A Mortal Enemy

Chapter 14: The Beginning of the End

The next twenty-four hours were a blur. Before she knew it, Kara was watching Hermione scrub the floor in front of the cauldron. It was a necessary task that not even the pressure to return to Hogwarts could interfere with. The young student was fatigued and Kara could see her body was just barely supporting itself as she attempted to kneel without touching her knees to the floor. Why wasn't she using magic?

"Do you want me to go back with you?" Nabokov said quietly in Kara's ear.

"It's not necessary," she replied hastily while putting away a jar of slug slime.

"Kara, what if he wakes up, is disabled, and then realizes what you've done? He will be..."

"If that happens, then I have nothing to fear from him," she responded heavyhearted, meeting her mentor's eyes calmly. After having had some sleep she had resolved herself to knowing what she was doing was correct. Snape would have to live with the consequences of her deep love for him, even if it left him magically crippled. Nothing, now, could stop what she was about to do; not Nabokov, not the fear of the prophecy, and were he here, not even Albus Dumbledore.

Hermione picked herself up off the floor, set the scrub brush in the bucket and rinsed her hands clean.

"It's time to go Ms. Granger. Polishnikov can finish up the rest," Kara said as she picked the jar containing the Yurlome. Sealed in an unbreakable beaker, it had changed into a dramatic shade of orange, was bubbling slightly and had made the glass surrounding it warm. She tucked it inside her robes for safety.

"Yes Professor," Hermione responded, gathering Kara's mink cloak from a chair nearby and slipping the last of the‚ eclairs inside her robes.

"Let me at least escort you out," Nabokov pleaded.

"I know the way back. We will be fine," Kara responded as she threw the other lavish mink cloak over her shoulders. "Just tell Bremin to stay clear. The last thing I want to deal with is that nosey poltergeist."

The door to the lab opened and Polishnikov walked in. His timing was impeccable, as usual.

"You're going then?" he asked with a hint of concern in his voice

"Yes. I must thank for..." but he raised a hand quickly, cutting her off.

"I would do anything for you and you know that." He walked forward, and kissed both of her cheeks. He then leaned over and whispered in her ear. "I know what you're about to do for Draco. Please be careful. If the Dark Lord finds out, he will do everything he can to destroy you."

"I will keep that in mind," she said quietly, hoping Hermione wouldn't hear. She pulled back and looked deep into Polishnikov's eyes, wondering how he had found out about Draco. To her dismay, his mind revealed that while House Elves may keep their master's secrets, they certainly didn't their master's former apprentices' secrets. Ezmerelda had obviously been spying on their little episode with young Malfoy.

"Say goodbye to Ezmerelda then for me," Kara said coyly. Polishnikov nodded in response.

Next, she beckoned for Hermione and covered them both in her Invisibility Cloak. The old potions master escorted them to the entrance of the cave and they made good speed traveling through the slimy bowels of the castle. Even the trip down the mountain cliff was uneventful, but when Kara had Apparated both herself and Hermione back to Hogsmeade she nearly fainted. The song of her Ring erupted so heavily in her mind that she could barely stand up straight.

Without thinking twice, Kara grabbed Hermione's hand and ran for the school at full speed, not worrying about the stealthy entrance they had planned,

As she might have expected, three Aurors ran towards them with their wands out and when they saw the student with her Professor approach the main gate. They tried to stop them, but Kara was going to have none of that; Harry had put on her Ring and the intensity of his need was nearly breaking her in half. A simple flex of her mind sent the Aurors flying through the air, and Hermione, still attached firmly by a hand began running before Kara had even moved her feet again. Without words, it seemed, she had picked up on the need for urgency.

Sirius was in the entrance hall turning away a few curious students when Kara and Hermione broke through the front door, panting. Harry was on the stairs, nearly collapsed.

"What is it? What has happened?"

"The Dementors. They've been spotted ten miles to the south. They are on their way here," he said hastily.

"Harry!" Hermione gasped as she ran to his side.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know. The Aurors told us what was happening and I asked him to summon you. When he put on your ring, he collapsed."

"Take the ring off of him! Hurry!" Kara said urgently to Hermione. The song was becoming more intense in her mind, more so than she had ever felt before. It was almost painful the way it echoed in her mind.

