August quickly found itself in danger of becoming one of the most depressing months Harry had ever experienced. Days of not hearing from either Hermione or Sirius, who had stayed with her in her world, turned into weeks, and Harry soon stopped even hoping that the new day would bring their return or even a message that they were doing okay. In truth, Harry didn't even know how they might manage to communicate with him from a whole other world away, but he comforted himself that if there was a way to do it, Hermione would be the sort to find it out.

Now back at home, Harry found himself confined to the flat on account of the increased threat from Voldemort, who Harry was being made to feel was just lurking out of sight, ready to pounce when they least expected it. Lily and James would take it in turns to go out to work, and whoever was left to babysit would inevitably lavish most of their attention on Seren, leaving Harry to make his own fun. Harry had expected this to happen, it was perfectly natural, but he couldn't help but feel slightly isolated because of it. It was lucky that he had Marici to keep him company, but also to keep him sensible, and it was his dæmon who eventually demanded that Harry take a course of action to get him out of his dark, funky mood before it totally consumed him.

"Get yourself involved with your sister," Marici ordered, as Harry wasted yet another afternoon simply moping around in his bedroom and staring mutinously out along the Thames. "Mum and Dad are having to work and bring up a baby, they could use your help, rather than you moaning about being lonely and overlooked."

"But I am lonely and overlooked," Harry protested, meekly.

"Then do something about it!" Marici insisted. "Hermione has put her family first for now, so follow her example and do the same."

"And how do you suggest I do that?"

"You have a baby sister out there who might like some attention from her big brother. So go and see if you can give it to her, take some weight off Mum for a bit."

"You're right, as always," Harry nodded, forcing cheer into himself. "What did I ever do without you? Hermione will come back when she's ready and able, wont she? Sitting here like a cranky old goat wont make that happen any faster ... I just wish that I knew that she was still safe. But I'm sure Sirius and Lyra will be taking good care of her with her witches, wont they? Come on, let's see if our closest witch can find a use for us, too."

So Harry made his way back into the living room, Marici padding along at his side. Harry was sure she was getting bigger, it would be a problem when they went back to Hogwarts. After all, how was he supposed to mask a huge lioness at his side all the time? It was something else to worry about.

"Hi, Mum," Harry began, brightly. "What are you doing?"

"I was about to feed Seren," Lily smiled back. "You seem in a more pleasant mood than normal. Have you had some good news or something?"

"No, but Marici told me off for being so grouchy." Harry grinned. "So I've come to see if you need me to help out with the baby or anything."

"Well, isn't that thoughtful of you!" Lily beamed. "You could learn to feed her, if you like. I'm pretty sure your father hasn't tried to teach you, has he?"

"No, he only showed me that weird thing that Seren does, when she burps and farts at the same time! I tried to do it, myself, but I couldn't manage it."

"How lovely!" Lily replied with an amused sort of grimace. "Alright then, sit down on the settee. Best go next to one of the armrests, just for better support."

So Harry did, flopping down onto the fluffy cream cushion at one end. "What do I do now?"

"Hold out your arms, and crook your left elbow a bit," Lily instructed. "Yes, just like that. Right, I'm going to put the baby just under your arm, so her head will rest in that crook you just made. It's called the Rugby Ball Hold, so try and keep her like that. Hold her steady, making sure you support her head. Ready?"

"Ready," Harry nodded.

Lily moved close to him and knelt down, before carefully placing baby Seren into Harry's arms. She squirmed and wriggled as Lily set her in a cosy position, turning her head so that she could look up at Harry. Which she did, in unblinking fascination. Harry returned her unwavering stare, feeling a tingly warmth flicker all through him.

"It's funny, isn't it?" Harry murmured, adjusting the blankets around his sister's tiny shoulders. "She moves all at once, everywhere. All parts of her feel like they are in motion! Am I holding her right?"

