Dementors: Second Year

Elizabeth yawned. She and Luna were the only ones in their compartment. They had been talking about their summer for most of the journey, but then Luna started to read the Quibbler and Elizabeth had fallen asleep. Elizabeth was a very light sleeper, which is why she woke up fairly easily. So, when the train had started to slow down, Elizabeth had startled awake.

Luna looked up from her magazine, unperturbed. Elizabeth frowned.

"We shouldn't be stopping," said Elizabeth.

"Perhaps the Wrackspurts have something to do with it," said Luna.

"Perhaps," Elizabeth said dubiously.

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.

Elizabeth, who was nearer to the door, stuck her head into the corridor, noticing that many students were doing the same.

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. Elizabeth immediately shut the door and sat inside.

"Hmmm, I can't read the Quibbler now," said Luna sadly.

"Lumos," Elizabeth whispered. Her wand alighted.

Luna smiled happily. "Thank you, Elizabeth!"

"No problem," Elizabeth said in return, before frowning. Why would the train have a need to stop? Although Elizabeth had only joined Hogwarts last year, she was sure that the stopping of the train had never happened before. Then again, her father had told her about how Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban and that the ministry was making Dumbledore bring Dementors to the castle. When inquired about what a Dementor was, her father had only shivered and said that she would know and for her not to look them up. Worried, Elizabeth agreed. Perhaps the Dementors were boarding the train?

The door slid slowly open. Standing in the doorway, illuminated by Elizabeth's wand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. Elizabeth's eyes darted downward, and she grew worried. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, greyish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water…

But it was visible only for a split second. As though the creature beneath the cloak sensed Elizabeth's gaze, the hand was suddenly withdrawn into the folds of its black cloak.

And then the thing beneath the hood, whatever it was, drew a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it were trying to suck something more than air from its surroundings.

An intense cold swept over them all. Elizabeth felt her own breath catch in her chest. Suddenly, memories of that day were brought into mind.

"Wake up, please…! Please wake up…Please wake up…C'mon wake up…!"

She barely noticed Luna curling up into a ball, shivering and crying, murmuring something that sounded suspiciously of 'mum'.

After a few moments, but what felt like several hours, the cloaked being closed the door and continued on.

Elizabeth slowly started to feel warmth come back into her body. She was severely shaking and just realized that she had been crying. However, Luna was still curled up. Ignoring her own problems, Elizabeth stumbled to Luna and rubbed her back, standing over her.

"Shh…it's okay…" she said quietly, not knowing if anything she was doing was helping at all. She wasn't exactly the best at comforting people-hurting people, the more like it.

Luna continued to cry, not loudly, but not completely silently either.

Suddenly, the door opened and Elizabeth was worried that another cloaked figure, which had to be a Dementor, was coming into the compartment, but it was only an adult. His clothes were fairly shabby and he seemed to be extremely tired, but his eyes were sharp. The adult's eyes swept through the room and noticed both Elizabeth and Luna, both shaking and both still crying.

"A Dementor was in here?" asked the adult.

Elizabeth nodded, still rubbing Luna's back and muttering kind words, ignoring the fact that her hands were shaking violently and her legs felt so weak that she was amazed she hadn't collapsed.

The adult took chocolate from his pocket and broke two pieces for Luna and Elizabeth. "Here, eat this. It'll make you feel better."

Elizabeth, taking hers with her free hand, was about to bite into it, but stared suspiciously at the adult.

The adult, noticing the look, chuckled. "I haven't poisoned it."

Elizabeth doubted that even if the adult had poisoned it, he wouldn't say so, but still bit into it. Immediately, she felt warmth spread throughout her body. Her legs still felt a bit wobbly, but her hands had stopped shaking. She noticed Luna biting into her chocolate as well, her tears subsiding.

"Do you guys need any more help?" asked the adult.

"No thank you," Elizabeth said politely, glad for the chocolate. "What is your name, sir?"

"Professor Lupin," answered the man.

Elizabeth smiled politely at Professor Lupin. "Thank you for the chocolate, Professor."

Professor Lupin nodded and closed the door, undoubtedly going to hand out chocolate for the other kids.

"Are you alright?" Elizabeth asked Luna, who had stopped crying.

Luna nodded. "I am okay now. What about yourself?"

"I am…fine," Elizabeth said finally. It was a lie.

Luna stared at Elizabeth, obviously catching her in the lie. However, she didn't say anything and continued to read the Quibbler to get a sense of normality.

As Elizabeth looked outside the window, she understood why her father had paled when he heard about the Dementors. Elizabeth couldn't help but wonder what her father had seen.

A/N: I'm not sure of the Dementor would leave, but I feel that if the Dementor was able to have other students' fears, it would move on. I would also think that Lupin would go into each compartment to make sure all of the students were alright. Alright, thanks for reading. :)