Rosabella Black|Daughter Of Sirius Black|(Book 7)

The Missing Mirror

There were noises of agreement. Dread filled me. To repel dementors we would have to produce Patronuses which would give us away immediately.
    "We're going to have to try to Disapparate, Harry!" Hermione whispered.
Even as she said it, I felt the unnatural cold being spread over the street. Light was sucked from the environment right up to the stars, which vanished. In the pitch blackness, I felt Hermione take hold of my arm and together, we turned on the spot.
The air through which we needed to move, seemed to have become solid. We could not Disapparate. The Death Eaters had cast their charms well. The cold was biting deeper and deeper into my flesh. Ron, Hermione and I retreated down the side street, groping our way along the wall trying not to make a sound.

Then, around the corner, gliding noiselessly, came dementors, ten or more of them. Visible because they were of a denser darkness than our surroundings, with their black cloaks and their scabbed and rotting hands. Could they sense fear in the vicinity? I was sure of it. They seemed to be coming more quickly now, taking those dragging, rattling breaths I detested, tasting despair in the air, closing in. I raised my wand. I could not, would not suffer the Dementor's Kiss, whatever happened afterward. It was of the idea of possibly seeing Rosabella that I thought as I whispered "Expecto Patronum!"
The silver stag burst from my wand and charged. The Dementors scattered and there was a triumphant yell from somewhere out of sight.
   "It's him, down there, down there, I saw his Patronus, it was a stag!"

The Dementors have retreated, the stars were popping out again and the footsteps of the Death Eaters were becoming louder, but before I in my panic could decide what to do, there was a grinding of bolts nearby, a door opened on the left-side of the narrow street.
   "Potter, in here, quick!" A rough voice said.
I obeyed without hesitation. The three of us hurried through the open doorway.
   "Upstairs, keep the Cloak on, keep quiet!" A tall figure muttered, passing us on his way into the street and slammed the door behind him.

I had no idea where we were, but now I saw, by the stuttering light of a single candle, the grubby, sawdust bar of the Hog's Head Inn. We ran behind the counter and through a second doorway, which led to a trickery wooden staircase, that we climbed as fast as we could.
The stairs opened into a sitting room with a durable carpet and a small fireplace, above which hung a single large oil painting of a blonde girl who gazed out at the room with a kind of a vacant sweetness.

Shouts reached from the streets below. Still wearing the Invisibility Cloak on, we hurried toward the grimy window and looked down. Our savior, whom I now recognized as the Hog's Head's barman, was the only person not wearing a hood.
   "So what? So what? You send dementors down my street, I'll send a Patronus back at'em! I'm not having'em near me, I've told you that. I'm not having it!" The barman was bellowing into one of the hooded faces.
   "That wasn't your Patronus. That was a stag. It was Potter's!" A Death Eater said.
   "Stag! Stag! You idiot – Expecto Patronum!" The barman roared as he pulled out his wand.

Something huge and horned erupted from the wand. Head down, it charged toward the High Street, and out of sight.
   "That's not what I saw." The Death Eater said, though was less certainly.   
   "Curfew's been broken, you heard the noise. Someone was out on the streets against regulations –" One of the Death Eaters companions told the barman.
   "If I want to put my cat out, I will, and be damned to your curfew!" The barman shouted.
   "You set off the Caterwauling Charm?" A Death Eater asked
   "What if I did? Going to cart me off to Azkaban? Kill me for sticking my nose out my own front door? Do it, then, if you want to! But I hope for your sakes you haven't pressed your little Dark Marks, and summoned him. He's not going to like being called here, for me and my old cat, is he, now?" The barman said angrily.
   "Don't worry about us. Worry about yourself, breaking curfew!" One of the Death Eaters said.
   "And where will you lot traffic potions and poisons when my pub's closed down? What will happen to your little sidelines then?" The barman said.
   "Are you threatening –?" A Death Eater said.
   "I keep my mouth shut, it's why you come here, isn't it?" The barman said.
   "I still say I saw a stag Patronus!" The first Death Eater shouted.
    "Stag? It's a goat, idiot!" The barman roared.
   "All right, we made a mistake. Break curfew again and we won't be so lenient!" The second Death Eater said