Lucy's POV:
The rest of our time in Diagon Alley, we go around finding new shops, get our school supplies (and some more interesting items). one time we even contemplated on visiting Knockturn Alley, but decided against it.
"I mean, you're literally a mass murderer's main target right now," Liliana said with a scrunched up face. "We'd better not risk it, maybe."
Plus, if Harry, Ron or Hermione would've found out, I'd have lost my freedom forever.
There was enough to do on Diagon Alley anyway: everyone we know was there: Luna, Dean, Seamus, Neville and all our classmates.
I spent the entire day with Dean and Seam- us when they were here with the Finnigan family. Mrs. Finnigan was pretty nice too, much better than some people.
We went to the Quidditch store, even though the boys both don't play. They loved it nonetheless and we had so much fun in all the stores: getting new robes for them both, since they seem to grow ten feet with each year.
"We should get ice cream!" I say at the end of the day, pointing them to Florean's Ice Cream Parlour already. He's been giving me discounts all summer.
"I've only been there once," Dean says, eyes shining with anticipation. "It was delicious! First year, I had no idea yet. Let alone time, with Professor Flitwick there too."
"You got the news from Flitwick?!" I laugh at the idea of the Thomas' reaction to Flitwick at their door. Even if Muggles also have such small people, I can't imagine he could ever look mugglish, even if he tried really hard.
"Let's say it was an... eventful day," Dean responds and Seamus and I both burst out laughing. We got ice cream, Dean trying two new types.
"They're so bloody good!"
Anyway, summer was already drawing to an end sadly. Well, at least I'll see almost every- one everyday at school... almost everyone.
There's no Remus Lupin at Hogwarts.
He didn't say anything about it during the Full Moon, but Remus looked very stressed and down. It must be Sirius Black escaping, he must be worried. And he's Voldemort's follower, of course: Mom and Dad's killer.
I didn't ask him about Marley's mom for that exact reason. He always gets a bit sad talk- ing about his teenage years and he's already in a lot of pain. I'm honestly a bit worried, and that's saying something, I think.
"Let's go pack your stuff kids!" Mrs. Weasley says after dinner the last evening. I go with Harry to our shared room, while Ginny and Liliana both go to theirs.
"How are you doing?" He asks as soon as my door is closed. "I feel like we haven't really talked this summer... at all." That is true. I can't deny avoiding him at times, purely because I didn't want to have the conver- sation about the Moon, or the Dursleys.
"I mean, we've been busy with our friends," I sigh as I start folding my clothes and putting them in my trunk. "It's quite normal not to spend all day with your sibling if you have different friends."
"But we don't," Harry frowns down at me, trying to force me to look at him, but I resist. "You like Ron and Hermione. They're your friends too!"
"Yeah well, I am better friends with Ginny and Liliana. You know that!"
"Are sure you're okay Lu?" I groan in frust- ration as I finally look at him. "Yes, I'm good Harry! I can take care of myself too, you know."
"I'm not saying you can't!" Harry responds angrily. "I'm just worried, with everything going on right now! And you keep taking risks!"
"Oh God, you're one to talk!" I turn away from him, trying to be resolute. In reality, I just feel too tired to fight with him. I don't even want to fight with him. "I'm doing fine Harry. Besides, it's you Black wants."
Harry remains awfully quiet. Either he's really angry and just doesn't want to lash out, or he's scared too. "I'll be fine. He won't get to me. You know that, right? We're going back to Hogwarts anyway!"
"I don't think Hogwarts can shield you from Black." I keep packing my clothes, in order to busy myself. I've been trying not to worry too much, but I do. Harry puts so much trust in Dumbledore's protection, it's unnerving.
For a few seconds, Harry doesn't say any- thing. "Dumbledore will. It's the safest place to be right now." Well, nowhere is truly safe if you look at it like that.
"Is this about what happened last year?"
"Of course it is!" I heave a frustrated sigh. "Hermione got petrified, Vanessa too. Ginny almost died for God's sake!"
