Chapter 13
Attack on the Train
Harry
When school started up again the following week, he and the girls boarded the Hogwarts Express together and he soon found himself sitting between Daphne and Padma.
He'd also gone on a date with each of them by now as well before the summer vacation ended and he felt like each of his dates with them had gone rather well.
He had first gone on a date with Daphne and while she tried hard to keep her feelings unreadable, he could tell that she was excited and after some time of trying hard he wore her down and she just relaxed and made no effort to disguise that she was enjoying their date.
She also had no problem being the one to initiate a kiss with him.
Padma was much more shy, but still very excited to be going on a date with him, and so he opted just to kiss her on the cheek, which still seemed to make her very happy.
"So when are you planning to go out with each of us again Harry?" Hermione bravely asked him.
"Yeah, I certainly had a good time and I'd like to again sometime," Padma admitted, blushing a bit.
"I don't know," Harry admitted having not been sure what to do having gone on one date with each of them, "whenever you girls want to I guess."
"I can make myself available almost anytime we're not in classes," Padma offered.
"I guess I could agree to let you go on another date with me sometime if you're lucky," Daphne added, giving him a wink.
"It would be quite fun to continue going on more dates with you," Susan agreed, "nothing too serious or too often of course."
"We would also need to work it into our studying schedule," Hermione concluded, "with the additions of Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures for each of us and even with opting not to take Muggle Studies or Divination we will have a full workload. I could plan out dates into our planners?"
"I'm sure that we can work it in," Susan said, 'besides we are quite far ahead by now anyway."
By now he would guesstimate that they were somewhere around the level of 5th year students by how far ahead they were both in their advanced classes and in their own personal studies.
"How about once a month for each of us?" Hermione suggested, which was quickly agreed to by each of them.
It meant he would then have 4 dates a month, which was quite reasonable. It was enough that it wouldn't feel like they were officially dating or anything, but enough that they could each get a date with him on a somewhat regular basis.
Each of the girls he was pleased to see seemed satisfied by this compromise.
They continued to work out the finer details for a moment before all of a sudden he felt the air around him get cold and it seemed like all the light was going out.
He felt absolutely miserable all of a sudden, like he'd never be cheerful again.
Then a hooded and dark figure glided down the train and stopped right in front of their compartment doorway.
A dementor! He realized, having read about them, but fortunately having never met one himself, and now that he had he definitely never wanted to again.
He reached for his wand, trying to remember the spell he was supposed to use against a dementor, but he felt his mind going blank as the creature seemed to be sucking all the happiness away from them.
The girls looked terrified, Padma even tried casting a spell at the dementor but it went right through it.
Harry knew only the right spell would be effective against it and he felt like the girls all knew that, but they too seemed to be having difficulty concentrating enough to think of the right spell.
Expecto Patronum, that was it! He realized.
Fighting against the dementor's predatory sucking away at his happiness and preventing him from concentrating on what to do, he managed to remember how to use the right spell as he thought of the girls and his recent dates with each of them as each of them were now a happy and treasured memory of his.
"Expecto Patronum!" Harry declared, pointing his wand at the dementor.
He hadn't been expecting it to work so well as a big ball of white light erupted from his wand.
It wasn't a fully corporeal patronus but it got the job done as it chased after the dementor as the dementor let out a loud shriek as it fled.
Relief flooded him at managing to get the dementor to go away.
"Very good, whoever did that!" A man praised as he came up to them, accompanied by his own wolf patronus that he must have just cast.
"You saved us Harry," Padma observed, still looking shaken from the ordeal.
Each of the other girls also looked grateful, but also still recovering from the dementor.
"What is a dementor doing on the train?" Susan demanded angrily, "they are supposed to all be in Azkaban. No way Aunty would have let one loose on the train."
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," The man with the wolf patronus said, looking very upset himself, "by the way I'm Professor Lupin your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
He then rushed off to go check on all the other students on the train.
"Well he at least so far seems actually competent," Hermione observed, "that will be a welcome change at least considering the first two we've had."
"I'm still glad Harry thought of that spell," Padma pointed out, "I was trying to think of it myself, but I guess that is the difference between reading about a spell and actually thinking of and using it in a dangerous situation like that."
"Way to handle things under pressure," Hermione agreed.
"Yes, thank you Harry," Daphne agreed, "you get to be the hero again too."
"I'm no hero, I was just trying to do what I could to protect each of you, that's all," Harry argued.
"Which by its very definition is a hero," Hermione observed.
"Would you like a hero's reward Harry?" Padma asked, seeming nervous and blushing.
"I don't need a reward," Harry insisted.
Padma however decided otherwise as she leaned over next to him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
He was surprised by the action as both of them were now blushing, especially when Daphne clapped her hands and cheered a little.
Harry looked around to see the other girls' reactions but none of them seemed to mind that Padma had just kissed him.
"We're okay Harry," Susan reassured him, seeming to guess what he was worried about, "each of us has kissed you too by now remember?"
"I haven't, at least not on the lips," Hermione pointed out.
"Well what are you waiting for then, kiss him?" Daphne argued.
Hermione blushed before deciding Daphne was right as she got up from her seat and went and gave him a kiss on the lips as well.
He now had another very good memory to use in case another dementor showed up he thought.
"Crazy as it might sound, I think I might want the dementor to come back if this is what I get," Harry joked, causing them all to laugh.
"Just make sure the kiss isn't from the dementor," Daphne warned.
"No, I wouldn't want my soul sucked out, thank you very much," Harry agreed.
"I don't have a soul so it wouldn't be a problem for me," Daphne argued.
"You do too," Susan answered, tapping her lightly on the shoulder, "you're actually a very nice girl with a big heart even if you don't care to admit it."
"I couldn't be going around appearing soft though, it wouldn't be Slytherin like," Daphne countered.
By this point, Professor Lupin them came back, as he offered each of them chocolate.
"Trust me it helps if you are still feeling the effects of the dementor," Lupin told them.
Personally by now after getting kissed by both Padma and Hermione and then joking around with his friends, he was feeling very good indeed but still happily accepted the chocolate as did the girls.
"I managed to find out what the dementor was doing on the train," Professor Lupin informed them, "apparently Minister Fudge sent it as a means to check to see if Bellatrix Lestrange was on the train. My guess is after the whole Sirius Black debacle, he was trying to save face by showing that he was taking security seriously."
"It really only made him seem like more of an idiot," Susan declared, which surprised him a little.
Usually Susan was very nice to most people, but she clearly did not like Minister Fudge and frankly he had to agree with her of her assessment of Fudge.
"Amelia is definitely going to give him a good tongue lashing for that," Harry pointed out, causing Susan to nod as she certainly approved.
Whether Fudge was Amelia's boss or not, he doubted that that would stop her in this instance especially when she heard that they were involved.
"Fudge actually wanted to install dementors at the school as well I'm told," Lupin admitted, "but Amelia Bones wouldn't let him."
"Thank goodness for your Aunt, Susan," Padma said thankfully.
"Well if we do run into any dementors we'll have Harry to protect us, won't we?" Daphne said affectionately.
Personally while he certainly wouldn't mind more kisses from the girls, he hoped he wouldn't ever need to protect them like that again, even though something inside told him he definitely would on more than one occasion.
They however finished the rest of the train ride without further incident.