Hermione pulled Harry's hand out from underneath his curled up body and yanked the ring off of his pinky finger. The music stopped in Kara's mind, but Harry was still lying limp, moaning. Hermione began to push the hair from his eyes and stroke his forehead in a comforting manor.

"Do the rest of the students know the Dementors are near?" Kara asked.

"McGonagall is alerting everyone. The students are being confined to their dormitories."

"Very well. Ms Granger, do what you need to in order to ensure that you both make it back to Gryffindor Tower. Now. Black, come with me; we must wake Severus."

Sirius followed obediently, but when they reached the door to Snape's private quarters he stopped her.

"Are you sure you want me here for this?" he asked.

"He may need explanations, and they cannot come from me," she replied calmly with an air of uncaring, hoping that the comment would not spark a reaction from his own protection spell. A simple spell in her mind unlocked and opened the door. The familiar smell of these rooms - warm fire and black tea - brought a faint sadness to her knowing she had been away from this home of theirs for two days.

In the bedroom Snape lay on the bed, just as lifeless as he was the day she left. Kara pulled the beaker of Yurlome from inside her robes and took the magical cork off of the top. She slid one finger between Snape's lips and pried open his jaw. It would have to be quick, and she knew it; if she took even a moment to stop and think she would lose her conviction. Kara took a deep breath and poured the bubbling orange fluid into Snape's mouth. When it was all gone, she closed his mouth and pressed gently on his Adam's apple to force him to swallow.

The room was very quiet as both she and Black waited with baited breath for some signs of life from the dark wizard on the bed. Sirius had positioned himself behind Kara, where he could see Snape's face. Moments later Snape's head jerked to the left and his face twitched. Before she knew what was happening he was sitting up quickly and turning away from her. His lean body began convulsing and it seemed clear he was having a bad reaction to the potion. Orange fluid splattered all over the bed sheets and Kara realized Snape was vomiting. Pushing herself up and onto her knees, she leaned over his huddled body and pulled his long dark hair away from his face. A comforting hand went on his shoulder and when his body stopped heaving, she executed a spell to clean up the mess he had made.

Slowly his head turned towards her and stared. A moment of relief spread over her as she looked back into the dark tunnel-like eyes that she knew so well. The hand on his shoulder moved and reached into her robes for a handkerchief. She used this to lovingly wipe the drips of orange splatter from the corners of his mouth. More importantly though was the fact that he wasn't looking away. Snape merely sat there, his body half facing the other direction and still under the bed covers. He stared at Kara with a half-confused look on his face and when she looked back intently enough to read his mind, she merely heard random confusion.

Then he spotted Black standing behind her, or at least that's what Kara concluded from the vicious look that crossed Snape's face. It seemed to force him into realizing what was going on. After looking back at Sirius to ensure he was really there, Kara decided it was time to get it over with.

"We haven't much time. I will be in the other room."

She pushed herself off the bed and quickly left the bedroom, closing the door behind her. She lit the fire to warm herself and did her best to rearrange the robes she was wearing after discarding her mink cloak on the back of a chair. There was no time for tea or a snack, although her stomach rumbled in protest. It might be hours before she could eat, but Snape never stored food in his rooms. Calling for a House Elf would take too much time, time they didn't have.

Sirius wasn't alone with Snape long. Shortly after she had left, the door tore open and Snape appeared in its place. He stood and stared at her a long time before addressing Sirius.

"Leave us," he demanded.

Sirius looked unsure and his eyes met Kara for some sort of protest or approval. She nodded in response.

"We haven't much time," she spoke after the door was closed. Black told you the Dementors are near?"

"Yes," he confirmed, but it was clear he didn't want to talk about the impending threat to the school. "Was that Yurlome?"

"Yes," she replied sheepishly. It was now Kara who was afraid to meet Snape's gaze. She was expecting a rage of anger and confusion at this answer, but he remained surprisingly calm.

"How did you acquire the Veela blood?" came the next question.

"Polishnikov." Snape's eyes grew wider at the mention of the Death Eater's name.

"You allowed him to come here?" it was a rhetorical question, and she knew it. She didn't answer.

"How long have I been in stasis?" Kara quickly turned towards the wall.

"Tell me! How long have I been in stasis?"

"Severus... " She began timidly. "I only made one batch." She hoped the words would have some meaning to him. He didn't answer, but she could hear gentle footsteps, then she felt the hands on her shoulders turning her around.

