Finally, after a long summer, I left the Knight Bus to enter the King's Cross Station, readied for second year at Hogwarts. I said goodbye to Stan, Ern and shrunken head who looked rather happy to see me leaving.
I tried looking for Harry, Ron and Hermione as soon as I went through the brick wall, but I couldn't find them anywhere. Instead, I found George, Fred, Luna and Ginny.
"Hey there Novie..." Yes, Fred kinda had a new nickname for me.
"Great summer?" George asked flinging his arms around my shoulders.
"If you say spending the whole time on a crazy speedy bus with strangers and rather weirdos great, then I had a fantastic summer." I pat his hand.
"Hey November." Luna greeted, as well as Ginny.
Ginny seemed to have gotten her colors back after the Chamber of Secrets incident, which we never wanted to remind her about. She had a tough time after that, being questioned and all, but the summer at home with her Weasleys made her feel better, I suppose. At that thought, I found myself yearning for a family. But I shook that feeling away immediately, knowing it would never happen. I have no family.
We went on the train and found an empty compartment to sit in. Fred and George began to go on and on with the new tricks they came up over the summer, Luna kept on with her talks about Nargles which by now I still couldn't stand, and Ginny was being herself, quiet and listening. The train started moving, and through the glass entrance of the compartment, I could see Malfoy and his group walked by. They stopped at ours, pointing and laughing, then Malfoy swung open the door.
"There, Avery, enjoying your time with the blood traitors." He smirked.
"Not much different from the blood traitors yourself." Parkinson chimed in and they laughed.
"Oh of course I'm enjoying it." I smiled "But it would be much more enjoyable if strangling a scumbag like you is legal."
"How dare you..." Parkinson lunged at me, but Malfoy pulled her back by grabbing her arm.
"That's enough." He said "You'll regret that, Avery."
"Make me." I smirked as they closed the door and left.
I turned back to face the others with a sigh just to see them staring at me. I raised an eyebrow as a question for their stares and George gave an awkward cough.
"He's always trying to get under your skin, Novie." Fred said.
"He is." I admitted "Now, about that prank you talked about, why don't we used it on Malfoy? I want revenge."
"Nov?" Ginny spoke up.
"Yeah?"
"You're not that kind of Slytherin that like revenge. This doesn't sound like you at all." She said.
"You always keep this 'special treatment' for the Malfoy kid." George added "Which means..."
"You may have liked him." The twins said at the same time.
"Gosh, you are twins." I sighed "And me? Liking Malfoy? That sounds like a horror story. Besides, have you seen how he treats me? I must be insane to like him."
"You're just as sane as I am." Luna said smiling.
"I know." I smiled.
Suddenly, the train pulled to an abrupt halt, all the lights went off. Everything went silent, and the air got colder. I created some light with my wand, and the illuminating light showed me my friends faces who were just as panic as I was.
"What just happened?" Ginny asked.
Then something walked past our compartment. Well, actually, it floated past. As it continued its way down the hall, it sent the freezing air to its surrounding.
"What was that?" I asked.
No one knew. I stood up and opened the door. Taking a look around, it seemed like nothing was happening. I stepped outside.
"Where are you going?" Fred asked.
"I'm checking around." I said.
"We're coming." George said.
"You two go that way." I pointed towards the head of the train "I'll go this way."
With my wand illuminating the way, I walked cautiously towards the end of the train. The air got colder as I walked further down, I could feel my breath froze in the air. Then, I saw it, the thing in dark cloak that floated past our compartment before. A Dementor. It was half out, half in a compartment. I approached slowly, tried to make no sound at all.
There was a silvery white light shifted into its mouth. I moved forward for two more steps and saw where it came from. It was from Harry who looked half conscious. Outside, the lightning struck down, blasting its blinding white light.
"Expecto Patronum!" Someone shouted the incantation from behind Harry, and the Dementor fled.
Harry was knocked out completely. I hurried to them and helped getting him onto the seat. Hermione and Ron were relieved to see me, but I wasn't looking at them. I was looking at the man who helped Harry.
"Who are you?" I asked him.
"Remus Lupin." He said "New professor at Hogwarts."
"Defense against the dark arts?" I asked.
"How do you know?" He asked.
"Since the last one was utterly idiotic." I shrugged and turned back to Harry.
"Is he okay?" Ron asked.
"He just fainted." Hermione said "He'll be fine."
The lights in the compartment flickered and went back on again, the train began to move ahead slowly, then speeded up. I looked at the Professor and nodded at the door, motioned him to go outside with me. He nodded back, and we left the compartment. Slid the door close, I made sure Hermione and Ron weren't watching or eavesdropping.
"That was a Dementor, was it?" I asked "They're looking for Sirius Black?"
"Yes." He nodded "I'm afraid so."
"Sirius better hides carefully." I mumbled to myself.
But he seemed to catch what I said to myself. He raised an eyebrow and looked at me questionably.
"Well, my mother told me he's an innocent man." I explained "I trust her."
"And your mother is?" He asked.
"She was Leah Avery." I said "She died a year ago."
"I'm sorry." He said "Leah is your mother, you must be November."
"How do you know about me?"
He looked around, checking once again if there was anyone in the hearing range before turning back to me.
"Sirius told me about you. He said you could help."
"Help with what?"
"Help him hide." He said "Dementors are everywhere, looking for him. This time, if they give him one of those Dementor kiss, he can be killed."
"Hogwarts is a safe place."
"I know, that's why I took the position of the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. To take him there." He said "Hopefully he's safe there. Not everyone knows he's innocent. Harry thinks he's trying to kill him."
"Hopefully." I mumbled.