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Author's Note: This adventure is loosely based on a plotline that was run in a roleplaying game that I play; White Wolf Changeling. My character in that genre is a seven-year old boy named Cody DeDannan, who had an adventure in a realm that is based on what people dream. In this realm, he found Hogwarts Castle, and was able to go through the first two years of it, along with the students from the Harry Potter stories. (We haven't gotten to the other years, yet!) And so, that inspired me to write this.
This story contains the HP stories seen through Cody's eyes. Please realize that as this takes place in the same time frame as Harry's years at Hogwarts, this fanfic involves a great deal of direct quoting in order to show things through the main character's eyes. Any descriptions, I have put into my own words, but a great deal of the dialogue is quoted.
Furthermore, that which I have directly quoted, I lay no claim to whatsoever, and the same goes for any characters that are taken from the books. My original creations (that is, my character concepts, which I use in other capacities), however, I do claim. No one may use them without my permission.
And so I come to my plea: Ms. Rowling (and those associated with her), please don't sue me! I claim nothing that came from you, whether it be a scene, a character, a place, or a story. I have written this fanfiction because, frankly, it's what I always wished would happen. (Yes, I am a 28 year old adult.) I have written this fanfiction because I love your world and want to be a part of it, and so I made my character in order to enjoy it. : ) I certainly make no money with this, only the enjoyment of sharing my imagination with others.
Oh, and to all you who might live in the U.K.: In trying to keep the whole setting accurate, I have done a lot of research online, as well as asking my dad (who is from England) and my friend (who lived in England for a year) about things like slang, terms, weather, and the like. So if I screw something up, please don't lynch me! :grin: Though if anyone does spot that kind of mistake, feel free to let me know!
Note: The first two years are not my best...but come third year I started getting a little more comfortable with my main character; I get to know him a little better and things start to flow a bit more. The first two years are still good; I just think the later ones are better! And don't worry, I don't make any ridiculous changes in the storyline!
And so, with that, I invite you to enjoy this story!
YEAR THREE
Chapter 1: Professor Lupin
The summer was interesting. With a few exceptions, it was like most of Cody's other summers. He played with the one or two children that were his friends, he went to the playground, he climbed trees, went swimming, he read and pretended. Most of all, he relished the hot, steamy weather that Florida gave him.
The exceptions, of course, stemmed from the fact that he was a wizard living among Muggles. He got a letter from Hagrid not long after summer break had begun, just asking how he was, and asking how his mom took to finding out he was a wizard. Wizards sure did know stuff fast, Cody thought. He wrote back, using Merlin to deliver to the nearest Owl Post, where his letter was sent to an Owl Post Office in England. Hogsmeade, he thought.
He wrote to Harry and Ron and Hermione, and he wrote to Flint and Kathy. Flint was going to try out for one of the local professional Quidditch teams, and Cody told him that he hoped Flint would make it!
He did have some work over the summer break, which he thought was totally unfair; his normal school didn't give kids homework over summer break! But as this was interesting enough, he did not mind doing it too much. He had an essay on witch-burnings, like all the second-years, some potions writing to do, and one or two other minor things. They were done in the first week, but still! It was the principle of the thing!
Cody visited Tony on occasion, and asked him if there was someplace that was safe for broom flying. Tony knew of a place near the post office that many witches and wizards used for that very purpose, because it was hidden from Muggles, and was a fairly open area. It was an area of beach concealed by a lot of woods. He took his mother and sister there, and persuaded Mom to take a try on his broomstick. After falling off three times before getting any height, she gave up. Samantha, on the other hand, seemed to take to it quite naturally. Cody cheered his sister as she made a sort of fast spin-around without even wobbling.
There were thunderstorms to go out and play in, and trips to the nearby beaches to play in the sand. There was swimming and reading, and playing pretend, all effective enough at getting a hyperactive young boy through a hot, humid summer.
