Pieretta Bloodworth is the odd girl out at Hogwarts. No one knows her as Pieretta. Everyone calls her Pippi the Palooka. Everyone thinks she's completely insane, or totally idiotic. She's only in her third year and she's already made a name for herself for stalking people and having sketchbooks full of drawings that are less than ordinary. She's a looner if anyone ever saw her for more than 3 minutes. People refuse to be seen with her and even most teachers keep away from her.
Most people don't even sit next to her on the train ride, even if every other compartment is full up. And that's where her story begins. Pippi was just sitting on the train by herself when she heard a knocking on the door. Her wild, untamed mass of dark auburn curls whipped about and she looked up at a man, a few inches shy of 6 feet, quite handsome, with a bag in his hand.
"Excuse me, miss. Would you mind if I joined you?" He said. Pippi's face suddenly lit up and her eyes sparkled with happiness.
"N-No, sir! Of course not, come right in!" She said in a quick tone. The man smiled at her in a very sweet way and placed the suitcase above the seats before sitting down. He used his overly large cloak as a blanket and rested his body against the walls.
"S-so, what's your name, sir?" Pippi said. The man looked up slightly and smiled.
"Remus Lupin. And yourself?" Pippi was bouncing in her seat as she pulled out her sketchbook.
"Pippi the Pa-" She cut herself off, blushing slightly. "I mean, Pieretta Bloodworth, sir." How embarrassing!
Mr. Lupin made a face at her mistake and looked at her in a curious way. "Pippi, huh?"
Pippi shrugged as her charcoal scribbled across the paper. "I prefer Pippi over Pieretta, sir." Was all she said as she looked at him and then at her paper. This continued for a few minutes before Lupin spoke to her.
"May I?" He held out his hand for her sketchbook and she blushed a deep red. Lupin was still smiling softly as Pippi slowly handed him her sketchbook. It was just a few lines for now but he could tell that she was sketching him. He went back a few pages and saw her drawings over the summer. One consisted of a couple making out in an alley, another of a butterfly perched on a blade of grass. The next was a woman lying down in a coffin and that worried Lupin a little. But one caught his eye…
"A werewolf, miss Pippi?" He said, raising an eyebrow at the sketch. Pippi nodded, her curls bouncing. He studied the sketch before smiling and handing the book back to her. She began to sketch again almost immediately. "I think you have a very raw talent, Pippi."
Pippi blinked at his compliment before smiling and bowing her head, tears almost in her eyes. Lupin smiled back, resting his body against the wall again and pulling out a bottle from under his cloak, laying it to rest on the windowsill. The train would be leaving soon. Lupin quickly fell asleep and Pippi began to lose interest in her sketching.
She put her sketchbook away and curled up against the wall just like Lupin did, resting her head on the wall. The train lurched forward and she jerked a little bit before closing her eyes again.
Pippi was content with her situation before she heard the door open. She remained motionless as three others came into the compartment. "Is that Pippi?" She heard a female voice say.
"Blimey, she changed over the summer," A familiar male voice said. "Wouldn't you say, Harry?"
"Stop that, Ronald!" The female voice said, followed by a thumping noise.
"Who do you think that is?" The male voice said.
"Professor R.J. Lupin." The female voice responded without missing a beat.
"You know everything! How is it that she knows everything?"
"It's on his suitcase, Ronald!"
"Oh."
Pippi resisted the urge to snort at the antics. Then, she heard a new voice. The seat next to her moved, indicating someone was sitting down next to her. She blushed but kept her eyes closed.
"You think they're really asleep?"
"Seems to be. Why?"
There was a pause and then the door closed. "I've gotta tell you something."
And then, Pippi knew who she was sitting with. Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, and Harry Potter.
Harry went on and on about how Ron's father told him that Sirius Black, the man who escaped from Azkaban, is now out to kill Harry because he's the only thing that stands in the way of You-Know-Who getting resurrected.
"So let me get this straight," Ron said. "Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban to come after you?"
"Yeah," Was all Harry said after the tale.
"But they'll catch Black, won't they? I mean, everyone's looking for him." Hermione said.
"Sure!" Ron said in fake support. "But, no one's ever broken out of Azkaban before and… he's a murderous, raving lunatic."
"Thanks Ron." Harry said. The wheels on the train tracks suddenly started screeching and the train halted.
The rain on the windows outside got more intense. "Why are we stopping?" Hermione said. "We can't be there yet."
Harry stood up to look out of the compartment but when he did, the whole train shook, knocking him back in his seat. Pippi's head whipped forward at the motion and she bashed it against the side of the wall. She groaned, holding her forehead. "Wh-What's going on?"
"I dunno," Harry told Pippi. "Maybe we've broken down." The lights started flickering and Pippi chewed on her lip before she put her hand to the glass, looking out the window.
