As October gave way to November, the joy of Halloween faded fast as Harry, Amy, Susan, Hannah, Heather, and Sirius got a brutal reminder that just because Snape, Lucius, and Dumbledore were all gone didn't mean there was no danger.

It was on the very morning of Friday, November 1st, 1991 that Harry, Amy, Susan, Hannah, Heather, and Sirius got their brutal wake up call about the threats that still loomed in the world.

Heather was just about to explain what lesson they were going to pursue on that day when they all felt a sudden and unnatural cold.

Then they heard slow rattling breaths.

Looking up, they saw that two Dementors had entered the house and were approaching them.

Harry, remembering their Patronus lesson, quickly pulled out his wand and pointed it at the two Dementors.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" cried out Harry.

Next nanosecond, an enormous silver stag erupted from Harry's wand and immediately chased after the two Dementors, which quickly glided out of and away from the house in defeat.

"Wew!" sighed Sirius, "That was scary!"

"Scary and concerning, " added Heather, "It's a good thing that I taught the Yellow Quartet the Patronus Charm. But I've had a bad feeling for a while that Dementors could be an issue for us."

"Who do you think sent them?" Harry asked Heather.

"The thing is that there's no certainty that anyone sent them, " explained Heather nervously, "Dementors are more than capable of becoming out of control on their own. My suspicion is that these Dementors escaped from the Azkaban prison they are supposed to be guarding. Because of the overall nature of Dementors, it is not impossible that the Dementors ended up here randomly."

"No that's not impossible and that's the scariest part of the thing, " said Sirius with a chill in his voice, "it's also possible that they were sent after me. Fudge believes firmly in my guilt and if he knows I'm here I could easily see him trying to slyly finish me off."

"They could just as easily have been sent after me, " said Harry gravely, "I'm always going to have enemies you know."

"We can't dismiss that possibility, " agreed Heather.

"My honest gut feeling is that they are simply random out of control Dementors that are out of control of their own accord, " said Amy coldly, "Which in some ways, might be the scariest possibility of them all."

"That is why Fudge is either incredibly ignorant or incredibly arrogant to continuously insist that we are all only safe in beds at night because the Dementors are guarding Azkaban, " fretted Heather, "The cold hard truth is that Dementors can NEVER be trusted."

"I'm honestly still terrified at the prospect of Dementors siding with Death Eaters and Voldemort should Voldemort ever return to power, "said Harry squeamishly, "I know every effort is being made to keep Voldemort out of power but the Dementors would be his natural ally if he ever came back."

"Harry did an awesome job driving them away, "said Sirius proudly, "It looks like a practical lesson paid off."

"Somehow, someway, I just knew that lesson was needed early on. I wish it wouldn't have been necessary, but I'm grateful Harry was able to do what he did, " said Heather tonelessly.

"What do we do about the Dementors now?" asked Susan.

"Keep our guard up, " replied Heather, "We can't do much to keep the Dementors out. We just have to fight them back when they come."

"A world with out of control Dementors in it is a creepy thing, " observed Hannah.

"Man, " said Harry wryly, "After the pure joy of Halloween, what a brutal reminder of the reality we live in."

"There can't too many worse surprises to start a month with than to have Dementors visit your house, " agreed Heather.

"Well, " said Harry determinedly, "At least we're prepared to deal with it."