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Posted for Ginny Weasley's birthday.

Chapter 2

Harry was confused. He was pretty sure he had been standing a moment ago. Now he was laying on…something. He wasn't sure what. Whatever it was it was moving up and down. Almost as if it was breathing.

Opening his eyes, the first thing he noticed was that, judging by the ceiling, he was no longer in the Hospital Wing. Taking in the rest of his surroundings confirmed that. He was in the corridor. How he got there he didn't know. He also didn't know whose arm was resting across him. Or where his wand was.

A soft groan from under him made him realize that the thing he had been laying on was a person and that he should probably get off of them. Rolling over he saw his wand and grabbed it before looking back to the person he was just on. It was Professor Lupin. His eyes were closed. Harry placed his hand on Lupin's shoulder and gently shook him.

"Professor Lupin." Getting no response he tried a little harder. "Professor!"

The first thing Remus became aware of was that someone was shaking him. They were also calling his name. The second thing he became aware of was the pounding in his head. The third thing was that whoever was shaking him was persistent. Groaning, Remus slowly opened his eyes. It didn't help much. Everything was blurry and out of focus. Blinking to clear his vision he saw Harry kneeling over him looking worried.

"Are you OK Professor?"

"I'm fine." To prove this he attempted to stand. Attempted because half-way up the pounding made itself known again. Apparently it didn't like being forgotten much. The pain must have shown on his face, or perhaps it was the fact that he swayed a bit, because he felt Harry's hand on his back, steadying him. With Harry's help he managed to stand up fully.

"Would you like to change your answer sir?" He grimaced at the amusement he heard in Harry's voice.

Throwing a weak glare at him, Remus gently prodded the back of his head. It was sore and had a slight stickiness that could only mean one thing. The red on his fingers confirmed that he was in fact bleeding. "I'll live," he sighed. Catching the concerned look on Harry's face he added "Don't worry, this is nothing. I've had much worse." Before he could continue the sound of feet hitting the stone floor reached their ears. Turning around they saw Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall turning the corner with their wands raised. Madam Pomfrey was right behind them.

When Dumbledore reached them Harry saw that there was no twinkle in his eyes and he radiated a sense of power. Harry could now understand why Voldemort feared him. Looking from Harry and Remus to the door of the Hospital Wing Dumbledore asked "What happened? Are you boys alright?" His voice, while laced with concern, had a hard edge to it.

Remus was trying to figure out how to answer the first question, because quite frankly, he had no idea what had just happened. Taking advantage of his silence Harry hurried to answer. "I'm fine, sir. Professor Lupin isn't though. He hit his head pretty hard. I think Madam Pomfrey is going to have to check him over." To say Remus was shocked was an understatement. And he could have sworn he just saw Dumbledore's mustache quiver. Why that cheeky little —

"That's quite cunning of you Harry. But alas, Poppy will insist on checking you over as well. You've only managed to delay the inevitable for but a moment." Ah. That explains it. Remus couldn't blame Harry for wanting to avoid her. Sparing her a glance he saw that she was looking the two of them over. He suppressed a shiver. She was probably trying to determine how long she can keep them on bed rest.

"It was worth a try, sir."

"I'm sure it was. Now can one of you tell us what happened?" His eyes were still trained on the door, as if expecting something to come out. It took Harry a few seconds but he realized that they must think the Dementor was still around.

"It won't be coming out." He spoke with such certainty that the adults all turned dumbfounded expressions on him.

Professor McGonagall was the first to find her voice. "And how exactly do you know this Mr. Potter?"

Harry opened his mouth to answer and then closed it abruptly. His brow was furrowed in thought. He wasn't sure how he knew, he just did. But they probably wouldn't accept that as an answer. "Well, look. Before you got here, we were out here for what? Five minutes?" He looked to Lupin for conformation. At his nod (which, based on the face he made, looked painful) he continued. "And it didn't come out. If the Dementor was going to attack that would have been the perfect opportunity. And it's warm now. Whenever they're around it's cold and depressing."