He got a letter from Ron and Hermione, both in the same day. The one from Ron had a copy of the Daily Prophet's front page, where it had the article about the Weasleys winning the cash contest in the paper. He laughed and showed it to his mother, who looked at it in fascination. "Wait'll you see Diagon Alley!" he told her excitedly. They had agreed that the day before school started, Cody and his mother and sister would go to Diagon Alley in the Knight Bus. Mom and Samantha would return home the same way, while Cody would stay the night in the inn at the Leaky Cauldron. "There's pictures all over the place, an' they all move!"
Ron's letter told him some of the things that they had done in Egypt, and that Percy had been appointed Head Boy. Cody rolled his eyes, stuck out his tongue, and vowed to stay away from Percy as much as possible. Poor Ron was probably drowning in smug. Hermione's letter detailed her vacation to France; he somewhat envied them. Cody had never been to another country before until he attended Hogwarts. Cody's family vacations were usually in places like Disney World (practically in their backyard) or neighboring states. Still, he supposed he didn't have the right to complain. Some kids never got to vacation at all! "On holiday," he murmured, looking down at the letter, and he grinned. English people had weird ways of saying some things!
Around the beginning of August, Cody got his Hogwarts letter, and read it. Basic Rune Translation, The Monster Book of Monsters, Standard Book of Spells Grade 3, Intermediate Transfiguration... He looked down the list of new books for this next year and grinned, remembering the Monster Book of Monsters. That should be interesting, he thought.
He went through his supplies, and found that three-quarters of his potion supplies needed refilling, and he needed a couple of new quills, and a bottle of ink. He had also gotten the permission form for his mother to sign, that would let him visit Hogsmeade on the weekends they had them, and his mother had signed it willingly enough. Cody hugged and enthusiastically thanked her.
Finally the day came, and Cody led his mother and sister outside, to summon the Knight Bus. Mom asked him why no one ever saw this thing, and Cody shrugged. "I dunno," he said. "I think because it's magic, and that makes it so Muggles don't see it."
The Bus appeared with its normal loud BANG, and screeched to a halt in front of the trio. Cody had his trunk and his fruit bat, and Mom and Samantha were staring at the strange bus in either shock or awe. Maybe both. "Um, are we going to ride on this?" Mom said.
"Yep!" Cody said with a grin.
"Is it safe?"
"Well, it doesn't look like it, but it is," Cody assured her. It took a bit more persuading, but she finally did get aboard and stared at the armchairs that were scattered around the bus. "Weird, huh?" Cody said as he paid Stan for the three bus fares.
"Don't usually get Muggles 'ere," Stan said.
"I know," said Cody. "But they can't get to Diagon Alley any other way...Muggles're allowed there, I know they are, cuz Hermione Granger's mom and dad go there when they're buying school supplies."
"I know that!" Stan said, sounding irritated. "I ain't an idiot, ya know."
Cody could have argued, but said nothing, and after a few minutes the bus took off again with a BANG!
The trip was swift and violent, and Cody's mom looked quite ill when she got off it. Samantha, on the other hand had loved every minute of the rocky, bumpy, jerky ride. "I-I don't think that I ever want to ride that thing again," Mom said in a shaky voice when they walked into the Leaky Cauldron.
Cody giggled. "It's fun," he said. "But don't ever try to sleep. You'd never do it!"
"I can see why," came the faint retort.
Cody waved at the innkeeper, then led the way into the back alley, where he took out his wand and tapped the appropriate bricks to open the doorway onto Diagon Alley. Once this was done, he walked onto the street.
Mom and Samantha acted very much like Cody had when he had first seen Diagon Alley, and he watched them with a wide smile on his face. He pointed out shops left and right, telling them what could be bought there, and the like. He pointed out Knockturn Alley, a row of shops dedicated mostly to the Dark Arts and other magics of questionable nature, but they did not go in. He pointed out Flourish and Blotts, and Ollivander's wand shop, and Gringotts.
