CHAPTER 99: DAY OF THE DEMENTORS



"Harry? You must wake up."

Harry groggily opened his eyes, and looked at the aged face of the Headmaster. It felt like he'd hardly gone to bed at all. "Wazza time?"

"Quarter past six in the morning. Get up, and get dressed. Hurry."

"Six?" Indignation rose, together with a slight headache. "Professor, I need at least four more hours of sleep." After the trial, the Aurors had returned his pouch, cloak and wand, but not his Time-Turner. Time-Turners were a privilege, not a right, and it would probably require some negotiation before they returned one to a boy who had confessed as blatant a disregard for the law as Harry had. So Harry, exhausted though he was after all the events of the day, hadn't managed to fall asleep until one in the morning.

"You do not have that luxury today. I already gave you as long as I could."

The words hardly penetrated his muddled consciousness, but there was something in the old wizard's tone... "What happened?"

"You will know soon. But tell me this, if you would: whom did you teach your Patronus spell to besides Miss Granger? Was there more than one other? Many lives may depend on this."

The sleep fell off him and was replaced by terror. What is going on? He registered, now, that the old wizard was looking extremely serious this morning.

"Padma Patil and Lesath Lestrange," he whispered. He couldn't think of what else to say.

"Lestrange?" The Headmaster looked briefly surprised, but almost immediately regained his composure. "That's good news. I shall wake the others now, and then come back to bring you to my office."

The ancient wizard waited until Harry had pushed away the blankets and started to move – probably to see that he wasn't going to fall asleep again – and then disappeared in a burst of flame.

Five minutes later, the four of them stood together in the Headmaster's Office. Sleepy, worried faces gazed around. Lesath looked very out of place. At least the headache was gone, after Xare had chirped a few notes of phoenix song.

With a wave of the Headmaster's wand, two large sofas appeared. "Sit," he suggested.

"In a bit over an hour time," he spoke gravely, once they had obeyed, "the man you know as Professor Quirrell will strike again." He glanced at Lesath as he said this, perhaps wondering how the boy would react if he knew that Professor Quirrell was the same man whom his parents had sworn their lives to. "Almost every single person on earth will hear an announcement in their own language, revealing the true nature of Dementors."

Hermione gasped. She had been there, so she understood. Harry felt his heart sinking deeply. How many Dementors exist in the world?

"Wait, how do you know that?" Padma asked. The Headmaster nodded to her.

"This," he said, taking a Time-Turner from his pocket and showing them all, "is a Time-Turner. Every turn allows you to go back in time one hour, but there are limitations. No person, object or even information can go back further than six hours, no matter how many Time-Turners are used. A single Time-Turner cannot be used more than six times in any twenty-four hour period, and a single person cannot go back more than six times in such a period. And most importantly, you cannot change the past. Doing anything that would cause a contradiction will have great and terrible consequences. Time has Laws, even if we do not fully comprehend how they work."

"I don't understand," Lesath said. "Why are you telling us this? What's the problem?"

"If you know the truth about Dementors, you cannot cast the normal Patronus Charm anymore, even if you could do it before," Harry explained.

"Ah," he said, eyes widening. "Gotcha."

"So I guess..." Padma said. "You want us to cast our Patronuses?"

"Indeed. With ordinary wizards no longer able to protect themselves and others from their power, Dementors are without a doubt the most dangerous and uncontainable creatures in existence. They need to be destroyed as quickly as possible."

"Why are you only telling us this now?" Hermione demanded. "If you have time travel... we could have been destroying Dementors five hours ago!"

The old wizard sighed wearily. "You could not. As I said, time has Laws, and it seems that our former Defense Professor has taken some precautions to back us into a corner. Madam Bones, when she heard the message, instantly resolved to warn you and Mr. Potter before it happened, but she found that it would create a contradiction. She couldn't go back further than four hours at all, which suggests that Quirrell has acquired a Time-Turner of his own somehow, or at least gathered information from the future before sending his message. It took her almost fifteen minutes to formulate a plan that allowed her to go back in time at all, as most of the preparations she considered were blocked. She could shield her Aurors from hearing the message, but another note from the future has already informed us that those protections will fail. The main thing she could do was to rally a number of people, who have been working through the night to prepare for the moments after the message is given. Hopefully, our precautions will make the inevitable less of a disaster, though disaster it will certainly be."

