supposed to take sides, as a teacher... " he added hastily.

 They drank the butterbeer in silence, until Harry voiced something he'd been wondering for a while.

 "What's under a dementor's hood?" 

Amelia choked on her drink and shook her head frantically.

Professor Lupin lowered his bottle thoughtfully. 

"Hmmm... well, the only people who really know are in no condition to tell us. You see, the dementor lowers its hood only to use its last and worst weapon." 

"What's that?" 

"They call it the Dementor's Kiss," said Lupin, with a slightly twisted smile. "It's what dementors do to those they wish to destroy utterly. I suppose there must be some kind of mouth under there, because they clamp their jaws upon the mouth of the victim and -- and suck out his soul."

Amelia shuddered.

 Harry accidentally spat out a bit of butterbeer. 

"What -- they kill --?" 

"Oh no," said Lupin. "Much worse than that. You can exist without your soul, you know, as long as your brain and heart are still working. But you'll have no sense of self anymore, no memory, no. .. anything. There's no chance at all of recovery. You'll just exist. As an empty shell. And your soul is gone forever... lost." 

Lupin drank a little more butterbeer, then said, "It's the fate that awaits Sirius Black. It was in the Daily Prophet this morning. The Ministry have given the dementors permission to perform it if they find him."

 Harry sat stunned for a moment at the idea of someone having their soul sucked out through their mouth. But then he thought of Black. 

"He deserves it," he said suddenly.

"Don't be redically Harry," said Amelia. Her wand tucked behind her ear shot a jet of light at the chair behind her shinging. "Damn it," she sighed. "The soul is the most important part of the body after death. It is brought to a waiting place and then judged. What Black will face after death is exactly what he deserves. To destroy his soul would stop him from receiving any form of punishment in the afterlife."

"He still deserves it," grumbled Harry.