Disclaimer: Peter Pettigrew belongs to JK Rowling.

A/N: There are serious issues in this chapter with the timing of events and how the werewolf curse works. There are possible explanations. (One plausible idea is that the transformation hits not at moonrise, but at the moment of true full moon.) But for the purpose of this story, this is another one of those things that I'm going to gloss over, since we can assume that the books got those things right for the purpose of the story.

To be honest, these last several chapters were a bit of an experiment to see how people would react to calling out Snape for vaguely similar reasons to them calling out Harry in the last book, which people were very hostile against, but it kind of drifted in a different direction of discussing how bad Snape is in general (and sometimes other characters). (Mind you, I agree Snape was far more deserving regardless.) For the record, I originally considered a harsher reaction to Snape in the last chapter, then dialled it back to a milder one, then brought it back to something in the middle.

Trivia: In the books, this is the shortest chapter in the entire series, except for the Epilogue.

Chapter 20: Sprout

The Dementor's Kiss

Professor Sprout took the book from Professor Flitwick. She blanched when she saw the chapter title. "Chapter Twenty," she said, "and I do hope it is not as bad as it sounds. The Dementor's Kiss."

After hearing the explanation of the Kiss before, some of the audience gasped in horror at the title. Even Malfoy didn't look smug about it anymore. In the story, the group in the Shrieking Shack started back up to the castle, with some difficulty.

"Harry went right after Black, who was still making Snape drift along ahead of them; he kept bumping his lolling head on the low ceiling. Harry had the impression Black was making no effort to prevent this."

Madam Pomfrey sputtered down the High Table. "Severus never saw me that night," she said. "He must have had an awful headache." She looked like she very much wanted to question him and look him over immediately, but she couldn't very well do that now since Snape had stormed out during the last chapter.

"He was rather preoccupied with other matters, as I recall," Flitwick spoke up.

"He deserved it after the stunt he pulled," Tonks griped.

"I will be the judge of what injuries are 'deserved,' thank you, Professor Tonks," Pomfrey said sharply. "After all, I am the one who has to treat them whether they are 'deserved' or not."

Meanwhile, in the book, Sirius finally put the pieces together that bringing Wormtail in alive meant that he could be freed, and he offered for Harry to come live with him, although perhaps predictably, he and Harry still had trouble communicating, and he interpreted Harry's excitement as reluctance up until Harry spelt it out for him.

"'Are you insane?' said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as Black's. 'Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?'" Sprout shook her head. "Tsk tsk tsk. For a boy his age to be so eager to leave the home he was raised in should have been a warning to anyone with the ability to do anything about it."

"Which objectively should have been Professor Lupin," Kingsley pointed out.

"Sadly, he resigned the first thing the next morning," McGonagall said. "Though if he had told me what he had heard…" But she trailed off. She was ashamed to admit she wasn't sure she would have done anything with Albus still calling the shots.

When the group reached the grounds again, they finally realised, far too late, that that very night was the full moon, and Remus transformed. Sirius was forced to transform as well to hold him off, and in the confusion, Pettigrew dove for Lupin's wand and got away.

"Wait, did Pettigrew need Lupin's wand to open the shackles?" Tonks asked. "Couldn't he just have transformed, then."

"I suspect he needed a wand to transform, Professor Tonks," McGonagall replied. "After that much time in animal form, he was likely too out of practice to do without. In fact, it is possible that he was unable to change back to human form while he was a rat—or at least to do so quickly."

"Really? Well, that's some relief," Ron said down at the Gryffindor Table.

Sirius successfully fought off Moony, but before Harry could run for help to find the escaped Wormtail, a far more dangerous enemy appeared.

"The yelping stopped abruptly. As they reached the lakeshore, they saw why—Sirius had turned back into a man. He was crouched on all fours, his hands over his head.

"'Nooo…' he moaned. 'Noooo…please…'

"And then Harry saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake toward them."

"Hold on," Tonks spoke up again. "I clearly need to learn more about Animagi, Professor. Why would he change back to human? He said he could resist the dementors better as a dog."

"It was likely the pain that forced him out of it," McGonagall explained. "While it is possible to get stuck in animal form with insufficient experience—another reason not to attempt it without help," she added sharply, glancing out at the audience. "—it does require a tiny amount of magic to maintain because an animal body with a human mind is not a natural state. Thus, sufficient trauma can force an Animagus back to human form."

"I'd be interested to know how the dementors found Black so quickly," Professor Sprout said. "It sounds like he was on the grounds many times that year, from the sounds of it, and they never found him before."

Professor Grubbly-Plank answered that one. "From that sounds of the book, that may have been the first time Black was truly happy whilst on the grounds," she said. "Muted or even negative emotions attract dementors far less readily than positive ones. Or for that matter, it may have been the first time he was on the grounds in human form…in human form outside the castle, I should say."

