SOFIA WAS DEVASTATED. She felt dead and anyone who saw her could see that.
She had deep dark circles under her eyes, was pale and had a look that begged for help.
For the past few days she had sat in her room venting, crying and screaming about the death of her best friend, and she had come to the conclusion that he would want to see her smile...
The next day she was supposed to leave for Hogwarts, her home...
Even though she had no one, even though everyone made fun of her and she was alone, she considered Hogwarts her true home.
Harry, on the other hand, had spent his days at the Magic Cauldron eating Fleure Florence's ice creams and doing History of Magic papers.
He was definitely better off without the Dursleys and the prospect of returning to Hogwarts excited him.
He imagined Quiddich matches played with the new broom purchased by the Irish team, the fastest broom in the world, the Firebolt.
That night passed quickly for both of them...
Harry walked over to the coffee table where the Monster of Monsters book was, removed the leather belt and took it in his hand.
The book snapped open, startling poor Harry, who tried to hold the book's mouth at bay.
The dangerous book fell to the ground, trying to bite the raven-haired boy's shoes off.
Harry backed up to the bed and the book took refuge underneath.
Harry bent down to look under the bed, the book was at the bottom and seemed momentarily quiet, Harry thought.
He was wrong, the book started biting again and Harry jumped up as the book came out of its hiding place.
The book spun around and then went back under the bed, Harry took off a shoe as everything began to shake.
He threw the shoe on the floor, and with the other foot he swatted at the book, which gave a fart.
Harry stumbled out the door as the maid went around the room.
"The maid..." he said in a monotone voice as he knocked on the door.
"I'll be back later..." she said after a roar came from the door.
Harry smiled in amusement and went down to breakfast seeing Ron's familiar mouse darting in, followed by a cat.
"I'm warning you Hermione keep that ugly beast away from Scabbers, or he'll turn it into a tea cozy," said Ron.
"It's a cat Ronald, what do you expect? It's his nature! "
"A cat?" exclaimed Ron in shock.
"Is that what they told you? It looks more like a pig with fur believe me!"
"Says the owner of that smelly old shoe brush!" replied Hermione.
"Don't worry Crookshanks, just ignore this bad boy!" whispered Hermione.
"Harry!" exclaimed Ron after seeing him.
"Harry!" exclaimed Hermione
And so the Trio of Miracles found themselves sitting around talking about their holidays.
"Egypt! Tell me what it's like!" exclaimed Harry looking at the front page of the Daily Prophet.
"Fabulous, lots of old stuff, like mummies... even Scabbers had a good time!" said Ron holding the mouse.
"You know the Egyptians worshipped cats!" exclaimed Hermione.
"And so did the dung beetle!" exclaimed Ron.
"You're showing that clipping again, eh Ron!" exclaimed Fred.
"I'm not showing it to anyone!" said Ron offended.
"Nono, not a soul," said Fred.
"If we don't want to count Tom, the day maid, the night maid, the cook, the one who came to fix the toilet and that wizard from Belgium!" concluded George.
"Harry!" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley.
"Mrs. Weasley!" said Harry getting up being trapped in a hug.
"Nice to see you dear!"
"You too!" exclaimed Harry smiling.
"Have you got everything you need?" asked Molly.
"Yes, or at least I think I do," chuckled Harry.
"Yeah? All your books?" she asked
"Yes, they're upstairs."
"And all your clothes?"
"Of course!" replied Harry
"Well done, well done!" said Mrs. Weasley and then walked away, leaving room for Mr. Weasley.
"Harry Potter!" exclaimed Mr. Weasley.
"Mr. Weasley!" said Harry shaking his hand.
"Harry, can we have a word?" he asked.
"Yes, of course!" replied Harry
"Hermione!" said Mr. Weasley.
"Good morning Mr. Weasley!" greeted Hermione.
"Not looking forward to the New Year, eh..." exclaimed Mr. Weasley leading Harry to a secluded spot.
"Yeah, it's going to be great," said Harry.
"Harry.... many in the Ministry would strongly try to dissuade me from divulging what I'm about to reveal to you!"
