Nemea Leonthrope Chapter 12 (Patreon)

Hello friends and fans, Kairomaru is here with a new chapter of Harry Potter the First Nemea Leonthrope! This chapter we see the reaction of Sirius’ attempt to get into the Gryffindor Common Room. Plus a certain item reaches Harry from concerned friends. All of this on top of dealing with the Dementors and having to ask Lupin for extra lessons on a certain charm.

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Chapter 12 – Reactions to Black, Dealing with Dementors

To say the next few hours before bed were hectic wouldn’t do the situation justice. The Aurors that had been sent to patrol Hogsmeade had been rushed up to the castle and the Dementors had become restless from the outpouring of emotions from the frightened students. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in the Common Room for the time between the discovery of the Fat Lady’s Portrait and lights out. During this time the Aurors had begun searching the castle top to bottom for Black. More Aurors had been called in and Dumbledore, along with the rest of the staff, were being questioned about the most likely ways the escapee could have entered the castle undetected. Needless to say but none of the Gryffindors slept well that night if they slept at all.

“How do you figure he got in?” Ron asked the next morning at breakfast. The news had spread rapidly through Hogwarts and now every student knew about Sirius Black being in the castle.

“Maybe one of the rumored secret passages?” Hermione offered as she shook herself a little trying to stay awake until the coffee kicked in.

“No idea, but I’m not going to cower and wait to be saved. If Black finds me I’m going to fight.” Harry muttered as he ate, to think that the betrayer of his parents had been able to get that close. The thought was unsettling to the Leonthrope.

Classes had continued as normal for the day, or as normal as could be with dozens of Aurors present either searching the castle or keeping watch over the students. But continue they did and other than a few mishaps with keeping the Dementors at their posts nothing came of the search for the escaped prisoner. Tonks had managed a quick chat when she’d started her shift around lunch time but wasn’t able to pass on any real information. But Harry, after having to pass the riled up Dementors and seeing his friend’s reactions to the creatures, mentally vowed to find a way to deal with the horrors. It was after their DADA class that Harry stayed behind to ask Professor Lupin about the creatures.

“Professor?” Harry asked as he stood in front of Lupin’s desk after having waved Hermione and Ron to go ahead.

“Yes, Harry, what can I do for you?” Lupin questioned the son of his friends as he looked up at the young teen.

“I’ve been wondering, about the Dementors, is there any way of dealing with them? Every time we have to pass them to go down to Care of Magical Creatures, Hermione, Ron, and everyone always shiver and try and move away from them. They’re terrified of the things and I hate seeing them like that.” Harry admitted as he explained the situation.

“Dementors are strange and dangerous creatures, Harry.” Lupin began as he stood up and walked around his desk to stand next to Harry. “They seem to exist somewhere between the corporeal and non-corporeal and are near impossible to harm because of it. There is only one known spell that affects Dementors; it’s called the Patronus Charm.”

“Patronus Charm?” Harry repeated never having heard of the spell.

“Yes, a spiritual protector powered by a potent happy memory. Dementors drain their victims by drudging up their most horrible memories and extinguishing all happiness, joy, and positivity. Once these positive feelings are gone the Dementor performs what is called the Dementor’s Kiss and sucks out the soul of their victim.” Lupin explained as he slightly paced the class room floor.

“They eat souls!” Harry exclaimed in shock, horrified at the very concept.

“Indeed they do, they’re some of the foulest of creatures known to exist because of it.” Lupin replied with a grim faced nod.

“So how does the Patronus Charm stop them?” Harry questioned as he felt the overwhelming urge to protect his friends from the cloaked monsters flare even stronger.

“As I said, Dementors need their victims to have no positive emotion left before they administer the kiss. The Patronus is happiness given form, an overflowing fount of positive emotion that sends the Dementor fleeing. When mastered the Patronus takes on a corporeal form of its own, usually an animal that has some significance to the caster that will chase off any Dementor nearby until it runs out of power.” Lupin nodded as he pulled a book from the shelf nearest his desk.

“Can you teach me, Professor?” Harry asked desperately wanting to protect those who meant so much to him.

“It will be incredibly challenging Harry. Many grown witches and wizards are incapable of casting a Patronus Charm.” Lupin responded as he walked back over to Harry.

