The sudden change in his mood, as well as the temperature, certainly grabbed Al's attention. The hand that was placed in front of him to prevent him from moving any closer to his destination was one he knew well, and also knew to trust his mother's instincts as well as his own.
Stepping closer to her, so their shoulders were touching with their backs very nearly pressed together, Al drew his own wand and glanced toward the sky with a wary, waiting expression. As it turned out, he didn't have to wait long.
A shrill scream broke the hushed silence that seemed to have befallen the crowd, the sound the only warning before a dark, billowy form was swooping from the sky with the same eerie graze that Al remembered the creature possessing in his studies.
Dementor!
"Mum..." His tone was wary, the glance over his shoulder at the woman he could still feel alongside him a slightly nervous one. The crowd seemed to move as a whole, trying to avoid the Dementor as it drew ever closer to the group that had been happy mere moments ago. It wasn't until it had broken past the cloud coverage that he realized there were more. Not hundreds, or anything mad like that, but definitely more than one.
Struggling through the despair that surrounded him, Al reached behind him and found his mother's free hand. A quick squeeze of reassurance, a deeply drawn and steadying breath, then he took a step forward and aimed his wand at the first one he could lock onto.