Birds of a Feather
Chapter 23: Black Smoke and Green Mist
Summary: After Fawkes rescues Severus Snape from the Shrieking shack, the phoenix decides to stick around.
The usual disclaimer applies. See Chapter 1.
"There they are, standing by the river," Mysteria said.
"Yeah, it looks like Slade and that Kat guy." Darkness said. "I like Slade. He's, like, totally mysterious, ya know?"
Mysteria giggled. "Yeah, like tall, dark, and dangerous."
"Well, he's being tall, dark, and boring at the moment, just standing there talking to Kat. I hope they didn't come out here just to stargaze, or something stupid like that."
"Maybe. Who knows with grownups?" Mysteria said. "Let's wait. Something's bound to happen sooner or later, don't ya think? We can hide behind that big old tree over there and wait."
"I guess. I'm getting bored already," Darkness said, stifling a yawn. The caffeine was starting to wear off.
~~~~~
"Try to relax, and be careful what you think about, Slade," Kat said as he conjured a reclining lawn chair. "We don't want the Dementor to sense your presence." Then he laid down under the stars and began reminiscing about his favorite moments in life, hoping this would attract the Dementor that had killed the two teachers.
Severus took up a position in a nearby patch of tall weeds, watching and waiting. He listened to the high-pitched whine of mosquitoes and tried not to think about anything at all. Soon his mind began to wander.
At first he thought about Kat. For a while he had believed that, if Kat had gone to Hogwarts, he would have been sorted into Gryffindor, but on reflection, that couldn't be right. Yes, Kat was brave, and a bit reckless at times, too, but he wasn't stupid, irresponsible, or obnoxious, so that ruled out Gryffindor. No, Kat would probably have ended up in Hufflepuff.
The Puffs weren't so bad, really. They could be brave, as Puffs like Cedric Diggory had proven many times, but Severus had never known a Puff to bully anyone. Although some people scornfully claimed that all Puffs were simpleminded, most of them were actually quite bright. They studied hard, didn't cheat or lie (at least not very often), and they were loyal to their families and friends.
Of course Hufflepuff had more than its share of weirdoes, since they got everyone who didn’t fit anywhere else, but they didn't seem troubled by that. Severus had to admit that, when he was a student, he'd been a tiny bit jealous of the Puffs. Maybe that was why the other Houses liked to sneer at them: They were jealous. The Puffs seemed to know how to have fun. If they gave points for happiness, the Puffs would have come out on top. And Severus, of course, would have come out on the bottom.
Mustn't think about Hogwarts now. Too many bad memories. The Dementor might sense them.
Was it negative emotions that Dementors craved, or was it the happy ones? Happiness powered the Patronus spell that could dive them away, but on the other hand, it was happiness that Dementors drained from their victims. Maybe that was just to get the happiness out of the way, so they could feast on the remaining despair. It was difficult to be certain. However, if it was happiness that they sought, it shouldn't be much of a problem, because Severus had never had much of that.
He'd had wonderful moments with Lily in the days before Hogwarts, but they were painful to think of now, given all the things that had happened since then. No, he needed to clear his mind. Then Kat would attract the Dementor, and Severus would set his Patronus on it. He hoped the silver doe would be strong enough to actually destroy the thing, instead of just chasing it away.
He tried to Occlude and focus his mind on his breathing, but the humid night air brought the smell of plants and herbs, and that made him think of brewing. Brewing had been his means of escape at Hogwarts, both when he was a student and later, when he was a professor. He had always been fascinated by the potions laboratory. He loved the myriad smells, the sound of bubbling cauldrons, the flickering of fires, and the jars of exotic ingredients on dark wooden shelves. He would lose himself in the potion-making process, slicing and stirring, watching the colors change as the ingredients were mixed together and combined to produce something altogether new. When he and Lily had worked together ...
He shouldn't have thought of Lily. He knew that, but the harder you try not to think of something, the more it will creep into your thoughts. He would need to think of Lily when the time came to generate the Patronus, but not before then. Not now. He tried to push the memories away, but they revived old feelings of guilt, and a wave of despair washed over him.
His head started to swim and he could hear her voice scolding him. "You were only interesting before I got to Hogwarts. After that, there were so many more exciting and knowledgeable people. People like James and Sirius. People from good backgrounds, with bright futures. Only a loser like you could possibly hang onto some stupid, childish notions for so long. You're pathetic."
He could hear Sirius and James laughing, and Albus, too. He could see them looking down on him.
"Poor Snivellus," Albus sneered. "You disgust me!"
"Shut it!" Severus snarled. "What did any of you ever accomplish? You're all dead. You died without your wands, speaking of pathetic." Sirius must have had his wand when Bellatrix nailed him, but that was beside the point. "You defied the Dark Lord? You were like silly children playing games, and you lost."
"None of that would have happened if you hadn't given Voldemort the prophecy!" Albus bellowed.
"None of this would have happened if you had protected them, like you promised!" Severus spat back. "Greatest wizard of our time? What rot! I sold myself to you, and you did nothing. She was killed anyway, along with her useless husband. And in the end, you set me up to be murdered by the Dark Lord, after you set me up to murder you."
"And you did such a lovely job of it!" Albus said, laughing. "I never felt a thing. So much nicer than what Bellatrix would have done. Or Voldemort. So much nicer than what he and Nagini did to you."
