Chapter 386: War Breaks Out
In this moment, apart from Slytherin, every other stand was wreathed in terrifying flames.
When they saw Dudley strike first, every member of the Kingdom of Order joined the war of their own accord.
The dementors had been sent by the Ministry of Magic to "protect" the school, but what had just happened had clearly gone far beyond protection.
Since Dudley had launched an attack, none of them dared lag behind. They followed at once.
And in the eyes of many, Dudley seemed to have chosen this method only because something had gone wrong with his Patronus. If that was the case, then they could not possibly leave him to bear it alone.
What no one expected was that, in the face of these savage flame attacks, the dementors did not retreat.
They attacked.
Hundreds of dementors swept down towards the students, sending panic rippling through the stands.
The sinister cold kept spreading. This was the dementors actively unleashing their assault. Unlike before, when their influence had simply bled outward, they were now treating the students as enemies, devouring happiness on purpose, pouring despair into the air.
"What is wrong with them?" Hermione shouted, shocked, firing flame after flame as she spoke.
"Isn't it obvious?" Ron yelled back. He might not be as clever as Hermione, but he knew the Ministry well. "It's Scrimgeour. He knew we might go after the dementors, so he gave them orders. If they're attacked, they hit back immediately!"
Given what was happening, it was clearly a change Scrimgeour had made after that dementor incident on the train. No matter who it was, if someone attacked a dementor, the dementors were authorised to retaliate with full force.
What Scrimgeour probably had not anticipated was that it would not be only Dudley and a handful of others.
It was most of Hogwarts.
And it was not just the Kingdom of Order either. Seeing people resist, others joined in as well, casting attack spells of their own.
Naturally, they were judged enemies too and came under dementor attack. But because of that, even more students began to fight back.
The situation spiralled out of control. Everyone was swept into the riot, resisting the dementors' assault.
Even Slytherin's side flared with fire, though their flames were noticeably weaker, posing little threat to the dementors.
"Stop it! Get out of Hogwarts!" Professor McGonagall shouted, furious.
The moment she saw the dementors begin attacking students directly, she abandoned any thought of trying to calm the crowd. She raised her wand and began striking the dementors herself.
Whoosh.
At that moment, a broom shot into place in front of Dudley.
"Ron, can you attack while riding a broom?" Dudley asked, turning to him.
"I can," Ron said immediately.
"Take Hermione with you," Dudley ordered. "Wherever something breaks, you go and support."
He did not trust Ron alone. With Hermione alongside him, it was far safer.
Ron hesitated, then nodded quickly. "All right."
Hermione did not argue. She knew how urgent it was. Dudley needed every bit of their strength.
Ron jumped onto the broom. Hermione wrapped her arms around his waist.
She did not really need to keep her wand in hand. She tucked it into her pocket, ready to cast wandlessly if she had to.
Whoosh.
Ron streaked away, and along the path, one burst of fierce fire after another exploded in the sky, striking at the dementors.
"Neville, Ginny, I'm leaving this side to you," Dudley said to Neville.
"All right, but you…" Neville stared at Dudley, cheeks flushed. It was the first time anyone had entrusted him with something this important.
Dudley's words made it sound as if he meant to do something else, but the broom had already gone to Ron and Hermione. How was Dudley going to move?
Neville got his answer almost at once.
Roar!
A terrible roar rolled out of the sky. A massive shape tore through the storm clouds, huge wings beating as it dove straight towards Dudley.
"Norberta!" Dudley called.
The Norwegian Ridgeback heard him and let out an excited, answering bellow.
Norberta was far larger than before, vicious-looking now, and when she spread her wings, it felt as if she could blot out the sky.
Whoosh.
As Norberta swooped in, Dudley sprang upward and landed cleanly on her back.
"I'll have to ask for your help," he shouted into the wind.
"Today, we're going to wipe out every last dementor!"
Roar!
Norberta unleashed a deafening dragon cry, and the entire Quidditch stadium seemed to shudder with it.
Everyone stared at the terrifying Norwegian Ridgeback, and at Dudley on her back.
"Fiendfyre. Burn them all!"
Dudley swept his arm. In an instant, dreadful flames spread through the air, racing towards several dementors that were gliding in.
Norberta did not lag behind. She opened her jaws and blasted a stream of fire.
"Bloody hell," Ron muttered, watching Dudley carve through the sky on the dragon. "He had that up his sleeve. I nearly forgot."
He had nearly forgotten that Dudley carried the name of dragon rider.
"Incendio."
"Incendio."
"Ron, faster. Over there, there are more dementors!"
Hermione was completely in it now.
She kept directing Ron's speed and direction, throwing them straight towards the thickest clusters.
"I… fine," Ron said. He had been about to remind her he could attack too, but by the time the words reached his mouth, he remembered Hermione was stronger than he was and resigned himself to being her driver.
Rumble, rumble, rumble…
The sky was full of booming impacts. Flames erupted again and again, lighting the storm-dark pitch. The Quidditch stadium had become a battlefield.
"Imprison."
Suddenly Dudley's gaze caught on a lone dementor. He invoked a Judge's authority, imprisoning it in mid-air.
A transparent, viscous liquid solidified around the creature, locking it in place so it could not break free from the powerful restraint.
The next moment, Dudley had Norberta sweep in. With the Mirror of Erised in his right hand, he swung it once.
The dementor vanished from the air.
"Come on, Norberta," Dudley said. "Let's go down and check on Harry."
Norberta did not hesitate. She dropped towards the ground at once.
Harry had already fallen, but with Dudley's charm protecting him, he had not been injured. He was simply unconscious.
"In a battle like this," Dudley murmured, "how could the Boy Who Lived be missing?"