This chapter was inspired by another fanfic I read, sadly, I no longer remember which one. Sorry.
Due to the chapters being so short, you get two today. YAY You!
Chapter 06
The train ride had started simple enough, just a group of friends hanging out and having a good time. They sat in an empty compartment in the rear of the train, and talked about the year to come. Hermione went on about how excited she was about the new electives. There was a list of classes that counted as electives, of which it was mandatory that they took two, so Harry had signed up for Ancient runes and care of magical creatures. There was a whole other list of classes available, but because they weren't on the list of mandatory, they counted as extra-curricular. Harry had planned to pass some time taking two of the optional classes. He'd signed up for the Earth Magic and Ancient Studies classes.
At one point in the trip, Ron Weasley had come into their compartment complaining about not being invited along to Diagon Alley, when three of his siblings were. He was chased away by an irate Hermione.
Then finally a bit more then half way through the trip the brakes squealed, throwing everyone off their seats. Harry was on his feet quickly, preparing himself for what was coming. He was helping his friends to their feet, when ice began to crawl across the window, and the sinking feeling of despair seeped into his mind. Harry could feel how the dementors were effecting his mind. He was seeing mental images of his parents, pulled from his fake now thirteen year old mind-scape mingling with images of the hundreds of friends he had lost over the years.
"I recognise this feeling!" Harry exclaimed. "It's the dementors of Azkaban, I read about them. They must be searching for Sirius Black, but they must have gone rogue, because no one would be insane enough to release dementors on unprotected school children."
He pulled his wand and turned to his friends. "I also read about the spell to stop them, though I've never tried it... Expecto Patronum." He didn't know what shape the charm would take when he was in this form, but he wasn't expecting what happened. "It's like my dad."
A large stag exploded from Harry's wand, emitting a brilliant white light that made them all feel better. Harry took a bite of one of the chocolate bars that he had bought from the snack cart earlier in preparation. "Eat some chocolate, it really helps."
Harry then opened the door to the compartment, allowing the glowing stag to charge out of the compartment nearly slamming into the dementor that was reaching for the door handle. The creature shrieked and backed away from the Patronus Charm as fast it could, careening out the nearest door of the train, and away into the night. Harry flicked his wand, directing the Partonus Charm farther up the train, before stepping out into the corridor after it.
"You can't go out there, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "You'll get hurt!"
"If I don't then someone else will. I have to help them."
"Then we'll come with you." Bella said.
"No," Harry replied. "You're staying here. I won't be able to concentrate if I'm worried about you. Please, stay safe." With that, he shut the door and cast a quick 'colloportus' on it, locking the door, before he charged up the train, following the glowing stag. There were four more dementors feeding off the students fear, and two were just about to kiss the students they were holding when Harry appeared with his glowing Patronus. The dementors shrieked and ran, but it wasn't enough, the train was too long for him to do anything from within it. Once all the creatures were momentarily off the train, Harry asked Hedwig to stay on the train where it was safe, while he went outside to deal with the dementors. He exited the nearest door and used one of the access ladders to get onto the roof. He hurried to the top of the engine car, before kneeling, and pulling the dagger from it's sheath in his boot. The knife lengthened, getting more round as it did, the gemstone in the pommel sliding with it, until seconds later, he was holding a staff with a large gemstone at the top. He cast another patronus charm, but this time, the magic of the spell flowed up the staff to be absorbed by the gemstone, which emitted a bright white light. The light washed over the train, pushing the dementors away to the edge of the lit area. He heard a clicking-pop sound behind him, and turned to see newly second-year Colin Creevy on the ladder between the cars to the train roof a few back taking pictures of him. He turned and winked at Creevy before letting go of the staff, but it didn't fall over, it remained standing upright on it's own.
"Sirius Black, you are under arrest!" Came a shout from the tree line. Harry's eyes widened as he recognized a stunning curse, two binding curses and a killing curse flying at him from the forest. He dropped to the roof of the train, allowing the spells to fly overhead. When Auror's started firing killing curses near school children, he knew they had to be stopped. He slid to the back edge of the engine car, and dropped to the gound. Quickly covering himself with his invisibility cloak, he wandlessly cast the shape-shifting spell on himself, becoming a Bengal tiger. The cloak was absorbed into the transformation, just like his regular clothing, and he became an eleven foot long, 500 pound invisible killing machine.