A/N- Hi everyone, thanks again for reading along and to all of you reviewers! This is the last chapter without Hermione in it, so no yelling at me! There's a bit of a mushy one next for you…and in a couple of chapters time it's going to start getting mushier still! Also, my computer hates me and decided to get rid of a lot of my story **Sobs a little and stamps foot in frustration** My younger sister warned me about this and every time I thought about saving it onto a floppy disk something else caught my attention…I had to re-write a lot of it, so the updates might fall back to once a week L sorry! If it's any consolation I'm sending Bill Gates evil thoughts about Microsoft with my mind…Thanks again to everyone, Happy reading!
**Islanzadi** J
-x-
The kitchen in Grimmauld place was eerily silent as Lupin told them of the evenings events while they had been fighting the death eaters at the Burrow.
"Several towns in the north east of England were attacked by dementors today. It's all over the muggle news. Over fifty people had their souls sucked out of them, and were left in their homes, or in the middle of streets before the muggle police and ambulances arrived."
"What towns were attacked Remus?" asked McGonagall, sounding horrified.
"Odstone, Moira and Norris Hill were the first ones attacked. They finished with the larger town of Swadlincote. There are several ministry workers out there already, as well as dozens of Aurors. I think we had better join them, we need to track these things down before more innocent people meet that kind of fate."
"But," said Mrs. Weasley "The entire area is surrounded by the National Forest. It's huge, they could be anywhere!"
"Judging from the map they appear to be moving northwest," said Lupin quietly "the only thing we can do is move north west with them. They'll find us Molly, don't worry about that. We just have to make sure we're prepared."
Everyone nodded quietly as the meeting was wrapped up. The agreed to meet in the town of Swadlincote and all move on from there. The designated meeting point was to be a small pub on the edge of the town; they would have to bring their brooms to get to the forest. The sounds of many wizards and witches disapparating filled the house with noisy cracks, until Harry, Susan and Luna were all left alone.
"We should bring plenty chocolate," said Luna vaguely.
"Dementors," said Harry "If there's one thing I really hate it's bloody dementors."
"Oh well, we best get it over with. We're really going to need sleep after this, it feels like I've been up forever!" said Susan
"We could use this as an opportunity to test out those items though," said Luna, then summoned the tiara and placed it on top of her head.
"I don't want to fight a bunch of dementors with this huge sword at my side," said Harry, who had become more than irritated with it catching on his legs. Luna pointed her wand at it and shrunk it to the size of a small dagger.
"I'm the one supposed to save the world and I didn't think of that. You're right Susan, I could really use some sleep about now…" said Harry with a slight grin
"Well, I'm not carrying this cup around with me," said Susan and she shrunk the cup also. But she didn't put it in her pocket like Harry had done previously, but instead threaded the two handles through the gold chain that was around her neck.
"There!" she said "That shouldn't get in the way too much. Now lets quickly get some chocolate, pick me up potion and our brooms, then we best go." The three of them headed upstairs, with Harry leading the way to their belongings. The entered a small room where Luna began pulling several items out of her bag and throwing them in her haste to find the chocolate. Harry started to laugh as she pulled out the strange lion hat she had worn to one of his quidditch matches and threw it quickly across the room. It landed with a thud on the floor and began roaring loudly, making Susan suddenly jump. Luna finally found the potion and chocolate, which she then distributed among the three of them. Harry shoved his share deep into his robes, and turned around to go…only to bump directly in Ginny Weasley.
"Harry," she said, her voice sounding friendly but her eyes looking suspicious "Where are you three off to? Am I missing something important? Where's Hermione?"
"Hermione is staying with her parents tonight," said Harry quickly "And you really shouldn't know what we're doing. It's safer that way…
"I've dealt with hardships before Harry," said Ginny, sounding a little angry "I want to know where you're going. I'm worried about you."
"Well don't worry about me Ginny. I'll be fine, but thanks very much. I'll see you in the morning." said Harry, and then began to walk out of the door. Ginny quickly moved to stand in front of Harry, her eyes blazing as she looked at him. He felt more than awkward and stared at the floor.
"Be careful Harry," she said quietly, and before he could stop her she had pushed her mouth onto his and was trying to kiss him passionately. All Harry felt was a strange wet mess moving around on his lips before he pushed her quickly away.
