Courage

-28-

Sighing, Ginny nodded and walked off.

Harry, Layla, Ron, and Hermione set off down the corridor, looking for a compartment.

"My dad told which compartment he'd be in. It's most likely that he's asleep. He always sleep during any transportation so we can sit in there with him," said Layla. Ron glanced at her in confusion.

"Why would your dad be on the train?" he asked.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you guys," smiled Layla. "My dad's the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor! Come on, the compartment is down here."

Layla led them to a compartment and peaked inside to see, sure enough, Remus was in there, alone and fast asleep. The four friends piled in.

"Blimey, I've only seen your dad once, Layla, and that was when he was picking you up after first year," mentioned Ron. "And now he's going to be our professor all year."

"Yep," said Layla proudly before turning to Harry. "What were you going to tell us?"

Harry explained all about the warning Mr Weasley had just given him about Sirius Black possibly coming after him now that he'd escaped. When he'd finished, Ron looked thunderstruck, and Hermione had her hands over her mouth.

She finally lowered them to say, "Sirius Black escaped to come after you? Oh, Harry... you'll have to be really, really careful. Don't go looking for trouble, Harry—"

"I don't go looking for trouble," said Harry. "Trouble usually finds me."

"How thick would Harry have to be to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him?" said Ron shakily. "No one knows how he got out of Azkaban. No one's ever done it before. And he was a top-security prisoner too."

"But they'll catch him, won't they?" said Layla. "I mean, they've got all the Muggles looking out for him too."

"What's that noise?" said Ron suddenly.

A faint sort of whistle was coming from somewhere. They looked all around the compartment, and Layla made sure it wasn't her dad just snoring. It wasn't.

"It's coming from your trunk, Harry," said Ron, standing up and reaching into the luggage rack. A moment later, he had pulled a Pocket Sneakoscope out from between Harry's robes. It was spinning very fast in the palm of Ron's hand and glowing brilliantly.

"Is that a Sneakoscope?" said Layla, standing up for a better look.

"Yeah... mind you, it's a very cheap one," Ron said. "It went haywire just as I was tying it to Errol's leg to send it to Harry. It's my birthday present from me to Harry."

"Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?" said Hermione shrewdly.

"No! Well... I wasn't supposed to be using Errol. You know he's not really up to long journeys... but how else was I supposed to get Harry's present to him?"

"Stick it back in the trunk," Layla advised as the Sneakoscope whistled piercingly, "or it'll wake my dad up."

Ron stuffed the Sneakoscope back into Harry's trunk.

"We could get it checked in Hogsmeade," said Ron, sitting back down. "They sell that sort of thing in Dervish and Banges, magical instruments and stuff. Fred and George told me."

"Do you know much about Hogsmeade?" asked Hermione keenly. "I've read it's the only entirely non-Muggle settlement in Britain—"

"Yeah, I think it is," said Ron in an offhand sort of way. "But that's not why I want to go. I just want to get inside Honey Dukes."