Daylight || Harry Potter

Chapter Two

Harry was flat on his back.

Dudley was screaming and running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

There were a group of Dementors closing in on us.

This was really not what I'd hoped my afternoon with Harry would be like.

I'd have to settle this with my bow. I pulled the keychain out of my pocket, allowing the bow to grow in size and drew out an arrow from my quiver, nocking it and aiming it at the Dementor closest to Harry. It dissolved in a flash of golden light, and I hurried over to Harry to help him up.

"Wand," He muttered, grabbing for it. He raised his wand and shouted, "Expecto Patronum!"

A silvery wisp of vapor shot from the tip of the wand and the dementor slowed, but the spell hadn't worked properly.

"That's not good," Harry and I muttered at the same time.

I elbowed him out of the way and shot the Dementor. "Go help your cousin! Stay away from the rest of them!" Then I ignored my own advice and charged the remaining two Dementors down, shooting arrows their way. Unfortunately, they were now wiser to my attacks and flew away in opposite directions. I nocked another arrow and aimed, but suddenly a loud growl erupted from behind me. I turned around and barely had time to dodge as a hellhound swiped at me with razor-sharp claws.

"What the Hades?" I demanded. "Dementors and a hellhound?"

I dropped the arrow and swung my bow like a bat at the hellhound, smacking it across the face. It didn't do much except make the monster more angry at me, and it swatted the bow out of my hands and started backing me towards the wall of the alley. I had two choices: Go for my bow or try to use an arrow to stab it.

I made my decision quickly, plucking an arrow from my quiver and turning away from the hellhound. I sprinted towards the wall and used the surface to push myself backwards into the air. I flipped over the monster and hurled my arrow at it. The arrow lodged in its skull right between its ears. As I landed, the hellhound shrieked and exploded into golden dust.

I only allowed myself a moment to admire my work before rushing for my bow. Harry and his cousin still needed help. The two remaining Dementors had taken advantage of the hellhound's distraction and had each gone for one of the boys.

Harry snapped out of a stupor and shouted, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

An enormous silver stag erupted from the tip of Harry's wand and its antlers caught the dementor in the place where the heart should have been. It was thrown backward, weightless as darkness, and as the stag charged, the dementor swooped away, batlike and defeated.

"Harry, Dudley's over there!" I exclaimed.

"THIS WAY!" Harry shouted. Wheeling around, we sprinted down the alleyway towards Dudley, who was curled on the ground, his arms clamped over his face. The last Dementor was crouching low over him, gripping his wrists in its slimy hands, prizing them slowly, almost lovingly apart, lowering its hooded head toward Dudley's face as though about to kiss him.

"GET IT!" Harry bellowed.

I'd failed to realize that he'd been talking to his Patronus and not me, so I nocked and arrow and shot the Dementor just as the silver stag's antlers caught it. The thing was thrown up into the air and, like its fellow, it soared away and was absorbed into the darkness. The stag cantered to the end of the alleyway and dissolved into silver mist.

Moon, stars, and streetlamps burst back into life. A warm breeze swept the alleyway. Trees rustled in neighboring gardens and the mundane rumble of cars in Magnolia Crescent filled the air again. Harry and I breathed heavily, staring at each other, shocked that we'd encountered Dementors in the middle of British Suburbia or whatever the Hades this neighborhood was called.