"No Ginny," he said, sounding angry but not feeling as guilty as he normally would have. Ginny looked from Harry's eyes to the raised eyebrows of Luna and Susan. She shrugged indifferently and stalked out of the room. 'Look what they've done to him,' she thought angrily 'look what she's done to him. Trying to take him away from me. Poor Harry, he must feel so awful wanting me but feeling guilty because of his best friend. I'll just have to put that right. How dare that bitch try and take away Harry when he loves me! The nerve! Oh she'll get what's coming to her, I'm done with being nice…" Harry, Luna and Susan heard the angry stomps Ginny was making towards her bedroom, which ended with a loud slam of the door. Harry sighed and looked at Luna and Susan, surprised that they were trying not to laugh hysterically. He raised his eyebrows and gave them a questioning look.
"Your face!" said Susan, letting her laughter escape "You looked like you were going to throw up in her mouth! It was hilarious!"
"It looked a little slobbery," said Luna dreamily "I would have thought Hermione would have perfected your skills for you Harry…" Harry gave her a playful nudge in the ribs and allowed a grin to appear on his face. He wiped his mouth and resisted the urge to clean it thoroughly. Eventually they stopped laughing and readied themselves to disapparate…a little later than they had previously anticipated.
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They approached the old looking pub in the town of Swadlincote, and were met by a very disgruntled Mad Eye.
"Where were you?" he growled, "We were about to come back for you. When we say meet in ten minutes, we mean meet in ten minutes."
"Sorry," said Susan a little too brightly "We had a slight situation we had to deal with. Harry cleaned it up very well though." Luna began to laugh, her eyes bulging a little. Mad Eye looked from one girl to the other, then stormed off to the crowd waiting witches and wizards. Harry nudged them both quickly and gave them a look that said 'oh, you will pay…' before following Mad Eye.
"Right!" said Lupin loudly "everyone one your brooms. Mad Eye and I will be in front. Harry, Susan and Luna, you're right behind us. Everyone else…you know you're positions. Right then? Ok, up we go!" Lupin and Mad Eye shot up into the air, followed closely by Harry, Luna and Susan. Harry felt fantastic being on his broom again. He felt the air rushing past his face and swirling through his hair. The coldness of the evening seemed refreshing to him and he had the wild urge to go higher and do a loop in the air. He repressed that wild thought, but decided that he would definitely be doing it later. He hadn't been on a broom in ages and he felt at home. Luna looked sideways at him and grinned. She loved that look of joy in his eyes when he way in the air, he seemed to free. He didn't have a care in the world. She just hoped he wouldn't do some wild trick when they were supposed to be fighting dementors soon. She glanced over and Susan to find her looking at Harry that way too. They shared a knowing grin before concentrating on Lupin and Mad Eye once again.
They had been flying for at least half an hour and the novelty was beginning to wear off. His fingers seemed to be frozen to his broom and his face felt uncomfortably tingly due to the cold wind. He looked to the side and saw that Luna looked more uncomfortable than him. He looked to the other side and saw Susan visibly shaking on her broom. A sudden dark shape moved in his peripheral vision, and he jerked his head quickly to the side to see what it was. A black shape of a dementor was gliding through the air only 100m away from then. Harry raised his wand, but the silvery shape of an owl had already reached the sickening creature, driving it away with a shriek. Mad Eye made a motion with his arms that Harry understood to be 'Attack below you' He felt a strange cold sensation all over his body and distantly heard that awful screaming in his head. He looked down, knowing what he would find but not wanting to believe it. Beneath the flying witches and wizards were hundreds and hundreds of dementors. Harry heard a very uncharacteristic 'Holy shit' come out of Luna's mouth…very loudly. He pointed his wand beneath him and sent his patronus into the cloud of black billowing creatures.
The black sky was lit up with at least thirty different silver shaped animals, all rushing towards the dementors below. The screams of the creatures filled the air as they rushed away…only to be replaced with new ones. All around him were shouts of 'Expecto patronum', over and over again. But the mass of dementors seemed to stay put, new ones taking the old ones place. 'There's too many,' thought Harry with a horrified thought 'We can't do this with so many of them!' He felt the cold sensation rising in him once again, the distant screams slowly becoming nearer. He hastily put up the walls in his mind, and the screaming stopped. He was about to let off another patronus when he saw the shape of someone falling into the mass of dementors. Then another…then another. 'Why are they falling?' he thought 'they're too far away to make people pass out…' He slowly lifted his head to look above him, and was horrified to see just as many dementors circling above them as below them. 'Fuuuuuck!!' was the only thought that Harry seemed to have before leaning his broom into a steep dive to try and save the poor people before they were subjected to the dementors. Luna and Susan noticed Harry's sudden descent and followed quickly.
