Isabel Tyler more or less collapsed onto the seat in the Hogwarts Express.
"Izzy!" her godfather Remus Lupin exclaimed "I thought a lady of Bauxbatons would have a bit more decorum."
"I'm sorry Uncle Remus but I'm tired, you would be if you had to fly all the way here." Izzy sat up and smiled.
"I know but no one asked you to." Lupin looked at her. "Are you sure you're ok."
"Yes I'm fine, but I was sort of wondering. I know you're not telling me everything you know about my dad I just want to see him."
Lupin looked at her and gave her a looked that said 'I'm not going to tell you so don't ask.'
Izzy scowled and sprawled across the remainder of the seat. She closed her eyes and thought back to the times before her mother was killed and her father was taken away from her.
She was day dreaming about her 5th birthday when the compartment door opened. Izzy knew that people tended to talk more when they thought you weren't listening.
"Do you think they're asleep." A girl's voice broke the silent air.
Izzy felt hot breath on her cheek and turned slightly, like she was turning in her sleep.
" Yeah I think so." Another voice said. "Who do you reckon they are?"
"Professor R.J Lupin and Isabel Tyler" The girl whispered
"How d'you know that?" Another boy said.
"It's on their cases Ronald."
"Wonder what he teaches."
"That's obvious, there's only one vacancy isn't there? Defence against the Dark Arts."
Izzy chose to 'wake up' at that moment. She stretched dramatically and opened her eyes.
"Oh hi there." Izzy ruffled her hair and a few red feathers fell out.
"Oh crap." She looked up and smiled. "I tell him time and time again to get the blue one." Izzy shot her foot out and kicked her godfather. "Wake up, it's happened again."
"May I remind you that it is impolite to kick someone Izzy." He mumbled before going back to sleep
"Yeah, yeah whatever." Izzy rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to say something more when the train suddenly stopped.
"We can't have arrived yet can we?" The girl said, she had curly brown hair and a book tucked under her arm. There were two boys sitting either side of her. One boy had red hair and freckles, the other had jet black messy hair and glasses and a lightning scar on his forehead. Izzy's eyes widened when she saw this.
"You're Harry Potter, aren't you,"
"Yeah..."
"You're the reason my dad is in Azkaban for something he didn't do." Izzy stared hard at Harry and studied his face.
"I'm sorry." He said quietly.
Izzy shook her head and looked at the other boy.
"You're a Weasley." She stated "Which one?"
" Ronald, but most people call me Ron" Izzy was about to ask the girl her name when she felt a wave of cold hit her, she had felt it once before when her father had been taken from the house. She was about to tell her godfather this when the lights went out.
There was a squeaking sound, and Izzy saw the dim 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 loudly over something.
"Sorry! D'you know what's going on? Ouch! Sorry"
"Hello, Neville," Harry said
"Harry? Is that you? What's happening?"
"No idea! Sit down."
There was a loud hissing and a yelp of pain, the boy named Neville had obviously tried to sit on the orange cat the girl had brought in with her.
"I'm going to ask the driver what's going on, by the way Isabel, I'm Hermione Granger." The girl whispered. Izzy felt her pass her, heard the door open again and then a thud and two loud squeals of pain.
"Who's that?"
"Who's that?" another girl's voice said
"Ginny?"
"Hermione?"
"What are you doing here?"
"I was looking for Ron…"
"Come in and sit down…"
"Not here!" Harry said quickly. "I'm here!"
"Ouch!" Neville said
"Shut up!" Izzy hissed "I'm trying to concentrate."
When she was sure of what she sensed she knelt up and shook her godfather awake.
"Wake up, Uncle Remus" she whispered "Dementors, three of them." Lupin woke up at that and whispered to Izzy
"Light please Izzy." Izzy created a ball of fire in her hand. The compartment was filled with the orange flickering.
"Stay where you are" Lupin said Izzy slowly tipped the fire into his hands making sure it didn't quite touch his skin just hovered there.
But the door slowly slid open before Lupin could reach it. Standing in the door was a cloaked figure. Izzy knew what it was immediately. A Dementor, one of the guards at Azkaban. The creatures that tore her father away from her and nearly killed her mother.
An intense cold swept over them. Izzy lay there feeling miserable remembering all the terrible things that had happened to her. She was aroused from this trance by a sharp kick from her godfather. She shot up and pulled out her wand.
"Happy thoughts Izzy, happy thoughts" Lupin muttered as the Dementor loomed above. Izzy closed her eyes and thought back to her 5th birthday party.
