AN
Dementor
That's a warning of its own, I think. You can imagine what that will drag up.
August to September 1993, summer of 2nd year and 3rd year
They took care of their shopping as soon as possible, so as to avoid the masses of students and parents that tended to descend on Diagon Alley towards the end of the summer holidays. Phyllida took a day off to accompany Lynea and Harry and the Malfoys were still abroad, so they didn't have to worry about having to face Lucius Malfoy, whose true intentions regarding Harry they were still unsure about. Draco hadn't mentioned anything in his letters or during Harry's birthday party whatsoever and they wouldn't ask him, either.
There was a new flying broomstick model that Harry instantly fawned over and made Lynea chuckle to herself, remembering a conversation she had had with Draco about the Nimbus 2001 being 'the fastest broom in existence' – seemed like she had been right, the new Firebolt had now taken that position and surely another model would follow eventually.
Their book shopping proved to be quite eventful, too, because the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher – whose identity was still unknown to the Slytherins – had assigned a rather peculiar book. It turned out that it was the vicious beast of a biting book that Hagrid had sent Harry for his birthday, which made Lynea wonder whether Hagrid knew the new professor. Or maybe it was Hagrid, himself. Lynea shuddered at the mere thought.
The day had been a good one, but when they returned home, they were greeted by rather dire news. Sirius Black, known mass murderer and Death Eater, had escaped Azkaban.
"He escaped … Azkaban?" Lynea asked, feeling the blood drain from her face. "But no one ever escaped from Azkaban."
"The Ministry is rather confused, as well," her mother said. "They have no explanation for how he escaped."
"Could," Lynea took a shaky breath. "Could others possibly escape as well?" She looked at her mother with wide eyes, thinking about the possibility of her dreadful father getting out.
It was Naenia who answered. "No," she said. "I do not think that anyone else will escape. Not without outside help."
"And if Black helps them? He was a Death Eater, after all."
"He won't," Naenia said. "I highly doubt that he was truly a Death Eater, anyway."
Phyllida frowned at that. "But –" She stopped and glanced at Harry, and Lynea realized there was something very important they were all forgetting here.
Harry furrowed his brows. "What?"
"There is something important you should know, Harry," Phyllida said gently. "Sirius Black was friends with your parents at Hogwarts. They were rather close back then, apparently close enough to make Black their Secret Keeper and appoint him as your godfather."
"I have a godfather?" Harry asked baffled.
"Who was imprisoned for murdering thirteen people and betraying your parents to the Dark Lord," Naenia said, ignoring Harry's shocked expression. "Although there are several holes in that story and I do not know how that man could have possibly wanted to betray your parents. He was known for hating everything the Dark Lord stands for. Then again, if the man was innocent, Dumbledore would have probably stepped in and at least forced the Ministry to give him a proper trial. He was the one who performed the Fidelius Charm, after all."
"Are we sure about that?" Phyllida asked. "Why would they let Dumbledore cast the charm, if they could just do it themselves?"
Naenia shrugged. "It was Dumbledore who told the Ministry about Sirius Black being the Potters' Secret Keeper. The whole ordeal is rather suspicious, if you ask me, but we may never know what really happened unless an eyewitness tells us the truth."
"When they catch Black, you could question him."
"If they catch Black," Naenia corrected. "We all know the Ministry isn't actually as capable as they want everyone to think. They haven't caught the Mutilatio killers after one whole year and no less than thirteen victims."
Three of which Lynea had seen for herself and one of which she had actually known.
"Sirius Black managed to escape from Azkaban," Naenia continued, "an island prison guarded by Dementors – he won't have a hard time evading the Ministry officials."
"They are sending the Dementors after him as well," Phyllida said quietly.
"That doesn't sound like a good idea," Lynea said in apprehension.
"Uhm," Harry ducked his head. "What are Dementors?"
"Foul creatures," Naenia said in a dangerously low voice. "Vile creatures that dishonour Death." She regained her composure. "I spent a decade devising a method to destroy them. If they try to cross my land, they will certainly regret it."
"They feed on emotions," Lynea explained to Harry, "on happiness in particular. And on souls, when they can."
