Pippa spent the last week of the summer holidays at Maisie's house. They passed many pleasant days swimming in the pond, reading from the Muggle library, and playing Quidditch. Pippa was getting better on a broomstick, and agreeably played Keeper to Maisie's Chaser.
On September first, Dad took Maisie, Pippa, and Oliver to King's Cross. Oliver, who'd just gotten his Apparition license, took Maisie by Side-along Apparition. Dad took Pippa, who was overwhelmed by the experience and puked in the bin by platform ten before she went through the barrier.
Pippa and Maisie found an empty compartment near the back of the train. The train had been moving for nearly an hour before Bryony found them.
"There you are! Why are you hiding back here?"
"It was the only empty place," said Pippa. "The train seems more crowded this year."
"How can that be?" said Bryony.
Maisie shrugged. "Maybe there are more first-years?"
"Maybe." Bryony settled more comfortably in her seat. "Anyway, how was your summer?"
"Great!" said Pippa. "I've gotten pretty good on a broom!"
Bryony laughed. "When did you practice flying?"
"Hamish got a broom for his birthday, and we found a place to fly that's within cycling distance. We went out a few days a week. I did a sloth-grip roll and didn't fall!"
The door opened, and Jimmy and Owen came in.
"Well done, Pip!" Jimmy stuck out his hand, and Pippa high-fived him with enthusiasm.
"How's it going, Jim?" said Maisie.
"Good! Spent part of the holidays hiking in Scotland. That was fun." Jimmy sank into a seat. "I think we were near Hogwarts. The local Muggles kept talking about this huge castle that nobody goes near."
"Couldn't that be anywhere in Scotland, Jimmy?" said Bryony.
Jimmy shrugged. "Maybe. But don't Muggles love touring old castles?"
"I can confirm that," said Pippa. "When I was ten, my gran took us all on a tour of France. We went in like twenty castles."
"Really?" said Owen. "What's the fascination?"
"A lot of the rooms are pretty, and the architecture is really cool. How did Muggles move such big stones?"
"I wonder the same thing about the pyramids," said Maisie.
"Speaking of pyramids," said Owen, "has anybody heard from the twins lately?"
"I saw them last week," said Maisie. "They've quadrupled their freckles."
Owen laughed.
"I'm dying to hear about their trip," said Jimmy.
"Me, too!" said Pippa. "I've always wanted to go to Egypt!"
"Egypt, really?" said Bryony. "I don't see the appeal, honestly. I don't like sand."
The countryside rolled by, and heavy clouds descended as the afternoon passed; it got dark very early. There was a distant rumble of thunder.
Fred and George came in around four o'clock. Lee Jordan and Jasper Murray were with them.
"There you are," Jasper said to Bryony. "We need to be patrolling the corridor."
"Oh, right." Bryony set down her cards. "I'm out, guys."
"I'll take your hand, Bry," said George. "You go do your prefect things."
Bryony and Jasper left, Bryony straightening her prefect's badge as she went. George took Bryony's seat.
"Can I deal you in, Fred?" said Owen.
"No thanks." Fred slid into the seat next to Maisie and reached for a Chocolate Frog. "I'll just watch. All right, Mays?"
"Yeah, great." Maisie showed him her hand. "What do you think? Raise or pass?"
Fred pursed his lips and pretended to ponder; Maisie's hand was truly terrible. "Raise."
"Done." Maisie bet another two Sickles.
Jimmy calmly matched Maisie's bet. Owen's eyes flicked nervously from Maisie's face to Fred's. "I fold," he said reluctantly.
Pippa matched, and George raised the stakes again. At Fred's encouraging nudge, Maisie stayed in the game. Jimmy won that hand, George the next, and Maisie was nearly out of money.
"Sorry, guys, I'm out." Maisie put down her cards. "I need to save my pocket money."
"We should play with Bertie beans instead," Jimmy said.
The train started to slow down.
Maisie glanced out the window, which was completely blurred by rain. "Are we there already?"
"Time flies when you're having fun," said Owen.
"No, Maisie's right," said Fred. "We're not there yet."
"Did the train break down?" said Pippa nervously.
