That night, Ariana sat down with the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, and her parents to eat dinner. Mr. Weasley was eagerly asking her parents all sorts of questions. "And your Muggle money works differently in America than it does in Britain, yes?"

"Yes," her father said, starting to look a little bit annoyed.

Ariana met Ginny's eye and raised an eyebrow, and Ginny just shook her head and snorted. On Ginny's other side sat Hermione, who was smiling bemusedly at Mr. Weasley's eager questions. Next to her was Harry, and on his other side a very annoyed Ron. He was not pleased about Hermione's cat, claiming it had attacked his rat, Scabbers.

"So, American girl," said Fred. "You hear about Sirius Black?"

Ariana frowned. "No. Who's that?"

"Fred, is this necessary?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Well," said George, "Ought to know, hasn't she? Could be in danger otherwise."

"Danger?"

"Sirius Black is a convicted murderer," said Mr. Weasley. "He escaped from the wizard prison, Azkaban, recently. But everyone will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts," he quickly assured her parents, "They have security measures in place. And there's no reason to assume he would go there anyway."

"I thought nobody could escape from wizard prison," Ariana said.

"He's the first who ever has," said Ron. "Right scary, isn't it?"

"Ron!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed.

"As Head Boy, I'll help to make sure that everyone is safe," Percy said, and Ron and Ginny both rolled their eyes.

"Right, thanks," Ariana said.

"Really, everyone is safe," Hermione said. "Nothing gets inside the Hogwarts grounds without permission."

Harry gave a cough that sounded awfully like the words "Lord Voldemort on the back of a teacher's head."

"Anyway," said Mrs. Weasley with a smile. "Onto more pleasant discussions..."

The next day, Ariana arrived with her parents to the train station at 10:30; the others weren't there yet.

"So, still not coming on the platform with me?" she asked.

"It's like we told you, dear. We made a promise to stay out of it."

"So you did know something, then. About my being a witch."

"Well, after you got the letter, we did. The headmaster gave us an explanation and made us promise to stay out of it and say nothing. So we promised."

"And how do you know Harry's name?"

"What?"

"You reacted when I said his name at the end of last year. You know who he is."

"I don't know what you're talking about, dear. Now, be good. We love you."

"I love you too."

Unsatisfied with their answers, she stepped onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

Later, she sat with Ginny, Colin, and a couple of others in their year, plus Neville, in a compartment. They were chatting about this and that random thing when all of a sudden the train stopped.

"No way we're there yet," Ginny said.

Ariana frowned. Before she knew it, the lights were out. A couple of people screamed, but she held her tongue.

"I'm going to find Harry, Ron, and Hermione," Ginny said. "Come with?"

Nodding and then realizing Ginny couldn't see that, she said, "Yeah." She started to follow Ginny down the train.

"I'm coming too," Neville said.

When they reached the compartment the others were in, there was a great deal of tripping and falling. All of a sudden, there was another voice. "Stay where you are." A man was holding out a handful of fire. Then the door slid open.

A terrible creature entered the compartment. A great chill filled Ariana, and she had the idea that she would never be happy again. The creature looked around at them. Harry suddenly collapsed, falling to the floor. The man stepped over him and pulled out his wand. "None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks," he said to the creature. "Go." It did not move, so he said something under his breath and something silvery shot at it. It left. Ginny was shaking beside her, and she still felt afraid.

"Harry!" Hermione said. "Harry! Are you all right?" Ron was slapping his face. They helped him back into his seat.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked.

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

Screamed? thought Ariana. Nobody screamed.

"No one screamed," Ron confirmed.

"But I heard screaming-"

The man was breaking up a piece of chocolate, and Ariana frowned. Was this the time for a snack? "Here," the man said to Harry, handing him a piece. "Eat it. It'll help."

Harry didn't eat it. "What was that thing?" he asked.

"A dementor," replied the man. "One of the dementors of Azkaban." He handed everyone else a piece of chocolate, and Ariana took hers with a tiny bit of hesitation. Who was this man? "Eat," he said again. "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me..."

The others started to explain to Harry what had happened, and Ariana went over to Ginny, who was crying. Whatever had just happened had scared her, and she had the bad feeling that it would not be the last time something scary happened this year.

The man returned, looked around, and said, "I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know..."

Ariana took a small bite and felt a bit less afraid.

The man spoke again, but he was talking to Harry, and Ariana tuned him out. When they finally arrived at Hogwarts, they walked over to a row of carriages and got in them, heading to the Great Hall. For some reason, Harry and Hermione went over to McGonagall; Ariana followed the others over to the Gryffindor table and sat down for the sorting ceremony. As it turned out, the man who had been on the train was Professor Lupin, their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Ariana felt bad for not trusting him.

After the feast, they went up to bed. It had been a long day. But, thought Ariana as she went to bed, she was at Hogwarts again, ready for another incredible year of magic.