Mom wouldn't go into Gringotts; the sight of the goblins and the story of the roller-coaster-like ride you had to take to the vaults unnerved her enough that she felt it would be a better idea if she and Samantha waited for Cody outside. He tried, marginally, to persuade her, but in the end he went alone. And that was okay; he liked the ride very much!
Once he had refilled his money bag, he was ready to make the year's purchases.
Flourish and Blotts was first, it was here that he would get his new books. Mom and Samantha perused the fascinating volumes while Cody found the Transfiguration and Spellbook, but had to have help with the others. The Monster Book was easy enough to find; there was a big cage of them in the front of the store, and the manager of the place was very annoyed when Cody said he needed one of those as well. His book bit the manager, and then Cody, before Cody used his Quidditch arm guard to strap it shut. Mom seemed to be unsettled by a book that bit people, and stayed clear of it. "Hagrid likes weird stuff," Cody said by way of explanation. Mom only nodded weakly.
Cody was afraid that once having seen Diagon Alley and some of the dangerous stuff that was there, that Cody's mom would rethink her decision to let him go back. But, to his relief, she did not. "This is an interesting place," she said neutrally, once Cody had gotten all of his school supplies. His robes still fit him fine, although he did have to get one set; one had gotten all ripped up during his adventures the previous year in the tunnels beneath the school.
"Yeah!" Cody said with a grin. "I love it! Hogwarts is even better! I sure hope I make the Quidditch team this year."
"I don't know whether to wish you luck or hope you don't make it," Mom said, but Cody could tell she wasn't really serious. "After that book I saw, about one of England's teams, after reading and seeing some of the things that happen to them..."
Cody giggled. "It's not that bad at Hogwarts," he said. "Kids hardly ever get hurt bad, an' besides, Madame Pomfrey can fix anything."
"Well, you know I'm going to worry about you, right?" Mom was looking at him now, and seemed reluctant to go.
Cody nodded. "I know...but I'm tough, I'll be okay! Honest!"
Mom sighed. "I know." She ruffled Cody's hair. "You be good, okay? Don't get into too much trouble. They can send owls to me now if you misbehave, you know, since I know about you going here."
Cody blinked and looked rather apprehensive about this. That couldn't be good! He wasn't sure if Mom was joking, or serious.
Samantha hugged him around the middle. "Bye, Cody!" she said with a grin.
"Bye, twerp," said Cody with a grin, and gave his sister a squeeze. Then he hugged his mother and waved, as she headed into the Leaky Cauldron. A few moments later, he heard the BANG of the Knight Bus and giggled. Poor Mom. She was gonna have to find a different way to come here.
Once they had gone, Cody dragged his trunk and his new packages into the Leaky Cauldron, and paid for a room that night. To his surprise, Harry and Ron were there, also, and he waved energetically at them. "Hi!" he cried as he handed over some wizard gold for the room.
"Hey, runt," said Ron with a smirk. Cody could see he had grown taller over the summer and wondered how tall he would be when he was a grown-up. Cody felt very short indeed.
Still, there was pride to be considered. Short or not, "runt" was not a term that he could let slide! "I am not!" he said. "I'm tall enough!"
"Tall enough for what?"
"For my feet to touch the ground," Cody said, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. Ron snickered.
He was told, then, that Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys were all staying the night as well. Mr. Weasley came over then, and smiled down at him. "Hello," he said warmly. Cody found himself liking the man immediately. "You must be Cody?"
Cody grinned. "Yes, sir!" he said.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Mr. Weasley, Ron's dad, and there's his mum, over there." He pointed to where Mrs. Weasley looked like she was telling off Fred and George for something, Cody wasn't sure what. Both twins had this innocent, "who, me?" look on their faces that fooled no one. Cody stifled a giggle.
"You too," he said to Mr. Weasley, in answer to his greeting.
Mr. Weasley looked down at Cody's trunk, which was bigger than he was, and smiled a bit. "Would you like a bit of help getting your trunk up to your room?"