"But...I think you need to know the facts, you're in danger, grave danger !" said the father of the Weasley family leading Harry over to a rock pillar on which Black's wanted picture rested.
"Does this have anything to do with Sirius Black, sir?" asked Harry looking at the picture.
"What do you know about Sirius Black, Harry?" asked Mr. Weasley.
"Only that he escaped from Azkaban!"
"And do you know why?" asked Mr. Weasley as Harry denied it with his head.
"Thirteen years ago, when you blocked..."
"Voldemort!" exclaimed Harry.
"Don't say that name!"
"I'm sorry..." said Harry only.
"When you blocked You-Know-Who..." said Mr. Weasley accompanying Harry between the pillars of rock into the magic cauldron.
"Black has lost everything, but he still remains your loyal servant..." he continued.
"And in his mind you are the only obstacle still preventing You-Know-Who from returning to power... that is why he fled Azkaban," said Mr. Weasley
"To find you..."
"And kill me?" asked Harry and Mr. Weasley nodded.
"Harry you must swear to me that whatever you may hear, you will never go looking for Black!" said Mr. Weasley sternly.
"Mr. Weasley...why would I go looking for someone who wants to kill me?" exclaimed Harry.
***
"Ron, Ron!" shouted Mrs. Weasley running with Scabbers in hand.
"For heaven's sake. Don't lose him!" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley giving the rat to Ron.
The Trio had now boarded the train and were looking for a free carriage .
Sofia meanwhile had already entered a carriage, with a pleasant surprise inside.
"Professor Lupin!" exclaimed Sofia.
On one of the seats sat her professor sound asleep.
He didn't look well, but for Sofia he was still the nicest person of her childhood, not counting Mike.
"It wasn't my intention to inflate her, I just... lost control," said Harry justifying himself.
"Splendid!" exclaimed Ron.
"Seriously Ron, it's not funny... good thing he wasn't expelled!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Lucky I didn't get arrested I guess," Harry concluded.
"I still think it's splendid," Ron chuckled.
"Come on, everyone else is busy" said Hermione "Erm, Sofia could we sit here?" asked Hermione gently.
"Yeah, sure."
The Trio looked at each other worriedly, they had never seen Sofia happy and carefree but not in that condition either: her eyes were surrounded by deep dark circles and she had a broken look that begged for mercy.
"Um, Sofia... Are you alright?" asked Hermione fearfully.
"No."
After that confession the Trio was even more worried than before and cast a quick glance at each other.
Hermione elbowed Harry who sat down next to Sofia, while Hermione and Ron sat down next to the deeply sleeping Lupin.
"Who do you think he is?" asked Ron to break the silence.
"Professor R. J. Lupin," replied Hermione promptly, he was her professor at Hogwarts? Things were going to be interesting.
"You know everything! How does he always know everything?" asked Ron stunned.
"It's written on the suitcase Ronald" said Hermione giggling, Ron laughed as Harry watched the strange girl who had saved his life on the Nocturnal.
Sofia was looking at a complicated Mozart score.
Sofia's most important passion was playing the piano.
When she did this she was able to take her mind off everything and seemed to travel to another world.
When others insulted her, Sofia thought she was entering her own world and magically felt all the insults slip away.
But when she couldn't do that, she needed to enter her own world for real and would isolate herself in her room playing the piano.
Sofia kept marking notes on the complicated score while Harry kept watching her.
He didn't know what he had done but he was certain of what he had seen.
The trio gave each other fleeting glances as they continued to be silent.
Sofia noticed this tension and decided to speak :
"You can talk, I'm not listening to your speeches," she said.
Hermione smiled at them quickly and the Trio began to speak.
Sofia kept her promise and didn't listen to their speeches, but one sentence in particular struck her.
"So Sirius Black broke out of Azkaban to look for you?" said Ron a little loudly.
"Yes Ron, I told you. Keep your voice down I don't want him to hear you," Harry said casting a glance at Sofia.
The sky began to darken and a strange feeling that Sofia knew well was beginning to set in.
The temperature suddenly dropped and the lights suddenly went out.
