Hi everybody! It's time for the beginning of the "Prisoner of Azkaban" part! This part is going to be a little shorter, but there are some pretty crucial things that happen in the next "year," including the reason I wrote Shine On Rainy Day in the first place! Here we GOOOOOO
(Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.)
Chapter 26:
Mackenzie's Mystery
"There was a soft, crackling noise, and a shivering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames. They illuminated his tired, gray face, but his eyes looked alert and wary.
'Stay where you are,' he said in the same hoarse voice, and he got slowly to his feet with his handful of fire held out in front of him.
But the door slid slowly open before Lupin could reach it."
Molly called Mackenzie a few days before September 1st.
"Hey - can you call the others and tell them that we have to delay the trip to Florida?" she said.
"Sure," Mackenzie said. "Why?"
"A really good family friend of mine is making her Broadway debut in October in a show called Holiday Inn, and there is no way I'm not seeing it," Molly said.
"Fine with me," Mackenzie said. "I wanted to stay a bit longer anyway - make sure that there aren't any unintended consequences to our time-travelling."
"Sounds good to me," Molly said. "I also want to see Moana."
"True," Mackenzie said. "Alright. How about we head down December 1st?"
"Great," Molly said. "See you then!"
She hung up, more excited than she had been in a while. She would get to see her friend in Holiday Inn, watch Moana, and get to go to Hogwarts.
This was going to be the best extended break ever.
Two months later, after Molly had seen Holiday Inn, she got another call from Mackenzie.
"We gotta go," Mackenzie said. "Now."
"Why?" Molly asked. "Moana comes out in exactly two weeks -"
"There's some weird stuff happening," Mackenzie said. "I think there have been consequences, and we need to get down there and fix them."
"Got it," Molly said. "I'll meet you in Florida in one week."
"Sounds good," Mackenzie said.
One week later, the crew arrived in Florida. The mood was decidedly different than the last time - everyone knew that these trips had become more than just a fun little trip to Hogwarts. Somebody was manipulating them, trying to change history. None of them felt up to the task, but they couldn't stay in the present day. There was too much risk, too much at stake.
"Whoever you are," Molly said as the group huddled in the middle of the King's Cross replica, "it's time."
She closed her eyes as she heard thunder over her. One drop on her arm, then two, then a cascade of pouring rain in the middle of a train station.
Her stomach turned, her feet felt like they were lifting off the floor, and then it stopped. When Molly opened her eyes, they had arrived. Unlike before, there was no celebrating. No excited "Come on!"
"We're here," she said ominously. "We have some work to do."
Luckily for the time travelers, other Hogwarts students were walking around the station. They had been transported to September 1st, 1993.
"Mackenzie, do you want to sit together?" Molly asked as they walked to the portal onto the platform.
"Sure," she said. "By the way, I do wish we hadn't had to leave when we did. I really wanted to see that Fantastic Beasts movie."
"The one with Eddie Redmayne?" Molly asked. When Mackenzie nodded, she said, "I was going to watch him in The Theory of Everything, but I never had any time, considering I was trying to write five different essays for five different magical classes."
"That did look good," Mackenzie said. "I just meant that I understand."
"Oh, it's no big deal," she said. "I got to see that Broadway show, so we're good."
"How was your friend?" Mackenzie asked. At this point, they were walking through the portal onto Platform 9 ¾.
"She was incredible!" Molly said. "At one point, she and a few other ensemble members tap-danced while jump-roping! It was awesome!"
"That's really cool," Mackenzie said. "Oh, here's the train."
Molly and Mackenzie ran onto the train and found a car together. After a few minutes of waiting, the train took off.
"Did you bring your books this year?" Mackenzie asked after a bit of waiting.
"Every one of them," Molly said. "I wasn't able to finish Chamber of Secrets last year due to...you know…"
She pretended to freeze in her position. Mackenzie nodded. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," she said. "Well, you can finish it this year. If you have time."
"Hopefully I do," she said. "I mean, we actually get to take electives this year, so that'll be interesting."
"What are you taking?" Mackenzie asked.
