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Chapter 180: The Stag and the Doe
🕑 Added 2018-07-27 00:13:14 +0000 UTCGoing back in time, in Professor Lupin’s office, Harry and Hermione were waiting anxiously.
"We can't stay here doing nothing, Hermione!" Harry paced back and forth in the room irritated and said, "Peter Pettigrew is about to run away. We should go to the Forbidden Forest and help Evan catch him.”
"No, Harry!" Hermione shook and hurriedly stopped him. "We can't go out, have you forgotten? We should all be in the Hall on the first floor. You can't take risks, if someone finds out..."
"I know, since we can't get out, isn't it the same for Evan?"
"He is different from us. He is an Animagus; his Animagus form is a black cat. He can sneak out of the castle at will without being noticed." Hermione looked worried too, but quickly recovered her calm. "I believe in Evan, Harry, he will catch Peter Pettigrew alive."
Hearing her words, Harry clenched his wand in his hand, and kept silent.
“Harry, there’s something I don’t understand… Why didn’t the Dementors get Sirius? I remember them coming, and then I think I passed out… there were so many of them…”
Harry sat down too. He explained what he’d seen; how, as the nearest Dementor had lowered its mouth to Harry’s, and two silver things flew out of the castle, forcing the Dementors to retreat and escape.
"Silver things?" Hermione repeated it, seemingly with no reaction.
“There’s only one thing they could have been, to make the Dementors go,” said Harry. “Real Patronuses, powerful ones.”
"But why were there two?" Hermione's mouth was a little open, looking puzzled. "Would it be Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick who summoned them?"
"I don't think it was them, they should have been in the auditorium, they didn’t even know what was going on outside." Harry shook his head. He tried to think about the shape of the two Patronuses.
“Was it Dumbledore or other Professors?”
“No, those two Patronuses were certainly not summoned by any Professor.” Harry whispered, in his heart he was more and more certain.
"But they must have been really powerful wizards, to drive all those Dementors away… I still remember the Patronus that Evan summoned at the time, in front of more than a hundred Dementors, only for a dozen seconds. If the Patronuses were shining so brightly, didn’t it light them up? Couldn’t you see...”
“I didn’t see who summoned them. The two Patronuses finally separated over the castle.” Harry said slowly, "but I think, I should know who they were!" "
Hermione did not speak, she firmly stared at Harry.
"I think ..." Harry swallowed, knowing how strange this was going to sound," I think it was my dad and mom. "
Harry glanced up at Hermione and saw that her mouth was fully open now. She was gazing at him with a mixture of alarm and pity.
"Harry, your parents have… "She said quietly, "Well, you know, they are already dead!"
"I know.” Harry said quickly.
"So do you think you saw their ghosts?"
“I know it sounds crazy, but the two Patronuses..."
Harry hadn’t finished his words yet, and there was the faint sound of an explosion on the outside of the castle. The distance is too far away. If he didn’t listen carefully, he wouldn’t have heard it at all.
"This was the magic of Peter Pettigrew. He immediately fled to the Forbidden Forest." Harry hurriedly climbed up from the ground. "We must go out, Hermione!" "
“No, we can't, we will be discovered..."
"We won't be discovered, we don't have to go to the Hallway;” Harry hurriedly said, "If only I go to the corridor window, I just want to see who had summoned the two Patronuses."
Harry turned around and rushed out of the office. Unable to tell why, all of a sudden he was thinking of his father, and his three old friends, Moony, Wormtail and Padfoot.
This evening, Wormtail reappeared; everyone thought he had died long ago!
But he was still alive, so is it possible for his father and mother? Harry couldn’t be sure that the two Patronuses had something to do with his parents.
If they did, he had to know, he needed to see it.
He rushed to the narrow window in the corridor, opened it, and the air whizzed outside, and he saw himself and Hermione sitting beside the Forbidden Forest, Sirius Black and Ron lying behind them. The four of them were in the center surrounded by the Dementors.
He looked hastily towards the castle gate, and there was nothing there.
Hermione came up too, she pouted, and looked at what was happening outside in horror, the two of them were trying to call their Patronuses, but it was useless. There were too many Dementors.
Next to the Forbidden Forest, two small silver lights were struggling.
It was their own Patronuses, one of them suddenly went out, and Harry knew that Hermione had fainted. He almost plunged himself out of the window, and he was desperately looking around, but there was nothing, not even the other professors.
A few seconds later, the last silver light also dissipated.
Harry had a shudder of fear all over his body, and the two Patronuses could appear at any time...
"Come on!" he murmured, looking around. "Where are you? Dad, Mom, Come on..."
But nobody came, and Harry looked up at the circle of Dementors outside the Forbidden Forest, one of them was the one lowering his hood for him.
The rescuers were supposed to be there, but this time no one came to help.
"We have to do something, Harry!" Hermione screamed,” It would be too late if we don’t stop the Dementors.’
Hearing Hermione’s cry, Harry suddenly understood something. He lifted his wand high and shouted, “EXPECTO PATRONUM!”
And out of the end of his wand burst, not a shapeless cloud of mist, but a blinding, dazzling, silver animal. He screwed up his eyes, trying to see what it was.
It looked like a horse, with a sharp corner on his head, one of the two Patronuses he saw at that time. It left him, crossed the black night sky, and rushed over to the large group of Dementors outside the Forbidden Forest. At the same time, a silver-white figure rushed out of the hall.
The two Patronuses intertwined and looked so similar, so perfect. They got together and rushed towards the Dementors.
Outside the Forbidden Forest, the Dementors were falling back, scattering, retreating into the darkness… They were gone... Then, the two Patronuses turned around and ran slowly through the night sky towards the castle.
Harry saw it this time. The two Patronuses were not horses, nor unicorns. They were shining brightly as the moon above. The Patronus that he had called stared at him with its large, silver eyes. Slowly, it bowed its antlered head.
And Harry realized that it was a stag.
The Patronus beside his own Stag was much smaller, with no horns on its head. It looked like...
"A DOE!" Hermione said softly, "This is a doe, Harry!”
