Welcome back to Book Three, The Prisoner of Azkaban!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for Levina!

Levina checked her list over three times to make sure she'd gotten everything for Hogwarts that year, the now-darkening sky above making it difficult to read.

Her The Monster Book of Monsters was attempting to chew its way out of her bag, and she had to clamp it shut with a thick rubber band to stop it from chewing on her other book, Unfogging the Future.

Levina SnowPetal, a witch at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was going down Diagon Alley and getting her school books, pushing her kart with Lilypad, her black-furred cat, and Athena, her Spectacled owl, down the alley.

She'd changed from last year, her long brown hair ever-so-slightly shorter, perhaps by an inch. Her chocolate brown eyes remained the same, her height taller, and the elegant blue necklace she always wore around her neck remained, although its purpose was still unknown.

She made her way up to the Leaky Cauldron and pushed open the door, where, inside, at three tables combined, were the Weasleys, Hermione, and Harry.

Doing her best not to be spotted, she snuck up behind the trio of Harry, Ron, and Hermione and said, "Hello!"

The three of them spun around in their chairs, delighted.

"Levina!"

Hermione got to her feet and gave her a tight hug, grinning. "What are you doing here?"

"We talked over the phone," said Levina, gesturing towards Ron, "and he said to come here. Anna dropped me off, but she said that I was capable of doing the shopping alone. She's a wonderful cousin."

"Levina. How nice it is to see you again." Percy was sitting in one of the seats by Fred and George. He formally held out his hand, which she took, stifling a laugh.

"Good to see you too, Percy."

"Levina!"

Fred and George were both now standing beside her.

"Indeed how wonderful it is to make your aquaintance again," said Fred, taking her hand in his and kissing it.

"Ah, agreed, how grand it is!" said George, bowing low.

"Fred, George!" said Mrs. Weasley. "That's enough. Hello, Levina, dearie, how are you?"

"Very good, thanks, and you?"

"I'm pretty good, yeah."

"Hello, Levina!" said Mr. Weasley, beaming. "I do hope you had a nice summer?"

"Well, I suppose you could call it nice if you minus a few aspects of it," said Levina, taking a seat next to Harry, reaching for a bowl of chocolate pudding.

"Like what?" said Hermione.

"My family."

Ron laughed.

"So how was your summer, Harry?"

"I blew up my Aunt Marge."

Levina nearly choked on the chocolate pudding she'd just put in her mouth. "What?"

And Harry explained the entire ordeal with him and his Aunt Marge, who he'd caused to inflate.

"Ha!" said Levina through gleeful tears. "So you got to ride on the 'Knight Bus'? Was it fun?"

"Yeah, it was...all right."

"What's that?" asked Levina, pointing to a rather odd-looking cat sitting on the stairs. It had a very smashed face, but it was cute in an ugly sort of way.

"A monster," said Ron, cutting off Hermione as she opened her mouth to speak.

"My cat, Crookshanks," Hermione corrected, glaring at Ron.

After dinner everyone parted one by one to their rooms to check their stuff for the next day.

Levina sat down in front of a mirror in her room to brush out her brown hair, Lilypad happily playing with a piece of string on her bed, the bell around her neck jingling, while Athena hooted irritably, trying to sleep.

Somewhere next door in the other room, she thought she heard raised voices, but didn't bother to investigate, for a moment later, Fred and George came bounding in.

"Check out what we did to Percy's Head Boy Badge," said George.

The badge now read Big Head Boy.

Levina laughed. "Does he not know you have it?"

"Nope," said Fred.

"And do you intend to tell him?"

"Nope."

Levina grinned. "Of course not; that was a stupid question, wasn't it?"

And after a brief conversation, the twins took their leave, shutting the door closed behind them.

Laying down in her bed with LilyPad curled up at her feet, Levina beamed into her pillow and anticipated the following day that would soon arrive.

Levina awoke to a hot cup of tea.

Locking the door, she dressed and headed downstairs with her belongings, placing Lilypad, Athena, and her suitcases in a stack near the door.

