I apologize for not updating. I wanted this to be perfect. I hope you all agree.

Enjoy!

Chapter 5

The Dementor

Shiro embraced his twin sons before they boarded the train. He still remembered their first year when they were trying not to cry at the thought of not seeing him for a whole year. It was hard to believe that they were now teenagers.

"Try to have a quiet year, okay?" he asked them. "Make sure Harry stays out of trouble."

Rin rolled his eyes. "We're his friends. It's kind of part of the job description," he said matter-of-factly.

"It also means getting in trouble with him," Yukio remarked, not forgetting their many escapades over the past two years that had gotten them into heaps of trouble.

The train whistled and Shiro gestured to the twins to get on. He looked around to make sure the twins' friends weren't left behind. He noticed Arthur Weasley talking to Harry, no doubt warning the boy about Sirius Black. The priest rolled his eyes and hurried towards the two.

"For heaven's sake, Arthur, the kid's gonna miss the train," he remarked. "He gets it, stay away from Sirius Black." He grabbed the boy's arm and moved him towards the train which was whistling one more time. Harry quickly ran towards the train, turning back to wave at them before boarding.

As the train pulled out of Platform 9 ¾, Arthur glared at Shiro. "That was uncalled for," he said.

Shiro shrugged. "I had a similar talk with him last night. He's more concerned with trouble finding him than the other way around."

"You didn't tell him about your connection to Black, did you?"

"Nah, he only believes what he sees."

"But you have proof," Arthur argued.

"Proof that I knew him, not proof of his innocence," Shiro argued back. "There's only one way to prove his innocence but…"

Arthur shook his head. "Impossible. Even you can't prove it."

Shiro could only watch the train disappear into the horizon.

~0~0~0~

"I need to talk to you," Harry muttered to Rin, Ron, and Hermione (Yukio found a compartment with his Ravenclaw friends).

"Go away, Ginny," Ron told his sister. Ginny let out a huff and stalked off.

The quartet searched for an empty compartment but the only one available was the one at the very end of the train. This compartment had only one passenger and he was an adult. This was unusual since the Hogwarts Express was usually reserved for students. The only adult that they knew of was the witch who pushed the food cart.

The stranger was wearing shabby, worn-out robes. He looked ill and exhausted and the scars on his face made him look even more fatigued.

"Who do you think this guy is?" asked Rin as he took his seat and let Kuro out of his repaired carrier.

"R.J. Lupin," Hermione whispered at once and took her seat.

"How'd you know that?" asked Ron.

"It's on his case," she answered, pointing to the suitcase sitting on the luggage rack above the man's head. Sure enough, the words 'Professor R.J. Lupin' were stamped on the suitcase.

Rin's ears perked up at that name. "I heard that name before," he said. "I think my dad knew him."

His friends looked in Rin's direction. "Your dad knew him?" asked Harry.

"I said, 'I think.' I can't remember the details," Rin reiterated. "What do you think he's gonna teach?"

"That's obvious," whispered Hermione. "There's only one vacancy, isn't there? Defense Against the Dark Arts."

The group had had two Defense Against the Dark Arts professors, both of whom had lasted only one year. Rumor had it that the job was jinxed.

Ron looked at the sleeping professor. "Well I hope he's up to it," he said doubtfully. "He looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn't he? Anyway…" he turned to Harry, "what were you going to tell us?" Harry explained what he heard from Shiro and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's argument the night before as well as Mr. Weasley's warning. When he finished, Ron looked thunderstruck, Rin looked dumbstruck, and Hermione had her hands over her mouth.

She lowered her hands and said, "Sirius Black escaped to come after you? Oh, Harry… You really, really have to be careful."

Rin rolled his eyes. "Are you that surprised, Hermione? Black was one of Voldemort's followers. He probably wants to finish what his boss started and - Ron, would you grow a pair?!"

Ron had shuddered at the mentioning of Voldemort's name. "I will as soon as you and Harry stop saying his name all the time!"

"In that case you never will," said Harry and the four of them had to muffle their laughter so they wouldn't wake Professor Lupin.

The mood was temporarily lightened as the subject shifted to visiting the wizarding village of Hogsmeade this year. Rin sounded very excited and glad that he and Yukio would be joining their friends to explore. Those plans came to a screeching halt, however, when Harry revealed that his uncle didn't sign the required permission slip to go. Rin made a mental note to kick Vernon Dursley in the shins again the next time he saw the beefy man.

