Hello, thanks for the favs and follows. The bits of dialogue in bold are taken directly from PoA so I can't take credit for those you enjoy this chapter and as usual I own nothing.

Sebastian growled as he returned to the human realm. Luka had been correct, his father had laden more conditions upon him. He couldn't help his ward until he was fully recovered. Sebastian thought that it was utter nonsense, he was fine, sure he still wasn't running at one hundred percent but he could still deal with those mages easily. The only reason they had hurt him in the first place was that he had been gravely weakened by starvation. Now he was far stronger, they would never see him on his knees again.

XXX

It was the day before she due to go back to Hogwarts and Luka was eagerly anticipating it. She had been confined to the house except for when she had to run 'errands' for her foster parents. Luckily though Luka had persuaded them to let her write to her friends with Elise so they didn't worry and the façade of normality was maintained. Luka looked out of the window forlornly, Sebastian hadn't come. The only things that helped her maintain her sanity were practicing guitar playing and rereading her school books. At the very least she would ace her classes this year, except for astronomy of course. She could memorise star charts alright but she just couldn't find the star when she looked at the sky. Luka sighed and decided to have a nap, there was nothing else to do and she was so very hungry. Since her foster parents found out about her memory meals had become scarce.

XXX

The next morning it was all aboard the Hogwarts Express. As soon as she boarded Luka started looking for a compartment as she was already wearing her school robes. Unfortunately though the compartment that contained her friends was full as the twins were accompanied by Luna, Ginny, Colin and a lad called Neville. After accepting their shamefaced apologies she continued looking with Elise. Seeing as most of her house along with everyone else still seemed a little hostile Luka looked for an empty compartment. The only one that nearly fit that description was the one at the end of the train which was occupied by a sleeping man. Knowing that this was the best chance of solitude Luka walked in and deposited her stuff as she released Elise. Once she sat down the owl immediately claimed her lap. Luka felt grateful that unlike cats owls didn't feel the need to knead their perches with their talons. Reaching into her rucksack she pulled out a chemistry textbook which she hadn't read during the holidays on the basis that she didn't want her foster parents to reclaim them.

After a few minutes of blessed silence Luka heard the sounds of nearing voices. The compartment door was opened and Luka immediately tensed. Gryffindors. Then she recognised two of them; Harry Potter and his ginger friend, the girl was unknown though.

"Hello, is it ok for us to join you?" Harry Potter asked.

"Yeah sure," replied Luka, she would have preferred to stay relatively alone but given that the Hogwarts Express was usually packed like a Tokyo commuter train that had been unlikely.

As the unfamiliar trio sat down the ginger boy hissed, "Who d'you reckon he is?"

"Professor R J Lupin judging by the name on his case," Luka stated as she continued to read.

At that the three of them looked at the battered case whose only hope of remaining in one piece rested on a copious amount of string. It was then that the girl attempted to offer unwanted social contact.

"My name is Hermione Granger and you are?" she enquired as she held out her hand.

"Luka Pearson," Luka replied as she shook the Gryffindor's hand before withdrawing quickly to pluck a handkerchief from her robes. Luka detested having colds.

"Wonder what he teaches?" asked the ginger boy pointing to the professor.

"That's obvious," replied Hermione Granger in an equally quiet whisper, "There's only one vacancy, isn't there. Defence Against the Dark Arts,"

At this Luka sincerely hoped that he was better than Lockhart, then again that wasn't exactly a challenge. That fool probably couldn't tie his own shoe laces with magic without garrotting himself.

"Well, I hope he's up to it," the boy said, "He looks like one good hex could finish him off-"

"Don't be fooled by appearances. For all you know he could be a wizard of great acclaim," interjected Luka, true the man looked awful and run down but it was possible that it was all just a ruse.

"Who asked you? Anyway Harry what did you want to say?" retorted the Gryffindor.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'll tell you later," replied Harry Potter.

Luka couldn't help but think that his reticence was something down to her presence so she decided to tune out and get back into her book. Thinking about quantum mechanics was difficult at the best of times. After a few hours of half listening to the Gryffindors talk about Hogsmeade and other things the trolley witch passed through. Luka requested a couple of chocolate frogs, Every Flavour Beans were nice but less trustworthy than their Muggle cousins. Hermione Granger attempted to wake their professor but he remained unconscious. Shortly after the witch departed the compartment played host to some other very unwelcome visitors; Malfoy and his cronies.

