Chapter Thirty-One: The Dementor

The next day, they took Ministry-arranged cars to King's Cross. Unlike the Weasley's Ford Anglia — which apparently now lived in the Forbidden Forest — these cars moved smoothly and silently, and they reached King's Cross with plenty of time to spare. Harry and Ron even made it through the gate, this time.

Despite being well on time, though, the train was already pretty full, and only the final carriage was mostly empty, save for one person who was fast asleep next to a window. To Daphne's surprise, he was an adult. His robes looked like they'd seen better days.

"Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron asked as they sat down on the opposite side of the aisle.

"Professor R.J. Lupin," Hermione whispered immediately.

"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.

"Guess he's our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Daphne said. "He certainly looks less insufferable than the last one…"

"Do you think that the job is really jinxed?" Ginny wondered.

"Sure seems like it," Harry said. "I heard that no one's lasted more than a year in quite some time."

Daphne noticed Ginny turning red even though Harry hadn't even really been looking at her specifically; he'd just replied in general. Still, Ginny was managing to speak while in the same room as Harry now. It was a start.

"Wasn't Quirrell a teacher before that, though?" Hermione asked.

Daphne nodded. "Yes, but he taught Muggle Studies, then. That's now taught by Charity Burbage. I wonder what it'll be like."

"Why'd you go for Muggle Studies anyway?" Ron asked.

Daphne shrugged. "I don't know much about them and I'd like to learn." She grinned at him. "Better watch out, what if I end up knowing more about Muggles than your Dad?"

"Our Dad thinks they're fascinating, but I wouldn't say he's that much of an expert…" Ginny said.

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

"It's coming from your trunk, Harry," Ron said, reaching into the luggage rack.

A moment later he pulled out an object Daphne vaguely recognized as a Sneakoscope. It spun very quickly in Ron's hand and glowed brilliantly.

"Is that a Sneakoscope?" Hermione asked, 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 Harry."

"Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?" Hermione asked 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 Harry's present to him?"

It occurred to Daphne at that moment that she hadn't even given Harry a birthday present, and being the kind of person he was, he hadn't mentioned that at all over the entire month he'd spent with her. Well, whatever. She'd buy him something in Hogsmeade, which Ron and Hermione were now discussing. It was also at this moment that Daphne realized that Ron and Hermione didn't know that Harry didn't have a signed form, and thus couldn't go to Hogsmeade at all.

"Too bad we can't all go to Hogsmeade," Daphne said, before Ron and Hermione had praised every establishment in the village in every way possible.

"Thank you," Ginny said stonily, who'd also begun to get very annoyed at having to listen to Ron and Hermione gush about the village.

"I can't go either," Harry said comfortingly.

"You can't go?" Ron asked.

"No. The Dursleys didn't sign the form, and McGonagall will just say it isn't safe."

"Maybe Fred and George can–"

"Ron! In the…current circumstances–" Hermione began, with a glance at Ginny.

"If you don't tell her what's going on, I will," Daphne said immediately. "I don't care if Mrs. Weasley considers it age-appropriate or not. It affects us all, anyway."

"What affects us all?" Ginny asked.

Daphne looked from Ron, to Hermione, to Harry. Ron looked neutral, Hermione reproachful, and Harry…encouraging.

"Sirius Black might be after Harry," Daphne said.

Ginny clapped her hands over her mouth.

"And Hogwarts will be guarded by Dementors."

"What're they? Your Dad mentioned them last night, but I didn't think to ask. I know my Dad had to go to Azkaban once for work and was shaking for days when he got back, but that's it." Ron asked.

Daphne gave him a curious look.

"But he didn't tell you what Dementors are?"

Both Ron and Ginny shook their heads. Daphne was pretty sure that Mrs. Weasley was behind that particular lack of knowledge. She quickly rectified the situation.

"So essentially, Hogwarts is being guarded by monsters to protect our resident hero," Daphne concluded.

