Disclaimer: not mine.
Chapter One
Lin walked through the Hogwarts Express, searching for an empty compartment. She was already nearing the end of the train, but no compartment was to be found with more than one or two empty seats. That really did not suit Lin's need as of yet.
The number of possible empty compartments was shrinking steadily. In fact, Lin could see the end of the train. However, there was still no sign of an open compartment.
Finally, Lin reached the end of the train. The good news was that she could see no one in the compartment as of yet. She peeked inside silently. Only one person was inside the compartment.
A roughly forty year old man sat hunched over sleeping. His clothes were worn and almost ragged. His face was worn and tired, showing cares beyond his years. However, something more than that was odd about him.
However, for the time here was nowhere else suit her needs of quiet and solitude. With that new purpose in mind, Lin silently entered the compartment and sat opposite the man who would quite obviously become the new defence against the dark arts teacher.
She leaned her head against the window and let herself drift off into her memories for a short rest.
oooooooooooooo
Harry, Ron, and Hermione decided to sit in that very same last compartment. Almost as soon as he saw the pair, Ron asked, "Who d'you reckon they are?"
"Professor R. J. Lupin and L. Sarvial," Hermione whispered almost immediately.
How d'you know that?"
"It's on their cases," she replied, pointing at the luggage racks over their heads. While the new Professor's luggage was worn and held together with string, the young woman's was very new and very modern.
The pair was vastly different. While Professor Lupin was relatively middle aged, though that was shown by tints of grewy in his hair, Miss Sarvial seemed ageless, timeless even. Her hair was dark red, and her skin was very pale. Her physiognomy was altogether unusual. It was delicate and beautiful, almost elven even. The Professor was relatively good-looking for a man in either his late 30s or early 40s.
Continuing the contrast, Miss Sarvial's face was partially obscured by the hood of an expensive, black cloak. His clothes, on the other hand, were worn and shabby. She, in contrast, wore what seemed to be a designer, blue sundress made of some of the finest quality of fabrics money could buy.
"Wonder what he teaches?" said Ron, frowning at Professor Lupin's pallid profile.
"That's obvious," whispred Hermione. "There's only one vacancy, isn't there? Defence Against the Dark Arts."
"Well, I hope he's up to it," said Ron doubtfully. "He looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn't he? And what house is she in anyway? I've never seen her before."
"Gryffindor," Hermione whispered.
"Maybe she's a transfer?" Harry suggested.
"No. I remember seeing her once. She's not a transfer," Hermione whispered confidently.
"We should sit with her at the Feast," Harry suggested.
"Anyway..." Ron said, turning to Harry. "What were you going to tell us?"
And the three got down to business.
At one point, Ron became angry that Hermione was going to allow her cat, Crookshanks, to come out. They spoke more loudly then, but it did not wake either of the sleeping persons in the compartments. In fact, Miss Sarvial did not even move a muscle. This same fact alarmed the three. She was quite pale, and she had not even moved. Perhaps she was dead? But no, they could hear her breathing softly. Later, the same question was raised with regard to the new Professor, though his breathing was somewhat more audible than hers.
Somewhat later, three persons approached the compartment door and opened it. "Well, look who it is," said Malfoy. "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. Professor Lupin gave a snort.
"Who's that?" said Malfoy, taking an automatic step backward as he spotted Lupin. He had not yet spotted Miss Sarvial.
"New teacher," said Harry, who got to his feet, too, in case he needed to hold Ron back. "What were you saying, Malfoy?"
However, now that Harry was standing, Malfoy had a direct line of sight to Miss Sarvial.
"And who's that? Surely not his girlfriend. She's too beautiful for that," Malfoy continued.
"Actually, she's a student in Gryffindor," Hermione corrected.
"What were you saying?" Harry prompted again.
"Just a minute, Potty. What's her name? And what's that brooch on her cloak?"
"L. Sarvial," Hermione said quickly as Malfoy peered at her brooch. It was in the shape of a graceful rune: ΞΆ. It was mainly made of silver, but a curious, glowing white stone was set into it, making it seem to shine even in the semi-darkness.
