Just a Little Crush GxG

Chapter 21 - Dementor's Kiss

Y/N stumbles down to her father, who lies on the water's edge, now fully a man, arms and face gleaming with sweat. Harry isn't too far behind her.

"Dad" Y/N cries as she looks into his glassy eyes

"Sirius" Harry says kneeling next to Y/N, a fragile mist escapes Harry's mouth.

A raw wind tosses Y/N and Harry's hair. Chill-bumps pebble their skin. Suddenly, a thin layer of ice appears at the lake's edge, then the Dementors, oozing like smoke through the trees across the lake.

Angrily, Y/N stumbles to her feet and raises her wand "Expecto Patronum!"

A thin silvery wisp weeps from Y/N's wand, hovering like a veil, but the Dementors continue to come. Harry places his hand on Sirius' heaving heart and poises his wand

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry says and his Patronus blooms briefly into a stag but dies.

Y/N's eyes flutter, the Dementors twisting madly in her vision, drawing closer. Sirius gasps as silvery feathers of light tumble from his lips, as if his very soul were leaving him.

"No dad" Y/N shouts "You can't die I just got you back!"

"Come on Sirius, please" Harry's voice says as he holds Y/N's hand. Suddenly Harry get very Heavy his eyes closing as Dementors sworm him and he faints.

"Harry!" Y/N says with tears in her eyes

Then, a light splinters the trees. Y/N squints and sees a firey falcon appear, their body luminous, slashing through the trees owing light in the darkness. The Dementors wilt in its wake, but more replace them, sweeping down in waves. Still, the falcon charges on.

The light expands and the forest blazing with it. The remaining Dementors flee, drifting across the moon like ash. The falcon's luminous body flickers and in a bright flash, a single thread of light all that remains, spinning down to the size of a pearl. Y/N spots a figure standing deep in the trees where the light had come from. She studies the strangely familiar silhouette then its gone. Exhaustion takes over Y/N's body and the world fades to black

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Y/N slowly wakes up and stares at a blurry outline of Hermione as she circles Y/N's bed. She groans and rubs her eyes and looks about the hospital wing. Ron lies opposite her, his leg bandaged and Jorden lies next to him in another bed with Flo by his side. She looks to the bed next to her and spots Harry still asleep. Hermione's pacing stops when she notices that Y/N is awake

"Y/N" Hermione says her voice full of relief "are you alright"

"I'm fine" Y/N says as she sits up "but 'mione, someone else was their at that black lake-"

"What" Hermione says confused

"They sent the Dementors away, I saw them. Across the lake" Y/N says but Hermione stares at her with a sad expression

"Listen Y/N, they've captured Sirius. Any minute the Dementors are going to perform the Kiss" Hermione says

"The Kiss?"

"It's what Dementors do to those they want to destroy. They clamp their jaws over the victim's mouth and- suck out his soul"

"You mean, they're going to kill my dad-"

"No. It's worse. Much worse, you go on living. But you have no memory, no sense of self. You're just an empty shell" Hermioen says and Y/N stands

"No I can't- I won't let that happen" Y/N says then suddenly the door opens and Dumbledore enters.

"Headmaster! You've got to stop them! They've got the wrong man!" Hermione explains

"It's true, sir. My father is innocent-" Y/n adds

"It's Scabbers who did it!" Ron says

"Scabbers?" Dubledore says confused

"My rat, sir. Only he's not really, well he was a rat. You see, he used to be my brother Percy's-" Ron rambles

"The point is, we know the truth. Please, sir, you must believe us." Y/N says

"I do, Miss Black but I'm sorry to say the word of three thirteen- year-old wizards will convince few others. A child's voice, however honest and true, is meaningless to those who have forgotten how to listen." Dumbledore says and turns to the window. Its still dark outside and a shooting star plummets silently through the sky. "Ah, a shooting star. If ever one was to make a wish, now would be the time. But time, I'm afraid, is precisely our problem"

"Sir?" Y/N asks confused and as if on cue, the midnight bell begins to chime.

"Mysterious thing time, powerful and when meddled with dangerous. Sirius Black is in the top most cell of the Dark Tower." Dumbledore says then turns to Hermione "You know the laws, Miss Granger. You must not be seen and you would, I feel, do well to return before this last chime. If not well, the consequences are really too ghastly to discuss. Three turns should do it, I think. If you succeed, more than one innocent life may be spared tonight."

Hermione nods and Y/N looks at her strangely "Hermione?" Y/N questions

Dumbledore hands Y/N and Hermione each a stick of chocolate, then starts to go but stops. "By the way, when in doubt, I find retracing my steps to be a wise place to begin. Good luck."

He smiles then exits the hospital wing. Y/N glances curiously at the chocolate. "What the hell was that about" Flo says but Hermione doesn't reply, instead looping the pendant's long chain around Y/N's neck as well as her own

"Wait what is this" Y/N says trying to touch the pendant but Hermione swats her hand away. "Ow!"

"Do you trust me" Hermione says and Y/N stares into her honey-brown eyes and nods. The Gryffindor girl twists the pendent three times and time moves in reverse.

Every moment that occurred in the hospital room flickered by at a dizzying speed while, outside the window, darkness gives way to dusk and the sun un-sets, returning to its place low on the horizon. At this point, the time reversal ends and the room is empty. Except for Y/N and Hermione.

As Hermione unloops the necklace, Y/N glances around in confusion. "What just happened?    Where's Ron, Flo, Jorden and Harry?"

Hermione ignores the question, eyes the clock on the wall. "Seven-thirty. Where were we at seven-thirty?"

Y/N shrugs "I don't know, Hagrid's maybe"

"Come on! We can't be seen!" Hermione says and grabs Y/N hand and they race out of the hospital wing.