"Which I'm sure will make me very popular," Harry said. "Hopefully not as badly as that whole Heir of Slytherin thing, though…"

At that moment, Hermione let Crookshanks out of his basket, and he immediately jumped on Ron's lap, who shoved him away in an attempt to protect Scabbers. Crookshanks, insulted, settled on Ginny's lap, but kept his yellow eyes on Ron's pocket.

As the train went further north, the weather became worse. By midafternoon, it had started raining. Shortly afterward, the compartment door opened, and Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle walked in.

Daphne groaned.

"Well, look who it is," Malfoy said. "Potty and the Weasels. I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley. Did your mother die of shock?"

"Malfoy," Daphne said before Ron and Ginny could both jump up. "Last time I saw you, you and your lackeys ended face down in the common room. Did that teach you nothing at all? It's amazing how you still think any of us are impressed by you. What's it like, having an unemployed father? Is he working afternoons at Borgin and Burkes now that he's no longer on the board of governors?"

Malfoy wanted to open his mouth, but at that moment, Professor Lupin gave a snort.

"Who's that?" Malfoy asked.

"New teacher," Harry said.

Malfoy's eyes narrowed. "C'mon," he muttered resentfully to Crabbe and Goyle, and they disappeared.

"I'm not going to take any crap from Malfoy this year," Ron said angrily. "I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I'm going to get hold of his head, and–"

He made a violent gesture in midair.

"What is his problem, anyway?" Ginny asked.

Daphne scoffed. "He's just a scumbag. Daddy's got money and influence at the Ministry, so he thinks he's better than everyone," she said.

"Do people in Slytherin actually like him?" Harry asked.

"People try to ingratiate themselves with him because of his father, but none of it is actual friendship. If Lucius ever lost all of his influence and money, he'd have no one left," Daphne said.

"That's kind of sad," Ginny said.

"If he wants things to be different he should start acting like it," Harry said.

"You'd actually be friends with him?" Ron asked.

"Probably never close friends, but at least…not enemies," Harry said. "As long as he keeps doing stuff like this, though, it's not going to happen."

"You're way too kind," Daphne muttered. She couldn't see herself ever being friends with Draco Malfoy, no matter what he did to make up for his years of being a git.

The train went further and further north, and the rain got worse and worse. Eventually, the sky began to darken and lanterns came on along the corridors and above the luggage racks.

"If it's like this at Hogsmeade as well I'm glad we're not first-years," Daphne said. "Can you imagine being in the boats in this?"

"Probably not much better; we must be nearly there," Ron said.

He'd hardly finished talking when the train began to slow down.

"Great," Ron said. "I'm starving. I want to get to the feast…"

"We can't be there yet," Hermione said with a glance at 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. 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. Daphne tried to make out something in the darkness outside, she couldn't see much. Or did she? It looked like people were boarding the train, but they seemed much too tall to be…

"Oh no," Daphne said.

"What?" Harry asked apprehensively.

"I think Dementors just came on board," Daphne said.

The compartment door suddenly opened, and someone came staggering in.

"Sorry…d'you know what's going on? Ouch– sorry–"

"Hullo, Neville," Harry said.

Daphne heard Harry moving to lift Neville up, but she couldn't see a thing.

"Harry, is that you? What's happening?"

"No idea…sit down, on the other side there…"

"What are Dementors doing on the train?" Ginny asked fearfully.

"I don't know. I hope I just saw it wrong in the darkness," Daphne said.

Suddenly, there was a soft, crackling noise, and a shivering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin had woken up at last and was scanning the compartment. He looked tired, but his eyes were alert and wary.

"Stay where you are," he said in a hoarse voice.

He slowly got up, with his handful of fire held out in front of him. But the door slowly slid open before Lupin could reach it. Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the flames in Lupin's hand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling.

Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. Daphne could see its hand. Glistening, grayish, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water.

