Chapter 24: Dementors
My delightful creatures, welcome to the next installment of Silver Tongue. I immensely enjoyed writing this chapter so I hope you all enjoy reading it.
I
do not own Harry Potter so do not sue me.
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"Talk"
'Think'
"Parseltongue"
Chapter 24 – Dementors
Harry led the Pack through the train to find a compartment. He passed one after another feeling others in them. He was almost at the end of the train when he paused, feeling two people that shouldn't be there. He opened the door to find Remus and Sirius sitting in it. "What are you two doing here?"
Remus looked up scenting his cub and smiled. He patted the seat in front of him to indicate they should take a seat, while Sirius sat bouncing like an excited five year old looking out the window. Remus shook his head with a fond smile at his mate. Sirius looked better. He'd had a bath and his hair was clean, cut, and brushed so it fell to his shoulders in light waves. The clothes he wore were form fitting so he didn't look as unhealthy as he did in the huge rags he wore at the trial and his skin was clean but he still had a long way to go. Harry was just happy to see a small light in his eye instead of the dead darkness that was there the day before. Being with his mate, for even just one night was already helping him heal.
Harry sat followed by the rest of his Pack. After Draco and Hermione sat next to him on one side, he magically enlarged the compartment in both width and length so Luna could curl into his other side, Neville could sit with Ginny next to Remus, and the twins had already found a place on the floor on either side of his legs to sit so they weren't squished.
Remus waited till they were all seated to talk. "I forgot to tell you that Dumbledore offered me the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. Since Sirius was cleared and he needs to be supervised by someone until the healer clears him, Lucius convinced the school board to allow him to stay with me. Madam Pomfrey will be taking over as his healer."
"You mean we actually will have a DADA teacher who knows what the hell their teaching?" Fred piped in from the floor. George gripped his brother in fake shock and joy.
"Language." Ramus chided him with a scowl, though Harry could feel his magic dance in amusement at the twin's antics.
"English." Sirius randomly, he had a large lopsided grin on his face. Remus sent a small half-hearted glare at his mate.
"French." Luna chirped playing alone. Sirius turned his smile to her. She giggled at Remus who turned his glare on her, a smile tugging at his lips.
"Latin." George called next. Fred grinned at his brother and Harry chuckled.
Remus looked up the ceiling like he was asking for patience, though Harry saw the smallest of smiles brake onto his lips. "What am I going to do with you all?"
"If you're a werewolf, does that mean you see Harry as Pack?" Luna asked randomly causing everyone to look at her wondering what the hell she was thinking to ask such a random question. She ignored the looks and turned to look up at Harry with big puppy eyes. He felt slightly unnerved knowing he was most likely going to agree with whatever she wanted from just that look. "Can we adopt them into the Pack Alpha? Can we keep them? Please?"
"Alpha? Pack? Adopt?" Sirius looked confused. 'Did he look like a lost pet?'
"Adopt?" Remus looked more amused at that. Harry had already told him all about the Pack and his plans for the wizarding world. He turned his amused gaze to Harry. "Am I adopted into your Pack?"
Harry let a loud laugh out. "Do you want to be adopted? We can adopt you if you like."
"Yay! We get to keep them!" Luna threw her hands up in joy, her eyes twinkling in excitement. "We have to get them a room set up in our rooms and we have to introduce them to the others. Oh, they will just love you two. Maybe you guys can train with us too. Alpha, Alpha, Alpha, when do-" Harry didn't know a person could talk so fast and so long without breathing but Luna did. He put his hand over her mouth to stop her even as she continued to pull on his school robes.
"Luna love, you need to slow your speech down and breathe." She nodded but he still held his hand over her mouth. The other looked on in amusement. "Now we don't have to set a room up for them. They will have their own rooms given to them that can be connected to our rooms. Remember that the founders all had their personal rooms connected to our rooms. Yes, we will introduce them and yes, I think they will like each other well enough. Now if they want to train with us, then they can but that is up to them." He slowly took his hand away from her. She stayed still just looking at him with her big eyes.
"Anything from the trolley?" The candy lady called from the hallway.