"Yes, thanks!" Cody said, relieved. It was very heavy, and one end was all scuffed and scratched from him dragging it everywhere. "I gotta put wheels on this thing."
Cody realized that all of the Weasleys were there then, and Tom the innkeeper was putting together several tables for them, to eat their dinner on. Mr. Weasley asked Percy if he would come over and help Cody with his trunk. He did, and Cody could rarely remember him looking so smug or pompous. He stifled a giggle as Percy took one end of the trunk, giving Cody a sort of dignified, royal nod. Grinning, Cody told him "hi".
Once Cody's things were settled in his room, Percy told him solemnly that they were having dinner with Hermione and Harry that night, and that Cody was invited to join them if he wished.
"Sure!" Cody said as the two youths walked back down the stairs. Cody wondered if Percy would get a crick in his neck from holding his head so stiff.
When they got back down to the main room, the tables were together, the first course of dinner was on the table, and everyone but Percy and Cody were seated. Mrs. Weasley looked up and smiled. "Well, come on, Percy, your soup's getting cold." As Percy sat down, Mrs. Weasley turned to Cody, who was feeling suddenly shy. "Percy told you you were welcome to join us, dear, didn't he?" she said.
"Yes, ma'am," said Cody, turning a little red as for a moment, everyone's eyes were on him.
"Well, then, come on! You don't want your soup to get cold, either!" She made a "come on over" gesture with her hands, and Cody climbed into the only vacant seat, the one next to Mrs. Weasley.
For a while, Cody only listened to the others talking, as he was very hungry and more interested in the different parts of the meal that was being served. It was weird, eating a meal in parts. Courses, they called them. He was accustomed to getting everything at once. "So what new classes did you take, Cody?" Hermione asked him. She was sitting on Mrs. Weasley's other side.
Cody finished his mouthful and answered, "Study of Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures."
"I'm taking Study of Ancient Runes, too," said Hermione with a pleased look. "Maybe we'll be in that class together."
Cody cocked his head. "Are the Slytherins taking that with Gryffindors?"
Hermione shrugged. "I don't know yet. The class I'm really looking forward to is Arithmancy. It seems quite fascinating."
Cody made a face, then had to stifle a giggle at the faces that Fred and George were pulling when Hermione wasn't looking at them. Mrs. Weasley saw, however, and told them to stop it. "I like Runes better," said Cody. "I don't like stuff like Arithmancy. But Magical Creatures'll be great! I like animals." Merlin was hanging off Cody's robes as usual, and taking bits of Cody's meal when he thought Cody wasn't looking. Cody didn't mind sharing.
"That sounds interesting too," Hermione agreed.
"So what's your favorite course, then?" Ron asked him.
"I like Astronomy best!" said Cody. "I like planets and stars and moons, and stuff. An' I'm good in it. An' I like Quidditch."
"That's not a subject," said Ron.
Cody shrugged agreeably. "I know. I still like it though. I'm gonna try out for the team again; I hope I make it! Flint said I got a lot better, so I hope I do." He heard Ron's snort at the mention of Flint, but Cody didn't mind. Didn't blame him, really.
"Well if he's the one in charge of Slytherin's team this year, they'll be a cinch to beat," Ron opined.
"Not if I make the team!" Cody said with mock arrogance. He giggled at the look on Ron's face, and at Harry's snort of laughter.
"Right," Ron said at last, realizing that Cody was teasing. "You'll save the team, you will. Harry, you'd better watch out for his mad Beater's bat."
Cody laughed at the idea of a mad Beater's bat, and returned to his meal.
As dessert disappeared and Cody sank back into a food coma, Fred asked Mr. Weasley how they were all going to get to King's Cross Station, and Mr. Weasley told him that the ministry was sending two cars.
"Why?" Percy asked.