“I’ll practice every day if I have to Professor, please!” Harry promised as he looked at his slightly haggard Defense Professor.

“Very well Harry, meet me here on Saturday afternoons and I’ll teach you the spell. In the meantime read up on the Patronus Charm and try to come up with the happiest memory you can.” Lupin agreed as he handed the opened book to Harry. A quick look over form the teen wizard showed the Patronus Charm explained on the pages.

“Thank you Professor, I’ll be here on Saturday!” Harry thanked as he quickly put the book into his bag and headed out of the room to catch up with Hermione and Ron.

During this time Albus Dumbledore was having a meeting with Amelia Bones about Sirius Black’s ability to get into Hogwarts unnoticed. Needless to say the meeting wasn’t going well for the old Headmaster. Amelia Bones was a no nonsense woman to begin with and doubly so when on the job.

“So you’re telling me that you, the Headmaster, can’t confirm exactly how Sirius Black managed to not only get into Hogwarts but managed to get all the way to the Gryffindor Common Room? Are you expecting me to believe that? As Headmaster you are in control of the wards, are you not? Then how can you not know when someone enters the grounds?” Amelia demanded as she stared down the old wizard.

“You give me too much credit Amelia. The Hogwarts wards are powerful but they do not make me omniscient to the goings on of everything on the school’s grounds.” Dumbledore explained as he looked over the former Hufflepuff witch.

“So they don’t let you know when someone that shouldn’t be on the grounds passes them? That seems hard to believe.” Amelia replied as she knew alert charms were practically standard in even basic perimeter wards.

“With all the people that come and go it would be more of a distraction to have an alert charm going off dozens of times a day. The wards at Hogwarts are far more geared to the defense of the castle rather than individual people.” Dumbledore replied.

“All the more reason to maintain an Auror presence inside the castle then, wouldn’t you agree?” Amelia questioned with a stern gaze.

“I’m not sure that much is necessary, Amelia. Having them patrolling the grounds and in Hogsmeade seems more than sufficient. With Aurors in the halls I’m afraid the student’s studies will be disturbed.” Dumbledore responded with a shake of his head.

“If Sirius Black can get so far into Hogwarts without being noticed then he can do serious, potentially even fatal, harm to students before the Aurors could get back into the castle.” Amelia stated sharply, she would not be moved from her chosen course of action. “Or would you prefer to have the Dementors roaming the corridors? Because you know that Fudge will suggest it as soon as he hears of this incident.”

“Very well, Amelia, have your Aurors stationed in the castle.” Dumbledore grimaced. While he didn’t like the idea of Aurors being stationed in the castle with children; it was much preferable to have humans watching over them instead of the Dementors.

“I plan to have them stationed at key points within the castle. They’ll do their utmost to not disrupt day-to-day operations.” Amelia nodded as she pulled out a small stack of parchment from her robes and laid it on the desk. “While I have you here I’d also like to ask you a few questions regarding Sirius Black’s case from Eighty One. Since you were the Chief Warlock even back then there seems to be some discrepancies I’d like you to address.” Dumbledore’s eyes widened slightly as he looked at the top parchment of the stack. Written on the parchment was a list of missing procedures and documents for the case of Sirius Black.

“Are you saying that all of this is missing from Sirius’ case file, Amelia?” Dumbledore asked as he looked over the list. The list was practically the entire arrest, trial, and sentencing procedures. If all of these were missing from the file it could only mean someone had stolen them. This many case documents weren’t simply ‘lost’ by accident.

“That’s my first question for you, Chief Warlock Dumbledore, why wasn’t there a case file for Sirius Orion Black the Third created in November of Nineteen Eighty One?” Amelia questioned as she stared the old wizard down. Dumbledore’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when he heard the question. No case file? That was impossible! They were generated automatically when a wizard or witch was arrested and brought to the Ministry. They would have to be stolen or destroyed to not exist! The old wizard knew then and there that the rest of his conversation with Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, was only going to get worse.

Later that evening as Harry was sitting in the common room with Ron, Hermione, Lavender and Parvati doing homework the group was approached by Fred and George.

“Harrikins, might we borrow you for a moment?” One of the twins asked.

