I do not own Harry Potter, only the OC

Hello guys, Badger here. How are you today? Do you know what I love? When your word files decide to corrupt for whatever reason. No matter what I did, I just couldn't get into the file. Because of this, as I was stupid to not have a backup file, or even a draft chapter written out for this chapter, I had to restart. I was up until the early hours of the morning rewriting everything. Because I had no backup or draft chapter, I may have missed out something I had originally written, and I might have repeated a few things I have already written. If I have repeated something in this chapter, do let me know.

Anyway, I am glad people were happy with the previous chapter. As D.J Scales said, 'the real plot begins'. There are a few surprises awaiting people. Some will happen in the PoA era, with others happening in the GoF era. I hope you guys enjoy, seeing as writing this chapter was a pain in the ass.

Chapter 29

The black dog and a frosty greeting

It was about a week after the Minister and Amelia warned Harry and James about Sirius Black's escape and, the atmosphere had been a little bit tense. James had placed a few protective charms around the building. When Harry asked how he could do magic without being warned by the Ministry, he said the trace was removed from his wand back when they arrested the Dursleys. Despite James being cautious and had been a little bit closed of

f, he was still the sarcastic, witty and jokey person he was. Currently, Harry was checking himself in the mirror in his room as the two of them were heading into Diagon Alley for their school supplies. After trying, and failing, to calm his wild hair, Harry entered James' room, where the sound of Heavy Metal music blasted his ears. Harry covered his ears, as he looked to see James doing a weird dance, in time to the music, with a drink in his hand.

"James!" Harry yelled, to get his attention

James jumped slightly, almost dropping the drink in his hand. He turned to see Harry standing in the doorway, where he took out his wand and pointed it at the radio, which turned itself off a second later.

"I'm ready to head out to Diagon Alley" Harry said

"Okay, let's get going" James replied, as he placed his drink down and left the room

Harry shook his head. He had long since given up, trying to wrap his head around how quickly James can sometimes go from a headbanging, hardcore Metal fan, to a calm and collected person in the matter of a second. He followed after James and went through the Floo Network. John was no longer fazed as they came through, not even responding when they said hi. James and Harry made their way down the streets of Diagon Alley. The wanted signs for Sirius Black did not go unnoticed by either of them. As the two of them made their way to Flourish and Blotts, they passed by a small alleyway, where something caught Harry's attention. He stopped and looked where, in the shadows, he saw something. Two glowing eyes were looking at him, as it stepped out of the shadows, where Harry saw it was some kind of black dog. A small shiver went up his spine, as the dog continued to look at him, its head tilting slightly.

"Harry, what is it?" James asked, placing a hand on his shoulder

Harry jumped slightly, the contact and looked to James for a second, before he looked back down the alley to see the dog was no longer there.

"I…thought I saw something" Harry replied

"What did you see?"

"It was nothing" Harry said after a moment "Just my imagination, I guess"

James looked at Harry, his eyes narrowing for a moment, before he nodded. Though it didn't look like he believed it. He knew Harry well by this point. The two of them made their way down the Alley and into Flourish and Blotts. As Harry picked up the book he needed for Divination, he remembered what the Twins had said in their recent letter.

"Do you really think its true?" Harry asked James "With what Fred and George told us?"

"The two may be pranksters and a bit foolhardy, but they aren't liars" James replied "They may exaggerate slightly, but Divination is only mandatory until next year, so we can always drop the elective if we wish"

Harry nodded, as he put the book in his pile. The two spent a moment, checking over their list, when they came across the one person they didn't want to meet, though this time he was joined by another boy, who was tall and stringy, with a weak build.

"Well, look who it is Nott, Potter and Badger, who looks better from when we last saw him" Malfoy said "Considering he had spent months petrified on a hospital bed"

"Careful Malfoy" James replied, hand twitching for his wand "Don't want to cause any trouble do you?"

Expecting Malfoy to back down and leave them alone, the two were very surprised to see Malfoy scoff and roll his eyes, which made the other boy, Nott, smirk.

"Nice try Badger" Nott said "Your threats will no longer work…you should watch your back, this year…you especially Potter, seeing as Sirius Black is after you"

The two laugh, as they walk past Harry and James, with Nott shouldering James as they did so. James growled slightly, as they watched Malfoy and Nott leave the store.

"Who was that?" Harry asked, eyes narrowing as he tried to remember the skinny boy with mousey brown hair

"Theodore Nott" James replied "His father was one of Vol…You-Know-Who's followers back in the war…a very active follower at that…he managed to get out of going from Azkaban, by claiming he was placed under the Imperius Curse"

"Is he as bad as Malfoy?"

