Chapter 51: Horrifying Scene

The wind blew again and Olivia shivered.

Even Severus thought that the temperature had also become too cold despite the fact that cold weather was normal for this time of year.

"Severus, how about we go inside somewhere? We can warm up there," Olivia suggested.

He agreed and they both walked over to one of the locals.

It was then that Severus felt in the Force the presence of some creatures that had a connection too strong with the dark side, even more than the acromantulas or any other creature he had ever seen...

'It's almost as if the dark side of the Force is a part of these' thought Severus very intrigued and trying to draw conclusions of what this phenomenon could be.

" Born from the dark side..." Severus muttered to himself looking up at the sky, as Olivia walked into one of the shops and gestured for him to come in next to her as well.

The fog descended quickly and enveloped the village.

Severus already had a guess as to what would happen.

The air seemed to crackle.

And even the Force began to permeate the dark side, Severus could sense the danger...

He stopped walking and stood outside the entrance of the shop for a few moments while all this was going on.

It was then that Olivia, who was already inside, opened the door and stepped out.

"Is everything alright, something's wrong, why are you standing there?" she asked curiously as she saw Severus standing in the doorway still, it was then that a shiver ran through her body as if her instincts were telling her that something was about to happen.

"I just want to see what's going to happen," Severus replied lightly as he looked at the surroundings covered in a thick fog.

It was then that Olivia realised that something was wrong...

The sky darkened, the thick fog covered the whole village..., you couldn't see more than ten metres away.

It was then that the sound of crackling breaths began to be faintly heard...

'This mist-like breath, and this feeling of cold and hopelessness...' Olivia thought as she looked at Severus and the surroundings.

"No way, Dementors!" shouted Olivia as her eyes widened in surprise, she quickly pulled out her wand and looked at Severus.

"Yes..., the question is... What are they doing here?" said Severus calmly as if he was unconcerned by the presence of these evil and nauseating creatures.

A Dementor is a dark and sinister creature that has no soul of its own, in the magical world they are considered the darkest creatures on the planet as they feed on people's happiness leaving their victims with only feelings of despair and sadness.

Olivia couldn't understand how he could be so calm in the face of this situation but she didn't want to think about it too much either at the moment.

"Severus we'd better get inside, it's dangerous out here."

"Oh, yet if we go in we'll be trapped, I mean, isn't that just like leaving us at their mercy," Severus said.

At his reply cold sweat began to appear on Olivia's beautiful face, and she shivered with cold, she had to agree with him, but it was inevitable to feel safer inside than out in the fog.

Severus just looked up with a calm gaze, but he couldn't deny that he was extremely intrigued about these unique creatures.

'Dementors can't die...' thought Severus, that was one of the most interesting characteristics of these dark creatures, they were even immune to the Avada Kedavra Curse and as well they have a natural and extremely strong affinity with the dark side of the Force.

Many in the village had already fallen to their knees, trembling under the influence of the Dementors.

'It's definitely hit everyone' Severus thought as he sensed in the Force the surroundings, he could tell where these creatures were as their presence was extremely strong in the Force.

Olivia managed to stay upright, though her face was drenched in cold sweat, she had a determined look on her face.

Moments later Severus sensed some of these creatures approaching his position...

Severus turned right in time.

"Expecto Patronum!" cast Severus quickly and a luminous silver mist puffed from the tip of his wand, and a black hooded figure, hovering above the ground, stopped right in Olivia's face and recoiled, shrieking, hissing furiously.

Now that Olivia and Severus had a better look at the Dementor, they could both see that it was humanoid in shape and about eight feet tall, but when levitating it reached an even greater and more intimidating height.

The appearance of this creature was similar to a wraith with long black robes covering its body.

The Dementor that Severus had repelled turned and looked in her direction, instantly Olivia felt a shiver and sweat cold as she saw its face...

The Dementor had no eye sockets, its mouth had only an empty hole and its body appeared to be in a state of decay as its hands were crusty, grey, and bone-like, it gave a feeling of death and pure fear.

The Dementor in front of them hissed furiously and tried to move forward again, but it couldn't because it was blocked by the silver mist of Severus' Patronus, which, although not a fully corporeal Patronus, was wide and strong enough to avoid the Dementor.

Olivia finally recovered.

"Expecto Patronum!" she cast as well, and from the tip of her wand also came a silver Patronus mist.

Instantly two more Dementors appeared, hissing furiously.

But other wizards also came out of the room to help with the situation outside and quickly conjured their Patronus.

Severus sensed in the Force a large number of Dementors all over the village, he knew someone was controlling them and he doubted it was the Ministry of Magic.

For now, the situation wasn't too bad as there were several capable teachers and wizards throughout the town who could repel the Dementors, most were now in groups as they drove the evil creatures away and others were helping those who had fainted or who simply couldn't move due to fear or other reasons.

It was then that Severus sensed in the Force a large number of Dementors approaching the alleyway where Lily and her group were.

