(PoA) CHAPTER SIX: DRAMA

Ellie and Harry only had one night left at the Leaky Cauldron, and she had every intention of spending it with Sirius—until Harry crept into her room.

"This is new," she said when she saw him, unable to resist the urge to smile. "I really have corrupted you, haven't I?"

He grinned sheepishly at that, coming to sit on the edge of her bed, looking hesitant and gentlemanly as ever. "I can go, if you want. I just…"

But whatever desire she had to see her father was fading in the shadow of her desire for her boyfriend. Sirius was coming to Hogwarts one way or another; he had already told her as much. "No," she said firmly, reaching out to catch Harry by the wrist. "Don't go."

Ellie and Harry had kissed loads of times by then, but in that moment, enveloped in the darkness of the Leaky Cauldron, alone in bed together, things felt… different. Ellie was still young, and had no intentions of crossing any major lines, but for the first time in her life, her mind actually started wandering there.

Unfortunately, the deeper she kissed him, the more her instincts told her that it wasn't Harry she would eventually cross those lines with; it was Fred.

Harry was a perfect gentleman, of course, and drifted off to sleep with her a few minutes after their make-out session without having so much as let his hands wander. Ellie pretended to fall asleep, too, but found herself staring up at the ceiling for the rest of the night, thinking about Fred and hating herself for it.

And judging from the rate at which her locket glowed that night, he was thinking about her, too.


The next morning, Harry and Ellie traveled to King's Cross by way of Floo Powder, meeting up with the Weasleys just outside of platform 9 ¾.

"Sweet girl," breathed Molly when she saw Ellie. "How we missed you this summer. Any chance your mother will come back to her senses and give you back to us next summer?"

Ellie laughed at that, hugging her pseudo-mother tightly, then doing the same with Arthur. "I hope so. I really missed you both."

"We missed you, too, Ellie," said Arthur, but he looked apprehensive. He glanced carefully at Harry and said, "Harry—might I have a quick word on the other side of the platform?"

Ellie watched in confusion as Arthur and Harry disappeared through the platform together.

"Better get used to it, Prince," said Fred as he came over and put an arm around her. "Dating the Boy Who Lived comes with its share of secrets."

She rolled her eyes at that, shrugging out of his grip and shooting him a pointed glare. "I'd say he's the one whose significant other is keeping secrets from him—wouldn't you agree?"

Before he could answer her, though, Ginny approached them, obliviously cheerful as ever. "What are you waiting for?" she asked eagerly, squeezing Ellie's hand tightly. "Let's go!"


Fred, George, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione all boarded the train on the other side of the platform, but Ellie hesitated outside of the train, watching Harry and Arthur apprehensively. They must be talking about Sirius, right? What was Arthur saying?

Finally, Harry and Arthur said their goodbyes, and Harry jogged up to her.

"What was that about?" she asked as they boarded the train.

"Tell you later," he promised, giving her a brisk kiss on the cheek before leading her in search of the others.

The compartments seemed exceptionally full this year, and it took Harry and Ellie some time to find their friends. When they did, they were surprised to see that they didn't have the compartment to themselves; asleep in the corner was an adult man dressed in tattered clothes with a trunk inscribed with R. J. Lupin.

Why did that sound so familiar?

"Excuse me," Hermione said to the man, giving him a gentle poke. "Sir?"

He didn't stir.

"D'you reckon he's a professor?" asked Harry thoughtfully as he took his seat next to her.

Before anyone could answer him, though, a giant, orange furball leapt from Hermione's lap at Ron's rat, Scabbers. Ron shrieked in a very feminine undertone, stuffing Scabbers deep into his pocket. "Keep that thing under control!" he bellowed at Hermione.

It was a cat, Ellie realized as Hermione scooped the fluffy, orange monstrosity back up and put it in her lap again. It was Hermione's cat.

"That's bound to cause some problems this year," she couldn't help but vocalize.

Harry grinned, and Fred laughed out loud, but Hermione and Ron both scowled; clearly it was already a sore subject.

"R.J. Lupin," Ellie read from the sleeping man's briefcase, determined to change the subject. "Could be a professor."

"Seems a bit shabby for that," said Ron rudely. Hermione glared at him again.

"Could be Defense Against the Dark Arts," pointed out Ginny. "If memory serves, we need a new one." She flashed a knowing grin at Ellie and Harry.