Engaging herself in a conversation with Hermione, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley about a love potion Mrs. Weasley'd made as a young girl, they were left quite giggly as they packed the rest of their stuff.

"They're here," called Mr. Weasley from the doorway. "Harry, come on."

Levina loaded into an old-fashioned dark green car with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Percy in the backseat.

When they reached King's cross, Levina watched Mr. Weasley escort Harry to the barrier. Levina had a feeling this had to to with Sirius Black, who was a murderer that, from what she'd heard, was after Harry.

In pairs, they went through the barrier, Harry with Mr. Weasley, Ginny with Percy, Levina with Hermione.

Levina and Hermione went at it with a run and found themselves in front of the Hogwarts Express, which was scarlet.

Loading their trunks into the carriage, Mrs. Weasley came up and gave everyone a kiss, including an embarrassed Levina, and handed out sandwiches to her children.

Once inside the train, Levina made her way down the corridor and over to a window with Hermione, Ron, and Ginny.

"Ahh, back to Hogwarts," said Levina dreamily.

"It's so good to see you again," said Hermione.

"I know, I missed you guys over the summer."

At that moment, Harry entered and waved out the window, followed by the others as the train pulled away from the station.

"I need to talk to you in private," Harry muttered to Levina, Ron, and Hermione.

"Go away, Ginny," said Ron.

"Oh, that's nice," said Ginny, and she left.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Levina went off to a find a compartment, but they could only get one at the very back of the train.

This had only one occupant: a man sitting fast asleep next to the window. It was odd; they'd only seen one adult ever on the train, and that had been the witch that pushed the food cart.

The stranger was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard's robes that had been darned in several places. He looked ill and exhautsed. Though quite young, his light brown hair was flecked with grey.

"Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron hissed as they sat down and slid the door shut, taking the seats farthest away from the window.

"Professor R.J. Lupin," whispered Hermione at once.

"How d'you know that?"

"Honestly, Hermione, it can get a bit creepy," Levina added.

"It's on his case," Hermione replied, rolling her eyes at Levina as she pointed into the luggage rack.

"Wonder what he teaches?" said Ron, frowning at him.

"That's obvious," said Hermione. "There's only one vacancy, isn't there? Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"As long as it's not Lockhart," Levina mumbled darkly, letting Lilypad out of her cage.

"Well, I hope he's up to it," said Ron doubtfully. "He looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn't he? Anyway..." he turned to Harry. "What were you going to tell us?"

Harry explained all about Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's arguement and the warning Mr. Weasley had just given him. When he'd finished, Levina found her hands traveling up her face to cover her mouth in horror.

"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."

"How thick would Harry have to be, to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him?" said Ron shakily.

"Sirius Black," Levina repeated. "I hadn't heard of him."

"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..."

"Oh wait, yeah, I think Anna mentioned something about Black," said Levina, racking her brain to remember.

"What's that noise?" said Ron suddenly.

A faint, tinny sort of whistle was coming from somewhere. They looked around the compartment.

"It's coming from your trunk, Harry," said Ron, standing up and reaching into the luggage rack. A moment later, he pulled a peculiar object from it, which was spinning very fast and glowing.

"What's that?" said Levina.

"A Sneakoscope?" said Hermione interestedly, standing up for a better look.

"Yeah...mind you, it's a very cheap one," said Ron. "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 really not up to long journeys...but how else was I supposed to get Harry's present to him?"

Harry's birthday. Levina had sent him a homemade cake with a Quidditch brush that would instantly clear off dirt, mud, or grass from his broomstick.

Levina felt a sudden sinking feeling in her stomach; they'd never gotten anything for her on her birthday before. Not that it mattered much, considering how her Aunt, Uncle, and Anna never mentioned anything of it, but she felt a bit hurt. She didn't tell them when her birthday was (December 11th), but it bothered her that they'd never so much as asked.

"Don't let that thing out!" Ron was shouting.

Levina looked up, discarding her thoughts, to find Hermione allowing Crookshanks out of his cage.

"Get out of here!"

"Ron, no!"

"Oh, stop it, both of you!" Levina snapped. They both stared at her, and Lupin stirred beside them.

