"Jo!"
I shot up in an instant, my brown curls stuck to my forehead. "Jo, are you alright?" he asked, concern evident in his voice, as I fought to catch my breath.
"I don't know what just happened," I said, my hand pressed against my pounding heart.
"Did you have another nightmare?" Harry asked, sitting on the bed next to me, his lips pursed with concern.
"It was different. It wasn't in the chamber." I muttered. "It was Riddle talking to Dumbledore. They just found Moaning Myrtle's body and he was on his way to-"
"Frame Hagrid." Harry said, his green eyes watching me intently.
"Yes! How'd you know?"
"He showed it to me, too. When I found the diary after you flushed it. But it wasn't from his perspective, I was just watching it." Harry answered.
"Did I ever apologize? For the diary, I mean?" I asked, taking a hand up to brush the wet curls away from my face.
"Yeah, right as soon as you woke up. But you didn't have to. It wasn't your fault." Harry said.
"No, it was. When I found it in my trunk... Riddle didn't make me write in it. It was all me. I should've told you it was me before I got taken, then you probably wouldn't have saved me." I sighed, my brown eyes falling to my bedsheets.
"Hey." Harry huffed, placing a hand on my arm. I tried to ignore the butterflies forming in my stomach. "I would've gotten you out anyways. You're Jo."
"Why do you call me that?" I asked. I finally locked eyes with him.
"I don't like the name Jove. But since you wouldn't let me call you Jupiter, I had to think of something else." Harry shrugged. He stood up and unlocked my trunk which was just sitting in the middle of the room with books around it.
"You want to call me Jupiter? Why?" I asked as I watched Harry shove the remaining books into my trunk.
"It's pretty. Besides, pretty name for a pretty girl." He shrugged casually. I prayed Harry didn't look over and see just how red my face had to be.
"You think I'm pretty?" I laughed, my eyes down on the bedsheets again, except this time I was just trying to hide my flushed cheeks.
"You say that like you don't." Harry said, looking up at me.
"The sooner we get on the train, the better." Ron said as he bursted into my room. "At least I can get away from Percy at Hogwarts. Now he's accusing me of dripping tea on his photo of Penelope Clearwater. You know... His girlfriend. He's hidden her face under the frame, because her nose has gone all blotchy."
"Ron, we've got something to tell you." Harry said, looking over at me.
"Where is he?" Fred asked as he threw my door open.
"There he is! There's my little Ronniekins!" George grinned, pulling his brother into a bear hug. "Our ickle Ronnie has once again made us proud. He's edging onto our streak of "how many times you can get Percy to throw a hissy fit in a week."
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽ ☆ ☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
"Jupiter." A voice said over my shoulder as I stood on platform nine and three quarters, watching Mrs. Weasley pass out her famous sandwiches. "Come over here for a moment." Mr. Weasley said as he placed a hand on my shoulder. In his other hand, he had Harry. He guided us over to a pillar away from the crowd.
"There's something I've got to tell you both before you leave." Mr. Weasley started to say in a tense voice, but Harry interrupted him. "It's alright, Mr. Weasley. We already know."
"How?"
"We eavesdropped on you and Mrs. Weasley talking last night." I answered. Harry's eyebrows raised at my honest explanation.
"Well, that's not the way I'd have chosen for you to find out." Mr. Weasley sighed. "You both must be very scared."
"I'm not." Harry said. I didn't say anything for the opposite reason. I was scared. "I'm not trying to be a hero, but seriously, Sirius Black can't be worse than Voldemort, can he?" Mr. Weasley flinched at the name.
"Harry, I knew you were, well, made of some stronger stuff than Fudge seems to think, and I'm obviously pleased that you're not scared, but-"
"Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley's voice shrieked as she was shepherding the rest of the kids onto the train. "Arthur! What are you doing? It's about to go!"
"They're coming, Molly!" Mr. Weasley yelled back, then turned back to Harry and I and continued to whisper in a hushed voice. "Listen. I need both of you to give me your word-"
"That we'll be good little kiddos and stay in the castle?" I half-joked as I battered my eyelashes. Mr. Weasley let out a sigh.
"Not entirely. Do you both swear to me that you won't go looking for Black?" Mr. Weasley asked in a more serious voice than I had ever heard come out of him.
"What?" Harry blankly asked, staring at Mr. Weasley in confusion.
A loud whistle came from the train. Guards were walking along the train, slamming all of the doors shut.
"Mr. Weasley, we really shouldn't miss the train again. We know what happened last year." I suggested as I hesitantly watched the train. Harry, Ron and I had missed the train, and despite my intense amount of protest and pleading to just wait for Mr and Mrs. Weasley, they coerced me into taking Mr. Weasley's flying car. I don't recommend EVER getting into a flying car that's driven by a twelve year old.
"Wise. You two need to promise me that whatever happens-"
"Why would I go looking for someone I know wants to kill me?" Harry asked. His head was slightly cocked to the side.
"Swear to me that whatever you might hear..."
"Arthur, quickly!" Mrs. Weasley cried.
There was steam billowing from the train as it started to move. I quickly ran to the compartment door and Harry followed as Ron threw it open and stood back to let us on.