“Uh, sure, what for?” Harry asked as he looked up at the twins faces.

“Nothing major just wanted to chat for a minute.” The other twin replied.

“What are you two planning?” Ron questioned as he looked between his brothers suspiciously.

“Ronnikins! We’re hurt! How could you…” Started one twin.

“Possibly think that…” Continued the other.

“Two fine and upstanding gentlemen…” The first twin picked up.

“Like ourselves would ever…” The other twin took over.

“Do something like that?” the first twin finished.

“Probably because everyone knows your reputations?” Lavender mock guessed as she flipped a page in her Transfiguration book. Parvati giggled from beside her while Hermione huffed playfully.

“She’s got us there, brother of mine!” Stated one twin.

“Right you are, Gred!” Replied the other twin.

“Gred? Aren’t I Forge?” ‘Gred’ questioned as he looked back at his twin.

“No, no of course you’re not. Forge is the handsome one. So I’m obviously Forge.” ‘Forge’ replied with a grin.

“I must disagree then, brother. Since I’m obviously looking at Gred if that’s the case.” ‘Gred’ commented with his own grin.

“Oh would you two just tell Harry what you want?!” Ron demanded already annoyed by his older brothers’ antics.

“Right then! Harrikins this way if you’d be so kind!” “Forge’ requested as he and ‘Gred’ led the way towards the Gryffindor Boy’s Dorms. Once the trio was far enough up the stairs the twins turned to Harry and pulled out an old piece of parchment.

“This is for you, Harry.” ‘Gred’ told him as he held the parchment out to him.

“Alright, is it a prank item or something? What does it do?” Harry asked warily as he took the parchment from ‘Gred’.

“Nothing of the sort, Harry, it’s the secret to our success.” ‘Forge’ answered as he took out his wand. “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” He spoke as he tapped his wand on the parchment. Before Harry’s eyes the parchment began to fill with lines of ink until an image appeared.

“‘Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present ‘The Marauder’s Map’.” Harry read off the now expanded parchment.

“It’s a map of the whole of Hogwarts. It shows all the secret passages and even everyone in the school by name and location.” ‘Gred’ explained as Harry opened the map and noticed dozens of sets of footprints moving around the castle. Each set also had a name tag floating above them on the parchment.

“This is brilliant!” Harry exclaimed as he looked over the map.

“Keep it with you Harry.” ‘Forge’ stated seriously getting Harry to look up at hearing such a tone from the notorious jokester. “We didn’t see Sirius Black on the map at all so far this year. But then he gets all the way to the portrait guarding the common room without anyone noticing. That’s not good, especially for you, Harry.”

“We want you to have this map out and activated anytime you have to go anywhere alone. Just so you can see if Black is around, can you do that for us and all of your friends Harry? We want you to be safe.” ‘Gred’ explained getting an instant nod from Harry.

“I’ll do it, I’m not usually alone anyway, but if I am I’ll have the map open.” Harry agreed getting relieved smiles from the twins. “But why haven’t you shown this to the Professors? Or even the Aurors?”

“Because we didn’t notice Black on the map at all, Harry. Not on the grounds, not in the corridors, nowhere and we looked at the map several times on Halloween. Either he’s got something that shields him from the map or he can move through the school faster than most people.” ‘Forge’ shook his head in confusion.

“That hints at more than a passing familiarity with the secret passages of Hogwarts, Harry. If you, the one he’s targeting, have the map you should at least have some amount of warning before he comes across you.” ‘Gred’ nodded with worry across his features.

“Thanks you two, I really appreciate this. But if I spot Black on the map I’m showing it to the nearest Professor or Auror.” Harry informed them getting positive grins from both twins.

“We want you to, Harry! We’re giving the map to you to keep you safe, not so you can go chasing after someone that’s out to kill you!” Both twins replied in unison.

“Not using this to cause trouble seems very unlike you two.” Harry chuckled getting both twins to grin.

“Well if you want to use it for that as well, we’d be very proud of you Harrikins.” ‘Gred’ chuckled along with his twin.

“Yep, as soon as this Sirius Black business is taken care of we expect you to be using the map to get into all sorts of trouble!” ‘Forge’ laughed as he slapped Harry on the back.