"You're doing fine, sweetie," Lily replied, smiling fondly at her children. "Just keep her head in one spot. Yes, that's better. I think she quite likes this, you might have to do it more often."

"So can I feed her now?"

Lily handed over a bottle and plugged it into Seren's mouth, and she began to suckle on it eagerly.

"You know, I think she looks more like you," Harry observed critically. "But she has Dad's eyes. I wonder if that will mean she'll need glasses when she's older, like me."

"It doesn't always work like that, honey, but maybe she will," Lily answered.

Marici came up then and sniffed curiously at the baby, even gently licked her face. Harry felt a spark of tenderness shoot between himself and his sister at the contact, and the baby's eyes went wide and happy as she felt it too. Harry grinned to himself as he enjoyed a cosy heat that washed over his chest.

"She smells like talc," the dæmon observed.

"It's a better fragrance than her normal one!" Lily laughed. "I wonder if she has a dæmon. Can you tell, Marici?"

"She has one, all humans do," the lioness replied. "But it's tucked away inside her."

"I wonder what form it would be," Harry pondered.

"It could be anything," Marici replied. "Before the onset of adolescence, dæmons can change shape."

"But you cant," Harry pointed out.

"No, but I think that has something to do with being born in this world," Marici told him. "I think the rules are different. Even Pap said that ... he said that I had the smell and the feel of a dæmon as he knew them, but that there was something different about me, too. He wasn't sure what it was, but we think it was that."

"And what about me?" Lily asked, curiously. "What do you think my dæmon would be?"

Marici cocked her head as she considered it. "Something powerful, but also something beautiful ... like a unicorn, maybe."

"A unicorn!" Lily beamed. "How lovely! I think I can live with that. I wonder what his name would be?"

"Bob!" Harry giggled playfully. "Bob the Unicorn dæmon!"

"Dont be silly, Harry!" Lily laughed. "Oh, and be careful ... you're spilling milk down your sister's chin!"

But that was as fun as the month of August got for Harry. All in all, he was glad when September the First rolled around and he was packing his heavy school trunk and making his way to Kings Cross to catch the Hogwarts Express. At least the new month brought the possibility of a change in fortune. Maybe Hermione would even be waiting on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters to surprise him. That would be a very good joke to play.

Unfortunately, when the day did arrive, Harry found that fortune was still giving him a wide berth.

For Hermione was not waiting for him with open arms at the station, nor was she saving him a seat in their favourite compartment at the end of the train. Harry waited for a good ten minutes after boarding just to see if she would turn up, before simply resigning himself to the fact that this would be a trip that afforded him no pleasure whatsoever.

At least the solitude gave Harry the chance to practice his new spell on Marici. Being at home, and under the Restriction of Underage Sorcery regulation, magic was strictly off limits. But now he was technically on school time he was free to practice his spell-casting. And his Charm of choice was a Shrinking Charm that his mother had been teaching him, the idea being that he might be able to turn Marici into a little lioness and carry her around in his pocket.

It took a few tries, but eventually Harry managed to perform the spell properly.

"You look so cute!" Harry crooned as he held his dæmon in the palm of his hand.

"I don't like this, Harry!" Marici complained, her voice high and squeaky now she was so tiny. "I feel like a baby!"

"You look like one, too!" Harry laughed. "You know, I think I might keep you like this!"

"No you will NOT!" Marici growled, or as best as she could, at least. "You'll make me big again or I'll bite you when you sleep!"

"Ooh, look how sassy you are now you're a dinky little thing! Maybe I'll just forget the Engorgio Charm if you carry on pouting like that!"

"Hey, Harry? Got room for a couple more?"

Harry looked up to see Neville Longbottom standing in the doorway. He raised his eyebrows at the tiny lioness in Harry's palm, which quickly disappeared as Harry stowed his dæmon safely in his shirt pocket.

"Who's the couple?" Harry answered, sheepishly.