Hermione swallowed. "People are going to die, aren't they?"

The Headmaster bowed his head. "Thousands, if we are very lucky. Billions, if we are not."

"Billions?" Hermione gasped, sounding horrified.

"No way," Harry said flatly. "Quirrell would never orchestrate an extinction event. There is no conceivable benefit to him."

The old wizard raised an eyebrow. "Are you quite sure of that?"

"Well... no."

The Headmaster nodded. "We don't know what he wants, so we cannot count on anything. I suspects he went into it with future knowledge, knowing that whatever goal he aims to achieve will be furthered, or at least not harmed, by today's events. But that will most likely not prevent massive casualties. Children, I must ask... Will you help? I do not pretend it will be easy – in fact, despite our precautions this will almost certainly put your lives in danger – but can I ask you to fight today for the sake of the world?

"Of course," Hermione promptly answered. Harry also nodded, although a sick knot of fear twisted in his stomach. How many Dementors are there on earth? Would four of them be enough? Just the Dementors around Azkaban had nearly killed Hermione, and that was with a phoenix to help her.

"Of course I'll do what I can..." Padma was saying with a tremble in her voice. "But I've only done the spell when there weren't any Dementors around, I don't know whether I can..."

"You can," Harry assured her. He radiated confidence for her sake, even if he did not feel it.

Lesath shifted awkwardly and glanced at Harry.

Oh, right. He thinks I'm his Lord.

"It's your choice, Lesath," he said gently. The others might draw strange conclusions from this particular exchange, but that could be dealt with later. Like, after they had stopped half the world civilization from getting killed.

Are you mad? His Slytherin side hissed at him. Why should you leave him the choice? His freedom and even life are not worth the death of, say, a million strangers. And if it's going to be hard with four people, it's going to be pretty damn near impossible to do this with three.

This might well kill all of us, Gryffindor pointed out. The choice to sacrifice his life should be his own.

Just as long as you're prepared to override his decision after all if he refuses, Slytherin said coldly.

"I want to destroy Dementors," Lesath said, with an urgency to his voice. "But I also want... Could I ask... Can I visit my father, after this?"

The old wizard look down on him with a gaze of sympathy.

"He will not recognize you," he pointed out quietly. "But if you want it regardless, I am sure that it can be arranged. In fact, Azkaban will have to be redesigned anyway."

"About that –" Harry began, but Dumbledore shot him a quick, sharp look.

"You cannot make demands for doing what I know perfectly well you will do anyway. Besides, we cannot gather the Wizengamot in the next hour to settle on any kind of binding deal. So shall we have this discussion later?"

"All right, just don't think I'll forget about that. But on behalf of Lesath... Could I ask that his mother's life is spared, should she be caught? I'm not asking that she goes free, I know that she's a bit too dangerous to just let go. But unless she desires otherwise, she should be left alive, free from mental or physical torture, and her son allowed to visit."

Lesath perked up. The old wizard frowned. "That is a rather large request, Mr. Potter. I sympathize with your viewpoint, but I am not sure that Amelia is going to agree to that."

"You are asking Lesath to risk his life," Harry patiently pointed out. "He is going to save thousands of people today, isn't he? The least you can do is grant him this one life in exchange. Besides, Bellatrix might not in fact have been given much choice about leaving her cell, so punishing her for the escape would be unfair."

The old wizard gave him a long, hard look, then glanced at Lesath, who was looking very hopeful all of a sudden. Finally, he nodded slowly.

"I can make no promises. But if that is indeed your wish, Lesath, I shall see what I can do. Now, can we move on to the day's planning?"