"We need to talk to you in private." Harry muttered to Ron and Hermione as the train begin to pick up speed and the Weasley's were no longer in sight.
"Go away, Ginny." Ron said, pushing his sister slightly.
The four of us set off down the corridor, searching for an empty compartment, but all were full except for the one at the very end of the train. This compartment had only one occupant: a rugged-looking man fast asleep next to the window.
"There's gotta be other options." I whispered from the doorway. The man was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizards robes that had been darned several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Although he seemed quite young, his light brown hair was flecked with gray.
"I think this is it." Harry sighed as he sat down in the compartment.
"Who do you reckon he is?" Ron hissed as he sat in the seat across from the man.
"Professor R.J. Lupin." Both Hermione and I said at the same time. I had very quickly taken notice of his suitcase sitting on the top rack with his name embroidered on the side.
"How do they know that?" Ron scoffed, then turned to Harry. "How is it they know everything?"
"It's on his suitcase, Ronald." Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes. I suppressed a smile.
"Wonder what he teaches." Ron frowned.
"Isn't it obvious? Defense Against The Dark Arts." I shrugged.
"Well, I hope he's up to it." Ron sighed doubtfully. "He looks like one good hex would finish them off, doesn't he?"
"I really hope he can hear you right now." I said, and Ron stuck his tongue out at me then turned to Harry. "What were you going to tell us, Harry?"
Harry and I recounted Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's argument and the warning Mr. Weasley had just given us. When they 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 two? You'll have to be really, really careful. Don't go looking for trouble, Harry." She pointedly glared at him.
"I don't go looking for trouble." Harry scoffed. "Trouble goes looking for me."
"How thick would Harry have to be, to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him?" Ron laughed.
"About however thick he is now." I said, and Harry nudged me with his elbow. "You know I'm right, Potter."
"You're entirely wrong." He huffed.
"Do any of you know much about Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked, clearly not invested in the conversation anymore. "I've read it's the only entirely non-muggle settlement in Britain. In Sites of Historical Sorcery, it says the inn was the headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion, and the Shrieking Shack is supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain. Won't be nice to get out of school for a bit and explore Hogsmeade?"
I let out a groan and laid my head against the window. I knew my mother would never, in a million years, sign that form, so I didn't even bother asking. She was against me having any kind of fun.
"Spect it will." Harry said. "You'll have to tell me when you found out."
"What'd you mean?" Ron asked.
"I can't go. The Dursley's didn't sign my permission form, and Fudge wouldn't either." Harry sighed heavily.
"Me either. My mum would rather drown than let me have fun." I said, my head still pressed firmly against the glass.
"You're not allowed to come?" Ron gasped. "But... no way... McGonagall or someone will give you permission."
"You think McGonagall would seriously sign a slip for us? I bet she's stricter than my mum." I laughed, and Harry nodded sadly.
"We can ask Fred and George, they know every secret passage out of the school." Ron started, but Hermione quickly cut him off. "Ron! Harry and Jupiter should not be sneaking out of school with Black on the loose."
"Yeah, that's probably what McGonagall would say if we asked her." Harry scoffed bitterly.
"Ron, don't talk rubbish." Hermione snapped. "Black's already murdered a whole bunch of people in the middle of a crowded street. Do you really think he's going to worry about attacking Harry just because we're there?" She was fumbling with the straps of Crookshanks' basket.
"What're you doing? Don't let that thing out!" Ron snapped, and the small lump in his pocket began to shiver. I stared at the rat as it squirmed. There was no way Scabbers could have known Hermione was letting her cat out if he was just a "common garden rat." I was onto that rat, and I was fairly confident that he knew it as well.
Crookshanks calmly leapt out of the basket and landed on Ron's lap. "Get out of here!" Ron yelled as he pushed the cat away from him.
"Ron, don't!" Hermione hissed as Professor Lupin stirred. The whole compartment fell silent as we watched Professor Lupin's move around a bit for a moment then fall back asleep.
"Well, look who it is." A sneering voice came from the doorway. "If it isn't Potty and the Weasel." Draco mocked. His two minions, Crabbe and Goyle stood behind him, both of them lurking over Draco's tiny shoulders. "I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer. Did your mother die of shock?"
"Shut up, Draco. I could turn your hair a beautiful shade of bubblegum pink again. Maybe your mother would die of shock." I snapped as both Ron and I stood up from our seats, causing Crookshanks' basket to fall on the floor. The noise made Professor Lupin let out a small snore.
"Who's that?" Draco asked, his beady gray eyes darting to the teacher.
"New teacher." Harry said, who was also now on his feet. "You were saying?"
"C'mon." He snarled to his minions before setting off down the long corridor. Even I knew that my cousin wasn't fool enough to pick a fight right under a teachers nose. We all sat down again while Ron rubbed his knuckles.
"I'm not going to take any shit from Malfoy this year." He grumbled. "I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I'm going to get a hold of his head and-" Ron made a violent gesture in midair.
"Ron!" Hermione hissed, pushing his hand back down. "Be careful!" She looked over to Professor Lupin. Even throughout Ron's ranting, he stayed sound asleep.