Perseus is a Northern constellation, named after the famed Greek hero of the same name. The son of Zeus and Danae, Perseus slew the Gorgon Medusa and used her head to defeat the monster Cetus, saving princess Andromeda.

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Like a wave of black oil, they flooded into the school. One started making its way to them, half-floating, half-clambering on its scrawny black hands. They ran.

The combatants were conjuring their Patronuses - some taking the form of rabbits, swans, and cats, some had no distinct shape. She pulled Draco behind their covers when she could. But to outrun a Dementor was nearly impossible, and they quickly found themselves cornered in the far end of the courtyard.

She snatched Draco's wand from his grasp. "Expecto Patronum!" A shadow of a blue wisp gasped from the tip. She tried again, and silvery smoke puffed out, but nothing more. "Draco, your wand. It- it doesn't work for me."

In their brief pause, one of the skeletal figures had slithered up to them. It reared itself in the air, and she found herself staring down its gaping mouth of rotting flesh.

Memories shuffled through her mind like a deck of flash cards. Dad, Mom, home, Christmas, Hogwarts, Hannah, stars, home, Christmas, Susan, Astronomy, Hippogriffs. Draco. Draco. Draco.

And then, like all the water and energy in her body rushing through her vessels, she felt them leaving her; from the tips of her toes, up to her neck and out through her mouth.

One by one, they disappeared. The Hippogriffs went first, followed by Hogwarts and Astronomy classes, then the Christmases. It felt like the breath had been knocked out of her lungs as home seeped away, then Draco, and finally her parents.

The memories left her cold in their absence. Slowly, despair began to take over. The fractured sound of Draco's crying filled her empty mind, pieced together by the ghost-feeling of the Cruciatus curse pulsating through her veins, and the dull resistance of something being forced into her.

Her insides felt bruised and dull as the Dementor filled her with a pain and sorrow she'd never felt before. Her cries solidified in her throat as she drowned in the throbbing ache of immense hopelessness.

The world was ending. The war would be lost, and there would be no happy ending for her and Draco. He didn't love her. He never did. Her parents were dead, and by tomorrow morning her friends would be too. She was left with no one. It was over.

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Panic rose in his chest. He knew he couldn't summon a Patronus, and he hadn't tried in years.

He watched helplessly as tears slid down Angel's face. Around them, everyone was either duelling or fighting creatures. There was no one to help them.

Shakily, he aimed his wand at the Dementor. "Ex- expecto... P- patronum." The unfamiliar words felt foreign on his tongue, and nothing came from his wand, not even a sliver. "Expecto Patronum!" he tried again, louder. Still nothing.

He was doing it wrong. There was something he was missing. He wracked his brains, trying to remember what he knew about Patronuses. A happy memory. That's what he needed.

What made him happy? Angel, of course. Talking with her and being with her made him feel a love he could never have dreamed of. "Expecto Patronum!" The faintest wisp spurted out before it was blown away by the wind. It was not enough.

Angel was fighting the Dementor hard, her fingers stretched out, reaching for something, anything, as she tried to wiggle away. It's decaying lips hung open and its breath rattled in its throat like empty metal cans.

He thought of the day he fell in love with her, how her face had looked when she handed him that whiskey flask. "Expecto Patronum!" Again, the faint blue threads disappeared as quickly as they came.

She was sobbing now, her body writhing futilely as the Dementor sucked every good memory she possessed. It was going to perform the Kiss soon - he'd seen it too many times.

He thought of the night she'd brought him home, how he'd twirled her around to the record player, the silver reflections on her face as she stood beside the Thestral. He remembered the way she looked at him as they floated amongst the night sky he'd conjured just for her. He remembered the feeling - that just maybe, for once in his life, he was worthy of something good.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" He willed every ounce of strength he had into the spell, and a burst of energy shot out.

The threads danced in the air together, weaving and dancing to form a running animal - a bloodhound. It crouched down, snarling silently.

The dark creature broke its hold on Angel, screeching as it flew off into the air, but he couldn't stop. His mind and heart felt like they were sprinting.

The sensation overwhelmed him the more he concentrated on the memory. It was like sitting by the fireplace on the coldest winter night; feeling the wind whip around his face high up above the Quidditch pitch; and watching the starry night from the Astronomy Tower all at once.

The light poured like a river of molten silver from his wand as the dog chased its tail in the air, emitting waves of energy. The rings grew bigger and bigger, wrapping around the entire courtyard, rippling off so far that they went beyond the bridge, towards the black lake.

The shield bellowed with a magical energy he'd never seen before. It tossed the Dementors back into the night sky where they faded off into the black void, their shrieks eventually fading off into nothing.

Finally, the light from his wand died, and he fell back onto the ground. Turning to Angel lying in the rubble, and a sudden panic gripped him. This was the very situation he'd feared. But she was alive. And she'd seen the whole thing, managing a weak smile.

He picked up her limp body, feeling like it weighed no heavier than a feather. Ducking the spells that continued to fly around them, he raced back to the castle.