Chapter Two: Dementors on the Train
"Bloody hell woman, where did you come from? Don't you know you shouldn't be walking about while the train is getting ready to move?" I suddenly felt as if a large stone was dropped into my stomach as I recognized the Gryffindor Keeper, Oliver Wood. Not out of fear mind you, I just feel uneasy…
"I could tell you the same Mr. Wood, though I suppose I should thank those Keeper abilities of yours for keeping me from bruising anything more than my ego." My hood had fallen and my hair had decided to cover my face, forcing me to bring my hands up and push it back.
"Isabella! Are you ok?" I was saved if only momentarily from the Gryffindor's reply by a worried though amused Ayden.
"Friend of yours then Vascot?" I could feel the tension build as Malfoy's voice came from the open compartment. I didn't know who disliked him more, Ayden, Oliver, or me.
"Shut it Malfoy, you are in the worst position to aggravate her or me further. And frankly it's far too early to have to deal with your pompousness on a semi empty stomach." I noticed Ayden's fist and the sudden fight stance she took, and before he could reply lifted my hand and wordlessly closed his compartment door keeping it locked until the three of us moved or for the very least 15 minutes had passed.
"I'm never forgiving Snape for this." My hand came back to rub at my forehead, the beginning of a stress induced headache starting.
"I stand completely corrected Vascot, this is the oddest Slytherin yet…" for a moment I had forgotten Oliver was still behind me, and in part cradling my body in his, on the floor of the train corridor. That is until he spoke and incorrectly described me.
"Who in blazes are you calling a Slytherin? Mr. Gryffindor Captain and Keeper…" I took Ayden's extended hands and pulled myself up, grateful for still having my robe, as the skirt I was wearing underneath would have given the boy on the floor a hell of a show at this action.
"This is Isabella Wynters, Oliver. And for your information she is not in Slytherin." Ayden's tone had returned to the closest thing to normal after having to deal with Malfoy, even though she was in fact on the Slytherin Quidditch team, as a Chaser, she hardly got along with the other members, and she only seemed to get along with certain other Houses team members.
"Not a Slytherin? She's not on any of the teams either, and she's too tall to be a first year." I raised an eyebrow and looked from Oliver to Ayden, crossing my arms as the former looked me over and the latter was nibbling on the end of a candy wand.
"She's also standing right here and does not enjoy being talked about in the third person." The train gave another sudden lurch as it left the city behind and I reached out to keep my balance, not in any rush to repeat my previous visit to the floor.
"Sorry…Nice to meet you Isabella. I'm guessing you two lasses need a compartment to share?" Oliver gave me a crooked smile that made my stomach tighten, something I was not at all used to, and extended his hand, which my body betrayed and shook without much conscious thought.
"I suppose we're better off with you, before the sight of both of us makes those poor Hufflepuffs back there lose their caldron cakes." As she spoke Ayden pulled out her wand and accio-ed her messenger bag from the compartment she had infiltrated. I only shook my head as the Hufflepuffs in question still squealed their heads off at the sudden movement of Ayden's messenger bag.
"You know I'm starting to regret getting you that bag in the first place…" I pushed my hair back again, having been freed from my hood it had apparently decided to get in my way as much as possible, following Oliver down to the compartment he had offered.
"So that's how you don't get caught for under age magic use… I thought they monitored wand use…" Oliver stopped and held open the compartment door. At a glance I noticed it was almost full to begin with, great, more people I had to play nice with.
"They do, however it's rather hard to monitor wand use when the object you're using the wand on is embedded with certain magical abilities." I didn't even have to look at her to know she was giving Oliver her smug look.
"Oi! Where ya been Oliver? Hey it's Vascot and who is this pretty girl?" I blinked a few times as my senses were suddenly assaulted by two very loud redheaded twins. Though my only interaction with the student body was actually Ayden, I did know quite a bit about the students she knew. Therefore I could easily identify about half of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, including the two Weasley twins before me now.
"This is Isabella Wynters. Vascot's friend…" Oliver placed a hand on my shoulder as he introduced me, causing the hairs at my nape to stand on end. This boy was apparently hazardous for my health; I shrugged his hand off quickly which caused him to look at me oddly.
"She doesn't like to be touched by people she hardly knows either." Ayden explained to him before anything could be said about my sudden action.
"So there is more than one odd Slytherin…." I rolled my eyes at the twins as they looked at each other and looked me over.
"That's it, next person that accuses me of being a Slytherin, no offence Ayden, is going to owe me a galleon." I blew out again, my slight annoyance causing the air to come out in small snowflakes.
"Ok, you're not a Slytherin, so which House are you in?" The twins crossed their arms in slight mock of Oliver who was standing behind me still.
