Mia had realized that something was wrong as soon as the train stopped and the lights were turned off. The furious rain outside only made her imagination reach even more horrible places. Her first instinct had been a motherly one: to go looking for Harry and Izzy. To keep them safe from whatever was going on.

So, while Remus had gone to speak to the train driver, Mia rushed to the back of it, where the kids were. In one of the carriages, she found Percy Weasley instructing the prefects to keep the students from blocking the corridor. He approached her when he saw her.

"Professor, do you know what is going on?" he asked. That was something that always annoyed Mia, even when they were not in school, Percy always caller her Professor or Ms. Davis.

She shook her head. "The new DADA teacher is trying to find out."

He nodded. "Alright, I'll try to keep things in order in the meantime."

"Yeah, you do that," she said, rushing into the next compartment.

But it seemed that, as farther as she went, the air got colder and colder. The sensation was familiar – Dementors. They had once been present in one of the battles she had fought for the Order and she could never forget the feeling. It came back in her worse nightmares.

Then, when she opened the access door to the next compartment, she saw the Dementor halfway inside a compartment doing Merlin-knew-what. Before she was taken over by the grief that the creature caused, Mia reached for her wand and called for her Patronus. The silvery form of a dog powered by the memories of her time with Sirius appeared immediately, causing the Dementor to back off. It took a good slice of her energy to drive it away but, seconds after the train's door opened violently, the creature exited it and the door closed back with a bang.

Mia immediately tucked her wand back into her pocket and ran to the compartment – she had a felling she wouldn't like what she was about to see. And she was right. Unconscious on the compartment floor she found her godson with Ron and Hermione kneeling on the floor next to him. "Oh, Merlin," she breathed, sinking to the floor too in order to check on him. He looked terrible, like he had been fighting back a nasty flu. But his cheeks were visibly colouring now that the creature was gone. "What happened to him?"

"It was that thing. I think it was a Dementor," Hermione said worriedly. "Harry went to check what was going on in the hallway but it showed up. Then, he just sort of went rigid and fainted. It didn't even touch him."

"Is he going to be alright?" Ron asked. "That thing didn't suck his soul, did it?"

She shook her head. "It needed to touch him in order to do that."

On the floor, Harry moaned something impossible to understand.

"Harry," Mia said. "Can you hear us? Open your eyes."

He opened one eye and looked up at his godmother. "Aunt Mia? What's going on?" he asked in a rough voice. "Where's that thing? Who… who screamed?"

"No one screamed," Ron told him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he murmured, sitting up on the floor. "Was that a Dementor?"

Mia nodded silently. "Come on, let's get you off the floor," she told him as she and Ron helped him get up and move to one of the compartment's seats. "Are you sure you feel fine?"

"I think so," he said. "I'm just a little light-headed. But I'm sure I heard screaming…"

"It may have been a memory, Harry," Mia told him. She wondered if it had been from the day Lily and James had been killed. He had been too young to remember but with Dementors around, you never knew. She was suddenly reminded of her daughter – why wasn't she in the compartment? "Where's Izzy?"

"She stayed with Ginny and Luna Lovegood," Hermione said. "They're in the compartment next door."

"Go check on her," Harry told his godmother. "I'm fine."

Mia shook her head. "No, you're not," she replied, turning to Hermione and Ron. "Make sure he doesn't get up while I go check on Izzy."

"We will," Hermione promised before she left the compartment.

Even before Mia could reach her daughter's compartment, Ginny exited it, seeming incredibly worried. "There's something wrong with Izzy," the redhead told her as soon as she saw her.

Hearing that, Mia hurried into the compartment and she found Izzy on one of the seats with her arms around her knees. She had tears running down her face, something highly unlike for her. Izzy rarely cried, especially if anyone was seeing it. She always tried to seem stronger than she actually was.

Luna was sitting silently by her side. Her face was a mixture of worry because of Izzy's state and paleness due to her own Dementor experience.