Harry shuddered and Lynea patted him sympathetically. She hoped they would never come across a Dementor. They would be defenceless, if they did. All their training wouldn't be of any use if they could not perform the Patronus Charm and that one was not only a very difficult spell, but also one Necromancers could not perform. Lynea had no hope of ever learning it. And, unlike her grand-aunt, she did not know how to destroy Dementors, either.
"Now, then," Naenia said, her eyes turning to Harry. "There are not many that know about the Secret Keeper part, but the story about Sirius Black becoming a mass murderer is quite infamous. One wizard and twelve Muggles – all killed with one single blow. Minister Fudge himself caught him, afterwards. According to him Black went with them without a fuss, all the while laughing like a maniac. The Ministry thinks that he is coming after you, Harry. Apparently, he had been muttering 'He's at Hogwarts.' in his sleep before the breakout."
Lynea furrowed her brows. "And just from that they draw the conclusion that he is coming after Harry's life? Just because he supposedly betrayed the Potters to the Dark Lord …"
"Maybe Black thinks my death will somehow bring him back," Harry said quietly. "He sounds quite mad, if you ask me, wouldn't be surprising if he thought like that."
Lynea turned to her grand-aunt. "So he is coming after Harry?"
"It would appear so," Naenia said, not sounding quite convinced of her own words.
Harry balled his hands into fists, his mouth set into a firm line. "He killed my parents."
"No," Naenia said sharply. "He may have betrayed your parents – and apart from Dumbledore's word there is no evidence to that, even Black himself has never outright admitted to it – but the one who killed them was Tom. Do not confuse betrayal with murder."
"Death is sacred," Lynea said solemnly and Naenia nodded. "One who takes from Death what is not theirs to take shall suffer the consequences." She shook her head and then reached over to grab Harry's hands, still balled tightly to fists. "If you found yourself face to face with Sirius Black, what would you do?"
"Kill him," Harry hissed.
"Exact revenge? Become what he has become – a murderer? No, Harry. If you ever meet him, then you should ask him why."
"'Why'?" Harry asked slowly. "And why should I do that?"
"To seek the truth."
"He could lie."
"That he could," Naenia interjected. "But it will still be worth listening to his story. Do not fall victim to blind anger, Harry, it will do you no good. In the end, all that lives must die, be it at the hands of mother nature or at the hands of man."
"Mors vincit omnia," Lynea said.
Harry took a shuddering breath and relaxed his fists, returning Lynea's hold on his hands. "I don't know if I will be able to hold myself back."
"You will, Harry," Lynea said softly, "because you are strong and because you have a good heart. Besides, there are worse fates than death. Death is but a part of life, one part of the endless cycle."
o
The scarlet steam engine had become a familiar sight by now. The Malfoys had already arrived on the still mostly empty platform, Theodore standing at their side, and Phyllida steered Lynea and Harry over to them. They exchanged polite greetings and other empty words and then the children were finally free to board the train.
"Did you hear about Black?" Draco asked, once they had chosen a compartment for themselves.
"Of course we did," Lynea answered.
Draco nodded. "Our fathers," he gestured to himself and Theodore, "had a lengthy discussion about the whole ordeal. Apparently, neither of them was aware of Black being a Death Eater. I wouldn't have thought it possible, either. My cousin has always been the black sheep of the family, being sorted into Gryffindor and associating with blood traitors and mudbloods."
Harry shot Draco a dirty look.
Draco cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. "My apologies. They are my father's words, not mine."
"Sirius Black is your cousin?" Harry asked, seemingly accepting Draco's apology.
"First cousin once removed," Draco said and shrugged. "His parents were the heads of the Black family from which my mother hails. They were staunch supporters of the Dark Lord and firmly believed in the supremacy of pure blood, but only their son Regulus joined his ranks, as far as we know."
"It is odd," Theodore said, "but not entirely impossible. If they trained their eldest son to be a spy, then the story wouldn't be as far-fetched."
"What?" Harry asked. "What are you talking about?"
Lynea frowned. "We told you that Sirius Black was friends with your parents, Harry. He hated his family and everything they believed in. Why would such a man betray his best friends to the Dark Lord?"
Harry clenched his jaw, but said nothing.