"Muggle Studies and Divination," Molly responded. "I'd love to learn about humans from a wizard perspective, and if I learn Divination, I can always make sure the future stays on track."
"That's smart," Mackenzie said. "Remember - if you do have time to read the books, make sure that you do them carefully - don't do it when anyone else is around."
"Right," Molly said. "I mean, as long as we stay careful, we should be good. This is our third year at Hogwarts - we've gotten into a routine by now. What could possibly go wrong?"
Suddenly, the train stopped and the lights went out.
"That," Mackenzie said.
"What's going on?" Molly asked, looking around the pitch-black train car.
"I can't tell you without spoiling everything," Mackenzie said. "Just - stay perfectly still."
Molly nodded, although she knew Mackenzie couldn't see her. She could hear footsteps, dreamily roaming the hallways, looking for something.
She saw a silvery-blue light shooting through the hall.
"Alright," Mackenzie said. "I think we're safe. Lumos."
The tip of Mackenzie's wand lit up, and finally, Molly could see again.
"What just happened?" she asked.
"I'll tell you later," Mackenzie said. "Right now, we just have to -"
And then the door to the train car opened.
Standing in the hallway was a dark, hooded figure that looked as though it had come straight out of a horror movie. "No," Mackenzie said quietly.
Before Molly could process what was happening, the figure made a noise, as though it was taking in a breath. All of a sudden, the world turned cold and bleak, as though it had lost all color and hope. A white mist seemed to surround Molly's thoughts and feelings.
She heard a voice that sounded vaguely familiar.
"You don't have the right to do this with us! You mess everything up!"
Scared and helpless, Molly could barely clear her mind enough to recognize the voice. It was a girl from her old school, before she came to Hogwarts. A girl named Kirsten, one of the many bullies in her grade. Molly could remember how much she hated Kirsten, yet when the other girls would ignore her, Kirsten always had her arms open. Molly would stay awake at night, wondering if she was becoming one of the "bad kids" by hanging out with one of them.
"Yeah, just go away or else!" another voice said. That was Amber - Kirsten's toadie, the Grover Dill to Kirsten's Scut Farkus.
Molly was terrified, but also confused. Why would whatever this creature was cause her to hear this? Was it just her old nemeses insulting her, or was it a specific memory?
And then she heard Kirsten shout, "Molly pushed me!"
It was a specific memory that started to flood back, overwhelming Molly. Kirsten and a few of the other girls had been really into the TV show Dance Moms in fifth grade, and every day at recess, they'd make believe that they were the hosts of their own TV show. Kirsten and Molly had been the co-hosts that winter, and Molly had gotten confused about one of the situations. She had, according to Kirsten, "eliminated the wrong contestant," and that led to her and Amber backing Molly into a snowbank, shouting the words that Molly had heard in the white mist.
She still couldn't remember actually pushing Kirsten - or maybe she did, and it was just fight-or-flight kicking in. But whatever it was, it ended up with Kirsten telling the teacher who was supposed to be watching the kids, and it ended up with Molly having to sit on the curb for the rest of recess.
"Molly!"
The memories were a flood, a raging river in Molly's mind. She could feel herself falling, tumbling through her past, the white mist clouding her thoughts.
"Molly, wake up!"
She couldn't clear them out of her head, no matter how she tried. Three years later, the ghost of what she had done - or maybe didn't - was still hanging over her head.
"MOLLY!"
Molly opened her eyes, letting out her breath. She was still on the train. The white mist was gone. Mackenzie was sitting next to her. She was no longer falling, but she couldn't remember landing anywhere. She was just...there.
"What happened?" Molly asked, her voice shaky, her jaw shivering.
"You're okay," Mackenzie said. "I didn't realize it would come in here."
"What?" Molly asked. "What was that hooded thing?"
"I've got to tell somebody," Mackenzie said, standing up.
"Wait -" Molly said.
But Mackenzie was gone. Molly was left in the train car, alone, trying to forget what had just happened.
A few minutes later, Mackenzie came back, a chocolate bar in her hand. She handed it to Molly. "Eat. It'll help."
