Theodore cradled the heavily bleeding girl in his arms as she gasped for air, blood pouring from all over her body. Theodore was freaking out as he pulled his wand from his pocket and went to try and heal her wounds but the girl stopped him
"Help Sirius first" she choked out, blood spilling from her rosy lips as her eyes fluttered, begging to shut as she denied them the relief of closing.
"What? NO!" Theodore exclaimed and began to heal her, her head rolled back and she looked around trying to find Sirius, and she saw him on his knees cradling his head
"si-sirius" she choked out and tried to reach out for him as he began to freak out
"Nooo," he moaned. "Nooo... please..." And then Kirra saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake toward them. And luckily, she hadn't been the only one to spot them, Harry had spotted them too.
He spun around, the familiar, icy cold penetrating his insides, fog starting to obscure his vision; more were appearing out of the darkness on every side; they were encircling them...
"Hermione, think of something happy!" Harry yelled, raising his wand, blinking furiously to try and clear his vision, shaking his head to rid it of the faint screaming that had started inside it — and the sound of sobs falling from his sisters lips a few meters ahead of them
Theodore had tears falling from his eyes as he tried to heal the girl, and slowly her wounds were beginning to close up, "shit shit shit shit" he began to curse as he tried his best to focus on healing her wounds
Kirra grabbed his hand softly in her own, "I-im fine Theo" she whispered to him, trying her best to calm the boy down
"Don't tell me that you are fine, I can see the god damn blood princess" Theodore scowled angrily as he continued to chant the words under his breath, "I cant believe that you have been trying to deal with this by yourself, this all could have been prevented"
"Are you mad at me?" She asked him softly, only now tears came to the girls eyes and Theodore felt his insides shatter all throughout his body.
He dropped his wand and held her face in her hands, "I could never be mad at you Kirra, you just make stupid choices sometimes, when are you going to get it in that head of yours that you have people to help you. Me... Riddle... Rowle. Don't you get that we would destroy the whole god damn world just to make sure that you were safe?"
"I don't deserve that" she whispered out to him and his hands fell from her face and he grabbed his wand once more and continued to heal the girl
"Kirra Potter, you deserve the whole world. And the three of us are going to make sure that you bloody get it" He told her and she couldn't stop the small smile from tugging on her lips
"I love you Theo" she whispered to him and he didn't say anything back.
His sudden silence was not because he did not love her back... It was because the love that he held for her was a different kind of love, it was the type of love that only comes once in a life time; and how cruel of the gods it was to curse her to fall for another instead of the boy who believed her to be the only beautiful thing left in this cruel world.
The dementors drew closer and closer, "Harry, the spell, just like Lupin taught you" Kirra choked out to her brother
Harry nodded his head softly and tried to think of his happiest memory, "Expecto patronum! Expecto patronum!" Black gave a shudder, rolled over, and lay motionless on the ground, pale as death.
"Expecto patronum! Hermione, help me! Expecto patronum!"
"Expecto —" Hermione whispered, "expecto — expecto —" But she couldn't do it, Kirra tried to help him but she could barely move, not even having enough strength to draw her wand from her pocket, she shut her eyes tightly, not baring to see the sight in front of her.
The Dementors were closing in, barely ten feet from them. They formed a solid wall around Sirius, Kirra, Theodore, Harry and Hermione, and were getting closer... "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry yelled, trying to blot the screaming from his ears. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
A thin wisp of silver escaped his wand and hovered like mist before him. At the same moment, Harry felt Hermione collapse next to him and Theodore and Kirra were shuddering as they held each other close.
He was alone... completely alone... "Expecto — expecto patronum —" Harry felt his knees hit the cold grass. Fog was clouding his eyes. With a huge effort, he fought to remember — Sirius was innocent — innocent — We'll be okay — I'm going to live with him— "Expecto patronum!" he gasped.
By the feeble light of his formless Patronus, he saw a Dementor halt, very close to him. It couldn't walk through the cloud of silver mist Harry 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 —" He could feet them watching him, hear their rattling breath like an evil wind around him. The nearest Dementor seemed to be considering him. 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. Harry was desperate for his sisters help, he looked over to her and her eyes were shut and she looked as if she were dead as blood spilled from various parts of her body.
He looked back at the dementor, there was a mouth... a gaping, shapeless hole, sucking the air with the sound of a death rattle. A paralyzing terror filled Harry so that he couldn't move or speak. His Patronus flickered and died. White fog was blinding him. He had to fight... expecto patronum... he couldn't see... and in the distance, he heard the familiar screaming... expecto patronum... he groped in the mist for Sirius, and found his arm... they weren't going to take him...
