The Hogwarts Express

Authors note: Hello again, a big thank you to anyone reading my story, I love you all. =) Not much else to say, but read, enjoy, and please please let me know what you think by reviewing.

Xxx

The morning came slowly for V, soft light alerted her to its creeping presence as the sun slowly rose, climbing carefully from the horizon to cast glittering rays across the sea. A beautiful sight she was only able to imagine as she observed timid rays entering the prison through various odd cracks and breaks in the stonewalls reinforced by strong magic. She had paced the halls restlessly all the previous night, ignoring the calls of Bellatrix Lestrange, buried deep in thought. She was anxious to begin her mission at Hogwarts; she allowed her imagination to concoct images of the school and searched her spotty memory for more accurate descriptions of the place known as Hogwarts. Though she had little luck, the only memories that came were those of the court hearing from her dreams and she was reluctant to continue revisiting the place.

Her tall black boots had lead her to the stark office at the end of the last hallway, inside, Leer waited for her, a tin can that looked to have at one time contained tomato paste sat on his desk waiting. Her belongings simply consisted of the black uniform on her back and a black traveling cloak, V thought she looked a bit like a dementor herself. Leer stood silently and nodded his head in the direction of the empty can. For the first time in nearly a year V felt the tingle of excitement in her system, a small excretion of adrenaline was released and was now running through the sensitive nerves up her spine and flowing down to her shaky fingertips as she reached toward the can.

"The portkey will transport you to a small field that has been designated as the location you and Metus will lead the others onto the train. We have not been welcomed at Kings Cross Station… When you board the train, conduct a sweep of the compartments, Metus will know what to do."

V nodded in consent and understanding, she pulled the long hood of her traveling cloak up to shield her sensitive face from the sunlight that she was sure would greet her in the field. Stepping forward she grasped the can, felling the forever-strange sensation of a tight tug to her naval. V found herself rushing momentarily through space and time, the next instant and she landed gracefully on her feet in a dew-covered field. The sun was just beginning to encroach upon the tops of the trees, threatening to spill over and bathe the land with its warmth. She couldn't help but look up to it wistfully, though it burned her sensitive eyes V could not deny herself the pleasure associated with the fresh morning glow of the sun. As she stood alone in the dewy field encased in her black robes and cloak she closed her eyes and welcomed the smell of the wild flowers invading her nostrils, she breathed deeply, reveling in the sweet smell, the September wind fell down from the open sky above and softy wrapped its cool arms around her, playfully tugging at her robes. She raised an arm and slowly extracted her pale hand from the folds of her cloak holding it out to feel the sun on her skin. But the sensation her senses seemed to remember as pleasant one never came, for the sky suddenly clouded over and the fair blue morning darkened with storm clouds, the wind picked up and pushed against her roughly. A shrill whistle from the approaching train sounded in the distance, shattering the serenity of the morning, she opened her eyes and turned to see Metus followed by about a dozen fellow dementors floating towards her through the field, the fragile wild flowers freezing and dying in their wake. She frowned as she met Metus's gaze, his terrible face hidden in shadow but she was sure he looked to her from under the cavernous fold of his tattered cloak, which hung loosely around his wispy skeleton like body.

The whistle of the train sounded again and she could hear the churn of its engine and felt the vibrations running through the ground. Metus inclined his head towards her in silent greeting. She turned her sad frown to a smile for him, her only 'friend' save for the confounding Bellatrix Lestrange… he turned as the train came into view slowing to a stop in front of them.

A witch tentatively opened the side door for them and V climbed first onto the train followed closely by the dementors. The witch gave them room, eying V suspiciously, taking in the dark appearance of the her flowing black attire as she backed away. Something about the young witches lavender hair ignited a spark of memory somewhere deep in the recesses of V's clouded mind. She paused as she was boarding to glance at the woman who looked over to V curiously yet with a stern face, masking the fear undoubtedly wrought on her by the presence of the dementors and the vampire in front of her.

"Search the train, check the compartments," V ordered as soon as they were all on board the locomotive, her voice escaping her lips softly. The dementors moved silently obeying her. The train gave a frightening lurch as it once again came to life and continued down the tracks on its journey to Hogwarts. Turning from the shadowy figures of the dementors as they set off in opposite directions down the corridors she returned her attention to the familiar looking witch standing only a few meters away from her. V looked the young woman over with interest, taking in her appearance. She was dressed in a dark overcoat, which seemed to buckle near her neck, around her light skinned throat lay a chunky auburn beaded necklace and thick black boots adorned her feet. She had choppy shoulder length violet hair and a cute nose. Taking a step forward thoughtlessly V extended a white hand, absentmindedly reaching to touch the shinny purple hair, it looked soft. The woman recoiled and backed carelessly into a compartment door smacking her head on the handle.

"Mother Fucker," she snapped rubbing her head. "That smarts like hell." She seemed to remember V's presence and jumped a bit, her brown eyes warily studying the vampire.

"I… I am sorry" V attempted. "I meant not to startle you." She let her hand fall back by her side and cast her red eyes to the dirty floor of the Hogwarts Express, the air from a window left slightly ajar twisted into her light brown hair hidden under her hood, causing it to fall onto her face. She hid there under it for a moment.

"Oh," the witch said straightening herself. "Umm, I'm not that jumpy, I'm just um, clumsy…" she scratched her head sheepishly and moved slowly past V to push she window closed. She locked it shut and turned back to the vampire. "I… you," she stammered a bit. "…Do I, umm, Do I know you?" she asked tentatively leaning slightly forward looking under V's black hood. V raised her head quickly revealing her red eyes glittering with interest and question, again the lavender haired witch jumped.

