Chapter 165 Two Patronuses
Over an hour before that, at Hogwarts, on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.
After the violent explosion, Harry and Hermione struggled to their feet on the ground, the impact of the explosion making them feel sore. Evan had already chased Peter Pettigrew into the Forbidden Forest. It was just the two of them there.
Ron and Sirius Black lay unconscious on the ground; Black was bleeding.
"What should we do?" Hermione said desperately, nervously looking towards the Forbidden Forest. "Evan ran after him in there!"
"First, we must take both to the castle; Sirius needs treatment. Then we must alert someone capable of saving Evan!" Harry said quickly, pushing his hair away from his eyes.
Then he saw the Dementors approaching.
Almost instantly, the center of the field became misty, and the temperature dropped drastically.
He turned around, the familiar icy cold piercing through him, the mist beginning to obscure his vision; more Dementors appeared in the darkness from all sides. It seemed they had noticed Black.
They were closing in on them...
Hermione raised her wand and tried to summon her Patronus. The tip of her wand emitted a white light, but she couldn't make it corporeal.
There were too many Dementors. Her fear was closer to becoming corporeal than her Patronus.
Hermione couldn't think of anything happy at that moment. She was too worried about Evan. He had gone after Peter Pettigrew alone. What should she do if something bad happened to him?
Many unknown dangers lurked in the Forbidden Forest at night.
She recalled her only nighttime experience in that forest. It was during her first year, with Hagrid, Harry, and Malfoy, witnessing Voldemort killing a unicorn.
Thinking about Voldemort, the small light at the tip of Hermione's wand instantly faded.
"Hermione, think of something happy!" Harry shouted, raising his wand, blinking furiously to clear his vision, shaking his head to rid himself of the faint scream that had started inside him...
"I'm going to live with my godfather. I'm leaving the Dursleys."
She forced herself to think of Black, and only Black, and began reciting, "Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum!"
Black shuddered, rolled, and lay still on the ground, pale as death.
"He'll be fine. I'm going to live with him."
"Expecto Patronum! Hermione, help me! Expecto Patronum!"
"Expecto..." Hermione whispered, "expecto..."
But she couldn't do it. The Dementors were closing in, barely ten feet away from them. They formed a solid wall around Harry and Hermione, closing in...
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry yelled, trying to block out the screams in his ears. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
A thin trail of silver escaped from his wand and hung suspended like mist in front of him. There were too many Dementors, and this feeble resistance wasn't working at all. In that same moment, Harry felt Hermione collapse beside him. He was alone... completely alone...
He couldn't let the Dementors get near Black; he wanted to drive away those monstrosities and rid himself of them.
"Expecto... Expecto Patronum..."
Harry felt his knees hit the cold grass. The mist clouded his eyes, and all his unpleasant memories raced through his mind. Harry tried not to dwell on such things. He tried to remember that Sirius was innocent and that his name would be cleared. Everyone would be okay, Professor Lupin would return safely, Ron would gradually recover, Evan would successfully catch Peter Pettigrew, and he, Harry, would live with Sirius.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry gasped forcefully and shouted with all his might.
In the dim light of his formless Patronus, he saw a Dementor stop very close to him. It couldn't pierce through the silver mist Harry had conjured. It was staring fixedly at Black behind Harry, and from under its black cloak, a dead, slimy hand slid out.
He made a gesture as if trying to ward off the Patronus.
"No, no!" gasped Harry. "You can't harm him. He's innocent! Expecto Patronum!"
He felt their gazes, heard their hissing breath like a malevolent wind around him. The nearest Dementor seemed to be considering him. Then it raised both decaying hands and lowered its hood.
Harry had seen that same Dementor on the Quidditch field. Where there should have been eyes, there was only thin, gray, scaly skin stretched white over empty sockets. But there was a mouth... a gaping, shapeless hole, sucking in the air with the sound of agonizing breath.
With that, Harry felt his soul being sucked out. Paralyzing terror filled Harry in such a way that he couldn't move or speak. His Patronus flickered and died.
A white mist blinded him. He had to fight... Expecto Patronum... he couldn't see... and in the distance, he heard familiar screams... his mother's voice before her death.
Harry gasped heavily, searching for Sirius in the fog...
He found Black's arm, embracing it tightly. He couldn't let the Dementors take Sirius.
But a pair of strong, clammy hands suddenly gripped Harry's neck. They were forcing his face upward... He could feel their breath... They understood Harry's thoughts and were about to dispose of him first... He could sense their putrid breath... His mother was screaming in his ears... She was going to be the last thing he heard.
She called his name. That was her last sentence before her death.
The fog was completely suffocating him. Harry knew he was going to die. He was going to see his mother! He was going to be reunited with his parents!
But then, two silver-white lights glided from the distant horizon, becoming increasingly brighter.
The Dementor that was about to kiss Harry suddenly stopped. Just like what happened on the Quidditch field two months prior, it sensed the danger of terror. It knew that if it did not escape, it would vanish completely from this world.
The Dementors fled, and Harry felt himself falling forward onto the grass. His face was down, unable to move. He trembled and could barely open his eyes.
The dazzling light illuminated the grass around him, the screams in his ears ceased, the cold sensation faded, and something was compelling the Dementors to retreat.
The two silver-white Patronuses encircled him, Ron, Hermione, and Sirius, and the sucking sound of the demons gradually faded away.
Harry gathered his strength, raised his head a few inches. He saw two creatures in the light. They were so similar, very bright, resembling a unicorn, one tall and the other short. One had a sturdy, sharp horn on top of its head, and the other was immensely pure, akin to...
They referred to them and returned to the castle.
Through the starlight in the sky, and by the Patronus light, he tried to see who had saved him, but sweat clouded his vision.
He only saw two Patronuses parting over the castle, one flew towards the Great Hall through the door, and the other vanished through a narrow window on the third floor.
Harry couldn't comprehend why, felt his last spark of strength leaving him, his head hit the ground, and he passed out.