"There's something moving out there," Ron said gulping in fear. Pippi gazed out of the window and tried to see what he saw but couldn't understand what he meant.
Pippi got a funny feeling and fear washed over her. "I think… someone's getting on the train," She said, The train shaking as frost slowly began to cover the windows. The frost spread about the windows on the inside of the train and the liquid in Lupin's bottle froze to a solid.
The train shook violently and Pippi removed her hand from the window, her fingers ghosting across the frost bitten glass.
"Bloody hell!" Ron shouted. "What's happening?"
There was a whispering noise closeby and Pippi looked up, her curly frost covered hair whipping in her face. She saw long, billowing cloaks and robes in the window. The dark, dreary figure began to reach for the door and the compartment slowly began to open. Pippi froze.
The figure's skeleton like hands gripped the door and the dark figure stepped inside, the wind noise getting stronger by the minute. It looked at Hermione, Ron, and Pippi. Hermione's cat hissed angrily at the figure while Ron's rat hid in his jacket. The figure looked very uninterested in them. Instead, he looked at Harry Potter.
Harry stared at the figure and very slowly… the figure began to pull his soul out of his body… Pippi sat there, her feet bouncing off the ground. She looked over at Lupin who hadn't moved at all. Then, suddenly, he leaped up, wand out, and a bright, blinding white light escaped it. The figure began to back out of the compartment and ran off in fear.
"Oh my gosh, is it over?" The train's lights came back on and it began to move again. Pippi was shaking in fear and began to shake even more as Harry's head met the bench and his eyes closed, his glasses falling onto the floor.
"Oh no," Hermione muttered. Pippi pulled on her dark curls in anxiety and brought her knees to her chest. Her breath was beginning to get caught in her throat and she began panicking, her hands on her throat. Her airway was closing up!
Pippi gasped for air and reached for her coat, her hands shaking too much to actually work properly. Lupin noticed almost immediately and he grabbed her hands.
"Pippi, what is it?" She clawed at her jacket pocket and he reached for it, pulling out a small gray inhaler. She grabbed it and with shaky fingers, she wrapped her mouth around it and administered a dose of the medicine. And then another. Her airway began to open and she gasped for air, dropping the inhaler and coughing violently.
"Are you alright?" Lupin put his hands on her cheeks, and looked at her eyes that were watery and full of fear. But she still smiled and made a joke, despite almost choking to death.
"Wow, sir… Saving lives left and right, huh?" Lupin snickered and removed his hands from her face. Ron was staring at Pippi as she slowly began to relax in her seat.
"Harry!" Hermione said to her passed out friend. "Harry, are you alright?" He began to stir and she handed him his glasses.
"Here, eat this, it'll help." Lupin said, handing him a piece of chocolate. He reassured him what it was as he was eyeing it suspiciously.
Harry accepted the chocolate and sat up straight. "What was that thing?"
"It was a Dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban. It's gone now; it was searching the train for Sirius Black. Now, if you'll excuse me," Lupin stood up, putting the bar of chocolate down. "I need to have a little word with the driver." And with that, he was walking out of the compartment, but not before telling Harry to eat the chocolate.
Harry bit off a piece and slowly ate it. "What happened to me?"
"Well, you sort of went ridged though. We thought, maybe, you were having a fit or something." Ron said, shrugging.
"And did… did any of you… pass out too?" He said, staring down Hermione, Ron, and Pippi.
"No… It felt weird though. Like I'd never be cheerful again." Ron said.
"But someone was screaming…" Harry said, looking at Hermione. "A woman."
Hermione just shook her head. "No one was screaming, Harry."
Pippi wrapped her arms around her knees and bit on her exposed skin, staring at the empty seat in front of her. She was sort of zoned out before she heard her name being said.
"Hi, Pippi. We've never really gotten a chance to talk to you." Hermione said, looking at the girl with wild eyes. Pippi looked at the three who were staring at her. Pippi doesn't have much experience with social interaction so all she could muster was a smile.
Ron was way too bold, way too fast. "Why does everyone call you Pippi the Palooka?" Hermione smacked him in anger. Pippi just giggled at their antics.
Very slowly, Pippi reached her hand up to itch her wrist and she met their eyes. "People just think I'm crazy. My sketches are a little… strange. As I am, as well." She shrugged, pushing blonde curls behind her ears.
Harry stared at her in curiosity. "You don't look strange," he said.
Pippi snorted and looked at Harry with an unapologetic look. "You haven't seen me at my best. That's when everyone runs," She was in no way shy about her weirdness or her shocking ways. In a strange way, she was proud of how weird and awkward she was.
She chose to ignore how Ron and Hermione were scooting the other way and Harry was just staring at her. She played with her curls and thumbed the inhaler in her pocket while the train ride continued. Everyone was painfully quiet after that.