Just as Darcie began her battle against the Death Eaters at the cemetery, the Lethifold apparated to Hogwarts and dropped the people it carried like bugs.
Lilith had no love for any person.
All she knew was hunger; flesh and blood to be consumed as nutrition.
Other than Darcie, whose Familiar she was, Lilith only listened to Kai's commands. Not because she couldn't deny his requests, but because, deep down, she knew it would be Darcie who would ultimately benefit through those actions.
So, Lilith played along.
She ignored it when the monster took full control over her master, replacing her mind and body. She ignored it when he did unthinkable acts in that body, still donning her around his shoulders. She ignored… everything, waiting for her master to return.
The fact that, with time, her master was regaining her original mind and personality, despite the monster still parasitizing her, also affected Lilith's decision to play along.
But these… bugs, whom her master called friends…
Lilith vomited, spraying the ground with blood, as she thought of them.
Then, following the command that the monster had left for her, she cracked out of existence, disapparating.
…
The Lethifold's disgust for human contact, other than when consuming them, had resulted in an incomprehensible, unexpected disaster.
Black, who had been carrying Daphne, was thrown near Hagrid's Hut, along with Lupin's body, the snow barely dampening the crash.
Still, it was loud enough for Hagrid to come bolting out of the hut, his eyes widening the moment they reflected the three people.
Ron, Draco, and Hermione were thrown right under the Whomping Willow.
They hadn't even properly groaned in pain when the massive tree lashed out with its largest and longest branches.
Draco, whose leg was already busted, was sent rolling downhill.
Ron would have suffered an even worse fate if it hadn't been for Werewolf Hermione coming between him and a branch.
As the iron-like branch struck Hermione's stomach, where a wooden splinter had already left behind a hole with congealed blood, she let out a painful howl that woke up half of Hogwarts.
Whomping Willow's branch continued uninterrupted, though, lifting both her and Ron off their feet and sending them flying.
Meanwhile, Harry's body came to a grunting stop as he struck the trunk of a massive tree after rolling downhill.
Even before he could properly register the pain, he felt… cold.
At some point in time, when he had been fighting Voldemort, he had lost his robe. So, the suddenness of the cold's arrival didn't alarm him. Instead, his hands fumbled to pick up his cracked glasses, first putting them on his face.
And the moment he did so… the nature of the cold biting his bones… changed as well.
Through the cracked glasses, Harry saw a sheet of ice in front of him. It seemed he had rolled down the hill that led to the lake. But, even though it was nighttime, the frozen lake's color… was much, much darker than it should have been. Not only that, but, now and then, he could see blobs of blackness pulsating in it, like dark fireflies.
Then, a moaning sound caught Harry's eye. Sirius was lying at the edge of the lake, his face reflecting nothing but pure terror, looking up. Harry's heart sank. Slowly, as if he had lost control of his head, he began looking up, realizing what the blobs of blackness he had seen in the frozen lake were.
They were here.
Hundreds of them.
Their black cloaks were billowing, bringing terrifying cold.
And they were flying in circles, becoming a black storm of fear.
Dementors!
The moment Harry saw them, he also realized the reason for their sudden appearance.
Sirius's presence outside the castle, alone, must have already spooked the enchanted Cabinets that housed the strange Boggarts.
Harry recalled his Quidditch match, which had attracted a Cabinet.
Now, he had good reason to believe that it had been because of Sirius coming to watch him play Quidditch. Which meant, as a dog, Sirius must have left the castle alone to come to the Quidditch Pitch.
If the Cabinets could latch onto Sirius' fear from that far, then they must have certainly done so when Sirius had been waiting near the Whomping Willow, too.
Which meant the Boggarts Dementors had been waiting for Sirius to show up since then.
Which also meant, in Dumbledore's absence, they would continue to do so what they had been ordered to do…
No… Harry's mouth moved in pure dread as he looked for his wand. No…
The storm of Dementors fell upon Sirius, making him cry for help.
Harry grabbed the wand and bolted toward Sirius, his stomach turning inside out as cold penetrated his bones and mist blurred his vision.
No… Not Sirius, too…
"Leave him alone! He's innocent!" Harry shouted, pointing his wand at them. "Expecto Patronum!"
A thin wisp of silver escaped his wand and hovered like mist before him.
It would have worked fine if Harry had been facing an ordinary Boggart Dementor, or even a real Dementor.
Against hundreds of them…
Even before Harry reached Sirius, who was now lying on the ground with a dozen Dementors looming over him, thin, slimy hands grabbed him from behind, their scabbed fingers wrapping around his throat.
The formless Patronus lingered in front of him, keeping a few Dementors away, but… it was already dissipating.
Harry's vision blurred even more.
He felt like he was dreaming many dreams. His mother was screaming, pleading for him as Voldemort killed her. A flash of green light hit Lupin, and he fell… his eyes reflecting Harry's face. Bright, blue motes of light were escaping Sirius's mouth as a featureless, horrifying mouth lingered over his face.
Why… Sirius was innocent… Lupin died proving that…
No… He couldn't lose Sirius, too… Or… It would be so… pointless…
"Ex… pecto… Patronum…"
Nothing happened.
Harry repeated the spell like a dreaming man's mumbles.
No hope remained within him anymore, but only a desire… to save Sirius.
And, as Harry saw Sirius' body go still, sadness, from the depths of his heart, came oozing out, overwhelming everything.
This should have been a death knell for both him and Sirius.
However, in that moment, Harry remembered something extraordinary.
He had sensed this sadness before… in Black, when he had cast a full Patronus!
And if Black could cast the Spell with that sadness, then… so could he… so could he…
"EXPECTO!" Harry yelled, the sadness and his desire to see what lay beyond it fueling his emotions. "PATRONUM!"
And from the end of his wand burst, not a shapeless cloud of mist, but a blinding, dazzling, silver animal.
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