"Expecto Patronum" she whispered. Nothing happened. Izzy felt herself falling to the floor. The last thing she saw was Lupin producing his patronus and then she heard her father shouting her name.
Izzy sat up suddenly banging her head on the overhead compartment.
"Ow" she rubbed the back of her head and looked around. She saw the worried face of Lupin sitting opposite her. He smiled and then looked towards the other unconscious figure.
"He blanked out just before you did." Izzy stood up warily and then climbed up onto the seat. She rummaged around in her rucksack and drew out the bar of fruit and nut chocolate she had bought at the train station. She bent over Harry and slapped his face until he woke.
"Here, eat this" she said handing him some of the chocolate. She put a square of chocolate in her mouth and smiled as the warm feeling washed over her. She handed the rest of the chocolate to the others and sat back down.
" Eat," Lupin said "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver excuse me…" He got up and walked to the door
"Uncle Remus, wait" Izzy got up out of her seat and followed.
"They were after him weren't they?" Izzy asked leaning against the door.
" Yes" Lupin said flatly.
"I just want to see him."
"No, you can't"
"You can't do this, he's my father!"
"I am your legal guardian. I can do what I want." Izzy glared at Lupin. "I know you miss him, but it's too risky. What if someone saw you, they would take him back to Azkaban or worse, the Dementors will perform the kiss."
Lupin went up the train and Izzy turned around and walked into the compartment.
"… and fell out of your seat and started twitching…" Ron was saying as she sat down.
"And Professor Lupin stepped over you, and walked towards the Dementor and pulled out his wand, so did Isabel" said Hermione. " They said something but Isabel collapsed before it went away, she sort of lay there really still, I thought she was dead. Any way Professor Lupin said the thing again and a silvery thing came out of his wand and it turned around and sort of glided away.
"I don't understand, what happened to me?" Harry asked
"The Dementor prepared you for the kiss, it took all the happiness from you and started to feed off the fear and unhappy memories. Only people who have had truly horrific past are affected." Izzy said quietly
"So you've had similar experiences." Harry looked at her sceptically
"Well not exactly the same. I saw my mother die and my father dragged out of our house. But my most terrible memory is triggered by guilt. I once accidentally killed someone. I don't really like to talk about it."
Lupin came back in. He paused as he entered, looked around and said with a smile,
"Izzy hasn't poisoned that chocolate you know." Harry looked at the chocolate in his hand. "We'll be at Hogwarts in 10 minutes, are you all right Harry?"
"I'm fine, what about you Isabel?" Harry looked at Izzy
"I'm fine" she said "trust me I've had worse."
"She's a right tough cookie, my Izzy. Took a bludger to the head one game. Didn't even fall off her broom." Lupin said smiling at his god daughter.
"You play Quiddtich?" Harry looked at Izzy with an eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, I play Beater for the Chudley Canons." Izzy shrugged
"You mean, you're the Isabel Tyler? The youngest and the best beater for the Chudley Canons, since for, since for ever?" Ron leaned forward and looked at Izzy in amazement.
"Yeah, but I'm a pretty good Chaser too." Izzy shrugged again
"Pretty good? You could give Ireland's Moran a run for his money, you're like Ginny's hero." Izzy looked at Ginny who was wearing a dumbstruck expression on her face.
They didn't talk much for the rest of the journey. At long last the train stopped in Hogsmeade station, and there was a great scramble to get out; 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!" A deep voice called out. Harry, Hermione and Ron turned and waved to a gigantic man. Hermione told Izzy that he was the games keeper Hagrid. They followed the rest of the school out onto a rough mud track, where at least a hundred stagecoaches awaited the remaining students, each pulled by skeleton like horses.
"What are they?" Izzy murmured to Lupin
"They're called thestrals." He whispered back, "you can only see them if you've seen death." Izzy looked at Lupin
"They seem sad." She murmured partly to herself.
Harry, Ron and Hermione climbed into the next coach.
"You coming Izzy?" Hermione called from the door.
"Yeah, in a minute." Izzy called back.
"You sure you're okay?" Lupin asked with a worried expression
"Uncle Remus I'm fine" Izzy wined, then she smiled. "Bludger proof head remember." Lupin smiled back at her.
"Keep an eye on Harry will you."
"Alright, see you later kay." Izzy climbed into the carriage after giving Lupin a jaunty wave. She sat down next to Hermione.
As the carriage trundled towards a pair of magnificent wrought iron gates, flanked with stone columns topped with winged boars, Izzy saw two more towering, hooded Dementors, standing guard on either side. A wave of cold washed over Izzy again and she shivered. Harry had closed his eyes until they had past through the gates. The carriage picked up speed on the long sloping drive up to the castle; Hermione was leaning out of the tiny, watching the many turrets and towers draw nearer. At last the carriage swayed to a halt, and Hermione and Ron got out.
