Rohini was awoken next day by Percy's shouts. Groaning, the girls got up and took a shower before going downstairs where everybody was sitting for breakfast.

"What was wrong with Percy this time?" Rohini asked between two yawns as she sat next to Harry.

"He's convinced someone sneaked into his room and dropped tea on his photo of Penelope Clearwater. You know," Ron grimaced, "his girlfriend. She's hidden her face under the frame because her nose has gone all blotchy…"

Mr. Weasley was reading the front page of the Daily Prophet with a furrowed brow and Mrs. Weasley was telling Hermione and Ginny about a love potion she'd made as a young girl. All three of them were rather giggly. Rohini was glad to see her friends looking so well after what they went through last year.

Once Mr. Weasley was done with the Daily Prophet, she borrowed the newspaper and was disappointed to learn Sirius Black still hadn't been spotted. He must have been really good at disguising himself considering that the whole country was after him.

Unsurprisingly, the next hour was chaotic; they were all busy heaving all their trunks down the Leaky Cauldron's narrow staircase and piling them up near the door, with Hedwig and Hermes, Percy's screech owl, perched on top in their cages. Thranduil had been making a scene while Rohini tried to put him back in his cage but he was now napping, unlike Hermione's cat which was spitting loudly in a small wickerwork basket.

"It's all right, Crookshanks," Hermione cooed through the wickerwork. "I'll let you out on the train."

"You won't," snapped Ron. "What about poor Scabbers, eh?"

He pointed at his chest, where a large lump indicated that Scabbers was curled up in his pocket.

"Oh, come on, Ron." Rohini said. "Thranduil has never attacked Scabbers before, I'm sure it will be alright."

"Yeah but Thranduil is a normal cat. This thing is a monster!" Ron said, pointing accusingly at the basket. The girls shook their head and ignored him.

Mr. Weasley, who had been outside waiting for the Ministry cars, stuck his head inside.

"They're here," he said. "Harry, Rohini come on."

Mr. Weasley marched the twins across the short stretch of pavement toward the first of two old-fashioned dark green cars, each of which was driven by a furtive-looking wizard wearing a suit of emerald velvet. Rohini thought that if Mr. and Mrs. Weasleys had been aiming for discretion, it wasn't really a successful plan.

"In you get, Harry," said Mr. Weasley, glancing up and down the crowded street. "Your turn, Rohini."

Harry got into the back of the car, followed by Rohini and were shortly joined by Hermione and Ron. Rohini looked one last time at the Leaky Cauldron and sighed. She would miss Diagon Alley, especially since she and Harry couldn't go to Hogsmeade.

They reached King's Cross with twenty minutes to spare; the Ministry drivers found them trolleys, unloaded their trunks, touched their hats in salute to Mr. Weasley, and drove away, somehow managing to jump to the head of an unmoving line at the traffic lights.

Mr. Weasley kept close to the Potter twins all the way into the station, glancing around nervously and waited for everybody to be standing close to the barrier to talk.

"Right then," he said. "Let's do this in pairs, as there are so many of us. I'll go through first with Harry."

Mr. Weasley strolled toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten, pushing Harry's trolley and soon they disappeared on the other side of the wall. Rohini looked at Ginny.

"Want to go with me?" She asked and Ginny nodded. They casually walked towards the wall between Platform 9 and Platform 10 and the next moment, they had fallen sideways through the solid metal onto platform 9 ¾ and looked up to see the Hogwarts Express, a scarlet steam engine, puffing smoke over a platform packed with witches and wizards seeing their children onto the train.

Percy and Ron suddenly appeared behind them. They were panting and had apparently taken the barrier at a run. Ron quickly stepped away from his brother for he was still moody about their fight.

"Ah, there's Penelope!" said Percy, smoothing his hair and going pink again. Ginny caught Harry's eye, and they both turned away to hide their laughter as Percy strode over to a girl with long, curly hair, walking with his chest thrown out so that she couldn't miss his shiny badge.

Once the remaining Weasleys and Hermione had joined them, Harry and Ron led the way to the end of the train, past packed compartments, to a carriage that looked quite empty. They loaded the trunks onto it, stowed Hedwig, Thranduil and Crookshanks in the luggage rack, then went back outside to say good-bye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

Mrs. Weasley kissed all her children, then Hermione, Harry and Rohini. The two of them were given an extra hug and Rohini thought it was probably because she was worried about their safety. It felt nice, to have someone act all motherly with them.

"Do take care, won't you, Harry, Rohini?" she said as she straightened up, her eyes oddly bright. Then she opened her enormous handbag and said, "I've made you all sandwiches… Here you are, Ron… no, they're not corned beef… Fred? Where's Fred? Here you are, dear…"

"Harry," said Mr. Weasley quietly, "come over here a moment. Yes, you might come too, Rohini."

