Burnt

Chapter 21

Finally the other heroes arrived to help, but by that time the villains were already retreating. Their plan had clearly been scuppered by the presence of Harry, who knew how to cast a patronus, and Luke, who had enough magic to cast another. 

"What should we do about the dementors?" Harry was still trying to keep his mind on the stags, more powerful than Luke's blue whale though covering less distance, and off the extreme pain in his legs. 

"I... I don't know what we can do about them. Nobody here can see them, but I don't know how to get rid of them." Luke cringed, looking out the window at the dementors against the wall, thankfully away from any doors. "Can they pass through walls?" 

"I've never seen them do that." Harry really didn't want to think of them being able to do such a thing. 

The dementors had been blocked from entering the Hogwarts grounds after the awful Quidditch game, but Harry had no idea how that happened. Perhaps he should have done more research on them, but they scared him, more than the memories they showed him, and he didn't want to think about them more than necessary. 

"Maybe... Bribe them with food?" Harry tried to keep his breathing even. 

"What is food for them?" Dudley looked out the window, afraid. 

He couldn't see the dementors, but he could see the patronuses. From what he and the students of class 1-A could tell, they were like heaters that kept away the unnatural cold. It sounded like they either ate emotions or warmth, maybe the two were tied. 

"... Souls?" Harry suggested with a shrug. 

"Souls and positive emotions, basically you need people." Luke sighed. 

Honestly, he didn't think they should even be used in Azkaban, except perhaps for rape and murder, but he had to admit that it was a good emergency decision. Especially when you know only surface level about them. 

"Potter, Dudley, Luke!" One of the teachers called, thundering footsteps coming from where Dudley and Luke had come from. 

"We're here!" Dudley called as loud as he could, though the heroes were doing their best, most of the villains were escaping, as were a number of the dementors. 

"Are you three alright?" Midnight asked, another hero the three didn't know running alongside her, their costume seeming to be made of dragon scales stitched roughly together to cover most of their skin and face, long, blue hair tied back in bunches. 

"We are, but I don't know about Harry." Luke looked at Harry in worry, obviously he was exhausted in spite the tree of them having been knocked out until pretty recently. 

"I chased away a dementor that came up here, as far as I know that was the only one of them who came up here. I can't move my legs though." Harry shook his head, his tone still a little light as he was still doing his best to keep up the patronuses. 

"Okay, Noire is going to try to pick you up now, let us know if you can't handle it." Midnight gave a small nod to the other hero when Harry agreed. 

The dragon themed hero bent down to pick him up, one arm behind his back. As soon as she touched his legs the patronus around them flickered as the pain became unbearable. 

"No!" Harry yelled, Dudley taking a step back, never having heard Harry shout before. "Fuck! That hurts!" 

Noire backed away, Harry breathing heavily as he tried to calm the pain down. Dudley looked at Harry like he had seen a ghost. Sure, Harry had started talking back, and doing it well, but he had never shouted, let alone sworn. Dudley didn't even know Harry knew how to.