"It's just Ron. He's swapping sandwiches with his brother ... apparently his Mum always gets the fillings mixed up," Neville replied. "Not surprising, really, with so many sprogs to cater for. Don't worry, I wont say anything about your dæmon."

"Thanks," Harry grinned. "Yeah, grab a seat. Wanna hand with your trunk?"

"Nah, watch this!" Neville twittered, excitedly.

He drew his wand and a quick swish and flick later and his trunk was safely stowed in one of the overhead racks.

"Wow! That's much better than you normally do with your Charms," Harry nodded, impressed. "How have you been practising with the Underage Restriction in place?"

"I haven't. But with Mum and Dad being alive and well now, Dad took his old wand back off me, so we had to go and get me my own. Cedar, ten inches, unicorn tail hair core. As soon as I picked it up I knew it was for me, my magic just felt different, like it was actually working properly. So I tried a few spells when we got here and they all work better. You never get such good results with another wizard's wand, so my Dad's old one didn't perform right for me. I'm hoping it means I'll have a better year in our classes now."

Just then, Ron Weasley's lumbering form barrelled into the compartment. He looked puffed out and very cross.

"My bloody brothers!" Ron riled. "They put a Charm on the wheels of my trunk, turning them into squares! Made this flaming trunk three times harder to drag, the pair of idiots. Oh, alright, Harry? How was your Summer? Hope you don't mind us sharing with you?"

"Not at all," Harry replied. "Be better than riding all the way by myself."

"By yourself?" Neville frowned. "Where's Hermione? I assumed she'd just gone to the loo or something."

"Yeah," Ron snickered. "The rumour all down the platform was that you'd both boarded early just to get some quick snogs in before anyone else got on!"

Harry flushed hotly. "Is that really what everyone has been saying?"

Ron nodded. "Cant blame them, really. I mean, it's been two months since we broke up for End of Term, and you must have seen Hermione lots over the Summer. Plenty of time for some good smooching then, with no-one else around. I assume you are snogging her by now?"

"No ... no we're just friends, and friends don't do things like that," Harry replied, a strange and unexpected ruefulness in his voice. He hadn't intentionally put it there, but every syllable he spoke was laced with it.

"Yeah, friends with snogging benefits!" Neville chortled. "Fine, Harry, don't tell us the juicy gossip. Don't worry, Ron, we'll just have to be reduced to tricks and stratagems to catch them at it!"

"Fine, if you want to ignore me and waste your time, don't let me stop you," Harry huffed, feeling the compartment warm up rapidly. Why had they put the heating on? It was scorching hot today. He loosened his polo shirt collar to cool himself. "But while you're at it, why not do something equally useful ... like inventing a silent alarm clock, or a waterproof teabag, perhaps?"

"Ooh, looks like someone got out on the wrong side of the bed this morning!" Neville guffawed. "No wonder Hermione is in her own compartment if you're in such a lovely mood."

"Hermione isn't in another compartment. She's not even on the train," Harry scythed back.

"Why not? Where is she?" asked Ron.

Harry went to reply, but quickly snapped his jaw shut. What was he going to tell them? In private, he'd be able to tell Neville the truth, but Harry didn't like Ron nearly enough to let him in on the secret nature of Hermione's true origins, despite how he had started to thaw to him a bit over the last few months of last term. Harry had to think fast.

"She's, er ... Hermione has gone ... well, she's ..."

Neville and Ron looked on suspiciously as Harry stumbled over his excuse, swapping confused glances with each other. Harry needed to correct the situation fast, and luckily he had just the dæmon for the job.

"Tell them she's suffered a bereavement," Marici spoke into Harry's mind. "Say it's her grandmother, or something."

"Brilliant, Chi!" Harry thought back. "Well, Hermione losing a relative is hardly brilliant, but it's just a white lie, isn't it?"

Harry hitched a sad sort of grimace onto his face and turned back to Neville and Ron. "Hermione's suffered a family bereavement, I wasn't sure if I should tell you or not. She hasn't given me permission to, see."