"Orion's…" I smirked as silence suddenly settled in the compartment, the students all looking at one another in confusion. It took everything she had in her for Ayden not start laughing.
"Um…there's no such house…" Oliver was the first to give in, and I gave him a rare smile.
"Exactly, the Sorting Hat was quite close to eating itself over me, but after a few talks agreed to let me be." I shuffled from one foot to another, as I realized my robe was far too warm for me inside the train, especially with so many people around.
"I still say it'd be hilarious to watch the Sorting Hat eat itself." Ayden squeezed between Oliver and me and past the twins to put her messenger bag down. Lee Jordan moved over to let her sit near the window.
"Wicked! I'm George and he's Fred, nice to meet you Isabella." The twins smirked at me and tried switching their names around.
"More like he's George and you're Fred, but nice try." I pointed to each in turn, getting astonished looks from the twins themselves and a chuckle from Oliver who was still behind me.
"We'll have to keep a close eye on this one George, she's onto us!" Fred rubbed his chin comically and George nodded solemnly.
"Good luck with that…" Ayden smirked and turned to me, looking at me closely before holding out her hand, the smirk giving way to a serious look on her face.
"What?" I raised an eyebrow at her and looked at her hand and then back to her, an action followed by the other inhabitants of the compartment.
"You're turning red, hand over the robe, I'll put it with my bag…before you have a poof moment." She waved her hands in front of her face in an "exploding" manner and I couldn't help but tilt my head to the side. Honestly, get a little over heated around this girl and you're marked for life…
"I'm not going to spontaneously combust Ayden….Ugh…fine…" I could tell from the look in her eye she was not going to give up, and in part she was right to make me take it off, and if we were alone I wouldn't have minded, she wasn't about to look at me funny…But Ayden took being my friend and watching out for me rather seriously, and as a magical vampire, I did not do well in extreme heat.
"Wow…" I could feel my cheeks tinge a bit as I heard the hushed comment from Oliver, the twins just stared, mouths agape as I pulled off my robe and handed it over. I hadn't really thought I'd be travelling down to London when I got dressed this morning and not wanting to get caught on the train (though now the more I think of it, the more I'm thinking Snape did this to me on purpose) I hadn't bothered to change out of my attire, I was in a short red plaid skirt, a big black studded belt with a Jolly Roger type buckle, and a simple white off the shoulder long sleeved shirt, (which yes is ironic because my shoulders and above are bare….), black and white stripped stockings and black wedge boots that came up to my calves, and to add further irony, a soft brown leather choker with several silver chains with gothic style crosses adorn my neck and chest, finish off my look.
"Ja…quit yer starin', s'not polite…" Ayden broke the silence as she held the candy wand between her teeth and spoke at the same time, being careful to put away my robe in her bag, right on top for when I'd need it again.
"How come we've never seen you around before? I'm sure we would have noticed…" Oliver's voice somewhat startled me and I turned around to face him, which was almost instantly was followed by the twins behind me crying ouch.
"What the bloody hell….that hurt Ayden…" I didn't bother to turn around, figuring both from their words and Oliver's look of total amusement Ayden had in fact hit them both upside the back of the head, most likely at the same time.
"I did say to stop staring, I highly doubt your mother would approve…" I heard her drop into her seat, and knowing her as well as I did I'm sure she's stretching out as much as she can, Ayden sometimes gets mistaken for a boy when she's in her usual attire, though frankly that was only due to the fact that she was almost always in jeans, graphic shirts and layered hoodies, not to mention her normal quiet demeanor was rather intimidating to most people, of course then she would talk and it would be obvious she was in fact a girl. When she was around me, and obviously around her friends, (which this particular group of Quidditch loving Gryffindors were) she was much more approachable, she tended to lounge leisurely, though as usual she always kept up a certain amount of barriers.
"She also wouldn't approve of us being on friendly terms with a Slytherin, but seeing as we've come to the conclusion that what she doesn't know can't possibly hurt us…" I looked over my shoulder in time to see the twins somehow manage to squeeze in between Ayden and Lee Jordan. My sharp eyes even noticed a slight blush creeping up along Ayden's cheeks, when she realized Fred was sitting next to her. A bit of information I'll be keeping around in my head for later use, I assure you.
"Let's just say I've been keeping a completely different schedule from you lot…" I smiled slightly at him and turned to sit across from Ayden, resigned to the reality of having to sit through the train ride that for most of the student body truly started off their year.
"Oh…so what year would that make you?" I looked over as another female voice spoke up; I looked into the curious brown eyes of a girl I recognized as Angelina Johnson, a Gryffindor Chaser.
"This would be my 7th year…" I pushed my hair out of my face and to the side, leaning on my knees as I watched Angelina, and the other girls take me in for a moment.