Lynea put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, before addressing Draco and Theodore, "The Ministry thinks that Black is coming after Harry."
Draco raised his eyebrows. "Really? And what could he possibly want with Harry?"
Lynea shrugged. "I certainly do not know."
"Kill me," Harry said and then sighed. "Wouldn't be the first one to try, would he?"
Draco scowled. "Do you need to put yourself in mortal danger every year? I believe we have had quite enough of that already."
"Hey!" Harry exclaimed indignantly. "I'm not putting myself in danger! Danger just seems to always find me, whether I want it or not."
"Let's talk about something else," Lynea suggested. "Something more light-hearted. Did any of you manage to open The Monster Book of Monsters?"
Draco groaned and immediately launched into an indignant speech about what kind of oaf their new Care of Magical Creatures professor must be and how dim-witted they must be to assign such a clearly unusable book.
They passed the time like that – enjoying inane chats, while the countryside flew by. Their fellow Slytherins came to greet them at some point, first Pansy, Tracey, Daphne and Blaise and later Millicent with Vincent and Gregory in tow.
As the sky grew darker, it started to rain and the wind roared outside as heavy drops drummed against the window.
Then the train started to slow down.
"We can't be there, yet," Draco said frowning. "What's going on?"
Harry got up and looked into the corridor, while the train was getting slower and slower and finally stopped moving entirely. And suddenly all the lights went out and plunged them into total darkness.
"What the hell?" Draco exclaimed.
"Harry, come back inside," Lynea said, grabbing blindly for Harry's robe and pulling him back into the compartment.
"What do we do?" Harry asked.
"Wait a second," Theodore murmured and then, "Lumos!"
Harry and Draco followed suit.
"Good thinking," Lynea said, brandishing her own wand to illuminate the compartment further, before getting up to close the door.
She sat down again and they all looked at each other with wide eyes, sitting in silence for a few moments. And then the door slid open again.
A sense of dread washed over Lynea as her eyes fell on the cloaked figure floating in the hallway. The Dementor drew a long, rattling breath and everything went cold.
She was back at her old house, her father standing above her, wand raised, and the searing pain of the burned flesh on her head, where the white strand had grown amidst her mahogany hair, was unbearable. She wanted to scream and to cry, to thrash about and do something, but she couldn't. No sounds escaped her parched throat, no tears wet her cheeks and she couldn't move, couldn't move, could only lie there on the floor, defenceless, unable to do anything. The utter hopelessness settled deep in her heart, in her bones, drowned out the pain and she was falling, falling, falling into darkness …
Someone was screaming very loudly.
Lynea slowly opened her eyes and rubbed at her temple, trying to ease the pounding headache. The dread was still there, lodged between her ribs like a dagger, and she was shivering violently. But she was also slowly regaining her bearings as she looked around.
The Dementor had left. Thank goodness.
And the lights were back on again.
Harry stopped screaming as Draco slapped his face and opened his eyes, while Theodore sat up from the floor, blinking owlishly at them.
"Here," Draco said, holding a piece of chocolate out to Lynea, who took it with a mumbled thanks.
Thank goodness for Draco's inexhaustible stash of sweets. The chocolate helped immensely, warming her from head to toe and stopping the shivers. It did not ease the pain in her heart, nor the headache.
Theodore was munching on his own piece of chocolate as Draco fussed over Harry.
"What happened?" Harry mumbled. "Where's that – that thing? Who screamed?"
"Dementor," Lynea bit out, scooting over to wrap Theodore in a hug. "And you were the one screaming."
"That was a Dementor?" Harry asked aghast.
"Some man in shabby rags chased it away," Draco said. "He might have looked like some street beggar, but his Patronus was a welcome sight. I think the Dementor was looking for Sirius Black. Father said the Ministry dispatched some of them to guard Hogwarts."
Lynea froze and Theodore's arms tightened around her.
"I heard a woman screaming," Harry whispered.
Draco shared a look with Lynea. "I only heard you scream," he said.
"It could be a memory," Lynea said. "The Dementor made you relive some terrible memory in which a woman –" She stopped. "I think," she continued quietly, "you may have heard your mother."
Draco frowned. "But Harry was still a baby when – He was still a baby. Humans don't develop their memory so early."