And of course, the Weasley twins took the opportunity to tease their elder brother mercilessly. "It's because of you, Perce," said George. Cody thought that he could finally tell them apart. They were slight differences in the way they talked and moved, though you would have to know them fairly well to realize. "And there'll be little flags on the hoods, with HB on them."
"For Humongous Bighead," said Fred. Cody joined nearly everyone in hiding a snicker. Percy simply repeated his question, holding his head up in a dignified manner, as if such insignificant teasing were beneath his notice.
Mr. Weasley explained that they were doing him a favor, as he worked at the Ministry, and Mrs. Weasley said it was a good thing too, what with all their luggage. Cody agreed with her on that. With five Weasleys, and Harry and Hermione; that was seven trunks, three animal containers, and various other bags.
"You're all packed, aren't you?" she asked.
Percy sighed and said that Ron hadn't, that he had dumped all his stuff on Percy's bed. Mrs. Weasley sent him up to pack.
"I'm not sure if we can squeeze you in as well, Cody," said Mr. Weasley. "But we're certainly willing to try if you need a way to the station."
Cody grinned. "That's okay," he said. "I'm gonna take the Knight Bus; I always do. But thanks!"
Mr. Weasley smiled. "You're welcome, Cody."
Cody gazed at him for a moment, and then spoke, turning a little red again. "You guys're really nice. I wish more people were like you guys, 'cuz there's a lot of jerks."
Mr. Weasley blinked, looking surprised for a moment, but he also looked pleased at the compliment. "Thank you," he said after a moment. "It's always nice to hear that."
Cody grinned, then climbed out of his chair. "Thanks for dinner." He yawned, covering his mouth. He usually didn't like to admit when he was tired, as his mother always made him go to bed when she saw it. "I'm gonna go an' make sure all my stuff's in my trunk."
"See you at King's Cross," said Mr. Weasley. The few people left at the table also said good-bye, and Cody waved to them.
The soft bed and feather pillow in his little room never looked so welcoming to Cody, as he was very tired. He had gotten up early to get ready, and to pack his trunk for the trip on the Knight Bus to England, and had spent a tiring but fun day. He put Merlin in his cage, put on his pajamas, and crawls under the covers. Very soon, he was fast asleep.
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He arrived fairly late the next morning at the Station, and had to hurry to get onto the platform before eleven o'clock. He enlisted the help of an older student to get his stuff stored, and then headed down the corridors, looking for a compartment of friendly faces.
Malfoy didn't qualify. He peeked into the compartment where he was sitting and quickly moved on, not wanting to be seen. He liked Malfoy less and less.
Finally, he did find his friend Kathy Skinner, who was sharing a compartment with a few other seventh-year girls. Cody wasn't wild about sharing a compartment with a bunch of girls, but as Kathy was one of the few other Slytherins who were friendly (and in Cody's opinion, decent), he slipped in at her invitation. "Hi!" he said.
"Hey kid, how're ya doing?" Kathy patted the seat besides her, and he climbed up next to her. "Have a good summer?"
"Yep! My mom knows about Hogwarts now. Time stopped acting weird."
"Well that's good, isn't it?" said Kathy.
"Yeah! I don't have to go to my normal school. Mom said she told the Board of Education that I was going to a private school. Hogwarts is tons better than my other school."
"I know what you mean. I went to a Muggle school before I turned eleven, too, and I hated it. My teachers were all a bunch of stiff-necked -" She broke off, glancing down at Cody, and he had the idea that the next word wasn't going to be one that Cody was allowed to say.
He giggled. "It's okay. Flint always said cuss words around me, an' Fred an' George do too. An' sometimes Ron."
"True enough! Hey, did you hear from Flint over the summer?"
Cody nodded. "He wrote an' I wrote back. He's trying out for one of the Quidditch teams! I hope he gets in one." He spent quite a while talking to the girls about the school and about what America was like. The lunch cart came, and he bought a delicious looking ham sandwich, two Chocolate Frogs, a bottle of apple juice, and a little bag of chips.
