𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐞'𝐬 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞┃𝙁𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙒𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙮

Chapter 33: The Full Moon's Play

"We'd better get them up to the castle and tell someone," said Harry, pushing his hair out of his eyes, trying to think straight. "Come-"

But then, from beyond the range of our vision, we heard a yelping, a whining: a dog in pain...

Dad.

"Sirius," Harry muttered, staring into the darkness.

We set off at a run, Hermione right behind us. The yelping seemed to be coming from the ground near the edge of the lake. We pelted toward it, and we, running flat out, felt the cold without realizing what it must mean-

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

"Nooo," he moaned. "Nooo... please..."

And then I saw them, making me gasp loudly. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake toward us. I spun around, the familiar, icy cold penetrating his insides, fog starting to obscure my vision; more were appearing out of the darkness on every side;

They were encircling us...

"Hermione, Rubi, think of something happy!" Harry yelled, raising his wand, blinking furiously.

I'm going to live with my Dad. We're going to be a proper family...

I forced himself to think of my father, and only my Dad, and began to chant: "Expecto patronum! Expecto patronum!"

My father gave a shudder, rolled over, and lay motionless on the ground, pale as death.

He'll be alright. He'll be living with us.

"Expecto patronum! Hermione, help us! Expecto patronum!"

"Expecto- " Hermione whispered, "expecto - expecto- "

But she couldn't do it. The dementors were closing in, barely ten feet from them. They formed a solid wall around Harry, Hermione and I, and were getting closer...

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry yelled.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" I yelled.

A thin wisp of silver escaped my wand and hovered like mist before me. At the same moment, I felt Hermione collapse next to me. It was just the two of us now.

"Expecto - expecto patronum- "

Harry fell onto his knees, hitting the cold grass. Fog was clouding my eyes. With a huge effort, I fought to remember - my Dad was innocent - innocent - We'll be okay - I'm going to live with him-

"Expecto patronum!" I gasped.

By the feeble light of my formless Patronus, I saw a dementor halt, very close to me. It couldn't walk through the cloud of silver mist I had conjured. A dead, slimy hand slid out from under the cloak. It made a gesture as though to sweep the Patronus aside.

"No - no- " Harry gasped.

"He's innocent... expecto, expecto patronum- " I begged the Dementor to listen to reason. I could feel them watching us, hear their rattling breath like an evil wind around him. The nearest dementor seemed to be considering us. Then it raised both its rotting hands — and lowered its hood.

Where there should have been eyes, there was only thin, gray scabbed skin, stretched blankly over empty sockets. But there was a mouth... a gaping, shapeless hole, sucking the air with the sound of a death rattle.

A paralyzing terror filled me so that I couldn't move or speak. Our Patronus' flick-ered and died. White fog had completely taken over and I felt myself hit the solid ground, losing myself to the darkness. Right before I lost consciousness, a bright light emitted somewhere, but before I could register what was happening, I was gone.