"Stasis can only be entered once," he said to her gently. She could smell the stench of the Yurlome and stomach bile on his breath. It made her cringe slightly from him. The look of pain on her face made him step back.

"You were out for more than two days. I went to Durmstrang to brew it, Polishnikov was never inside the castle." Snape's eyebrows rose slightly and he let Kara read the confused questions in his mind.

"Did he ask you what it was for?"

"He didn't need to. There are very few reasons why I would need Veela blood and he was able to spot it straight away. The fact you didn't escort me led him to believe it was for you."

"And Nabokov let you?" She nodded positively in response. Her mind became instantly distracted by the nagging question that had plagued her for days.

"Have you... I mean... your magic? Is it affected?"

"I feel no different, but I suspect we won't know for a few days," he muttered stoically. A definite change had come over him. The usual confidence he showed in his posture was gone. He also seemed pensive and solemn, almost as if he was forgetting that the school was in grave danger. If Snape had ever been scared in his life, she suspected this might be what he looked like. Regret began to settle over her.

"I'm sorry," Kara said, almost choking on her own words. She was forced to use one hand on the back of a chair to balance herself. Snape took two steps forward and wrapped her in his arms. His large spindly fingers dug into her back as he clung desperately to her.

"I would have done the same thing were it you." He then nestled his head on her shoulder and they stood there for a long period of time until a gentle rapping at the door interrupted them. Pulling back from one another, Kara issued several spells to dry her eyes and fix her face. Snape opened the door. It was Black again.

"The Aurors are asking questions. You need to get down there,"

"Tell them I will be there shortly."

With that he slammed the door in Sirius's face and walked promptly to the bedroom. Kara watched as Snape undressed and refreshed himself quickly. Kara watched closely to see him perform magic of any kind. It would a sign that the Yurlome was having no affect on him. Snape, however, seemed to do all of his tasks without use of his wand or Inner Focus. Still, there was no apparent physical change in his body after drinking the potion. His skin was as sallow as ever with tiny wrinkles in the most private of places. And there were little bit of loose skin around his ribs, subtle dark spots on his shoulders, and nothing had changed in regards to his stature. He still had his proud posture with shoulders wider than his hips and rippled with well-defined muscles. Kara felt a stirring inside her that she had to struggle to quell.

Snape slipped his outer black robes on and walked confidently to the door. He had brushed his teeth in the process of all this, so when he read the flushed look on Kara's face, neither of them had any qualms about the deep sensual kiss they engaged in. And while it was a simple, short gesture it somehow reassured her that what had transpired in the past two days was the right way. For the first time in several days, things felt normal. Snape had woken from a disastrous spell and was now charging ahead as if nothing had happened.

His tongue slipped over hers and he took a moment to run the tip of it over the roof of her mouth and the back of her teeth. It was almost as if he was taking the time to remember every bit of her mouth and her kiss. The warm tickle and soft moan he uttered wasn't helping the stirrings she was working so hard at restraining. He then pulled away, sucking her bottom lip between his teeth, planted a kiss on her forehead and guided her to the door. They walked together to the Great Hall, where they assumed most of the staff and Aurors would have gathered.

"Headmaster," Sirius said cautiously and with a slight twitching in his face. Kara noted that Black still hadn't fully become comfortable with the idea of calling Snape headmaster.

"What is the situation?" Snape asked.

A tiny witch pushed herself forward into Snape's range of vision and began speaking very quickly with a tone of desperation in her voice. "The Dementors are just outside the town of Hogsmeade. The villagers have been warned and most have Apparated to safety. Our scouts tell us that there are well over two hundred Dementors. I just don't know what we're going to do!"

"You three," Snape said, pointing to three tall men wearing Auror robes. "Follow me. Black, dispatch two Aurors to the each entrance of the school. All entrances of the school," he added with a tone of all knowing and a look that sent Sirius's eyebrows up.

"Kara, Minerva, ensure that all students are accounted for and safely in their dormitories. Then I will need you both to join me in the astronomy tower."

Everyone nodded and set off to do their assigned duty. Kara went immediately to Slytherin common room, and apprised the students of the situation. Most did not look shocked to hear the news that two hundred of the wizarding world's most foul creatures were about to descend upon the castle. Some looked as though liberation day had come and that they couldn't wait to begin celebrating. The faces of Crabbe, Goyle and a handful of other Slytherins broke into muted smiles and they gave each other knowing looks. Kara warned them not to leave the dormitories and set off to Gryffindor Tower. She had a few special instructions for the occupants, even though she knew McGonagall would have already visited.