"So it was the first real opportunity they had at him?" Sprout said, shaking her head. "I am so glad that we got rid of them after that year."

The dementors encircled Sirius, Harry, and Hermione together. Harry desperately tried to fend them off with his Patronus, but he was completely overwhelmed. He even tried to enlist Hermione's help, to no avail.

"'Expecto patronum!' Hermione, help me! Expecto patronum!'

"'Expecto—' Hermione whispered, 'expecto—expecto—'"

"Oh?" Professor Flitwick interrupted. "Miss Granger, may I ask if you had ever tried that spell before."

Hermione blinked in surprise at being addressed. "Er, no, Professor," she said. "I'd read about the theory, but I'd never tried it."

"It was a lot worse than the boggart," Harry said.

Indeed, Hermione was in such shock that she couldn't even complete the incantation, much less cast the spell. Harry managed a little, but it was just barely enough to stop one dementor—certainly not enough to achieve the area of effect he would need against a swarm.

"The…the nearest dementor seemed to be considering him. Then…" Professor Sprout's voice was trembling. "Th-then it raised both its rotting hands—and lowered its hood….Where…Merlin! Wh-where there should have been eyes, there was only…thin, grey scabbed skin, stretched blankly over empty eye sockets—oh goodness!" she said as some of the younger students whimpered in horror. "Should we even be reading this?"

McGonagall's gaze turned sharply down to the Gryffindor Table to look directly at Harry. Harry steeled himself and nodded back to her. He didn't want to back down now. And it felt important somehow, beyond the usual. Sprout, however, was looking to all three authority figures for guidance: McGonagall, Bones, and Dumbledore.

"It's the Headmistress's call to make," Madam Bones said, "But more to the point, when it was reported that two students were attacked by dementors at Hogwarts, no one said it was nearly that close. Why wasn't I informed, Dumbledore?"

"I am afraid that was Minister Fudge's call to make," Dumbledore said. "He did not want the public to know that the dementors were out of control. Pomona, how much more is there?"

"I…I don't know, Albus…" she said. She flipped the page. "Well, there's only a page or so more in the chapter. I hope that's all there is to it."

Dumbledore gave a subtle nod to McGonagall. McGonagall still looked uncertain herself, but she said, "It's probably better that we get it over with, then, Pomona. Get the full story out there."

Sprout took a deep breath to steady herself. "Alright, Headmistress…But there was a mouth…a gaping, shapeless hole, sucking the air with the sound of a death rattle."

Professor Slughorn made a funny gagging sound. Professor Trelawney was shaking, with tears in her eyes.

"Have…" Kingsley said, though even his voice was trembling, "Have even the Unspeakables seen what's under a dementor's hood?"

"Probably," said Madam Bones, "though I've never asked them; I never wanted to."

"A paralysing terror filled Harry so that he couldn't move or speak. His Patronus flickered and died."

Things weren't much better even at the Gryffindor Table. No one had heard about this part. They hadn't even told Ron the visceral terror of it. Natalie McDonald was openly crying. Dennis Creevey put his arm around her for comfort, though he looked pale himself. Even with no dementors present, the horror at hearing the description was palpable.

Sprout kept reading, as if in a trance, though her voice quavered and grew weak. "But a pair of strong, clammy hands suddenly attached themselves around Harry's neck. They were forcing his face upward…He could feel its breath…It was going to get rid of him first…He could feel its putrid breath…His mother was screaming in his ears…She was going to be the last thing he ever heard—"

Several high-pitched cries of fear rang out around the Great Hall, but there was little anyone could do this far in, except for Sprout to keep reading: "And then, through the fog that was drowning him, he thought he saw a silvery light grow brighter and brighter…"

The Patronus appeared—a Patronus of incredible power that drove the entire swarm of dementors away, and such a wave of relief swept over the Great Hall that some people were in tears from that alone.

"But you said you conjured the Patronus, Harry," Katie Bell said shakily. But you were lying there with a dementor grabbing you by the bloody throat. What happened?"

"I did conjure it," Harry said.

"He went back in time and did it," Dean said as if it were obvious. "Haven't you been paying attention?"

"I'm still confused," Katie said. "How does that even work?"

Dean sighed and shook his head: "We have got to introduce wizards to science fiction one of these days."

In the book, once the dementors were gone, the Patronus returned to its caster. Harry thought the caster looked strangely familiar, but he fainted before he could figure out what was going on.

"Well, at least that was averted," Madam Bones said, taking a breath to steady herself. "I'm going to ask the Aurors at Azkaban to question some of the dementors. It's not easy to get anything useful out of them, but I'm going to try. I hope that they only went for Potter because he stood in their way of getting to Black, but if not…" she let the implication hang.

"A useful first step, I am sure, Madam Bones," Dumbledore agreed. "You are, of course, aware of my own position on the matter."

"I'm just glad it's over with," Sprout said. "Aurora, you're up next." She handed the book to Professor Sinistra.