A few weeks later, Vernon dropped Dudley off at King's Cross Station. Dudley felt excited as he wheeled his cart towards the entrance to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. He was about to reenter the wizarding world. He was about to go to Hogwarts again. It was funny, he mused—he never expected that he would ever miss school, but Hogwarts was different. There was adventure around every corner and even a regular day could be exciting, what with the chance of an encounter with peeves, students accidentally turning their friends into badgers, moving paintings, the amazing snacks, fun magical games and watching quidditch.

As soon as Dudley pushed his cart through the barrier, he was greeted by a small mob of red-haired people, the Weasleys. Dean Thomas was with them, standing out as being the one person there who didn't have flaming red hair and reckless. Dean had sent Dudley an owl saying he had spent the last few days of the summer at the Burrow. Dudley had been invited too, but his parents had taken him on a fishing trip down south instead.

Dudley greeted his friends and shook hands with Arthur Weasley and Molly.

"Dudley, it is good to see you again," Percy said, solemnly, shaking his hands. "I trust this year won't be as exciting as last."

"You never know," Dudley grinned. "Both Black and Malfoy are on the loose remember."

At that, Arthur, who was saying goodbye to Ginny turned around, a serious expression on his face. "I'm glad you brought that up Dudley, I have something to tell you all—Fred, George, get back here!"

The twins, who had been going over to where Lee Jordan, Katie Bell and a boy who Dudley didn't recognize were, came back. "What's the matter dad?"

"I want to give you all a warning," Arthur said, lowering his voice so that nobody could hear. "Fudge doesn't want this getting out, but I think you should all know. In the weeks before his breakout from Azkaban, Black was heard muttering to himself "He's at Hogwarts. He's at Hogwarts" over and over."

Dudley, Ron and Dean glanced at each other.

"Who's at Hogwarts?" Dean asked.

"We don't know," Arthur said. "But we … that is, the Ministry thinks Black may attempt to get into the school."

"Maybe he wants revenge on Dumbledore?" Fred guessed. "He beat You-Know-Who, remember?"

"Could be," Arthur said. "But just be vigilant. The Ministry has assigned protection, and of course, there is Dumbledore and the other teachers, so Hogwarts should be safe. But be careful—report anything suspicious to a teacher or a prefect."

Percy puffed his chest out importantly at this.

"And Percy, I expect you to keep a close eye on your siblings."

Percy's chest puffed out more whilst Fred and George looked indignant at the suggestion.

"Have Black and Malfoy teamed up then, dad?" said George.

"Nobody knows," Arthur said. "Some in the Ministry think its possible. Of course, Lucius was never convicted of being a Death Eater—even now, some remain convinced of his innocence and think he's just on the run. But if Black is putting the old crew back together, things could get dangerous."

"Imagine if we caught him," Ron said, excitedly. "Imagine the rewards!"

"And the fame!" Dudley chimed in, thinking the capture of Black would be a nice addition to his list of accomplishments.

"No!" Arthur said, angrily. "Don't kid yourself Ron. Black is a highly dangerous wizard. He killed 13 people with a single curse. He won't be caught by a 13 year old wizard. It'll be an auror or a trained hit wizard or even one of the Azkaban guards who brings him in. Keep your heads down, keep vigilant and don't do anything foolish."

With Arthur's warnings ringing in their ears, they all climbed aboard the train to Hogwarts. Percy went to the Prefect's Carriage. Fred and George headed off to find Lee Jordan. Ginny said she was going to go and find Luna, leaving Dudley, Ron and Dean alone.

They headed up the train looking for an empty compartment. In one carriage, they passed Ernie Macmillan and his Hufflepuff friends. Dudley glared at them as they passed and Ernie didn't meet his gaze, looking out of the window instead.

"Gits," Dudley muttered. He still hadn't forgiven the Hufflepuffs for spreading rumors about him last year.

Outside one carriage, they bumped into Neville and Hermione.

"Hello," Hermione greeted. Neville nodded and grinned shyly. Last year, just as he was starting to be accepted by Dudley and his friends, Neville had become the first victim of Slytherin's monster and had spent almost the entire year in the hospital wing paralyzed.

Dudley however, had a lot of respect for Neville after he had accompanied them to stop Quirrell during their first year, so he greeted him and Hermione with a hello.