Sofia began to cry silently for fear that the creature might return to her.
"N-No, please don't" sobbed Sofia as she shook her head.
"Sofia, are you...are you alright? " Hermione said noticing Sofia's condition.
The Trio's attention fell back on Sofia who continued to cry silently.
"Sofia, what's going on?" asked Harry a little worried.
"They're coming" said Sofia in a low voice "They're coming..." she continued as she felt a jolt on the train.
"Who's coming, who's coming Sofia?" asked Harry.
"The demen-" Sofia froze as she saw the door open.
The same skeletal hand that had clutched her neck.
"Misery" whispered Ron as Crookshanks pulled out his nails and Scabbers ducked into his master's pocket.
The dementor attacked Harry.
Sofia was as if in a trance-like state, seeing the same scene happen to Mike.
"Sofi..." heard Sofia "Save him... Save him for me" it was Mike's voice speaking and this prompted her to take a step in front of Harry.
Hermione and Ron looked at her as if she had gone mad as the dementor was about to suck in the silver ball.
Sofia screamed and the dementor was thrown against the wagon door.
Sofia felt powerful, very powerful: she raised her hands and threw the dementor from the glass to the door a couple of times.
Her veins were golden, her feet were starting to come off the ground and a trickle of blood ran down her nose.
Sofia let out one last scream and the dementor pulverized.
Sofia had never felt so powerful and then so weak.
Her head began to spin, her legs felt like jelly and then she fainted as she heard a woman cry 'Sofia'.
In the meantime Lupin had suddenly woken up and grabbed his wand in time to gently place it on Sofia's now unconscious body.
About ten minutes later Harry woke up rather tired, he couldn't formulate a word as Hermione pounced on him.
"Harry you're alright!" exclaimed Hermione, handing him his glasses.
"Here eat this, it'll help, don't worry it's chocolate! " said Professor Lupin handing him a piece of chocolate.
Harry grabbed it fearfully and held it in his hand without eating it, wanting to know more about what happened.
"W-what was that thing that came in?" whispered Harry in a low voice.
"It was a dementor, one of Azkaban's guards, and... And Sofia sent him away...he was patrolling the train to Sirius Black," Professor Lupin said.
Harry looked at Sofia who was still unconscious.
"With your permission I need to have a word with the train driver."
"Eat" said Professor Lupin pointing at the still intact chocolate "You'll feel better, when Sofia wakes up you could give it to her too, she'll be exhausted" he said making a slight smile in her direction.
"What happened to me?" asked Harry taking a bite of the chocolate.
"Well you've gone all stiff, I thought you were having a seizure!" exclaimed Ron fearfully.
"And none of you fainted?" asked Harry in a low voice.
"No, I felt weird though, like I couldn't be cheerful anymore," said Ron.
"But someone was screaming, a woman!" said Harry.
"No one screamed Harry, except Sofia..." said Hermione and everyone's eyes were on the girl who had saved them.
"Sofia fainted," said Hermione.
"Harry I didn't see what I saw, she protected all of us and she was magnificent."
"What exactly did she do?" asked Harry hoping to be able to confirm what happened on the Nocturnal.
"She stood in front of you and screamed, then with her hands she threw the dementor from one side of the car to the other..." said Ron starting to get more serious, "She screamed and the dementor sort of pulverized... and then she fainted."
"You guys need to know something..." said Harry getting serious "Something happened that night on the Nocturnal, two... buses were about to come at us and I saw her, she was staring at the buses and we kind of, shrank..."
Sofia whimpered and woke up quite tired.
She opened her eyes to find the Miracle Trio staring at her in concern.
"Oh Sofia, you're awake... Are you okay?" said Hermione
"I-I don't know," confessed Sofia.
"Here" said Harry smiling sweetly at her as he handed her a large piece of chocolate.
"Thanks" said Sofia and smiled back.
"Sofia, what happened..." asked Hermione fearfully.
"I'd rather not talk about it" Sofia admitted and turned gloomy.
"It's okay, it's fine" said Hermione.
***
Hogwarts...meant home to Sofia.