Kathy laughed and asked in a teasing voice how long it had been since he ate.
"I had breakfast," he said through a mouthful of chips.
After that, the talk turned more towards the upcoming year, and though Cody contributed on occasion, there wasn't a whole lot that interested him. After all, they were in seventh year, and he was in third. After classes the talk turned to the summer holiday, and then, to Cody's disgust, boyfriends and romance. He decided that was his cue to leave.
The boy hopped off his seat, stretching. He didn't like sitting so long, anyway. "Heading off?" Kathy asked him, looking amused.
Cody nodded. "Yeah, I'm gonna see who else is here."
"Everyone's here," said one of the other girls with a teasing smirk. "It's the Hogwarts Express."
Cody stuck his tongue out at her, which made her chuckle. "You know what I mean."
"See ya in the dorms then, kid," said Kathy.
"Bye!"
Cody wandered out into the corridor, running around a bit to expend his energy, looking for where Ron and the others had parked themselves, and finally found them at the other end of the train. The train had begun to slow down, making Cody wonder if they were at the school already. Surely, not yet!
He peeked in and smiled brightly at them. "Hi! Can I come in?"
"Sure," said Ron, gesturing to the half-empty compartment. "Don't be too loud, though, one of the new professors is in here." He looked fairly baffled himself.
Cody came in and closed the door softly. "How come he's on the Hogwarts Express?"
Ron shrugged. "We're not sure."
"Oh. How come we're slowing down?"
But before Ron could answer, the train suddenly screeched to a halt, knocking Cody off his feet and against the bench opposite him, and at the same time, the lights went out. "Ow!"
"What's going on?"
"Ouch! Ron, that was my foot!"
"D'you think we've broken down?"
"Dunno!"
Amid the sudden din, Cody felt someone's hands helping him to his feet.
"I think people are coming aboard," said Ron.
There was a distinct lack of organization in the compartment as those within tried to figure out what on earth had happened. Then the door to the compartment opened, and there was suddenly at least one more person in the room. The little space was a jumble of stumbling bodies and legs, and confused voices. Hermione said that she was going to go and see what was going on, but before she could, the door opened yet again.
Cody yelped as someone stepped on his foot, and sent him crashing to the floor again. Someone – Neville, he thought – fell on top of him. "Ow!"
"Who's that?"
"Who's that?"
"Ginny?"
"Hermione?"
There was a babble of voices as everyone tried to figure out who was there, and then tried to get seated.
Suddenly, there was a hoarse voice that belonged to none of the children in the compartment. "Quiet!" The professor, Remus Lupin. Everyone quieted. He lit the compartment using some kind of charm that let him conjure up a fire in his hands, and everyone looked at him. Cody crawled up onto one of the benches as Lupin told them to stay where they were. But as Lupin made his way to the door to find out what was going on, it slid open...
Cody's face paled at the sight of what stood there in a long, black cloak, its face hidden by the hood, a slimy, dead-looking hand protruding from the sleeve. The child stared in horrified fascination. He gasped as the creature sucked in a breath, and a vicious cold enshrouded his body, sinking horribly into his skin and muscles. Cody screamed, terrified, and scrambled desperately up onto the bench, trying to get as far from the horrible thing as he possibly could. He suddenly found himself remembering, as if someone had torn his brain open and was forcing the memories inside, the times in his life he had felt the worst. He burst into tears and curled up in the corner, hiding his face in the set of robes nearest him. He didn't know who it was, all he knew was that whoever it was put their arms around him, and that whoever it was, was shaking almost as badly as Cody was.
He heard, vaguely, Lupin standing up, telling the dementor that none of them were hiding Sirius Black under their robes. He heard Lupin growl "Expecto Patronum!" and caught a flash of silver light even through his shut eyes.