Had Harry been looking for it he would have seen that the three professors were looking at him with pride. Unfortunately he wasn't looking for it. (Even if he had been he wouldn't have recognized the look for what it was.) And so, he continued speaking, once again leaving his professors dumbfounded. "Anyway, Professor Lupin killed it."

Remus had been about to praise Harry before hearing that last part. Upon hearing it though, he quickly went to change Harry's misconception. "Harry, I didn't kill the Dementor."

Rolling his eyes Harry turned to look at Lupin. "OK. If you're going to be technical about it, then that silver wolf-thing killed it. What was that thing anyway?"

"That thing, as you call it, was a corporeal Patronus. And my Patronus didn't kill the Dementor either." Remus held up his hand to stop Harry from interrupting. "Let me finish. I said I didn't kill it because it's impossible to do so. You cannot kill a Dementor. At best you can either drive them off or keep them at bay."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that and sardonically asked, "So you're saying that Dementors normally explode when a Patronus bites them? And that the explosion, or whatever it was, didn't kill it?"

"Well, no." Seeing the smug look forming on Harry's face he quickly went on. "What I mean to say is that I've never heard of that happening to a Dementor before. I've never even heard of a Patronus acting like mine just has."

Madam Pomfrey, who had been watching her two favorite patients (not that she'd ever admit that to them), could no longer hold herself back. "Since the Headmaster seems to agree that the danger has passed I want the two of you in there," she pointed to the Hospital Wing, "right now. I need to exam the both you. And do not tell me you are fine. Either of you." Here she glared at them for attempting to contradict her. "You will not be fine until I clear you to leave and resume normal activities."

Not wanting to risk prolonging his stay under her care Harry hurried to comply. Remus stayed for a moment and considered arguing, but catching the look on the stern nurse's face decided it was best to just do as she said. Grumbling under his breath about being treated like a schoolboy he followed Harry. Madam Pomfrey, muttering about dangerous creatures and sports, Dumbledore, chuckling lightly, and McGonagall, who was fighting the urge roll her eyes, were right behind them.

Upon opening the door Harry stopped short and let out a low whistle. The room was practically destroyed. There was glass and potion residue everywhere and several beds were overturned while the rest looked to have had their bedclothes pulled off. Several feet in front of him was a pile of what appeared to be ripped black cloth.

"Er — Professor?" he started hesitantly. "Do Dementors normally take off their cloaks and go for a stroll?"

"Mr. Potter!" McGonagall sounded scandalized. "Why on earth would you suggest such a thing?"

"Because the Dementor left its cloak here," he pointed at the pile of cloth, "and since you can't kill one that would mean that there's a Dementor out there with no cloak on." He shivered at the thought.

"That's a bit disturbing," Remus said conversationally.

"Only a bit?" Harry questioned. "Imagine all those poor traumatized people who will cross its path. They'll never be the same again."

Remus couldn't help it, he snorted. Before he could utter a retort Madam Pomfrey broke into their repartee. "If you two are quite done with your banter," she glared at them, as though daring them to continue, "I would like to know what is going to be done about this mess! And my potions! What if someone comes in ill? How am I supposed to treat my patients without those?"

"Now, now Poppy. There's no need to get upset. Cleaning this up will take but a moment." As if to prove his point he gave his wand a few waves and the glass returned to the windows, the beds righted themselves and the mess from the potions vanished. "As for the potions, I shall enlist Severus' help in brewing you an emergency batch while I contact St. Mungo's and request their assistance in helping you to restock."

"Thank-you, Headmaster. Let Severus know I'll send him a list of what I need tonight. Now that that is settled I can examine you two. No arguments." Harry walked past the cloak and made his way to his customary bed. Remus took the bed next to him. Once they were seated, Madam Pomfrey began running diagnostics on them and determining what she would need. Remus had a gash on his head that would need cleaning before she could close it. He also had a slight concussion. Harry on the other hand seemed perfectly fine. Now to check and see if she had spare potions in her office.