She found the opposite emotions raging amongst the Gryffindors when she stepped into their common room. They were standing in huddled groups and chattering nervously to one another. Hermione, Harry, Ginny and Ron were sitting conspiratorially in a corner, leaning desperately close to one another to ensure others couldn't hear them.

"Potter," Kara said loudly. "A word. Outside."

The room became very quiet as Harry looked up, saw his mentor and let go of Ginny's hand as he stood. He walked clumsily through the crowd and past Kara. He still looked horribly pale and Ginny was watching with a concerned look on her face as Harry seemed to stumble over his own feet. Kara followed him out of the portrait.

"No heroics, Mr. Potter. If they enter the school get yourself to the chamber immediately."

"But, Professor, my Patronus..."

"No heroics. I want to be perfectly clear about that. No matter how confident you are in your powers, I guarantee you've no chance against two hundred Dementors. And I can assure you, Voldemort will not far behind. Get yourself into the chamber if it comes to that."

"And Ginny? Ron? Hermione?"

"Leave them here. The Aurors and the teachers will look after them."

"But what if he...'

"No buts, Mr. Potter. Assure me you understand what I'm saying and that you will obey."

The look on Harry's face went from outrage to resolution and he nodded. Kara noted, though, that he did not appear to be wholly convinced of the idea. When he had turned and had disappeared behind the portrait, Kara set off to the rest of the houses. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had similar demeanors. They were worried, anxious and nervous. She did her best to set them at ease, but without lying it was difficult. There could be no doubt that they were all in grave danger now.

The situation in the astronomy tower wasn't much more hopeful when she arrived. Snape was in a corner, listening to several of the Aurors argue about defense strategies. He was just standing there quietly, his arms folded. Black was standing on his left, looking out over the school grounds towards the south. He looked haunted, and it took a few moments for Kara to realize that it must have been some time since the man had seen his former captors.

"They've been arguing this entire time?" she asked, coming up on Snape's right. The question stirred Sirius out of his thoughtful stare.

"Incessantly. But they've no strategy. Apparently, the Ministry never formed a contingency plan for this."

"Hm. So what did you have in mind?" she asked, knowing that Snape had been standing here the entire time, forming one.

"Dumbledore, thankfully, made plans for this. There are several hundred Plaxim boxes in a hidden room within the castle."

Kara and Sirius stared at Snape incredulously. Kara knew that Plaxim boxes were incredibly complex mechanical devices. Muggles made devices that resembled them, but referred to them as music boxes. And of course they had no magical powers. Kara had made the mistake more than once of seeing one in a Muggle shop and almost buying it. They were extremely rare due to the difficulty of the charm required, and for Dumbledore to have found hundreds of them was one of those things that the wizarding world would ponder over for a great many years.

Plaxim boxes needed convincing bait to lure the Dementor towards it. Giving to their desire for human souls, usually a poltergeist was asked to volunteer to stand over the box and lure the Dementor in. Ghosts wouldn't work because their souls and feelings were beyond the reach of the Dementor. Once the Dementor was close enough, a magical music-like sound would erupt from the box and penetrate the Dementor's senses. The music would shut down its mind. Once disoriented, the magical charms to destroy the Dementor and lock it inside the box were activated. The only problem with this plan was that Hogwarts didn't have two hundred poltergeists inside the castle. In fact, if Kara remembered carefully, Hogwarts had just one: Peeves.

"When were you planning on telling us this?" Sirius blurted out.

"When you asked."

"Why are we standing here like idiots then listening to them argue? Why aren't we making preparations?"

Snape turned his head sharply towards Black and gave him a dark stare that was hesitantly returned.

"Because what the Headmaster did not account for was how we would lure them into the boxes," Snape said loudly. It was loud enough for the Aurors to stop their arguing and pay attention to the two wizards.

"Boxes?" one of them asked. "Plaxim boxes? You have one?"

"I have several hundred." With these words, the Aurors began to nervously stare at Snape. "We will need to use live bait, however, and we cannot tip the other Dementors off in regards to what's happening. If they realize what we are doing they will adapt their defenses and attack us in groups."

