Chapter 2
The Dementor, Back to Hogwarts
The Hogwarts Express was just pulling out of the station when Harry and the others finally found a compartment that was almost entirely empty, the only occupant a man who was sound asleep. Harry looked at him and almost winced, he knew that he had looked like that when he was picked up by the Ministry a few months back.
As Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the compartment Ron looked at his best mate; "Harry, mate, do you think we'll finally have a quiet year?"
"Doubt it, this is Hogwarts remember?" Harry snorted.
Ron snorted and started to give his rat, Scabbers (1), some of the rat tonic that he'd picked up at the Magical Menagerie while they were in Diagon Alley. The poor rat had been sick since they had gone to Egypt. While he did this Hermione checked out Harry's new look, he now wore a pair of black shorts that reached just below his knees with cargo pockets on the sides, with a black shirt and red vest worn open over it that had a gold Gryffindor lion stitched into it on the back (2).
Hermione blushed slightly as she looked at this then quickly looked away. Harry was busy putting his bags away, and didn't see this. When they settled in, Ron and Hermione started to talk about her new pet, a cat named Crookshanks, who was large, ugly, and smart as hell. Harry's own pet, his owl Hedwig had gone ahead of him with Minerva to Hogwarts. Soon the train was fully underway, the storm that raged around them was intense and Harry was glad that he wasn't on a broom right at the moment and Ron was glad that they weren't flying his dad's car in this weather.
Before the train got to the station, something weird happened, the train stopped suddenly. Hermione looked around them, puzzlement clear on her face; "What's going on? We can't be there yet."
When the train carriage rocked and Ron muttered; "I think something's come aboard," in a quiet voice before the lights all through the carriage shut off at once.
Harry sighed and looked around; "Here we go again," he said as he pulled out his wand and lit it up, a few seconds later both Hermione and Ron's wands lit up too.
The door to the carriage rattled for a few seconds, opened and a long, pale, slimy-looking and scabrous hand reached through the doorway. That was all that Harry had seen before a wave of cold rolled through the compartment and, following right on its heels, darkness rolled over him and the last thing that Harry heard was a high-pitched woman's scream, and the last thought that went through his mind was for a bushy haired witch.
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When Harry returned to consciousness the first thing he did was look to see if Hermione was alright. When he could see that she was fine, he let out a sigh of relief and then jumped when the door to the carriage opened and a tall, shabby looking man entered the compartment
"Ahh, you're awake," he smiled and held out a bar of chocolate to Harry; "Eat, it helps, it really helps."
Harry took the bar and looked at the man, he looked like he was a young man, but his hair was grey and he looked like he had been put through the wringer.
Ron looked at Harry and as if hearing the un-asked question said: "It was a Dementor Harry, one of the guards of Azkaban, the wizard prison."
Harry shook his head; "What was it looking for?" he asked.
"It was probably looking for Sirius Black;" the older man replied; "he's escaped from Azkaban recently. Didn't you know that?"
Harry shook his head; "No, my plate has been kind of full lately," he replied then looked up at the man and asked; "Who are you, if I may ask?"
The man smiled slightly;"That's right; I haven't introduced myself have I? I am Professor R.J. Lupin," he motioned to the chocolate bar in Harry's hand; "It's not poisoned you know," he added, almost as though he was teasing him.
Harry looked at the bar, blushed a little, and then took a small bite, even as he did so he found himself starting to feel better. Harry didn't know that he was even feeling ill until that moment. Before Harry knew it, he had finished the bar and was looking around the compartment. Ron was looking pale as Harry had ever seen, and Hermione looked as though she'd gotten an emotional working over.
"Hermione, Ron, are you two okay?" he asked, worry in his tone.
Hermione nodded shakily as Ron replied; "As good as can be mate."
Ron smirked inside, however, when he noticed that Harry had checked on Hermione first.
The man, Lupin, stood up and stretched his back and then looked at them all; "If you don't mind, I'm going to have a word with the driver. See if we can't get back underway."
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When they arrived at the Castle, the whole place was in an uproar. It seemed like they weren't the only ones that were visited by the Dementors. Harry could see that several other students looked shaken and pale as he still felt. He also noticed that several of the teachers were in a right state.
Minerva was furious, Professor Sprout was anxious, and even Snape seemed to be worried.
"Harry," Hermione whispered; "Do you think that this is because of the Dementors?"
Harry nodded; "Yeah, I do. But I don't get why Snape looks worried. It seems like he would happen to like it."
Ron shook his head; "Let's just get to the Great Hall, I want to eat and get changed as soon as possible, I'm soaked through!"
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The next morning Ron, Hermione and Harry were sitting together at the Gryffindor table for breakfast when Ginny came running up to them, a smile on her face as she sat next to them, and kissed her brother on the cheek.
"I'd heard about you helping with the Dementor, Ron, that was truly brave," she said with a smile as Ron blushed Gryffindor red.
"It was nothing," Ron mumbled, hoping that the food would show up soon.
His wish was granted as food showed up, scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, tea, porridge and several other things. As they ate, their class schedules arrived, and Harry was pleased to see the three electives that he chose were there: Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, and Magical Symbology.
Hermione looked at the schedules; "Wow Harry, I figured that you would've taken Ancient Runes with me."
"I thought about it," Harry chuckled; "but I also wanted to see what Divination was like, and..." he grew contemplative for a moment; "There was something... I don't know... something about Symbology seemed...right somehow."
No one seemed to notice the almost lost look in Harry's eyes as he thought about Symbology, except for Professor McGonagall who was walking back by the table. She smiled inside as she thought about how good the Potters were at Symbol Magics.
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A/N: Hey all, sorry about the short chapter, but I wanted to set up for the next couple of chapters. I hope you like it, and I wanted to say thanks to DevlinGrace for being my beta and putting up with me. Don't forget to review ;)
(1): Scabbers is really a rat in this story, not Pettigrew
(2): Think of Sora's costume from Kingdom Hearts 2