10. Darkness Falls

Callie's third year began about as well as any other - which was to say, not at all. Upon boarding the Hogwart's Express, she found her usual seatmate, Tracey, sharing a compartment with none other than Pansy, Daphne, and Millicent.

"Sorry, this one's full," Pansy declared as Callie stood in the doorway staring at Tracey.

"Really?" she said to the girl who was supposed to be her closest friend.

"They asked me to sit with them," Tracey explained innocently. "Just trying to be friendly."

"Well," Callie replied, "you might wanna try harder." With that she slammed the compartment door shut. Moving on along the train, she found a group about her age - one of them she recognized as Justin Finch-Fletchley, of Hufflepuff. They stared up at her miserable, irritated face as she said, "I will pay you to let me sit here."

The two boys - Justin and whatever the other's name was - scooted over to make room. "That's okay," the nameless boy said, "You can sit."

Sighing in relief, Callie said, "Thank you," and settled in beside Nameless.

Who proceeded to hold out his hand and introduce himself as Ernie Macmillan. "And this is Justin, and Hannah, and Susan."

She nodded to the girls. "Good to meet you." To Justin she said, "Hey, you look good in motion."

Her looked at her, perplexed. "Sorry?"

"You're one of the kids who was petrified," Callie reminded him.

"Oh," he chuckled. "Right."

Wandering into a compartment full of Hufflepuffs hadn't been so bad. They were nice, and Ernie even shared his box of Every Flavour Beans.

Hufflepuff would've been lovely, she thought to herself, lamenting her terrible luck at getting sorted to the house of purebloods and prickheads.

"So," Ernie said, popping an orange-colored bean into his mouth, "you're from Slytherin, eh?"

"Yes, but don't hold it against me. If I'd had a choice in the matter, I'd have taken it."

"You seem all right," Justin said, "next to the other Slytherins I've met."

"Trust me, I get why nobody likes them," Callie said. "And I can sympathize."

Callie and the Hufflepuffs chatted amicably throughout the trip, though Callie noticed Ernie and Justin seemed more interested in her than Hannah and Susan did. Between her old friends back home, and Pansy's clique, and now these two, girls just didn't seem to like her very much.

Ah, who cares? she thought. The boys are cool, at least.

"What was it like to be petrified?" Callie asked Justin.

"Kind of like being asleep," he replied. "One minute I was just walking around the corridor, next I woke up in a hospital bed. Freaky," he shrugged.

"Lucky for you they canceled exams," Callie joked. "Missing half the year, you'd have failed for sure."

"Lucky for me," Ernie corrected. "I hadn't studied at all."

Callie was about to say she hadn't either, when suddenly the train came to a halt, jerking her forward. "What the hell was that?" she asked.

"Are we there?" Hannah said.

Before anybody could say anything else, the lights went out, surrounding them in pitch blackness.

"Must've broken down," Ernie guessed.

Callie noted the pounding rain outside and wondered if that had something to do with it. "Maybe we're stopped for the weather," she said.

Rising to her feet, she slid the compartment door open and looked out. Up and down the train, several others had done the same, though she couldn't make out any of their faces. Squinting down to the front of the train, Callie saw a floating black figure coming towards her, and a sudden surge of fear caused her to step back into the compartment and slam the door shut.

"What's going on?" Justin asked.

"Something's out there," Callie said, sinking back into her seat.

The black figure floated past the door, and Callie and the Hufflepuffs stared at it through the window. Callie felt she couldn't have looked away even if she wanted to. Something about the figure had her transfixed, and then she was inexplicably overcome with sadness. It was as though everything around her melted away, and all she knew was misery. For what, she didn't know.

Her eyes followed the figure as it drifted down the train, and once it was out of sight, the misery vanished. Callie shook her head as if to clear it. She suddenly realized how cold it was in the compartment, and vigorously rubbed her arms.

"Merlin's beard," Hannah breathed. "What was that?"

"I don't know," Susan replied.

"Did you feel that?" Callie asked.

"Cold," Justin said.

But Callie corrected, "Sadness. All of a sudden like..." But she didn't know how to explain it.

After a moment, the lights came on, and the train started moving again.

Callie looked toward the door and said, "Do you think it's still out there?"

"I don't wanna know," Susan said, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around them.

Callie took a breath and slid the door open. Others were still looking out of their compartments. Callie started to walk out and bumped into someone, an adult man who muttered, "Sorry, love."