"We need a way to detect where they are on the grounds," one Auror said. "Then we can identify when it's safe to attack them alone and Apparate to the location."

"You cannot Apparate, you idiot," Snape said in a demeaning manor towards a young man. Kara assumed he had once been a student. "There are wards to prevent it."

"You can Apparate within the grounds," Black added. "You just can't Apparate out of the school or into it."

"Don't tell me you never tried that," he then added playfully several seconds later after noticing the look on Snape's face.

"That still doesn't explain how we're going to know where they are," said a tall man in blue who had been arguing the loudest just a few minutes earlier.

The Aurors, Kara, Snape and Sirius stood thinking for a moment in silence. Black looked back out over the grounds and then appeared to have a revelation. He turned to Snape and leaned in close enough to whisper. When he pulled back, Snape had raised his eyebrows and stared in awe at his former enemy.

"I will be back," he then said while heading towards the door. Kara looked back at Black and heard in his mind what Snape had gone to fetch.

When he returned, a small piece of parchment was in his left hand. He unfolded it and tapped his wand on it, stating the words that would make the magical map appear.

"We never considered it for this use. I'm not sure if it will work at all. We may have to modify it," Black said quickly as he leaned over the map with Snape. Kara could see them studying it intently.

Kara noticed the first thing Sirius did was to trace the lines of Gryffindor Tower. Seeing the dot labeled Harry Potter placed in the common room, he began to step back and think to himself again.

"How does the map work?" One of the Ministry Aurors asked after leaning in and gazing at it for a few moments.

"It's just a modified location spell tied into some of Hogwarts' - lesser known - wards," Black replied vaguely. Snape and Kara shared a knowing look at these words. "It will show poltergeists and ghosts, so there is no reason why Dementors wouldn't work as well. But I don't know how they will show up. It's not as though Dementors have names," he said frantically after running a hand through his hair.

"We will just have to wait and find out," Snape said deterministically. "Samuel and Geist, follow me. We will retrieve the boxes and bring them here. We'll use the Astronomy Tower as a base for launching the attacks."

The two youngest Aurors followed Snape timidly down the tower stairs and only the loud boisterous Auror was left. Sirius walked over to the edge of the tower again and began surveying the land.

"You spoke to Harry?" he asked her discretely.

"Yes. He has promised me he will remain in Gryffindor Tower."

Sirius looked skeptical at these words. "As much as I hate to admit that Snape is right, he is. Harry is too much like his father. If he feels we're not taking care of things, he'll try to do it himself."

"I made him promise me. If he breaks that promise there will be serious consequences, I assure you. Granting the Dementors do not get to him first."

Sirius smiled gently. "The problem is his confidence. He's already faced Voldemort three times. To him, I'm sure, Dementors seem like less of a threat, especially considering his Patronus."

"So this map," the Auror spoke up loudly and interrupted them. "Where did it come from?"

"No one knows," Black lied. "It's been at Hogwarts for a long time, passed down between students illegally. Sna... the Headmaster confiscated it a few years ago."

"It looks like Dark magic to me. How can we trust it?"

"It isn't Dark magic, I assure you."

"Well you would be the authority, wouldn't you," the Auror said with a hint of sarcasm. Kara noticed both of Black's fists clench tight. One then stealthily began to reach up his robe sleeve for his wand.

"Cramer, isn't it?" Kara interjected. "Go see where Professor McGonagall is. Tell her to hurry."

"I don't take orders from Dark Wizards," he replied dangerously.

"Well then it's a good thing there are no Dark Wizards here, for your sake," Kara responded. She took two steps forward towards the taller man. "I won't ask again. Go see where McGonagall is."

Kara felt her anger peek slightly and a gentle breeze in the confined tower became detectable. Cramer gave her a nasty look and seemed to come to the conclusion it was better to leave than to confront her. He turned and walked down the stairs.

"I remember him from Azkaban," Sirius said after the man was gone. "He never did like me." Kara simply stood there quietly until the others returned. It had been quite some time since anyone had accused her of playing on Voldemort's side. Sometimes she had to remind herself of all the secret things she was involved in that the majority of the wizarding world didn't know about : the vaccine, her fiancé's allegiance to this Order of the Phoenix and of course Harry's training. If they knew those things, she would be exonerated for the rest of her life. As it was, she was merely a woman with a Dark gift engaged to a man with not only the same gift, but also a past to match.