"This compartment has some seats left," Hermione said. "Come on, there should be room for us all."

This had only one occupant, a man sitting fast asleep next to the window. Dudley, Ron, and Hermione checked on the threshold. The Hogwarts Express was usually reserved for students and they had never seen an adult there before, except for the witch who pushed the food cart.

The stranger was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard's robes that had been darned in several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Though quite young, his light brown hair was flecked with gray.

"Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron hissed as they sat down and slid the door shut, taking the seats farthest away from the window.

"Professor R. J. Lupin." whispered Hermione at once.

"How'd you know that?"

"It's on his case," she replied, pointing at the luggage rack over the man's head, where there was a small, battered case held together with a large quantity of neatly knotted string. The name Professor R. J. Lupin was stamped across one corner in peeling letters.

"Wonder what he teaches?" said Ron, frowning at Professor Lupin's pallid profile.

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

They had already had two Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers, both of whom had lasted only one year. There were rumors that the job was jinxed.

"Well, I hope he's up to it," said Ron doubtfully. "He looks like on, good hex would finish him off, doesn't he?"

They settled down, talking quietly so they wouldn't disturb Professor Lupin.

The topic, of course, was about Sirius Black and Lucius Malfoy.

"Come on, Ron, your dad's at the Ministry, he must have let something slip," Dudley probed.

"Not much more than was in the Prophet," Ron replied. "They're both still at large. Dad is annoyed at Fudge—he still doesn't think Malfoy is a Death Eater."

Hermione sighed at that. "He's clueless—I'm surprised he even convicted Malfoy in the first place."

"Gran thinks it's because he had no choice," Neville piped up. "It'd mean the end of Fudge's career if he let Malfoy walk. He already had the embarrassment of jailing Hagrid who turned out to be innocent and then Black escaping. Gran thinks jailing Malfoy was going to be his big victory."

"Instead it was another embarrassment," Dean finished. "I can't believe they let him escape."

"Still, imagine if we could catch him …" Ron said.

Hermione however, looked skeptical. "Black must be a very powerful wizard," she said. "I got a book about Azkaban at Diagon Alley …"

"Shock …" muttered Ron. Hermione ignored him.

"… and there has never been a breakout. He must have used some really dark magic to do so."

"Dad says he was a top-security prisoner too," Ron said.

They stopped talking. A faint, tinny sort of whistle was coming from somewhere. They looked all around the compartment.

"It's coming from your trunk, Dud," said Ron, standing up and reaching into the luggage rack. A moment later he had pulled the Pocket Sneakoscope out from between Dudley's robes. It was spinning very fast in the palm of Ron's hand and glowing brilliantly.

"Is that a Sneakoscope?" said Hermione interestedly, standing up for a better look.

"Yeah...mind you, it's a very cheap one," Ron said. "It went haywire just as I was tying it to Errol's leg to send it to Dudley."

"Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?" said Hermione shrewdly.

"No! Well...I wasn't supposed to be using Errol. You know he's not really up to long journeys...but how else was I supposed to get Dudley's present to him?"

"Stick it back in the trunk," Dean advised as the Sneakoscope whistled piercingly, "or it'll wake him up."

He nodded toward Professor Lupin. Ron wrapped the sneakoscope in a pair of thick, winter socks, which deadened the sound, then closed the lid of the trunk on it.

"We could get it checked in Hogsmeade," said Ron, sitting back down. "They sell that sort of thing in Dervish and Banges, magical instruments and stuff. Fred and George told me."

"Do you know much about Hogsmeade?" asked Hermione keenly. "I've read it's the only entirely non-Muggle settlement in Britain -"

"Yeah, I think it is," said Ron in an offhand sort of way. "but that's not why I want to go. I just want to get inside Honeydukes!"

"What's that?" said Hermione.

"It's this sweetshop," said Ron, a dreamy look coming over his face, "where they've got everything...Pepper Imps - they make you smoke at the mouth - and great fat Chocoballs full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream, and really excellent sugar quills, which you can suck in class and just look like you're thinking what to write next¨

"I heard Lee Jordan talking about it," Dean said. "I can't wait to go. And the joke shop! Fred and George showed me some of the stuff they bought."

"Gran always said the food at the Three Broomsticks is delicious," Neville said.

