Chapter Three: Her New Ally

Draco moved his way towards the Hogwarts Express with his luggage behind him. As he neared the train full of students he dropped it off at the loading area where the workman would place it on board for him. His father's specialty for him. He continued to move to the doors of the train when he spotted Harry Potter and Ron Weasley out of the corner of his eye. He rolled his eyes and scowled. He wasn't in the mood to taunt his enemy. He just wanted to get on board and lay down in a quiet compartment.

He stepped through the open door and headed down the hall to find a free compartment. His chains clanked as he walked down the narrow hallway where other students were pushing past him. He couldn't see any free compartments, but he managed to find one with a girl sleeping in one. He couldn't tell much about what she was wearing except for the black tank top and the chains falling from underneath the blankets. She had light brown hair that was let down and reached her shoulder blades. She also wore heavy black eye make up and he spotted a tiny hole on the side of her nose that he could only assume used to be for a nose ring. On her left hand he spotted the spider web tattoo.

He didn't think much of it, but instead he walked in the compartment and shut the door behind him. He was only looking for a compartment to sleep in for peace and quiet and this was the only one he could find. When he wakes, he'll explain to her why she was sharing a space with a complete stranger. He went over to the other seat and grabbed the blanket that rested near his luggage which had magically appeared for him. He brought the blanket down and unfolded it. He then finally lay down and covered himself, and rested his head on his right arm. He fell asleep shortly after the train left the station.

Harry walked into the compartment that he was sharing with Ron, Hermione and Ginny. He had a puzzled look on his face and he tried to get rid of it before he walked in so they wouldn't ask questions, but Hermione saw.

"What's wrong Harry?" she asked as he sat down next to his girlfriend. He looked at Hermione and then gave a puzzled look once more.

"I'm not sure but I saw Draco just a few minutes ago and he wasn't with Crabbe, Goyle or Pansy. He's usually being tailed by those three, but they were no where in sight."

"Well yes as I do see that as unusual, but you have to look at other possibilities." she responded. Harry knew she was going to say something of the sort.

"Maybe he got sick of them legging around him that he gave them the boot and went solo in his dirty work." said Ron. Ginny laughed.

"Like he would lose Pansy, she's his girlfriend." explained the red head. Harry just shrugged and finally remembered the wrapped package in his hand.

"Oh I almost forgot." He handed the package to Ginny, who took it gently. "Ron and I stopped at Flourish and Blotts and we found this and thought you would like it."

"I don't think so, that's all you Harry. You bought it for her." Ginny smiled at her brother and opened it. Inside was the copy of the book.

"Demon In My View! I was looking at this in Hermione's magazine. I wanted it after I saw it." She turned to Harry and hugged him and kissed him on his cheek. "Thank you."

"No problem. Ron and I grabbed copies for ourselves as well. It looked interesting and worth my time to read."

"What do you mean, you barely read as it is." said Hermione smirking.

The train sped on towards Hogwarts. The four friends fell asleep nearly a quarter way of the trip. Hermione was sleeping with her head on a pillow and a blanket covering her. Ron fell asleep with his head up against the window and was partially covered by the other end of Hermione's blanket. Harry was sleeping with his arm around Ginny who was sleeping against him. Outside the weather gradually got worse and darker. The train darkened and the lamps went on. You could hear the wind push past the window and the rain hitting it.

In the compartment with Draco and the mysterious girl, Draco woke up when the train went over a bump and then stopped. He sat up and uncovered himself. He looked over at the girl and saw that she was just waking up as well. She looked over at him and gave a momentarily giving a surprised look at seeing him there. She looked away at the compartment door. The light from the lamps went out, leaving them in complete darkness. He could hear other students opening their doors to see what was going on. Draco knew that they weren't at Hogwarts just yet. A shiver went down his back and he felt an icy chill fill the compartment. The girl muttered a curse and then he heard her stand up. He could tell by her footsteps that she was blindly walking to the door.

