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✧*̥˚ 𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚛➌⇢𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛➂➅ *̥˚✧
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚘𝚛 & 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙱𝚘𝚢
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.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。✭・.・✫・゜・。.
••°°°°••....••°°°°••....••°°°°••••°°°°••
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.·:*¨ ¨*:·..·:*¨ ¨*:·.
╭─── ⋅ ⋅ ──── ✩ ──── ⋅ ⋅ ───╮
❝𝙱𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝙸 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛. 𝙸 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐.❞
╰─── ⋅ ⋅ ──── ✩ ──── ⋅ ⋅ ───╯
"Sirius Black escaped to come after you? Oh, Y/n, Harry... you'll have to be really, really careful. don't go looking for trouble, Y/n --"
"I don't go looking for trouble," said Y/n, nettled. "Trouble usually finds me."
"No one knows how he got out of Azkaban," said Ron uncomfortably. "No one's ever done it before. And he was a top-security prisoner too."
"But they'll catch him, won't they?" said Hermione earnestly. "I mean, they've got all the Muggles looking out for him too...."
"What's that noise?" said Ron suddenly.
A faint, tinny sort of whistle was coming from somewhere. They looked all around the compartment.
"It's coming from your trunk, Y/n," said Ron, standing up and reaching into the luggage rack. A moment later he had pulled the Pocket Sneakoscope out from between Y/n's robes.
"Is that a Sneakoscope?" said Hermione interestedly, 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."
"Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?" said Hermione.
"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 Y/n's present to her?"
"Stick it back in the trunk," Y/n advised as the Sneakoscope whistled piercingly, "or it'll wake him up." She nodded toward Professor Lupin. Ron stuffed the Sneakoscope back in, then closed the lid of the trunk on it.
"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."
"'Spect it will," said Harry heavily. "You'll have to tell me when You've found out."
"What d'you mean?" said Ron.
"We can't go. The Dursleys didn't sign our permission forms, and Fudge wouldn't either." Ron looked horrified.
Ron was about to answer back when Professor Lupin stirred.
They watched him apprehensively, but he simply turned his head the other way and slept on.
Crookshanks had now settled in an empty seat, his squashed face turned towards Ron, his yellow eyes on Ron's top pocket which was where Scabbers rested
At around one o'clock, Y/n was struck with a thought that she had completely forgotten about. Just around a year ago, it was a thought that wouldn't leave her mind but recently, she had completely forgotten about it.
Right before Hermione had been petrified in their previous year, Hermion mentioned to Y/n that she had figured something out about the locket and the hanging charm that Y/n had received from Petunia as a christmas present.
Hermion considered these two items as the keys to unlocking the secrets of Y/n's past as she was sure there was magic involved in their making, but before Hermione could ever tell Y/n anything, she had been petrified.
And in all the hustle and bustle, the two girls never got to sit down and talk about it. Y/n saw now as a change when she looked at Hermione, reading a book as always.
"Say, Hermione. Remember when you told me you realised something about my locket and the hanging charm right before you sped off to the library last year?" Spoke Y/n in a quite voice to not awake Lupin. Y/n had successfully caught Hermione's attention, as she curiously looked up from her book, "What was all that about?"
Hermione had a look on her face as if lightning had stuck and light and energy suddenly returned to her eyes. Hermione was quick to jump into an explanation as Ron and Harry listened in keenly.
"Yeah, you never told us." Harry said,
"Just mentioned it and ran off." Said Ron, slightly annoyed. Hermione quickly put the book down next to her and jumped into an explanation.
"First, your charm- the symbol on the charm, the colours, that very same charm. I've seen it before once. In a book. Except..." Hermione gulped, looking awkwardly around, "It was from a book about an old legend. An old story that even we can't tell for sure is real or not..."
"Have you got the book?"
"It's at the library. Had to return it before the end of the year. But I'm sure it's still there. We can have a look at it when we get back." Hermione answered, starting to regret her decision of not to steal the book.
"And the locket?"