He jerked his head toward a pillar, and the twins followed him behind it, leaving the others crowded around Mrs. Weasley.

"There's something I've got to tell you before you leave—" said Mr. Weasley, in a tense voice.

"It's all right, Mr. Weasley," said Harry. "We already know."

"You know? How could you know?"

"I've guessed it the night we ran away from home." Rohini said, not wanting to let him know they had heard his fight with Mrs. Weasley last night. "I suggested that Fudge was worried about Black coming after Harry, and his reaction confirmed it."

"Oh." Mr. Weasley said, surprised, before looking at Harry. "You must be very scared—"

"I'm not," said Harry sincerely. "Really," he added, because Mr. Weasley was looking disbelieving. "I'm not trying to be a hero, but seriously, Sirius Black can't be worse than Voldemort, can he?"

"We're getting used to it, really." Rohini assured Mr. Weasley who sighed.

"I know that you two are strong and I'm obviously pleased that you're not scared, but—"

"Arthur!" called Mrs. Weasley, who was now shepherding the rest onto the train. "Arthur, what are you doing? It's about to go!"

"We're coming, Molly!" said Mr. Weasley but he kept talking in a lower and more hurried voice. "Listen, I want you to give me your word—"

"—that I'll be a good boy and stay in the castle?" said Harry gloomily.

"Not entirely," said Mr. Weasley, who looked more serious than ever. "Harry, and Rohini too, swear to me you won't go looking for Black."

"What?" Harry said, confused.

"We never go after murderer." Rohini pointed out. "They are usually the ones coming after us."

There was a loud whistle. Guards were walking along the train, slamming all the doors shut.

"Sorry Mr. Weasley, but we really need to go." Rohini said, pulling on Harry's sleeves.

"Promise me," said Mr. Weasley, following them, "that whatever happens—"

"Alright, we promise!" Harry said as Rohini pushed him into the train and jumped after him as it started to move.

They leaned out of the window and waved at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley until the train turned a corner and blocked them from view. Then, exchanging a puzzled glance, they went looking for Ron, Hermione and Ginny and found them in the last compartment.

Rohini and Harry were surprised to discover that along with their friends, there was a man sitting fast asleep next to the window. The Hogwarts Express was usually reserved for students and they had never seen an adult there before, except for the witch who pushed the food cart.

The stranger was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard's robes that had been darned in several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Though quite young, his light brown hair was flecked with gray.

"A new teacher?" Rohini asked, standing by the door as Harry sat next to Ron.

"Professor R. J. Lupin," whispered Hermione at once.

"How d'you know his name?"

"It's on his case," she replied, pointing at the luggage rack over the man's head, where there was a small, battered case held together with a large quantity of neatly knotted string. The name Professor R. J. Lupin was stamped across one corner.

"I will take a wild shot in the dark and say he will teach DADA." Rohini said.

They already had two Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers, both of whom had lasted only one year. There were rumors that the job was jinxed.

"I need to talk to you." Harry muttered to Ron and Hermione as the train picked up speed.

"Go away, Ginny," said Ron.

"Oh, that's nice," said Ginny huffily, and she stalked off. Rohini frowned at Ron and followed Ginny for she already knew what Harry was going to say. They decided to go looking for Padma and Luna instead. They found them two wagons later, sitting in a compartment with Parvati and Lavender Brown.

"Ginny!" Luna said, beaming. The two friends caught up really fast while Lavender told Rohini and Padma about her holidays in Scotland. She complained about the rain a lot and seemed shocked that Rohini loved rain and stormy weather in general.

"Where's the pleasure in being all soaked to the bone?" She asked and Rohini explained that she didn't need to be outside to enjoy it. "Well, if you say so…" Lavender said, looking doubtful.

"I've read that you went to Egypt." Padma said to Ginny, thankfully changing topic. "Did you go inside the Pyramids?"

"Yes, except the last one because Mum thought I'd be scared." Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "If she knew about the pictures Fred and George showed me, she'd know I've seen more spooky things in my life."

"Parents always worry too much." Parvati said and Rohini smiled sadly. She wished she had parents to worry about them. In a way, Mr. and Mrs. Weasleys were a bit like distant relatives; they did care about Harry and her more than the Dursleys ever will.

"So, Rohini." Lavender suddenly said. "How are Harry and you going to put your life in danger this year?"

"Easy one." Rohini sighed. "Sirius Black, of course. Everybody is fretting he'll come after Harry. I have no choice but protect my dear brother once again."