"And you almost died..." Harry adds it in an uneasy manner and when I look up at him, he doesn't really look me in the eyes. "I know. But this year will be different."
I sure as hell hope so.
*
The morning after, we are woken up early by Mrs. Weasley. I have a hard time coming out of bed, because it's still too soon after the full moon.
"We have to go Lu," Harry practically drags me downstairs for breakfast.
"Too late last night?" George asks as he sits down in the seat next to me. He has no idea of course, just like the other others minus Harry, Ginny and Liliana.
Speaking of which, Ginny and Liliana still haven't come down. "Are they still in bed?" Mrs. Weasley sighs, seeming a bit annoyed.
"They stayed up too late last night and now Ginny's moaning about being tired." I snort, because if it weren't for Harry and the full moon's aftermath, that would've been me as well.
When everyone is finally ready to leave, we are surprised when we step outside and Mr. Weasley ushers us into cars. Normal working muggle cars.
"What're those for?" Fred asks his dad, who just responds that it's easier and the Ministry had been so kind as to lend them to him. I notice however, that he looks to me and Harry for a very brief moment.
He obviously got them because of Sirius Black.
I was in a car with Liliana, Ginny and Mrs. Shacklebolt, Liliana's mom. "Are you excited for the new year kids?"
"Hell yes!" Liliana always gets enthusiastic whenever we talk about Hogwarts and I can't blame her: I love it there too.
"At least you will all be saved from all the commotion with Sirius Black," Mrs. Shackle- bolt says, looking at me through the rearview window. "Yeah, I guess... but isn't he supposed to be after Harry?"
Mrs. Shacklebolt stiffens and I instantly feel like I shouldn't have said that. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Shacklebolt, I swear I didn't mean to..."
I almost start panicking at her lack of a response. I've seen Liliana's mom enough by now to know she isn't one to be speechless easily.
"I mean, you are right," Liliana says, before I get the chance to apologize any more. "We know he's after them Mom. You don't have to try to 'protect' them, like everyone else."
Mrs. Shacklebolt eventually heaves a sigh. "Maybe you're right. But don't worry Lucy, Dumbledore will be there, Sirius Black won't be able to hurt either of you."
*~*
Remus' POV:
I'm early at the platform, just like old times. However, as I'm standing there, I don't step on the train just yet. It's just a train for God's sake, get yourself together.
But it feels like a huge step, too huge. This will be the very first time I will travel with this very train alone. No friends to laugh with or future classmates to meet for the first time.
I take one last deep breath before I take that one step. Why didn't I just floo over there?! It would have made this a lot easier to over- come. Not to mention, it's way faster and feels less lonely. But I need to get this out of the way, I need this time to gather myself.
I also need sleep and there's no way travel- ling by floo powder could be good right now.
The train is still empty, with only a few students here, still on the platform, saying goodbye to their families. Without realising it, I open our compartment. The one me and my friends always claimed, to the point it was an unspoken rule that it was ours.
I try to push the memories that flood in like a bomb to the back of my mind as I settle in the far corner. My usual corner.
Sleep usually comes fairly easy for me after the full moon, but not today. It takes me almost an hour to get comfy enough and finally drift off to sleep.
*
I awake quite suddenly. I withhold myself from moving suddenly, just in case. Some- times, such skills I learned from the war can come in useful at times. Times like these, when I hear sense three people close.
It takes me a minute to realise where I even am: the Hogwarts Express. Of course I'll be surrounded by students.
But then I hear his voice.
Prongs! It takes me some time to realise my mistake. And it hurts me more than I would have thought.
It's a voice extremely similar to that of his deceased father, which strikes me. Harry James Potter is in this compartment with who I'm assuming are his friends.
"What's that outside?" I hear a boy's voice, but it's not Harry's. The voice quivers in fear. What even woke me up in the first place?
The door of the compartment is slid open roughly ans very out of the blue. I jump a little, but I'm not the only one, so no one notices. Lucky me, that seems ironic.
"Harry? Ron? Hermione?" Another boy's voice comes from the door, also thick with fear.