Mia coughed. "Ginny, why don't you and Luna go sit with your brother, Harry and Hermione while I talk to Izzy?"

"Will she be okay?" Ginny asked her.

"I hope so," Mia murmured before the two other girls quickly left the compartment, leaving mother and daughter alone. Mia approached her daughter and sat by her side. She didn't say anything for a while, hoping Izzy would be the first one to talk and, after a minute or so, Izzy sighed and laid her head on her mother's lap. Mia caressed her hair softly like she used to do whenever Izzy got sick or couldn't sleep.

"It was horrible, Mummy," Izzy whispered. Her tone was so vulnerable that it scared Mia. "It became so cold suddenly. And it started to feel really odd – I… I felt like I'd never be cheerful again… It was worse than you said it was."

She was talking about the Dementor. Being in the compartment right next to Harry's had made her feel the whole thing. I wasn't able to protect them, Mia thought. Now, she needed to pick the pieces and make them better. "They… they don't get as close in Azkaban as they did today," Mia lied, stroking her hair softly. Hopefully, Izzy would never have to know the truth… "It is always a lot worse when you feel them for the first time."

"But it is still awful," Izzy said in a strangled whisper as she sat up and looked her mother in the eyes. "All I could remember while that thing was here was terrible. Daddy had to feel this for so long… It's not fair! He didn't do anything! I want him here. He needs us. He needs someone to comfort him like you're comforting me."

"Oh, sweetie," Mia whispered, putting her into a soothing hug. She felt exactly the same about him. Sometimes it was so hard thinking of him alone on the run that it was painful. But she didn't want Izzy to feel that way too. So, she did all she could right now – she held Izzy until she felt better.

---

Seconds after the train's arrival to Hogsmeade's train station, Mia had another nasty surprise. Several yards away, near the school's gates, there were more Dementors. It took her a short talk with Hagrid in order to find out who was responsible for their presence around the students.

"Dumbledore told me tha' the Minister ordered 'em placed here himself," the gamekeeper had informed her. "Said it was to protect the school from Black."

Fudge. Again. It seemed like it wasn't bad enough that Sirius was on the run. Now, the bloody minister seemed to be on a mission to infuriate her. So, she had rushed to the school and had a short conversation with Dumbledore before the feast started only to have him saying that his hands were tied in what came to that matter: as much as he didn't want them there, he couldn't go against the Minister of Magic.

Remus and the rest of the staff, except McGonagall, who was in charge of escorting the first years to their sorting, arrived not long after that so the feast could begin. And, soon, the Great Hall was full of students.

"Welcome!" Dumbledore right after the sorting. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast… As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business."

That statement caused the Great Hall to be filled with whispers as the students commented it with their friends.

The headmaster cleared his throat before continuing. "They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises… or even Invisibility Cloaks," he added. "It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the Dementors."

Mia huffed. Like that would keep the Dementors from coming in… As much as Dumbledore assured her they had no authorization to enter the school, Mia was completely sure that it was the last thing they would care about. Nobody would be safe at that school with those things floating around.

---

That morning had been a close call. Too close. If he hadn't morphed to his dog form that quickly, Merlin knew he would be soulless by that time.

He shouldn't have gone to Wales in the first place but his instinct had been stronger than his brain. As much as Sirius doubted Mia would be at her old place, he had needed to check. So, he had sneaked into the old Davis house without much fuss – it was furnished and clean, though a few furniture he remembered from the time Mia's parents owned the place was missing. At first, he almost believed that someone lived there. But then, he started to notice things – it was too clean, too tidy. Nobody could actually live there and not make the smallest mess: a magazine here, some keys there… No, that place was not inhabited. And there was no smell of Mia in there.

Then, he had had the idea of checking in Lulu's apartment. But she clearly didn't live there either, unless she had suddenly become a scrawny teenager boy who was clearly fresh out of school. Nevertheless, doing it in his human form – even if it was in the middle of the night – hadn't been his best idea as someone had seen him and called the aurors.