"Well, look who it is. Potty, the Weasel, the Mudblood and the Halfling," he drawled as his two chuckled at his 'wit'.

"My, what a display of eloquence. Honestly with all the personal tutoring you've had one would think that you could have come up with something more original. Then again with a gene pool as inbred as yours you were lucky to be merely mentally retarded rather than disfigured with it. But I see your friends didn't have your good fortune in that respect," said Luka imperiously as she rested her head on her left hand which was propped up on the window sill.

"Shut up Pearson, people like you don't even deserve to be in Hogwarts let alone the great house of Slytherin," the boy snarled in retort.

"And yet despite my lack of noble status you have yet to best me. Has he Elise?" she asked bringing the boys' attention back to the owl who had now puffed herself up like a feathery ball of fury.

Malfoy twitched at this before turning his attention to the 'Weasel', "I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley. Did your mother die of shock?"

The Weasley jumped to his feet knocking over his friend's cat basket and causing Professor Lupin to stir. For a moment all eyes were on the man to see if he would wake. Taking the coward's way out Malfoy backed away from the compartment door.

"Who's that?"

"New teacher. What were you saying, Malfoy?" replied Harry Potter who was standing next to his friend as if to hold him back.

At that the blonde boy retreated muttering to his cronies as he went. Luka shook her head, it was cowardly scum like that that gave Slytherin a bad name. As the two boys whispered Granger made another attempt at conversation.

"Won't talking to Malfoy like that get you into trouble? After all he's pretty high up in your house," she asked.

"Given the amount of grief we of Slytherin endured from the rest of the school last year any trouble that little git can stir up will be a trifle. I've learned from the best how to deal with his kind," Luka replied taking the other girl aback slightly. She hadn't thought about how the Slytherins were treated lasted year, Ron had told her that after she had been attacked the Gryffindor consensus was that all the Slytherins should have been kicked out of Hogwarts.

"Grief? No Slytherin was attacked," snapped Weasley and Hermione sighed, he was always so hot headed.

"Not by the monster no, but your own noble house more than made up for it. It is a pity that the perpetrator wasn't publicly unmasked. That way we could see whether it really was a Slytherin at work or whether it was a member of another house who was only too happy for the house of snakes to take the blame. After all veins of Darkness run through all the houses," Luka replied glaring at the boy. She knew it was bad to aim for such a sensitive issue as from what Moaning Murtle had told her it had been Ginny Weasley who had released the basilisk.

Luckily the boy kept quiet after that comment and Luka was allowed to resume reading. After a while she looked through the window to see where they were but all there was was darkness. Gradually the train slowed down and the Weasley boy got up to look through the window whilst at the same time trying to give Professor Lupin and Luka wide berth which was near impossible as they flanked the window.

"We must be nearly there. I'm starving, I want to get to the feast..."

"We can't be there yet," replied Granger as she checked her watch.

Luka did likewise and saw that it was far too early for them to be at Hogsmeade Station. Something else was up. Harry Potter went to look out of the compartment door as the train jolted to a halt and the lights went out. Luka huffed and reached for the zippo she'd take from the trunk and flipped it on so she could continue reading. At that point Granger decided to go and ask the driver but didn't even get out of the compartment as her way was blocked by none other than Ginny Weasley and Neville whom Luka's friends had been sitting with earlier. As the two Gryffindors tried to gain entry Ginny almost sat on Harry Potter and the increasingly loud ruckus woke up Professor Lupin.

"Quiet! Stay where you are," he said hoarsely as he moved towards the door, his way illuminated by the handful of silver flames he was holding.

However the door opened before he got to it and a Dementor hovered in the doorway. It stood there shrouded in its cloak taking rattling gasps. Great thought Luka, first Malfoy and now a guard of Azkaban. At least they would see what Professor Lupin was made of though. He was still conscious, that was a good sign. Harry Potter on the other hand was displaying classic symptoms of Demento exposure. He went deahly pale before falling off his seat convulsing. As that happened Professsor Lupin used his Patronus causing the Dementor to retreat. When the Dementor left the lights came back on and Luka noticed that Harry Potter wasn't the only one affected. Ginny was cowering in the corner with Hermione and Neville was shaking slightly. The Weasley boy on the other hand seemed quite alright apart from being a bit pallid.