"Just like Oliver then…" Another brunette spoke up and it took me a moment before I realized she was Katie Bell. I nodded at her statement and noticed Oliver was leaning on the compartment door frame, watching me for some odd reason. I blinked and looked back at him, wondering what exactly he was looking at, my uneasiness rising, before he finally looked away.
"Ah Mein Gott…what I'd give to be a 7th year…." Ayden sighed mock dramatically and I couldn't help but smirk at her, as her comment had caused the twins to look at each other rather mischievously.
"But Vascot wouldn't you miss us terribly?" Fred turned to Ayden and gave her his best puppy dog eyes impression, which of course was followed by George squeezing in next to his twin and pouting. I felt a sudden weight on the seat next to me and turned to find myself rather close to one very amused Oliver, causing my stomach to jump again.
"No way they're going to listen to any of my Quidditch plans now…" His amusement quickly faded and as he let out a deep sigh, realizing the twins were trying very hard to make Ayden laugh and in the commotion the girls, had slipped out of the compartment, surely to meet up with their other friends.
"I'm sure you've got plenty of school time to bugger them about it Wood. Don't get your knickers twisted…" I blinked wondering why I didn't pay more attention to what I said as I noticed Oliver's mood quickly turn sour at my nonchalant answer.
"This is my last chance to lead the team to victory, the last chance I'll ever have to get the House Cup. I know we have the best players in the school, it should have been ours last year…" I raised an eyebrow as I looked over to the twins and Ayden who were all rolling their eyes at the sudden start of what was promising to be a long winded speech.
"Oiii, didn't I just say not to get your knickers in a twist Wood. There are other things slightly more important than the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup…" Now I would just like to point out, that for the most part, I do not like tempting fate, or starting arguments, but nothing right now is a typical situation for me. And quite honestly I couldn't really help the words coming out of my mouth.
"….more…important…than…the QUIDDITCH CUP? HAVE YOU GONE COMPLETELY OFF YOUR ROCKER WOMAN? WINNING THE CUP IS AN INCREDIBLE HONOR…." You know I'm starting to wonder if this is a small sample of what kind of chaos I'll be throwing the student body into this year by being allowed to re-assimilate into them. I'm pretty sure that that particular vein in Oliver's forehead is not supposed to pop out like that. The longer he kept talking the redder in the face he got, and the redder in the face he got, the more he stood and currently he is standing in front of me yelling. I stood up as well, not about to let him go on his tyrannical yelling spree when it happened again.
This time the train suddenly screeched to a halt, throwing not just Oliver and me unceremoniously back onto the seat we had just stood from, but Lee and George to the floor as well. The lights flickered on and off, and we all looked at each other rather confused, the previous almost fight and argument being left by the wayside.
"What the bloody….we should absolutely bring a complaint…what is that conductor taking up front…firewhiskey?" George grunted as he and Lee struggled to get up from the floor. Something however was very wrong indeed, my senses were suddenly assaulted with the horrid smell of death…almost immediately the window started to freeze over and I struggled to pull out my wand and hush the boys.
"Shut it! Ayden get your wand out, Oliver you too. Do you know a good cheering charm? Ayden, hope you've been practicing that bit of magic I told you about over the summer." As silence settled between us, I could see the confusion in the boys eyes as well as the sudden bit of fear in Ayden's. The compartment's temperature suddenly dropped rapidly, everyone's breath coming out in ragged clouds of fear, thick enough to see.
"What's it all about then?" I recognized Lee's voice in the darkened compartment, as the moments ticked by. I could see that for the most part, everyone's eyes were focused on the compartment door, Lee had managed to get back onto the seat, George was clutching his wand though still on the floor.
"Didn't you hear the news? Sirius Black escaped Azkaban this summer. Grab on George…" I stood as I answered Lee's question, grabbing onto George and pulling him up and into the seat I had just vacated. It was taking every ounce of will in me, to fight the urge to vomit I had. The smell of death itself, decay and doom, was slowly but surely getting stronger.
"What…you think he's on the train..." I shook my head momentarily forgetting they couldn't see me. I brought my arm up to cover my face in an attempt to smell something other than the nauseating stench trying to pull out the contents of my stomach.
"Ugh…sorry no…Ayden do you have something I can use to cover my nose?" My voice sounded muffled as I tried to speak and exhale through my mouth, which was worse because now I can TASTE it…Oh dear Circe…
"Ja…in my bag…" I could hear her fumbling about but I was trying my hardest to focus on anything and everything else just so that I wouldn't throw up. I gave a startle when I felt someone's hand on my waist and a soft fabric pressed to my cheek.
