They didn’t have a time to come up with a plan. Even if they did, Harry didn’t have any ideas. To make matters worse, Harry still didn’t have a wand. A fact he had only remembered when they peered at the Astronomy Tower from the relatively safety of Greenhouse One. There the five of them stood now, huddled by the Greenhouse window silently. They were too far away to make out the figures guarding the Astronomy Tower, but Harry could see the ring of Dementors circling the tower like a perverse merry-go-round.

 

“How are we going to get past the Aurors?” whispered Ron, so close to Harry that he could feel the boy’s breath.  

 

“Maybe we could call their boss.” Ernie whispered. “The Ministry is not supposed to condone Dementor activity without a full and fair trial. Someone there has to know this behavior is intolerable; furthermore –“

 

“We could tell them that we found a Flying Voldygrout,” suggested Luna, cutting off Ernie’s political science discourse.

 

“What is a Flying Voldygrout?” Ernie asked, not knowing better. Harry was about to cut-off this completely unhelpful conversation, when Hermione’s eyes got the hazy, unfocused look they got when she came up with a plan.

 

“Luna’s right, Harry,” said Hermione for the first, and probably only time. Even Luna looked vaguely surprised. “We need a distraction.”

 

“Good luck with that, Potter,” sneered Malfoy from the opposite end of the Greenhouse. All five of them whipped around to look at Malfoy, who was wearing an ominously self-satisfied expression. As always, Crabbe and Goyle loomed large behind him. Malfoy slapped the venomous tarantactula that was inching up his shoulder and walked towards them.

 

“Shove off, Malfoy.” Ron said, disdainfully. Surprisingly, Malfoy ignored Ron, choosing to give Harry a cold smile instead.

 

“I’ve been told to come and find you lot by Umbridge herself,” said Malfoy. The look on Malfoy’s face told Harry that he had needed little cajoling to carry out the task. “She thought you would be trying to help Potter, looks like she was right.” Malfoy smiled maliciously. Ernie, Hermione, Ron and Harry glared at the Slytherins. Luna was tickling the leaves of a young Mandrake plant and cooing at it.

 

Dealing with Malfoy was bad enough when doing so did not prevent Harry from saving his godfather’s soul. At the moment, every wasted second seemed to cause Harry physical pain.

 

“Fuck you,” Harry said emphatically. He shoved past Malfoy to exit the Greenhouse and head towards the Astronomy Tower.  He had only taken two steps when something hot flew past his ear. Ron yelled something intelligible and Harry whipped around to see him jump on Malfoy and punch him square on the face. Hermione screamed at Ron to stop, but Ron was able to get one more good punch in before Goyle’s instinct to protect Malfoy surfaced, and he aimed his wand at Ron. Harry yelled an ineffectual warning and Ernie, who had taken a hesitant step forward to join the fight, raised his wand and snapped it downwards quickly.

 

“Furnunculus,” said Goyle, a little dully. Only Goyle would be stupid enough to send a stream of magic into a fistfight. As expected, he missed and Hermione, who had run forward to pull Ron off of Malfoy, was hit in the face with a jet of red light. She screamed and cowered back. At the same time, Ernie’s wordless spell had thrown Crabbe and Goyle backwards through the glass of the greenhouse. They both lay unconscious and bleeding. Ernie looked at his wand, both impressed and horrified, as though it was a beloved pet that just reared up and bit someone in his defence.    

Hermione was still screaming with her hands covering her face. Even Luna, who had been watching the fight with a touch of amusement and boredom, looked concerned, and she was trying to pry Hermione’s hands from her face. Harry ran towards them. The shattering glass had the effect of pulling Malfoy and Ron out of their fight and Ron approached Hermione too. Malfoy and a rather guilty looking Ernie knelt beside Crabbe and Goyle.

