7am, Friday the 23rd of April
Hollywell Copse, outside of Winkleigh in Devon

"Thursby.  Dementors in Winkleigh.  Go."  Barnabas Cuffe shouted the order over the already active newsroom floor.    Niobe was wide awake on two cups each of tea and coffee and sprang up grabbing her coat, boots, and Verbatis Quill. 

"I want a photographer this time!" she shouted as she swept out the door.

"Haven't got any!" Cuffe shouted back.  Budgets had been tight and so the Daily Prophet had been relying more and more on freelance photographers.  And Cuffe certainly wasn't going to spend his valuable time.  If Thursby wanted a photographer, she knew where to look.

Thus, Niobe's first stop before Apparating to Devon was the small Hogsmeade studio of one Audrey Hughes.  They'd worked together a few times before.  She rapped on the door hoping she was in.  From the outside, it really didn't look like Hughes had the chops to do news photography - her shop clearly catered to silly family portraits and sugary wedding photography.  But chops she had and Niobe was satisfied with her work.

"Hughes, urgent! Open up!"

Across the street from the photography studio was a small cottage, where Audrey stood at the window watching the famous (or infamous?) Niobe Thursby bang on the front door of the studio with fierce determination. She was lucky that Audrey Hughes was a morning person, awake enough to watch the scene unfold before her. To be honest, she was also a ‘night owl’. The photographer was one of those rare, gifted few who could function on five hours of sleep a night and feel great. Any more, and she was drowsy and unproductive, and any less she was grumpy, irritable, and barely functioning.  Five was her magic number.

She opened her living room window and rested her arms on the still, leaning her head out.

“Oi, Thursby!” Audrey waved her toast in the reporter’s general direction. The toast flew out of her hand and flopped into a flowerbed. “I’m over here!” She shouted, not even caring in the slightest bit if her few neighbors were woken up by the racket. If they weren’t awake yet, it was a sign of laziness and they would do well to wake up early for once in their lives.

"What's the emergency?"

Niobe whirled around.  The street had been all but quiet and a voice from behind gave her a start.  But it was the blond visage of the one she sought.

"Audrey! Good! Get your stuff," she said, trotting across the street.

"Dementors.  Dementors in Devon.  Let's go."

She wasn't the 'asking' sort, Niobe, and she was eager to get onto the scene to see what had happened.  It was always best to get to a crime as soon as possible before everything got cleaned up.  Plus, you could actually see details develop instead of having to ask for them from Aurors and Obliviators who didn't enjoy answering. 

Who knows what it would be.  Would the horrible wraiths be hovering above still, winding away from Patroni? Would there be a pair of cold bodies on the ground?  Would some poor witch or wizard be in wracking sobs and chills at their close encounter?

There was no way to know!  Niobe found that she was ready in equal measure with both wand and quill.

Dementors.

Now that would be interesting. It was a nice change from the wedding photos and newborn pictures she so often did. Now, Audrey enjoyed every last  bit of her job, but there were times when things became tedious. When her son wasn’t home, her life revolved around work—and when work consisted of the same few vanilla projects, her motivation would begin to plummet.

The chance to photograph dementors in action was just the sort of excitement she needed.

Audrey grabbed her camera bag and slung it over her shoulder. In less than a moment, she had rushed out the door (forgetting to lock it, of course) and was more than ready to go. “Where in Devon are we headed, then?” She asked crisply. Though she was all about being business-like and professional, it was hard to miss the excited glint in her eyes.

"Winkleigh at a place called Holywell Copse.  Bit of woods just north and west.  I can Side-Along you to Winkleigh, but we'll have to take brooms up to Holywell as I've never been."

She'd had to look at a map before she came, but the field just off east Eggesford Road was familiar.  She'd covered a cat show there back when she was cutting her teeth at the Daily Prophet.  She had a broom in her bag.

Once Audrey was ready, Niobe clasped her soft hand and away they went.  Niobe's Apparition spell yanked them into the ether and before you could catch your breath, they were in a field among sheep.  One of them bleated and trotted away to join the others.  The morning wind whipped her heavy hair.  There was not a human soul in sight.   But overhead, a broom! 

"Ah!" she looked up and pointed.  "Thattaway." 

Quickly they mounted and sailed up high so they wouldn't be noticed by any early rising muggles (unlike the chap they'd just spotted).  They flew.  Turned out, the journey was less than two miles and so they were quickly flying low over forested area, searching for any sign of where in the copse the action was.

Side along apparition was not her favorite thing in the world—it always felt like her stomach was trying to escape through her mouth.

Although Audrey hadn’t succeeded in most academic subjects, flying was one thing she did well. She was a confident flier, always had been—even when she was first starting out. Her younger sister was the same way, though her brother was comically bad at flying. She would have rather been on her own broomstick (if Niobe had told her to bring it, she would’ve!), but it was too late, and she was going to have to learn the language of a strange broomstick.
It wasn’t rocky as much as it was uncomfortable at first, but in no time she didn’t even have to think about the movement.