While they were being examined Harry was watching Dumbledore and McGonagall. They were examining the cloak that the Dementor left behind. Unfortunately they were talking too low for him to make out what they were saying. Every now and then one of them would tap it with their wand, but nothing seemed to be happening. Harry was eerily reminded of when he watched Dumbledore examine Mrs. Norris.

Remus was also listening in on their conversation. The only difference being that he could actually hear what they were saying. Truth be told it wasn't much. They were theorizing on what happened and trying to figure out why the cloak was there. The spells they were casting on it were simple revealing spells, but they weren't having any effect on it.

Thinking it best to distract Harry, Remus decided to speak to him about what happened at the match. "I heard about the match," at Harry's questioning look he added "Professor McGonagall told me this morning. I'm sorry about your broomstick. Is there any chance of fixing it?"

"No," said Harry. "The tree smashed it to bits." Harry looked at the bag on the nightstand. It contained the remnants of his Nimbus Two Thousand.

Remus saw this and sighed. As irrational as it was he felt guilty that the broom was destroyed.

"They planted the Whomping Willow the same year that I arrived at Hogwarts. People used to play a game, trying to get near enough to touch the trunk. In the end, a boy called Davey Gudgeon nearly lost an eye, and we were forbidden to go near it. No broomstick would have a chance." Glancing at the bag he asked "Is that it?"

"Yeah. Madam Pomfrey wants to throw it away. I won't let her. I think that's why she's holding me hostage in here."

"What was that Mr. Potter?" Madam Pomfrey had returned. Not waiting for an answer she handed them both a rather large piece of chocolate. "Here, eat this. Hold still Mr. Lupin I need to clean this wound." She had a jar of purple liquid with her. She dabbed it on the wound (which stung and smoked) and then poked it with her wand. The wound healed instantly. "You are lucky I keep a bag of supplies in my office for when I'm called away. Here, drink this. It's a Wideye Potion, for concussions."

Remus drank it and shuddered. Why must all potions taste so foul?

"I apologize for interrupting, but we appear to have a problem. Professor McGonagall and I have tried a wide variety of spells and none of them seem to be having any effect on the cloak. We have even attempted Vanishing it, but as you can see that has also failed. It appears to be highly resistant to magic."

"Headmaster! Surely you're not suggesting that we just leave it there. It will traumatize my patients!" Seeing that Madam Pomfrey was just getting started on her tirade against the cloak (and Dementors in general) Harry made his way over to McGonagall who was contemplating the cloak.

"Er — Professor? Do you have any idea how you are going to get rid of the cloak?"

"No, Mr. Potter, we do not. We have tried every magical means we could think of to remove it and none of them have worked."

"Oh." Harry thought on what she said. They tried every magical means they could think of, but not non-magical. It was possible that there was a very simple solution to getting rid of it. Before he tried it though he needed to know one thing "Is it dangerous?"

"The fact that it is not giving off a magical signature leads us to believe that it is not dangerous."

Satisfied that the cloak wasn't going to suddenly start strangling him or some such thing Harry bent down to pick it up. Straightening up he examined the cloak in his hands. It looked smaller than he thought it would be. Deciding to think on that later he asked "So, should I just toss it in the bin?"

"I think the Headmaster would like to examine it Harry." Harry turned and saw Lupin standing just a little behind him. He smiled at Harry. "I was also going to suggest just picking it up, but you seem to have beaten me to it."

"I see you have solved our small dilemma. Now, what do you boys suggest we do with the books?" Dumbledore glanced over at the spot on the floor where the cloak was. Harry and Remus both glanced over and to their surprise saw two small piles of books. The covers of which looked to be made of tattered black cloth. That at least explained where the remainder of the cloak went. He was tempted to just pick the books up, like he did with the cloak. But if last year taught him anything it was that books can be very dangerous.

Remus knelt down to get a better look at the books. There were seven of them in total. Three of which were quite thin compared to the other four. The covers were made of cloth, most likely from the cloak. As such it was probably safe for him to pick one of them up. But it would probably be prudent to check first. Shrugging his shoulders he pulled out his wand and muttered "Specialis Revelio." A very faint white light briefly engulfed the books. That was unexpected. He thought that, like with the cloak, nothing would happen.