"Here. Eat it. It'll help," said Professor Lupin as he distributed pieces of chocolate to the students once Harry Potter had regained consciousness.

"No thanks sir. I feel fine and with a cold I wouldn't be able to taste it," said Luka as the professor offered her a piece.

Professor Lupin looked at her quizzically but she didn't feel like telling him that Dementors could see contracted souls and knew the penalty they would suffer at the hands of the contract demon if they had so much as had a nibble. It would lead to too many questions and most of those Luka was unable to answer.

"What was that thing?" asked Harry Potter.

"A Dementor. One of the guards of Azkaban," Professor Lupin replied before excusing himself.

As the group discussed the Dementor Luka wondered if she should fill them in but decided against it. Telling a group of scared children that Dementors were creatures that fed on happiness and sucked out one's soul by clamping their scabby mouths over one's mouth leaving an alive but lifeless husk in their wake probably wasn't what they wanted to hear. Once Professor Lupin returned silence reined in the compartment as nearly everyone was too subdued for conversation. Every now and then Luka caught the professor glancing at her as if she had grown a second head. Elise had noticed too as she glared at him with unblinking disdain until it was time to disembark. Fortunately whilst she hadn't sat with them on the train Luka managed to accompany her friends in the thestral drawn carriages. They too had seen the Dementor pass by but unlike in the compartment Luka had been in the Dementor hadn't stayed for long.

As they passed into the Great Hall Luka and Lucy regretfully parted ways with Colin, Luna and Peter. This year the Sorting Hat gave a lively rendition of its new song and after the sorting the hall was filled once more with numerous versions of the school song. Then came the welcoming speech from Professor Dumbledore. He stressed that Dementors were not to be trifled with and nobody was to leave the school without permission. That would make getting to work a little difficult for her Luka thought, but then again Dementors aren't completely uneasonable and the forest entrance wasn't that well guarded as Sebastian had proved the year prior. As his speech continued and Professor Lupin was introduced Luka couldn't help but notice the expression on Professor Snape's face. He looked murderous, even during the duel with Lockhart he'd looked less malicious. Before Luka could try to think of why Professor Snape showed such animosity Professor Dumbledore announced that Hagrid was going to be the new Care of Magical Creatures Professor. The applause he received were far louder than the damp squib Professor Lupin received. Luka and Lucy were happy for the man, he clearly loved all the animals he worked with. The feast then commenced and the Hogwarts chatter machine swung into action.

XXX

At the high table Professor Lupin regarded a particular member of Slytherin closely, he had had his back to her when the Dementor had opened the door so he didn't see her reaction to the creature but afterwards her behaviour had been far from normal. Not to mention her owl gave him bad vibes. Fortunately the man he wanted to talk to was sitting right next to him.

"Severus, who's that girl sitting at the far end of the Slytherin table next to the girl with the black pigtails?" he asked.

Professor Snape groaned in his mind. Not only was the insufferable halfbreed talking to him but he knew who the wolf was on about.

"Her name is Luka Pearson, she's a second year," he replied curtly, he didn't ask why the wolf wanted to know. Peace with that girl around was hard enough to come by as it was.

"Was she involved in the trouble on the train?" enquired Professor Dumbledore from Professor Snape's right.

"Yes she was in the same compartment as myself but it's not the presence of the Dementor that's troubling me. Miss Pearson seemed completely unfazed by the Dementor, she didn't even accept the chocolate I offered. She just kept reading as if nothing had happened," replied Profess Lupin.

"That's not surprising," said the headmaster as he tucked into some treacle tart.

"Why not?" asked the werewolf as his frown deepened.

"Miss Pearson seems to be very difficult to disturb. Not even Severus' office could frighten her, on the contrary she seemed to rather like it didn't she Severus?" replied Professor Dumbledore ignoring the raven haired man's glare.

Professor Lupin digested the information along with his food. Whilst he didn't know what his fellow professor's office looked like he knew the man could appear intimidating at times though that still didn't explain the girl's behaviour. He would have to watch her over the coming year.