"Worse" James sighed "Unlike Malfoy, he is more sly and sneaky…I don't know how they became friends but we should be careful with them"

After a small, unspoken, agreement between the two, they went ahead with the rest of their day and bought the rest of their supplies. As they continued to make their way up and down the Alley, Harry felt like someone was watching him, however, every time he looked around, he never saw anyone, though he thought he saw a glimpse of some kind of black dog rushing away, but decided to pay no mind to it. When Harry lay on his bed later in the day, he looked out the window where there was a storm brewing, with dark clouds and the rumbling of thunder. It almost seemed fitting. Harry had hoped for a peaceful year. With what happened with the Basilisk, he felt like he deserved that at least. But now there was an escaped prisoner, who was apparently a mass murderer and was coming after him. Why did fate seem to hate him?

After a few weeks, Harry and James made their way onto the platform, where they came across Daphne along the way. Harry had asked where Astoria was, to which Daphne said she was with some of her friends. The three of them walked down the train, to find a compartment that was almost empty, with one person sleeping.

"Should we wake him to see if we can sit here?" Daphne asked

"No, leave him be" James replied "Besides, I'm sure its not that big of a deal"

Making sure they didn't do anything to wake the man up, they put their bags up on the overhead storage rack and sat down, where the train then slowly pulled away from the station. They spent about ten minutes talking, when the compartment door opened, where Neville and Luna looked inside.

"Hey guys" Neville said "Do you mind if we sit here?"

"Of course not" Harry replied "Come on in"

"Just be careful" James added, indicating the man who was sleeping "We have a sleeper"

"Okay, thanks" Neville said, as he and Luna carefully put their luggage on the storage racks "Who is he, anyway?"

"Professor R.J. Lupin" Luna replied, indicating the name on one of the brief cases above them.

For some reason, that name sounded vaguely familiar to Harry.

"Do you think he is our Defence Professor this year?" Neville asked

"Possibly, I just hope he is better then Lockhart" Daphne replied "Did you guys hear that all his awards were revoked and he was fined for passing off all the achievements as his own?"

"Not surprising" James shrugged "It was obvious that something was off about the man"

"I want to know how you are feeling about Sirius Black escaping" Luna replied, talking to Harry in particular

"I don't know" Harry sighed "He is a murdering lunatic, who apparently gave the location of my parents to Voldemort…and now he is after me…I don't really know what to feel right now"

"It's understandable Harry, a lot of people lost someone in the war" James said, where he turned to Neville "Your parents were attacked around the same weren't they?"

"Yes" Neville sighed "Death Eaters came and tortured my parents until their minds snapped"

"God, I'm sorry Neville" Harry said

"Its okay" Neville smiled weakly "I still visit them in St Mungos, but the Healers told me that it is highly unlikely for them to go back to normal"

The atmosphere in the compartment was a little bleak, as the journey went on. After a while though, the conversation moved on to more brighter tones thanks to Luna. Harry noticed, on more then one occasion, that James would glance at Luna, before looking away after a moment, looking a little confused. Harry wasn't sure what was going on with that, though he would probably find out soon. The group continued talking for a while longer, when the train came to a forced stop, causing the compartment to rock violently. Harry pressed a hand to the window, as he looked outside, to see what happened.

"What just happened?" Neville asked "We haven't arrived have we?"

"No, its impossible" Daphne replied "Hogwarts is about another two hours away"

Harry was about to respond, when he felt his hand getting colder. He looked to see the window slowly frosting up, with a thin sheet of ice, causing him to remove his hand off the glass. A small chill filled the air, as a thick, silvery mist seeped through the gaps in the compartment door and windows, causing everyone to shiver, except Lupin, who was still sleeping. A dark shadow appeared in the corridor, the door to their compartment slowly opening, to which a large, skeletal hand gripped onto the wood, opening the door fully, revealing a large hooded figure, floating in the air. Dread seeped through everyone in the compartment, as it entered the compartment, seemingly looking for something. When it caught a glimpse of Harry, it approached him, a ghostly hum filling the air. Harry couldn't describe the feeling he was getting in the cloaked figures presence. It felt like death itself. He could hear the sound of a woman screaming and a green light flashed in his mind, as his vision began to blacken. He vaguely saw the man, Lupin, stand up in a quick flourish and shoot some kind of bright light, that pushed the figure away, before everything went dark.

Harry wasn't sure how long he was out for, when he woke up, but it didn't seem to be that long. He looked to see the others seemed ok, though they looked pale. He saw Luna had been affected quite a bit though, as she was pale and shaking slightly, as she leant against James, who seemed to be keeping her up right. James himself, seemed worse. His shoulders were tense and was a little shaky himself, his complexion paler then usual and a haunted look in his eyes. He tried to get up, where he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked to see Lupin next to him, looking at him, concern in his eyes.

"Easy" He said "Don't get up too fast"

Harry nodded, as he sat up, slowly, wincing at how stiff he felt. He took a better look at Lupin. His hair was a sandy brown, and he had a small goatee. His eyes were a hazel colour, with a hint of a orange hue and he had three faint scars going across his face. The man definitely looked familiar, but Harry just could not place his finger on where he has seen him before.