On a broom, she could get some action scenes from above--

And then there was fog. Fog everywhere. Audrey could hardly see a thing until her eyes got used to the dramatic change in scenery. Through the fog, she saw a silvery heron (or was it a flamingo?!)  flapping it’s wings at a dark, shadowy creature. “There. A patronus.” She breathed. Someone was putting up a good fight. In no time, the camera was out and the scene before her unfolded through the lens.

"Sh-!" 

Dementors! There were actual Dementors below them, the reported attack apparently ongoing.  Niobe swerved hard even though they were at a markedly safe distance.  She saw Audrey with her camera out, and that set Niobe to right immediately.  She wasn't going to be skittish, not when her freelancer was so keen!

"Let's go down," she called through the damp morning breeze.  They took a wide circle and as they broke through the fog, they saw lit wands.  The Patronus they saw was in the form of an octopus, its long shimmering tentacles holding a Dementor at bay. 

"Catch it! Try the net! Hurry before it leaves!"

The scene on the ground beneath the trees was a chaotic.  She saw green Healers, red Aurors, purple Ministry folk, and someone in very businesslike attire shouting about some kind of net. 

"A net...?" Niobe couldn't help but say as she lit on the ground and drew her wand.

"Oh no no no no no!"  Someone had seen her quill and Audrey's camera.  "No press! No reporters! No pictures!

Go down?!

At first, she hesitated. Did she really want to get that close to the dementors? She had never been the best when it came to charms, and she had never been able to produce a corporeal patronus. It was a rather advanced spell, and Audrey had never been that great at advanced spells. But, there were aurors. There were people who were certified to help deal with these dark creatures.

She would be fine.

As she flew closer, she felt a chill that went to the bone.

Audrey was able to get a few nice shots of a giant net being thrown over dementors. It was shimmery and silver, obviously enchanted. She ignored  the protests against cameras and reporters. It wouldn’t have been the first time she had heard something like that, and it was absolute nonsense.  “What, you don’t think that our community should be well educated about important events?!” She wrinkled her nose at the young man in obvious judgment. “I don’t see how taking pictures is keeping you from doing your job.” She had not yet landed, her broom hovered several feet above the ground.

Audrey represented her reputation to a T getting to snapping pictures despite the protests of wizard with a badge. Niobe followed suit.  She lit off her broom with wand and quill in hand. 

"Daily Prophet!" she declared as she strode forward past the wizard.  "Verbatis Comencio!"  Her black quill leapt into action hovering at her side over a pad.  It scribbled with fervor as it picked up not only Niobe's narration but any shouts that made it close enough.

"Twenty-three April, Winkleigh in Devon.  Two dementors held at bay by Patroni.  Healers, Aurors, Catastrophies present."

The quill also recorded the following dialog: "To the left! Keep them in bounds! The left, dammit!"

Niobe jockeyed for position.  She was being blocked by stoic Magical Law Enforcement types who couldn't help but keep looking over their shoulder at the dark blights.

"What is this?" she asked.  "Is that a net? Is that Department of Mysteries or Creature Regulation? Has this been tried before? Has anyone been hurt?"

She rattled off her questions in vain.

Suddenly there was an eruption of shouts and cheers! The pair of Dementors had been trapped under the shimmering net.  They shrieked and everyone drew back.[1]

"We need to tie it off! Keep back! I need four more Patroni now!"

1.	We should probably have them escape at some point!

Two more patroni began to surround the dementors—a capybara and a tapir. But it wasn’t the four that were necessary, and so the net broke.

“Do your bloody jobs!” Audrey shouted, earning a few rather unpleasant looks (and gestures)  from a pair of wizards clad in navy robes. But the photos of the dementors escaping from the net would look fantastic on the cover of the Daily Prophet. She could hardly wait to see how they turned out.

She moved backwards, knowing that the more space between herself and the dark creatures, the better. But there was no luck! One of the pair that escaped charged at a group of uniformed aurors. The other attempted to swoop down at the general crowd, but was held back by the flamingo-heron and the capybara.

Audrey had been determined to stand her ground, but her resolve was beginning to waver. She could feel all heat rushing away from her face, but she wasn’t sure if that due to fear, or a side effect of being near dementors.

Niobe was washed over in a bleak deluge of dark thoughts and chills as she the Dementors dissolved the shimmering net and charged the crowd.  She needed to be sick. 

"The net has broken the dementors are out! Charging the ..."  she had to swallow down a wave of fear.  "Charging bystanders."

She glanced at Audrey, who looked to be in a similar state, silently questioning if they should stay or find safety.  The nub of her missing left finger ached reminding her of the reckless thoughts that had earned its removal by a Runespoor queen.  And she never learned. 