He brushed past Callie and headed toward the front. A red-headed boy who she recognized as one of the Weasleys was hanging out of a compartment.

"Eh, Weasley!" she called out, getting his attention. "What was that?"

"Dementor," he said, "from Azkaban."

She'd seen the boy around school and knew him as a big goofball, but this was the first time she'd ever seen him look so cheerless.

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They arrived at Hogsmeade Station about ten minutes later. Callie stepped out into the pouring rain and admonished herself for not bringing an umbrella. Her long dark hair whipped around her face and stuck to her skin. Bowing her head, she ran as fast as she could to the carriages and hopped in the closest one available.

"Ugh!" she groaned, grabbing a hair-tie from her pocket and gathering the wet strands off her face. Across from her was a nervous-looking boy she knew from Potions class. The one who was always screwing up. Neville. Neville Low-something.

Nodding to the boy, she greeted, "Hey."

"H- Hi," he stuttered, trying to keep hold of a toad that was just about as jittery as he was. "Trevor, sit still," he pleaded uselessly with the amphibian.

Callie couldn't help but grin. "Need a hand?" she offered.

"No, thanks, I-"

Just then the carriage door banged open, and who should appear but a soaking wet Malfoy.

"Oh, joy," Callie said sarcastically, "my old friend."

Malfoy looked from Callie to the frightened-looking Neville, and said, "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"Only my peace and happiness," Callie replied.

Malfoy must've been just as desperate as she to get out of the rain, because he climbed into the carriage; Crabbe and Goyle followed.

"Move it, ya lump!" Goyle said, giving Neville a hard nudge. The poor boy almost lost his toad.

"I didn't think you could sink any lower, Warbeck," Malfoy said. "Sharing a carriage with this squib?"

"Piss off out of my carriage, why don't you?" Callie shot back. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Crabbe staring at her chest. "What?" she said.

"Your knockers are showing."

Callie looked down to see her white blouse completely soaked through, her bra clearly visible to everyone. She shoved him and pulled her cloak tightly around herself. Neville was red-faced.

Rolling her eyes at Crabbe, she said sarcastically, "What a gentleman."

Thankfully, conversation turned away from her chest to the strange occurrence on the train.

"That's a dementor?" Goyle asked. "Jeez, I'd've thought they'd be..." he shrugged "...better than that."

Callie furrowed her brow and said, "What, were you unimpressed?"

Again, he shrugged. "Didn't seem so bad to me," he said.

"You didn't feel... weird when that thing showed up?" Callie asked in disbelief.

"What, were you scared, Warbeck?" Malfoy said. Wiggling his fingers in her face, he teased, "Ooooooh!"

"Get your hands out of my face," Callie warned, "I don't know where your hands have been."

Malfoy sat back and chuckled. "Ought to be scared, really. Know what a dementor does? It sucks the soul out of its victims."

"Oh, well no wonder you didn't feel anything," she said to Goyle, who didn't entirely seem to get it.

"Does it, really?" Neville piped up.

"Yeah, Longbottom."

Longbottom! That was it.

"Wouldn't that be awful," Malfoy went on, turning his attention back to Callie. "Walking around like a dead woman? No expression, no awareness, no defenses. Living death," he concluded with a wicked grin.

"Kind of sounds like your mum," Callie replied.

His grin turned to a scowl. "Bitch," he spat.

"Arsehole," she returned.

"Harry fainted," Neville spoke up, and they all turned to him. "When he saw it - the dementor - he passed out."

Callie winced, wishing that he hadn't shared that. Malfoy didn't need any more ammunition against Harry.

After a pause, the Slytherin boys burst out laughing.

"Ha!" Malfoy said, clapping his hands together once. "Oh, that's grand! Thanks for the laugh, Longbottom!"

Finally they reached the castle, and Callie was glad to be out of that carriage. She made her way into the entrance hall and turned to find Neville and his toad at her side.

"Sorry you had to endure those prats," she said, wiping the rain from her forehead.

"S'okay," he replied, "I'm used to Malfoy."

"Well, next time he bothers you, just tell him to up and go to hell."

The corner of his lip turned up in a slight smile, before he was distracted by the toad nearly jumping out of his hands. "Trevor!" he whined.

"Let me see him," Callie said, and Neville carefully held him out to her as she reached into her robes for her wand.

"Immobulus!" she incanted, and the toad went perfectly still in Neville's hands.

He looked at her, almost in awe, and said, "Thanks."

With a smile she replied, "Anytime," and made her way into the Great Hall.