"Ah," Neville nodded, accepting the excuse immediately. "Poor girl. Who was it?"

"Her Grandma," Harry lied. "She's been ill a while, but she lives in ... er ... Australia. Emigrated years ago. So Hermione's Mum has flown her out there to see her Granddad and attend the funeral. I don't know when she'll be back, but I haven't heard from her in a few weeks."

"That explains the lack of snogging," Ron grinned. "Don't worry, mate, you'll get plenty of chances to put that right. Especially with the Hogsmeade visits this year. I cant wait to visit the village. Did you all get your permission forms signed?"

"Yeah, my Mum only did mine this morning," Neville confessed. "It was only because my Remembrall was glowing that I remembered I had to get it done at all!"

"Hermione made us get ours signed as soon as the Hogwarts letters arrived," said Harry, as they all sat down as the train finally began to roll away from Kings Cross. "She cant wait to visit the magical sites, the bookshop and the music store. She's joining the Music Society this year, see."

"Yeah? Well, there are plenty of nooks and crannies hidden up in the village," Ron nodded, sagely. "See ... just dying for some sneaky snogs, that one. She doesn't seem the type, really, but they always say to watch out for the quiet ones, don't they?"

Harry narrowed his eyes at Ron. "I'm sure Hermione doesn't want to take me to the interesting crevices of Hogsmeade just to snog me!"

"Then you'd better take her," Neville sniggered. "In case someone else barges in and snogs her in your place."

Harry snapped his head furiously to Neville. "Is that likely? Have you heard anything like that? Who is it?"

"No-one ... yet," Neville teased. "But if you don't make things official with Hermione this year then that's always a possibility. She's a nice girl, is Hermione, and I'm sure you're not the only one who'll be interested in her."

Harry scowled at that, but Ron thumped his shoulder supportively. "Don't worry, Harry, if anyone tries anything with Hermione we'll have your back ... we can help you bury the body and everything, for a fee, of course!"

Neville hooted out a laugh and even Harry allowed himself a grin. "Thanks ... I think."

"No problem," Ron smirked. "Just remember us when all your girl fans need dates after you turn them down!"

"Yeah!" Neville nodded, vehemently. "That seems a fair deal. We keep other wizards away from Hermione, and Harry points all his heartbroken admirers in our direction for a sympathy date. I like your thinking, Ron."

"Shut up, you clowns!" Harry chuckled. "So, anything new for you two this Summer? Apart from your new wand, Nev?"

"I got a new pet," Ron offered, sheepishly. "Well, he's not really new. He was Percy's, but Mum and Dad got him an owl ... he was made Head Boy, you know, which means my life will be a complete hell this year ... and I got Scabbers as part of the deal."

"Scabbers?" Neville quirked.

"Percy's old rat," Ron clarified. "He's pretty bloody useless, to be honest ... spends most of his time sleeping, but he's been in the family for years. Fred and George wanted to put a little tag on him and flush him down the toilet, see how far he managed to get before someone brought him back, but Ginny was really upset by that idea, so Mum made me have him. Crikey, I'd have preferred an owl but, well, they don't come cheap."

Ron flushed so crimson it looked like his whole head was alight.

"How is Ginny?" Neville asked, cautiously. "After all that possession stuff with Lockhart?"

Ron's complexion darkened again, his eyes heavy and leaden. "She had a bad Summer, lots of nightmares. We had to have a Healer over quite a lot for the first fortnight, just to calm Ginny's mind. It wasn't just the possession by Lockhart, you know ... it was possession by You-Know-Who, wasn't it? Lockhart said that at his trial, and he passed all the truth tests they did on him, but the Ministry put a gagging order on the Prophet, so they couldn't report it. Didn't want to scare people, I suppose.

"But it wasn't just that, either ... it was how Lockhart used Ginny for what he was doing to Hermione. That was worse for her."

