Dementor

Hill felt quite depressed.

A few minutes ago she was choking on a piece of chicken, and the next thing she knew, she had traveled to another world. Again.

In the last world, she was a good citizen and barely got any parking tickets; she had lived a very serious and careful life. She did all her homework as a child and was enjoying her time in high-school. Hill had liked that world. it was peaceful and the technology was pretty advanced, unlike the worlds she had traveled to before. She had enjoyed herself with phones and cars and TVs.

Isn’t that just wonderful; when she had finally found a comfortable world she had died of choking on her meal.

“I guess I won’t be eating any more chicken then,” Hill grunted. Now, what did she turn into? Hopefully not a dog or cat again, for she had lived short lives as animals. One time she was reincarnated as a magical talking frog, and it was a very unpleasant memory.

As she swirled around and touched her new body, she didn’t think she was human. To start, she was floating a few feet above the ground. She wore a huge cape with a hood and her hands were scabbed and disturbing. As for her body, Hill almost scared herself to death lowering her gaze to examine her chest and legs. Thank god there weren’t any mirrors around, she did not want to see what her face looked like at that moment.

Great, She thought. I’m probably some evil ghost spirit in medieval times. Some knight’s gonna kill me in order to save a princess. Fuck yeah.

Observing around, she realized she was in some sort of prison. Empty cells packed with moldy wheat and scrambling rats surrounded her. It was dark and filled with a horrible smell of sweat and rotten food. A rat had scurried past beside her feet, and Hill yelped and tripped over, her back falling towards the wall. She closed her eyes in preparation for the impact and the pain, but nothing happened. When she opened her eyes her upper body was in another cell and her legs disappeared at the border of the wall. It was a frightening sight and Hill took a few deep breathes to calm down.

She pulled her legs back and stretched her arm towards the wall curiously. It went through with a tingling sensation, and she quickly pulled it back. Her arm was unharmed, well, ignoring the fact that it was already boney and covered with zombie-like dead skin. She was able to go through walls. Knowing this fact made Hill somewhat delighted. She wasn’t trapped here, she could float freely from cell to cell.

Maybe I’m some kind of jail guard. That would make sense, my appearance is probably threatening enough as a warning.

Hill then floated and drifted in that place for a few days. She did not know where she could go and was still very upset about leaving the last world. But even as she complained, she didn’t have the courage to kill herself in the hope of traveling to a better one. She managed to put up with most of the things. The only thing she could not bear was the hunger. Hill didn’t know why no food was ever delivered to her. If there were labor protection acts in this world she would definitely sue them. But it was incredible that somehow she managed to live on despite the lack of food.

She was not a ghost then, for she had felt hunger. So what was she?

She found many creatures similar to her here. Hill was afraid they would eventually find out that she was different from the rest of them and gang up on her, so on the first day she had decided to follow one of them around and mimic its moves. They usually lingered around the outside of the prison.

One day, some of the creatures started floating into the prison, and Hill followed them curiously. It was a group of ten. They did not talk and drifted like ghosts, but Hill could feel that they were...excited. Like a beast that had encountered prey, the eagerness mixed with contentment. Hill felt a sense of uneasiness when she realized she was driven by those feelings too.

She looked at the prisoners, most of them were loaded with madness. The rest of them had empty and numb eyes. When they saw the group of them, the prisoners looked frightened and helpless, their expressions filled with despair. She could see loath leaking through their eyes. As obvious as it already was, Hill confirmed the idea that she was not a very loving creature.

When she looked around, she suddenly felt a gush of warmness flowing into her body. It was like the sunlight in early spring, softly stroking her soul, and the feeling of hunger swept away. Hill exhaled in comfort and let herself drown in this warmness. She breathed in deeply and sighed happily.

“De...dementors.”

Hill heard the voice of a prisoner, a hoarse, shaking voice. She would guess that was what creatures like her were called. “Dementors”. The name seemed to ring a bell, but she could not quite remember where she’d heard it. Maybe she was just not in the right state. If she had ever come across these creatures, based on their horrific appearances, she would have remembered their name very well.

She shook her head and moved on, following the other dementors. The prison was not small, but after half an hour their group had drifted past almost every cell. They started floating back from the way they came, and Hill no longer felt the warmness. She looked at the prisoners they had passed by and noticed they were in different shades of blue, their faces pale and twisted in fear as if they had experienced something terrifying.

Was she really ugly enough to frighten people like this?

Hill was agitated. She was a girl after all and had very much cared about her appearance. The worst thing she turned into before was a frog but people did not scramble away upon seeing her. She decided that she must find a way to normalize her looks, as she absolutely hated the idea that people would point at her and scream for help.

First, she needed to get to know more about these “dementors”. Maybe she could get something out from one of the prisoners. That is, if she didn’t scare them to death first.

After observing for a few days, she realized that dementors seemed to not have the ability to see. They rely on a certain instinct to identify directions and movements. They could not talk --of course, Hill was an exception. She could see very well and on a quiet, lonely night, she had experimented on her own voice. She stretched out her mouth and tried to force sound out of her throat. It felt hoarse and dry from misuse but after a few tries, she realized she could talk. She still had her human voice.