"And we'll have no choice but protect you." Padma said with a knowing smile.

"You don't look more worried than that." Parvati noticed and Rohini shrugged.

"As I keep saying, Black isn't stupid. He isn't going to risk sneaking inside Hogwarts in plain sight and murder Harry under Dumbledore's eyes. Plus, I've heard that Azkaban guards will be patrolling around the castle."

"What?" The girls gasped, looking worried.

"What, 'what'?" Rohini said, confused.

"Rohini, Azkaban's guards are dangerous." Ginny told her. "I've heard dad talk about them before. They are dark creatures." She said, shivering.

"Oh. Well, one more reason for Black to think twice before attacking." Rohini said, laughing nervously. "Anyway, what are you looking forward to, this year?" She said, deciding to change the subject.

"Hogsmeade." Lavender said and the Patil twins nodded. "Can you imagine going to Honeydukes and buying all kind of candies? And drinking something at The Three Broomsticks!"

"Sounds lovely." Rohini sighed. "I wish I could go, but after we accidentally turned our Aunt into an air balloon, our Uncle refused to sign our permissions…"

"Oh no." Padma said, looking genuinely sad for Rohini. "I wanted to visit it with you!"

"It's ok, maybe next year. Plus, Luna and Ginny will be allowed to visit it too when they'll be in third year, so we could go all together then." Rohini pointed out, trying to hide the fact that she would have loved to spend some alone time with Padma too.

The Hogwarts Express moved steadily north and the scenery outside the window became wilder and darker while the clouds overhead thickened. People were chasing backward and forward past the door of their compartment. The girls were now talking about everything and anything. Ginny admitted she wanted to be a part of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team but felt like she needed to wait a year or two. Luna was reading an old edition of The Quibbler and Rohini was fooling around by turning Padma's watch into different items.

Around one o'clock, the plump witch with the food cart arrived at the compartment door.

"Would you like something, dearies?" said the witch with a smile.

"I'll take a stack of Cauldron Cakes." Rohini said, counting how much change she had kept in her pockets. "Oh, and a few pumpkin popsicles too. Thanks!"

"I will buy a box of jellybean." Said Luna. Lavenders bought some candies too and they shared everything together. Rohini was eating one of Ginny's sandwiches when it began to rain.

The rain thickened as the train sped yet farther north; the windows were now a solid, shimmering gray, which gradually darkened until lanterns flickered into life all along the corridors and over the luggage racks. The train rattled, the rain hammered, the wind roared and Rohini felt like she was in a haunted train every time she closed her eyes.

The train started to slow down ten minutes later and the girls looked at each other, puzzled.

"We can't be there yet." Padma said while having a look at her watch.

"So why're we stopping?" Ginny asked.

The train was getting slower and slower. As the noise of the pistons fell away, the wind and rain sounded louder than ever against the windows.

Rohini, curious as always, got up to look into the corridor. All along the carriage, heads were sticking curiously out of their compartments.

"D'ya know why we're stopping?" A Hufflepuff boy asked her and Rohini shook her head.

The train came to a stop with a jolt and distant thuds and bangs told them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then, without warning, all the lamps went out and they were plunged into total darkness.

"Oh no…" Parvati said, holding Padma and Lavender's hands. "I don't like being in the dark."

"Lumos." Rohini said for she always kept her wand on her. Luna did the same, bringing some light into their compartment which seemed to reassure Parvati.

"D'you think we've broken down?" Rohini heard one of the Weasley twins said from the next wagon.

There was a squeaking sound as Luna wiped a patch clean on the window and peered out.

"There's something moving out there," she said. "I think people are coming aboard…"

"Weird." Rohini said, jolting when she thought she saw something moving on her left and a door slid opened. She turned her head to have a look; and froze.

Standing in the corridor, barely illuminated by the light of her wand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. Rohini gulped when she saw a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grayish and scabbed, like something dead slowly decaying.

The thing flew closer to her and Rohini took a step backward with a gulp. Suddenly the thing drew a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it were trying to suck something more than air from its surroundings. Rohini barely noticed how the windows' condensation was slowly turning into ice.

Ginny began to step out of the wagon but Rohini barked at her to stay inside. She heard people panicking behind her and Rohini did the only thing she could think of: she ran.

Her breath was coming in white puff now and her skin was covered in goosebumps. She could feel the thing following her into the next wagon and froze when she found herself facing a new cloaked figure. She was now trapped between two of them and already she felt like she could barely move, her whole body paralysed by an intense cold.

The second figure flew closer to her and took one of their odd, long breaths. Rohini felt her own breath catch in her chest. She thought she heard someone calling her name but she couldn't answer, couldn't react; it was as if she had turned into a statue made of ice.