Harry was alert in a flash. "He did what with Ginny?"

Ron swallowed hard at the abrasive look on Harry's face. "Lockhart wanted to stop Hermione exposing him, didn't he, maybe get her expelled while he was at it? So he wanted to make it look like Hermione was the one opening the Chamber of Secrets and attacking people, especially people who got between her and you, to make it look like she was jealous and wanted to hurt her rivals.

"But Lockhart didn't know who to attack to have the most impact with that. So he, er, possessed witches who fancied you, Harry, and saw that they weren't just jealous of Hermione and how close she was to you, they were also angry at the same people that Hermione was if they crossed you.

"So, for example, Ginny was angry that Sally-Anne Perks was pursuing you so blatantly, and so Lockhart knew Hermione would be, too. So he attacked poor Sally-Anne and made it look like Hermione did it ... he even allowed himself to be Petrified after Hermione went nuts at him for dissolving the bones in your arm, just to make the whole thing look authentic. He even used Ginny's responses in his diary to send back to You-Know-Who, pretending they were from Hermione. She was pretty traumatised by the whole thing."

"What a pillock!" Harry riled. "But how was that worse for Ginny than being possessed? I don't understand that bit."

"Ginny isn't Hermione's biggest fan," Ron confessed. "But that's just because Ginny wishes she was her ... you know, the number one witch in your life. She knows it will never happen, but it's just a crush and she hasn't gotten over it yet. But she also knows how much you care for Hermione ... so if she got hurt and Ginny was to blame, she knows you'd hate her forever. Even the tiniest hope of you noticing her would evaporate if that ever happened. So she was terrifically guilty all Summer, knowing just how close she'd come to hurting the witch you care for the most and incurring your wrath into the bargain. It was worse than being possessed by You-Know-Who for her."

"I wonder what that's like?" Neville mused. "Being fancied by every witch going? On the one hand it sounds great, but on the other you'd be breaking so many hearts when you finally got a steady girlfriend. I don't envy you, Harry."

"It's Hermione I feel sorry for," Ron smirked. "Imagine all the hate mail she's going to get when Witch Weekly runs the big 'Harry Potter's First Girlfriend' cover story ... you might want to shoot every owl that comes within three feet of her when that happens, Harry, just in case they are carrying envelopes full of bubotuber pus, or something."

Neville chortled at that, and the three of them spent the next hour inventing increasingly ludicrous ways to deliver mail-based revenge on potential love rivals.

By midday the Hogwarts Express had left London and reached the stormy expanse of the Midlands. Violent rains lashed down at the train, lightening crackled in the sky overhead and dark clouds forced the lanterns on in the carriages by mid-afternoon. Neville spent his time practising spells with his new wand, trying to make Ron's new-but-not-new rat a little more interesting by turning his whiskers yellow. Harry wasn't sure it was a real spell, but he left them to it, choosing instead to watch the thunderstorm raging outside and hope that Hermione, wherever she might be, was at least warm and dry.

It also gave him a chance to think quietly about all the things that Neville and Ron had been teasing him about earlier. There was a grain of truth there that Harry had been subtly denying for quite a while now, namely the changing nature of his relationship with Hermione, or at least his developing feelings for her.

He had spent a good deal of time denying the rumours about himself and Hermione ... and he was on solid ground, for there was nothing to confess. But that didn't tell the whole story. Harry had been cautiously keeping the thought on the edge of his mind for ages, firmly behind a wall of uncertainty. He didn't really know why, either, because the truth was that he wouldn't have minded if the rumours were actually correct.

Harry saw Hermione as more than just his best friend, that was definitely true. But he didn't really know what that meant, either, or what the difference was between best female friend and girlfriend. It was perfectly plausible to him that Hermione actually was his girlfriend and they'd just never called it that ... or what would change if they suddenly started to.