 

“It’s alright, I’m sure it’s nothing a mixture of Troll’s blood and cold-cream won’t fix,” Luna said soothingly. Hermione let go of her face with a little sob. Even for Luna, the statement was optimistic. Red, bulbus boils rendered her face almost unrecognizable. Ron looked aghast.

 

“Hermione! Your face.”

 

“I don’t think you’re helping, Ron,” commented Luna, as Hermione grimaced and experimentally prodded on of her blisters. Harry agreed with Luna and tried his best not to look repulsed when Hermione met his eyes. Ron patted Hermione’s shoulder.

 

“You still look pretty,” lied Ron unconvincingly. Hermione chuckled. “You need the hospital wing,” Ron continued. He looked at Harry apologetically, and Harry understood he had to take her himself.

 

“Go,” said Harry without hesitation. He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or not, but the pustules on Hermione’s face seemed to be growing.

 

“They need the hospital wing too.” Ernie said from where he was observing Crabbe and Goyle with Malfoy. Ron looked at the unconscious figures a little derisively. 

 

“I’ll let Madame Pomfrey know,” said Ron grudgingly. He put an arm around Hermione and led her back to the castle with a final rueful look at Harry.

 

“Come on,” Ernie said grabbing Harry’s forearm and pulling him away from Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy towards the Astronomy tower. Harry could hear Luna’s breath quicken behind him as they ran over the damp grass.

 

They reached a small thick of trees ahead of the Astronomy towers. The two Aurors that arrested Snape, Harry and Sirius were standing out in front of the door.  Considering Snape and Harry had been left alone with only a locked door, Harry assumed there had not been time to call in more reinforcements.

 

Both Aurors looked a little bored, the short-haired female one yawned widely, but Harry knew enough about Auror training to know that they would be highly-skilled. They were lucky to get this far without being undetected and the thick of trees was well-positioned for an attack.

 

“We should do it now,” whispered Harry to Ernie and Luna who were crouching down in a bush beside him. Ernie grimaced a little.

 

“Now?” whispered Ernie. “I don’t know, Harry. They are government officials.”

 

“I think they rather deserve it personally,” responded Luna, observing the Aurors with her over-large eyes. Ernie swallowed hard. As much as he liked Ernie and Luna, Harry really wished that Ron, who didn’t spend an overlarge amount of time thinking of the long-term consequences of his actions, was by his side instead. Expecting Ernie and Luna to directly confront the Ministry was a lot – too much – to ask. Especially for Ernie who was experiencing a rather sharp learning curve in the art of rule-breaking.

 

“It’s ok, Ernie. You can go back,” whispered Harry, wondering how he and Luna were going to get past two Aurors with one wand. Ernie looked deeply offended and crossed his arms across his chest.

 

“I am not going to go back. I made a commitment.” Harry felt he should inform Ernie that they were discussing treason not prefect duty, but Harry didn’t want to further offend the boy’s sense of honor.

 

“Alright then, a surprise attack is the best bet,” said Harry, giving Ernie an encouraging pat on the back. Ernie and Luna looked at each other and nodded.

 

“On three then?” questioned Luna lightly. Ernie nodded sharply. “One, two, three.” Both jumped to their feet and cast stunning spells at the Aurors without hesitation. Luna’s hit true, and the female Auror collapsed. The larger, male Auror had managed to narrowly avoid Ernie’s spell, and ducked into the doorway.  With agility Harry would not have credited him with, Ernie jumped over the bush and cast a spell at the doorway. Luna followed, leaving Harry to cower, wandless in the bushes trying to focus on his friends’ duel as opposed to his own helplessness.

 

A bright jet of red light shot out at Ernie from the doorway, Luna deftly cast a shield charm between him and the spell. Ernie raised his wand to retaliate, but the well-trained Auror was too quick for him. Another streak of light came, and Ernie flew backwards, landing in an unconscious pile on the grass.

