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Harry was at platform 9 & ¾ with the Weasley's. He had spent the last two days with them at Diagon Alley. Giles had gone ahead to the school upon their return from the States for Kendra's funeral. Xander and Willow went to visit her parents. Buffy and Oliver had waited till the two days before school started to see Oliver's parents once more. Buffy had given him the choice to go with them or stay with the Weasley's. Harry couldn't wait to meet up with her to tell her about the big black dog he keeps seeing. He had seen it twice since being at Diagon Alley. Harry, Ron, and Hermione moved to sit in the compartment they always sat in only to find it already occupied by a young man, who looked to be in his thirties, with light brown hair and pale skin. Next to the man was a dark hair boy who looked to be around Buffy and Oliver's age.

"Sorry, we didn't know this cabin was occupied." Harry told dark haired one.

"No problem. Have a seat. I'm Professor Remus Lupin and this is my nephew Oz."

"Thanks. I'm Harry."

"Ron."

"Hermione."

They all took seats and sat quietly waiting for the train to depart. Professor Lupin checked his wind up watch for the time. A curious look fell over his face when he saw that the Hogwarts Express hadn't taken off yet. The train was scheduled to leave five minutes ago. Five minutes later the conductor opened the door to their cabin and looked around.

"Why haven't we left yet?" Lupin asked the conductor.

"We're waiting for two more passenger."

"Not anymore."

A male voice said from down the corridor. The conductor turned to see Oliver Wood supporting his fiancée who was limping and had several cuts on her arms. The Conductor moved out of the way to let them enter and then headed to the engine to get the express started.

"What happened to you two?" Hermione asked taking in Buffy sprained ankle, ripped clothes, and various cuts.

"Ran into a particular nasty demon right when we were entering the station. Put up a pretty good fight but we won in the end."

They felt the jerk of the train as it began to leave the station. Oliver left the cabin to get a bowl and cloth to clean her cuts.

"You're lucky the train waited for you." Oz stated. Oliver returned and began cleaning Buffy up.

"It had to wait for me. After last year Dumbledore told the conductor to wait twenty minutes if I don't show by then to leave and send a message ahead. By the way I'm Buffy Summers, Hogwarts resident slayer, and this is my fiancée Oliver Wood." She looks Oliver in the eyes. "I never get tired of saying that."

"I never get tired of hearing it."

He stopped cleaning her wounds to give her a passionate kiss. After ten seconds they broke apart and he continued to clean her cuts.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Oz and this is my Uncle Professor Lupin."

"Ahh, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I hope you do better than our last teacher."

"Well Miss Summers, I hope to live up to your expectations. I've heard of your exploits as the Slayer and trust me when I say I would rather be friends than enemies."

Oliver had just finished cleaning Buffy up when Edna came by. Instead of pushing her normal gray cart she was carrying a huge basket with a big bright red bow.

"Here you are Buffy, Oliver. A gift from the train staff to celebrate your engagement."

"You guys shouldn't have. Thank you Edna." Buffy said as she took the basket from her.

"Yes. Thank you Edna. We'll have to make sure to thank the others."

"You're quite welcome dears. If you need anything else I'll be up front with the driver."

She turned and left out of the cabin. Buffy put the basket on the floor and Oliver helped her open it.

"Dig in."

Oliver said to everyone. Harry, Hermione, and Ron all took out some of their favorites.

"Oz, Professor Lupin, you welcomed to have some. We have plenty." Buffy offered them.

"Thank you Miss Summers."

"Call me Buffy. Please."

Buffy told the professor who nodded and helped himself to some of the sweets. Oliver sat down beside Buffy and she rested her head on his chest.

"Hey Buffy, where are Willow and Xander?" Hermione asked curiously.

"She went back a week early at Dumbledore's request and Xander went with her. Willow is Head Girl."

Buffy had fallen asleep against Oliver once she had had her fill of chocolate. Professor Lupin had also had fallen asleep to the sound of falling rain. The others were talking quietly to one another. Everyone awake felt the train begin to slow down.

"We must be nearly there," said Ron trying to peer out the window without waking Professor Lupin. "I'm starving. I want to get to the feast…"

"We can't be there yet," said Hermione. Oliver checked his watch and agreed with her.

"So why are we stopping?" He questioned.

They all felt the train begin to slow down more and more. The wind and rain had picked up and showed no sign of slowing. Both Harry and Oz got up to look out the door. They weren't the only ones looking out to see what was going on. Suddenly everything went dark and Harry could hear a few girls shriek at being thrown in to total darkness.

"What's going on?" Ron asked from behind them.

"Ouch!" Hermione cried out. "Ron, that was my foot!"

The three carefully made their way back to their seats.