And it was this that worried Harry the most ... change. He didn't want things to change with Hermione, to risk changing the ways they were so close and intimate by calling their relationship a name that might make them awkward, or that might force them to do new things that neither of them were quite ready for, things that might do untold damage to their cherished friendship.

But at the same time all this potential newness excited Harry in ways he'd never known he could be excited before. It was just like that day on the canal in Oxford ... the way his pulse sped and his skin tingled hotly as he stared at Hermione's legs ... he still didn't truly know what was that all about. He'd never experienced that sort of rush before, but something told him it could get a hell of a lot more intense.

And these frightening changes might be the roadmap to Harry enjoying them. It was so confusing, such a conundrum, all things considered ... and Harry didn't have Hermione here to work it all out with him. Not that he'd dare tell her any of this ... even the very thought of broaching the subject with her made Harry so hot and flustered that he had to go to the bathroom and splash some cool tap water on his face.

But if it was cooling down Harry wanted, he was better off staying where he was.

For as the Hogwarts Express reached the Scottish border, near Berwick, it began to slow, coming to a complete stop as it crossed a bridge spanning the River Tweed. Harry, Neville and Ron exchanged looks of deep puzzlement.

"Why have we stopped?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged. "Who knows? Could we have run out of fuel?"

"That's not likely, is it?" Neville doubted.

Then, quite abruptly, all the lights in the cabin went out, plunging them into dense darkness.

"What's going on?" Ron breathed in a worried voice.

Harry went to reply, but the air suddenly caught painfully in his chest as a sharp, rattling breath could be heard in the corridor outside the compartment. Then a cold icier than any Harry had ever known enveloped the carriage, swirling all around them before snaking and creeping through their bodies. Harry didn't feel it on his skin ... he felt it inside himself, encircling his bones and squeezing his heart in a vice of chilled iron. It was so cold ... Harry felt like he was drowning in it. From there it slithered up like a dark fog to his head, clouding his brain and taking his vision.

The next thing he heard was his own voice, distant not in terms of length but by time. He was back in the Chamber of Secrets, clutching Hermione's limp, lifeless form in his lap. She had basilisk venom in her veins, no heat to her skin, her heart stopping under Harry's fingertips. And he was screaming, begging for her to wake up, willing with all he had for her not to be dead ...

"Harry! Harry! Wake up!"

Harry blinked and looked up at the voice. It was Marici. She was stood alert on his shoulder, hidden under his robe and shouting into his ear with every bit of her shrunken lungs to try and rouse him.

"Wah? Wah happened?" Harry stuttered drunkenly.

"Something came in here, a sort of cold, sucked all the happiness out of the place ... and you collapsed," Marici explained quickly. "Ron and Neville are in a bad way. They need you."

"Did ... did they collapse?" Harry asked, pulling himself up.

"Well, no, but they are very trembly and shivery," Marici confessed. "It was a Dementor, Harry ... and they don't know what to do. They are very scared."

"Slide back into my pocket," Harry instructed.

Then he hauled himself into his seat. On the other side of the compartment, Neville was hugged up in the foetal position, whimpering lowly. Ron was next to Harry, rocking back and forth with no expression in his eyes. There was a good chance neither had noticed Harry fainting at all.

"In your bag," Marici thought to Harry. "Chocolate, remember? Get it ... quickly."

"Right."

With trembling fingers, Harry struggled with the clasp to his bag, before fishing around inside and finding some Chocolate Frogs he'd bought earlier from the lady with the trolley. He crammed the first one into his mouth, feeling warmth surge back to his fingers. He drew his wand and re-lit the lanterns with his emerald green Flame Charm. He took them down and placed them by Neville and Ron to get them warm, before pressing the Chocolate Frogs into their hands. They both looked up at him with expressions of deep doubt.

"Eat these, they'll make you feel better," Harry promised.

Slowly and cautiously, Ron and Neville followed the instruction, coming around just as the compartment door opened.