"I've figured out why it won't open!" Hermione exclaimed loudly as Professor Lupin sittred. Everone's heads shot towards the man's direction as they tensly watched him stir.
Hermione earned herself several strict 'shushes' from Harry and Ron before they urged her to continue.
"I've figured out why it won't open." Hermione continued, quietly. Harry, Ron, and Y/n leaned their heads in slowly, anticipating the explanation. "It has a magical protection charm on it.
This particular one is quite curious. No matter how much time passes till it was made, its magic will still be just as strong as day one.
I don't know who cast it or why, but all I know for sure is that this spell is really old. Thousands of years old, I don't think anyone in the last couple of centuries has ever done a spell like one this one.
Its users died out thousands of years ago. It's a spell of blood. Only the blood of the person who created it can open it. Just one tiny drop of its creator's blood and it will open itself to anyone to reveal its secrets and whatever is hidden inside.."
Hermione had a look on her face that told Y/n she was holding back from saying something, fearing that she may sound stupid, but with a small urge from Y/n, Hermione contineud,
"There's also... another spell on it. Except it doesn't do anything to the locket, but the rather the wearer.
I haven't figured out what it does to the wearers or how, but all I know is that it has some kind of effect. Perhaps on the wearer or those around the wearer. It doesn't seem like dark magic, but until we can be sure, I suggest you don't wear it, Y/n."
"So now all we need is a drop of the creator's blood?" Ron asked, breaking the tense silence while Y/n was in deep thought.
"Yes, but how will we get it? Hermione said they died out thousands of years ago. Even wizards and witches don't live that long." Harry said, his eyebrows stiching together in doubt and confusion.
"What do you reckon the necklace does to the wearer?" Y/n asked Hermione as she let out a deep exhale.
"Can't be sure yet. The possibilities are endless, it could be anything and we'd have no idea..."
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At three o'clock the plump witch with the food trolley arrived at the compartment door.
"D'you think we should wake him up?" Ron asked awkwardly, nodding towards Professor Lupin. "He looks like he could do with some food." Hermione approached Professor Lupin cautiously.
"Er – Professor?" she said. "Excuse me – Professor?" He didn't move.
Y/n, on the other hand, took a different approach. She leaned towards her Professor and poked him lightly on the arm.
"Moony, candy's here." Y/n whispered. The professor stirred and was almost about to wake when the witch spoke again.
"Don't worry, dear," said the witch, as she handed Harry a large stack of cauldron cakes and Y/n a pack of cockroach clusters, salt-water taffy, and crystallised pineapple. "If he's hungry when he wakes, I'll be upfront with the driver."
"What've you got cockroach clusters for?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow at the packet of cockroach clusters in Y/n's hand.
"For a certain blond weasel if he decides to act up again." Y/n winked.
"I suppose he is asleep?" said Ron quietly, as the witch slid the compartment door closed.
He might not be very good company, but Professor Lupin's presence in their compartment had its uses.
Mid-afternoon they heard footsteps in the corridor again, and their three least favourite people appeared at the door: Draco Malfoy, flanked by his cronies, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.
"Well, look who it is," said Malfoy in his usual lazy drawl, pulling open the compartment door. "Potty and the Weasel." Crabbe and Goyle chuckled trollishly. "And a beautiful Darling-" Y/n cracked her knuckles threateningly, "-ton." Malfoy gulped,
Professor Lupin gave a stir. "Who's that?" said Malfoy, taking an automatic step backward as he spotted Lupin.
"New teacher," said Harry, who got to his feet, too, in case he needed to hold Ron back.
"What were you saying?" Y/n asked, joining Harry in case he needed an extra punch. Malfoy's pale eyes narrowed; he wasn't fool enough to pick a fight right under a teacher's nose.
"C'mon," he muttered resentfully to Crabbe and Goyle, and they disappeared, but not right before Malfoy turned to Y/n, smiling like an idiot,
"And you-" He pointed to Y/n, his eyes practically in the shape of hearts, "I'll see you and your bewitching smile at Hogwarts," With a final smirk in Y/n's direction, he left.
