Chapter Thirteen

A/N: Thank you to TheDoctor'sAmazingCompanion for reviewing the last chapter.

The light was tinged with blue and blindingly bright; that much Charlotte was able to see it from where she was imprisoned behind her closed eyelids. She tried to free herself, to see where the light had come from or why she was suddenly beginning to feel warm again, but for some reason, her body would not obey her request, and she remained limp on the floor where she had fallen, unable to move or speak.

Suddenly, she felt a presence at her side, pressing something cold and hard into her palm and guiding her hand to her mouth. The smell of cocoa filled her nostrils and Charlotte instinctively opened her mouth a little. A square of chocolate was placed into her mouth and began to melt on her tongue, filling her mouth with the rich darkness of its flavour. Before the girl she knew it, her body was her own once more.

Charlotte snapped her eyes open as soon as she was able and was greeted with the sight of her guardian kneeling at her side, his expression one of worry and relief and pain and joy and anger, all at once. Once he saw that she had woken, Remus pulled her into his arms, but the weight of his expression still rested on her shoulders, and she could not forget the momentary anguish in his eyes when he had thought that she was lost to him.

"Are you alright?" he breathed, his voice quieter than usual.

"I'm fine." she answered, not wanting her guardian to worry, although she was still feeling quite light-headed and more than a little confused. "I don't really understand what's happened, though."

"That was a Dementor." Remus told her, releasing her from his embrace, and Charlotte's brow furrowed. She had heard of the name in the past, but had never looked in depth into its meaning; whenever she had asked people about the creatures, they had shivered and shook their heads, so she had thought it pertinent not to ask anymore.

"What are Dementors?" It was contradictory to her thoughts, but the question slipped out before she could stop it. However, the man did not shiver or shake, so she had at least a little hope that she would receive a straight answer this time.

"They guard the prison of Azkaban." Remus explained after a pause, a look of awful sadness in his eyes, which were so far away that they did not see the girl sat in front of him. It was like he was looking right through Charlotte; or seeing someone else sat in her place. "They are the worst creatures imaginable, who suck all the happiness out of a person's life. In the prison, they are used to try and drive the inmates to insanity."

"That's horrible." the girl commented, her voice deadened by her thoughts of all those people, condemned to live the rest of their lives with no happiness, only darkness, cold and endless fear. She could not imagine how terrible that must be. "Even if they've committed a crime, no one deserves to be forced to live like that."

"Unfortunately, that's not how the Ministry sees it." Remus told her, and now his tone was bitter, spitting the name of the magical government like a deadly poison. "They see the Dementors as a deterrent for potential criminals. They don't care what they do to the ones who've already committed the crimes; they're getting rid of a problem and it is the victim's fault. No one can blame them for carrying out justice, even if the way they do it is by tearing out their souls."

"But what if they're innocent?" she asked. Remus fell silent, a film of tears covering his soft eyes. He looked like a man who had lost all he loved and saw no reason to carry on living without it. Charlotte dropped the conversation immediately, instead choosing to wrap her arms around the man's neck, in the hope that he would remember that he did have something to live for, and that he needed that something as much as she needed him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

"It wasn't you, sweetheart." he told her, his face a mask covering the dozens of conflicting emotions present in his eyes. "I was just remembering a friend of mine, who was sent to Azkaban for a crime he did not commit. I went to see him once, to tell him some good news, and some bad, as well. He had always been a lively man, joking around and playing pranks, but in that cell, surrounded by Dementors, he was just... just broken. It was like he felt he could never be happy again, not even when I told him..."

But then Remus stopped, staring straight at the girl in front of him. Once again, Charlotte got the chilling feeling that he was looking right through her. Finally, she couldn't stand it any longer and broke the silence between them, bringing her godfather from his memories. "Remus, what is it? What did you tell him?"

Somewhere outside, a whistle blew, and Charlotte realised that the train had come to a stop at Hogsmeade station. They were here. They had finally arrived at Hogwarts.

"Go on, or you'll be late for the Sorting Ceremony." Remus prompted her, showing no hint of the sadness and agony he had shown just a few moments ago. Charlotte had no wish to argue; she did not want to see that look cross his face again, and so she collected her trunk and went to join the other first years.

The group of children were all chattering excitedly, speculating what Houses they would be Sorted into, but Charlotte could not bring herself to join them. Her own excitement had now been replaced by confusion and fear, as she wondered how she could remind her godfather of a man placed in prison for a crime he did not commit.

A/N: Please review!