 

“Stupefy!” yelled Luna with uncharacteristic sharpness, before the Auror could raise his wand again. The Auror collapsed. Heart pounding, Harry jumped the bush and followed Luna to run towards Ernie. To Harry relief, when they reached him he was already starting to stir feebly.

 

“Ernie!” Harry said, sliding to his knees beside the boy. “Are you alright?” Ernie blinked blearily a few time in a not altogether successful attempt at focusing his eyes.

 

“ ‘M ok,” he said unconvincingly, trying to sit up. Luna, who was on her knees at the other side of Ernie’s head, pushed him back down.

 

“I think you should lie down for a while. You look like you’ve swallowed a rotten Plimpee,” said Luna kindly. Ernie looked as though he was trying to determine whether or not his head injury was responsible for hearing the word plimpee.

 

“We’re almost there,” muttered Ernie, sitting up. “I certainly don’t intend to abandon a mission half-way through,” he continued, a touch of his old grandiosity returning to his voice.

 

“That’s all very well, but your bleeding out of your ears,” replied Luna. Harry looked at Ernie long neck and, sure enough, a river of blood wound its way down to his shoulder. “I’ll take you to the hospital wing and call back-up for Harry. I think it’s time we call some adults.” Harry couldn’t really deny that. He and Luna pulled him up to his shaky feet.

 

“You better go, Harry. He’ll wake up soon.” Luna said, gesturing vaguely to the unconscious Auror. Harry nodded and turned to head into the Astronomy Tower, hoping that somehow he’d be able to get to Sirius without a wand.

 

“Wait,” Ernie said grabbing Harry’s arm, “Take this.” Ernie held out his wand to Harry. “Poplar and unicorn hair, 13 inches. It should do.”

 

“Oh, that’s lovely,” said Luna, looking at the wand. Ernie blushed and mumbled something that sounded like ‘thanks’. Harry looked at the proffered wand hesitantly. He was pretty desperate for a wand, but he felt as though he was depriving Ernie of one of his limbs.

 

“It’s alright, Harry. Luna and I can manage.” Ernie said it with such confidence that Harry had no choice but to take the wand.

 

“Thanks,” said Harry softly, suddenly feeling quite grateful to the pair of them. Before Harry could say anything more, Luna and Ernie had started towards the castle. Knowing he had no time to waste, Harry ran the last couple of meters to the Astronomy Tower. By the time he had run up the numerous, steep steps - slipping twice – his back and face were covered in a sticky layer of sweat and a sharp pain lanced his side. Mercifully, the wooden door of the topmost room appeared as Harry rounded the last turn of the spiral staircase.

 

“Alohamora!” wheezed Harry. The door clicked smartly.

 

“Sirius!” exclaimed Harry throwing open the door.  Sirius, who was looking at the corner with a decidedly despondent look on his face, whipped around to look at Harry and smiled.

 

“I was getting worried.” Sirius admitted with an easy, almost impish smile. Harry ran over to untie him. “Where’s Professor Snape?” Harry felt a squirm of guilt.

 

“Under a pile of rubble in the dungeons,” answered Harry. Sirius looked as though he didn’t know whether to be concerned or amused. He stood-up and brushed himself off with a little chuckle.

 

“Well, that’ll be good for your relationship,” Sirius said with a tired smile. He put an arm around Harry’s shoulders. “Let’s go get him then.”

 

Just as Harry was about to open the door, he heard the rush of the floo for the second time that day and felt a corresponding flash of dread.

 

“Impedimenta!” shrieked Umbridge. Sirius, unable to defend himself without a wand, fell into the wall. Harry turned to look at Umbridge. Her curly hair was plastered to her damp forehead, and her eyes were wide and mad.

 

“Flipendo!” Harry yelled back instinctively. Ernie’s wand seemed relatively accommodating, and Umbridge flew backwards off her feet, landing hard on the floor.