As Harry and Izzy stepped down, a drawling, delighted voice sounded in their ears.
"You fainted, Potter? Is Longbottom telling the truth? You actually fainted?"
A pale haired boy, who from his appearance Izzy presumed to be a Malfoy, elbowed past Hermione to block Harry's way up the stone steps to the castle, his face gleeful and his pale eyes glinting maliciously
"Shove off Malfoy" said Ron, whose jaw was clenched.
"Did you faint as well Weasley?" said Malfoy gleefully "Did the scary old Dementor frighten you too, Weasley." Izzy's blood was boiling by now. If there was one thing she couldn't stand was people joking about the effect Dementors had on people. Silently she went up to Malfoy and pressed her hand to his forehead.
"W-what are you doing?" Malfoy stuttered. Izzy drew her hand back.
"Hmm, seems like you were scared out of you're senses by them, would have fainted just at the sight of them." She grinned at the others as she turned around and rejoined the others.
"And who are you?" Malfoy said the disgust clearly heard in his voice.
"This is Isabel Tyler." Ron said proudly
"Oh yes I've heard of you," Malfoy said his voice dripping in acidic tones "you're a little small for a beater." He grinned maliciously
"You seem a little lower class for a Malfoy," Malfoy made a lunge at Izzy, but was held back by the two boys either side of him.
"Is there a problem?" said a mild voice. Lupin had just got out of the next carriage.
"Oh, no- er – Professor" Malfoy said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. He smirked at the boys and led them up the steps into the castle
Hermione prodded Ron in the back to make him hurry, and the four of them joined the crowed swarming up the steps, through the giant oak front doors, and into the Entrance Hall, which was lit with flaming torches and housed a magnificent marble staircase which Izzy presumed led to the upper floors.
"Hey I've gotta go." Izzy said to the others "Wish me luck."
"Good luck." They said as she walked away.
"By the way," she said, turning around "What house are you in?"
"Gryffindor!" They chorused together and after nodding at them Izzy turned around and walked off.
Izzy approached the nervous looking 1st years in front of the big oak doors and stood with them, rocking back and forth on her toes.
"What?" she said to a small 1st year boy who was staring up at her.
A small man with a shock of white hair, who Izzy understood to be Professor Flitwick stood in front of them at long last and told them to follow her. The big doors creaked open and Izzy followed the other new students into the Great Hall. Izzy stared up at the floating candles and the enchanted ceiling. At the end on the hall was a stool with an old hat perched on it. Professor Flitwick opened a roll of parchment and began to call out the names of the students.
"Tyler, Isabel." Izzy heard her name called out at last and walked up the stone steps ignoring the whispers around her, which asked whether she was the Isabel Tyler or not. She sat down on the stool and Professor Flitwick placed the sorting hat on her head.
"Ah ha, a third year at last, with her mind in the right place I see." A small voice said in her ear. " Good brains, not tainted by the halls of Bauxbatons ooh an attitude, love those, with a sense to show who you really are but can't. Also a very good sense of humour and very loyal to your family. Secrets line in your mind though. A good place in all the houses, but which one would be best I wonder? Slitherin maybe?" At this Izzy created a mental image of vomiting.
"All right then, no need to be rude," said the small voice. "How about Ravenclaw then?"
"You really think I'm that clever?" Izzy thought
"Yes you're right, well what house do you want to be in?" The voice sounded exasperated, if hat could sound exasperated.
"You know which house I want to be in. Gryffindor duh." Izzy thought.
" All right then GRYFFINDOR!" the hat said the last bit out loud and cheers erupted from the table on the far right. Izzy gave a fleeting glance back to Lupin, who was clapping along with the Gryffindors and then ran to the table where she sat down next to Ron. Across the table a tall boy shook hands with her
"Oliver Wood, Quiddtich captain, hope you'll try out for the team, we need a chaser." Oliver grinned at her.
Harry and Hermione joined them at that point and Ron had just started to ask them where they have been when a very old wizard who Izzy guessed to be Professor Dumbledore stood up and began a speech.
"Welcome!" he said, the candlelight shimmering on his beard. " Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it's best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast…"
Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued. "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business."
He paused, and Izzy remembered what Lupin had said about Dumbledore not being happy with the Dementors guarding the school.
"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued "and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody leaves the school without permission. Dementors are not fooled by tricks or disguises – or even Invisibility cloaks," he added blandly, and Izzy saw Harry and Ron glance at each other as if they had something to hide. "It is not in the nature of Dementors to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the Prefects and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs foul of the Dementors."