"Neville, do you know what's happening?" A girl asks the boy, Neville. Neville Longbot- tom. I'd almost forgotten all about him being at Hogwarts too, if it hadn't been for Lucy.
"No," Neville answers, entering the compart- ment quickly. Another set of footsteps comes in. "Ron?" Another girl.
"Ginny? What're you doing here?!" The girl from earlier responds. Hold on, Ginny as in Ginny, Lucy's friend?
"Is Lucy with you?" Harry answers my question. He sounds worried and I can't blame him. "No, I was going to the bathroom when the train stopped. I think she's still in our own compartment."
Thank Merlin.
A loud sound, like someone is closing the doors silences the children. "What was that?" Neville sounds scared to death and I feel for the boy.
"No idea," Harry responds breathless. "But it can't be anything good." The compartment door is closed again as Ginny settles herself too.
"Who's that man?" Ginny asks and I feel all eyes on me. "Is he asleep?"
"Yeah, he has been since we got in here. He's a new teacher I guess."
The temperature drops very suddenly. Way too sudden to be deemed natural and I instantly get the dreading feeling I recognise all too well.
"Do you feel that too?" Neville's voice is high-pitched in comparison to before. I can't help but shiver from the chilly, piercing air. It can't be...
Not long after, the door of the compartment is opened yet again. Tgis time however, I know exactly who is there, well not who, but rather what.
The children gasp and as I look up unnoti- cably, I am horrified to see the creature narrow in on him. Harry James Potter.
Harry makes a choking sound, before his eyes roll into the back of head, falls back, body limp and starts twitching, as if he's having a fit.
The others can't do anything but watch in horror, as they're all way too young to know what to do, if they even know what this is.
I rush to my feet and grab my wand. Do not give in to the pain, Harry needs you. I hear their voices in the back of my mind, one louder than any other, Sirius Black's. "Expwcto patronum!"
It's not the best attempt, but it does the job: the dark creature hisses and quickly leaves. Harry stops twisting and just lies there, un- conscious.
"Bloody hell," a red-haired boy breathes out, looking from Harry, to where the dementor was a minute ago, to me.
"Harry?" The girl next to him is extremely pale. She has very bushy, brown hair. "Is he going to be alright?"
"He'll wake up in a second, don't worry." I sit down next to him and I feel my hands shak- ing. I grab my bar of chocolate and start breaking pieces off of it. As I'm doing so, Harry indeed stirs and wakes up.
I freeze when our eyes meet at last. Holy shit, those eyes. Lily's eyes.
"Harry? Are you okay?"
"Where is she?" Harry looks around feveris- hly. Everyone frowns at him. "If you mean Lucy, she's probably still in her compart- ment." The red-head shrugs, but Harry shakes his head, still looking around.
"No, there was a woman screaming. Where is she?" It dawns on me and as it does, I feel the air trap in my closing throat. Oh God, no.
"No one was screaming Harry," the brunette looks worried at her friend. But in his mind there was someone screaming, and I have a feeling I know who that someone might be.
"Eat this," I all but shove a piece of chocolate in his hand. "Eat this, you'll feel better." I pass the other pieces around as well, keep- ing one for myself and eating it.
The kids don't eat their pieces, they just stare either at Harry or at me. "What was that thing?" Harry finally asks his ginger friend.
"'That thing' was a dementor," I answer when the boy shrugs. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to have a chat with the staff." I get to my feet, hoping they don't realise how much I want to leave as soon as possible.
He didn't recognise me. Well of course he didn't, he can't have. But it still stings, because I sure as hell did recognise him.
Before I leave I turn back to Harry. I want to say hi, tell him who I am, surely Lucy said something about me to him. I want to tell him I'm sorry I left them to go to the Dursleys, only to expose them to the abuse I see in his eyes. But I don't say any of that. Instead, I only say "the chocolate's not poisoned y'know. Eat."
He did and his face immediately turned more colourful. Good. I smile at them all one more time, before I turn around and leave them.
What'll Lucy think of you, not introducing yourself to her brother?!
What would James and Lily think?!
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