Chapter 165: Two Patronus

More than an hour earlier, at Hogwarts, on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

After the violent explosion, Harry and Hermione struggled up from the ground, the enormous impact of the blast making them feel sore. Ivan had already chased Peter Pettigrew into the Forbidden Forest. Only the two of them were there.

Ron and Sirius Black were unconscious, lying on the ground; Black was bleeding.

"What should we do?" Hermione said desperately, looking uneasily at the Forbidden Forest. "Ivan ran after him in there!"

"First we should get them both into the castle; Sirius needs treatment, Then we should tell someone capable of saving Ivan!" said Harry quickly, pushing his hair away from the front of his eyes.

Then he saw the Dementors approaching.

Almost instantly, the center of the pitch fogged up and the temperature plummeted.

Harry felt as if he had stepped into a cold room, the fog blurring his vision. The mist was beginning to obscure his vision; more Dementors were appearing out of the darkness on either side. They seemed to have noticed Black. They were excited, and their rotting limbs were extending from their torn black cloaks.

They were surrounding them...

Hermione raised her wand and tried to call her patronus. The tip of her wand emitted a white light, but it would not take shape.

There were too many Dementors. Her fear was closer to being corporeal than her Patronus.

Hermione couldn't think of anything happy at the moment. She was too worried about Ivan. he went to chase Peter Pettigrew alone, what should she do if something bad happened to him?

There were many unknown dangers lurking in the Forbidden Forest at night. He thought about his only night experience in that forest. It was during his first year, he was there with Hagrid, Harry and Malfoy, and he saw Voldemort kill the unicorn.

Thinking of Voldemort, the small light on the tip of Hermione's wand instantly dissipated.

"Hermione, think of something happy!" Harry shouted, raising his wand, blinking furiously to try and clear his vision, shaking his head to get rid of the faint screams that had started inside his head.

"I'm going to live with my godfather. I'm leaving the Dursleys." He forced himself to think of Black, and only Black, and began to chant, "Expecto patronum! Expecto patronum!"

Black shuddered, turned around and lay motionless on the floor, pale as if he were dead.

"He's going to be all right. I'm going to go live with him." said Harry, "Expecto patronum! Hermione, help me! Expecto patronum!"

"Expecto..." Hermione whispered.

But she couldn't do it. The Dementors were closing in, within ten feet of them. They formed a solid wall around Harry and Hermione, and were closing in....

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry shouted, trying to wipe the screams from his ears. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A thin wisp of silver escaped from his wand and floated like a mist before him. There were many Dementors, and this feeble resistance didn't work at all. At the same moment, Harry felt Hermione collapse beside him. he was just.... all alone....

He couldn't let the Dementors near Black, he wanted to chase those monsters away and get rid of them.

"Expecto.... Expecto patronum...." Harry felt his knees hit the cold grass. The fog clouded his eyes and all his unpleasant memories flashed in his mind. Harry tried not to think about such things. He tried to remember that Sirius was innocent and that his name was going to be cleared. Everyone would be fine, Professor Lupin would return safely, Ron would return gradually, Ivan would successfully catch Peter Pettigrew, and he, Harry, would live with Sirius.

"PATRONUM EXPECTO!" Harry gasped loudly and shouted at the top of his lungs.

By the faint light of his Patronus report, he saw a Dementor stop, very close to him. It couldn't get through the cloud of silver mist that Harry had conjured. It was looking at Black behind Harry, and from beneath its black cloak, a dry, rotting hand slid out.

He made a gesture as if he wanted to push the Patronus aside.

"No, don't!" Harry gasped. "You can't hurt him, he's innocent! Expecto Patronum!"

He could feel them watching him, could hear their growls. The nearest Dementor seemed to be considering him. Then it raised both of its rotting hands and pulled down its hood.

Harry had seen the same Dementor on the Quidditch pitch. Where there should have been eyes, there was only thin, gray, scabbed skin stretched blankly over empty sockets. But there was a mouth... a gaping, formless hole, sucking in air with the sound of a death sound.

With that, Harry felt his soul being sucked in. A paralyzing terror filled Harry so that he couldn't move or speak. His Patronus flickered and he died.

The white fog blinded him. He had to fight back.... Expecto patronum... he couldn't see...and in the distance, he heard the familiar cries...his mother's voice before her death.

Harry gasped heavily, and searched for Sirius in the mist....

He found Black's arm and held it tightly. He couldn't let the Dementors take Sirius away.

But a pair of strong, sticky hands clasped Harry's neck.

They were forcing his face up.... He could feel his breath... He understood Harry's thoughts and was going to get rid of him first.... He could feel his putrid breath..... His mother was screaming in his ears..... She was going to be the last thing he had ever heard.

She was screaming his name. That was her last sentence before her death.

The fog was drowning him completely. Harry knew he was going to die. He was going to see his mother. He was going to be reunited with his parents!

But then, two silvery-white lights crept in from the distant horizon getting brighter and brighter.

The Dementor that was about to kiss Harry suddenly stopped. Just like what happened on the Quidditch pitch two months ago, he sensed danger. He knew that if he didn't run away, he would completely disappear from this world.

The Dementors fled, and Harry felt like he had fallen towards the grass. His face was down and he couldn't move. He trembled and barely opened his eyes.

Dazzling light illuminated the grass around him, and the screaming in his ears stopped, the cold feeling was fading, and something was pushing back the Dementors.

The two silver-white Patronus surrounded him, Ron, Hermione and Sirius, and the sucking sound of the Dementors gradually faded away.

Harry gathered his strength and raised his head a few inches. He saw two animals in the light. They were so similar, so bright, like a unicorn, one tall and one short. One had a strong, sharp horn on the top of its head, and the other was incomparably pure, looking like.....

They circled around it and flew back to the castle.

Through the starlight in the sky, and in the light of the Patronus, He tried to see who saved him, but sweat blurred his eyes.

He saw only two Patronuses parting over the castle, one flying toward the front door of the castle and the other disappearing through a narrow window on the third floor.

Harry didn't understand why, he felt his last flash of strength had left him, his head hit the ground and he fainted.