Fullmetal Wizard | Chapter 5

He heard her just then. The bubbling, labored breathing. He froze his movements, nearly lost his focus. He turned again, looking. Harry was next to him..backpedaling. Dudley...on the ground on the far side of the tunnel. Then he wasn't. Instead of the portly Dursley, he saw a ruined mass of flesh, reaching for him. Beneath it, was a familiar design chalked into the concrete. It was his.

"No." Ed whispered, and he broke his stance. Arms falling limp at his sides. His knees buckled, but didn't land on the unforgiving concrete.

Iciness increased at his throat, and he couldn't breathe. He couldn't tear his eyes off that thing. His creation. His sin. It reached out to him.

'Why couldn't you make me right?!?' It wailed in his ears.

He spotted a set of clothes nearby, just outside the circle. His eyes welled with tears.

"Alphonse...!?"

Suddenly, the scene changed. Becoming the inky darkness of the opened gate. Summoned by his collossal mistake, he knew. Alphonse, blond haired, golden eyed, his only brother, was dragged before him. Millions of tiny black hands wrapped around his boyish body...pulling him into the gateway forever away. Payment for an unequal equation and a foolish dream.

"My fault....all of it. My...fault..." He heard himself say.

He reached out with both hands on impulse to stop them...pull them off..something!...knowing there was nothing he could do....Alphonse, again, slipped through his fingers like...Solid. His left hand brushed upon something solid, and frozen. Just for a brief moment. The scientist part of his mind told him the angle of the ghost like grip, and it cooly calculated the pressure as well. Leading him to one conclusion. Whatever it was, it had him by the neck.

He would say "insane gut instinct", beat into him from childhood...kicked in. Long habit did the rest.

He slapped his palms together.

Harry watched with horror as the two shadowy things entered the hall. Eight feet tall, and cloaked in darkness. Unmistakable to him.

'Dementors! What were they doing here?!?' He thought.

One tackled Dudley, and predictably, Dudley fell down bonelessly. He turned over, perhaps to get up, but the Dementor hovered over him. All color drained from his cousin's face, and he turned his head to Harry. Harry watched with horror, certain that the Dementor would..kiss his cousin. He hated Dudley...mostly...but no one deserved that fate.

A dark cloaked thing blocked the view of his cousin before he could so much as wave his wand. Harry felt its fingers wrapped around his throat. That was when he saw the flash of gold, and glanced next to him. Ed. The Dementor had Ed by the throat as well. At the moment, the hideous blind thing seemed more interested in the blond muggle than himself.

And I thought...Dementors liked me, Harry thought.

The Dementor turned his head towards Harry. Then, almost reluctantly, turned back to Ed. Harry had a good view of the gaping, rotting hole that passed as the thing's mouth. It easily lifted both of them up off the ground, one for each hand, and Harry couldn't help but kick. He connected with nothing but shadows.

He saw Ed reach out, blindly, with both his gloved hands. One hand brushed against the Dementor's shoulder, then went through it. The next motion was a blur. Harry heard a distinctive, cutting sound, and then there was this..blinding flash of blue light. Harry felt himself impact hard against the tunnel wall, and he grabbed his wand firmly in his hand when his feet hit the ground. He caught his balance just in time. The Dementor that had him was just across from him now, as if it too, had struck the wall.

No time to think about it. Harry forced himself to focus, searching hard for his happiest memory. He raised his wand.

"Expecto Patronum!!!"

White light emerged from the tip of his wand. Then the Dementor was gone, vanishing through the wall. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't his strongest manefestation, but it worked.

Harry turned to his cousin, and saw that the Dementor was still on him. With a flick of his wand, the glowing, amorphous patronous charm collided with the thing of darkness. The lights of the tunnel flickered back on. Harry heard his own breathing. No. He was panting.

'It's over. Thank god.' He thought.

He walked over to Dudley. As he helped his cousin sit up, he blinked.

"Bloody hell. Ed!" Harry said as he looked around. Yards away, he saw a familiar figure stooping over the blond in question. Hair in curlers, tied down with a handkercheif. A simple housedress and coat. She looked up at him with concern in her dark eyes.

Mrs. Figg, his mind told him.

"You better run. They'll be back." she said.

"How is he?" Harry asked, as he practically dragged his cousin to his feet.

"He hit the ground pretty hard. He's coming around now." She said

As if to illustrate the point, Harry heard Ed's voice, speaking his strange language. Harry watched as the blond pushed himself up, painfully, to his hands and knees. He saw something metal flash in the light. Harry blinked. Was that a..hidden knife attached to his wrist?

"Would you...have some chocolate on you?" She asked.

"Vas...?"

Ed lifted his head and looked over at Harry and Dudley. Then his head snapped around, looking about the tunnel. Ed closed his eyes quickly, panting, and his pale face became a shade green. He collapsed down to his elbows, and heaved. Harry heard something wet hit the concrete, and decided he definitely wasn't curious enough to look at what came up from his classmate's stomach.

Mrs. Figg rubbed Ed's upper back, until the heaving stopped. She then firmly grabbed Ed's left arm and helped him to stand on wobbly legs. She shot Harry a sharp look.

"What are you waiting for?! Go!" She hissed, so much like the cats she lived with, it was almost as scary as being with a Dementor.

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