"I was supposed to meet them outside of the train, not on the train! They'll never find me," I shouted as I pushed my trunk into the luggage shelf. Gydion ran around my ankles in delight before taking a seat on Lupin's lap.
"Your friends will find you just fine. I don't want you waiting out there when there could be danger outside!" Lupin pulled up the collar of his shabby robes.
"Are you talking about the man who escaped from Azkaban?" I huffed, sitting next to him.
"I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'm going to sleep," Lupin said and pulled his hat down to cover his face.
"Oh, that's nice," I said huffily and turned towards the compartment door.
Standing up, I peered out the door to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione standing around with an angry looking redhead.
"Harry! Ron! Hermione!" I shouted from the doors and waved furiously at them. They all looked at me in confusion but then smiled as they made their way to me.
"I thought you were going to meet us outside the train, not inside," Ron said.
"That's what I said!" I looked back, giving Lupin a dirty look.
Only then did they notice the man behind me with Gydion on his lap.
"Whose that?" Ron hissed as we sat down, taking the seats farthest away from the window he sat by.
"Professor Lupin," I sighed.
"How'd you know that?"
"It's on his case," Hermione replied for me, pointing at the luggage rack over his head, where there was a small, battered case held together with a large quantity of neatly knotted string. The name Professor R. J. Lupin was stamped across one corner in peeling letters.
"Wonder what he teaches?" said Ron, frowning at Professor Lupin's pallid profile.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts," I nodded.
"Well, I hope he's up to it," said Ron doubtfully. "He looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn't he—"
"Don't be mean!" I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Anyways," Ron said and turned to Harry, "what were you going to tell us?"
Harry explained all about Mr. and Mrs. Wesley's argument and the warning Mr. Weasley had just given him about Sirius Black searching for him. When Harry said that Sirius Black was searching for him, he gave me a wide eyed look that suggested it wasn't only him Sirius was searching for. When he'd finished, Ron looked thunderstruck, Hermione had her hands over her mouth, and I brought my knees up to my chest in fear.
Hermione lowered her hands to say, "Sirius Black escaped to come after you? Oh, Harry... you'll have to be really, really careful. Don't go looking for trouble, Harry..."
"I don't go looking for trouble," said Harry, nettled. "Trouble usually finds me."
"And we're usually around; lucky us," I rolled my eyes.
"How thick would Harry have to be, to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him?" said Ron shakily.
"Everyone just thinks Harry will because hes always saving the day," I commented.
"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?" I said suddenly.
A faint, tinny sort of whistle was coming from somewhere. We looked all around the compartment.
"It's coming from your trunk, Harry," I said, standing up and reaching into the luggage rack. A moment later I pulled the Pocket Sneakoscope out from between Harry's robes. It was spinning very fast in the palm of my hand and glowing brilliantly.
"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 shrewdly.
"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 Harry's present to him?"
"Stick it back in the trunk," Harry advised as the Sneakoscope whistled piercingly, "or it'll wake him up."
"Nah, he's a heavy sleeper," I laughed. The three of them gave me a weird look and I just coughed, stuffing the Sneakoscope back into Harry's trunk.
"We could get it checked in Hogsmeade," said Ron. "They sell that sort of thing in Dervish and Banges, magical instruments and stuff. Fred and George told me."
"Do you know much about Hogsmeade?" asked Hermione keenly. "I've read it's the only entirely non-Muggle settlement in Britain —"
"Yeah, I think it is," said Ron in an offhand sort of way. "but that's not why I want to go. I just want to get inside Honeydukes!"
"I love Honeydukes!" I beamed.
"What's that?" said Hermione.
"It's this sweetshop," said Ron, a dreamy look coming over his face, "where they've got everything... Pepper Imps— they make you smoke at the mouth — and great fat Chocoballs full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream, and really excellent sugar quills, which you can suck in class and just look like you're thinking what to write next—"
"But Hogsmeade's a very interesting place, isn't it?" Hermione pressed on eagerly. "In Sites of Historical Sorcery, it says the inn was the headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion, and the Shrieking Shack's supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain —"
"Hermione, you always take the fun out of things," I chuckled.
"Won't it be nice to get out of school for a bit and explore Hogsmeade?"
"'Spect it will," said Harry heavily. "You'll have to tell me when you've found out."
"What d'you mean?" I asked.
"I can't go. The Dursleys didn't sign my permission form, and Fudge wouldn't either."