Their laughter faded away, and he saw the crew from the Knight Boat. They all looked angry, and Seabiscuit was holding a copy The Daily Prophet.
Kat pointed at him. "We know all about you now," he said. "You can't fool us any more. We're done with you!"
Severus was chilled to the bone and felt sick. "No, please! You don't understand,” he pleaded. “I didn’t want to deceive you - you’re my friends - but I knew you’d hate me if you knew the truth. Please, give me another chance!"
But then he realized what was happening. Or rather, he realized what wasn't happening. None of this was real. No, it had to be the Dementor, bringing forth his innermost fears.
He opened his eyes and saw the thing looming in front of him, hovering above the frozen weeds. Its head and torso were covered with what looked like a rotten burial shroud. There were no legs beneath it, and its arms were contorted and boney, but its mouth was gaping open and he could feel it pulling on him somehow, sucking out his emotions and feeding on them. He had to stop it!
"Expecto Patronum!" He tried to think of Lily in the playground, but the playground was empty now. Silver mist poured from his wand, but it failed to coalesce into a Patronus. He swore loudly.
"Huh?" said Kat who, despite his best efforts, had dozed off to sleep. He twisted around to see what was going on, which caused his lawn chair to flip over and dump him on the ground. He cast from where he lay, underneath the inverted chair: "Expecto Patronum!"
Severus forgot about the playground then and remembered that night on the boat, after they'd defeated Dolohov's gang. His friends were laughing happily. There was Kat, and Captain Clark, and Seabiscuit, and Lydia and Jack, too. Friends. His friends. And of course, Fawkes. The phoenix had saved his life! Feelings of happiness welled up in him, and the mist formed into a sliver streak. It struck the Dementor in the head just before the silver bolt from Kat's wand slammed into its torso. The thing spun around and fell to the ground in a smoking heap.
Then, in the bright silvery light from their spells, they were horrified to see several more Dementors hovering near the edge of the river. Severus wasn't sure how many there were, but he could see at least two or three. He swore again and watched as his Patronus swerved and went after them, with Kat's Patronus right beside it.
~~~~~
There they are! Fawkes spotted the silvery light and turned toward the battle. They're in trouble again, too. I can't leave those guys alone for a minute!
Then the riverbank came into view and Fawkes was shocked to see the Dementors. Filthy things! Unnatural things! Hateful, hateful things! They were everything that the phoenix loathed.
He gave a mighty flap and drove himself into a dive, thrusting his beak forward and folding his legs and wings back to streamline his descent. He shot downward like a javelin. Five seconds to impact ... four ... feet forward ... talons out ... two ... one ...
~~~~~
"Who's Slade arguing with?" Darkness asked. She peeked out from behind the tree. "Himself? I don't see anyone else out there. I think Kat's asleep." A sliver light flashed near the lawn chair. "No, wait, I think he just woke up. What’s Expecto Patronum mean?”
“I dunno,” Mysteria said.
Darkness peeked again and then she froze. "Oh crap! Look at those ... those ... those things. One of them is coming this way!"
Intense fear, unlike anything they'd ever imagined, gripped the two girls. We're gonna DIE! Darkness thought.
It was the hardest thing that she'd ever done in her short life. She was shaking and she felt sick to her stomach, but Darkness managed to raise her wand. She drew a three-fold pattern in the air and cast the worst hex that she knew: "Ta ... Ta ... Toxicodendron!" she shouted. Yellow-green goo streamed from her wand and splattered on the Dementor. The thing stopped advancing and hovered in front of her, slime dripping from its shroud. It seemed confused. Perhaps no one had ever tried to give it poison ivy before.
Mysteria, too, fought her fear and tried to hex the thing. "Tarantallegra!" she cried, somehow overlooking the fact that the Dementor didn't have legs.
It had just started to advance again when Fawkes slammed into its head and drove it to the ground. Impact! He pecked and clawed at it furiously, sending chunks of its shroud flying through the air, along with globs of some sort of grey goo. Take that! And that! And that, you filthy soul-sucker!
"Yaaay, Fawksie!" Mysteria yelled, punching the air. "Way to go, bird!"
~~~~~
The doe. Where is the silver doe? Severus wondered in confusion as the silver phoenix stopped in front of him, dissolved into mist, and disappeared into his wand. He knew that a life-changing experience could change one's Patronus, but he never expected it to happen to him. The doe was gone.
"A phoenix? I should have known," Kat said as a silver catfish returned to him. He looked down at the remains of the Dementor that had attacked Severus. "Is that thing dead?" he asked, staring at the lumpy grey heap on the ground. He poked at it with his foot.
Suddenly the heap began to twitch and the two wizards jumped back. A puff of thick black smoke, like diesel exhaust, burst out of it and began to float away.
"I think it's a soul," Severus said quietly. He wondered if it was anyone he'd known.
Another puff of black followed, and then a sparking green mist emerged. It twinkled in front of them for a moment, and then it rose upward and slowly disappeared into the night sky.
"Mr Greenly?" Kat murmured.
Then came more. Many were black or dark grey, but there was a sapphire blue one and a deep purple one, too. Severus wondered what color his would be.
"We've set them free," he said.
To be continued …