บท 105: It's Raining Dementors, Hallelujah

Oleandra squinted her eyes, occasionally spotting a red or a yellow blur. At the rate things were going, on top of being cold and wet, she was also going to be bored. She tapped her temples to activate her Mystic Eyes. Perhaps then, she'd be able to see something?

All of a sudden, the world became much clearer to her. This rain wasn't magical, which meant she could clearly see through it and perceive the aura of magic behind it. Every broom was like a lightning bolt in a bottle, streaking through the sky, and every Wizard emitted a gentle shimmering glow, as magic pulsed through their magical circuits, in and out.

Oleandra leaned back into her seat, satisfied. She still couldn't tell which person was on which team, but at least she could actually see something now. However, not long afterwards, a real flash of lightning illuminated the sky, and Madam Hooch blew her whistle once more to signal the players to come down from the air. Perhaps the game would be postponed, due to dangerous weather conditions?

Obviously not. Wizards are built different; unlike regular humans, they aren't scared of a little electrocution! It's not to say they're superhumanly resilient; Wizards can still die from mundane causes. But in general, they are sturdier, and much more resistant to ordinary diseases. Additionally, any injury that would cripple a normal person for life could be easily healed through magical means.

And so, after a brief pause, the players rose back up into the air on their brooms. Cheers rose from the stands, despite the vast majority of students being unable to see anything. The game was back on!

At some point after the time-out, Oleandra felt an otherworldly chill set in the air. It was a different kind of chill from that of a cold November day; the kind that left one wondering what the point of it all was. Shivering, she craned her neck to have a look upwards, towards the source of the cold. And then, she saw them: hundreds upon hundreds of Dementors. Through her Mystic Eyes, it seemed as if a hole had formed in the world itself.

Nobody seemed to have noticed their presence yet, but the cheering had died down by quite a bit, as the Dementors' combined aura sapped the joy of life from the audience. Oleandra forced herself to focus. There was an opportunity here to do something, but what?

Oleandra made up her mind and fished out a spell tag from her pouch. In her first year, she had made a few by inscribing runes on bits of parchment in advance, but she hadn't had many opportunities to use them. However, it never hurt to be prepared. Now that she thought about it, there was a stationery store in Diagon Alley that imported eastern magic products and sold high quality talisman paper.

Oleandra leapt into action quite literally, by jumping over the heads of the people sitting in front of her and dashing in Pansy's direction.

"Huh? What are you—" Pansy began, noticing Oleandra approaching her at a rapid pace.

Oleandra tore the umbrella out of Blaise's hands, showering Pansy in rainwater in the process.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" screeched Pansy, wiping her face. "Have you gone insane?"

Ignoring Pansy's protests, Oleandra pinned a spell tag under her thumb against the umbrella she had stolen, and with her other hand, she tapped her wand on the paper.

She chanted, "Adhaerensify," and with the use of the Sticking Charm, the spell tag inscribed with the riding rune was affixed to the umbrella's handle. Oleandra hoped the talisman paper was waterproof, or she was going to have a bad time. She walked over to the side of the stands, before turning around.

"Just watch me," Oleandra shouted at Pansy over the howling wind, "Keep your eyes on meeeeeee—"

Just as Oleandra was finishing her sentence, a sudden gust of wind blew into the umbrella she was holding on to, sending her flying off the stands and into the void below. Keep in mind that Hogwarts's Quidditch stands stood about fifty feet above the ground!

Horrified, the Slytherin students rushed forward to see what had happened to the poor girl, but instead of seeing a red splat below, a figure rose before their eyes: it was Oleandra, who was holding on for dear life to the floating umbrella's handle. Luckily, she had managed to chant, "Raidhu!" before falling to her death. Originally, she had planned to ride the umbrella like a broomstick, but the wind had precipitated her plans (no pun intended), which meant she was now flying Mary Poppins-style.

"Whoa!" shouted Lee Jordan, the commentator. "It looks like one of the Slytherins is rushing into the game! Do you want to play, or not? Make up your minds! Bunch of snakes, I'll tell 'ya… What, it's true!"

Professor McGonagall had just angrily told him off, as the Gryffindor Lee was often quite biased in his commentating. Nevertheless, she was also quite mad at whoever was trying to disrupt the game this time. Not on her watch, not when Gryffindor's match was on the line!

"You there!" she shouted, magically enhancing her voice. "Land immediately! That had better not be you, Greengrass!"

However, the figure continued ascending without taking heed of the teacher's menaces.

"Kenaz, Sowelo," Oleandra shouted. "The torch that lights the way, the light-giving sun. LUMOS SOLEM!"

Oleandra channelled the magic through the umbrella instead of her wand. She was familiar enough with the spell that she didn't require a wand to cast it. In theory, a Wizard could channel their magic through just about anything, but wands were simply the best tool for the job, as they also reduced casting difficulty.

The umbrella started shining with the brilliance of the sun itself, banishing the darkness that the Dementors and the heavy clouds had created. Despite it being widely known that one shouldn't look directly at the sun, some students couldn't help but squint at the source of the light to see what was going on. And inevitably…

"Dementors!" cried a voice in the audience in horror. "Thousands of them!"