Turning away from them, she added to Harry, "So...did you like the new Quidditch Brush?"

Harry looked slightly surprised. "I...yeah, it was great. Why?"

"Just curious." She fiddled with her fingers for a moment. "Birthdays are quite nice, aren't they?"

Harry and Ron still looked incredibly perplexed, but Hermione suddenly gasped, "Levina! Have you never told us your birthday?"

"Nope," said Levina, feeling content by their looks of guilt.

"When is it?" said Harry.

"December 11th. ...I think."

"We'll get you something then, mate!" said Ron.

"You don't have to..." said Levina, but she knew perfectly well that she didn't feel that way.

"We will anyway," said Hermione.

And Levina continued to pet Lilypad's fur, smiling slightly.

The Hogwarts express moved steadily north and the scenery outside the window became wilder and darker while the clouds overhead thickened. People were chasing backward and forward past the door of their compartment. Crookshanks now settled in an empty seat next to Lilypad, his squashed face turned toward Ron, his yellow eyes on Ron's top pocket, where Scabbers was.

At one o'clock, the plump lady 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 fod."

Hermione approached Professor Lupin cautiously.

"Er-Professor?" she said. "Excuse me-Professor?"

"Don't worry, dear," said the witch as she handed Harry and Levina 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 a Cauldron cake.

Levina nibbled on the end of one thoughtfully. "I hope he's ok, he looks awfully ill."

He might not be very good company, but Professor Lupin's presence in their compartment had its uses.

Midafternoon, just as it had started to rain ("Rain!" said Levina happily), blurring the rolling hills outside the window, they heard footsteps in the corridor again, and their three least favorite people appeared at the door: Draco Malfoy, flanked by his cronies, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

Draco Malfoy had been Levina's enemy ever since they met on the train on their first year at Hogwarts. He had a pale, pointed, sneering face, was in Slytherin House, and played Seeker for the Slytherin Quidditch team. Crabbe and Goyle seemed to exist to do Draco's bidding. They were both wide and musclely; Crabbe was taller, with a pudding-bowl haircut and a very thick neck; Goyle had short, bristly hair and long, gorilla-ish arms.

"Well, look who it is," said Draco in his usual lazy drawl, pulling open the compartment door. "Potty, Weasel, and SnowWeed."

Crabbe and Goyle chuckled trollishly. Levina frowned.

"I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley," said Draco. "Did your mother die of shock?"

"Is this going to become a yearly thing for you?" said Levina, standing up along with Ron, who knocked Crookshank's basket to the floor. Professor Lupin gave a snort.

"Who's that?" said Draco, taking an automatic step backward as he spotted Lupin.

"New teacher," said Harry, also getting to his feet. "What were you saying, Malfoy?"

"Yes, do tell, it was getting quite interesting," added Levina.

Draco's pale eyes narrowed; he wasn't fool enough to pick a fight right under a teacher's nose.

"C'mon," he muttered resentfully to Crabbe and Goyle.

"Ta-ta," said Levina, waving him out with one hand.

Harry, Ron, and Levina sat down again.

"I'm not going to take any crap from Malfoy this year," said Ron 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.

"A good New Year's resolution," said Levina.

"Ron," hissed Hermione, pointing at Professor Lupin, "be careful..."

But Professor Lupin was still asleep.

The rain thickened as the train sped yet farther north; the windows were now a solid, shimmering gray, which gradually darkened until lanterns flickered into life all along the corridors and over the lugagge racks.

"We must be nearly there," said Ron, leaning forward to look past Professor Lupin at the now completely black window.

The words had hardly left him when the train started to slow down.

"Great," said Ron, getting up and walking carefully past Professor Lupin to try and see outside. "I'm starving. I want to get to the feast..."

"We can't be there yet," said Hermione, checking her watch.

"Then why are we stopping?"

"Maybe something's wrong with the train," Levina suggested, sitting up to look out the window.

The train was getting slower and slower. As the noise of the pistons fell away, the wind and rain sounded louder than ever against the windows.

Harry got up to look into the corridor. Levina peeked out, too, and saw heads curiously sticking out of their compartments.