The air was rushing past Harry so fast that there were tears running quickly from his eyes. His vision was blurred, but he refused to wipe his eyes and possibly lose sight of the person falling directly beneath him. A dementor flew straight into his face, and Harry raised his wand quickly and thought 'Expecto patronum'. The stag seemed to explode the dementor in front of Harry, but he didn't notice. He dove faster and faster before he was finally right behind the falling person. He reached his hand out to try and grab the persons leg 'You can do this,' he thought 'it's just like the snitch. A little heavier, but just like the snitch…a little further…reach…' His hand clamped itself around the person's leg and he pulled hard. His arm was aching terribly by having such a large weight on it, but he gritted his teeth. A dementor flew right by him, but the silvery shape of a very strange animal crashed into it, sending it screaming into the night. He heaved on more time and finally shoved the person onto the end of his broom.
"Thank you Potter," said McGonagall tightly "I probably shouldn't have on this particular adventure. Not as young as I used to be…" Harry patted her arm quickly before scanning his eyes for any other Order members that were falling. He could suddenly see the ground beneath him and slowed the broom up slightly. He skimmed the floor lightly and then grabbed McGonagall before rolling off of it.
Harry, Susan, Luna and McGonagall stood in a kind of shock as they saw all the black creatures flying above their heads. They heard a thud behind them and saw Lupin stand up quickly with a look of pain on his face. Harry scanned the clearing while Luna and Susan fired their patronus' into the crowd of dementors. There was a group of Order members at the edge of the clearing hurrying towards them, and several still falling from the sky and rushing to the ground on brooms. There was a heavy thud right next to him and someone hit the ground hard. Harry knelt down next to him to help him up…and froze. The body seemed to be limp, and as he turned it around he saw the eyes of a soulless person staring back at him.
"Emmeline," whispered Lupin, staring at her empty shell. "Quick, we need to get everyone together. We need to use all of our patronus' to try and fight these things off,' They rushed to the other Order members, and Harry's mind was filled with Emmeline's face as he readied himself. The stood in a circle, and the dementors started to crash down upon them in a frenzy. The clearing was filled with silvery animals and screeches, but they seemed to be getting closer and closer. One of them leapt right in front of Susan and began to lower its head towards her menacingly. Harry let his stag fly, and it backed off. Susan was shaking visibly and stared at the black shapes in horror.
"Quick," said Luna pulling at Harry's robes "Us three need to get together. We need to combine our strength…" She pulled him towards Susan and ducked as a dementor flew at them, which was then hit by Lupin's Patronus. The three of them backed out of the circle quietly and made their way to a tree twenty yards away.
"Remember who we are," said Luna with a trembling voice "remember why we are here. Remember who we love and why we are fighting. We are fighting for peace; we are fighting for the innocent. We are fighting for love." She raised her wand towards the mass of dementors flocking the Order members. Susan nodded to Luna and them both she and Harry raised their wands too. They linked their free hands together and closed their eyes. Harry could feel the coldness creeping towards him again, they were coming closer. It was now or never.
"One…Two…Three…" said Luna quietly. Then all three of them shouted at the top of their lungs-
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!"
Harry opened his eyes to see Susan's horse, Luna's strange creature and Harry's stag bound out of their wands. They rushed together about ten yards away and seemed to mingle together. A wild and warm wind suddenly rushed past Harry's face, sending their robes flying about them. The animals grew into one white entity and then grew bigger and bigger. The mass of light suddenly left the ground and rushed towards the army of dementors. The wind and light was so intense that Harry instinctively closed his eyes. The sounds of hundreds of screams filled the night, they seemed to reverberate off Harry's spine and he put his hands over his ears to block them out. Then, after what seemed like endless hours of screeching, all was silent.
The light began to fade away and the wind started to die down. Harry opened his eyes to see what had happened and was amazed. The bodies of the dementors were lying everywhere, just as lifeless as if they had given the kiss on themselves. The members of the Order were staring at Harry, Susan and Luna all standing very still as if they had just seen a ghost. Harry moved towards them, followed closely by his companions. They reached the broken circle, and stood in silence. McGonagall eventually broke it.
"Well," she said very quietly "If anyone was in doubt of what we told them this evening then this will surely be proof enough."
"We thought if we combined our patronus' it would be strong enough to get rid of them all," said Susan with equal quietness.
"I've never seen patronus' change from their animal form before," said Lupin with a look of awe on his face.
"What do you mean?" asked Harry "They joined together to make one big light. That doesn't seem that strange to me."
"After that," whispered Shacklebolt "They changed. They changed into the three founders themselves. They looked just like that painting in the dungeons. I would never have dreamed it could be possible."
"Yes, well Potter does like to surprise everyone," said Mad Eye gruffly, kicking the body of a dementor roughly.
"We should clear up this mess," said Mr. Weasley "Then get everyone back home. I suspect we could all use a stiff drink after this" Rather than give him the expected reproachful look, Mrs. Weasley just nodded her head in agreement.
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