"C'mon," Malfoy muttered resentfully to Crabbe and Goyle, and they disappeared. He wasn't fool enough to pick a fight under a teacher's nose, and she was powerful enough to threaten everyone on the train combined.
"Why the bloody hell did he just back off?" Ron asked.
"Don't know," Harry said.
"We must be nearly there," said Ron, leaning forward to look between the two sleeping people to the window.
The words had hardly left him when the train began to slow down.
"Great," said Ron, getting up and walking carefully past Professor Lupin to try and see outside. "I'm starving and I want to get to the feast..."
"We can't be there yet," said Hermione, checking her watch.
"So why're we stopping?"
The train suddenly stopped, and Miss Sarvial was flung out of her seat to the floor. The three of them looked on, astonished, as she caught herself and picked herself up.
oooooooooooooooooo
Lin was rudely awoken from her rest by the train jolting to a stop. She was thrown from the seat to the floor, though she woke soon enough to catch herself before she could come to any real harm.
She stood and brushed herself off before looking around the compartment. Three, young faces looked back at her with wide eyes. She merely raised a single eyebrow and asked, "Who are you three, whom I have the pleasure of meeting?"
"Well, I'm Ron Weasley," the red-headed boy said first. His whole manner spoke of a poor family.
"I'm Hermione Granger," the bushy, brown-haired girl said. She obviously studied a lot, for she was pale and spoke like a know-it-all.
"I'm Harry Potter," the black-haired boy said, looking as though he dreaded her reaction.
"Pleased to meet you all. I'm assuming you are only here because this was the last partially open compartment," she said in the gentle cadences of an earlier time.
"Wait...you mean you haven't heard of me before?" Harry asked, seemingly astonished.
"Actually, I have, but I do not think it necessary to stare at you," Lin assured him gently.
Harry was utterly speechless. No one had ever been that kind and understanding to him.
"Moving on," Lin said dismissively. She walked over to the door and looked into the corridor. All along the carriage, heads were sticking curiously out of their compartments. "They're boarding the train," she whispered in horror.
"Who is?" Harry asked.
"The dementors of Azkaban," she said bluntly. She turned to look at the three of them and said, "Stay in your seats."
The compartment door suddenly opened and someone bumped straight into Lin.
"Sorry-d'you know what's going on?-Ouch-sorry-"
"Hullo, Neville," said Harry as Lin guided Neville past her and over to her seat.
"Harry? Is that you? What's happening?"
"Sit down. Dementors," Harry said quickly.
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," came Hermione's voice. Harry felt her pass him, heard the door slide open again, and then a thud and two loud squeals of pain.
"Who's that?"
"Who's that?"
"Ginny?"
"Hermione?"
"What are you doing?"
"I was looking for Ron-"
"Hurry up and sit down. It is not safe," Lin said quietly.
"Not here!" said Harry hurriedly. "I'm here!"
"Ouch!" said Neville.
"Quiet!" said a hoarse voice suddenly. Professor Lupin had woken.
Suddenly, a soft, white light filled the apartment, centred upon Lin's hand. "I had no idea we would have the honour, Professor Lupin," she said politely.
He looked at her, astonished, for a second before asking, "And who are you?"
"Oh! I am terribly sorry! My name is Liriana Sarvial, though everyone calls Lin," she said.
"I am Professor Remus Lupin. Now, all of you stay where you are," he said in the same hoarse voice.
"Not so fast, Professor. I am coming as well," Lin said confidently, putting a hand on his arm to stop him as he tried to walk past her. Amber eyes surrounded by tan skin stared into deep blue eyes bordered by white skin as the two stared each other down. The professor looked away first because her eyes shone with an unearthly light.
And the door slid slowly open before the two of them. Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the white light shining from Lin's hand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. Harry' eyes darted downward, and what he saw made his stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, greyish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water.
