章節 106: The God of Umbrellas
Oleandra didn't have much time before the teachers banished the Dementors; if she was going to save face and win her bet with Pansy, she had to act fast!
"Remember me?" she shouted at the top of her lungs, still hanging from the opened umbrella.
This gave the Dementors pause; they did recognize the peculiar shape of Oleandra's soul. But they were hungry, so desperately hungry… It had been a while since they had left Azkaban, where they could feast on the prisoners' emotions…
"Upon my honour," Oleandra said. "In my name as the Lady of the Stars, I promise to bring you home to Niflheim, if you'll…"
Niflheim. The Dementors recognized that word. It meant home, it meant food and the waters of the river Lethe!
"… do a cartwheel for me."
Cartwheel. The Dementors did not recognize this word. Could this cartwheel be eaten?
"Just do as I do, okay?" Oleandra sighed. She took a deep breath, and using the tip of the umbrella as a focal point around which to pivot, spun in a circle until she was dizzy.
Meanwhile, down on the ground, Professor Dumbledore was beyond furious. He had specifically told the Ministry that Dementors were not to enter the castle grounds! However, as he was preparing to release his Patronus, his rage was soon replaced with incomprehension. What in Merlin's name were they doing???
Up in the sky, thousands of Dementors were doing cartwheels in midair around the source of light. Dumbledore, despite himself, felt a smile creep onto his face. This girl was simply full of surprises, wasn't she? However, the smile didn't last long. Dumbledore knew very well that only the darkest of Wizards would make deals with Dementors and make them do their bidding.
To Dumbledore, Dementors were the darkest and most evil of all creatures, as they devoured the soul. Since he believed that something existed in the great beyond, he considered the Dementor's Kiss to be the worst fate possible, as how was one's soul supposed to reach what lied ahead if it was swallowed whole?
Dumbledore couldn't know this, since he unilaterally rejected Dementors' right to exist, but in the world of the dead, Dementors simply licked the soul clean of its memories and lingering emotions before pooping it back out after a few hundred years, in a state ready for reincarnation. In some sense, Dumbledore was right that there existed something after death, but Voldemort was also right, in that nothing lied after death! After all, were you really still yourself without everything that made you, you?
Meanwhile, back in the skies above the Quidditch field, the Dementors had stopped spinning.
"Fulfilled our end of the bargain."
"Open the gate."
"Bring us home."
"I can't just yet," Oleandra admitted. "I need to prepare. How about, say, Christmas time?"
However, the Dementors were hungry. And now, they were angry. They were used to Wizards toying with them and lying to them; if they wouldn't be given what they wanted, then they'd simply take it. Wordlessly, they drifted downwards past her, towards the delicious emotions of mirth and excitement they smelled below.
"Oh no, you don't!" Oleandra exclaimed. "I promised I'd bring you home, but I never said anything about sending you back intact!"
Back on the train, she had tried using Thursaz, which simulated a physical attack, on a Dementor, without any results. In that case, how about using an intangible attack?
"Hagal!" Oleandra shouted the rune of storms' name, pointing the umbrella towards the heavens. A bolt of lightning struck the metal tip of the umbrella, which began to glow red hot.
She knew she had to act fast; the umbrella's fabric had caught on fire. Oleandra swung the umbrella towards the Dementors, releasing an electrical discharge in the form of ball lightning, which darted back and forth… passing harmlessly through the Dementors. Well, that had been entirely pointless. And now, the Dementors were even angrier.
Fortunately for Oleandra, the umbrella's cover hadn't been what had kept her airborne. She had stuck the spell tag to the umbrella's wooden handle instead of the metal shaft, which meant the paper hadn't instantly burst into flames. Unfortunately, with the umbrella's cover burned away, there was nothing to protect the spell tag from the rain. Predictably, the ink began to run, ruining the rune!
"HEEEELP!" Oleandra screamed as she fell. There wasn't much time before she hit the ground! She dug desperately through her pouch's talisman's pocket, but the air pressure made all of its contents fly out like a shower of confetti. "Well," she thought before blacking out as the Dementors swarmed around her, "at least I'm going out in style!"
Going back in time a little, thanks to Hermione's spell rendering his glasses water repellant and Oleandra's light show, Harry had rapidly spotted the golden glint of the Snitch. However, so had Cedric! They both sped towards the tiny fluttering ball, neck to neck! Little by little, Harry began to outpace him; his broom being superior. Gryffindor had all but won!
And then, he heard Oleandra's heart-wrenching scream. Harry hesitated for a second, before diving to her rescue.
"Harry!" Oliver Wood screamed. "Get back here, what do you think you're doing? Leave her to the teachers!"
Oleandra's falling body was surrounded by Dementors, like flying sharks circling around their prey. Harry gathered his courage, before speeding onwards. And inevitably, he also lost consciousness, trapped in a nightmare of his own worst memories.
"Arresto Momentum!"
"Expecto Patronum!"
Thanks to Oleandra alerting the teachers to the presence of Dementors in advance, they quickly stopped the pair's fall, before banishing the foul creatures with the Patronus Charm.
"And Cedric's got the Snitch!" shouted Lee Jordan. "Hufflepuff wins, 150-50! He really is the lowest, going after the win even though his opponent stopped to save someone!"
A flash of lightning had momentarily blinded Cedric Diggory. One second, Harry was right in front of him, and the next, he was gone, and in his place, the Snitch had appeared. Nobody could blame him for doing his job! Afterwards, he spotted Harry and Oleandra floating in the air, and he gently collected them before landing on the ground.
Oleandra's eyes flew open as she abruptly woke up from the Dementor-induced nightmare. For a moment, even though her eyes were open, she could still faintly see the remnants of her dream.
"Hello?" asked Cedric worriedly. "Can you hear me?"
Oh my, had this handsome gentleman saved her? Oleandra shook the drowsiness out of her system. Moments later, under Cedric's other arm, Harry's eyes fluttered open as he came to.
"Thank you for saving me, Cedric," Oleandra said a little shakily.
"You can let go, now," said Harry, a little bit of spite creeping into his voice. He was the one who had sacrificed the game to save her, why was she thanking him!
"Ha, ha," Cedric said, helping them both to their feet. "My bad."
Harry yanked out his Nimbus 2000 from the mud where it had planted itself after his dive and stormed off.
"Don't mind him," said Oleandra shyly, blushing. "He gets a little moody, sometimes."
And then she ran back to the stands without saying anything more.
創作者的想法 
Azure_Abyss
Azure_Abyss I have been falling for thirty minutes!
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票