The train came to a stop with a jolt, and distant thuds and bangs told them luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then, without warning, all the lamps went out and they were pluned into total darkness.

"What's going on?" said Ron's voice.

"Ouch!" gasped Hermione. "Ron, that was my foot!"

Levina felt her way back to her seat and scooped up Lilypad.

"Ow! Harry, you're pulling my hair," she added, making room for him.

"Sorry. D'you think we've broken down?"

"Dunno..."

There was a squeaking sound, and Levina 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 slid open and someone fell over Harry's legs.

"Sorry-d'you know what's going on? -Ouch-sorry-"

"Hullo, Neville," said Harry.

"Hi, Neville," said Levina, moving away so that he wouldn't step on her foot.

"Harry? Levina? 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 ask the driver what's going on," came Hermione's voice. Levina felt her slide past, heard the door slide open again, and a thud and two squeals of pain.

"Who's that?"

"What's going on?"

"Ginny?"

"Hermione? Levina?"

"Yes!"

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking for Ron-"

"Come in and sit down-"

"Not here! I'm here!"

"Ouch!"

"Quiet!" said a hoarse voice suddenly.

Professor Lupin appeared to have finally woken up at last. Levina could hear movements in his corner. None of them spoke.

There was a soft, crackling noise, and a shivering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames. They illuminated his tired, gray face, but his eyes looked alter and wary.

"Stay where you are," he said in the same hoarse voice, and he got slowly to his feet with the 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. Levina's eyes darted downward, where a hand was protruding from the cloak, glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water.

But it was suddenly drawn back into the 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 overswept them all. Levina shivered and her very heart felt icy, her skin frozen.

Harry suddenly fell to the ground in a heavy faint and toppled over. Levina shrieked and Lupin strode over to the creature.

"None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go."

The creature didn't move. Lupin muttered something, and a silvery light shot out of his wand at it, making it turn around and glide away.

Levina turned to Harry, who was twitching and writhing slightly.

"Harry, are you ok? Harry!"

The lights flickered back on and the train began to move again. Levina and Hermione knelt down, slapping his face.

"Harry! Harry! Are you all right?"

"W-what?"

Harry opened his eyes, pushed his glasses back on, and sat upright.

"Are you ok?" Ron asked nervously.

"Yeah," said Harry. "What happened? Where's that-that thing? Who screamed?"

"No one screamed," said Ron.

"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Levina, bewildered. "I mean, I screamed before you fainted, but..."

"No, I've heard you scream before; it wasn't you," said Harry. "But I heard screaming-"

A loud snap made them all jump. Professor Lupin was breaking an enormous slab of chocolate into pieces.

"Here," he said to Harry, handing him a particularly large piece. "Eat it. It'll help."

Harry took it but didn't eat it.

"What was that thing?" He asked Lupin.

"A dementor," said Lupin, who was now giving chocolate to everyone else. "One of the dementors of Azkaban."

Everyone stared at him. Professor Lupin crumpled up the empty chocolate wrapper and put it in his pocket.

"Eat," he repeated. "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me..."

And he dissappeared into the corridor.

Levina stared at the chunk of chocolate in her hand and took a small bite off the end of it. Instant warmth surged throug her body.

"Are you sure you're ok, Harry?" said Hermione.

"I don't get it...What happened?" said Harry, wiping sweat from his face.

"Well-that thing-the dementor-stood there and looked around (I mean, I think it did, I couldn't see it's face)-and you-and you-"

"Passed out," said Levina helpfully.

"I thought you were having a fit or something," said Ron. "You went sort of rigid and fell out of your seat and started twitching-"

"And Professor Lupin stepped over you, and walked over to the dementor 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?"

"It was, like, below freezing," added Levina.

"I felt weird," said Ron, "Like I'd never be cheerful again..."

Ginny, who was huddled in a corner, gave a small sob.

Hermione and Levina put their arms comfortingly around her.

"It's gone, Ginny," said Levina reassuringly. "And Harry's okay. Right, Harry?"

"Yeah, but...didn't any of you-fall off your seats?" said Harry awkwardly.