"Blech." Y/n cringed at Malfoy's leaving figure.
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"Why're we stopping?" said Hermione, checking her watch as the train began slowing down. "We can't be there yet..." The train was getting slower and slower. As the noise of the pistons fell away, the wind and rain sounded louder than ever against the windows.
Harry, who was nearest the door, got up to look into the corridor. All along the carriage, heads were sticking curiously out of their compartments.
The train came to a stop with a jolt, and distant thuds and bangs told them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then, without warning, all the lamps went out and they were plunged into total darkness.
"'What's going on?" said Ron's voice from behind Harry.
"Dunno... Maybe we've broken down?" Harry felt his way back to his seat.
"D'you think we've broken down?"
There was a squeaking sound, and Y/n saw the dim black outline of Ron, wiping a patch clean on the window and peering out.
"There's something moving out there," Ron said. "I think people are coming aboard...."
Harry could hear movements in his corner. None of them spoke and they all sat still. But the door slid slowly open. Standing in the doorway was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood.
And then the thing beneath the hood, whatever it was, drew a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it were trying to suck something more than air from its surroundings.
An intense cold swept over them all.
Y/n felt her own breath catch in her chest. The cold went deeper than her skin. It was inside her chest, it was inside her very heart.... She couldn't see. She was drowning in cold. There was a rushing in her ears as though of water.
She was being dragged downward, the roaring growing louder. And then, from far away, she heard screaming, terrible, terrified, pleading and desperate screams of a young boy, perhaps three or two years of age.
"MUM!"
"MUM PLEASE WAKE UP!"
"SHE'S STILL ALIVE, PLEASE!"
"YOU HAVE TO SAVE HER!"
"MUM!"
"DON'T TAKE HER AWAY!"
"MUM!"
"PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!"
"MUM!"
She wanted to help whoever it was, she tried to move her arms, but couldn't... a thick white fog was swirling around her, inside her -
"Y/n! Y/n! Are you all right?" Someone was shaking her shoulders.
"W -- what?" Y/n opened her eyes;
There was a soft, crackling noise, and a shivering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to finally be awake, he was holding a handful of flames. They illuminated his tired, grey face, but his eyes looked alert and wary.
The Hogwarts Express was moving again and the lights had come back on. Y/n was laying flat on the seat.
Ron, Harry, and Hermione were kneeling next to her, and above them, she could see Professor Lupin watching. When she put up her hand to push her glasses back on, she felt cold sweat on her face.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked nervously.
"Yeah," said Y/n, looking quickly toward the door. The hooded creature had vanished.
"What happened? Where's that -- that thing? Who screamed?"
"No one screamed," said Ron, more nervously still. Y/n looked around the bright compartment.
"But I heard screaming --" A loud snap made them all jump. Professor Lupin was breaking an enormous slab of chocolate into pieces.
"Here," he said to Y/n, handing her a particularly large piece. "Eat it. It'll help." Y/n took the chocolate but didn't eat it.
"And who the hell are you?" Y/n asked, dazed, squinting her eyes at the man above her who smiled ever so softly.
"And I assumed you're the one with the rainbow vocabulary?" The words rolled off of the Professor's tongue as if he had said this same line many times before. His eyes seemed alive and a small smile was dancing on his lips.
"Right..." Said Y/n, slightly eyeing Lupin with a suspicious expression, "Anyway, what was that thing?"
"A dementor," said Lupin, who was now giving chocolate to everyone else. "One of the dementors of Azkaban." Everyone stared at him.
"Eat," he repeated. "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me..." He strolled past Y/n and disappeared into the corridor.
"Are you sure you're okay, Y/n?" said Hermione, watching Y/n anxiously.
"I Don't get it.... What happened?" said Y/n, wiping more sweat off her face.
"Well -- that thing -- the dementor -- stood there and looked around (I mean, I think it did, I couldn't see its face) -- and you -- you-" Harry seemed to find it difficult to find the right words to describe the situation.
