Harry Potter and the demented dementor
It was Harry's third year at Hogwarts and he was looking forward to it. This year, he had a new defence of the dark arts teacher and also had heard some exciting news. A man who escaped from Azkaban was on the loose! He could hardly wait to find out more. At the present moment, Harry was sitting in the Hogwarts express, in a carriage with his three friends; Ron, Hermione and Neville and Harry was playing exploding snap with Ron.
"Ha! That's one! Gosh, I can't believe my luck today! With all this commotion, I'm getting rather hungry..." Ron said, looking out of the glass doors at the end of the small carriage as if he was calling the lunch lady with the trolley.
"Seriously, Ron, Do you ever stop eating? Just a minute a go you ate lunch and half of mine as well!" exclaimed Hermione, looking at him over her Daily Prophet.
"Well, I can't help it! I'm a growing boy!" said Ron, puffing out his chest to make him look stronger, but unfortunately knocking over all the exploding cards.
"That's a great improvement!" whispered Neville to Harry, as they helped pick them up off the floor. Harry sat comfortably in his seat and looked out of the window, gazing into the midnight blueness of the night. He thought of all the powers darkness had, and how they would compare to someone's like Voldemorts and maybe, perhaps, his own. They were nearing Hogwarts now, and Hermione had stopped reading her Daily Prophet, and was now getting out her school robes.
"Come on, if you don't start putting them on, you're going to be late getting off the train!" she remarked.
Ron and Neville got up and reached for their robes. A mouse fell out of Ron's.
"Scabbers! I wondered where you were!" he said, stroking the mouse fondly. It squeaked with delight and nestled into his hands.
"Ron, have you ever thought about getting another animal? I mean, mice are good, but you can't do much with them. What about an owl? Then you can send messages with your owl instead of the school ones!" said Hermione, putting her own clothes into her bag neatly. Ron didn't look at her, but instead shoved his clothes in his bag angrily, so it wouldn't shut. After three tries, he gave up and put half of them in his rucksack.
Harry was putting on his dress clothes when the train blowed it's whistle to say that they were five minutes away from Hogwarts. There was a lot of noise coming from the other compartments, and people were starting to walk past. Just as they were ready to go, Draco Malfoy and his gang walked past. Pansy Parkinson starting giggling and pointed directly at Neville with her grubby fingers. Neville went red. Harry walked to the compartment door and opened it.
"Got a problem, Malfoy?"
"Yeah, I have. Him!" said Malfoy, pointing past Harry's shoulder to Neville.
"What about him?"
"He's going to join his parents in the loony asylum if he's not careful!" screeched Pansy.
The gang walked away, laughing. Water appeared in Neville's eyes.
"Don't worry, Neville, he's just a pig," said Hermione, putting his arm round him.
"Yeah, don't worry mate," said Ron.
The train stopped and they all got off.
A familiar voice called "Firs' years! Over 'ere!"
"Hagrid!" they called.
"Oh, hiya guys! See you in a jiffy!" He called, waving at them, and then carried on calling the first years.
They made their way into a Thestral drawn carriage, and it set off towards the castle that loomed over them in the distance. As they were approaching it, a dark figure looked in at the window. Ron yelped and cowered behind Hermione in fear. The figure then went away to the next carriage. Ron looked out from behind Hermione, the straightened up and shuffled across the seat away from her.
"What was that?" asked Ron, looking out of the window.
"Harry?"
"No, I'm pretty sure it wasn't Harry!" said Ron, turning round. Harry was lying on the floor, clutching his forehead where the scar is.
Hermione and Neville were surrounding him and nudging him. Suddenly, Harry said, "Agh!"
"Oh Harry! You're ok! Thank goodness!" said Neville, sitting back up on his seat.
"It was a dementor. They are guarders of Azkaban," said Hermione.
Harry sat up. "Why are they here?"
"Haven't you heard about Serious Black? The prisoner who escaped Azkaban?"
"Oh yeah!" said Ron.
Harry got to his feet. "My scar..."
"Don't worry. We...will ask the new defence of the Arts teacher."
They got off the carriage and followed everyone else inside.
