Harry-Dementor

20- Drunk Dementor

"Of course, Snape. We're friends now," Harry assured him as he left the parchment in the man's hands and turned from the sputtering man trying to protest that remark behind him.

There were actually stairs, but they were dusty enough that Harry was certain no one ever took them. Harry flew down them with his tattered robes flying out behind him until he got to the very bottom of the ministry stairwell. He ghosted through the last door to emerge in a dark corridor. "Stupid prophesy...stupid Dark Lord," Harry mumbled as he followed his dementor instincts through the Department of Mysteries and past a couple Death Eaters lying in wait for a bumbling teenager to sneak by them instead of an invisible dementor.

"How do people navigate this place every day for work?" Harry mumbled as he ghosted through the moving doorways and through the rooms that really wouldn't pass any safety standards in the muggle world.

The Hall of Prophesies gave him pause. There were just so many glass orbs. With a sigh, Harry ghosted through the aisles and by the thousands of prophesies, feeling a slight tug towards the one that pertained to him. "Right...you're the thing that's caused me so much trouble," he grumbled to the innocent looking glass ball with a swirl of mist inside.

The dementor unceremoniously picked up the orb and plopped it into the pocket of his robes. "Right, protect Snape, rescue Moony, and eat a couple Death Eaters," he smiled as he backtracked past the Death Eaters still lying in wait for him and back up to the atrium.

●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

Things weren't going as well in the atrium when Harry arrived again. It seemed that Sirius Black did not understand the meaning of 'wait until midnight' and had called in the Order. A full-out battle was happening in the atrium when Harry ghosted through the stairwell door. It wasn't hard to recognize Snape who was casting curses at Order members with such bad aim that they usually hit Death Eaters...Harry snickered at that. He was making his way to Lupin as surreptitiously as possible.

Instead of dodging the wildly flying curses, Harry made his best attempt possible to get in the way of any of the ones shot by Death Eaters, deflecting them back towards the caster when possible. "You evil bitch!" Sirius yelled at a cackling Bellatrix Lestrange, taunting the crazy woman.

The idiot! Harry thought fondly as he followed Snape's path towards Remus. He was too slow to stop a curse thrown from the Order that clipped Snape's side. "Shite!" Harry rushed forward as Snape's mask fell off and he clutched at a burn on the side of his neck.

"Severus, I didn't know you were here!" Greyback growled with an evil grin as he pulled the man to his feet. "Guard the prisoner, that young auror over there looks tasty. I'm going to go have a nibble."

Harry saw red as Greyback headed towards Nymphadora Tonks who was currently dueling a masked Death Eater. "Keep him safe," Harry growled from behind Snape who jumped at the sound. "I have Greyback." Harry knew Snape couldn't understand him, but he hoped the sentiment was conveyed anyway.

"Stay invisible," the vampire hissed before bending down to sniff Remus, the easiest way for the vampire to know how extensive his injuries were.

"Severus?" Lupin groaned when he realized who was above him. "Greyback grabbed me...I was running an errand for the Order," he coughed.

"Shut it, I'm trying to maintain a cover here. These Gryffindors are going to be the death of me," Snape hissed just as Harry floated away quickly towards the stalking werewolf.

"Ha!" Tonks crowed as her target fell to a stunner.

"Ah, pretty, young, tasty..." Greyback grabbed the metamorphagus from behind, causing her to scream and a few close Order members to try to get to her, but there were too many curses flying. "Your flesh is going to taste magnificent..."