"You've got your bag?"

"Yeah."

"And you're sure you packed up everything?"

"Uh huh."

"Ok." Lilly hugged Christina tightly. "Have a good next term. And please remember to look for an old yearbook in the library when you have time."

"Bye Mum." A cold winter wind blew across the platform as Christina got onto the train. The Christmas holidays had been quiet. They'd had a little Christmas dinner with some friends, and Christina had gotten a chance to use Hogwarts' booklet of pre-fabricated lies to help students safely tell muggle friends about their new school. According to the booklet, Hogwarts was actually Hoggarton Academy for Gifted Children, an exclusive private school up in Scotland that used innovative teaching methods to shape young minds, or something like that.

Christina had gotten some muggle stuff from her mum for Christmas but also a new book called Quidditch Through The Ages, which was especially important because Madame Hooch was going to start teaching them the fundamentals of quidditch this term. She'd spent hours by the fireplace paging though it and reading about all seven hundred ways one could commit a foul.

She'd also gotten new wizard stuff from her friends. Derrick had sent her something called a sneakoscope, which was supposed to light up when enemies were around. Christina wasn't sure she had any enemies for it to detect. Derrick had sent a note saying sneakoscopes were really cool and that it would come in handy if Black broke into the castle again, which Christina didn't think was likely. Abigail had gone a more practical route and sent a box of chocolate frogs. The first one Christina bit into had Dumbledore inside it. She set it aside and figured now was as good a time as any to start her own chocolate frog card collection. Sam had sent her a fresh box of quills because Christina turned out to have an extraordinary talent for losing them. Seriously, she'd come to school with a set of twelve and now could only find three.

She also had a hastily-scribbled note from her mum with information she needed to find in the library. Her mum wanted her to search for old Hogwarts yearbooks to see if they could find her old school photos. She also wanted Christina to look up anything on Snape, Black, and Lupin, since the names had all sounded familiar.

Christina tucked the note in her bag and went off to find her friends. The train was pretty full because most students had gone home for the holidays; no one had wanted to stay alone in the castle while Sirius Black was on the loose.

"Christina! Christina!" Colin Creevey was coming down the corridor, wearing a new scarf. "Did you hear? Harry Potter got a firebolt for Christmas!"

"A firebolt? Isn't that the fastest broom in the world?"

"It sure is! But get this—I heard from Ginny, who heard from Ron—McGonagall thinks Sirius Black sent him the broom and she took it away from him to check for curses and jinxes!"

"She thinks Sirius Black sent him the broom?"

"Yeah, with some kind of hurling hex or something to knock him off. He probably knows Harry loves quidditch, I mean, everyone knows he's the youngest house seeker in a century."

"But how's Gryffindor supposed to play now?" Christina cried. "He can't play without a proper broom. He's on a shooting star, you've seen those things . . . And Gryffindor's got to win the cup!"

"I know! It's like McGonagall is trying to sabotage her own team."

"Why, McGonagall? Why?" Christina threw her hands in the air. "Well, at least she's putting student safety first."

"Safety last!" Colin yelled. "Gryffindor's got to win the cup!"

"I don't know if I'd go that far, but he should get his broom back."

"Yeah. With any luck he'll have it back before the next match." Colin sighed. "All right, I'm off to go find Ginny and Luna. See you later."

"But it's not like Sirius Black could just wander into Quality Quidditch Supplies and get a broom." Said Abigail. "Or if he could, then the Wizarding World might want to tighten up its security measures."

"The sooner they catch him the better." Christina groaned. "Then life could be normal."

The first day of classes was cold; the snow had partially melted over break and reformed with a layer of ice on top, now accompanied by a bitter wind. Fortunately the only time they had to go outside was to get to the greenhouses for Herbology. From the steamy fogged-up windows of the greenhouses they could just make out Hagrid's third-years glumly tending to the flobberworms. Astronomy lessons were temporarily moved indoors to study old star charts in the library, and flying lessons were canceled until the winds let up. The quidditch team was still at it though, poor Harry flying one of the terrible shooting star brooms because McGonagall still had his firebolt.

Professor Lupin was teaching them a new disarming spell that could knock an enemy's wand right out of their hand, stating that even a simple spell like that could be very effective.

"Can we use this if Sirius Black ever breaks into the castle again?" Paolo asked.

"You may certainly try," said Professor Lupin, "However Black does not have a wand on him. But for any foe you face with a wand, this spell renders them temporarily powerless. divide up into pairs, and let's begin.

Christina paired off with Abigail, ten feet apart, and leveled her wand at Abigail's chest. "Experliarmus!" Nothing happened.

"Try again!" Abigail gripped her wand tighter.

"Expeliarmus!" Abigail's wand gave a feeble twitch.

"Christina, you need a firmer wand motion." Said Professor Lupin. "You're commanding an enemy's wand to leave his hand; you need to be firmer."

Christina nodded.

"Homework for all of you: practice!" Lupin called to the room at large.

As Christina gathered up her books and parchment, she remembered the patronus spell she'd wanted to ask about. She nervously approached Professor Lupin's desk.

"You enjoy the lesson, Christina?" Professor Lupin pulled out a stack of graded papers from a different class. "Merlin's beard, you'd think sixth years would know the difference between inferi and ghosts. What was Lockhart doing with them? Anyway, what can I do for you?"

"Do you remember that quidditch match where Gryffindor lost because of the dementors?"

"I do indeed. Terrible. But if you're looking for someone to talk sports with, I'm afraid I'm not the person for that."

"No, it was about the dementors. I passed out in the stands and split my head open. I read about a charm that you can use to keep dementors away."

Lupin was quiet for a moment, twisting his wand in his fingers. Finally he said, "The patronus charm is a powerful spell that uses happy memories to keep dementors at bay. However, it's very complex magic. I'm sorry, but there's no way you learn it. Probably not until your fifth year, at the very earliest."

"But I passed out when one was around!"

"What happened at the quidditch match was an anomaly. It should not have happened, plain and simple. As long as you stay out of their way, you should have no need of the patronus charm. If you don't mind me asking, did you pass out on the train as well?"

Christina nodded.

"Potter was similarly affected on the train. Luckily for him I was in the same compartment and made sure he went up to the hospital wing as soon as we arrived. Dementors feed upon our darkest memories, and as you know Harry Potter has unique horrors in his past. I don't want to pry, but you may have something similar these dementors could prey upon."

"Probably my mum's accident." Lupin nodded and Christina went on. "When I was a baby, Mum had some kind of accident and lost her memory. We don't know why she left somewhere in such a hurry, or how she sustained such brain damage."

Lupin was quiet again. "That's a sad story too. Is your mother muggle?"

Christina nodded. "I think so. She reckons she might have been magic, but I don't know."

Sixth year students were starting to file into the classroom now. "Well, thanks anyway Professor Lupin." Christina picked up her bag and left.