The creature was floating closer and closer but Rohini's vision was covered with black patches. She couldn't tell if she was still standing or if her legs had given up under her, could barely hear anything except her heartbeats that seemed to get slower and the distant scream of a terrified woman that seemed familiar to her. Who was she? Rohini thought through the fog that seemed to invade her mind. Who…?

There was a light. A blinding light, surrounded by shadows. Rohini groaned and closed her eyes that were burning and watering. Her hearing was slowly coming back but she couldn't make up distinct words, only sounds. She felt someone's hand on her shoulder, shaking her a bit.

"What…?" She mumbled as she was forced herself into a sitting position. Opening her eyes again, she waited for them to adjust before looking around. "Fred, George!" She said weakly when she saw the twins sitting on each side of her, looking concerned.

"She lives!" Fred said to his friends, Lee and Angelica, who cheered loudly before the door of the compartment opened.

"Has she woken up?" She heard an unfamiliar voice behind her before Professor Lupin came into view, a friendly but tired smile on his face and handing her a large piece of chocolate. "Here, eat this."

"What happened?" Rohini asked, confused. "What am I doing on the floor?"

"Dementors." Angelica said grimly. "It was the guards of Azkaban."

"Those things?" Rohini asked, taking the chocolate Professor Lupin was handing her. "Thank you."

"I was getting out of the compartment to see what was happening," Fred told her, "When you came running and bumped into one of them. I don't know what he did to you, but you looked pretty dead to me."

"That's reassuring." Rohini said, rubbing her arms. She felt slightly warmer now but still remembered how cold she had felt when stuck between the two Dementors. "What happened next?"

"I heard your friends screaming and someone came running saying a student were being attacked." Professor Lupin said, breaking another piece of chocolate. "I chased the Dementors away and carried you inside with your friends' help."

"Thanks, everyone." Rohini said while taking the chocolate. Eating it was bringing to her an odd feeling of security and comfort. "Did someone else got attacked or fainted?"

"Ah, well, your brother did." Lupin said and Rohini jumped on her feet, ready to go check on Harry but Lupin gently but firmly stopped her. "You don't have to worry, I've taken care of him, too. How do you feel?"

"I don't know." Rohini said. "I mean, Fred isn't wrong when he talked about death; I felt like I was turning into a corpse when this thing attacked; I couldn't move and I felt so cold…"

"I hope you wrote our name on your will, then." George joked and Rohini smiled weakly before looking at Lupin.

"Can I go check on my brother?" She asked and Lupin took a closer look at her before nodding. They both left the compartment and Rohini thanked the twins and their friends one last time before following their new teacher into the last wagon.

She found the compartment just as she left it, except that Neville Longbottom was now sitting with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Rohini shouted Harry's name and pulled him into a tight embrace.

"Oh my gosh, you're icy cold!" She told him. "Are you ok? Did you hurt yourself when you fell?"

"I'm alright." Harry said, though he looked troubled. "What about you? You look a bit pale."

"I've been attacked, too." Rohini sighed. "Thanks god somebody ran and bumped into Professor Lupin or I don't know what would have happened otherwise…"

"Let's not think about it for now." Professor Lupin said before offering the rest of his chocolate to the twins.

"Why chocolate?" Rohini asked between two bites. She offered the last piece to Neville but he still had some Chocolate frog with him.

"It is the best medicine for the soul, don't you think?" Professor Lupin said and Rohini nodded with a smile. Harry on the other hand still looked grim and Rohini wondered if he, too, had heard the woman's screams.

"Nobody else was attacked?" She asked and they shook their heads. "Why is it always Harry and I…" She sighed and Hermione gently patted her arm.

They didn't talk much during the remainder of the journey. As the controller announced that they were almost there, Rohini decided to go back to her own compartment were the girls were waiting, deadly worried. Rohini told them about what had just happened and her friends exchanged a worried glance.

"What if the Dementors attack us while we're at Hogwarts?" Lavender asked.

"I doubt they will. Dumbledore would never let them." Parvati said but Ginny and Rohini didn't look as convinced. With the past year especially, they had learn the hard way that Hogwarts could still hold many dangers, Dumbledore or not.

"Well, if they do attack," Rohini said with a tinkle in her eyes, "The best solution is to scream Professor Lupin's name and eat as much chocolate as you can."

"Sounds efficient, indeed." Padma said and the girls relaxed a little.

At long last, the train stopped at Hogsmeade station, and there was a great scramble to get outside; owls hooted, cats meowed and students began to push each other on their way to the doors. It was freezing on the tiny platform; rain was driving down in icy sheets but still Rohini was smiling again; after a long, emotional summer, she was back home again.