Harry pulled at his luggage, looking for a trolley. Harry finally found one and sighed in relief. None of the two druids see him to the train, only pushing him through the archway of one of the Stonehenge. Organizing his things neatly over the trolley, he was reminded by Emry's word to not look for Sirius Black and concentrate on looking out for his missing staff.
Once he was through the barrier that connected the King Cross station with Hogwarts Express, he head for the compartment after leaving his trolley to be sorted out by the conductor. Looking around, all of the compartments were full and the only compartment that he can fill in was occupied by a sleeping man. As he sat, he noticed the small bag above the man and read the tag; Prof. R. J. Lupin.
"Aw! The train's full!"
"Hurry up and look for a place to sit, Ron! The train's going to depart in another minute!"
Harry tensed when the owner of the familiar voices drew nearer to where he was. He looked up when the door of the compartment where he shared with the sleeping professor was opened by two familiar faces. Ron Weasley stared at him disbelief, "Well, this one occupied but I think we can join,"
Hermione Granger peered over his shoulder and squealed in disbelieving delight, "HARRY!"
Harry felt the air in his lungs rushed out as the Muggleborn witch squeezed him with vengeance. He almost didn't react to his own name, having been used to be called Sal or Salazar for the last week of summer. He greeted her, "Hey there, Hermione," Ron sat across from next to the sleeping man across from him, "Damn it, Harry. Where'd you go last week?" Harry shrugged as Hermione finally let him go, wiping the tear tracks on her cheeks as she did, "Nearby,"
The three friends greeted each other after Ron expresses his worry for him when Hedwig appeared at the Burrow where the Weasley lives. He then told him with a puffed up chest about the trip he and the rest of the Weasley had in Egypt while Hermione recounted her memories in Paris. Harry couldn't exactly tell them where he was since druids live in secret even from the magical world, so he just listened to them and when asked, recounted his many chores through the summer instead. They lose interest quickly but complained about the unfairness of his uncle and aunt. Suddenly the train screeched to a stop. Ron frowned, "Why are we stopping? We haven't reach Hogwarts yet,"
Harry looked outside and squinted, "I thought I saw something,"
Ice started to form on the glass windows of the train and the bottle of water that they placed on the window pane hardened almost instantly. Ron recognised the effect having heard of it when he was younger and followed his father to the Ministry of Magic where he worked. He gulped, "I don't like what I think but I think there's Dementors nearby,"
Ron shrugged, "I heard from Dad that because the escape from Azkaban was headed for Hogwarts, they let out Dementors to worm him out. It wasn't that much of a surprise if we come across some of them on the way. I just hope that they won't get into the train," Just as he said that, the train shook and creaked. He paled as Hermione became uneasy, "Something just boarded the train,"
Harry stood to look outside but before he could reach for the door, shadowy tendrils appeared behind their compartment's door. Bony fingers appeared as the compartment's lock unlatched and the door opened. Harry fell back when a tall figure shrouded in darkness loomed over him. A sucking sound could be heard and Harry watched the hooded creature drew ever nearer to him. Once more, he experienced the cold grip of death…
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
Green light flashes before his eyes and he knew he lose his sight forever. With it the cold icy grip of fear, pain and betrayal intermingled with the feel of impending death. Then, he heard the sound of someone screaming his name, both of his names, one in fear and love, the other in anger and hatred, one's a woman's voice and the other a man; "HARRY! SALAZAR!"
"HARRY! Wake up!"
Harry felt his face being slapped lightly along with the voices of his friends. He looked at them, "What happened?"
Hermione hugged him in genuine relief as Ron answered, "It was a Dementor. You were face to face with it and then you just…sort of fainted," He then looked at the empty seat where the professor once sat in, "He conjured a spell of sort and the creature just floated away,"
Harry rubbed his face when the compartment door opened again and the professor appeared. He took one look at Harry and relief flooded his tired feature, "Oh, good. You are awake," He then snapped something in his hands and handed them to Harry, "Here, eat this. It'll make you feel better,"
Harry looked at what has been handed to him and discovered a piece of Chocolate Frog. The man rushed him to eat it and Harry placed the confection under his tongue. Almost immediately, warmth spread out all over his body replacing the numbing cold that was there when he faced the Dementor. The man placed his robe over Harry's shoulder for extra warmth and the train continued its trip to Hogwarts.
The man turned out to be their new Defence against the Dark Arts (DADA) for this year and Hagrid, their friend and Keeper of Keys and Games of Hogwarts became their new Care of Magical Creatures professor. Ron whispered; "No wonder the new book was bloody mad," Harry nodded in agreement. When he first bought the book, the store clerk complained that it was almost as bad as the Invisible Book of Invisibility. The store never found the books. Why write books that people can't even see to read anyway?
School started as usual although Harry found that Divination class and the Prof. Trelawney was quite the bore. Her class was as bad as Prof. Binn had been. He frowned as he noticed that Hermione have been acting strangely. He knew that she has been taking more classes than normal and some of them clashed with each other. The way she kept up with them remained a mystery as she refused to talk about it.
The most interesting class so far was the Care of Magical Creatures as Hagrid had brought out a Hippogriff for their first class. He introduced the magnificent creature, "This is Buckbeak!" He tossed a slice of smoked meat to the Hippogriff and Buckbeak gladly grabbed it with its beak and gobbled it down. Hagrid asked them to open their belt/rope bounded texts and Draco Malfoy, Harry's Slytherin nemesis sneered, "And how do we even DO that without being bitten the chunk out of us?!"
Hagrid huffed as though it was obvious, "Why, you stroke them spine of course!"
As everyone does that, one Neville Longbottom forgotten as he absentmindedly opened his text without stroking its spine. Needless to say, he was struggling to save his face from the book. Harry felt the whisper at the back of his mind chuckled good-naturedly.
Hagrid asked for a volunteer to ride Buckbeak after explaining its proud nature and how to face one. Being too occupied as to figure out what the whispery chuckling was all about, Harry was 'offered' for the ride as the rest of the class stepped back. He blinked and stumbled as Hagrid beamed on him as he was pulled forward by the gentle half-giant.
As he faced the beast, he felt his mind slip and once more the feel that he experienced when facing Marge emerged once more. Trusting it, he allowed Salazar to take control now that he knew and understood what it was. Instead of following Hagrid's instruction, Salazar used the ancient ritual of the druids when meeting a beast as proud as a Hippogriff.
Flaring the robe open like a pair of wings, he stepped forward with eyes on Buckbeak. He tilted his body forward and one arm folded in front of him, his head lowered in respect as his eyes watched the Hippogriff. Buckbeak watched him and age old instinct answered as the Hippogriff reflected the movement; wings spanned wide and one of its front leg kneeled followed by the back as it folded one of its wings forward, its proud head bowing in respect as well. Then it stood slowly at the same time Salazar stood. Salazar then brought his hands forward, palms up as thought asking for an offering and after a moment, Buckbeak placed its massive beak on his hands.
Harry returned to the forefront and smiled at the great feeling. He turned back when he realised that the forest has gone quiet and Hagrid nodded, "Not how I instructed but I suppose that will do as well,"