"Do you think we've broken down?" Ron asked quietly.

"Dunno…" replied Harry.

They all heard a squeaking noise as Ron rubbed the window and looked out.

"There's something moving out there. I think people are coming aboard…"

At that moment the compartment door opened and Harry cried out in pain as some fell hard on his legs.

"Sorry-d'you know what's going on?-Ouch-sorry…"

"Hello Neville," said Harry as he moved in the dark cabin. He found Neville and pulled him up by his cloak.

"Harry is that you? What's happening?"

"No idea-sit down…"

A loud hissing sound came from Hermione's new cat Crookshanks as Neville almost sat on it.

"I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on," said Hermione.

She got moving carefully to the door. Upon opening it she let out a yelp as she collided with someone.

"Who's that?" The two voices said at once.

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking for Ron-"

"For goodness sake guys use your wands." Buffy said sleepily. "Lumos. Come in and sit down Ginny."

Buffy's wand lit up in a green sparkling light. It was enough light for them to see each other clearly.

"Quiet!" Lupin said having woken up about the same time Buffy did. No one spoke. "Stay where you are."

Lupin got up and began to move toward the door. Before he could reach it though, it opened. From the light in Buffy's hand everyone could see the figure dressed in a dark black. Its height seemed to extend all the way to the ceiling and it's face completely covered by its hood. Harry felt his stomach flip-flop as he saw gray, scabby, slimy looking, putrid hand sticking out from beneath the cloak. Almost immediately the hand went back inside the cloak not to be seen again that night. As the thing took a breath everyone felt the room grow colder and Harry felt it go deeper than just his skin. He felt his himself surrounded by it and he could hear someone screaming.

"None of us is hiding Sirius black under our cloaks. Go."

Professor Lupin told the thing. It stayed where it was. Buffy finally getting control of herself stepped up behind Lupin.

"Do you know who I am?" She asked in a deadly voice. It nodded yes. "Then you know what I can do. You will leave this train at once!"

Getting the message it sort of glided away. Both Buffy and Remus watched as the cloak figure moved down the hall to leave the train.

Buffy sank back against the wall putting a hand to her aching head. Remus helped her back inside with the others who were trying to arouse Harry.

"Harry! Harry! Are you alright?" Harry heard someone say but couldn't quite make out the voice.

He could feel someone slapping his face. With much effort he felt himself begin to come around.

"W-What?"

Looking up he saw the concerned faces of Oz, Professor Lupin, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny. Looking slightly pass them he could see Wood once again tending to Buffy with Neville's help. The lights were on once again and he could feel the train moving.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked uneasily.

"Yeah," said Harry looking around for the creature. "What happened? Where's that-that thing? Who screamed?"

"No one screamed."

Ron answered growing more uneasy. Harry noticed that all his companions were looking really pale.

"But I heard screaming-"

The sound of a bar of chocolate being broken into pieces by Lupin made the majority of them jump. He handed Buffy and Harry large pieces of chocolate.

"Here. Eat it. It will help."

He handed a piece to all of the others and took a piece for himself.

"What was that thing?" Harry asked.

"A dementor." Buffy said weakly.

"One of the dementors of Azkaban." Lupin finished. Everyone but Buffy, Oz, and Wood was staring at him. "Eat, it will help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me…"

Lupin left out of the compartment.

"Are you sure your okay Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I don't get it…what happened?" Harry wiped the sweat off his face.

"Well-that thing-the dementor-stood there and looked around (I mean I think it did, I couldn't see its face) -and you-you-"

"I thought you were having a fit or something," replied Ron. "You went sort of rigid and fell out of your seat and started twitching-"

The group told him the rest of what happened while he was unconscious. Harry snuck a glance at Buffy who was nibbling on the last bit of her chocolate. Some of the color was returning to her face.

"It was horrible," said Neville in an unusually high voice. "Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?"

"I felt weird," said Ron. "Like I'd never be cheerful again…"

"But didn't any of you-fall off your seats?"

"No," replied Ron but quickly spoke again. "Ginny was shaking like mad, though…"

"Don't worry about it Harry. They threw me for a loop too. My head is killing me, and my insides feel like someone reached inside and twisted everything. Eat the chocolate, it will help."

Lupin came back in a few seconds later. He smiled slightly at the fact that everyone was starting to look better except Harry who had barely eaten his chocolate.

"We'll be arriving at Hogwarts in ten minutes. Are you alright Harry?"

"Fine." Harry said hoping he didn't look as red as he felt.

"How about you Ms. Sum-I mean Buffy?"

"I'm fine Professor. I'm going to go wash up before we get there." Lupin nodded. He and

Wood watched as she left the cabin.

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