Jimmy stood up and opened the compartment door. "Any idea what's going on?" he asked somebody in the corridor.
The train lurched. There were cries of pain up and down the train as luggage fell from racks and people were flung into each other. The lights went out. Cries of pain were replaced with cries of surprise and fear.
"Does it feel colder to you guys?" said Lee.
George peered out the window. "Can't see much through the rain…hang on, I think there's somebody out there!"
"Who?" said Pippa, her voice a little higher than usual.
"Ministry officials?" said Owen. "Maybe they want to search the train for Sirius Black?"
"Could be," said Fred.
"It definitely feels colder," said Maisie, drawing closer to Fred. He put his arm around her.
Lee stood up. "I'm going to see if—" The door to the compartment opened, and three people stumbled in.
"They're out there!" said a high-pitched boy's voice.
"Who's out there?" said Owen.
"There are dementors in the corridor!" said the boy shrilly.
"Malfoy, is that you?" said Fred.
At the same moment, Jimmy said, "Dementors? You're joking."
"Why would I joke about that?" said Malfoy in that same high voice. Maisie remembered Malfoy from dueling club and the Slytherin Quidditch team: a thin, pale boy with a pointed face and hair the same color as Pippa's.
"I'm going to investigate." There was a rustling sound as Lee drew his wand. "There's no way the Ministry would allow dementors to board the Hogwarts Express."
"I'll come with you." George stood up.
The compartment door opened again. A tall, darkly hooded figure floated in the doorway. It did not speak, but its every breath was like a death rattle. The temperature dropped noticeably.
Maisie remembered a day in primary school, when Emily Greenstreet had teased Maisie about her favorite yellow school dress. Maisie had cried in the corner of the playground…she cried on the day Oliver went off to school without her and she was alone for the first time…Pippa's petrified face in the corridor…
"Please," said Lee feebly. "Please…go away."
There was a sudden coldness around Maisie's shoulders; Fred had stood up, too. "Get out of here." His voice was much firmer than Lee's. "We don't have him, okay? A convicted murderer is not trying to sneak into a school." The dementor didn't move.
A faint silvery glow grew in the corridor. Silver mist curled around the edges of the compartment door. The dementor recoiled, hissing, and glided away. A thin, shabbily dressed man with a scarred face appeared in the doorway, wand drawn. The glowing silver mist seemed to be emanating from the tip of his wand.
"Did anybody in here faint?" he said.
"Faint?" said Malfoy derisively, though feebly. "Who'd faint?"
"Pippa did." Jimmy was kneeling beside her on the floor.
"She'll be fine," said the man. He rummaged in his pocket. "When she wakes up, make sure she eats this. You should all have some. It helps. If you'll excuse me, I want to check on the rest of the students."
Jimmy took the lump of chocolate. "Thank you, Mr.-?"
"Lupin. I'm your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I had hoped to save our first lesson for the classroom."
"Thank you, Professor," said Maisie. "We'll be fine."
Professor Lupin nodded politely and left.
Jimmy passed the chocolate around. They all sank back in their seats, sighing heavily, wrapped in their own thoughts. The three Slytherin boys remained in the compartment. Maisie wondered why, but then she looked at Malfoy's face and thought: he looks too scared to walk.
Pippa stirred. Her eyes fluttered open, and she struggled to sit up. "Hi…what the hell happened?"
"Pip!" Jimmy and Maisie were next to her immediately.
"How do you feel, Pippa?" said Maisie.
"Eat some of this." Jimmy fumbled with the chocolate. "Professor Lupin said it would help."
"Who's Professor—mmph!" Jimmy had bypassed her hand and shoved the chocolate into her mouth.
"There were dementors," Maisie said. "I guess you saw Slytherin's monster again?"
Pippa nodded, and her eyes filled with tears.
"Oh, Pip." Maisie wrapped her arms around Pippa. "It's all right. It can't hurt you anymore."
Malfoy was watching this closely. "You were one of the petrified students? Are you Muggle-born?"
"What's it to you, Malfoy?" said Fred sharply.
"Absolutely nothing." Malfoy stood. "We're leaving." His two friends, large boys with vacant expressions, followed suit without comment.
"Looking forward to our Quidditch match, Malfoy," said George.
