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Written for Auction Prompt - Dementor!AU

Word Count - 331

Beyond Help

They watched him subtly but it didn't seem to matter. He paid them no mind anyway, drifting through days on autopilot. He didn't care about how worried his family and friends were, or perhaps he just didn't notice it.

"He needs to be admitted to St Mungo's," Hermione had argued, at one of the family meetings. "You know what this kind of grief untreated does to people."

Molly had refused, unwilling to section her son. She denied the possibility of the worst happening, not to her son.

She couldn't lose another child.

His brothers and sister lingered on the edges of his pain, waiting for him to show signs of what they dreaded, willing to go over their mother's head if they had too.

Bill was the first to notice.

The heat in the room dropped when George entered.

He spoke to his mum and dad in urgent tones, sighing with despair when his mum refused to listen to reason.

Percy was the next to notice.

George sat beside him at the table, and Percy's worst memories were suddenly there, in the forefront of his mind as he heard himself tell his father that he was useless.

"Mum, he needs treatment now; before it's too late. If he gets too far… it's irreversible."

"He's going to be okay. He just needs time," Molly replied firmly.

She'd hear no more about it.

Harry was the one to find him, breath rattling as he sprawled on the floor of his flat. Harry could feel the suck on his soul, the tugging as George stared at him with empty eyes.

Prongs was the only thing that helped.

Molly cried as the healers gave her the news. Her son was beyond help. They were moving him to Azkaban post haste.

He had to join his brethren.

Ron stared at the dementors as he passed them to get to the prisoner he'd been sent to pick up for trial. He wondered which one was his brother.