"But Hogsmeade's a very interesting place, isn't it?" Hermione pressed on eagerly. "In Sites of Historical Sorcery it says the inn was the headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion, and the Shrieking Shack's supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain -"

But none of the others were listening to her.

"They let off a big bag of deluxe dungbombs—right in front of Filch …" Dean said.

"… she says it does the best pie and mash in Britain."

"… and massive sherbet balls that make you levitate a few inches off the ground while you're sucking them," said Ron.

"Remember Lockhart is going to give us memory charm lessons," Dudley said.

"Give you memory charm lessons," Ron corrected. "I study enough at school thanks. You're getting worse than Percy."

Dudley gave him a punch on the arm while Dean laughed.

"Well, I'm going to attend," Hermione said. "Hermione charms will be very useful. Plus they're bound to come up on our OWLs when we take them."

"Yeah, but Lockhart wasn't the best teacher," Dean pointed out.

"Maybe he'll be better with a smaller group." Dudley shrugged. "You saw him cast the charm on Mr. Malfoy—brilliant it was."

"I think he's a prat," Ron said. "But, I can't deny, that was pretty cool. But, I'm still not doing extra studies. No way."

"Yeah, I'm going to sit this one out too," Dean said.

"How about you, Nev?" Dudley asked.

Neville looked surprised at being invited. "I dunno. I suppose it'd be quite useful to learn."

Hermione, meanwhile was fumbling with the straps of Crookshanks' basket as she spoke.

"Don't let that thing out!" Ron said, but too late; Crookshanks leapt lightly from the basket, stretched, yawned, and sprang onto Ron's knees; the lump in Ron's pocket trembled and he shoved Crookshanks angrily away.

"Get out of it!"

"Ron, don't!" said Hermione angrily.

Ron was about to answer back when Professor Lupin stirred. They watched him apprehensively, but he simply turned his head the other way, mouth slightly open, and slept on.

The Hogwarts Express moved steadily north and the scenery outside the window became wilder and darker while the clouds overhead thickened overhead. People were chasing backwards and forwards past the door of their compartment. Crookshanks had now settled in an empty seat, his squashed face turned towards Ron, his yellow eyes on Ron's top pocket.

"Oh yeah, how's Dobby?" Dudley asked.

Ron tore his gaze away from Crookshanks.

"He loves it. There's so much to do, he's working nonstop. He idolises mum. Mum says she has more time now with Dobby around. She refuses to let him help cook though, she says that's her thing."

"He doesn't work too hard does he?" Hermione asked, anxiously.

"Nah, mum still does some of the jobs. She's weird-she actually enjoys it."

At one o'clock the plump witch with the food cart arrived at the compartment door.

"D'you think we should wake him up?" Ron asked awkwardly, nodding towards Professor Lupin. "He looks like he could do with some food."

Hermione approached Professor Lupin cautiously.

"Er - Professor?" she said. "Excuse me - Professor?"

He didn't move.

"Don't worry, dear," said the witch, as she handed a large stack of cauldron cakes. "If he's hungry when he wakes, I'll be up front with the driver."

"I suppose he is asleep?" said Ron quietly, as the witch slid the compartment door closed. "I mean - he hasn't died, has he?"

"No, no, he's breathing," whispered Hermione.

Dudley had bought far less food than he usually did—just a box of chocolate frogs (his favorite) and some cauldron cakes.

Ron was eating some ham, pickle and cheese sandwiches. It seems now that his mum had more time, she had been able to make his favorite.

"You think we should pay Malfoy a visit?" Dudley asked.

"Nah, plenty of time for that," Ron said. He was sprawled comfortably on his chair and didn't look like he ever wanted to move. In one hand he had a pumpkin pasty that Dean had given him.

Hermione looked reproachful. "I thought you'd stopped all this … this bullying."

"Malfoy doesn't count," Dudley said.

Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"Come on, Hermione, you know what he's like—his dad tried to have Dudley blamed for opening the Chamber of Secrets. He tried to kill muggleborns."

"He's a nasty little toad, but going around provoking him doesn't sit well with me."

None of them pressed the matter. Dudley's bullying of others would always be a sticking point—even though he had started to leave off some of his other victims. Indeed, he even now considered Neville to be a friend—not a close friend yet, but still a friend.

The rain thickened as the train sped yet farther north; the windows were now a solid, shimmering gray, which gradually darkened until lanterns flickered into life all along the corridors and over the luggage racks. The train rattled, the rain hammered, the wind roared, but still, Professor Lupin slept.