"W-what was that thing?" He asked, after a moment

"That was a dementor" Lupin replied "Guards of Azkaban…they were searching the train for Sirius Black"

"But why are they here?" Daphne asked "And why did it go after Harry?"

"They have been placed as guards which will be stationed around Hogwarts" Lupin sighed "Not the best idea if I am being honest…though I do not know why it would go after Harry, you may want to inform someone about that"

Everyone watched as Lupin went into his bag, which he rummaged in for a moment, before he pulled out some bars of chocolate, which he gave one to each of them.

"Eat those, they will make you feel better" He said, as he stood up "I will go and have a word with the driver"

The compartment was quiet, as everyone ate the chocolate that was given to them, until Harry spoke up again.

"Did any of you hear the woman screaming?" He asked, which made everyone look at him in confusion

"What woman?" Neville raised his eyebrows

"There...there was a woman screaming" Harry replied "You didn't hear it?"

"There was no woman screaming Harry" James spoke, still holding Luna, though it looked like he didn't realise it "do you want to see Madam Pomfrey or something, when we get to Hogwarts, just in case?"

"N-No…I'll be fine, I was probably just delusional from the Dementor" Harry replied

He leant back in his seat, looking out the window, as he thought about what just happened. There was definitely a woman screaming…wasn't there? He couldn't be sure if the others didn't hear it. Maybe it was a similar situation to the Basilisk. Then there was the Dementor. Why would it come after him? Harry was going to have to do some research, if he can find a book about them. He didn't want to feel, whatever he felt, in their presence again.

New chapter...done. What did you think?

There is a bit to go through. First off, the small moment where Harry goes in James' room, to see him dancing to Heavy Metal music, is actually based on a real life experience, which happened not too long ago. In case you didn't know, I am a massive Heavy Metal fan; if you want a few recommendations, I would recommend Alestorm, Slipknot, Battleborn, Gloryhammer and Fever 333. Anyway, I feel like Harry seeing the dog ,that I'm sure people know who it is, was a moment that needed to happen, and seeing as Harry isn't living with the Dursleys, meaning no Aunt Marge, I had to improvise slightly, with Harry seeing the dog in Diagon Alley. I actually did some research to double check and Diagon Alley is in London, with Hogwarts being in Scotland, so it worked. Also, before you say anything, I know Divination was an Elective from third year onwards, I'm just doing something different...also I can't think of a way for Harry to find out about the Grim so...

Next we come up to something interesting. Theodore Nott. You may not know this, but when JK was writing the stories, Nott was originally going to become a main Antagonist and rival to the Golden Trio. He was going to be more sneaky and sly then Draco, with Draco essentially being his right hand. I can't remember why she didn't go through with the idea, but I thought it seemed interesting to do, especially as Nott's influence would make Draco less afraid of James and what threats he gives. Think of Draco and Nott as the evil versions of Harry and James. As this was a last minute decision, I look forward to writing these characters interacting in future chapters. Plus, when coming up with character names, Draco was originally called Draco Spungen. Just let that sink in...what don't believe me? Look it up.

Finally we come across the Lupin and Dementor encounter. Two things that were going to be in the story. Though, can we just ask why James would be glancing at Luna, looking a bit confused? What could be the reason for that? Actually, that reminds me, do you want to see a small subplot of Luna being bullied with Harry or James doing something about it? I feel like it is kind of important.

Anyway, Lupin and Dementor. One thing that always irritated me about Lupin was, he was friends with Harry's father yet he never did anything to get into contact with Harry? No matter what excuse he gives, it doesn't justify leaving Harry alone like that. Seriously, 12 or so years, where the hell was he? Because of this, Lupin will be different in this story. His backstory will be revealed soon don't worry, but instead of leaving Harry, he would have tried to look for Harry, but Dumbledore stopping his attempts. Then we come across the Dementor. I hope I did okay with the scene. Its the first time I have actually used Dementors in a fanfic. When I have written fanfics, that haven't gone public, I rarely use Dementors and when I do use them, they are quickly sent away by a Patronus. So I hope I did a good job.

Speaking of Patronus'. Harry learning the Patronus charm will play out differently. Mainly, he won't be using it on a Boggart, for reasons you will find out. If you remember, in Order of the Phoenix, Harry taught the DA the charm, without a Boggart or Dementor, so that's basically what will happen here. Plus, give me your guess on what Harry's and James' animal will be. Will Harry's be a Stag like in Canon, or will it be something different and what will James' be. I already know what James' will be, because it is my favourite animal, but leave your guesses. There has also been consideration for James and Harry becoming an Animagus and...I'm going to do it. I don't know when, maybe soon, but I will. So give me ideas for their Animagus animals.

Anyway, I went on a small ramble there, I apologise. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, feel free to leave a review and I'll see you in the next one.

P.S, the poll of which House Elf you want killed off will be closing soon, so get your votes in quickly.

Badger out.