Niobe snatched her quill from the air and sprinted for her broom.  In a moment she was aloft and alongside Audrey, nearly knee-to-knee.  Panting she said, "we have to see this through.  It's too big.  Let's stick together.  But if they get too close, wands out, got it?"

She was telling Audrey that if it should come to it, she'd drop her quill to cast a good Patronus. 

"Alright?"

Niobe was usually content to be alone, but this was bigger than the runespoor.  She'd need support.

Her stomach felt like it was trying to flip over, and she could feel her heartbeat in her hands of all places. Was that even a thing that happened to people?!  It seemed like Niobe was feeling the same way, and Audrey found some comfort in not being alone in this. She put her hand in her pocket for a brief moment, making sure her wand was with her. And there it was, ornate, decorated and rather rigid.  To most wizards, their wands almost felt like an extension of them, but it wasn’t so much the case in Audrey’s situation. She had never been comfortable with spellwork, even when it came from a wand made with a hair from her own mother’s head.

Audrey nodded stiffly. “Alright.” She replied, hoping that she sounded more confident than she felt.

The dementors didn’t seem like they were going to get any closer, but they didn’t need to in order for her to feel sick to her stomach.

Every instinct she had was telling her to flee. But she wouldn’t.  This was a big job. This was the sort of job that could make your career.

She managed to get a couple shots of the aurors fighting off the dementors. Despite shaky hands, she hoped the pictures would turn out. To her right, she heard a few sharp cracking noises.

It seemed that some reinforcements had arrived.

The sounds of Apparition drew Niobe's attention and she searched to find the source.  "The hell...?"

They weren't Aurors.  They weren't Regulation and Control.  They weren't Ministry at all.  It was just...regular witches and wizards with their wands out.  Niobe immediately swooped down to find out who they were.

"What are you doing here? Who are you?" 

An older witch at the front of the pack stuck out her chin.  "This is our forest! Won't be letting no Dementors hurt anyone, not while we're here!"  Niobe's Verbatis quill took in every work.

"You're locals! How did you find out about the Dementors?"

"Who do you think reported them? We made the call then gathered up.  Now move!"

The posse seemed to have planned things before hand and they fanned out.  Witches and wizards of all walks of life in all degrees of dress with their wants out.  And out came the Patroni.  Slips of silver flooded over the Ministry personnel.  Spectral claws, tales, and glowing white eyes added to the force. 

"Three dozen Patroni now!" Niobe shouted over the ruckus so her quill could hear.  "Ministry and the locals, all pushing back the Dementors.  It's ... it's amazing! No one is telling them to go home, they're accepting the help.  It's working!"

Niobe dismounted her broom again and ran forward to be even closer.  "The Dementors, they're flying away fast.  Regulation & Patrol is pursuing them on brooms.  A score of locals are following, Patroni still intact."

As this happened, there was cheering and sighs of relief.  Wands dropped to people's sides, people collapsed against trees to catch their breath.  A witch in red robes was silently sobbing although there wasn't a mark on her.  "I've never heard of that before," Niobe marveled.  "They just showed up ready to fight.  I'm gobsmacked..."

Audrey’s jaw, literally, dropped. She didn’t even have anything to say to that, at first. Instead, she documented the scene before her—valiant witches and wizards, common people, standing up to defend their homes and the ones they loved. This was a story worthy for the cover of the Daily Prophet—and if it didn’t make it, she would have some harsh words for Barnabas Cuffe!

She had never seen so many patroni in one place. The dementors were sorely outnumbered.  Audrey got off her broom to get some different angles. When it was all said and done, she turned to Niobe, snapped a quick photo of the reporter, and smiled weakly. Audrey then dropped her arms—camera still in hands, strap around her neck. She was exhausted—dementors sure had a way of sucking out one’s energy.

“They were protecting their homes and families.” Audrey replied, shaking her head. “It’s interesting to see what a tight-knit community with raw bravery can do.” 

The scene had become tired and drawn, the Dementor attack having taken its toll on everyone.  But the effects were beginning to lift.  There were claps on the back and a few hugs.  Niobe saw that the officials on the scene were beginning to speak with the civilians. 

The crew chasing the Dementors was long out of sight.  She trotted up to a wizard with the Regulation & Control badge.  "Niobe Thursby, Daily Prophet.  Can you confirm that the Dementors will be driven to the sea?"

"Erm, yes, that's the plan.  Nearly 40 kilometers.  Longer even to avoid populated areas. They'll keep them at a high altitude.  That high and that far from land, we're finding that they get too far from people to find their way back quickly."

"Has that been proven?"

"It's working," he shrugged.  "Nothing's certain with Dementors."

"What're your thoughts on the local support? I thought it was Ministry policy to keep civilians away?"

"Look, Thursby, I know your line-,"  Niobe scoffed indignantly at the implication.  "But you do what you have to do to keep people safe.  We're not going to turn away help if it means the difference between life and death.  Look, that's all, okay?"  With that he threw up his hands and backed away as if he had said too much.

"But what about that net!"