"Take out your wand." she whispered. Draco took his wand out from inside his jacket. He held it out and kept it pointed to the compartment door. He couldn't see anything and wasn't sure exactly where she was in front of him so he lowered his wand. He heard her hand feel the door, looking for the handle to pull it open. She had found it and very slowly began to open it. Draco placed his feet on the ground and stood up. He waited in anticipation to find out what was going on.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny slipped forward as they felt the train suddenly stop. They caught themselves as they woke and saw that all the lights had gone out. Ginny got up and pulled off the blankets. Harry and Ron stood up slowly and moved to the compartment doors.

"Do you think it could be Dementors?" asked Ron short of a whisper.

"I don't think so, it isn't becoming cold." said Hermione from behind them. Harry felt Ginny slid her hand in his. With his right hand he pulled out his wand.

"Ron slowly open the door." said Harry softly. He could hear Ron try and find it. They heard other compartment doors start to open as well to see what was going on. Ron pushed the door open all the way and he and Harry inched their way to the hallway.

"Ouch!" said a girl.

"Sorry, didn't see you." said Ron apologetically.

"Ron is that you?" Harry recognized the voice and apparently so did Ron himself.

"Yeah, it's me Lavender." Harry heard the nervousness in his voice.

"Lavender, do you know what's going on?" whispered Harry.

'No, and people have been trying to get some light from their wands and it won't work." Harry released Ginny's hand and moved further out into the hall, trying not to run into someone.

"Lumos!" spoke Harry, but nothing happened. Somehow no one was able to do magic. Harry heard Ginny try it but again nothing happened. Then from out of no where blue light filled the compartments and hall. With out warning everyone had collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Draco and the girl stood in the hall way trying to find any sort of clue to tell them what was going on. The mystery girl had spotted it first and pushed Draco back inside.

"Cover your eyes!" she said, no longer having her voice in a whisper. He closed his eyes and felt a rush of heat pass over him. The next moment he heard bodies fall to the ground. The heat disappeared, the only heat he felt was coming from the girl's body who lay on the compartment floor next to him.

"Keep your head down." she said, but in her voice he could hear that she was demanding him to stay down. Apparently she knew what was going on. His mind didn't stay on that fact; he wanted to know if everyone on the train had fallen over and if they were alright. He heard her stand and walk towards the door.

"What happened to the others?" he asked her. She didn't respond after several seconds and he was about to assume that she had left.

"They were all knocked out by a spell. Alright you can get up now." she spoke. He opened his eyes and stood up. He held his wand in front of him and spoke the lighting spell.

"Lumos!" Nothing happened. He tried again. "Lumos!" Yet again nothing had happened. "What the hell is going on?" he asked.

"There is someone on bored who is stopping people from doing magic. They cast a spell to knock everyone out on the train, but it only works if they see the light that is cause from the spell. That's why the lights are out. They made sure that everyone would be able to see it."

"How do you know so much about this spell?" He could sense the tension rise and the feeling that she was getting irritated.

"Because I'm the one who made the spell." He was shocked to hear this from her. She had made a dangerous spell that knock out everyone who was on the train.

"I made it for people who had dangerous enemies. It was supposed to be between my friends and me but apparently someone else knows it." She stopped and he heard her walk forward for the door. Before she reached it she stopped. They saw a light coming from down the hall. It illuminated only have of their compartment, but they were lucky enough to still be hidden in the shadows. He saw her figure move back closer to him. Then out of no where a man in dark robes walked in the doorway. The girl gasped and she took action.

"EXPECTO PROTRONUM!" Her wand held out and with a great silver light a large, protruding silver bat came out of her wand. The bat flapped closer to the intruder. Draco heard him howl and then he saw him disappear. The girl stopped what she did and the bat returned to her wand.

"Who the hell was that?" asked Draco.

"An old acquaintance of mine. He was looking for me. Him and I have a score to settle." The lights came back on and the people on the ground started to move. The girl wheeled around and faced Draco. "Do not tell ANYONE about that man and the spell he used." Draco nodded.