Harry Potter and the Light of the Patronus

Chapter one

The Forest of The Dead

    Harry Potter was fed up. He threw the Daily Prophet to the ground, and prayed that he would never have to go to the wizardry world again. This was a first for Harry Potter, who loved getting away from the Dursleys and seeing his two best friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.

    “Do they honestly have to write that bloody stuff?” yelled Harry, to himself. He looked over at Hedwig, who was making noises due to Harry’s hoarse yell.

    “I’m sorry Hedwig, but I don’t want to be ‘the boy who lived’ anymore! I don’t want to be Harry Potter! I want to be regular, not a person whose going to be the subject of a book about an evil lord!” he yelled once more. He was very angry, and the last thing he needed was what was coming…

    Uncle Vernon had walked upstairs, pushed Harry’s door open, and looked as red as an apple.

    “YOU!” he squealed. He ran for Harry. Harry had to be quick. Harry knew he shouldn’t have been yelling, especially since Aunt Marge was here.

    Aunt Marge was a very annoying woman, at least to Harry. She would always criticize him, and one night it had gone to far. He had ended up blowing her up, bigger than a balloon. Luckily, however, Vernon told Aunt Marge that Harry was away at school. Harry was to stay in his room at all times, except for at nighttime, when Marge had gone asleep, so Harry could go the bathroom.

    But he had been getting news from the wizardry world. That’s what was making him very angry. He had just read that an author, some Rudy Runey person, was going to write a book about Harry, and Sirius. Harry loathed this woman. She had been in the news for about a month or so, with plans about this new book. Harry would love to meet this woman in person, and give her exactly what she deserves…a piece of his mind.

    Harry looked at Uncle Vernon. Should I grab my case and run for it? Harry ran for it. He grabbed his trunk and ran downstairs. He didn’t pause to look at Aunt Marge, or Aunt Petunia, who was sitting downstairs laughing at something. Harry ran outside, and put his wand out. It was all he had. The Knight Bus would come, and that was that.

    Sure enough, a purple triple-decker bus flung itself to Harry. Harry looked at it with intense emotion. He had been on it once before, with two comical characters as his company. Stan Shunpike was the conductor, and Ernie Prang was the driver. However, whomever opened the door to the Knight Bus was not the recognizable Stan, instead it was a man with a hollow face, Harry had a feeling he had seen such a hollow face before…and yet he had. It was the face of Sirius Black, after he had came back from Azkaban prison. But sure enough the Ministry wouldn’t have had someone who had been sentenced to Azkaban as the conductor, would they?

    “I am Hickory Moody. I shall be your conductor on this night,” he said. His voice was mystic, like Professor Trelawney, the teacher of divination.

    “What is your name?” he asked. Harry stared at him, wide-eyed. The man had long fingers, which he held out to shake Harry’s hand. Harry, gently, placed his hand into the other mans and shuck it.

    “This is Narcissus. He shall be the driver this night.”

    Harry looked at the man who was driving. He too had a hollow face, a face that looked like he belonged in Voldemort’s crowd. Harry didn’t think anything of it, he kept telling himself that the Ministry would never hire anyone who had came from Azkaban or even had a shred of evidence that they were in Voldemort’s crowd. Would they?

    Harry sat down on a bed without speaking. There was no one to be seen on the bus, which was very strange. Hickory sat on the bed across from him. Harry had a very odd feeling.

    “Have you heard of the Forest of the Dead?” asked Hickory.

    “No,” said Harry, quickly. He glanced over at Narcissus, who had a wide grin. He turned back to Hickory.

    “Well, would you like to see it?” Harry could feel Hickory coming closer to him. Harry uncomfortable. Everything that had just happened, happened very fast…he had ran from the Dursleys and now he was on a bus with what seemed to be two dark wizards.

    “No, no thank you. Can you please bring me to London?” asked Harry. He tried to look into the face of Hickory, but failed.

    “No, no. I don’t think I can. You see, we were sent to take you on a journey to the Forest of the Dead.”

    The bus came to a fast stop. “Where’s Ernie? Where’s Stan?”

    “Ah, the real conductor, and the real driver. Well you see, we had to dispose of them,” Hickory said, looking at Narcissus. His smile was even broader. Harry felt like a child, a child who had just made a very big mistake. But he was no longer a child, he was sixteen-years-old, and he would not stand for what could be taking place. The bus drove again.

    “Do you know who I am?” asked Harry.

    “Harry Potter.”

    Harry grinned, it was fake, but it was all he had, then he said, “Yes. Yes I am. I take it that you work for You-Know-Who?”

    Hickory and Narcissus chuckled, then Hickory said, “How’d you guess?”

    “Lucky, I guess,” said Harry, he was thinking at the top of his toes, “So you are a Deatheater? Well, I must say, after seeing Voldemort…”

    Hickory and Narcissus cut Harry off, and they both shouted, “How dare you say the Dark Lord’s name,” then Hickory said alone, “Narcissus, are we almost there? I’m dying to teach this fellow a lesson he shall never forget.”

    “Almost, only a couple of seconds left,” said Narcissus.

    “Very well.”

    Harry looked at him. He’d have to keep talking, he didn’t want to see the Forest of the Dead, no matter what it was, “Well, I’ve taken on him oh, I’d say about five times now, if you include the time when I was a baby and he had lost all his powers.”

    The bus halted once more. Narcissus got up from his chair, and said, “Were here.”