And he knew that she was now in great danger...

~~~~~~~

As Alice, Lily, Marlene, James, and Sirius rested after the painful beating they had suffered at the hands of the bloody Slytherins, the sound of crackling breaths grew louder and louder in the thick fog.

The five of them had been so exhausted that they hadn't had a chance to bother worrying about the shiver that ran through their bodies as the fog blanketed their surroundings.

But now the sense of danger and cold was something they couldn't help but feel.

Out of pure instinct, Lily turned just in time and shouted with all her strength: "Expecto Patronum!"

And from the tip of her wand emerged, not a uniform silver cloud, but a silver animal, dazzling and blinding.

A beautiful silver doe instantly surrounded the group of 5 and protected them from several black hooded figures hovering above the ground and advancing in their direction, these figures stopped a few feet away and the beautiful doe quickly pulled them back.

These Dementors surrounded them and increased in number.

'Four, seven, ten, eleven, fifteen Dementors!' thought Lily surprised and worried, her skin complexion pale and weak, she had little strength left and in that Patronus, she was using all the strength she still had left.

Lily couldn't believe this, the Dementors should be under the control of the Ministry of Magic, they should be in Azkaban, not here, in Hogsmeade, on a weekend like this.

While the beautiful doe protected the group by keeping the Dementors away...

The cold exuding Dementors gathered and surrounded them as they flew around them without any restraint, moving without a sound as they sucked in all the light and heat from the environment with their breaths leaving Lily and her group completely isolated and helpless.

The fifteen Dementors applied a pressure in the atmosphere that prevented the tired and weak Gryffindors from moving, the five were helplessly on the ground, if it wasn't for the corporeal Patronus that Lily successfully cast earlier, they would be lost by now.

From time to time the Dementors were trying to get past the doe, but they had been unsuccessful in their attempts.

All the Dementors hissed, and to the horror of the group, they saw the Dementors make a united move and some of them were able to get past Lily's silver doe.

Alice, James, Sirius, and Marlene tried to raise their wands to conjure a Patronus, but they could barely move due to the pressure and their already weak bodies.

Finally, all 5 of them were surrounded and Lily's doe couldn't do anything this time, it was all over...

Lily thought to herself that maybe her life was destined to end like this.

She regretted not being strong enough to protect her friends, she regretted falling for the Slytherins' tricks, she regretted putting Marlene and Alice in danger, and the feeling of desperation from the Dementors overcame her.

And this feeling was felt by everyone in the group as the Dementors got closer and closer to them...

A Dementor rose up in front of Lily and opened the hole it had as a mouth...

A tear fell from Lily's eye and suddenly a bright silver light emerged from the dementor's mist, emanating from a beautiful four-legged figure that sang and galloped loudly.

It was similar to Lily's doe but brighter, more imposing, and more alive and the feeling was different...

The five of them slowly lifted their heads with the little strength they had, trembling a little from the effort.

They all fell silent, unable to understand where this Lily-like Patronus was coming from.

It glowed so brightly that it even began to sweep away all the pressure in the air.

The figure surrounded the five of them, chasing away all the Dementors, illuminating the entire alleyway and dispelling all the Dementor fog around the group.

After chasing the Dementors away, the doe turned and galloped over to Lily...

It approached her until it was only inches away, then bent its head to stare at Lily.

Their eyes met and they stared at each other.

"Sev...?" whispered Lily completely shocked and surprised by the presence emitting from this doe similar to her Patronus, she could swear she felt Severus, she doesn't know how to explain it but she knew he was there.

Something told her it was her Sev.

The doe in front of her just looked at her for a few moments until it came even closer to Lily and with its nose gently wiped away the tear that had fallen from her eye.

Lily was stunned silently, unable to comprehend what was happening, all her mind was thinking of was different memories with Severus when she saw this beautiful doe.

The instant the doe wiped away her tear, her figure began to disperse in a silver cloud until finally disappearing completely.

Everyone who saw this was dumbfounded as to what the hell had happened.

But one thing was certain, that doe had saved all five of them.

Suddenly several screams could be heard in the far out distance:

"SIRIUS!"

"JAMES!"

"LILY!"

"ALICE!"

"MARLENE!"

Awakened from their trances they all turned around quickly, still shaking.

There they saw Remus and Peter along with a teacher and the young 7th-year Ravenclaw boy running towards where they were, their faces hard, intense.

Lily was silent, unable to hear what the people who had just arrived began to say to them, she was too lost in thought.

It wasn't until the young Ravenclaw helped her up that she reacted, waking slightly from her trance.

"COME ON, EVANS! YOU MUST GET UP AND GET OUT OF HERE!" the Ravenclaw shouted.

"W-what-?" Lily stammered, but the professor didn't give them time to say anything else, he helped the 5 of them up with his wand lightening their bodies.

" Everyone quietly, don't do anything rash, I will take you to get medical attention immediately, help each other walk and be extremely alert, the surroundings are not safe," the professor said seriously and they all obeyed.

As they walked through the streets of the village they all saw several crowds of people, apparently in different parts of the village along with the students, villagers, and teachers, huddled together in groups.

The teachers, some students, and a few other wizards used their Patronus to protect the crowds.

'BY MERLIN, THERE ARE HUNDREDS, NO... PROBABLY, MAYBE THOUSANDS OF DEMENTORS' they all thought as they looked at the horrifying scene.