They went into the great hall and sat down. After the first years had been put into their houses, Dumbledore stood up and the hall fell silent.
"I have some announcements to make. First, I welcome the new defence of the arts teacher, Remus Lupin!" An odd looking teacher stood up and received a little applause from the teachers.
"And now for some warnings. You all, I hope, know that a prisoner has escaped from Azkaban. Dementors have been set in school to look after you. I must admit," He looked at Professor McGonagall, "That I didn't want that many. But, it is for your safety. So, please do not intimidate them, otherwise they will get angry. I think you shall learn not to over the next term.
"And now for some good news. Let the feast begin!"
Glorious food started appearing on the tables. There was a wave of delight and then the only sound that could be heard was the munching of the pupils.
"Wow. Better food this year then ever!" exclaimed Ron, helping himself to many chicken satay, pork and apple sauce, potatoes, carrots and various other things.
"Ron, please, don't eat like that! You look like a pig!" said Hermione, glaring at Ron with disgust.
"Hey guys, how are you doing?" Fred and George sat down next to them.
"Why are you so late?" asked Ron.
"We've been...doing things." They winked at each other.
"Seriously, do you ever grow up?"
"No, you know us too well, Hermione!"
"Well, do you know when our first Quiddich tryout is?" asked Harry.
"No...ask Wood, he'll know!"
"Ok, thanks!
It was the first Quiddich match against Hufflepuff, and the team had worked very hard training for it. As the people started filling in the stadium, nerves started to creep up in all the players. Ron and Hermione came to wish Harry luck, before settling themselves down in one of the Gryffindor stands.
Wood gave the Gryffindor team the usual pep talk, but this time it was with a slight twist.
"So, team, as usual we have worked hard for this and no doubt it will pay off. The only thing we need to worry about is the Dementors."
The whole team looked confused.
"Dementors?" asked Harry, "But they're at the entrances in school."
"Apparently not. It seems that they have started moving around the school; Dumbledore is getting a bit angry about them. So... be careful, ok?"
The team mumbled in agreement. Suddenly, the trumpets blew and before Harry knew it, they were all on the pitch. Wood went to Madam Hooch to shake the captain of the Hufflepuff's hand, and then he returned to his place. The whistle blew; he soared up into the air to watch for the snitch.
"Gryffindor in possession, Angelina passes to Fred, Fred passes to George. Wow Gryffindor are going to slash the Hufflepuff's at this rate! Look at them go! Last year Gryffindor won the house cup, so this should be easy work for them!"
"Gordon!" shouted Professor McGonagall over all the noise.
"Gryffindor score! So, that's now thirty points to zero! No-ones spotted the snitch, yet, but wait... is it getting a bit chillier here?"
Everyone looked down to the floor of the Quiddich pitch. A dementor was hovering exactly below where Harry was. Harry noticed the dementor, and didn't think properly.
"Ridiculouses!" He shouted, pointing his wand at the dementor. But, it was not a boggart, and Harry didn't say it right. The dementor stopped hovering, and touched the ground. By now, all the Quiddich players had noticed and had stopped playing. The dementor made himself into a ball and with great effort, threw his arms up and grew to his original height. Lights erupted from him; yellow, green, blue, red, pink and purple blotches hit the spectators. Then, the dementor did something extremely unusual. He started singing.
"Come on everybody! Throw your hands into the air and sing along. One...two...three...four...YMCA lets all sing it now, YMCA."
All the people on the stands were singing, including the people on the Quiddich pitch. Harry even saw a glimpse of Dumbledore himself, standing up in the stands and waving his arms loudly. Harry didn't know what to do. All the teachers were singing; it seemed like he was the only normal person. He shouted at the dementor, but nothing happened. So, at the top of his voice, he shouted,
"Ridiculous!" Everyone put their arms down and the dementor disappeared. Everybody turned back to normal.
"Thirty points to zero! And there goes the whistle! Gryffindor win!"
The crowd erupted. No-one seemed to realise that just minutes ago, they were ruining their dignity.
'Oh well!' thought Harry, 'I shall always remember!' And he walked back into the changing rooms with his fellow team mates, celebrating.