Ron looked horrified.
"You're not allowed to come? But — no way — McGonagall or someone will give you permission —"
Harry gave a hollow laugh.
"– or we can ask Fred and George, they know every secret passage out of the castle —"
"Ron!" said Hermione sharply. "I don't think Harry should be sneaking out of the school with Black on the loose —"
"Yeah, I expect that's what McGonagall will say when I ask of permission," said Harry bitterly.
"But if we're with him," said Ron spiritedly to Hermione. "Black wouldn't dare —"
"Oh, Ron, don't talk rubbish," snapped Hermione. "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?"
The conversation was making me nervous; why did Sirius Black leave Azkaban? Did he want to kill Harry and me, as well? I patted my lap and called Gydion to me. Happily, he jumped off of Lupin's lap and ran to me causing him to stir. Ron and Hermione stopped their argument to watch him apprehensive, but he simply turned his head the other way, mouth slightly open, and slept on.
The Hogwarts Express moved steadily north and the scenery outside the window became wilder and darker while the clouds overhead thickened overhead. People were chasing backwards and forwards past the door of their compartment. Crookshanks and Gydion had now settled in an empty seat together, but of them keeping their yellow eyes on Ron's top pocket.
At one o'clock the plump witch with the food cart 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."
"Lupin," I prodded his leg. "Uh— Professor?"
He didn't move.
"Don't worry, dear," said the witch, as she handed a large stack of cauldron cakes. "If he's hungry when he wakes, I'll be up front with the driver."
"I suppose he is asleep?" said Ron quietly, as the witch slid the compartment door closed. "I mean — he hasn't died, has he?"
"No, no, he's breathing," whispered Hermione, taking the cauldron cake Harry passed her.
"He's a heavy sleeper," I whispered.
Lupin's presence in our compartment had its uses. Mid-afternoon, just as it had started to rain, blurring the rolling hills outside the window, we heard footsteps outside in the corridor again, and our three least favorite 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.
"I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley," said Malfoy. "Did your mother die of shock?"
Ron stood up so quickly he knocked Crookshanks's basket to the floor. Lupin gave a snort.
"Who's that?" said Malfoy, taking an automatic step backward as he spotted Lupin.
"New teacher," I said, narrowing my eyes at him. "What were you saying, Malfoy?"
Malfoy's pale eyes narrowed as well; 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.
Harry and Ron sat down again, Ron massaging his knuckles.
"I'm not going to take any crap from Malfoy this year," he said angrily. "I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I'm going to get hold of his head and —"
Ron made a violent gesture in midair.
"Ron," hissed Hermione, pointing at Professor Lupin, "be careful..."
But Lupin was still fast asleep.
As the ride went on, the four of us spoke about nothing and caught up on the little things we forget to tell each other. But out of nowhere, the train started to slow down. As the noise of the pistons fell away, the wind and rain sounded louder than ever against the windows.
Being nearest to the door, I 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 me.
"Ouch!" gasped Hermione. "Ron, that was my foot!"
In the dark, I felt around, trying to find my seat again.
"D'you think we've broken down?" I asked.
"Dunno..."
There was a squeaking sound, and I 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..."
The compartment door suddenly opened and someone fell painfully over my legs.
"Sorry! D'you know what's going on? Ouch! Sorry —"
"Hullo, Neville," said Harry.
"Harry? Is that you? What's happening?"
"No idea! Sit down —"
There was a loud hissing and a yelp of pain; Neville had tried to sit on Crookshanks.
"I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on," I said to them. I stood up and went to go look for the door, heard it slide open again, and then I hit something— or someone— and heard a loud squeal of pain against mine.
"Who's that?"
"Who's that?"
"Ginny?"
"Maisey?"
"What are you doing?"
"I was looking for Ron —"
"Come in and sit down —"
"Not here!" I heard Harry say. "I'm here!"
"Ouch!" said Neville.
"Quiet!" said a hoarse voice suddenly.
I looked over in the direction of Lupin and punched his arm. But no one said anything else.
There was a soft, crackling noise, and a shivering light filled the compartment. Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames. It illuminated his tired, gray face, but his eyes looked alert and wary.
"Maisey, sit down and stay where you are," he said and he got slowly to his feet with his handful of fire held out in front of him.
But the door slid slowly open before Lupin could reach it.
Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the shivering flames in Lupin's hand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. My eyes darted downward, and what I saw made my stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water...