Amelia Bones, apparently, had got some of her Aurors to send Patronuses to known phoenix owners and inform them of the impending disaster. Of course they had all been willing to help (those who understood the message, anyway – she had had little luck communicating with the Swahili witch), and several had immediately come over to the DLME. Those, she had quietly told about the nature of Dementors and Hermione's now-unlocked explanation of how to cast the True Patronus Charm, but none had been able to do it. She had also worked on getting the cooperation of several major governments, and Aurors and Healers in all countries had been prepared for duty, although they had not been told what for.

There were pockets of Dementors in most countries in the world. In some places, like France, they were contained by constant Patronuses and never given any victims to drain of life. Likely, these Dementors would be very, very aggressive when their guardians were no longer able to contain them. In some places, like Azkaban, they were controlled but used. Some governments or organizations employed them as weapons against each other; in other places they were deliberately given an area of land with Muggles to use as they wished, with neither Dementors nor humans allowed to leave. These Dementors were the only ones who regularly got to use the Kiss, but they might still turn on their guardians given the opportunity. In yet other places, they were allowed to dwell in dark, filthy places, but kept under control with promises not to interfere with their feeding on passersby, provided they did not use the Kiss. There were also loose Dementors, not under anyone's control, in more abandoned areas.

They had ten minutes, at most, to deal with the most urgent threats. Maybe half an hour more, if they were lucky, before some of the Dementors kept at bay with promises would realize the change in their situation. It was entirely possible that Quirrell had also put motions into place to inform the Dementors, in which case they wouldn't even have that. For many of the smaller pockets of Dementors, their exact location was unknown; those were most likely to be found by following the trail of their victims.

In discussion with Albus Dumbledore, Amelia had made a complete plan of action. Each of the True Patronus casters would be matched with a phoenix owner (except Hermione, who would just be matched with a powerful wizard), and given a Time-Turner whose chain was large enough to transport two people. The phoenix would keep them alive while vanquishing Dementors; the owner could knock them out if they seemed to lose control. Seven special rooms had been arranged in the DMLE where they could come back after each assignment; at the end of an hour, they could go to the next room and loop back in time. If other True Patronus casters could be found, they would go back in time to the second or later rooms and join the four. The door to each room would indicate how many Patronus casters were in there, and Amelia Bones would coordinate all warnings that came in. She would give assignments to whoever was chronologically first, passing them as notes without knowing who the assignment was going to. By keeping the plan unchangeable and limiting information flow to the strictly necessary, the risks of messing with time were contained, at least, even if they were still significant.

"We have twenty-four of you for one hour," Dumbledore reminded them all. "Assuming you survive, and nothing goes wrong. Unfortunately, we cannot count on either, and we must avoid risking a contradiction that would block you from going back in time at all. We are already violating the standard procedures for dealing with time significantly: you will be interacting with your future selves by following your assignments, since if your future self had not handled the more urgent assignments, you would be receiving those instead. Avoid any further interaction with yourself. If you are wounded or otherwise in trouble, you must go to one of the assigned rooms in St. Mungo's, the Great Hall of Hogwarts, or whichever place makes sense to you as long as no younger version of you has been to the same place. If you find that going back to the second room would cause a contradiction, go to the third, and so on. If you cannot go back at all, go to the seventh room, where Amelia will give you instructions to deal with the remaining Dementors. Your assigned helper will take charge, but you must be prepared to help yourself – and them – if things go wrong. If your phoenix owner dies or becomes incapacitated, or if your phoenix needs to be reborn, send for help from me or anyone at Hogwarts; we will come for you, and you will be assigned a new assistant."

"You're not coming?" Padma asked, looking meaningfully at Fawkes. The old wizard shook his head.

"I cannot. I have gone back in time the full six hours yesterday, and no twenty-four hours have passed since. I shall do what I can from here, for whichever situations might arise. Do you have any further questions?"

They shook their heads.

The Headmaster waved his hand, and a table filled with all the best breakfast foods appeared. The House Elves, apparently, had been in on the preparations.

"Then, eat. Your day shall be wearying; you will need all your strength."

It was Monday, April 20th 1992, 07:29am.