After the witch with the food cart made her rounds, the group contemplated waking Professor Lupin up to see if he wanted some food. They gave up and decided that he'd wake up when he got hungry. By mid-afternoon, it had started raining, blurring the view of the landscape outside. The compartment door opened and the group's least favorite people appeared.

"Well, look who it is," Draco Malfoy taunted. "Potty, the Weasel, and the Demon."

Malfoy's two cronies, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, chuckled like a pair of stupid trolls. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had to hold Rin back from pummeling the three Slytherins into a pulp. Rin hated it when people called him a demon.

Malfoy smiled tauntingly at the four of them. "I heard your father got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley. Did your mother die of shock?"

Now Harry and Hermione had to somehow keep both Ron and Rin from starting a fight. Kuro even tried to help by pulling on Rin's shirttail with his teeth in a vain effort to stop him. Lupin let out a snort in his sleep.

Malfoy noticed the sleeping teacher. "Who's that?" he asked.

"New teacher," Harry grunted as he adjusted his grip on Ron. "What were you saying, Malfoy?"

Malfoy's eyes narrowed; he knew better than to pick a fight under a teacher's nose.

"Come on," he told Crabbe and Goyle and the three of them left.

Harry and Hermione let Rin and Ron go as soon as the compartment door closed. Rin cracked his knuckles while Ron massaged his.

"Let's vow to not take any crap from Malfoy and his cronies this year," said Rin. He and Ron shared their thumbs-up salute in agreement.

"Rin…" Hermione started.

"We're serious, Hermione," said Ron. "If he calls Rin a demon again or makes one more crack on my family…" Rin pounded his fist into his hand.

Harry released a sigh as Professor Lupin continued to snore.

The rain thickened, making the sky look darker. The lanterns flickered to life in the corridors and the individual compartments.

"We must be nearly there," Ron assumed as he looked past Lupin at the now dark window. The train was already slowing down when Ron spoke. "Great! I'm starving. I want to get to the feast."

"We can't be there yet," Hermione said as she checked her watch.

"So why are we stopping?"

Rin shrugged. "Technical difficulties?"

The train stopped with such a jolt, the distant sounds of thuds and bangs told them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. The lanterns then went out without warning, leaving the group in complete darkness.

"Do you think we've broken down?" Ron's voice asked from behind Harry.

"Ouch!" Hermione gasped. "Ron, that was my foot!"

"Sorry."

Rin wiped the window to get a clearer view of outside. "I think there are people out there," he observed. "Looks like they're trying to board the train."

The compartment door opened and someone stumbled in. "Sorry! D'you know what's going on? Ouch! Sorry!"

"S'up, Neville?" Rin greeted as he pulled Neville Longbottom up by his cloak.

"Rin? Is that you? What's happening?"

"No clue. Sit down…"

"Ouch!" A yelp and a hiss told Rin that Neville tried to sit on Kuro. "Sorry, Kuro."

"I'm going to see what's going on," Hermione's voice stated. The boys heard her open the compartment door followed by a thud and two squeals of pain.

"Who's that?"

"Who's that?"

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking for Ron -"

"Come in and sit down."

"Not here!" Harry exclaimed. "I'm here!"

"Ouch!" Rin exclaimed. "Ginny, you stubbed my toe!"

"Sorry, Rin!"

"Quiet!" a hoarse voice said suddenly. It sounded like Professor Lupin had finally woken up. Everyone fell silent as a small ball of flames appeared in Lupin's hand (Rin made a mental note to try and recreate that in the future). The flames illuminated his tired, gray face, but his eyes were sharp and alert.

"Stay where you are," Lupin ordered. He slowly got to his feet with his handful of flames. He never reached the door because someone had opened it.

Or something.

A cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling stood in the doorway. Its face was completely hidden beneath its cloak. Whatever was hidden must have had an awful complexion since its hand was gray, slimy, and scabbed. It then drew a long, slow rattling breath, as if it were trying to suck more than air from its surroundings.

An intense cold swept over everyone in the compartment. It felt like all the air in Rin's lungs were being sucked out of him. No, not just air but every positive emotion he'd ever felt was being sucked out of him. Harry's eyes rolled up into his head and he fell out of his seat. Rin tried to get up and help his friend but the hooded figure turned its attention to the Japanese boy, making him freeze.