“Don’t you two want this back though?” Harry asked since the twins probably had it for who knew how long.

“Naw it’s fine, Harrikins.” ‘Gred’ waved him off.

“Yeah, we know all of the secret passages by heart now days.” ‘Forge’ nodded.

“Thanks you two, this means a lot.” Harry sincerely thanked the twins who both waved him off.

“No need for thanks, Harrikins, you’re practically family!” ‘Forge’ stated with a nod of agreement form ‘Gred’. With a last round of chuckles shared between the three teens they descended the stairs back into the common room and Harry quickly rejoined his previous table and got back to work on his homework.

“So what did the twins want?” Parvati asked once Harry had sat back down. Harry grinned before whispering to the table about the Marauder’s Map.

“Why didn’t they ever tell me about that? I’m their brother!” Ron fumed as he looked around the common room trying to spot his brothers. Both of the twins had disappeared however so Ron was left to stew in his aggravation.

“You should probably check the map at least a few times a day, Harry. Just to be on the safe side.” Lavender smiled getting nods from everyone at the table.

“I still think you should tell the Professors about it.” Hermione stated as she wrote on the parchment in front of her. After the entire group began on reasons for not telling all and sundry about the map Harry cut them off by replying to Hermione.

“Hermione, if I spot Black on the map I’m showing it to the nearest Professor or Auror. You have my word on that.” Harry reassured his bushy-haired friend. Hermione nodded back with a smile happy that Harry wasn’t going to run off and try to confront a dangerous criminal. The group continued to work on homework until lights out and they all retreated to their beds. 

“Hey Harry, you haven’t seen any sign of Scabbers today have you?” Ron asked from his bed. Scabbers had been disappearing on and off since the beginning of October. The old rat would stick around for a few days before disappearing for a couple days and reappearing later, usually in Ron’s bed.

“Not today, Ron. Maybe he’s looking for a cozy place to pass on?” Harry solemnly questioned his friend, knowing that the potential death of his pet had been a sore spot for the boy since their time in Diagon Alley.

“Maybe, but I just know it’s that monster of Hermione’s that’s got him so spooked!” Ron claimed assuredly.

“I know Crookshanks doesn’t seem to like Scabbers, Ron, but you can’t blame a cat for trying to pounce on a rat.” Harry sighed already having this conversation with Ron a few times before. He’d had to listen to the arguments between Hermione and Ron enough times already.

“I can blame that menace for trying to eat Scabbers though!” Ron exclaimed as he got under his blankets and pulled the curtains around his bed closed.

“Good night, Ron.” Harry sighed not having the patience to try and talk Ron down again. Ron would always go on about Crookshanks attacking his pet whenever Scabbers disappeared. Hermione would always insist that Crookshanks would never do that and the argument just went in circles from there until Harry interrupted. With a shake of his head Harry pulled the curtains around his own bed closed and got under his covers.

“Hmm, I guess I could check the map for Black before I go to sleep.” Harry quietly mused as he took out the Marauder’s Map and touched it with his wand. “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” With the phrase spoken Harry watched the map come alive with the layout of the castle and grounds along with the footprints and nametags moving about the castle. He checked over various names seeing several he didn’t recognize, but considering they were moving in patterns throughout the floors he guessed they were Aurors on patrols. Moving out to the grounds Harry only saw Hagrid’s name in his hut before moving back into the castle.

After perusing the map and looking around at the multiple names for a few more minutes Harry was about to deactivate the map when a name caught his eye. Harry felt his blood run cold and a horrible shiver pass through his body upon reading this particular name. For there, just above a set of footprints on the first floor, hung a name that shouldn’t be possible.

Peter Pettigrew

-End Chapter-

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So how was this chapter? Good or bad? Let me know with reviews! I know it’s a little shorter than normal but it’s meant to be a connection chapter between Halloween and the next event in the story. Plus I’ve been sick for the last week. I’m talking having to miss work sick. Headaches, coughing, congestion, and all the lovely stuff a sickness likes to bring. So I hope you’ll all forgive me. Next chapter we get more Tonks! Look forward to that! Also the case of Peter and Sirius is going to get wrapped up a bit earlier in my story! Mostly because the adults in my version aren’t almost entirely incompetent like in canon!