"Saved by the yell." Hermione giggled standing up. Harry held out his money pouch to her. Hermione, now used to him paying for everything when one of them were with him, just took it and left to get things for them all.
"Cub you are already Pack to me." Remus sadly smiled. "I wish I found a way around the protections to see you when you were growing up and I wish I knew what happened to everything I sent you but you have always and will always be my cub."
"Hermione and I are going to have to make you both a Pack band." Harry leaned back into the seat to accommodate Luna's need to snuggle into his lap she seemed to have developed since joining the Pck.
"Pack band? I think you left those out." Remus didn't remember Harry ever telling him of them.
Harry pulled his school robe off, to show his sleeveless emerald shirt, Amara curled around his neck, and an arm band made of obsidian with silver borders and a Celtic wolf howling to the full moon. The moon having been made from a moonstone. Fred slid his own robe down to show he also wore a sleeveless shirt, his the shifting grey they all favored in one form or another, and his own simpler obsidian arm band with the Celtic wolf howling carved into it but with emerald eyes. Ginny was the last to show off her 'Pack band'. She reached across Neville so she could show Remus and Sirius her slender obsidian rings with a Celtic wolf howling inlayed into an emerald stone.
Sirius whistled impressed at the work. "Those are some nice pieces."
Remus nodded in agreement to his mate's words. Ginny pulled her hand back into her lap with a happy smile. "Remus turned his gaze back to Harry. "You said you made them? You and Hermione?"
Draco was the one to answer. "Yeah. They double as port keys."
"Port keys to where?" Remus reached out to touch Fred's arm band.
"To other members of the Pack." Hermione pulled the door open with her foot as her arms were full with treats. Luna paused in her explanation to accept two cauldron cakes and a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans Hermione handed to her. "Alpha found a way to link all of us to the bands."
"Making port keys is illegal. The ministry is the only authorized place to get them. If anyone finds out you did that you will get into big trouble." Remus watched them worried.
Hermione rolled her eyes at the werewolf. She handed Harry his money pouch along with a few blood pops, two chocolate frogs and a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. He smiled in thanks. Draco took his four chocolate frogs and box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans from her lap as she handed the twins their three chocolate frogs and box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans each. Ginny eagerly took her two sugar quills and two chocolate frogs from Hermione. Neville was the last to get his treats; a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, a chocolate frog, and a pumpkin pastry. Hermione double checked that the Pack had their treats before offering Sirius and Remus two chocolate frogs and a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans each. They took them with thanks.
Harry opened his first blood pop. "Remus the thing about our port keys is that they can only be activated by us. They have protections weaved into them. No one can take them from us, no one can activate them, they can not be damaged or destroyed, and they have tracking charms in them for emergencies, though only we can track them. No one outside of this room knows these are for anything other than fashion."
"When did you make these? How did you make them?" Remus knew that port keys took a lot of power to make.
"Magic is easy to me Moony." Harry shrugged on shoulder in a lazy manner. "All I have to do is direct my will and magic just shapes how I want it to."
Hermione pulled Remus into a conversation, explaining the different cores like the founders did. Harry ignored them. He pulled out a book he hadn't in a while, his blood magic book. Luna snuggled into his side again as he opened the book to the last page he had read to refresh his memory.
Spilt-drop
'
For this exercise you will be learning spilt-blood. You will need blood of someone else, preferably from a willing giver this time. Get a mirror, a different one than the one you use with your own blood, and add a drop of this person's blood to the mirror. Concentrate on looking through their eyes. It might take a few tries but after practice you should be able to hold it. The goal is to be able to see through the person's eyes for an hour.'
Harry did that and continued to practice it in between his experimentation of small forms of Blood Magic.
'When you feel you are comfortable with a single drop of someone else's blood in the mirror, do the exercise with three drops. This will give you more control of what you see but also lets you hear what is going on around that person. As time passes and you practice more, add two more drops. Do not go over five drops though. You want to be a bystander, not control the person.'