"I thought you were having a fit or something," said Ron, who still looked scared. "You went sort of rigid and fell out of your seat and started twitching –"
"And Professor Lupin woke so suddenly as if he sensed you were in danger..." said Hermione, "and he muttered something and a silvery thing shot out of his wand at it, and it turned around and sort of glided away.... "
"I felt weird," said Ron, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably. "Like I'd never be cheerful again...." Hermione went over and put a comforting arm around her.
"But didn't any of you -- fall off your seats?" said Y/n awkwardly.
"Harry did too, but he woke up again after a few minutes." Said Hermione.
"You on the other hand though..." Ron looked awkwardly, "You were out for at least an hour."
"Harry, are you alright?" Y/n asked Harry, trying to get up, but only to be pushed back down by Harry.
"I'm fine, it's you who needs rest."
Professor Lupin had come back. He paused as he entered, looked around, and said, with a small smile,
"I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know...." Y/n took a bite and to her great surprise felt warmth spread suddenly to the tips of her fingers and toes.
"We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes," said Professor Lupin. "Are you all right, Y/n?" Y/n didn't ask how Professor Lupin knew her name.
"Fine," she muttered, embarrassed.
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"You fainted, Potter? Is Longbottom telling the truth? You actually fainted?" Malfoy elbowed past Hermione to block Harry's way up the stone steps to the castle, his face gleeful and his pale eyes glinting maliciously.
"Shove off, Malfoy," said Ron, whose jaw was clenched.
"Did you faint as well, Weasley?" said Malfoy loudly. "Did the scary old dementor frighten you too, Weasley?"
"No, but I did, you have something to say to me too?" Y/n's ego had been severely bruised and she wasn't afraid to punch Malfoy the second she entered the castle. Harry and Ron quickly held her back.
Malfoy looked thoroughly surprised and gulped, looking from Y/n to Harry.
"Is there a problem?" said a mild voice. Professor Lupin had just gotten out of the next carriage.
Malfoy gave Professor Lupin an insolent stare. With a tiny hint of sarcasm in his voice, he said,
"Oh, no -- er -- Professor," then he smirked at Crabbe and Goyle and led them up the steps into the castle.
The door into the Great Hall stood open at the right; Y/n followed the crowd toward it, but had barely glimpsed the enchanted ceiling, which was black and cloudy tonight, when a voice called,
"Potter! Y/n! Granger! I want to see you three!" Harry, Y/n, and Hermione turned around, surprised. Professor McGonagall was calling over the heads of the crowd. Y/n fought her way over to her.
"There's no need to look so worried -- I just want a word in MY office," she told them. "Move along there, Weasley." Ron stared as Professor McGonagall ushered Harry, Y/n, and Hermione away from the chattering crowd.
Once they were in her office, a small room with a large, welcoming fire, Professor McGonagall motioned Harry, Y/n, and Hermione to sit down. She settled herself behind her desk and said abruptly,
"Professor Lupin sent an owl ahead to say that you were taken ill on the train."
Before either of them could reply, there was a soft knock on the door and Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, came bustling in. Y/n felt herself going red in the face. It was bad enough that she'd passed out, or whatever she had done, without everyone making all this fuss.
"We're fine," said Harry, "We don't need anything," McGonagall turned to face Harry with an extremely stern look.
"I was not talking about you Potter," Said McGonagall strictly, "Professor Lupin mentioned that you were fine. It is Y/n, whom I am worried about." Y/n felt herself going red.
"Oh, it's you, is it?" said Madam Pomfrey, ignoring this and bending down to stare closely at her. "I suppose you've been doing something dangerous again?"
"It was a dementor, Poppy," said Professor McGonagall. They exchanged a dark look, and Madam Pomfrey clucked disapprovingly.
"Setting dementors around a school," she muttered, pushing back Y/n's hair and feeling her forehead. "She won't be the last one who collapses. Yes, she's all clammy. Terrible things, they are, and the effect they have on people who are already delicate-"
"I'm not delicate!" said Y/n crossly.