"Was that supposed to happen?" Harry asked.

"While I do admit that I hadn't expected that to happen, I don't find it very troubling. The light means that the books have a trace of magic on them. The color of the light tells us about the type of magic and in some cases what enchantments were used. A white light indicates that the magic is benign and as such won't harm us for picking the object up." Remus then picked up the smallest book and opened it. There was nothing written in it. The pages were grey and felt brittle between his fingers. They looked almost like —

Harry, who was peering over Remus' shoulder to see inside, mumbled "Dementor."

"Yes, that's what I was thinking too." He stood up with the book and handed it to Dumbledore to look at. "I have no idea how it's possible or why it happened but these books," he gestured at the remaining books, "seem to have come from the Dementor that was here. The covers look to be made from the cloak and the pages appear to be made from the Dementor itself."

"Most unusual." Dumbledore spoke softly while perusing the blank pages of the book. "I have never heard of such a thing happening." With a sigh he gently shut the book. "Unfortunately I find myself short on time this week and I seem to have to pay another visit to Cornelius. Perhaps this time I will be able to make him see sense." With how stubborn the Minister was being he doubted that would be possible, but he still needed to try. He also needed to learn more about these books and what happened with that Dementor. Looking at Harry he was suddenly struck with inspiration. "As to the mystery of these books, I leave that to Remus and Harry. I'm sure that between the two of you, you will be able to solve this. I suggest beginning your search in the Restricted Section of the Library.

"I also caution you against mentioning this to anyone. As far as we know this is a unique event. Until we know more about what happened it would be wise to keep it to ourselves. Now Minerva, I believe it is time for us to relieve Severus of guard duty."

"Guard duty?" Remus asked.

"Yes. When Poppy came to fetch me I felt it necessary to keep the rest of the students in the Great Hall for their own safety. I left Severus in charge of them. Now I suggest you do something about those books before Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger return." With that he turned on his heel and ushered McGonagall out.

"He makes a good point. We need to get these out of sight." He looked around the room before his eyes fell on the cloak that Harry was still holding. "Can I get that for a moment Harry?"

Harry, who hadn't even realized that he was still holding it, handed it over. "What are you going to do with it?"

"Just watch." He put the cloak on a nearby bed, took out his wand and pointing it at the cloak said "Pallium Cistam." Harry watched as the cloak transformed into a chest large enough to hold all seven books. "That will do nicely. Can you pass me the books Harry?"

Once all the books were placed in the chest and it was secured with a locking spell he noticed that Harry looked slightly nervous. He couldn't imagine why Harry was nervous . . . unless he thought that now that Dumbledore was gone he was going to be told that his help wouldn't be needed. If that was the case it would be best to clear that up now.

"I'm glad Professor Dumbledore suggested you help me with the research. I have a lot to do before the holidays, so if you're willing to help me with the research it would be greatly appreciated." If Harry's change in countenance was anything to go by he was right about what was wrong.

"Of course I want to help. When do you want to start?"

Remus smiled at his eagerness to help. "Perhaps tomorrow after dinner. Stay behind after class and I'll let you know for sure. Now, you should head back to your bed and I should leave before Madam Pomfrey decides that I need to stay the night."

Harry spent the rest of Sunday with Ron and Hermione. They had told him about how a Dementor was spotted on the grounds and that Dumbledore and McGonagall had both went to investigate it leaving Snape in charge. Ron had spent five minutes complaining about how "that greasy git" wouldn't let anyone leave. When Hermione had pointed out it was for their own safety Ron hurriedly changed the subject.

When Monday finally came Harry was eager to start the research. He met Lupin as planned after dinner at the entrance to the Restricted Section. It was decided they would spend a few hours each night looking through the books. To avoid questions from Ron and Hermione he had told them that he was helping Lupin research several things and he couldn't say on what.