- - -

Snape returned just minutes later followed by ten magically floating wooden crates. The two younger Aurors were following him.

"Where did Cramer go?" one of them asked.

"He felt the need to suddenly seek out Minerva. She's not yet returned," Kara replied. She gave Snape a knowing look that he picked up on immediately.

"We will gather the Aurors that are not watching the entrances. They will work in teams of five. Each will take a box, seek out a Dementor and capture it. Then they will return for another box and instructions on where to Apparate. Samuel, go inform them and return immediately. Geist, begin unpacking these."

The two Aurors jumped into actions at Snape's command much like his students did in the classroom.

- - -

Kara handed a Plaxim box to a young Auror and took the full one he was holding. It was cold to the touch, much like ice, and Kara could hold it only long enough to place it inside an old magical trunk that Filch had brought up from the dungeons. Inside were at least forty used Plaxim boxes, stacked neatly on top of one another. Yet, the trunk didn't seem full at all to Kara, despite the hour and a half that the Aurors had been disappearing from the Tower onto the school grounds, only to return minutes later with a captured Dementor.

The next Auror stepped up and went to hand over his newest catch. He had been clutching it tightly under his arm as if he expected it to jump out and run from him like a scared rabbit. When he looked into her eyes, Kara heard the terror he felt when he thought of taking an empty Plaxim box and facing the Dementors again. The boy had horrors in his life that Kara was picking up on faintly. It was the death of some family member, precisely which one, Kara couldn't determine. It may have been his mother. Alvin, as she heard him call himself in a moment of reassurance, was trying to block it out. He wanted to forget all the pain, suffering and his own reaction to the Dementors. If he didn't do so, he was afraid he would be unable to move on.

They had been standing there for just a few moments, sharing this thought. It had begun to amaze Kara how quickly it had happened these days since she took on these new powers. One minute she would be greeting someone hello and the next she would be looking into the depths of their soul, feeling gripped by the intensity of it. A look of remorse came over Alvin's face at the remembrance of who Kara was, or more importantly, what she was. He took the next empty box and looked away shyly. Kara patted him lovingly on the shoulder and wished him good luck.

Just then rushed footsteps came pounding up the stairs to the astronomy tower. The Aurors were beginning to bunch up against the wall of the narrow staircase to make room for someone. A dainty voice began shouting "Out of my way". Moments later Hermione Granger tripped over her own feet at the top of the stairs and spilled painfully onto the ground in the center of the small room. Everyone looked down upon her, but it was Kara's eyes that she met first when she looked up. It took only for a second for her thoughts to connect with Kara's and a flurry of muddled images began to appear in her own head: Hagrid hovering over a limp child, Harry surrounded by a swarm of Dementors and a white stag was galloping valiantly towards the dark creatures. There were so many of them.

Kara knew what she had to do even before she reached the door.

"Sirius! Come!" she hollered. The rest of the wizards stood baffled in the room, Snape included. No doubt Hermione would fill him in.

Kara ran quickly down the stairs, Sirius on her trail. She pushed open the heavy wooden doors to the front entrance of the school. The scenery was just as it had been in Hermione's mind, and then she saw Hagrid. His bulky figure was profiled poignantly in the sunlight. Harry was nearby and streams of silver sparks were flying out of his wand. He was backing up slowly towards Hagrid and the child he was protecting with his own large body. The white stag, Kara concluded, must be Harry's Patronus.

Accio Harry Potter Kara thought in her mind. The boy lifted off the ground and came hurling back towards her and Sirius.

"Catch him, take him inside. Do not let him leave the castle. Hex him if you have to. I will deal with this."

"You can't do this on your own!" he protested. "There are too many of them."

"Fine, then send Severus out or hex Potter and come out yourself. Your main priority needs to be to get him back inside the castle," she retorted with a forceful voice.

Just then, Harry fell into Sirius's arms and Kara knew that as his guardian he was in no position to disagree, let alone argue over the matter. He deftly caught the scrawny wizard who was verbally protesting the matter and dragged him inside. Kara began to walk slowly towards the Dementors and Hagrid.

When they realized she was there, several of them stopped their progression towards the unarmed Giant and turned their attentions towards her. She saw Hagrid's frightened face turn in her direction; he was silently appealing to her to help him. Kara felt the cold of the Dementors soul sucking powers begin to rise within her belly and fear almost overtook her ability to walk. She began breathing deeply.