Harry had also practiced that. The last time was two days ago, when he used the last vile of blood his Pack had given him. He had watched Neville go through the plants he had and made a list of plants he didn't have but wanted to grow in the Pack's greenhouse room. He already had the plants Neville didn't have ordered and they should show up in a few days. The conversations lulled around him as he moved onto the new exercise.
'The next part of this exercise is controlling the person through the mirror. Add six drops to the mirror. This sixth drop will give you the slimmest control over the person's movement. The person won't notice anything amiss unless an order/suggestion is given that is out of their character. You are to plant little suggestions for them to follow with this exercise. Start small before you work bigger.'
Harry blinked once before rereading the paragraph. That was one exercise he was not going to be practicing on his Pack. He closed his book with a soundless sigh. His head fell back to rest against the cushioned head rest. He felt Luna move once again to reposition herself. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, his mind spinning to find a solution to the snag he found in his training.
Harry lost track of time just sitting with his eyes closed, basking in the feel of his Pack and riddling through his thoughts. He had slowly started to drift off to sleep when he felt it. It was cold. A sensation ran down his spine and deep into his bones. It felt like he was frozen from his very core. He snapped his eyes open when Sirius whimpered. Sirius was pressed into the seat curled up into a tight ball. Neville and Luna were both shaking; eyes flashing between dazed and alert like they were trying to wake from a deep thought. Fear raced through the bond. A fear so pronounced it gripped Harry stronger than the ice that settled in his core and blood. His magic was released from the restraints he put them in. He felt the warmth flow through his veins battling the burning, scaring ice. His eyes bathed the compartment with an eerie green glow when the lights flickered out. He heard Hermione ask what was happening in a panicked voice but he didn't pull his attention from the source of the cold as it came closer to the door.
The door iced over when a black shadow of a skeletal hand slowly slid it open. Harry pushed his flaming magic at the creature when a female's scream reached his ears and resonated in his head. His instincts to protect his Pack added to the fire running through him and the attack got stronger. The creature pushed back. Icy magic pushed and fought against his own, trying to dominate. The scream got louder as did the fear through the bond. He felt himself slowly slipping into a drowning darkness of ice as he lost ground. His magic was being defeated, being developed in the icy cold. This creature was ancient, with magic older and more powerful than anything he ever felt or heard about before. Harry felt the cold abruptly leave as the darkness came rushing to meet him. He heard one last scream but the fear was slowly fading, turning to worry, before he felt and heard no more.
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Harry didn't know much beyond the darkness he rested in and the comforting hand running through his hair. He dug for the bond he shared with his Pack but couldn't grasp it. He pulled for his magic but he only felt a soft whispered touch of warmth instead of the blaze of flames he was used to. He could feel the frigid cold still in his core and veins though. It wasn't getting stronger but it wasn't fading either.
A distant muttering pulled him from his thoughts. People were speaking but for the life of him he couldn't truly hear them. He felt for his bond once again. He strained and clawed for it. He needed it. His Pack being in danger was the last thing he remembered. He needed to know they were okay. He finally grasped the bond. Feelings flooded him, making his head spin. Fear, anger, worry, and pain were the main feelings he could sort out but he could feel the touch of loss filter through too.
He concentrated on the bond to help drag his mind back into the waking world. Sounds burst in his ears. They were all speaking at once. He left his eyes closed, not feeling strong enough to open them yet. He could hear and feel where each of his Pack members were along with three who weren't officially Pack yet. He was laying on one of the seats with a lap as a pillow. Sirius was the one running his hand through his hair. Amara was around his neck hissing encouragements in his ear. Luna had a grip on his right hand like she was afraid he would disappear, her head on his thigh as shivers ravaged through her body. Ginny had his left hand but was also holding onto the shaking Neville. The twins were standing, guarding he corrected himself, them while Draco and Hermione stood by the door arguing with Severus about something. The words were too loud and hurt his head so he didn't even try to decipher them. Remus was beside Severus, anger pouring off him in waves. Harry could even feel the wolf wanting out even though the full moon was a week ago.
"Quiet." Harry didn't think anyone would hear his trembling horsed voice but he was proven wrong when everything froze in silence. Harry turned his attention to the world around them when he finished determining His pack were safe. The gentle rocking sensation told him they were still on the train. He felt the cold still in the air so he wasn't out for long but he didn't feel the creatures. They were gone. Harry relaxed causing Sirius to start running his hand through his hair again. Harry mustered up the strength to open his eyes.