He knew he needed to give up looking. At least for now. The leads on him were still fresh and there was just no sign of Mia anywhere. Plus, it was September already. That meant the school year had started… and that Wormtail was in Hogwarts with the Weasley boy.

Promising himself that he would start looking for Mia after he was done with the rat, he headed north, to Scotland. To Hogwarts.

And he had no idea what he would find there.

---

"Keep that thing you call a cat away from Scabbers!" Izzy heard Ron yelling at Hermione before Ginny closed their dorm's door behind her. None of their three other roommates was there yet, to their relief. It was not that they hated them; it was just that they tended to be sort of annoying.

"Will they ever stop fighting?" Izzy murmured as she opened her trunk and started unpacking her things.

Ginny shrugged. "You know how they are," she said simply. "Are you alright, Izzy?"

"Sure," she mumbled while removing a few shirts from the truck. "Just great."

"Are you kidding me?" her friend replied. "At least try to sound convincing when you lie to me. I know this has something to do with the Dementor. I saw the way you looked after it came. Was it about what you saw?"

Izzy sighed, not turning to her. "I just don't want to talk about it."

Guess what? That's not an option, Ginny thought. "I saw the Chamber again. The whole thing repeating itself. Except this time I actually saw Harry battling the Basilisk even though I was unconscious at the time. I saw him getting bitten and almost dying. It was really weird…"

"Ginny…"

"I didn't talk last year," she continued. "I didn't say a word about the diary and it ruined out friendship, got four students, a cat and a ghost petrified and Harry and I killed. You saw how wrong things ended up just because I kept my mouth shut. I'm not going to let you do the same. So, start talking or I'll hex you until you do. Bill taught me a nasty one this summer, you know. Bat bogeys. Doesn't sound pretty."

Izzy groaned. Ginny was right. And she was definitely not letting her off the hook, so she had no other solution but talking. "It wasn't about what I saw. It was more about what I realized my dad felt for all that time. It just… I would have gone mad if I had to feel that for so long. What if he's completely changed or gone mad? What if I never get to meet my dad as the person tells me about? Because I really want to meet that person."

The redhead sat on her own bed silently for a while. "Didn't you mum say Fudge had mentioned he looked sane?"

"She might have said that just so I wouldn't freak out," Izzy pointed out. "I know she lied to me and Harry sometimes to protect us. I don't blame her but she does."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "She wouldn't lie about that. It would be worse having you expecting a sane father and getting a loony one instead than just expecting a loony one at the first place," she said. "Plus, how could have he escaped from Azkaban and not get caught so far if he wasn't sane?"

Good question, Izzy thought. She did have a point, Izzy recognized. If her father was insane, he most definitely wouldn't have been the first person to escape from an 'inescapable' prison. "That makes sense. Oh, thank Merlin," she said in relief.

Her friend smiled. "Thank me," she corrected her. "Now, we'd better finish this conversation before the other girls arrive. We wouldn't want them yelling that there's a murderer's daughter in their dorm, would we?"

Izzy had to hold back a laugh. That made her sound like the classic 'monster under the bed'. "Shut up, Ginny."

A/N: Three exams down, three more to go. And, worst of all, I am surrently writing next chapter instead of ready my history books for the exam tomorrow. I must have some sort of failing wish... Anyway, I hope you liked this one. I think you'll like a certain moment i've just finished for next chapter. Try to guess what it is... Well, review! I need a positive spirit for tomorrow.

P.S: For the person who asked me if because Mia and Molly are related Harry and Ginny won't have a thing, keep in mind that Mia is adopted, thus not actually related to Molly, and that Harry is also not related to Mia. Meaning: There is no reason to fear that Harry and Ginny won't get together in this fic. Plus, their pairing is great, why would I change it?