raised by dementor

chapter 37

Slowly but surely the year was coming to an end, everyone believed the monster in the chamber was dead and Harry was in the clear. Quidditch had returned to normal and other than the various trips to the second floor bathroom to test their animagus forms the group had largely continued as normal. However that all changed one afternoon about a week before the end of term feast, Draco had forgotten his potion book and rushed back to get it, Snape had already left and to ensure he wasn't caught Draco decided to work in the dark. Moving his way to his desk had proved easy enough but it took him less than two minutes before tripping over a cauldron and falling to the floor, something that may have saved his life because it got him out of sight for one crucial second.
"I warned you," a voice hissed in a croaky whine as the door burst open, Draco scrambled to see who it was and saw a hooded figure forcing someone to the table.
"I tried," someone else was trying to explain as Draco quietly slipped into a cupboard hoping he would not be found,
"No you failed, you little girl didn't even get into the damn chamber in time, I was in there and now the boy knows me, do you have any idea what you have done!" the figure spat tightening its grip on what Draco now saw was Molly Weasley's throat; what the hell was she doing here? it wasn't the end of term nor was her children in any trouble. No one actually knew Ginny Weasley was involved with the chamber as far as Draco knew so what was going on?
"Please," Molly spluttered obviously terrified of this person, Draco suspected that this was the same hooded monster Harry mentioned in the chamber and knew he did not want to go anywhere near it, if it could beat Harry half to death then what could it do to him.
"I lost my sense of mercy years ago," the figure croaked nastily, Molly was suddenly alive with fear and writing about in a vain effort to escape her attacker.
"Albus won't help you, the fool made me what I am an and I am infinitely more powerful than he will ever be, now give me one reason why I shouldn't decorate the floor with your blood?" was the figure's response and Molly whimpered in fear as a clawed hand tightened around her throat. She looked into a pair of deathly glowing green ones, then she was flying into a wall and blasted with jets of black lighting, she screamed silently as all air was sucked from her lungs and then she was allowed to breathe.
"I still have use for you, but you will not be trusted again. Your daughter will never marry Harry Potter and you will never have his money, you will die poor and alone like the rest of your family, know that," the figure crooned softly as the woman's face fell from fear to rage.
"I deserve," she began indignantly thinking she was in the clear but her protests were followed by another round of lightning and once again she tried and failed to scream.
"You deserve nothing, be thankful I permitted you to live, now go!" the figure roared and Draco tried to shield his eyes from the lightning, it caused things to fall. The lightning stopped and the figure turned towards the cupboard where Draco was hiding.
"Now what was that?" it asked gently gliding through the air towards the cupboard
"Is someone eavesdropping? I hope not because the punishment would be a slow agonising death if I found them. So I do hope if someone was listening they would show themselves and spare the pain awaiting them," it continued in an almost motherly voice but it was filled with cruelty and pain, Draco looked around for something to hide in or a way to escape and found nothing, then he remembered.
The figure then threw the cupboard doors open to find not a student, just a few dropped glass vials and a dead fox, the figure assumed Snape was harvesting ingredients and closed the door. Frustrated it gave Molly Weasley one last zap
"You thought that was pain? That was nothing compared to what I went through, now leave!" it commanded angrily and the woman vanished in black smoke. The figure gave the class one last long look before vanishing in a huff.
Great Hall
"Do you ever get the feeling something bad is about to happen?" Hermione wondered aloud to Cho who was sitting next to her, Harry looked up from his book and helped himself to another sandwich.
"Yes every time Draco opens his mouth," was her snarky response as she noticed the blond boy run into the hall. They were waiting for him, Luna, Crabbe and Goyle who were around the castle after finishing their various classes however Draco did seem a bit worried or scared, maybe both.
"I've got the feeling," she announced dryly lookin g up as Draco sat down, he looked shaken and Harry put the paper down looking perplexed. Draco's explanation shocked them all
"Black lightning?" Harry asked and Draco nodded in confirmation
"It's the same person," he confirmed looking worried, the only thing that had ever beaten him was in the castle and he quickly looked around to ensure it wasn't going to pop up behind him.
"Great so we have a psychopathic monster roaming the school," Cho sighed looking almost annoyed more than scared
"Another one?" Hermione smiled "We can deal with it next year, I mean last year it was Quirrel and this year it was a giant snake, only one problem a year."
"Why don't you deal with this one, I mean you were asleep through the whole Basilisk thing so you can deal with the creepy guy," Draco suggested feeling more himself now the shock had worn off.
"No," Cho responded blandly picking at her food "Besides this guy, thing whatever has been around all year so let's just live and let live until next year,"
"Do we have one crazy adventure a year?" Harry inquired aloud,
"Yes, how about next year we do something more simple. I mean this year we were finding a hidden chamber and chatting to giant spiders how about we do something more simple, find a dog maybe or some kind of weak human being?" Draco asked aloud.