Cody slowly felt the cold easing a little, and saw the lights coming back on. He realized that he was whimpering, and tried valiantly to stop, but he could no more stop it than he could stop breathing. He realized that the person he was clutching was Neville, who looked about how Cody probably looked. Neville let go of Cody to smooth back his hair, which was hanging into his eyes, and to try and compose himself. Cody wasn't going to do that, he could tell that right now. He must still have looked terrified, because once Neville let go of him, Professor Lupin gently put an arm around his shoulder. Cody huddled against him, his shaking beginning to abate.
Poor Harry had fallen to the floor, half conscious, and Cody knew why. Ron and Hermione were kneeling next to him, and helped him get back on the bench.
"Easy," said Lupin, his hoarse voice quiet as he spoke to him. "It's okay, it's gone now."
Cody managed to nod, trying to stop shaking. He wiped his eyes and looked to see what everyone else was doing. He was glad no one was looking at him; Ron and Hermione were busy telling Harry what had happened while he was out. Cody jumped at a loud snap beside him; Professor Lupin had snapped a huge piece of chocolate into several smaller pieces. He handed Cody one. "Go ahead and eat it," he said, still in the same low voice. Cody took it and nodded, as Lupin turned to the others and added, "It'll help."
Harry asked what the thing had been, and Lupin told him it was a dementor of Azkaban, then stood up. He smoothed Cody's hair back once then told the others he was going to speak to the driver. Cody watched him go, and took a bite of his chocolate. Strangely, it seemed to warm his body from the terrible cold that had invaded it; it calmed his shaking and soothed the dread that had hovered in his mind since the thing stepped into the compartment.
"You okay?" Neville asked him quietly, and the boy nodded, but he kept his knees drawn up and did not stray from the corner just yet. He only ate his chocolate, getting it all over his hands, as the others discussed the dementor's invasion. They were telling Harry how Lupin got rid of it.
Cody had both stopped shaking and crying by the time Professor Lupin came back and smiled at Harry. "I haven't poisoned the chocolate, you know," he said.
Harry bit into it and discovered what Cody had; that it was a wonderful remedy for the effects of the dementor's presence. Lupin told them that they would be at Hogwarts in ten minutes, and Cody was highly relieved. Nothing that he had read in the books came close to describing how horrible the things were, and how horrible it felt to be near one...
Lupin sat down, and Cody looked at him, managing a weak, slightly sheepish smile. "Are you okay?" Lupin asked. The boy nodded, and Lupin smiled. "You have chocolate on your face and hands. You might want to clean it off."
Cody looked down and his smile widened a little, and he nodded. He used his shirt to wipe his hands, then stretched it up to clean his face; it was washable, after all.
Little else was said as they sped towards Hogwarts, but Lupin stayed near him the remainder of the journey, which Cody appreciated immensely.
When the train let them off at the stop, it was raining hard, and not the nice, warm rain that they got in Florida, either. It was a cold, chilly rain, and Cody shivered as he stepped out and the first damp wind washed over him. He heard Hagrid greet them, and waved back, shivering again, this time from a normal cold. Cody decided he didn't mind this kind of cold all that much after all. Compared to the dementors, it was a relief. He realized that he had forgotten to put on his school robes, but he didn't really care a whole lot at the moment. He climbed into one of the coaches, and sat in the damp seat. This year had not exactly started out in the best sort of way.
To Cody's horror, the carriages passed by the gates as usual, except that tonight there were two towering dementors standing guard there. He whimpered and curled in the back of the coach, glad that no one from Slytherin was there to see. Fortunately, it was only a momentary coldness, then it was gone.
He got out of the coach and turned his face to the driving rains. The rain was cold as heck, but the familiar feeling of it on his face soothed him; he liked rain whether it was cold or not. It's just that he would not want to go out and play in this particular rain. How it could be so cold in the summertime, Cody didn't get.
He spotted Harry and the others, and ran over to them just as Malfoy was leaving. Professor Lupin was there, also, and he smiled at the professor, whom he already greatly liked and admired.
He ran on ahead of them into the school where it was warm, and headed for the Great Hall.
