By then, the center of the courtyard had turned entirely into a black ocean.
The soft golden light radiating from the doll flickered precariously amid the black tide, yet remained remarkably tenacious.
The Dementors surrounded it, inhaling frantically.
Greedy gurgling noises came from beneath their cloaks, where their mouths should have been.
But no matter how hard they inhaled, pure happiness continued to pour endlessly from the doll.
That Emotion Crystal was a specially made solid alchemical product, like a premium steak enclosed in titanium-alloy mesh.
They could smell it, but they could not eat it.
"They look like they're suffering."
At some point, Bill had pulled out a specially made magical camera and started snapping away at Azkaban.
"Seeing it without being able to eat it really is the cruelest punishment for creatures that live on emotions."
"This exploits their physiological defects."
Douglas judged that the time was about right. Hundreds of Dementors had packed themselves into a solid black sphere, overlapping one another without a single gap.
"They have no sight, nor any real brains. All they have is an instinctive attraction toward happiness as food, like an attraction to light."
"Like moths to a flame."
Douglas extended his right hand and snapped his fingers sharply.
Snap!
The doll's chest suddenly split open in the center of the courtyard.
The expected explosion never came.
Instead, an old book only the size of a palm, with a dark red cover, fell out of the doll's body.
Its cover was rough, covered in scale-like patterns.
"Ready, Bill? Time to haul in the net."
"Always ready! The camera's set up!"
The instant the book hit the ground, it moved without any wind, its pages fluttering open.
An exceedingly obscure fluctuation, carrying ancient laws of space, spread from between its pages.
"**Edict: