THE MOST FAITHFUL

DEMENTORS

The star-filled sky above the terraced houses of, a suburb in southwest London, had suddenly darkened, the stars, the moon, the dim street lamps at the end of the alley were gone.

The distant roar of the cars and the rustle of the trees had become less and less noisy until they fell silent; the warm evening air had suddenly turned bitterly cold.

Two boys, facing each other on the sparse lawn of a Muggle garden, were surrounded by impenetrable darkness, as if a giant hand had dropped a thick, frozen cloak over the entire alley, making them blind.

For just a moment Harry Potter thought he had unintentionally performed a spell, despite the fact that he tried to resist with all his might, but he dismissed that thought when he remembered that he had no power to extinguish the stars. He turned his head this way and that in an attempt to see something, but the darkness seemed to cover his eyes like an unbearable blindfold.

"W ... what are you do... doing? Stop it!" his cousin Dudley asked in a terrified voice."I'm not doing anything! Shut up and don't move!"

"I... I can't see! I know ... I'm blind! I ..."

"Shut up, I said!" Harry yelled looking around in confusion.

The cold was so intense that his body began to tremble involuntarily.

He widened his eyes to the maximum. It was impossible... they couldn't be there... not in Little Whinging... he pricked his ears... he could hear them seconds before he saw them.

"I'll tell dad!" He threatened Dudley with a trembling voice. "D ... where are you? Wh ... what are you doing ... doing?"

"Do you want to shut up?" Harry whispered. "I'm trying to hear ..." Suddenly he stopped talking. He had felt just what he feared. There was something else in the alley, aside from them, something that emitted long, hoarse, rasping breaths. Harry felt a horrible thrill of terror, almost like he was immersed in frozen air. "D-cut it out! Stop it! T-I'll make you p-pay, I swear!"

"Dudley, shut up ..."

WHAM.

A punch hit Harry on his cheekbone, lifting him off the ground. Little white sparkles popped in his eyes. For the second time in an hour Harry felt as if his head had split in two; a moment later he had landed roughly on the ground and the wand had flown out of his hand.

"You're a fool, Dudley!" Harry yelled, his eyes watering in pain as he tried to get to his knees, frantically groping in the surrounding darkness. He heard Dudley running away, hitting the fence, stumbling.

"DUDLEY, COME BACK HERE! YOU'RE RUNNING RIGHT TO MEET HIM!" There was a tremendous scream and the sound of Dudley's footsteps stopped abruptly. At the same moment, Harry felt a chill crawl behind him as well. It could only mean one thing: there was another. "DUDLEY, KEEP YOUR MOUTH CLOSED! Whatever happens, KEEP YOUR MOUTH CLOSED! The wand!" Harry muttered frantically, his hands searching the ground like spiders. "Where is ... wand ... come ... Lumos!" He spoke the formula automatically, desperately longing for the light that could help him in his search and with incredulous relief, a light shone inches from his right hand. The tip of the wand had lit up.

Harry grabbed it, stood up and whirled around, his stomach clenched.

A towering, hooded figure glided softly towards him, hovered without touching the ground, no foot or face visible under his cloak, sniffing in the night as he approached. Stumbling backwards, Harry raised his wand.

"Expecto Patronum!" A puff of silvery vapor escaped from the tip of the wand, the Dementor slowed, but the spell had not worked properly. Stumbling into his own feet, Harry backed away as the Dementor loomed over him, panic clouding his brain.ConcentrateA pair of slimy gray hands slipped out of the Dementor's cloak and reached for him. An insistent buzz filled Harry's ears.