A/N: Hi Numen, thanks for pointing that whole splinching thing out. I changed it! Thanks to all of my reviewers; you guys need to tell me these kinds of things!

A/N: I do not own Harry Potter!

Chapter 6

Ron Weasley looked up at Harry from his seated position on the left bed. Harry could see that Ron's face was pale in the dim, flickering candle light. He had his hands clasped together hard enough to turn his knuckles as white as his face.

Harry looked at his other best friend: Hermione Granger; but she didn't seemed to be the Hermione that Harry had left at the Hogwarts Express. Hermione's cheeks were shallow; she looked depressed. She, too, had her hands clasped, but they were shaking. Harry looked at his two friends worriedly; he didn't expect them to look like this.

"Hey, mate," said Ron with a little smile that seemed un-natural on his pale face, as he got off the bed, making it creak. He stepped up to shake Harry's hand; Harry could fell that his hand was a bit cold.

"Ron," said Harry, looking at Ron's freckles and ginger hair, which stood out even more because of his pale complexion, "What's up with you two; it looks like you guys were just told that skrewts were coming over for dinner." Harry then laughed a little, hoping that they would, too; they didn't. Ron's smile vanished slowly, then after a moment, his knees began to shake. He stumbled backwards and fell onto the empty bed; his face seemed, if possible, to have gone even paler. Hermione looked at her shaking hands, while her face turned a shade of sickly green. Then, tears appeared in her eyes as she looked at the floor. Harry stood there, thinking; way to go Potter! Nice try to cheer them up!

"Guys," said Harry, walking over to Hermione and sat next to her, which made the bed groan. He put his arm around the girls' small shoulders; she didn't acknowledge his presents. "What happened to you two? It wasn't the skrwets joke, was it?" Harry didn't think so when Ron looked at him with blank, empty, sapphire eyes; he seemed to look straight through Harry with his gaze. The blue color looked mysterious and a bit eerie in the low candle light; Harry didn't look away.

"Do you get the Daily Prophet?" asked Ron in a hushed voice, as if his normal tone was too loud.

"Well…no. Why? Did something bad happen. I was at the Ministry today, and everything seemed alright…" said Harry, trying to see what made his friends seem as if they had just encountered…

"Dementors?" Harry whispered, horrified. Harry saw Ron's eyes glisten with tears, but blinked them away furiously; he would not let them fall. Harry felt Hermione's shoulders shake and she closed her eyes, which made two tears fall and hit her hands.

"What happened? Why wasn't I told about this from Lupin? How--" Harry said quickly, but was cut off by Ron.

"They were most likely sent by Death Eaters," said Ron, gravely, "The Grangers, Neville and his grandmother, the Lovegoods, and my family, got wind from Kingsley and Tonks that all of Dementors were missing from Azkaban. They were just…leaving." He stopped, and Harry could see his eyes glaze over at remembering something Harry didn't particularly want to know.

"The Order and most of the Aurors went to Azkaban to prevent the prisoners from escaping, leaving Lupin, Tonks, and Kingsley with us; we arrived at around…ten. We all arrived at the spot where Grimmauld Place should have been; you know, between 11 and 13, and we saw them in the sky. There were hundreds…of beasts flying toward us. They covered the sky, and the very grass seemed to freeze." Ron's voice started to shake, but he didn't stop; he needed to tell Harry what happened. Harry imagined them; their robes flying around as they created a wall of darkness and suffocation as they came closer, with their scabby hands twitching to get them around his friends.

"We all looked up…I had never been that scared in my life, mate. Spiders seem so small, now, compared to what they brought with them."

"What did they bring?" asked Harry in a horrified, hushed voice. He stared at Ron, with serious, widened eyes, but Ron did not speak; he just stared back with his empty blue. Harry could tell that he did not want to say. Then to Harry's right, a small, voice spoke to the silent room.

"They brought you new nightmares," said Hermione. Harry looked at her; she looked at the floor with unfocused, teary eyes.

"They did," croaked Ron. Harry's head snapped back in his direction.

"Usually, they were t-to just…bring your worst memories," stuttered Ron.

"T-the Dementors covered the sky, and the sunlight vanished; that is when the coldness came. My skin seemed to have gone frozen; my heart seemed to have been filled with frost and shadows. I saw things that had n-never happened, but they looked so real. I became blind with the…images that came to mind. I felt like I was f-frozen; I couldn't move; I couldn't think; I could barely breathe. I heard screaming, and crying, and some shouts of encouragement from Lupin to keep fighting. I had to…push the images away, and think of happy memories, so I could help get rid of the Dementors. It was hard, mate; whatever memory I chose, more terrible ones masked it. After a lot of desperate attempts to clear my mind, I thought of a good one. Then, I saw blackness everywhere after the…the im-images cleared; the few Order members, Neville, Ginny…and a few Patronuses. I then cast my own," Ron then looked to his right, into the candle light. He stared at it; the dancing firelight was reflected in his unfocused eyes. "After about half an hour of fighting, they started to retreat. They all went back to Azkaban," he said. "We then saw sunlight come back in a flood of light. At that moment, that was the most beautiful thing that I had seen. We then gathered ourselves together, and got inside."

Harry sat and processed everything that was said. He thought of the Dementors creating nightmares instead of forcing you to re-live your old ones. How did they do that? thought Harry. And they all being there; Neville, Luna, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione—

Harry looked at her; she still had her eyes closed, with tears slipping down her wet face, with her head bent forward. Ron watched the pair, and knew what Harry was wondering. He then got off the bed, and tugged on Harry's sleeve. Harry looked up at the red-head, and could see in his eyes that he was going to talk. Ron pulled Harry to the door, opened it, and they both slipped through.

They were now on the empty landing, and just when Harry was going to ask about Hermione, he noticed Lupin on the stairs. Ron and Lupin locked gazes, and Lupin knew what was going on. Then he looked at Harry with sad, grave grey eyes. Lupin then walked over to the door, and leaned toward the wood. He put his ear to it, listening; he could hear Hermione sob in the quiet room. He shook his head sadly, and silently beckoned the boys to follow him. They descended the stairs, quietly, like cats, and walked through the kitchen door, where part of the Order and his friends were waiting.

A/N: Soooooo, how was it? Good, bad, so-so? Tell me! I'll tell you what had Hermione so upset…in later chapters. You'll understand in my next one.