Molly had never liked solid chocolate, but she broke off a piece and nibbled at it. Almost instantly, the cold vanished. The world seemed to have regained its hope, its light, its color.
"Alright," Molly said. "Now you need to explain to me what just happened."
"Okay," Mackenzie said. "That thing that came in here?"
Molly nodded.
"That was a Dementor," Mackenzie said. "A Dementor is a creature that guards Azkaban, the wizard prison. Dementors are basically paralyzing forces of despair and loneliness. They force you to relive your worst trauma, which incapacitates you so they can give you the Dementor's Kiss."
"What's the Dementor's Kiss?" Molly asked.
"The Dementor clamps its mouth down on you and sucks out your soul," Mackenzie said. "You're not dead, but you don't have a memory, or emotions - you just exist."
Molly shuddered. "So then why are they on the train?" she asked.
"Dumbledore will explain once we get to Hogwarts," Mackenzie said. "I told a few adults, and they should be able to handle the situation."
Molly nodded slightly. "How much longer?"
"Not too long," Mackenzie said. "You've been out for a while."
As if on cue, an announcement came over the loudspeaker: "We are pulling in to the Hogwarts train station. First years should depart and walk carefully to the boats, while everyone else should board the horseless carriages. Please put on your robes before exiting the train, and leave your luggage on board. We will bring it to your dormitories. Thank you for your cooperation."
"Do you need help with your robes?" Mackenzie asked.
Molly nodded silently, going into her bag and pulling out her robes, shoes, and Gryffindor tie. She looked at the red and gold stripes for a second.
On the way to Florida, Molly had decided to prepare herself for the books by watching, at Stella's request, a trilogy of Harry Potter parody musicals. They were hilarious, and they were the perfect primer for what was to come. But she couldn't help but remember a scene in the third musical, when Ron was reminding Harry what Gryffindor was all about.
The house of the brave, he had said in the musical. The house of the good guys.
She wondered what it meant that when a Dementor entered a train car with two Gryffindors, she had been the one to faint. She remembered her conversation with the Sorting Hat, on her first day at Hogwarts, how she had only convinced it that she belonged in Gryffindor by thinking of a song from Beauty and the Beast.
Mackenzie helped her put on her robes, and they walked out of the train car into the hallway.
To Molly's dismay, once the carriages had landed, she heard Professor McGonagall in the entryway: "Potter! Granger! Evans! Clark!"
"Whose last name is Clark?" Molly asked Zoë.
"Madison, I think," Zoë responded. "I mean, we don't use our last names that much - wait...do you even know what mine is?"
"Um…"
"I'll give you a hint - it starts with W," Zoë said.
"I need to get to McGonagall's office," Molly said. "See you later, Miss...Zoë."
She scampered off before Zoë could strangle her. When she got to Professor McGonagall's office, Harry and Hermione were already sitting in chairs inside.
"Where's Madison?" Molly asked.
"She hasn't arrived yet," McGonagall said. "She was...incapacitated on the train."
Molly nodded as she sat down. She knew that Madison had spent the summer with Hermione and her family, but she hadn't seen her on the train.
"Professor Lupin sent an owl ahead," McGonagall said. "It said that both you and Potter were taken ill on the train."
Before either of them could respond, Madam Pomfrey came bustling in. Harry went red. "I'm fine - I don't need anything -" he started.
"Yes, you do," Molly said. "If what happened to you is anything like what happened to me, we both do."
"What on earth happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked.
"It was a Dementor, Poppy," McGonagall said softly.
Before Madam Pomfrey could say anything else, Stella walked in. "Madison is here to see you," she said. "She's still a little weak."
"Bring her in," McGonagall said. Stella nodded and wheeled in a hospital bed. Madison lay under the covers, in solid form. Her face was its normal color, but the rest of her was an icy blue, almost white.
"What happened?" Molly asked.
"When the Dementor came," Hermione explained, "Madison was in solid form, and she froze. I mean, she literally froze over. Poor thing was covered in ice, and she couldn't move."
"Oh my God," Molly said. "Is she okay? What did you do?"