But a pair of strong, clammy hands suddenly attached themselves around Harry's neck. They were forcing his face upward... He could feel its breath... It was going to get rid of him first...He could feel its putrid breath... His mother was screaming in his ears... She was going to be the last thing he ever heard — And then, through the fog that was drowning him, he thought he saw a silvery light growing brighter and brighter...
He felt himself fall forward onto the grass... Facedown, too weak to move, sick and shaking, Harry opened his eyes. The Dementor must have released him. The blinding light was illuminating the grass around him... The screaming had stopped, the cold was ebbing away...
Something was driving the Dementors back... They were leaving... The air was warm again... With every ounce of strength he could muster, Harry raised his head a few inches and saw a gigantic dragon amid the light, it was larger than the whole lake in front of them... Eyes blurred with sweat, It was as bright as a unicorn... Fighting to stay conscious, Harry watched it flap its wings, and then he saw his sister struggling to stand with her wand pointed towards them.
He watched in horror as the girl then dropped her wand and fell to the ground. He felt the last of his strength leave him, and his head hit the ground as he fainted.
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"Shocking business... shocking... miracle none of them died... never heard the like... by thunder, it was lucky you were there, Snape..."
"Thank you, Minister."
"Order of Merlin, Second Class, I'd say. First Class, if I can wangle it!"
"Thank you very much indeed, Minister."
"Nasty cut you've got there... Black's work, I suppose?"
"As a matter of fact, it was Miss Potter,"
"No!"
"Black had bewitched her, I saw it immediately. A Confundus Charm, to judge by her behavior. She and the other students, who were clearly under the same charm, seemed to think there was a possibility he was innocent. They weren't responsible for their actions. On the other hand, their interference might have permitted Black to escape... They obviously thought they were going to catch Black single-handed."
Fudge looked shocked as Snape continued talking, "They've got away with a great deal before now... I'm afraid it's given them a rather high opinion of themselves... and of course both of the Potters have always been allowed an extraordinary amount of license by the headmaster —"
"Ah, well, Snape... Kirra and Harry Potter, you know... we've all got a bit of a blind spot where they are concerned."
"And yet — is it good for them to be given so much special treatment? Personally, I try and treat them both like any other student. And any other student would be suspended — at the very least — for leading their friends into such danger. Consider, Minister — against all school rules — after all the precautions put in place for their protection — out-of-bounds, at night, consorting with a werewolf and a murderer — and I have reason to believe they have been visiting Hogsmeade illegally too —"
"Well, well... we shall see, Snape, we shall see... The two children has undoubtedly been foolish..." Harry and Kirra both lay listening with their eyes tight shut, in the beds next to each other.
She felt very groggy. The words she was hearingseemed to be traveling very slowly from her ears to her brain, so that it was difficult to understand... Her limbs felt like lead; her eyelids too heavy to lift... She wanted to lie here, on this comfortable bed, forever...
"What amazes me most is the behavior of the Dementors... you've really no idea what made them retreat, Snape?"
"No, Minister... by the time I had come 'round they were heading back to their positions at the entrances... though due to past circumstances, it is very likely that the Potter girl was the one to ward off the dementors"
"Extraordinary. And yet Black, and Harry, Kirra and the other two —"
"All unconscious by the time I reached them. I bound and gagged Black, naturally, conjured stretchers, and brought them all straight back to the castle." There was a pause. Kirra's brain seemed to be moving a little faster, and as it did, a gnawing sensation grew in the pit of her stomach...
She opened his eyes. Everything was slightly blurred but her vision adjusted. She was lying in the dark hospital wing. At the very end of the ward, she could make out Madam Pomfrey with her back to her, bending over a bed.
She noticed that Harry and Theodore were on the two beds either side of her. And over where madam Pomfrey was, Ron's red hair was visible beneath Madam Pomfrey's arm. Harry also sat up and the two twins looked around. In the bed to Harry's right lay Hermione.
Kirra turned to Theodore. Moonlight was falling across his bed. His eyes were open too. He looked extremely worried, and when he saw that Kirra was awake, pressed a finger to his lips, then pointed to the hospital wing door.
It was ajar, and the voices of Cornelius Fudge and Snape were coming through it from the corridor outside. Madam Pomfrey now came walking briskly up the dark ward to Harry's and Kirra's beds.