Everyone was still in their spots just watching him. Luna and Ginny had tears falling from their eyes watching him with relief. Neville had his head down, hiding his face but he leaned forward into Ginny's embrace as tension left his shoulders. Fred and George sighed in unison falling into each other like they lost all strength in their legs. Draco lost all the tension in his body, sagging so much that he leaned back into Severus who wrapped an arm around his shoulders to keep him steady. Hermione busted down crying, her sobs ripping through her violently. Remus closed his eyes, muttering something that sounded like a thankful prayer.
"Alpha?" Luna's voice broke. Her soft voice was full of fear and sorrow. Harry lifted his hand, with hers still holding it, to smooth her left cheek.
"I'm here." He smiled the best he could do with the little strength he had slowly slipping away. His hand fell from her cheek back into his lap. "I'm tired but I'm here."
"You're lucky to be." Severus sat Draco down while Remus helped Hermione calm her sobs. "From what I have been told you fought against the dementor with pure magic." Harry let his confusion leak through the bond.
"Alpha," Harry turned to look at Fred. "We could see your magic, yours and the dementor's. They were fighting. You were losing. You held it off though until Remus could send it away with a charm but you passed out. We couldn't feel you. None of us could. You were gone."
"Cub, you were dead." Remus choked on the words but Harry understood them. "I don't know how as it didn't take your soul but your heart stopped along with your breath. You were dead for five minutes. Nothing we did helped."
The rest of the ride was in silence. Harry spent the time processing what he had been told as he swallowed potion after potion his godfather handed him. His Pack sat as close as they could, all of them touching him in one way or another. He sat up with Sirius holding him to his side. Luna was curled in his lap, head on his left shoulder. Neville took the seat next to him holding on to his arm with a death grip. Ginny was curled up in Neville's lap, her head on Harry's right shoulder. The twins were squished together sitting on the floor using his right leg as a head rest. Hermione sat between his legs, her back to him but her hand holding his right on her shoulder. Draco took his left leg to lay his back against. Evan Remus had one of his legs stretched out so his foot was touching Harry's. The only one who wasn't in constant contact was Severus but that was only because the man was giving him potions, casting diagnostic spells, and checking his pulse non-stop. The only thing he could feel thankful about was that Nightshade was sleeping in his trunk and Hedwig was already at Hogwarts so neither of them had to endure the cold the dementors had brought with them.
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Harry had convinced the others that they needed to show a strong front to the school like they had for the past two years. They wouldn't agree until Harry fully opened his side of the bond to show that he was fine. Remus, Sirius, and Severus were harder to convince but with vows from the others to keep perfect track of Harry they agreed to allow them to go to the welcoming feast and sit at their assigned house table. Luna stuck to him but he didn't mind. It helped the others.
The sorting and dinner ended quickly. Dumbledore stood at the end. "Now that we all are full I have a few announcements to make. The first is Mr. Filch wants to remind all students that wondering the halls past curfew is prohibited and that a new list of banned items can be found in his office. Now the forbidden forest is still forbidden. The last thing children is that in light of new evidence the Ministry has posted dementors around the school ground to protect us and look for Peter Pettigrew. They won't come onto the grounds and they will not interfere with our day to day lives, but dementors are vile creatures who don't care to determine the innocent from the guilty. Do not go looking for them." His sober face broke out into a smile. "Sleep well children and enjoy your weekend."
Harry felt like strangling the old goat as he made his way to his Raven's common room. He repeated the same procedure as the year before. He introduced himself as the King of Ravenclaw and Slytherin and gave them the rules. He spent twenty minutes greeting and mingling with anyone who came up to him. He soon felt the others getting fidgety through the bond so he wished his Ravens a good night. That night they charmed three of the beds together so they could all sleep side by side.
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There you all go. I know none of you expected this and many of you must hate me for doing it but it had to be done to work with the story line I have written up. Please review, they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. That and they help me improve my story.