CHAPTER 1
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 1 ~ Prologue
The Kingdom of Myrhh ~Year 865 AD
Alchemist Damius Altacare shuffled into his chamber arthritically, followed by his young apprentice Meyop. The hooded, ancient wizard slowly and painfully walked to the center table where a cauldron bubbled, a foul stench filling the air. Meyop swallowed down the bile that rose in his throat as he watched his master stir the elixir three times clockwise then seven times counterclockwise, his rheumy eyes staring intently at the simmering liquid.
The chamber was circular, stone-walled and bare except for the table, cauldron, and thirteen people manacled to the walls, men, women and children, unfortunate peons who had fallen out of favor given to the alchemist from the king’s dungeons.
Damius had been ordered to develop a special kind of warrior/guard for his king, one that would strike fear into his enemies and dispatch them quickly and horribly. He wanted them to inspire fear on sight, and be next to invincible. Something never seen before.
Damius had worked on this elixir for the past ten years, invoking dark magic and making untoward agreements with the dark powers of the earth, giving up his own soul for their blessing. Now it was all coming to a head.
The thirteen prisoners watched in silent horror as the old wizard ladled the potion into a bowl, tightening their lips in expectation of him trying to force them to drink it. Not one intended to swallow a drop of the cursed liquid down. Meyop swallowed as he watched his master bring the bowl to his lips.
“Now I receive ultimate power,” the wizard cackled, bringing the bowl to his cracked lips and swallowing the contents down. He lowered the bowl and stood there expectantly for a moment. Nothing happened. He scowled.
“No. No! Not after all my work! The elixir must work!” he said, throwing the bowl to the floor in a temper, then upsetting the cauldron, spilling a decade’s worth of work to the stone floor. Meyop rushed forward but was too late to save any of it.
Suddenly, Damius let out a choked sound, flinging back his hood, his almost bald and age-spotted head visible as his face contorted. He clutched his throat and staggered about. Meyop stared in horror as did the prisoners as the old man’s flesh began to bubble and gray, scabs forming all over his flesh, his eyes dropped from sight, leaving empty sockets, his nose melting away and mouth elongating vertically as he screamed horribly.
He thinned and lengthened, then to the terror of everyone he rose from the ground, drifting several feet in the air, hissing. His robes dangled, covering his lower limbs entirely, and large, gray-scabbed hands with long black nails dangled from his sleeves. Slowly he spun and looked at Meyop, who had backed against the wall in fear.
Damius drew his hood and looked like a floating specter of death. His breathing was hoarse and ragged. Damius drifted toward one of the prisoners…a woman whose blue eyes were wide with terror. He hovered in front of her for a moment, then flashed forward, locking his mouth to hers and inhaling, drawing out her delicious essence and gaining strength as the woman’s eyes glazed. He pulled back from her, and she fell forward, still breathing, but empty.
The other prisoners began screaming as Damius moved from victim to victim, drawing out their life essences…their very souls. He had no soul of his own because he had given it to the dark powers…this was the only way he could be nourished in this form. But with each person he drained, his midsection bulged large and larger, and when he drained the thirteenth victim, he drifted back and began to gag, bucking forward horribly in mid-air, Meyop staring fascinated.
Presently he coughed up a black slimy ball that floated before him. It increased in size, then slowly unfolded, expanding, black robes falling downward, long scabbed hands dangling from the sleeves, the creature drifting and hooded. It turned toward Damius and hissed, drawing in a ragged breath, then drifted past all the stricken prisoners, keening at the lack of life force. It needed feeding.
Damius drifted toward Meyop and with one freezing hand grasped the apprentice by the arm and dragged him forward, showing him to the new one, who hissed and launched itself past the apprentice, drawing out a bit of essence as Meyop screamed. The apprentice felt a sense of loss, sadness and hopelessness fall on him as if it would never lift again. He steeled himself and called out to his former Master.
“No! Master, no! I have been loyal to you all these years!” he cried to the transformed Damius.
“You are needed,” the creature hissed as the new one made another pass, Meyop crying out in agony as more happy essence was pulled from him, dropping him deeper into despair.
“Have mercy!” Meyop pleaded with Damius.
“They shall beg for mercy and there will be no mercy,” Damius hissed as the new creature whipped over, locked on to Meyop’s mouth and pulled out his soul, leaving the apprentice in a crumpled staring heap on the stone floor.
