A/N: It's my personal headcanon that a bunch of dementors all together should be called a 'depression'. Spread the word y'all, I want this to catch on!

Thanks to everyone who has left a review, you're all great! :)

It was a very, very long summer.

Draco usually passed his summers alone, with the occasional visit from Pansy. heir parents were friends and she came over with her mother weekly to have tea, but she didn't really like to run around outside or do anything fun. Crabbe and Goyle had come over before, but he always had to do all the thinking, which could be surprisingly tiring.

Draco's father was very disappointed that he hadn't been top of his class that year (again), and even though Draco had insisted that he was doing his best, Granger somehow outperformed him in nearly every class. As a consequence, his father made him spend much of his time indoors, studying his books for the next school year. Draco probably would have done it anyways, as he enjoyed reading his textbooks ahead of time, but it wasn't any fun when he was forced to do it.

By the time September rolled around, he was tired of studying and more than eager to get to Hogwarts and sneak off to see Cygna.

He hadn't seen her since last school year. After they'd skipped rocks together, he'd snuck off to the forest several more times before the end of the term, and she'd shownhim parts of the forest that he never would have ventured into alone.

The first time, she'd taken him tree-climbing, and they'd stood precariously on the topmost branch of a tree, looking out over the Forbidden Forest.

"It's beautiful," he'd said, as the afternoon sunlight played with the leaves.

"It always is," Cygna had sighed, head thrown back and arms stretched wide.

"Not down there it isn't," Draco had protested, glancing down at the dark forest floor, and Cygna's green eyes had glinted in challenge.

Every time he'd gone out after that, Cygna took him to a new, more interesting part of the forest. They visited a unicorn herd, watched a meadow of knotgrass glow as it bloomed in the evening, befriended a tree full of bowtruckles, and flirted with a flight of fairies (they were extremely vain and shallow). Draco was forced to admit that the forest wasn't really so bad, although he didn't think he'd be running around in there alone anytime soon.

All he could think about on the train was Cygna, and the forest. He'd had a horribly boring summer, but he was sure that she hadn't, and he wanted to hear everything.

When they were almost to Hogwarts, however, the train unexpectedly slowed to a halt.

The train had never stopped before, and when Draco stuck his head out of his compartment, he saw that many other students were wandering around, trying to figure out what had happened.

Then the lights went out. People screamed, and the corridor was awash with frantic students. Draco watched them all run around with some amusement.

"Everyone back to your compartments!" A voice commanded, and most of the people began to calm down. "I'll head up to the front; there's no need to panic, I'm sure."

As people headed back into their compartments, Draco could see that it had been one of the Hufflepuff prefects, Cedric Diggory, who was now striding out of their car to get to the front of the train.

Draco decided that there was no longer any point to standing in the doorway, and he shut their door and sat back down.

"What happened?" Goyle asked. Crabbe looked up from stuffing his face with Cauldron Cake to hear the answer.

"Not sure," Draco told him. "Diggory's gone up front to find out, though."

He shivered as he finished speaking, and realized that it had gotten very, very cold. Hadn't it been sunny out?

Draco glanced over at the window, only to widen his eyes as he saw that it was covered in frost. Even as he looked, undistinguishable black shapes went fluttering past. He, Crabbe, and Goyle looked at each other in terror, their breath clouding the air.

From where he sat, something caught Draco's eye as it moved down the corridor. It was tall and cloaked in black.

A dementor, Draco thought with horror, as he drowned in sadness and despair. It was the worst he'd ever felt in his life. It made him feel like nothing would ever be bright and happy again. He sat listlessly, eyes glazed over, as the dementor paused outside the compartment door, and then he lost all hope.

The dementor's skeletal hand reached out toward the handle.

Just when he thought he'd lose his soul to the Kiss, the dementor reared back and began to retreat.

A graceful, shimmering wolf came loping down the corridor, pushing the dementors out of the train as it went and leaving in its wake a feeling like a warm breeze in summer.

Draco heaved out a huge breath, feeling his head clear and the cold dissipate. The chill was gone from the air and the dementor gone, but he felt a sort of lingering sadness that he couldn't shake. Crabbe and Goyle's solution, as usual, was to dive right back into the pile of sweets they'd got off the trolley.

A few moments later, a slightly disheveled man came round, knocking on their door and offering them squares of chocolate.

"Was that your Patronus?" Draco asked, gratefully accepting a square. The man looked surprised at his question.

"Yes, it was," he said.

"You must be the new Defense professor, then," Draco said.

"Indeed, I am. Professor Lupin," he said. "I expect I'll see you in class…"

"Malfoy," Draco told him. "Draco Malfoy. Will we be learning how to do the Patronus charm this year?"

Professor Lupin looked at him curiously.

"No, it's a rather advanced spell," he said slowly. "But if you're really interested – " Draco sat up eagerly, " – stay after class and we'll talk about it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to give the other students a little pick-me-up."

"Of course," said Draco, and Professor Lupin smiled at him and left the compartment. Draco watched him go down the hall with a sense of blooming excitement.

He'd always admired his mother's crane Patronus, which she would make for him sometimes, when they were out in the garden. He didn't think his father could make one, but Draco guessed that if he did, it would be one of the white peacocks that strutted around the grounds. (He really hated those peacocks.)

"You going to eat that?" Goyle grated, gesturing at Draco's untouched chocolate.

Draco glared at him and popped it in his mouth.

At the feast that evening, Dumbledore announced that the dementors would be stationed around the perimeter of the school and the edges of the Forbidden Forest until the threat of Sirius Black had been resolved.

Most of the students immediately dissolved into discussing how Hogsmeade trips wouldn't be any fun anymore, but Draco was worried about an entirely different sort of excursion. How was he supposed to visit with Cygna now?

Cygna was his best friend, and he'd never be able to get past the wall of dementors to see her until this Sirius Black nonsense was over. They'd probably never catch him anyway. He was a mass murderer and the only person who'd ever escaped Azkaban alive.

Or, Draco thought optimistically, until he learned a decent Patronus. He'd already told Professor Lupin that he wanted to learn; now he had extra incentive.

It couldn't be that hard, right?