"We must be nearly there," said Ron, leaning forward to look past Professor Lupin at the now completely black window.

The words had hardly left him when the train started to slow down.

"Great," said Ron, getting up and walking carefully past Professor Lupin to try and see outside. "I'm starving. I want to get to the feast..."

"We can't be there yet," said Hermione, checking her watch.

"So why're we stopping?"

The train was getting slower and slower. As the noise of the pistons fell away, the wind and rain sounded louder than ever against the windows.

Dudley, who was nearest the door, got up to look into the corridor. All along the carriage, heads were sticking curiously out of their compartments.

The train came to a stop with a jolt, and distant thuds and bangs told them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then, without warning, all the lamps went out and they were plunged into total darkness.

What's going on?" said Ron's voice from behind Dudley.

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

Dudley felt his way back to his seat.

"D'you think we've broken down?"

"Dunno..."

There was a squeaking sound, and Dudley saw the dim black outline of Ron, wiping a patch clean on the window and peering out.

"There's something moving out there," Ron said. "I think people are coming aboard..."

The compartment door suddenly opened and someone collided into Dudley.

"Ow!"

"Sorry, is that you Dudley?"

It was Ginny.

"Ohhh I know—maybe it's a baba yaga. They're gruesome old women who live in the dark and have the legs of a chicken!"

Ginny, it seems, was also with Luna.

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

"No idea! Is there a seat?"

"Near me," said Dean.

There was a loud hissing and a yelp of pain; Luna had tried to sit on Crookshanks.

"I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on," came Hermione's voice.

"Ouch!" said Neville. Hermione had trod on his foot.

"Quiet!" said a hoarse voice suddenly.

Professor Lupin appeared to have woken up at last. Dudley could hear movements in his corner.

None of them spoke.

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.

Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the shivering flames in Lupin's hand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. Dudley's eyes darted downward, and what he saw made his stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water...

But it was visible only for a split second. As though the creature beneath the cloak sensed Dudley's gaze, the hand was suddenly withdrawn into the folds of its black cloak.

And then the thing beneath the hood, whatever it was, drew a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it were trying to suck something more than air from its surroundings.

An intense cold swept over them all. Dudley felt his own breath catch in his chest. The cold went deeper than his skin. It was inside his chest, it was inside his very heart...

He could sense a long, sinuous creature coiling around him—feeling as if it was in the room, fixing him with round, glowing, malicious eyes.

He was aware of somebody screaming beside him and a loud thump as somebody passed out.

He was vaguely aware of Lupin pushing him to the side. "None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go!"

The creature didn't move

"Expecto Patronum!" A silvery orb shot out of the end of Lupin's wand and the creature turned and fled.

"What the hell was that?"

"Crumbs"

"That was a dementor—dad told me about them,"

Dudley felt shaky and sat down. Lupin was bent over Luna Lovegood who was lying on the floor unconscious. Neville was sat on his seat still wide-eyed. Ginny looked pale.

Luna was awake now and Lupin was helping her to the seat.

"Are you ok?" Ginny hurried over to join her friend.

A loud snap made them all jump. Professor Lupin was breaking an enormous slab of chocolate into pieces.

"Here," he said to Luna, handing her a particularly large piece. "Eat it. It'll help."

Luna took it silently—she still looked shaken.

"What was that thing?" Dudley asked Lupin.

"A Dementor," said Lupin, who was now giving chocolate to everyone. "One of the Dementors of Azkaban."

Dudley took his piece and nibbled it.

"Dad mentioned them," Ron said. "I didn't know they were so … horrible."

Professor Lupin crumpled up the empty chocolate wrapper and put it in his pocket.

"Eat," he repeated. "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me..."

He strolled past Dudley and disappeared into the corridor.

"That gave me the creeps," Dean said softly.

"Yeah," said Hermione "I felt like …"

"You'd never be happy again," Neville finished.

"Did you all, sort of, see stuff?" Dudley asked awkwardly. "I sort of felt like Slytherin's snake was back … actually in the corridor."

"I did," Neville said, but didn't elaborate.

"I saw the snake too, like it was staring at me through the window," said Ginny.

"I remembered my mum crying about my dad leaving," Dean said awkwardly.

What Luna had seen however, she didn't share.