She turned to to look at her. She was carrying two of the largest blocks of chocolate she had ever seen in her life. It looked like a small boulder. "Ah, you're both awake!" she said briskly. She placed the chocolate on each of the twins bedside tables and began breaking it apart with a small hammer.
"How's Ron?" said Kirra, Harry and Hermione together.
"He'll live," said Madam Pomfrey grimly.
"As for you four, you'll be staying here until I'm satisfied you're — Potter, what do you think you're doing?" Kirra was sitting up and picking up her wand.
"I need to see the headmaster," she said.
"Potter," said Madam Pomfrey soothingly, "it's all right. They've got Black. He's locked away upstairs. The Dementors will be performing the kiss any moment now —"
"WHAT?" Kirra jumped up out of bed; Harry, Theodore and Hermione had done the same. But her shout had been heard in the corridor outside; next second, Cornelius Fudge and Snape had entered the ward.
"Kirra, Kirra, what's this?" said Fudge, looking agitated. "You should be in bed — has he had any chocolate?" he asked Madam Pomfrey anxiously.
"Minister, listen!" Kirra said. "Sirius Black's innocent! Peter Pettigrew faked his own death! We saw him tonight! You can't let the Dementors do that thing to Sirius, he's —" But Fudge was shaking his head with a small smile on his face.
"Kirra, Kirra, you're very confused, you've been through a dreadful ordeal, lie back down, now, we've got everything under control..."
"YOU HAVEN'T!" Kirra yelled. "YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG MAN! SIRIUS WOULD NEVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT"
"Minister, listen, please," Hermione said; she had hurried to Harry's side and was gazing imploringly into Fudge's face. "I saw him too. It was Ron's rat, he's an Animagus, Pettigrew, I mean, and —"
"You see, Minister?" said Snape. "Confunded, all of them... Black's done a very good job on them... and you know her past with the man..."
"WE'RE NOT CONFUNDED!" Harry and Kirra roared.
"Minister! Professor!" said Madam Pomfrey angrily. "I must insist that you leave. Potter is my patient, and she should not be distressed!"
"I'm not distressed, I'm trying to tell them what happened!" Kirra said furiously. "If they'd just listen —" But Madam Pomfrey suddenly stuffed a large chunk of chocolate into Kirra's mouth; she choked, and Pomfey seized the opportunity to force her back onto the bed.
"Now, please, Minister, these children need care. Please leave." The door opened again. It was Dumbledore. Kirra swallowed her mouthful of chocolate with great difficulty and got up again. "Dumbledore, you know that Sirius—"
"For heaven's sake!" said Madam Pomfrey hysterically. "Is this a hospital wing or not?Headmaster, I must insist —"
"My apologies, Poppy, but I need a word with Mr and Miss. Potter and Miss Granger," said Dumbledore calmly. "I have just been talking to Sirius Black —"
"I suppose he's told you the same fairy tale he's planted in Potter's mind?" spat Snape, ignoring the glare from Kirra. "Something about a rat, and Pettigrew being alive —"
"That, indeed, is Black's story," said Dumbledore, surveying Snape closely through his half-moon spectacles.
"And does my evidence count for nothing?" snarled Snape. "Peter Pettigrew was not in the Shrieking Shack, nor did I see any sign of him on the grounds."
"That was because you were knocked out, Professor!" said Hermione earnestly. "You didn't arrive in time to hear."
"Miss Granger, HOLD YOUR TONGUE!"
"Now, Snape," said Fudge, startled, "the young lady is disturbed in her mind, we must make allowances —"
"I would like to speak to Kirra, Harry and Hermione alone," said Dumbledore abruptly.
"Cornelius,Severus, Poppy — please leave us. Theodore, you can stay too if you desire"
"Headmaster!" sputtered Madam Pomfrey. "They need treatment, they need rest —"
"This cannot wait," said Dumbledore. "I must insist." Madam Pomfrey pursed her lips and strode away into her office at the end of the ward, slamming the door behind her. Fudge consulted the large gold pocket watch dangling from his waistcoat.
"The Dementors should have arrived by now," he said. "I'll go and meet them. Dumbledore, I'll see you upstairs." He crossed to the door and held it open for Snape, but Snape hadn't moved.
"You surely don't believe a word of Black's story?" Snape whispered, his eyes fixed on Dumbledore's face. "I wish to speak to Kirra, Mr Nott, Harry and Hermione alone," Dumbledore repeated.
Kirra stuck her tongue out at the Potions master