"Ah, I see at least one person on this train knows the antidotes to the effect of a Dementor!"

"Professor Lupin!" Neville cried. "Is that what that was? Were we attacked by Dementors?"

"I'd say exposed to, rather than attacked by," Professor Lupin corrected. "And it's a good job that this young man knew how to handle them. Your parents will be proud of you, Harry Potter, for keeping your head in a crisis!"

"Thank you, Professor," Harry replied, weakly. "We haven't really met, have we? But I didn't handle anything ... the Dementor made me faint."

"You and half the train," Professor Lupin replied, kindly. "Don't fret about it too much. But you knew to light a fire and give out chocolate. Take ten points for Gryffindor, Harry. You've done very well. I look forward to seeing what you can do in my class ... I have accepted the Defence Against the Dark Arts post full-time in case you were wondering, though that may ruin the surprise when the Headmaster announces it later!"

"That's cool!" Neville nodded enthusiastically. "Your classes were great last year, Sir. I'm glad you stayed."

"Thank you, Mr Longbottom."

"But, Professor," Harry frowned. "Why were there Dementors on the train? Was that why we stopped?"

"It was, and I can only imagine how furious Professor Dumbledore will be when he finds out," Lupin confirmed. "The Ministry decided, in their wisdom, that as Dark forces have targeted and successfully penetrated Hogwarts in the past two years, that it might be a prudent course of action to screen the students on the way to school. They chose Dementors for the job, but Dumbledore hates the creatures. He would never have agreed to this action had he known about it."

"So the Ministry commandeered the train and did it without Dumbledore around to stop them," Harry nodded, bitterly. "What a sneaky bunch of cowards!"

"Indeed," Lupin agreed in a growl. "Well, as you boys seem on the mend, I shall leave you begin your recoveries on your own. I have to check on some of the other compartments."

And with that he left them alone. Once he was gone, Ron spoke to the compartment at large.

"Did you both feel that?" he hissed in a trembly voice. "Like all the warmth had gone out of the world ... like you'd never be happy again?"

Harry nodded fretfully. "I heard voices ... did you hear voices?"

"I didn't," Ron replied. "But my ears were rushing like I was drowning in freezing water, so I didn't have much chance to listen to anything else."

"I heard something," Neville muttered, his voice pitifully small.

"What was it?" Harry pushed.

"I heard my parents," Neville replied in that awfully strained tone. "I heard them when they ... when they were being tortured. I must have been there as a baby, or something. I never knew that. Oh ... it was horrible, Harry ... so, so horrible ... I wish I could un-hear it ..."

"Here, have some more chocolate," Harry urged, thrusting another Chocolate Frog into Neville's grateful hands.

"How did you know, Harry?" Ron asked, polishing off his own frog's leg. "About the chocolate, I mean?"

"I heard about Dementors ages ago, and the idea terrified me to be honest," Harry admitted. "So I made my Mum tell me how to fight them. There's a spell to drive them off, too. If I had guessed what it was, I could have stopped them. Sorry ... I didn't think."

Neville looked over at him, stunned. "You can do the Patronus Charm? Harry ... that's massively advanced magic. Not all wizards can produce a corporeal Patronus, you know. What form is yours?"

"It's a stag," Harry revealed. "It's from my Dad. That's his Animagus form, so I think it's the protective element I associate with him."

"Wow!" Neville hushed, sitting back impressed. "You'll have to show us that one day."

"If you like," Harry agreed. "But, to be honest, I think I'll need more than a Patronus to protect me when I get to Hogwarts. I cant even begin to think about how much I'm going to be teased when it gets around that the Dementor made me faint ... bloody Draco Malfoy is going to have a field day with this one. I might as well have given him a lifetime's worth of birthday presents in a single day."

Harry closed his eyes as he thought about that, shuddering just as much as the Dementor had caused him to, before going back to watching out of the window and dreading the whispers he'd have to dodge the next time the train came to a halt.