It was cold, ice cold, as though the depths of winter had permeated the air with icy fingers that clung to them all tenaciously. In this nearly unbearable cold, no happiness lived. There was only despair, anguish, sorrow, pain, sadness, and desolation.
But there stood Lin, bathed in white light as though she were some type of guardian angel. Her hand was stretched forth, and a white shield of light shone out from it, halting the dementor's progress.
Seconds later, the dementor retreated and the cold abated. However, they heard a thud and turned in time to see Harry fall to the floor.
"What was that?" Ron asked.
"That was a dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban," Lupin said.
"Do you have any chocolate? They'll need it," Lin said.
In response, Lupin took some from his coat pocket and held it out for Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Lin to take. However, Lin refused it saying, "I have no need of such comfort."
"You can't be immune to a dementor!" he said, still offering the chocolate.
"And yet I am," she said with a smile. "Watch over them. I need to have a quick word with the driver."
"Hold on just a second!" he exclaimed. "I'm coming with you."
"As you wish," she said simply before asking, "Do you wish to apparate separately?"
"You can apparate?" Lupin asked incredulously.
"I take it that means separate," she said raising her eyebrows slightly. That very same second, she disappeared without the sound which normal accompanied apparition.
A second later Lupin apparated to the front of the train. Lin was already talking with the driver.
"You will not stop the train again until we are at Hogsmeade, Martin. Do you understand?" she said seriously.
"Yes, Miss Lin," he said meekly. He turned back to the controls and set the train in motion again.
Lin turned to look at Lupin and said, "All is as it should be."
"Do you know him?" he asked.
"Quite well actually," she said before apparating back to the last compartment. Lupin once again followed.
He arrived and stopped at the door to the compartment.
"That chocolate is perfectly safe, Harry. Eat it," Lin said as she sat down in her spot again and wrapped her cloak around herself. She was already in her school robes.
As Harry began to eat the chocolate, Lupin walked in and said, "We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes. Are you alright, Harry?"
"Fine," he muttered, embarrassed.
As soon as the train had stopped, Lin stood smoothly and walked off into the forest without a word. Lupin stared after her for a few seconds, unable to shake the odd feeling that she wasn't normal. She seemed to float on the air as she walked, which was hardly normal even for a dancer.
Back with Lin, she stepped into the forest and out of sight. As she proceeded further in, her moonstone brooch began to glow a bright white.
Once the trees hid her from view, Lin began to run. After a few seconds, she sped up to her normal pace: 30 miles per hour. She arrived at the castle far before the slow carriages that took the twisting route.
She just walked up to the heavy, oak door and pushed it open to the point where she could slip through. She walked up the stone steps to the Great Hall. She slipped in and found it completely empty.
"Thank goodness," she whispered as she sat at the High table.
"Ah, Lin! I see you've arrived!" she heard Dumbledore say from the doorway.
"Albus?" she said hopefully, looking up. Upon confirmation, she jumped up and ran to the old man, embracing him warmly. A second later, she broke away and looked up at him. "Dementors searched the train for him. They found Harry, but I stopped them," she said seriously.
"Did anyone see you?" he asked hurriedly.
"I managed to shield my magic from all of the students in the compartment...but the new teacher, Remus Lupin, saw it," she said.
"What?" the Headmaster exclaimed.
"There was nothing I could do about it," she said, looking down to the floor.
"He will suspect you now. You will need to be extremely careful around him," Albus said seriously before placing a hand gently on her slender shoulder.
"I can do nothing about it," she said, keeping her head down. "I cannot even return to my people."
Albus put two fingers under her chin and tilted her head up to look at him. "Do not lose hope. You will find a way eventually."
"There is no way," she said, turning away from him.
"Albus, the students are coming," the Bloody Baron said, floating through the wall to look at them. "Oh, Lin, my friend. Are you feeling off again?"
"Yes. Would you please guide her to the Astronomy Tower?" Albus said gently.
"Certainly, Albus," the ghost said, floating over to the two of them.
"Come, Lin. Let's go have a look at the stars," the Bloody Baron said, putting a hand behind her back as if he were actually touching her.