"Dementors," Lynea said darkly.
They spent the remainder of the train ride in silence, huddled together. Their housemates came by to make sure everyone was alright and then they finally reached Hogsmeade station. The rain was still falling and even Lynea was freezing, still feeling the aftermath of the Dementor's presence. She still patted the Thestrals before climbing into a carriage after the others, but only noticed that someone had already been sitting there after the horses had begun to pull the coach towards the castle.
"Hello," the girl said in a misty voice.
Lynea remembered the dirty blonde hair and big eyes.
"Who are you?" Draco asked.
"Manners, Draco," Lynea admonished him, albeit in a tired voice.
"I'm Luna," the girl said. "Luna Lovegood. It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise," Harry said with a small smile and introduced the Slytherins to her.
He seemed to be getting over the incident with the Dementor rather fast, Lynea noted. Or he was just better at hiding his inner turmoil than Theodore and herself. It was nice, though, listening to the small girl chatter about things that sounded so nonsensical to Lynea that she wasn't sure whether the Dementor hadn't messed with her more than she had initially assumed. Still, the girl had something soothing to her and by the time they had reached the castle, Lynea felt immensely better.
They joined the other Slytherins in the Entrance Hall – Luna disappeared into the crowd – and started to make their way to the Great Hall, when Professor Snape appeared in front of them.
"Fawley, Nott and Potter. A word?"
Their Head of House led them to the dungeons and the others went ahead, casting worried glances back at the three of them.
"Professor Lupin," Professor Snape drawled, once they had reached his office, and Lynea thought she heard a note of disdain in his voice, "has sent an owl ahead informing us of the – ah – unfortunate incident with the Dementor."
Lynea shuddered.
Behind them, the door opened and Madam Pomfrey entered the room. She was carrying a bar of chocolate and immediately bustled around them, checking their foreheads and muttering under her breath as Professor Snape watched with an unreadable expression on his face.
"Professor?" Lynea asked quietly. "Were we the only students that had such an adverse reaction?"
"The Dementors did not enter any other compartments after Professor Lupin chased them away," Professor Snape said, not exactly answering her question.
Madam Pomfrey pressed some chocolate into her hands.
"We already had some," Harry said. "Draco was so kind to share some of his."
"Good thinking on Mister Malfoy's part," Madam Pomfrey said.
They were released not shortly after and accompanied back to the Great Hall by their Head of House, where they joined the others at the Slytherin table. They had missed the Sorting, but not, unfortunately, Dumbledore's speech. Lynea just wanted to eat some dinner and go to bed already.
The speech was necessary, of course, because there were now Dementors guarding every entrance to the school grounds and Dementors were not to be trifled with. Not that anyone who had ever met one would be inclined to believe otherwise.
Dumbledore then introduced their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and from the look of his clothes, Lynea assumed that he was the 'street beggar' that had helped them out on the train. It was common knowledge that Professor Snape had wanted the position himself for some time now, but the pure hatred on his face was still unusual. Even Draco commented on it.
"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued and Lynea forced her attention back on the headmaster.
He confirmed what Draco had already told them months ago – that Professor Kettleburn had retired and then –
"Hagrid?" Harry asked, mouth agape. "Hagrid is our new professor?" And then he joined the applause, which was particularly loud at the Gryffindor table and particularly quiet at the Slytherin's. Draco groaned loudly, but didn't say anything when Harry shot him a glare.
"That explains the book," Lynea said flatly.
At least Dumbledore's speech was over now and they could enjoy the feast. Not that Lynea ate much. She never did. But she was happy to see Harry helping himself to a rather huge portion and gobble it down. It had taken him a while, but he had finally reached a point where the amount of food he ate could be called 'normal' and 'healthy' for his age, especially compared to what he had eaten at the beginning of her first year. Lynea, herself, was still struggling, but, then again, her struggles had other origins.
When the pudding was cleared away, Harry went to the teachers' table to congratulate Hagrid, while Lynea and the others waited patiently by the entrance. Then they all went to the dungeons together and retired to their dormitories.
Lynea hoped that a good night's sleep would ease the aching in her heart and the pounding in her head, but she knew it would take more than that. Vile creatures, indeed.