Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. J.K. Rowling does. This was merely written for entertainment purposes. And the title is actually a song by Hoobastank off their self- titled CD. I don't own that, either!

Chapter Two: Face the Facts

"Harry," said Mr. Weasley quietly, "Come over here a moment."

Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley family were at the King's Cross Station, ready to board the Hogwarts Express. The two weeks at Diagon Alley had passed by quickly, and Harry was anxiously waiting to allow as much time to pass as possible while still trying to rack his memory for what he'd done the months before.

Mr. Weasley jerked his head toward a pillar, and Harry followed him, leaving the others with Mrs. Weasley. Remembering that he was about to promise the man that he wouldn't go searching for Black, he rehearsed what he would say.

"There's something I've got to tell you before you leave—" said Mr. Weasley, in a tense voice.

"Er—Mr. Weasley, I know. I-I promise I won't go outside the grounds. I'll look out for myself," Harry interrupted. Looking at Mr. Weasley's confused and taken-aback expression, Harry added, "I heard you and Mrs. Weasley talking last night. And I'm not scared."

"It's all right with you?" asked Mr. Weasley. "I mean, I knew you were well, made of stronger stuff than Fudge seems to think, so—"

"Arthur!" called Mrs. Weasley. "What are you doing? It's about to go!"

Mr. Weasley nodded, and allowed Harry to catch the train just as steam billowed from it.

"What was that about?" asked Ron.

"I—it—can I talk to you two in private?" Harry muttered.

"Go away, Ginny," said Ron.

"Oh, that's nice," said Ginny huffily, and she stalked off.

Finding an empty compartment at the end of the train—and containing their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lupin—Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat down.

"Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron whispered, sliding the door shut.

"Professor R. J. Lupin," whispered Hermione.

During this time, while those two whispered, Harry thought about what he'd said on the train compartment about Black. "Mr. Weasley's warning... and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's argument..." a voice said suddenly in Harry's head. Surprised to remember this bit of information, Harry waited for Ron to ask him what he was about to tell them. Perhaps, fate had forced Harry to say the things he was supposed to, even if it seemed insignificant.

"So, what's up? What were you going to tell us?" Ron said.

Harry explained what he knew about Black and awaited his friends' reactions. Ron looked thunderstruck, and Hermione had her hands over her mouth. If he hadn't known what Black was really after, he could have laughed and told them how misleading Black could be. But he didn't, and managed to keep a serious face while Hermione spoke. "Sirius Black escaped to come after you? Oh, Harry... you'll have to be really, really careful. Don't go looking for trouble, Harry—"

"How thick would Harry have to be, to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him?" Ron said, shakily.

Harry knew they both were extremely frightened and wary for his safety and halfheartedly paid attention to their conversation until Ron mentioned the Pocket Sneakoscope.

"Oh—just stick that back in the trunk. It might wake him up," said Harry absentmindedly and nodding toward Professor Lupin. He was expecting the dementors to come onto the train, where he would know how to face them—but unfortunately, couldn't, for fear of changing the past and future.

"Er—Harry?" Hermione asked.

"What?" Harry jerked out of his thoughts and fixed his attention on his friends.

"You didn't hear me? I asked if it would be nice to get out of school and explore Hogsmeade," Hermione explicated.

"Yeah, if only I could go. No one signed my permission form, and I 'spect that no one'll let me, considering Black's on the loose," Harry said gloomily.

"But there's always the secret passages," Ron suggested mischievously. "Fred and George know every way out of the castle—"

"Ron!" Hermione said sharply. "Black could be anywhere! What if he catches Harry and—oh, I don't want to think about it. He murdered a whole bunch of people and..." her voice trailed off, because she fumbled with the straps of Crookshanks's basket.

Harry tuned out their arguing and stared out the window, suddenly realizing that he was quite hungry. At one o'clock, the plump witch with the food cart arrived. Harry was anxious to eat the Cauldron Cakes. Even when Draco Malfoy and his companions appeared at their compartment, Harry unenthusiastically stood up out of a sudden instinct in case he'd have to hold Ron back from hitting Malfoy.

Suddenly, the train stopped and the lamps went out, thrusting them into total darkness. Recognizing this as his first encounter with those horrible dementors, Harry reached for his wand. A small commotion was caused in confusion between Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny. Then Professor Lupin woke up as though sensing the approach of the dementors.

A single dementor slid inside through the door. Harry saw the decaying hand before it was withdrawn into the cloak. Then it drew a long, slow breath that swept a cold sensation over them. He held out his wand now, waiting for Professor Lupin to use the Patronus Charm to drive the dementor away. Harry fixed himself upon a happy thought—the thought of winning the Quidditch cup that he hadn't yet, but would—to prepare him against it and to drown out the screaming with Gryffindor's cheering, remembering the thought perfectly.

"None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go," said Lupin suddenly, because the dementor wouldn't move. Then, muttering something ("Expecto Patronum"), a silver luminescence shot out of his wand and it left.

Harry stood still, trembling. He felt very sick and cold sweat on his face dripping.

"Harry? Are you okay?" asked Hermione softly.

"I don't get it... What happened?" Harry asked in a forced tone, and wiping more sweat off his face as though it was a normal reaction.

Ron stared at him and explained what happened as if Harry wasn't there to experience it. Hermione chimed in as well, as though not realizing that Harry was also there during the incident. "Remember... you were supposed to have fainted... maybe they think you'd fainted..." a small voice in Harry's head said as they elaborated on the story. "But I didn't! How could they think that?" Harry thought furiously, arguing against what was inexplicably a force beyond his control. Then the word fate imprinted itself in Harry's mind's eye. He knew it—he'd have to face the facts that he was destined to be like this.

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Wow. I can't believe how quickly I'd written this. Oh well. I'm not even up to the twists yet. This is going to be a lengthy fic.