Lupin grasped the lid of the packing case and pulled.
A Dementor rose slowly from the box, its hooded face turned toward Harry, one glistening, scabbed hand gripping its cloak. The lamps around the classroom flickered and went out. The Dementor stepped from the box and started to sweep silently toward Harry, drawing a deep, rattling breath. A wave of piercing cold broke over him -
"Expecto patronum!" Harry yelled. "Expecto patronum! Expecto -"
But the classroom and the Dementor were dissolving... Harry was falling again through thick white fog, and his mother's voice was louder than ever, echoing inside his head - "Not Harry! Not Harry! Please - I'll do anything -"
"Stand aside - stand aside, girl -"
"Harry!"
Arabelle looked around, seeing Harry on the floor, she realised that she saw everything Harry did when he was facing the Dementors. The classroom lamps were alight again.
Arabelle went up to Harry, helping him.
"Sorry," Harry muttered, sitting up, sweat trickled down behind his glasses.
"Are you all right?" said Lupin.
"Yes..." Harry pulled himself up on one of the desks and leaned against it.
"Here -" Lupin handed him a Chocolate Frog. "Eat this before we try again. I didn't expect you to do it your first time; in fact, I would have been astounded if you had."
"It's getting worse," Harry muttered, biting off the Frog's head. Arabelle rubbed his back. "I could hear her louder that time - and him Voldemort -"
Lupin looked paler than usual.
"Harry, if you don't want to continue, I will more than understand -"
"I do!" said Harry fiercely, stuffing the rest of the Chocolate Frog into his mouth. "I've got to! What if the Dementors turn up at our match against Ravenclaw? I can't afford to fall off again. If we lose this game we've lost the Quidditch Cup!"
"All right then..." said Lupin. "You might want to select another memory, a happy memory, I mean, to concentrate on... That one doesn't seem to have been strong enough..."
Harry gripped his wand tightly again and took up his position in the middle of the classroom.
"Ready?" said Lupin, gripping the box lid.
"Ready," said Harry.
"Go!" said Lupin, pulling off the lid. The room went icily cold and dark once more. The Dementor glided forward, drawing its breath; one rotting hand was extending toward Harry -
"Expecto patronum!" Harry yelled.
"Expecto patronum! Expecto Pat -"
White fog obscured his senses... big, blurred shapes were moving around him... then came a new voice, a man's voice, shouting, panicking -
"Lily, Keira, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off -"
The sounds of someone stumbling from a room - a door bursting open - a cackle of high-
pitched laughter -
"Harry! Harry... wake up..."
Arabelle came back to her senses and saw that Lupin was tapping Harry hard on the face. Arabelle quickly went to Harry, pulling his head onto her lap, she began to tap his cheeks, much softer than Lupin, then she called his name quietly a few times before he stirred in her arms.
"I heard my dad," Harry mumbled. "That's the first time I've ever heard him - he tried to take on Voldemort himself, to give my mum time to run for it..."
"Oh Harry..." said Arabelle, feeling bad for the boy, she didn't know how to tell him that she saw that too, that she heard her godfather for the first time too.
She saw Harry trying to get up and wipe his tears without being noticed. She sat closer to him and wiped them. Harry gave her a weak smile.
"You heard James?" said Lupin in a strange voice.
"Yeah..." face dry, Harry looked up "Why - you didn't know my dad, did you?"
"I - I did, as a matter of fact," said Lupin. "We were friends at Hogwarts. Listen, Harry - perhaps we should leave it here for tonight. This charm is ridiculously advanced... I shouldn't
have suggested putting you through this..."
"No!" said Harry. He got up again. "I'll have one more go! I'm not thinking of happy enough things, that's what it is... hang on..."
Arabelle stood up, crossing her arms, looking at Harry. She felt the urge to tell him that he had done enough for today but decided not too after seeing how determined he looked.
She thought about the memory again, her godfather had mentioned her mother. Keira. She sighed, deciding to not think about it for now. Instead she turned her focus back at Harry. Harry got to his feet and faced the packing case once more.
"Ready?" said Lupin, who looked as though he were doing this against his better judgment.
"Concentrating hard? All right - go!"
He pulled off the lid of the case for the third time, and the Dementor rose out of it; the room fell cold and dark -
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry bellowed. "EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
The screaming inside Harry's head had started again, he heard the faint screaming of his godmother too now - except this time, it sounded as though it were coming from a badly tuned radio - softer and louder and softer again... and he could still see the Dementor... it had halted... and then a huge, silver shadow came bursting out of the end of Harry's wand, to hover between him and the Dementor.
Arabelle came back to her senses, then looked at the scene infront of her.
"Riddikulus!" roared Lupin, springing forward.
There was a loud crack, and Harry's cloudy Patronus vanished along with the Dementor. Arabelle immediately went to him, smiling widely.
"That was amazing Harry!" Arabelle whispered. Harry smiled back weakly as he sank into a chair, looking exhausted. he saw Professor Lupin forcing the Boggart back into the packing case with his wand; it
had turned into a silvery orb again.
"Excellent!" Lupin said, striding over to where Harry sat. "Excellent, Harry! That was definitely a start!"
"Can we have another go? Just one more go?"
"Not now," said Lupin firmly. "You've had enough for one night. Here -"
He handed Harry a large bar of Honeydukes' best chocolate.
"Eat the lot, or Madam Pomfrey will be after my blood. Same time next week?"
"Okay," said Harry. He took a bite of the chocolate then turned it a little so she could take a bite out of it, they both calmly ate the choclate and watched Lupin extinguishing the lamps that had rekindled with the disappearance of the Dementor. A thought had just occurred to him.
"Professor Lupin?" he said. "If you knew my dad, you must've known Sirius Black as well."
Lupin turned very quickly.
"What gives you that idea?" he said sharply.
"Nothing - I mean, I just knew they were friends at Hogwarts too..." said Harry.
Lupin's face relaxed.
"Yes, I knew him," he said shortly. "Or I thought I did. You'd better be off, Harry, Arabelle, it's getting late."
Both of them left the classroom, walking along the corridor and around a corner, then took a detour behind a suit of armor and sank down on its plinth to finish their chocolates.
Arabelle looked at her side to see Harry looking miserable, she took his hand making him look up. "Wanna talk about it?" She asked him softly.
Harry shoke his head no. Arabelle looked down muttering "mhm." laying her head on his shoulder. He edged closer to her, putting his head on hers and holding her other hand in his. Both sighed in content, shuffling closer to eachother. Both felt at comfort the most right now than they had this whole year.
What they didn't know was that someone was watching them this whole time.