Malfoy sneered, but his face was still deathly pale, and he said nothing.
Maisie helped Pippa back into a seat. Jimmy found an extra Chocolate Frog wedged between the seats and made her eat it, too. The twins launched into a long-winded story about trying to shut Percy in an Egyptian tomb, which brought feeble chuckles and weak smiles to everyone's faces.
They were at Hogwarts within the hour. The rain had not abated.
"Don't envy the first-years, having to cross the lake in this weather," said Owen.
"McGonagall will fix them up, no problem," said George. "Ready, you lot?"
They sprinted through the downpour, clutching their various pet carriers, and stuffed themselves into the first carriage they saw. The ride to the castle was unusually silent. Everyone stared in different directions, absorbed in their own thoughts. The rain on the roof would have drowned out any conversation anyway.
Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall were standing near the front door, watching students come in.
"Miss Bailey!" Professor McGonagall called. "My office, please!"
"What?" Pippa looked alarmed.
Maisie seized Pippa's hand. "No way you're going alone."
"I just want Madam Pomfrey to check on those students who suffered extreme reactions to the…events on the train," said McGonagall. Pursed lips indicated her disapproval of such events. "Miss Wood, you may come along if you wish."
"We'll see you later," Maisie said to the others.
"Oh, and there's Potter—Potter! Granger! I want to see you both!" Moments later, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger emerged from the crowd.
"There's no need to look so worried," said McGonagall. "I just want a word in my office."
Maisie, Pippa, Hermione, and Harry followed Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey up to McGonagall's office, a small room with a large fire.
"Professor Lupin sent an owl ahead to say that Potter and Bailey were taken ill on the train," said McGonagall.
"I'm fine!" said Harry.
"Of course it's you." Madam Pomfrey peered into Harry's face. "Setting dementors around a school, it's disgraceful." Madam Pomfrey felt Harry's forehead, then Pippa's. "They won't be the last ones to collapse. They're terrible things, and the effect they have on people who are already delicate—"
"Hey!" said Pippa.
"I'm not delicate!" said Harry.
"What do they need?" said McGonagall. "Bed rest? Perhaps a night in the hospital?"
"No!" Harry sprang to his feet. He looked better-fed than he had last summer, when Maisie, Ron, and the twins had rescued him from his barred bedroom, but his brown skin looked wan after his encounter with the dementors. The forked-lightning scar shone white, in stark contrast with his dark skin and hair.
"Well, they should have some chocolate, at the very least," said Madam Pomfrey.
"We've already had some," said Pippa.
"Professor Lupin gave it to all of us," said Harry.
"All of you?" said Madam Pomfrey.
"Yes," Maisie chimed in. "I don't know how he had that much chocolate on him, honestly."
"We finally have a Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor who knows his stuff!" said Madam Pomfrey.
"Are you sure you're all right?" said McGonagall.
"Yes!" said Harry and Pippa.
"Very well," said McGonagall. "If you three will kindly wait outside, I'd like a brief word with Miss Granger about her course schedule, and then we can all walk down to the feast together."
Maisie, Pippa, and Harry went out into the corridor with Madam Pomfrey, who bustled away.
"Have a good summer, Harry?" said Maisie.
"Better than the last one." Harry smiled. "Thanks for your letters. They were great."
"Glad you liked them!" said Maisie, beaming. "Can you believe the Kestrels last week?"
"No!" said Harry. "I wish I could've seen that feint!"
"I have the newspaper clipping, actually, and I think there's a picture. I'll give it to you."
The door opened, and McGonagall and Hermione stepped out. Hermione looked very pleased about something.
"Shall we?" said McGonagall.
By the time they entered the Great Hall, dinner was already on the tables. Pippa and Maisie slid into seats next to their friends.
"What was that about?" said Owen.
"McGonagall wanted to check on Pip," said Maisie. "Everything is fine."
"That's good." Owen handed Maisie a bowl of potatoes.
Maisie glanced toward the Gryffindor table. Harry and Hermione were sitting with Ron. The twins were only a few seats over. Fred looked up and met Maisie's eye.
"Everything okay?" he mouthed.
Maisie gave him a thumbs-up and smiled.