Rin didn't know what it was doing but it sounded like it was going to try to suck more air out of him again. Without warning, however, Rin's entire body began to glow a bright blue. His eyes became red and blue vortexes. The figure jolted back in what seemed to be fright. Lupin took that opportunity to pull out his wand and pointed it at the cloaked figure.

"None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go!" he ordered. A bright white light shot out of his wand and collided with the figure. It shrieked and fled out of the compartment.

As soon as the coast was clear, the blue light coming from Rin dimmed out and his eyes returned to normal. He looked down at himself, puzzled at what just happened to him. He looked around and saw that he wasn't the only one affected by the cloaked figure.

Harry had passed out on the floor twitching. Ginny was huddled in a corner of the compartment, looking as bad as Harry. Neville was pale and was staring into space. Ron and Hermione also looked pale but they were staring at him.

"R-R-Rin?" Hermione said shakily.

"What…was that?" asked Ron.

Rin looked down at his hands. "I…"

The compartment door opened again and Terry Boot was standing in the doorway out of breath like he ran all the way here from his compartment. "Rin!" he gasped. "You need to come with me. Your brother… Yukio… he…"

Rin immediately perked up, still drained but determined to help his brother. "What happened?" he asked as Lupin gave him a piece of chocolate which he popped in his mouth, no questions asked.

"He…" Terry started but stopped when he saw Harry passed out on the floor. "Him too?!"

Rin's jaw dropped. "What do you mean 'Him too?'"

"That dark figure came into our compartment and Yukio passed out exactly like how Harry here did," Terry explained.

Lupin broke off a piece of chocolate and wrapped it in a napkin. "Here, take this. Tend to your brother," he said.

Rin took the chocolate and followed Terry back to his compartment.

~0~0~0~

Terry opened the compartment door and Rin saw Anthony Goldstein and Michael Corner trying to drag an unconscious Yukio into a seat. A second year girl with dirty blonde hair and silvery eyes sat staring out the window with a faraway look. She almost looked like how Ginny was acting after what just happened.

"Yukio!" Rin cried. He helped Anthony and Michael put Yukio into a seat. "Yukio! Yukio, snap out of it! Talk to me!" He started patting his brother's cheek in an effort to make him return to his senses.

"That man who was in your compartment. What did he give you?" asked Terry.

Rin looked in his hand at the napkin. "Chocolate. I guess it helps. Whatever that dark guy did to me is gone now." He looked at the girl. "What's her story?"

"Loony was affected by that dark fellow too," said Anthony. "Tried snapping my fingers in her face, I did. Nothing."

Rin broke the chocolate in two and gave one piece to Anthony who gave it to the girl. Rin then pried his brother's mouth open and shoved it in. It took a moment but Yukio started chewing the chocolate and slowly opened his eyes.

"R-Rin?" he croaked, then swallowed the chocolate.

Everyone in the compartment let out a sigh of relief.

"Alright there, Yukio?" asked Michael.

Yukio took off his glasses to rub his eyes. "Yeah, I think so. I remember the compartment door opening and then everything went white. Next thing I know, I'm tasting chocolate."

"That would be my doing," said Rin. "Professor Lupin gave me some. He said it would help."

"Who?"

"Professor Lupin. Our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"Was he the one who drove that thing away?" asked Terry. "I saw a flash of white light through the window of our compartment door and it ran off."

"That's him," Rin confirmed. He looked at the lone girl who was still staring off into space, slowly chewing her chocolate. "Will she be okay?"

Yukio turned to her. "Her too?" he asked.

Anthony looked at her before answering. "I guess so. Not sure what her story is."

Michael gave them a deadpanned look. "I think you mean we still don't know what her story is."

Rin opened his mouth to comment but decided not to ask. "Anyway, you guys okay now?" he asked.

Anthony nodded. "I think we'll be fine."

Terry then remembered something. "What about Harry? He was just like Yukio when I came to get you, Rin."

The blue-haired boy was so concerned about his brother, he completely forgot that one of his best friends had also passed out. "Shit! I gotta get back!" he exclaimed. "Yukio, you sure you're okay?"

Yukio nodded and waved his brother away. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Go check on Harry."

Rin nodded and zoomed out of the compartment.

Like what I did to Rin when the Dementor saw him? I decided to throw you guys a bone with his half-demon status. I'll see if I can include it again during this story, NO PROMISES!

Trivia: When James and Sirius said they regretted never using the whoopie cushion during their time at school, they meant that they wished they had used it on Snape.

Keep reviewing! You're also welcome to make some fanart on DeviantArt as well.