"I told someone on the train, and they brought her to the hospital wing," Hermione said. "She must've unfrozen a little bit."
"Yeah, I'm fine," Madison said, although Molly could tell from how weak Madison sounded that she wasn't fine. "I'll spend the night in the hospital wing, and I'll be back in the bathroom by tomorrow."
Molly breathed a sigh of relief. "So what should Harry and I do?"
"Relax," McGonagall said. "Maybe you should stay in the hospital wing with Madison -"
"No," Harry said. "I'm not that sick."
"Well, they should have some chocolate, at the very least," Madam Pomfrey said. She looked at Molly and Harry, as though examining them.
"I've already had some," Harry said. "Professor Lupin gave me some - he gave it to everyone in my train car."
"And Mackenzie got me some, too," Molly said. "Maybe she got it from...whoever it was that Harry just mentioned."
"You forget names that fast?" Hermione said in disbelief.
"I didn't think it was important until I made the connection between Professor...Loopy something-or-other and Mackenzie. Besides, I just got attacked by a dementor - I think I deserve a little slack."
"That's fair," Hermione said.
"Well, at least we've finally got a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who knows his remedies," Madam Pomfrey said approvingly.
"Are you two sure you feel alright?"
"We're fine, Professor," Molly said. "We should probably get back to the feast - maybe attempt to get this day to be normal again."
"Very well," McGonagall said. "I do have to speak with Miss Granger about her course schedule, and then we will all go down to the feast together."
"Sounds good," Harry said as he and Molly stood up. They walked out of the room with Madam Pomfrey and Stella, who headed towards the hospital wing, muttering something to themselves. As soon as they were out of earshot, Molly and Harry turned to each other and started to speak at the same time.
"Mackenzie told me about those things, but why are they here -"
"Arthur Weasley said that they were coming, and Dumbledore isn't happy -"
"Is there anything dangerous that would cause them to come -"
"They guard Azkaban - do you think they're after Sirius Black -"
"Wait a minute - who's Sirius Black -"
"A Dark wizard who escaped Azkaban this summer - killed thirteen people with one spell -"
"And he's on the loose - and they think he's coming here -"
"And they have the guards of Azkaban to get him -"
"And somehow not get us -"
"OH MY GOD, HOW IS EVERYONE ELSE NOT FREAKING OUT?" they said in unison.
Before they could say anything else, Professor McGonagall and Hermione walked into the hallway. "To the feast," McGonagall said.
And in silence, Molly's fears running through her head, the four walked into the Great Hall for the feast.
Thanks for reading! Here are this chapter's behind-the-magic fun facts.
1) I actually do have a friend who made her Broadway debut in Holiday Inn! Her name is Amy Van Norstrand, and she is awesome. (If you look up the show's performance on the Thanksgiving Day Parade, she's the one with brown hair, a pink shirt, and a purple skirt.)
2) Molly bringing the books is going to become very important later on...
3) The incident with Kirsten and Amber is based on a real thing that happened to me in elementary school.
4) I was fascinated with the Dementors the first time I read PoA, and they scared the bejeezus out of me. I thought it would be interesting to give Molly an encounter with them.
5) Madison freezing over was Madison's inspiration's idea. Now that Molly invented the "Deposio Spiritus" spell, one of the fun things has been figuring out the rules of the spell.
6) Nice little shout out to A Very Potter Senior Year! I was rewatching that scene around the time that I wrote this chapter, and I thought it made perfect sense in this scene.
7) Before you go back to Chapter 6, try to guess what Zoë's last name is. ;)
Also, quick announcement for my writing future - I just saw the musical Hadestown, and I ADORED it! I came up with a really good idea for a Hadestown-themed fanfiction, so I'll be working on that. There will still be updates for Shine On Rainy Day, and this isn't me saying that I won't be releasing chapters as often. It's just some shameless self-promotion that I decided to insert after realizing that there was exactly one (1) Hadestown fanfic on this website. So be on the lookout for that soon! (If you want to get an email reminder, follow and/or favorite my profile.)
Feel free to review, but please no negative reviews or cursing. (And please, NOTHING POLITICAL!) Thanks!