"Of course, you're not, dear," said Madam Pomfrey absentmindedly, now taking her pulse.
"What does she need?" said Professor McGonagall crisply. "Bed rest? Should she perhaps spend tonight in the hospital wing?"
"I'm fine!" said Y/n, jumping up.
"Well, she should have some chocolate, at the very least," said Madam Pomfrey, who was now trying to peer into Y/n's eyes.
"I've already had some," said Y/n. "Professor Lupin gave me some. He gave it to all of us."
"Did he, now?" said Madam Pomfrey approvingly. "So we've finally got a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who knows his remedies?"
"Are you sure you feel all right, Y/n?" Professor McGonagall said sharply.
"Yes, "said Y/n.
"And Potter, I suppose you're alright too?" Harry nodded ever so slightly, still wishing Y/n would put her ego and pride aside for just a moment and agree to spend the night at the hospital to rest.
"Very well. Kindly wait outside with Mr Potter while I have a quick word with Miss Granger about her course schedule, then we can go down to the feast together."
Harry and Y/n went back into the corridor with Madam Pomfrey, who left for the hospital wing, muttering to herself.
They had to wait only a few minutes; then Hermione emerged looking very happy about something, followed by Professor McGonagall, and the four of them made their way back down the marble staircase to the Great Hall.
"Oh," said Hermione softly, "we've missed the Sorting!"
Professor McGonagall strode off toward her empty seat at the staff table, and Harry, Y/n, and Hermione set off in the other direction toward the Gryffindor table.
"What was all that about?" he muttered to Harry.
Harry started to explain in a whisper, but at that moment the headmaster stood up to speak, and he broke off.
"Welcome!" said Dumbledore, the candlelight shimmering on his beard. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say, before we become befuddled by our excellent feast." Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued,
"First, I'm pleased to welcome Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Good luck, professor."
There was some scattered, rather unenthusiastic applause. Only those who had been in the compartment on the train with Professor Lupin clapped hard, Y/n among them. Professor Lupin looked particularly shabby next to all the other teachers in their best robes.
"Look at Snape!" Harry hissed in Y/n's ear. Professor Snape, the Potions master, was staring along the staff table at Professor Lupin.
It was common knowledge that Snape wanted the Defense Against the Dark Arts job, but even Y/n, who hated Snape, was startled at the expression twisting his thin, sallow face. it was beyond anger: it was loathing.
Y/n knew that expression only too well; it was the look Snape wore every time he set eyes on Harry.
"-Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs.
However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."
Harry, Y/n, Ron, and Hermione stared at one another, stunned. Then they joined in with the applause, which was particularly tumultuous at the Gryffindor table.
Y/n leaned forward to see Hagrid, who was ruby-red in the face and staring down at his enormous hands, his wide grin hidden in the tangle of his black beard.
"We should've known!" Ron roared, pounding the table. "Who else would have assigned us a biting book?" Harry, Y/n, Ron, and Hermione were the last to stop clapping.
"Finally, on a more disquieting note, -- at the request of the Ministry of Magic -- Hogwarts, will, until further notice, play host to the Dementors of Azkaban, until such time that Sirius Black has been captured."
He paused, and Harry remembered what Mr. Weasley had said about Dumbledore not being happy with the dementors guarding the school.
"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued, "Now whilst I've been assured that their presence will not disrupt our day-to-day activities, a word of caution. Dementors are vicious creatures.
They'll not distinguish between the one they hunt and the one who gets in their way. Therefore, I must warn each and every one of you to give them so reason to harm you. It is not in the nature of a dementor to be forgiving.
Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises -- or even Invisibility Cloaks," he added blandly, and Harry, Y/n, Hermione, and Ron glanced at each other.
"But you know-" Dumbledore continued, his voice now full of hope and light, "Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times... If one only remembers to turn on the light..."
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A/n: A young boy screaming? A magical enchantment on the locket? The hanging charm being found in an ancient story? The madness has only just begun hehehe...