"Maybe he'll be great," said Harry hopefully. "The first great Defense teacher we've ever had—possibly even great enough to grant me my Hogsmeade excuse."

Ellie cursed at that so suddenly that everyone's attention snapped over to her. "Sorry," she said, blushing. "I forgot all about Hogsmeade. Didn't get my slip signed."

"Like your mum would've signed it, anyway," pointed out Fred. "Too dangerous, she'd say, right?"

Ellie frowned, sinking lower into her seat.

Their next interruption came from none other than Draco Malfoy, one of Ellie's least favourite people at Hogwarts.

"Oh, good," she muttered when she saw him.

"Sorry—did you say something?" sneered Draco. "Weasley's radiant glow was distracting me. That because you actually had the opportunity to spend money this summer, Ronald?"

He was referring to the contest the Weasleys had won, of course, and the trip to Egypt. Ron looked down at his shoes; Ellie saw Fred's fists clench.

"Maybe your parents should've saved some of it for your clothes," Draco added, giving Ron's ensemble a pointed look.

Ellie stood up, more in attempt to stop Fred from doing something stupid than in defense of Ron. "What is your problem? Did you actually check every single compartment just to come here and insult Ron's outfit?"

"Don't flatter yourself. I spotted you through the door."

"Right," said Ellie, rolling her eyes. "The solid door."

Draco fixed his cold, blue eyes on her at that. "You'd know all about solid doors, wouldn't you, Prince? Shared one of those with Potter this summer, didn't you?" He let out a low whistle and shook his head. "Thirteen and already a tramp. Pity."

Harry and Fred both rose to their feet at that.

"Take it back," Fred growled at Draco.

Draco smirked. "Not that I'm jealous, of course. Getting a bit of action doesn't sound all bad, but from the likes of her?"

Fred punched him so swiftly and sharply, Ellie actually gasped out loud.

"Fred!" she shrieked, grabbing his arm about three seconds too late. Draco's nose looked quite askew, and was dripping blood like a bad faucet. He hobbled over in pain, clutching his minions for support and yelling about how his father would be hearing about it.

"God," Ellie scoffed, sitting back down. Fred sat down next to her, staring down at his fist as if it didn't belong on his body. Harry stared at both of them for several seconds, looking confused, before finally sitting down on Ellie's other side.

"Wow," said Ginny from across the compartment, starting at the three of them with an unmistakably amused expression on her face. "Drama."

And with that, the lights went out and the train slowed to a sudden, bumpy stop.


Ellie looked around in confusion, grateful to have an excuse not to address what had just happened with Fred and Draco, but still a bit apprehensive.

"This is officially eerie," George said into the darkness. "Someone ought to get ready to defend us. I'd suggest Harry the hero, but apparently Fred throws quite the punch."

Several of them chuckled at that, but Ellie, Fred, and Harry weren't amongst them. Everyone silenced quickly, though, when they heard the slow, rickety opening of the compartment doors ahead of them.

Not knowing what else to do, Ellie drew her wand. When she did, Harry did.

"How cute," Fred teased. She had a feeling he had intended to ease the tension with the joke, but judging from Harry's expression, he had failed.

It was hard to see the thing that entered their compartment when their own doors slid open, except that it was big, black, hooded, and… faceless?

She tried to focus, but she was suddenly finding it hard to hold onto any semblance of consciousness at all. Her mind was whirling—flashing—seeing memories she hadn't even realized she had of moments she was sure she didn't want to see—

"Ellie!" she heard Fred shout, but he sounded a million miles away. "Snap out of it!"

Then, even more distantly, a scream from Ginny. "Harry!"

But so much closer to her were the shouts and screams of strangers—a whole horde of them, gathered around her, staring up at someone—but who? Could it be… Sirius?

Suddenly, she felt someone yank sharply at her hair. "Ellie," Fred growled into her ear. She could feel his lips against her skin, and it sent shivers down her spine—not the kind of shivers these memories stirred in her, but a different, more pleasant kind…

She felt herself reaching for Fred with all she was worth, clinging to him for support, silently begging him to do it again—to touch her—to wake her up from this pain and fill her with…

Suddenly, there was a flash of white light and an inhuman screech. All at once, the fear and the memories left her, and she opened her eyes.