"Will this do, promise it's clean." I almost didn't recognize Oliver's voice as now it had turned serious and yet soft, I quickly pulled the offered fabric to my nose, glad to assaulted by a much warmer scent, quickly tying it back around my head making sure to cover my nose and mouth snuggly. The subtle scent of leather, something very earthy, probably pine, and something I can only describe as masculine suddenly invaded my nostrils and hit my stomach like the best cheering charm you could imagine. It was as if I had suddenly been given my favorite hot cocoa, mixed with mint- a warmth spread through my body despite the sudden chilliness that had infiltrated the train.
"Thanks Oliver…" Anything else I was about to say died as we heard the click of the compartment door unlatch. I felt Oliver's right hand fall from my hip gripping his wand, and his left come up to replace it on the other hip. I turned to face the door, breathing Oliver's scent deeply. From floor to ceiling hovered the most detestable creature I could imagine, cloaked in all black the shapeless infestation of death itself made its usual deep rattled inhales. The temperature around us immediately dropped further, causing everyone to have trouble inhaling the frigid air into our lungs. Oliver's hand gripped my hip to an almost painful point, and I felt Ayden's hand grip at mine blindly in the dark. The search was taking too long, I knew because I felt the fear grip in my heart, the kind of fear you only experience when you realize the life you knew, is draining out of you….the fear that comes from the turning bite of a vampire.
"Enough! We are not hiding Sirius Black…Expecto Patronus!" My wand hand came up, swishing in time to the incantation. The sudden blinding light exploded from my wand tip and flew at the Dementor in the doorway who had been trying to lean in for a much more satisfying inhale. I heard Ayden gasp and the boys groan loudly, as the compartment door shut behind the unceremonious expulsion of the evil entity. My patronus slipped in before the latch shut and playfully wove around us, revealing the confused and frightened state we were in with its silver glow.
"You lot ok?" I turned to look at them each in turn, Ayden, Fred and Lee had their eyes closed, Lee even rubbing at his face and shaking his head. Turning back I saw George breathing in slowly, staring at the ceiling with an unfocused gaze. Flinching my attention was brought back to Oliver as his hand gripped my hip once more.
"Oliver…could you please let go of my hip." I turned into him as I spoke causing his hand to loosen slowly.
"Sorry…" He had a somewhat troubled look on his face which quickly turned apologetic as he focused on my flinching. I suddenly had the urge to hug him, but I quickly held it back giving him instead a soft smile.
"No big…you lot ok?" I turned from him suddenly realizing exactly how close we were truly standing, luckily the twins and Ayden were still busy trying to work out what had just happened.
"That thing…it was a Dementor wasn't it?" Lee's voice sounded cracked and he quickly tried to clear it.
"Aye…it was…I can't believe they allowed them onto the train…even if Black is the first to escape Azkaban…" I shook my head and reached over to check on Ayden who's head was laid back onto the seat.
"Fassen sie mich nicht an…" She slapped my hand away and a tutted my tongue at her, which of course was only met with a sliver of one eye opening to look at me. I let her be but turned back to Oliver, noting even the twins were rather pale from the unpleasant encounter.
"How're your cheering charms Wood?" I gave him a smirk just to try an lighten the sudden mood.
"Aye…" I shrugged as he set about giving each of the twins and Lee a cheering charm. When it came to Ayden he turned to me, as she had her hand over her eyes, obviously reluctant to hit her with any kind of charm. Like I mentioned before, her reputation precedes her.
"Ayden, do you have any chocolate frogs in your bag?" I moved around Oliver and shook her leg crouching down in case the train started up again. Though I still wore Oliver's handkerchief around my face I could still make out the smell of death that accompanied the Dementors everywhere they presented themselves, while they were still on the train, they were quickly moving either off or out of it.
"Ja in der Nähe der unteren…" her voice was a bit raspy, and though I knew her rather well, and I did know Ayden suffered from nasty bouts of nightmares, I did not know what they were. She had yet to share them with me and I did not feel it my place to push the matter.
"Got them…bloody hell Ayden did you leave the trolley lady with any to sell to the rest of the train?" I pulled out a handful of them and passed them out to the boys, opening one and grabbing it before it could jump off and placing it to her lips.
"A few…" was her only reply after several moments of chewing on the chocolate smirking. I rolled my eyes and got up, realizing Oliver had sat back down next to George who was nibbling on his chocolate pensively looking around the dimly lit compartment. There was still space for me next to Oliver, putting me closest to the compartment door, but somehow I couldn't help but brush up against him as I sat.
"Why is there a silver glowing badger in my face?" Fred's voice startled me slightly as I was genuinely confused until I looked up and saw my patronus making faces at him and Ayden much to the amusement of Lee and now brought to their attention, Oliver and George as well.
The only problem with this very amusing scene is that my patronus has always been (up until now) an owl.
When the bloody hell did my patronus change?