 

“Harry…” Sirius whispered, horrified. Harry had been scared when he had cursed Snape in third-year, but even then he knew that between Dumbledore’s protection and Snape’s modicum of self-restraint, he would not be physically harmed or even expelled.  He was under no delusions that Umbridge would be as forgiving.

 

“Expelliamus.” Sharing a look of dismay with Sirius had distracted Harry and Ernie’s wand flew from his hand. Umbridge advanced, wand pointed menacingly at Harry. Sirius scrambled to his feet and put himself in front of Harry. For once, Umbridge did not have the fake sweet smile on her face. She looked positively feral, and Harry wondered why Sirius was so sure she was not a Deatheater.

 

A Dementor slipped in through the window. A flicker of resignation passed over Sirius’ face.

 

“Not Harry.” Sirius said. For a moment Harry was reminded horribly of his mother, begging for his life. “You can’t leave him in here. He’s done nothing, nothing to warrant this.” A horrible chill started to penetrate Harry’s bones. He wondered if it was from the Dementors or Sirius’ words.

 

“He has helped a criminal escape justice!” Umbridge shrieked. She turned to look at Harry and his eyes narrowed. “And Harry is heading down a dangerous path. I think that he should know what happens to those who flout authority.” Umbridge pointed her wand at Harry and, before he could react, pink velvet cords wrapped around his legs, wrists, and neck and hoisted him in the air. He let out a choked scream of surprise.

 

Sirius tried to run at Umbridge, but Dementors were streaming into the room. They reached out their scaly fingers to grasp Sirius and pull him back to opposite wall. The smell of putrid flesh filled the room.

 

Harry could feel icy bursts of dread shoot through him. He knew he was begging incoherently, but he didn’t care enough to focus on the words he was saying. Sirius’ eyes were starting to roll towards the back of his head. The silver mist of Sirius’ soul was being sucked away by the Dementor’s greedy mouths.

 

“Do it slow,” Umbridge instructed. “I want the message to sink in.” Umbridge flashed a toothy, pitiless grin at Harry and walked back towards the floo. The Dementors stopped feeding off of Sirius. His eyes refocused and he sucked in harsh, ragged breaths, hardly able to stand.

 

“Professor, please!” begged Harry shamelessly, but Umbridge had stepped in the floo and disappeared.

 

It was a particularly slow torture watching Sirius’ slow descent in to desperation.  The Dementors would circle him, sucking slowly at his soul until Sirius’ horrified visions became so strong that he stopped screaming and went silent, teetering on the verge of consciousness. Then they would stop, wait for Sirius to come back to himself, and start again.  Every time they stopped, Sirius’ eyes looked a little further away, and Harry was genuinely concerned for his godfather’s sanity as well as his soul.

 

Harry could feel the air turn significantly more frigid and the Dementors started to suck greedily, the way they had before Umbridge told them to slow down. Harry knew this time they weren’t going to stop. They were no longer capable. Desperation flooded, Harry. He closed his eyes, unable to watch the soul leave his godfather. Tears wet his face. The door banged open.

 

“Expecto Patronum” Harry had never been so happy to hear Severus Snape’s voice in his entire life.  A magnificent silvery doe charged down the Dementors. Harry’s eyes snapped open and focused on Snape. He was pale and only had one good arm, yet he radiated such power and rage that Harry flinched when Snape pointed his wand at Harry to vanish the restraints.

 

“Sirius! Sirius!” Harry yelled, nearly sobbing with fear and relief. Harry scrambled to Sirius’ side as Snape knelt opposite him. Sirius’ face was an alarming shade of gray. Snape gently pulled Sirius’ hand away from his mouth, checked his pulse, and relaxed minutely.

 

“Are you hurt at all?” Snape asked, turning his head to give Harry an appraising glance.

 

“No, sir,” breathed Harry, not taking his eyes off of Sirius.

 

“Sirius?” Harry whispered, squeezing his godfather’s shoulder tightly as his eyelids fluttered. They opened to reveal wide, haunted eyes that were so disturbingly flat, Harry almost wished they stayed closed. Sirius’ lip trembled slightly, and he looked away from Harry and Snape to stare at the ceiling. He swallowed hard.