The lights were back on—and she was quite nearly in Fred's lap.

"S… sorry," she stammered, scooting away from him and toward Harry. Her eyes bulged when she saw that Harry was entirely unconscious. "Wh—what happened? Is he okay?"

"He's fine," said a new voice—that of the man who had previously been sleeping. R. J. Lupin. It was his voice that had uttered the spell that caused the white flash, she realized as she stared at him. He looked… oddly familiar.

"Do I… know you?" she asked carefully.

He smiled. "I don't believe so, but you will soon enough. I'm Remus Lupin, your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Fred grinned at that. "Well, you're already loads better than the others. Not that the bar was all that high."

Lupin smiled, then, seeing Ellie's residual concern for Harry, added, "Your friend's fine. Just got hit a bit harder than you. He'll come to soon enough." He offered her a little piece of chocolate, explaining, "It'll help."

She chewed cautiously on the chocolate, watching Lupin intently. She did know him; she was sure of it. But how?

"Professor," said Hermione. "What… were those things?"

"Dementors," Lupin explained. "Nasty creatures—known to suck the happiness and life right out of a place. Damn shame we'll be having to deal with them at Hogwarts this year."

"Hold on," said Ellie, sitting up straight. "Those were Dementors?"

Lupin nodded.

"But…" She could hardly believe her ears. "They were… sucking the life out of me! Out of Harry! Do you mean to tell me that they live at Azkaban? Like… all the time?"

"All the time," affirmed Lupin, scanning her thoughtfully. "What did you say your name was?"

Ellie glanced hesitantly at Fred, suddenly feeling overcome with the urge to introduce herself as Ellie Black. Another year, another name change, right? "Ellie," she said shortly. "Ellie… Prince… I guess."

Lupin's reaction to her name was unmistakable. He knew her, she could tell; he had known her father.

But until she spoke to Sirius about him, she couldn't risk revealing that she knew her father. So she reluctantly contained her excitement.

"Why weren't you all affected?" she asked the other students in the compartment.

"We were," said Hermione. "Particularly Ginny. Just… not the way you two were."

"It isn't a weakness, Ellie," Lupin told her gently when he saw her expression. "Dementors feed on fear and sadness. You and this boy—"

"Harry," she interrupted, watching carefully for his reaction.

He glanced at Harry and nodded. "I wondered as much. Well, that explains his half of it." He glanced thoughtfully back at Ellie, but seemed to sense that she didn't want him asking her about her own experiences with fear and sadness.

Harry started to stir at that. Ellie took another piece of chocolate from Lupin and readied it at Harry's lips. It had helped, in spite of the rest of the craziness.

"What… happened?" Harry asked groggily as he sat slowly up.

"Dementors," she told him gently. "Eat this."

He allowed her to feed him the chocolate. He chewed quietly for several seconds before sitting up a little straighter. "Dementors," he repeated, glancing at Ellie. "Like… Azkaban?"

She nodded.

"Am I the only one who passed out?"

"Yeah," said Fred, "but El came close. Don't worry—I rescued her."

She shot him a glare at that; apparently his attempts to ease the tension had been-short lived.

And since when did pulling her hair count as "rescuing" her? Anyone could have pulled her hair. In fact, the act coming from Fred felt strangely…

She pushed that thought away, of course, the second it entered her brain.

"Thanks," Harry said coolly to Fred. "Ellie—did you see or hear anything?"

"I don't know exactly," she said, frowning. "Memories, I think. Pieces of them, anyway. The night my father was arrested, I think." Fred nudged her carefully at that, reminding her not to say too much in front of people who didn't know all her secrets, and she quieted.

"It was the same for me," said Harry. "Some kind of screaming… a woman's voice."

She gently took his hand, and he gripped hers tightly, as if she were his only source of comfort in this.

"You're better witches and wizards for having experienced this," Lupin told them, "hard as it feels in the moment."

"Is that what your teaching strategy will be like?" Hermione asked interestedly, and finally the tides shifted to a lighter note.


Go, Fred, go! Anybody cheer when he punched Draco? Just me? ... fine then. Reviews please! Loving the new ones coming in, thanks so much for the support! And stay tuned for the next chapter, "Back at Last," where - you guessed it - our heroes will be back at Hogwarts at last!