Professor McGonagall was overlooking the four House tables at breakfast. Children chattered, ate, and showed each other holiday pictures. Newspapers with the (heavily censored) story of yesterday's trial were passed around. The atmosphere was relaxed. Even most of the staff had no idea of what was about to happen.

She waited, tensely, as the seconds ticked by. These children were her responsibility now; Albus would be busy in the Ministry. He had urged her to do whatever she could to maintain the peace and stop panic from breaking out.

Even expecting it as she was, the voice still managed to take her by surprise. Dry, humorless, and with crystal clarity, the words formed in her head.

DEMENTORS ARE A PHYSICAL EMBODIMENT OF DEATH. YOU CANNOT FIGHT THEM ANYMORE. YOU CANNOT RUN. TODAY, THEY WILL ATTACK. PREPARE TO DIE.

Cutlery, cups and photographs fell clattering to the table or the floor. Students gasped. Some were jumping up, others sat rooted to the benches. Even she was trembling. Albus hadn't quite given the details of what the message would entail, but of course the less you knew about the future the better.

At the Gryffindor table, Dean Thomas shouted "Expecto Patronum." He had been among the few first-year students who had managed to produce a corporeal Patronus before, both with and without a Dementor present. But no light sprang forward this time. He stared at his wand in horror, even as all eyes in the Great Hall had turned to look at him.

And then it really started to sink in. There was shouting. People jumped up from their places. Some students even started screaming. Others tried to cast the Patronus Charm, but failed. Some of the Muggleborns fell on their knees and started to pray.

With three loud blasts of her wand, some semblance of order was restored.

"Stay calm, everyone," she ordered crisply, appearing perfectly calm. (She was good at that, and the students needed it now.) "You are in no immediate danger. Remember, there are no Dementors in the British Isles anymore. Miss Granger took care of that." She couldn't say that sensible people were already working on the situation, because there was no way that she could know that without Time-Turners, but... "And I am certain that Dementors in other countries cannot just get to people and attack everyone immediately. They take time to move too, and most are kept away from busy areas. This should give the government plenty of time to do something about it."

"What does it mean?" second-year Marietta yelled. "What was that voice?"

"It seems," she answered, her voice raised over the cries that were starting up again, "that our Defense Professor has some dark motive involving Dementors. He pulled a similar stunt yesterday, but Mr. Potter dealt with the situation." She let that hang in the air for a moment.

Heads swiveled towards the Ravenclaw table. "Where is he?"

"Mr. Potter and Miss Granger have been summoned to a meeting with Madam Bones, to discuss some of yesterday's events before class." It was the story Albus had told her to use, should anyone ask where the two famous children were. "Given Madam Bones's reputation for efficiency, I suspect both of them have already been recruited into a DMLE team dealing with the situation. But do please recall that Miss Granger has a phoenix, and in the extremely unlikely event that a Dementor should come here, she could be on the spot within seconds."

It helped, she guessed, but there was still a lot of muttering and fidgeting, still worried looks everywhere. The children didn't seem very comfortable with these reassurances. And they shouldn't be – even if they were not in any real danger, their families were, especially those with relatives abroad, or in the DMLE. In the wider world, disaster was happening.

What they needed, besides promises of protection, was something to do. Something they could do to make it better. Something to not feel completely helpless.

"In fact," she stated clearly, and waited for the worst of the noises to die down again. "There are many omitted details in the news coverage of yesterday's events. One of the things that hasn't been mentioned was Hermione Granger's explanation of how the spell to destroy Dementors is cast. It is harder than the normal Patronus Charm, but perhaps it is still worth trying to learn it." This, too, was her task today. Passing the children the True Patronus Charm was unlikely to help: even Padma had taken a week, Harry had said before Dumbledore took the children off to the Ministry, and he wasn't here now to guide them. The Ministry and Albus would be focusing their efforts on people like Nicolas Flamel, who had a demonstrated affinity for this kind of spell. But there were hundreds of young people in the school, and they would be fools indeed not to give the children a chance to learn. At the very least it would distract them from worrying.

She took a deep breath as the Hall fell completely silent to listen to her.

"The spell is called the True Patronus Charm..."