Another Weasley, who was sitting a few seats along form Izzy, puffed out his chest again and stared around impressively. Dumbledore paused again; he looked very seriously around the Hall, and nobody moved or made a sound.
"On a happier note," he continued "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. Firstly, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."
There was some scattered, rather unenthusiastic, applause. Only those, Izzy noticed, who were in the compartment on the train with Lupin, clapped hard.
"Look at Snape!" Izzy heard Ron whisper to Harry.
Izzy had been told all about Professor Severus Snape or Snivelrus as her father called him, by Lupin. He had lank black hair and a large hooked nose, meaning she could spot him easily in the row of teachers. He had an expression of complete loathing on his face and was pointing it at Lupin.
"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued, as the lukewarm applause for Lupin had died away, "well I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures, retired at the end of last year in order more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus
Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his game keeping duties."
Izzy stared at the other, who seemed just as stunned as they were.
Then she joined in with the applause which was tumultuous at the Gryffindor table in particular. Izzy and Harry leaned forward to see Hagrid, who was ruby red in the face and staring down at his enormous hands.
"We should've known!" Ron roared, pounding the table "Who else would've sent us a biting book."
"The book bites?" Izzy said, looking up at Ron from a scar on her hand.
"Yeah didn't you realise, what's on your hand?"
Izzy was about to answer him, when Dumbledore continued,
"I would also like to welcome our first transfer student, Miss Isabel Tyler, welcome Miss Tyler. I hope you will enjoy your time here." There was a half-hearted applause as Izzy stood up.
"I know I'm not supposed to make a speech, but to hell with that," she said, earning a smattering of laughter. "Oh and by the way my name is Izzy and I will crush anyone who calls me otherwise, unless you're a figure of authority." More laughter, "Sorry," she said when she saw the disapproving looks from the teachers. "Used to much smaller crowds," she said looking around. "With much better senses of humour," This earned some laughter.
Izzy looked up at the teacher's table and saw that Lupin was giving her a look that could scare a death eater.
"I'll shut up now." She announced, earning even more laughter. "Uncle Remus is giving me a weird stare." She said sinking back into her seat.
"Well I see you have a good sense of humour." Dumbledore continued "Well I think that is all maters of importance, let the feast begin!"
The golden plates and goblets filled with food and drink of every kind. Izzy felt suddenly very hungry and helped herself to everything she should reach and tucked in.
It was a delicious feast; the hall echoed with talk, laughter and the clatter of knives and forks. Harry, Ron and Hermione, however, were eager for it to finish so they could talk to Hagrid.
They told Izzy that being a teacher meant so much to him as he wasn't a fully qualified wizard; he had been expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, they wouldn't tell her why.
At long last, when the last morsels of pumpkin tart had melted from the golden platters, Dumbledore gave the word that it was time for them all to go to bed, and the others got there chance to speak to Hagrid.
"Congratulations Hagrid!" Hermione squealed, as they reached the teacher's table.
"All down ter you three," said Hagrid, wiping his shining face on his napkin as he looked up at them. "Can' believe it … great man, Dumbledore … came straight down to me hut after Professor Kettleburn said he'd had enough…" Hagrid was cut off by a massive sob and Professor McGonagall ushered them away.
Izzy walked up with Harry, Hermione and Ron. They approached the portrait of the fat lady.
"So Izzy, where did you go before you came here?" Hermione asked
"Um Bauxbatons,"
"Ah, Miss Tyler, I was just looking for you." Izzy turned around and saw Professor Dumbledore. He was smiling kindly at her.
"See you." Izzy waved to Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Dumbledore smiled at Izzy as she joined him.
"So Izzy, care to tell who you are?" Izzy was startled by his question, how on earth did he know? She decided to play innocent.
" What do you mean? I'm Isabel Tyler."
"Don't play dumb with me, you may be a very good actress, but it is very hard to fool me. So I ask again, who are you?" Izzy sighed.
"Just promise you won't judge me. My real name is Isabel Lily Black. My father is Sirius Black."
"Oh, well I guess that clears a few things up." Dumbledore started to walk off
"There's another thing, I'm an animagus." Dumbledore turned slowly.
"That's illegal."
"It's genetic"
"Pardon"
"It's Uncle Remus' theory but it seems like the only reasonable explanation."
"Right, perhaps you would like to return to your dormitory. I'm sure you're very tired." Professor Dumbledore smiled "perhaps we could discuss this matter later."
"Yes thank you sir."