Some force compelled her to stop moving when she was within one hundred feet of the towering horrors and so she just stood there listening to the silence of the warm afternoon. There were no singing birds or rustle of rodent feet in the grass as there might be on a normal day. The Dementors had frightened off all the wildlife on Hogwarts' grounds and it was now a very lonely place. That is until she felt a hand land softly on her back and smelled the familiar fragrance of her favorite male scent, Severus Snape. He had silently approached her was now standing there looking at the Dementors approach; one hand perched supportively upon her dainty frame. His face was close to her ear and she could feel his rhythmic breathing tease the hairs there.

Breathe in, breathe out, he seemed to say to her.

A high-pitched wailing rang in her ears.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Their breathing was now in sync. She could feel his body rise and fall next to hers.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

The Dementors were so close. She could see their scaly white hands and the depth of the black of their cloaks.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

The high-pitched wailing turned into a rhythmic chant.

Harry Potter. Dead.

Sirius Black. Dead.

Severus Snape. Dead.

They were the names Voldemort had spoken followed by instructions. The Dementors were chanting it slowly to each other. The closer they got, the clearer it became.

Kara began to feel the chill from her sides and behind. The rest of the Dementors were closing in on all sides.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Snape's other arm wrapped around her belly as he pressed his body up against her. She could feel every curve of his body; his breathing became heavier. In a single moment without realizing why, she began to let go of her mind. Her jaw dropped and the muscles in her face relaxed. A silver beam shot from her mouth with great force as if she had commanded it to, it hit the Dementors and began to develop into a giant formless mass. She felt it suck energy from her body as if it were a vacuum. The pit of her stomach tightened and her airway seemed to unblock itself as this silver light poured forward. Only Snape's heavy breathing allowed her to stay focused as the energy turned into almost unbearable warmth.

"Let go, " he whispered. He began to grind his hips into her body.

With great effort, she did. She heard it first wailing through the castle's ramparts and then came the rustle of leaves in the trees nearby. Soon she could see twigs and debris flying into her field of vision. The Dementors stopped chanting, the high-pitched wailing returned and it was clear they were retreating.

She concentrated harder on letting go and focusing on Snape.

The Dementors immovable black cloaks were flying in the wind as Kara let her powers unleash uncontrolled. The giant wind swirled around her and Snape and was beginning to slowly move outward from them. They stood in the middle as if it were the eye of a hurricane. She felt Snape's arms drop from her body and he too, she knew, was letting his powers go. The effect was so great that the cloaks of the Dementors began to fly off of their bodies only to catch on the trees nearby. Their scaly white skin became completely exposed to the sunlight of the mid-day sun. She saw their faces, long, with stitched eyes and hollow mouths. Kara nearly cried out at the sight but forced herself to concentrate on the man behind her. The soul sucking powers of the Dementors began to disappear from her body, only to be replaced by the worst invasion she had ever felt. It was almost an innocent pleading and she thought she heard them call her master.

And then they bowed to the ground as if they were worshiping her. Minutes later Hogwarts' beautiful green lawns erupted in large swirling flames as the Dementors bodies caught fire in the sun. Flames leapt towards her and Snape in the wind. Kara closed her eyes and tried to relish in the warmth still pouring from her body as it met with the heat on her skin. Snape's chest was still rising and falling behind her. She took comfort in the constancy of it.

When she opened her eyes minutes later they were gone. In their place were piles of bones littered across the scorched earth. The winds were still howling, blowing ash everywhere. The fields of grass had been replaced by what looked like the slopes of a newly formed volcano. Kara brought her mind back into control and reached back to make sure Snape knew to do the same. He caught her hand and soon they were left standing on the only green patch left at Hogwarts.

Something moving to her left caught Kara's eye, and she turned just in time to see the deep red beady eyes of Voldemort. He was standing on the very edge of where her powers had reached. A handful of Death Eaters were at his side. With a swish of his cloak he Disapparated and was gone.

Kara turned to Snape who still had his eyes closed. She reached up and touched his face. He looked at her and moments later collapsed at her feet. Sinking down to her knees, Kara ran a hand through his dark hair. The pattering of feet running across the dead earth was the last thing she heard as she too passed out hard on the ground.