 

“They’re gone,” said Snape. His voice was surprisingly gentle, and even though he was finished checking Sirius’ pulse, his hand remained wrapped around Sirius’ wrist. The two cups of tea sitting on Snape’s coffee table came to Harry’s mind and he realized that Snape’s offer of reassurance was not that surprising after all.

 

“I know.” Sirius said faintly, giving a horrible fake smile and sitting up. “I’m fine, really.” Severus gave him an overtly skeptical look.

 

“Do any of you have any chocolate?” Snape asked. Harry whipped around to see Ron, Hermione, Luna and Ernie peering in, concerned from the doorway. Ron dug through the pocket of his robe and pulled out a lint-covered half of a chocolate cauldron. He handed it to Snape who gave Ron a look of deep-disgust before grudgingly accepting it.

 

“Eat this. It shouldn’t kill you,” ordered Snape. He brushed the chocolate off a little then passed it to Sirius, who accepted it with a shaky laugh.

 

“Really, I’m ok.” Snape just raised his eyebrows in clear disbelief and turned back to the rest of the students. Hermione’s face was still covered in boils, a sight made more horrible by the thick translucent cream covering her skin.  Ron’s face still bore the bruises and scrapes from his fight with Malfoy. Judging by the paper-white shade of Ernie’s face, and the blood on his neck, Ernie hadn’t made it to the hospital wing.

 

“You lot to the hospital wing. Now. No arguments.” Snape said when Hermione opened her mouth to object. He ushered them down the steps like a mother hen, keeping a firm grip on Ernie, who was starting to sway.

 

“I’ll be back in a moment. You stay up here until we get a hold of Dumbledore,” ordered Snape, giving Harry a look that promised disembowelment in the face of disobedience.

 

The footsteps faded down the staircase and Harry turned back to Sirius. He was sitting against the wall with an arm wrapped around his leg and his head in the other hand. The chocolate dangled uselessly from his hand. After a moment, Sirius threw the chocolate clean across the room. Harry swallowed, not knowing what to do. There was a moment of silence, then Sirius let out a chocked sob that held more pain than Harry even knew was possible. Without even realizing what he was doing, Harry slid forward on the floor and touched Sirius’ shoulder. Sirius jumped in surprise, stared at Harry for a second, then quickly wiped his tear-streaked face.

 

“Merlin, Harry…I’m sorry I thought – the hospital wing…” Sirius trailed off and blinked at the ceiling again.

 

“It’s ok,” said Harry lamely, because he knew he had to say something. Sirius stared vacantly at the corner.  Harry moved to lean back on the wall next to Sirius. He knew he had to do something to make that look disappear. He hesitated for a second than reached down and gripped Sirius’ hand. Sirius stiffened.

 

“Harry – “ He said warningly, and his mouth twisted strangely. But Harry had spent enough time with Snape recently to learn that people tended to need company the most when they wanted it the least.  Harry squeezed Sirius’ hand. There was a moment of hesitation, and then Sirius squeezed back.

 

They sat quietly for a few minutes, Harry heard Sirius sniff a few times, but didn’t dare risk embarrassing Sirius by looking at him. After a moment, Sirius let go of Harry’s hand to wipe at his face, and wrapped an arm around Harry.

 

“You sure you’re alright?” asked Sirius. “The Aurors didn’t rough you up too badly?” The emptiness in Sirius’ eyes was being replaced by concern, and Harry understood that it made Sirius feel better to ask these questions than to have them asked about him.

 

“I’m fine,” Harry said with a smile. Sirius rubbed Harry’s arm in that way that seemed to erase all bad feelings and replace them with warmth.

 

“Me too.” Sirius said, ruffling Harry’s hair. He returned Harry’s smile with a faint one of his own.