'Merlin's Beard…' she thought as she came face to face with the vampires glowing red eyes. 'I've seen several vampires in my time as an auror, but rarely eyes like that… I've only seen such red eyes once, and that creature was behind bars being held in St. Mungo's… it died not long after too…' She continued to rack her brain, 'that one had only recently been bitten… he was only about two months old…'

V stood quietly looking intently on the witch's thoughtful face waiting for her to speak. Finally the woman came out of her own world of though and spoke. "I'm sorry, I'm being rude, what did you say your name was again?"

"I didn't" V replied, but thought again. "My name…" She thought for a moment, it was V right? Wasn't her name V? No, it wasn't V, but that would have to do until she could remember it. "My name is V." She said, finally settling on her nickname given at Azkaban, but she was sure that wasn't exactly right…

"Oh" said the witch again her face falling a bit, 'then that can't be her…' she thought. "I'm Nymphadora Tonks, but if you would please just call me Tonks." The witch called Tonks tentatively extended a hand for V to shake. V looked confounded for a moment then took Tonks's hand and shook it firmly. A big smile spread across her features, for the first time in a long time V's pale face regained a trace of its former beauty. As Tonks shook the Vampires hand she winced at the chill of her skin.

Eager for more conversation V nervously licked her white lips. Tonks shuddered a bit and released her hand. "Oh no," V said, her eyes widening at the sight of Tonks's worried face, "No, no, I don't mean to… umm…" she was at a loss, after such minimal contact V had forgotten many things that would make people uncomfortable, licking of the lips, certainly from one such as herself was most likely not a very comforting sight for a witch. Her manners were quickly coming back to her, but as for now she stood embarrassed of herself.

"Oh no," said Tonks exhaling a bit, "You're ok, I'm just not so used to umm."

"Vampires…" V finished for her.

Tonks chuckled a bit, "Well, I'm used to Vampires, I've met a few of them in my life, but not usually any so friendly."

"Thank you!" V replied with another big intimidating grin, she was beginning to really enjoy Tonks; she had been so starved for contact from humans that she was immensely enjoying her light awkward conversation with the lavender haired witch. She had already spoken more today then she might have in a full week at Azkaban.

At that moment the two girls turned to see a man with light mousey brown hair wrapped tightly in a navy cloak approaching quickly. His strides were long and purposeful; he caught sight of V and made a b-line for her. V caught the smell of something foul in the air and growled softly. She twitched her nose in effort to rid herself of the wet hairy odor, but to no avail. The man smelled like dog. As he saw her his hard look softened momentarily until he too caught a light wiff of a different smell, the sweet coppery scent of blood. He slowed his step but did not falter as he walked and cast his eyes over V slowly noticing her transparently pale skin and feeling the stare of her red eyes as he approached. 'I know that smell, this must be her' he thought, 'the vampire.' Though determined not to fall subject to the old prejudice he put a small smile on his face and walked calmly to her.

"Remus." Tonks greeted the shabby man with a light smile. Indicating to V that despite the underlying smell of dog he was ok.

"Good afternoon Tonks" he greeted her with a quick and nervous smile, then he turned his attention to V, determined to get to the point straight away. "You will need to keep a closer eye on your dementors" he said with a scowl, "They are not welcome to enter a compartment and freely feed off the children."

"Feed?" V questioned with an angry expression, "No, there should be no Feeding… tell me, what has happened?" She could feel the anger rising in her, this was outrageous, and how dare one of her dementors draw from a child. What could have possible come over them? She snarled at the thought glaring past Remus and down the corridor. No, that would not do, "I will not tolerate such behavior, this is outrageous." V was rapidly regaining her once lost voice. Speaking came easier and the words poured from her viciously.

"I just wanted to make sure you were aware of the incident, one of the students, the boy in question has a dark past, it makes it much easier for them to feed on his pain." The mans face saddened. "I am not fond of dementors, I respect their presence, however they will need to be made aware of the fact that such behavior will in no way be tolerated by Albus Dumbledore."

"Of course." V replied quite professionally fixing her red eyes on the mans blue ones. He did not wince, nor did he look away, instead he smiled slowly. "By the way, my name is Remus Lupin, I'll be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts at the school." He took her hand and shook it without waiting for her to offer it to him, his bold nature startled V, but at least he wasn't scared of her.

"V" she replied, "I'll be doing a better job keeping an eye on them" she said and nodded in the direction of a passing dementor. She scowled at it as it floated past her looking a bit guilty, though no one else on the train would have been able to notice, but V knew the dementors well, to well…

Remus glanced down at his wristwatch, "We should be approaching Hogwarts, and I estimate that we will arrive in around a quarter of an hour." He stated and looked back up to the two women with a cheerful smile, "If you'll excuse me Tonks, V, I need to return to my compartment to check on the boy. I'm sure he's quite alright, but a bit of chocolate would do him good." He nodded to them as he turned to leave, "Oh, and a pleasure to meet you V" he added before disappearing down the corridor and into one of the many compartments. He and Tonks shared a look and Tonks's face paled a bit before she turned to study V again with a renewed interest. Tonks bit her lip and blinked several times shaking her head and starring at her. V regarded her new friends peculiar behavior with a look of concern, but Tonks waved it away with a brush of her hand through the air. She looked Tonks over once more before turning and starring at the compartment door through which the man had gone. It certainly seemed Remus Lupine knew something V did not.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxx

I hope you enjoyed that, I know its taking a long time to get to the Snape and Lucius, but the next chapter will have little Severus to wet your apatite. ;) I know you're out there! So please review!