"Draco knowing our luck the dog with be fifty feet tall and the weak person with be Voldemort in disguise, wait no we've done that already," Hermione announced and Draco smirked.
"How many things have you done?" was his innocent comeback,
"Cho slap him," Harry requested and she complied very quickly. A loud crack filled the hall for a moment, it wasn't hard but it probably stung a bit.
"Oww!" he proclaimed indignantly rubbing his cheek while Cho admired her hand
"I really need to do that more often," she announced.
Crack
"Owww!" Draco proclaimed again as Hermione had a go "What was that for?"
"Are you really expecting me to answer that?" Hermione asked looking exasperated,
"No," Draco decided seeing as it was his best chance of not being slapped again.
"Luna you having a go?" Harry offered to the girl who shook her head.
"I've got something else planned," she grinned evilly looking at Draco.
Azkaban Prison
Lucy was feeling confused, as normal she had been gliding alone the maximum security wing handing out food when she felt something different. It was in the corner of her mind and it was only later she didn't sense Bellatrix or Sirius. However the moment she went back to investigate they were there, both of them. Now she knew Sirius had been out a few times but she still had no idea how, he did comeback so she never really pressed the matter knowing he and Harry shared a bond. However she hadn't sensed that at all and when she remembered them they were there. Either she was going mad or something was going on, or both. Harry would be back in a few weeks so maybe Bella was hoping to get out of her cell to see Harry, but the whole thing still made no sense. She was a Dementor and people always had emotions so why were they not there?
"Are you ok?" Dora inquired gliding up alongside her
"Fine, I'm fine just thinking," Lucy explained not wanting to alert any other Dementors to this, it would end up with the prison going on high alert and the chance of Harry entering the prison quickly during high alert was zero. It was a series of potions to ensure you were who you said you were, tests to make sure you hadn't been imperious and once some poor guy had a secrecy sensor placed somewhere delicate due to him walking funny. No she would deal with this herself
"Dangerous that," Dora pointed out jokingly but she could tell Lucy was concerned, however that had been a constant during the year. She was a mother and she was worried about her child also Harry had explained about the chamber obviously leaving something out but he gave the facts. It would enough to send any human mother running to the school in a frenzy but Dora knew Lucy was more patient more understanding. A quality that had set her apart from many other of their sisters but one that ensured her mothering ability was the best it could be, so Dora decided to leave the matter for now. Not knowing that behind them a raven was perched on the windowsill, looking at them both with familiar eyes.
One week later
"What a year we've had," Harry smiled holding a glass of pumpkin juice, Cho's glass hit his and Hermione did the same. Luna joined in with what looked like tomato juice and Harry hoped it was sincerely
"Not really a year just ten months of insanity," Hermione pointed out as Draco, Crabbe and Goyle did the same on the other table,
"Maybe next year we could meet some woozles," Luna suggested and Hermione gritted her teeth in an effort to hold her tongue.
"Or Crumple horned..." Luna continued
"We can meet a lot of things next year but let's focus on getting to the end of this one," Cho interrupted not wanting Hermione to explode. Harry watched Dumbledore stand with very little interest, Ravenclaw had won second place in the Quiddich cup due to the amount of time Cho spent petrified. During the last few games however they had risen quickly and they had only been beaten by Slytherin by fifty points. Harry's wasn't banking on the house cup that much either, the teachers who had suspected him of being the heir had no awarded him many points and it had applied to a lot of Ravenclaws. However he was at least sure Gryffindor was not going to win because Ron Weasley had tried to trash the trophy room because in a childish attempt to destroy Harry 's award for closing the chamber. Gryffindor had lost one hundred points for each broken cabinet so about two thousand points had been lost.
"It has been a long year, a year full of fear and regret. We have lost a member of staff who died saving a student, we almost lost a lot of good students this year and we were saved by one of us who showed great courage in the chamber and for that I award his house the cup," Dumbledore announced slowly and Harry looked dumbfounded for a moment.
"So he's stopped the whole Harry is evil thing?
and right back to Harry is a hero then," Hermione sighed working out what he was doing already.
"Hermione have you ever heard the saying don't look a gift horse in the mouth?" Cho whispered, she nodded.
"This gift may be a bribe in a bad disguise but here we are," Cho continued in the same moment Dumbledore announced the house name and it descended into a chaos of clapping and cheering. Ron Weasley was now a shade of red and Harry knew then they had ended the year on a high note.
"And it all ends well again," Draco announced with a smile.
"I got Fred and George to slip laxatives into your drink," Luna told him turning away.