But it was visible only for a split second. As though the creature beneath the cloak sensed my gaze, the hand was suddenly withdrawn into the folds of its black cloak.
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 us all. I felt my own breath catch in my chest. The cold went deeper than my skin. It was inside my chest, it was inside my very heart...
I felt my eyes roll up into my head. I felt blind. I was drowning in cold. There was a rushing in my ears as though of water. I was being dragged downward, the roaring growing louder...
And then, from far away, I heard screaming, terrible, terrified, pleading screams. I wanted to help whoever it was, I tried to move my arms, but couldn't... a thick white fog was swirling around me, inside —
"Maisey! Harry! Are you all right?"
Someone shook my shoulders and I heard a slap.
"W-what?
I opened my eyes; there were lanterns above me, and the floor was shaking — the Hogwarts Express was moving again and the lights had come back on. I seemed to have slid out of my seat onto the floor. Ron and Hermione were kneeling in between me and Harry, who also seemed to have fallen. Above them, I could see Neville and Lupin watching. I felt very sick; when I pushed my hair out of my face, I felt cold sweat on my forehead. Lupin helped me to my seat as Ron and Hermione helped Harry.
"Are you two okay?" Ron asked nervously.
"I— Yeah," I said, looking quickly to the door. The hooded creatures had vanished from sight.
"What happened?" Harry asked.
"Who screamed?"
"No one screamed," said Ron, more nervously still.
I looked around the bright compartment; Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville looked completely stunned and pale; Harry looked just like me, terrified.
"I heard screaming, too," Harry said.
A loud snap made us all jump. Lupin was breaking an enormous slab of chocolate into pieces.
"Here," he said to Harry and me, handing us a particularly large piece. "Eat it. It'll help."
I took the chocolate and slowly ate it; Harry took it but didn't eat.
"What was that thing?" Harry asked Lupin.
"A Dementor," said Lupin, who was now giving chocolate to everyone else. "One of the Dementors of Azkaban."
All of us stared at him. Lupin crumpled up the empty chocolate wrapper and put it in his pocket.
"Eat," he told Harry sternly. "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me..."
"Wait!" I said, reaching out to him. He stopped and looked back. "I— Are you— What do you need to talk to the driver about?"
"I'll tell you late, Maise," Lupin said and left. He strolled past us and disappeared into the corridor.
"Are you sure you two are okay?" said Hermione, watching us anxiously.
"I don't get it... what happened?" said Harry, wiping more sweat off his 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 —"
"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 —"
"But then Maisey started to as well and Professor Lupin stepped over you, and walked toward the Dementor, and pulled out his wand," said Hermione, "and he said, 'None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go.' But the Dementor didn't move, so Lupin muttered something, and a silvery thing shot out of his wand at it, and it turned around and sort of glided away..."
"It was horrible," said Neville, in a higher voice than usual. "Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?"
"I felt weird," said Ron, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably. "Like I'd never be cheerful again..."
"It- it felt horrible," I whispered.
Ginny, who was huddled in her corner looking nearly as bad as I felt, gave a small sob; I moved from my spot and gave her a comforting hug.
"I'm okay," I whispered. "We're alright."
"But didn't any of you — fall off your seats?" said Harry awkwardly.
"No," said Ron, looking anxiously at Harry again. "Ginny was shaking like mad, though..."
I didn't understand. I felt weak and shivery, as though I were recovering from a bad bout of flu; I also felt the beginnings of shame. Why had I gone to pieces like that, when no one else but Harry had?
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..."
"Moo– Lupin, did you—"
"We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes," said Lupin. "Are you all right, Maisey? Harry?"
I nodded and gave him a small smile while Harry mattered, "Fine."
We didn't talk much during the remainder of the journey. At long last, the train stopped at Hogsmeade station, and there was a great scramble to get outside; owls hooted, cats meowed, and Neville's pet toad croaked loudly from under his hat. It was freezing on the tiny platform; rain was driving down in icy sheets.
"Firs' years this way!" called a familiar voice. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I turned and saw the gigantic outline of Hagrid at the other end of the platform, beckoning the terrified-looking new students forward for their traditional journey across the lake.
"All right, you four?" Hagrid yelled over the heads of the crowd. We waved at him, but had no chance to speak to him because the mass of people around us was shunting us away along the platform. We followed the rest of the school along the platform and out onto a rough mud track, where at least a hundred stagecoaches awaited the remaining students.