So, in a dark and windy night, Hill went into the prison by herself and the other dementors had completely ignored her. So much for following and mimicking them, she groaned.

Most of the prisoners were not asleep, they stared blankly at a wall or blabbered words Hill didn’t want to comprehend.

She tried to find a person in the right state to communicate with, and then she saw the man.

The man, huddled in a tangle of weeds, in his dirty old clothing and his hair messy and greasy, laid as still as if he was dead. But Hill knew he was not dead, not only that, he was awake. Perhaps it was the ability as a dementor, she was sensitive to the emotions of humans. Looking at the man, desire and crave swelled up to her.

She forced down those feelings she loathed and calmly opened her mouth.

“Do you want to escape?”

There was an unbearable silence and the man jerked up his head, “A dementor? No- no! You are not! Who are you?!”

Hill wondered if he had lost his mind. What a pity, she thought he would be some of a help to her.

“I’m a dementor,” She replied. Based on her looks, she wouldn’t believe it herself if she denied that, “I’m a dementor who can help you escape.”

Of course, in order to get something, you must give. She was going to gain knowledge of dementors and this world through the man, and in return, she would let him go. Hill did not know how much chaos a prisoner like him could bring to this world, but she had to come up with a condition in order to let the man talk.

Silence, again.

Hill sighed. It must have been the bad reputation dementors had. The man looked scared and confused while staring at her blankly.

“Fine, you can think about it and I’ll come again in a few days.” Seeing his condition, she decided to leave the man alone.

“Wait!” the man called out as she turned away.

Hill stopped and looked at him, “You’ve decided?” She was a bit surprised that he was willing to talk to her.

“I don’t need you to take me out.” He lowered his head. With his dry and dirty hands, he pulled on his hair and said in a small, stifled voice, “...I deserve this.”

“Eh, what?” Now Hill was confused, what kind of a man would wish to stay in a prison! Especially a horrifying prison like this.

“Help me...help me go check on someone.” The man was panting while he spoke as if it took all of his strength to say that. His gray eyes were bloodshot and intimidating to look at.

Hill frowned. “If I’m able to, sure.”

The man seemed relieved. “Now tell me, what do you want from me? My soul?”

“Soul? I’m not Hades, you know.”

The man looked at her, his eyes full of scrutiny, “You really are a dementor...You look...but you talk and...”

“I mean, I can show you--” Hill reached for the hood covering her face.

“Wait, no!” The man covered his face in horror. This just made her more self-conscious about her appearance. Like you don’t look scary and ugly right now, Hill rolled her eyes.

After a long wait, the man calmed down.

“This might be weird for me to ask, but do you know how to like, fix a face?” Hill quickly asked, “Like, improve your looks or something.”

“Fix a face?”

“Yeah, I can’t really meet people like this.”

The man was more confused than ever, but he managed to speak again.“Spells and potions will do.”

Spells? Potions? So she was in some sort of magical kingdom? Was she supposed to know what spells and potions do?

“What should I do? To make potions I mean.” She thought for a moment and asked.

The man poured out a bunch of random names and Hill assumed those were the materials she needed. She was lost to his words the first time but after repeating it she managed to remember the list.

“Well, thanks, man.” Hill was in a better mood as she got what she wanted, “So who’s the person you need me to check on?”

The man, as if suddenly coming back to his sense, gave her an alarmed look. How could he trust a dementor? Even if she was different, she could know of him and purposely came for the information. But she was all he had now. It was a gamble, and he had no choice but to trust her.

“Harry, Harry Potter.”

“Who?” Hill thought the name sounded familiar, she was suddenly nervous.

“Harry Potter.” He seemed to take it in stride and this time the name came out smoothly, “Please... Take care of him if you can, protect him.”

Oh Jeez...

“You... are Sirius Black?” Hill was conflicted. She wished she was wrong, but at the same time, she was excited.

The man looked at her in surprise.

She was right... Hill shut her mouth firmly and went silent. Okay, now she knew the world she had traveled to. Harry Potter! Famous Harry Potter. In her last world, she had read the books years ago and had forgotten about most of the plot, but still capable of remembering some characters. Including Sirius Black, the man wrongly put into prison. She had quite liked that character. Though, his state right now didn’t really appeal to her.

“...Where is he now?” Hill would rub her temple with her hands if she was a human. What a headache, Harry Potter’s world, if she remembered correctly, was quite a mess.

“He lives in... he...” Sirius stuttered, he had no clue where Harry lived.

“Well, I’ll think of a way.” Hill drifted away. She needed time to think. This world could be dangerous, with all the magic and stuff going on.

But think on the bright side! She thought, you get to play with magic and meet all those famous characters! Even though you’ll probably just scare the shit out of them if you approach them now!

“Just a reminder,” she mumbled to herself, “Top priority is to fix your looks.”

________

I don’t know if people still read Harry Potter fanfics, but here I am. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter!

I read the books and watched the movies a few years ago, so if I make any mistakes or contradicting info with the book please tell me!

Yes, this story does include romance, but I want things to flow naturally and not be cliche. So there won’t be a “meeting each other for the first time in chapter one and kissing in chapter three.”

I mean, our girl’s a dementor, she technically can’t kiss anyone, not for now at least. ;)