The creature hissed, strengthened.
“Let us go. We have a world to populate and conquer,” Damius hissed, drifting slowly out of the chamber, followed by the firstborn. “Our king will provide what is needed…for now.”
Damius and his creature began to drain prisoners and enemies of the king and bred. They were branded Dementors because of the state they left their victims in. Demented and completely out of touch with the world. It took a long time before people realized the Dementors were stealing souls, and the king to realize he created an army he couldn’t control.
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The Wizarding World, England 1998
The Dementors survived for the most part by giving service to humans, serving as soldiers and guards for monarchies and governments. In 1998 they were wooed away from service as Azkaban guards to join the Dark Lord, who promised them a great bounty of souls if they would help in the final battle.
The battle went badly for them, almost their entire ranks destroyed by Patronuses and other magical spells developed against them, though they took their toll from the side of Good. Harry Potter himself was the last victim, caught unaware as he stood above the fallen body of Voldemort. However, the Dementor kissing him was destroyed before he completed withdrawing the young wizard’s soul, but the majority of Harry’s essence was taken with it, and the wizard was left without much mind. He wasn’t quite a vegetable, but could no longer speak or care for himself. But he could smile or cry. And he cried often in the years that passed…especially when his friend Hermione Granger came to see him at his seaside home.
Ron had been killed by a deatheater with the killing curse, and Minerva McGonagall was left a shell by the Dementor’s kiss as well, and was sequestered in the psychiatric ward of St. Mungo’s. Hermione felt their loss every day. She had so few people who were important in her life. The loss of both had been devastating.
Several Dementors managed to escape, taking refuge in the bowels of a ship heading for India. Once there, they took up refuge in the jungle, in an old ruined temple, terrifying the monkeys that inhabited it until the creatures finally fled the evil place. It was then the Dementors discovered there was a surplus of human beings in India, humans that were rarely missed or looked for.
The Untouchables.
They began to breed again.
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Wizarding World, England 2006
Hermione sat on the porch facing the sea, looking out over the water and holding Harry’s hand as he sat next to her, staring at her intently as he always did when she came to visit him, telling him about all that was happening in the wizarding world. The witch knew he didn’t absorb it, but it gave her something to do and made her feel closer to the wizard.
Since Harry was rich, he had his own home and house elves to serve him. Dobby was his main caregiver as well as Head Elf, and took care of the wizard lovingly, feeding him, bathing him, dressing him and taking him down by the water every day, where Harry played in the sand. He wasn’t allowed in the water. He would drown.
Hermione spent a lot of time combing old tomes to try and find out if there was a way to heal a broken soul, but the books she accessed were all books having to do with the light. Anyone who understood magic knew the most powerful spells were those involving Dark Magic. And Dark Magic came with a price.
She hated seeing Harry this way. He had suffered for eight long years, and so had she. Hermione was not one to give up…she had spent almost a decade looking for answers through the proper channels.
Maybe it was time to check the improper ones.
Books of Dark Magic were hard to find and even harder to get permission to use. They were restricted by the Ministry. In fact, there was only one wizard she knew whose independent library contained the rarest, darkest tomes.
And that wizard was Severus Snape.
Professor Snape was as cold and vicious as ever. He still taught Potions and still struck fear in the heart of his students. The death of Voldemort had done nothing to sweeten his disposition and he continued to lurk in the dungeons, alone and hated. It was the life he was used to. The life he preferred. Unless you were a student, a staff member or Albus himself, he had no words to waste. He certainly granted no access to his books. They were his private treasure trove and he guarded them with all the alacrity of a dragon. No amount of money could make him part with even one of his titles.
Hermione looked at Harry, and he gave her a sweet smile.
“I’m going to find a way to help you Harry,” she said to the green-eyed wizard, smoothing her hand over his cheek, “Even if I have to dance with the devil himself.”
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A/N: Just something I was playing with. A little AU Dementor history, an invalid Harry, a Hermione who is willing to walk on the dark side to help him, and a cold, bitter Snape. I have to think a bit to decide whether or not I’ll pursue this story. It seems it will be quite a long one and I really don’t know if I am up to it right now. Anyway, I am interested in your thoughts about it. Please leave a review. It would be appreciated and a good…well…push. 🙂