"It was a Dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban," Lupin declared. Upon seeing their blank faces, he added, "It was searching the train for Sirius Black."
Were Harry's eyes deceiving him or did his new Professor suddenly look even paler, a slightly wistful look setting over his features.
Sirius Black. Searching the train for Sirius Black. The words went through his mind once more as he stared, fixated on the doorway where the Dementor had left. The last time Sirius and I were on a train together, we were laughing. None of us had to hide. None of us were wanted prisoners, or outcasts in the world we thought was home. We were just happy.
"Professor?" Hermione's words brought Lupin back to the present. With a small, kind but fake smile plastered across his face, Remus said to them, "If you'll just excuse me, I need to have a little word with the driver." Without another word, he left. Shaken and alone, he paced the corridor, his troubled thoughts surging through his mind again.
I was his best friend. Perhaps me being in the school will encourage Sirius to
come back...
His thoughts trailed off as the train came a stop once again. Once off the train, Remus looked up at the school and smiled, his earlier fears replaced with excitement. Stepping forward out of the train's shadow, however, Lupin's periphery picked up on a huge tree, in the not to distant hills.
I do not belong here, was his last thought as he made his way up to the castle.