Brighter Than the Sun

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Aisling, your bow!" Sirius bellowed, and I nocked an arrow, sending it at a nearby Dementor and vaporizing it.

"Hermione, think of something happy!" Harry yelled, raising his wand. "Expecto patronum! Expecto patronum!"

Sirus gave a shudder, rolled over, and lay motionless on the ground, pale as death.

He'll be all right. I'm going to go and live with him, I thought.

"Expecto patronum! Hermione, Ash, help me! Expecto patronum!"

I dropped my bow and picked up the chant. "Expecto Patronum!

"Expecto —" Hermione whispered, "expecto — expecto —"

But she couldn't do it. The Dementors were closing in, barely ten feet from us. They formed a solid wall around Harry, Hermione, and I, and they were getting closer...

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry yelled. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

It's going to be okay, I'll get to live with Sirius, I thought again. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A thin wisp of silver escaped my wand and hovered like mist before me. Harry managed to produce his own patronus a few moments later. Hermione collapsed on Harry's other side.

"No!" I shouted, moving toward her, but Harry stopped me.

"Have to keep going," He said. "Expecto — expecto patronum —"

Harry fell to his knees on the grass. I was the only one standing. Fog was starting to cloud my eyes. With a huge effort, I fought to remember — Sirius was innocent — innocent — We'll be okay — I'm going to live with him —

"Expecto patronum!" Harry gasped.

"Expecto--" I tried. It felt like I was being dragged to the ground. "Expecto patronum--"

By the feeble light of our formless Patronuses, I saw a Dementor halt, very close to Harry. It couldn't walk through the cloud of silver mist Harry and I 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 —" I gasped. "He's innocent... expecto... expecto patronum —"

I could feel them watching us, hear their rattling breath like an evil wind around us. The nearest Dementor seemed to be considering Harry. Then it raised both its rotting hands — and lowered its hood.

"NO!" I sobbed. I grabbed my bow and shot it, but the rest of the Dementors closed in, and I saw nothing but mist. I felt the ground hit my side.

White fog was blinding me. I had to fight... I couldn't see... expecto patronum... I groped in the mist for Sirius, for Harry or Hermione, for anyone, and found Sirius' arm... they weren't going to take him...

But a pair of strong, clammy hands suddenly attached themselves around my neck. They were forcing my face upward... I could feel its breath... It was going to get rid of me first... I could feel its putrid breath...

I saw the Dementor's face. Where there should have been eyes, there was only thin, gray scabbed skin, stretched blankly over empty sockets. But there was a mouth... a gaping, shapeless hole, sucking the air with the sound of a death rattle. It came closer, closer...

And then, through the fog that was drowning me, I thought I saw a silver and golden light growing brighter and brighter... I felt myself fall forward onto the grass... Facedown, too weak to move, sick and shaking, I opened my eyes. The Dementor must have released me. The blinding light was illuminating the grass around me... The cold was ebbing away... Something was driving the Dementors back... It was circling around me and Harry and Black and Hermione... They were leaving... The air was warm again...