silent for the rest of the trip; no one seemed to feel much like talking.
They arrived at Hogwarts without incident, and they rode in the carriages. Harry seemed surprised to see the Thestrels, although Steven had been careful to bring treats for them. He'd helped Hagrid care for them over the summer after all and he knew all about them.
The others couldn't see them at all, which didn't surprise Steven. Harry had seen Quirrell die, and before that had seen his mother.
Steven had seen more deaths than that, of course.
Draco taunted Harry about fainting, which Steven thought was unfair. He put one hand on Harry's arm and shook his head.
It wasn't as though Draco had been particularly brave in the Forbidden forest, after all. Harry had faced down a basilisk in front of the entire school armed only with a sword. No one should be able to question his bravery.
Draco, though always seemed to be looking for any sign of weakness.
Getting called away from the sorting by Professor McGonagall was surprising, although Steven privately thought it was a good idea to have Harry looked over. Falling unconscious couldn't be a good sign, no matter what had caused it.
Learning that the dementors had been set to guard the school was more than upsetting; Steven hoped that amethyst and Peridot had been warned. He resolved to try to find them at the first opportunity.
He knew a little more about dementors than most children in his year; Hagrid had been to Azkaban and had told him and Amethyst a little about them.
They stole happiness away, leaving only the bad memories.
He couldn't imagine what leaving someone like Amethyst, with thousands of years of bad memories to the dementors would do. Of course, she'd had thousands of years of good memories, which might more than make up for it.
Still, Amethyst's sadness was always just under the surface. She didn't like herself, and Steven worried that the dementors would be particularly dangerous for her.
They arrived back at the great hall to find that they'd missed the sorting entirely.
Dumbledore rose and warned the students about the dementors; as though they already didn't know from their time on the train. They were going to be stationed at every entrance to the school and they couldn't be fooled by invisibility cloaks or other tricks.
He announced Professor Lupin and also that Hagrid was going to be teaching Care of Magical Creatures.
Steven had known about this for much of the summer, of course. Hagrid had been excited about the new responsibilities and had celebrated with them. He enjoyed the stunned looks on his friends' faces, though.
This was going to be a school year to remember for all of them.
Steven only hoped it was less eventful than the previous years.