    They had both grabbed Harry by the arms and pushed him out of the bus. Harry looked upon a sight he wished he would never see again. He could see a forest of dead trees, with dead bodies hanging on them. The smell was the worst thing Harry had ever smelled in his life. It was indescribable. There were shrieks from inside the forest, and Harry had a feeling that he would be joining in on the “fun”.

    “Harry Potter, you will love what’s inside here.” They grabbed him by the arms again, and dragged him into the forest. Harry had never seen such a gruesome sight. Bodies were flinging around, people were running through the trees screaming for help, and Harry had a bad sense of coldness in the air. Now he had wished that he had never left the Dursleys safe house. He wished that he could go back to the wizardry world, even if he was the topic of books and discussions. Anything but this…he knew what was going to happen. He could feel the cold breath coming toward him.

    “EXPECTO PATRONUM!” Harry screamed, as he raced out his wand. He had thought about something so happy…Sirius was alive, and he was living with him. He had created the perfect Patronus, a stag. The dementors that had been creeping behind Harry had vanquished and ran for it. However, one dementor wouldn’t budge. He walked through the Patronus. He was tall, taller than the rest. He was almost more dangerous. Harry could feel it.

    “Harry…Potter…” it croaked. He had never thought a dementor would be capable of human speech. Harry had to run for it. He tried, but their was no way. The Deatheaters that were holding him wouldn’t let him budge. They had no affect what-so-ever on them, but why? Why didn’t they even feel cold?

    “Can…I…give…you…a…kiss?” he said. His voice was still croaky, but it seemed like laughter. Harry didn’t know what to do. He was stranded. He was going to die—worse. He was going to be soulless. The dementor moved over, and put his hand on Harry’s cheek. Harry immediately felt a woman screaming…his scar was bursting…he didn’t know what was happening…

    When Harry awoke he had been looking into the deep cold eyes of Severes Snape. He looked exactly how Harry had last seen him, with his greasy hair, his crooked nose. Harry had loathed Snape ever since he had attended his first potions class.

    “You, Mr. Potter have no business in the Forest of the Dead,” he said. His voice was shaken. “What exactly where you doing here?”

    Harry got up, and looked around. He was in Grimmauld Place, a place where he would hope he would never have to return to again. This was the house of Sirius. He couldn’t stand being in here, after Sirius had died. He tried not to show any emotion, especially when Snape was there.

    “I was lured,” said Harry. Snape handed Harry a piece of chocolate, and forced him to eat it.

    “Lured? Lured to the forest of the dead? You do realize that from Surrey to London is quite a feat.”

    Harry nodded, “So, that’s where the Forest of the Dead is? In London?”

    Snape nodded, “Yes. But no more questions. I am to leave. You are to stay here. Lupin,” he quivered, “is to attend to you.”

    Snape had left the building without another word. Harry wished he could have thrown something at Snape, but decided perhaps it wouldn’t be the most rational thing to do, especially since this was the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, where eyes could be watching.

    Soon enough the familiar face of Remus Lupin came from upstairs. Lupin smiled as he walked down the stairs and saw Harry’s face. Harry said, “Lupin!”

    Lupin looked at Harry. “Harry! Glad to see your alright. Quite a nasty dementor you met, was it?”

    Harry didn’t want to talk about dementors, even if it was Lupin who had taught Harry how to use the Patronus charm, so instead Harry nodded.

    “Well, that said, why were you in the Forest of the Dead?”

    “I was getting on the Knight Bus.”

    “And why were you getting on the Knight Bus?”

    “To leave the Dursleys,” he said. Suddenly he roared with anger, “THEY’VE BEEN KEEPING ME IN MY ROOM FOR EVERY BLOODY DAY THIS SUMMER! It’s bad enough that Ron and Hermione haven’t been writing! And now since there’s NO MORE Sirius! I had to get out! I had to! It was like I was a caged bird!”

    Lupin chuckled, “You can calm down Harry. It’s alright. Your going to the Burrow in a matter of minutes. But first I want to have a discussion with you. You do know what the Forest of the Dead is, don’t you?”

    “It’s a place with dead people right?”

    “No, no. It’s Voldemort’s hide out, or well, his old one. All the old and very dark dementors dwell there. Including the strongest of the dementors, who would kiss anything as long as it had a soul. He is the dementor known as Diablo, self named of course. He is like their king.”

    “Why couldn’t he be stopped with the Patronus?”

    “Because, like I said. He is the king. You’d have to be highly advanced to use the Patronus on him, in fact I only think of two people who could stop him.”

    “And that would be…”

    “Dumbledore and Voldemort, of course.”

    “But this hide out, why is it still there? Why has no one gone in there, told the people to get out?”

    “Well, that would be obvious, wouldn’t it? Especially since we have the Order and all. We firstly know that they have a new hide-out, and secondly, of course, no one wants to deal with that dementor! They’d be kissed within a second!”

    “I thought I wouldn’t ever have to hear my mother scream again, but I guess I was wrong, very wrong indeed,” said Harry. He looked to the floor. The topic of his mother was almost like talking about Sirius. He didn’t want to talk about it anymore, he wanted to wish it all away.

    “Oh, right. Well Harry I’d say that it’s time for you to go to the Burrow. After all, Molly is expecting you now. Of you go then, take the portkey!”

    Lupin handed Harry a golden watch. Harry knew that once he held this watch he would be transported to the Burrow, so he gently took the watch, and felt a tingling sensations as he was moving to the Burrow.

    Once Harry had gotten there, however, the first face he had seen was Percy Weasley.