That place where you feel at ease, every time Sofia saw it again it was like the first time... spectacular.
They arrived at Hogwarts and Dumbledore gave his usual speech.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts...now I'd like to say a few words before we get too plastered with our excellent banquet!" began Dumbledore
"Firstly, I would like to welcome Professor R. J. Lupin who has kindly accepted the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, good luck Professor!" exclaimed Dumbledore and the Great Hall began to applaud.
"Of course, that's why he gave you chocolate Harry!" said Hermione who was still clapping.
"Potter, Potter, is it true that you fainted!" exclaimed Malfoy and Nott gave a fake faint.
"I mean you actually fainted!" giggled Malfoy.
"Ah...shut up Malfoy!" said Ron spinning Harry around and Sofia was thankful that the news that she was also in that carriage hadn't spread, or at least for the time being.
"How does he know!" exclaimed Harry distressed and Sofia who was a short distance away heard him.
"Oh Harry let it go!" said Hermione.
"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher of many years, has decided to retire to spend with his remaining limbs, fortunately I am pleased to announce that his place will be taken by none other than our very own Rubeus Hagrid!" exclaimed Dumbledore proudly and the Great Hall, especially the Gryffindors, erupted in thunderous applause.
"Finally, on a more disquieting note... at the request of the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts will, until further notice, house the Azkaban Defusers until such time as Sirius Black is captured," the headmaster exclaimed.
"The Dementors will be on guard at every entrance to the school, now while I am reassured that their presence will not disturb our daily activities, a word of warning... the Dementors are evil creatures, they will make no distinction between those they hunt and those who stand in their path. Therefore I must warn you all, I mean each and every one of you, not to give them any reason to harm you, it is not in the nature of a dementor to forgive... but you know, happiness can be found even in the darkest moments... " said Dumbledore, blowing out the candles.
"If one only remembers to turn on the light... " said Dumbledore looking at Sofia with a slight smile that did not escape the trio, and with a hand gesture the candle's flame returned.
***
Dinner was over and everyone was running up the stairs to reserve the best seats in the Common Room...
"Fortuna Amajor!" said Seamus, but the Fat Lady seemed to ignore him and kept singing.
"There, look, she won't let me in..." complained Seamus.
"Fortuna Amajor!" repeated Harry.
"Nonono, wait... watch this..." said the Fat Lady and continued to sing off-key tunes, so much so that the boys nearby had to plug their ears.
"Astonishing, just my voice!" she strutted after breaking the goblet on purpose.
"Fortuna Amajor!" repeated Harry impatiently.
"Eh fine, come in!" she said surrendering.
Sofia was about to scramble to her room when Professor Mc. Granitt called to her in the middle of the common room.
Silence fell in the middle of the room and everyone looked at Sofia.
"Miss Aries , Professor Dumbledore is waiting for you in his office." announced Professor Mc. Granitt in a solemn tone.
Sofia felt eyes on her but went to the headmaster's office anyway.
She pronounced the password "Friz Lemon" and knocked on the door.
"Ah Sofia, I've been waiting for you..." said Dumbledore. "I heard about your saves on the train and on the Nightstorm like the true Gryffindor you are," continued Dumbledore proudly. "We have important things to talk about and I think we'll be a long time... "
***
Three hours had passed since that meeting and if his purpose was to be helpful he had only filled Sofia's head, which was about to burst.
She returned to the common room where everyone was still chatting, as she entered again silence descended into the room and almost everyone looked at her with disdain.
Sofia started to walk up the steps to the women's dormitory when Hermione called out to her.
"Sofia, would you like to join us?" she said smiling gently.
"Sorry, but I'm not feeling very well.."
Sofia started up the stairs again as Ron spoke.
"Hermione but are you crazy, why did you do that?" asked Ron.
"Ron, she saved our lives."
"She's still crazy" said Ron.
"That's not true Ron" said Harry irritated.
"Everyone says that Harry" said Ron.
"I say, why not try to be her friend, I'd never know if what others say is true!" exclaimed Harry.
Sofia was in bed with her head bursting from too much confusion....
She was certain that what he had been told that night would change his life.
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