They spent that night and the next going through book after book with no success. That's not to say nothing came out of those first two nights. The books were so old that many of the titles had faded forcing them to open each book to find out what it was about. Which led to Harry learning quite a few things ranging from facts about magical creatures (how much more prejudiced can a person get) to spells (that he couldn't wait to try). The only downside was Lupin taking away several interesting books that held his attention for too long (although the fact that he also took away the particularly disturbing ones made up for that).

By Wednesday evening Harry had to admit that being allowed to help was starting to lose its appeal. But that could have been because he had just finished reading about goblin mating practices. While wondering why anyone would want to know how goblins mated he wandered over to see if Lupin had found anything. Lupin was pulling out a large black and silver book when Harry reached him. He probably thought it looked promising, but Harry knew otherwise. Before he could give any sort of warning the book was opened and a piercing, bloodcurdling shriek filled the library. One strong silencing charm and a lecture (courtesy of Madam Pince) later they went back to work.

It wasn't until they were nearly done for the night that Harry found it. He had been glancing at the shelves in front of him when a book caught his eye. It looked similar to the books the Dementor left behind, only much thinner making it easy to pass over. "Professor, I think I found something." He opened the book and finding a promising page began to read.

Although rare, there have been instances where a Dementor has greatly affected the

outcome of a person's life for the better. The last suspected case of this happening was

during the founding of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As such, very little

is known. What is known has been passed down from word of mouth and is now

considered legend.

It is said that on occasion a Dementor will feel a strong affinity towards a soul. The

magic of that soul calls out for the Dementor, compelling it to come. It is unknown

what exactly happens once the soul and Dementor meet. All that is known is that a

powerful backlash of magic is released resulting in the demise of the Dementor and

the appearance of a set of books.

Due to the Dementor's ability to see into a person's soul these books have come to be

known as Essence Books. They are said to tell the tale of what was, what is and what

will be. The reader is given a better understanding of the past and present and also the

opportunity to change the future should they so choose.

Remus, who had been reading over Harry's shoulder, let out a sigh of relief. "Thank Merlin you found something. I was beginning to fear that we'd still be searching through the holidays."

Harry on the other hand was staring at the passage with a look of resigned acceptance. "Why do these things always happen to me?" he muttered.

"It probably has something to do with trouble's tendency of finding you." Remus replied wryly.

Harry snorted. "There is that." After a minute of silence he asked "So, what happens now?"

"Now the Headmaster and I will read this to see what dangers, if any, these so called Essence Books pose. There could also be benefits to reading them. Once we have all the information the decision on what to do next will come down to you."

"Me?" Harry asked.

"Yes you. Considering what happened the other day with the Dementor it's only logical to assume that the books would be about you. It's only fair that you get to make the final decision on what to do with the books. That doesn't mean we won't offer our opinions on the matter, because I'm sure we will."

"Okay. How long do you think it will take before I need to make a decision?"

"I would say by Saturday, Sunday the latest. There's not much to read here so I don't imagine it taking much longer than that." Remus looked at his watch and sighed. "It's nearly curfew, you need to start heading to your Common Room."

They left the library in a companionable silence that wasn't broken until they reached the stairs where they would part ways.

"Goodnight Professor."

"Goodnight." And before his better judgment could take root Remus found himself calling Harry back. "Here, I think you've earned this." He handed Harry a book. "I wouldn't suggest showing it to anyone though. It's highly advanced magic and can go quite wrong. You shouldn't practice anything in there without proper supervision but there is nothing wrong with just reading the theory behind it on your own." With that said Remus headed down the stairs to his rooms.

Harry on the other hand stood rooted to the spot. In his hands was a gold and ivory leather bound book. The golden lettering read The Art of Becoming an Animagus. He had been fascinated by it when he had found it in the Restricted Section. Flipping through it he had seen that several students had added notes in the margins. Someone had even drawn four animals playing under a full moon. A sound down the corridor cut his musings short and he hastily shoved the book in his bag before hurrying to his Common Room.

Author's Note:

Pallium Cistam - roughly translates to Cloak to Chest

Also, I know that using that directly conflicts with something another character stated shortly before. But it will be explained.