"No," said Ron. "Ginny was shaking like mad, though."

Professor Lupin came back. He looked around, smiled, and said, "I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know..."

Everyone took bites from their chocolate, and Levina finished hers, feeling warm again.

"We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes," said Professor Lupin. "Are you all right, Harry?"

"Fine," Harry muttered, embarrassed.

They didn't talk much on the remainder of the journey. Eventually, they reached Hogwarts. Levina placed Lilypad back in her cage and gathered her belongings, and together, they scrambled off the train and onto the tiny platform.

"Firs' years, this way!" called a familiar voice.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Levina turned and saw the gigantic outline of Hagrid at the other end of the platform.

"All righ', you four?" Hagrid yelled over the heads of the crowd, but they could only wave at him because of the mass of people.

Climbing into a stagecoach, they took off down a muddy pathway and towards the iron gates.

Finally, when it swayed to a halt, they jumped down only to be welcomed by a delighted, drawling voice.

"You fainted, Potter? Is Longbottom telling the truth? You actually fainted?"

Levina snarled at Draco as he advanced towards them, sneering.

"Get lost, Draco," she spat at him, pulling her luggage off the carriage.

"Shove off, Malfoy," said Ron.

"Did you two faint as well, Weasley, SnowPetal? Did the scary old dementor frighten you too?"

"Is there a problem?" said a mild voice. Professor Lupin had just gotten out of the next carriage.

"Oh, no-er-Professor."

And he smirked at Crabbe and Goyle and led them up the stairs to the castle.

"Git," said Levina darkly, glaring after him.

The moment they entered the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall appeared and called, "Potter! Granger! I want to see you both."

They turned around, surprised.

"There's no need to look so worried-I just want a word in my office," she told them. "Move alone there, SnowPetal, Weasley."

Levina shrugged at Ron. "They'll tell us when they get here."

Settling into a seat, Fred and George suddenly leapt into a seat on either side of Levina.

"Hey!"

"Hi!" Levina made room so that when Harry and Hermione returned, they'd have seats.

"Where's Harry and Hermione?"

"Professor McGonagall called them off for something."

"Huh," said George.

"Hope they don't miss the sorting. Hello, ickle Ronnie," Fred added to Ron.

Ron glared at his brothers. "Don't you two have anything better to do?"

"Fine, we'll just talk to Levina then."

"Joy," said Levina, but she was smiling.

And the Sorting began.

"I think we've got a good crowd of Gryffindors going this year," said Levina thoughtfully.

"Yeah," said Ron, "but there's also a lot of Slytherin first years."

Harry and Hermione suddenly dropped into the empty seats.

"Nice of you to join us," said Levina, making room for Hermione.

"What was that all about?" Ron muttered to Harry.

Harry started to explain, but just then Dumbeldore stood up.

"Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have very few things to say to you all, and one of them is very serious, I think its best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by the feast. 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 Akzaban."

As Dumbledore explained everything, Levina frequently shot looks at Harry, who still looked slightly pale.

But Levina noticed something as Dumbledore introduced Professor Lupin; Snape was looking at him with an incredible loathing, one he would give to Harry. Levina yet again looked at Harry, who this time returned her glance.

"Think he's plotting to kill him for the Dark Arts job?" Levina whispered.

"With that look, I'd say he's thinking more about feeding him to the Dementors," said Ron.

Levina was so busy laughing alonside Ron that she hardly caught the bit about Hagrid becoming the new Care of Magical creatures teacher.

"WHAT!" Levina jumped so abruptly that she knocked over her empty goblet. She joined into the Gryffindor applause heartily and placed the cup back upright.

"Smooth," said Fred, looking amused.

"Oh, shut up." Levina grinned back and finished clapping.

"Let the feast begin!"

Levina enjoyed every bite of food she could stuff in her mouth. Taking a rather large gulp of pumpkin juice, she nearly choked laughing at one of the jokes the twins were telling.

And after congratulating Hagrid and going up to the dorm, Levina went to bed after tightening her necklace and letting Lilypad out of her cage, smiling, and feeling at home at last.