Daphne's breath quickened as she recalled her first meeting with a Dementor…the fear she'd felt…and then, the Dementor in front of her seemed to draw in a slow, rattling breath…

She felt a wave of cold wash over her. Her breathing became shallow and even the flames in Lupin's hand seemed to dim. She remembered…the pain she'd felt when she thought that she was going to die in the Chamber of Secrets…the fear when she was face to face with Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest…the moment right before she'd been beaten down by McGonagall's chess piece…and then the memories went back further…the grief when Grandpa Richard and Grandma Emma died…Her cat Shadow dying…nothing happy could exist anymore…

On the bench opposite her, she saw Harry slumping, sliding out of his seat and onto the floor, where he lay twitching, and she immediately feared he'd died, even though she knew he probably hadn't.

She saw Lupin saying something to the Dementor, but she was breathing so loudly that she couldn't hear what he said. Then, he fired something big and silvery out of his wand, and the Dementor turned and glided away.

With the Dementor's disappearance, the warmth began to return. Daphne felt her eyes burn and quickly rubbed them with her sleeve.

Harry didn't wake up immediately. It was only a few minutes later, when the Hogwarts Express had begun moving again, and with some shaking and prodding from his friends, that he began to come to.

"Harry! Harry! Are you all right?"

"W-what?"

He sat up, and Ron and Hermione helped him back into his seat. Daphne looked at his face, but aside from confusion and lingering fear — which she felt as well — he seemed to be okay.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked nervously.

"Yeah…What happened? Where's…the Dementor? Who screamed?" Harry asked.

"No one screamed," Ron said, more nervously still.

Harry looked around the compartment. "But I heard screaming–"

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

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

Lupin handed out chocolate to everyone else, and as soon as Daphne took a bite, she felt warmth coming back into her body. The others were still staring at Lupin.

"You'll really want to eat that chocolate," Daphne said.

Lupin gave her a faint smile and said, "I need to speak to the driver, excuse me…"

Hesitantly, the others bit into their chocolate as well, and Daphne saw the color on their face returning.

"I don't get it," Harry said. "What happened?"

"Well…the Dementor stood there and looked around and you…you…" Hermione said.

"I thought you were having a fit or something," Ron said, still looking scared. "You went sort of rigid and fell out of your seat and started twitching…"

"And Professor Lupin stepped over you, and walked toward the Dementor, and he pulled out his wand and said, 'None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go'. But the Dementor didn't move, so Lupin muttered something and a silvery thing shot out of his wand at it, and it turned around and sort of glided away…"

"Oh, so that's what he said," Daphne said.

"You didn't hear?" Ron asked. Daphne shook her head.

"I nearly died a bit too often the past few years to be all there when that Dementor came in. It was all I could do not to collapse crying," she said.

She glanced at Ginny. "I imagine Ginny wasn't feeling all that great, either."

Ginny shook her head. "I…I thought I was back in the Chamber…" she said in a very frail voice. She got tears in her eyes.

"It was horrible," Neville said in higher voice than usual. "Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?"

"I felt weird," Ron said, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably. "Like I'd never be cheerful again…"

"But didn't any of you…fall off your seats?" Harry asked awkwardly.

"Harry, think of what you've been through in your life," Daphne said. "You've faced Voldemort three times, and the first time of those you literally took a Killing Curse. The second time, you nearly died of magical exhaustion from trying to keep him away. The third, Basilisk venom. No one in this compartment has been near death as often as you have. I think you're a bit of a special case."

"Very well said." Professor Lupin had come back. "Dementors affect you worse the more negative memories you have. If you've indeed had three encounters with Lord Voldemort–"

"Oh come on, even the professors?"

"–then it's not strange at all the Dementors affect you this strongly."

Daphne felt a bit awkward that Lupin had heard two things that were supposed to be secret now, but he didn't seem to intend to ask any more questions about them. It surprised her that Lupin was willing to use Voldemort's name. He was the first one other than Harry and Dumbledore who did, and Daphne still only did it because he was that terrifying to her.

Harry didn't seem particularly convinced, but he didn't press the issue. Daphne understood how he felt, at least a little bit. If she'd been the only one to pass out, she'd be feeling pretty embarrassed, even if she would have had a good reason to pass out, like Harry did.

No one really spoke for the last ten minutes, all probably trying to get whatever bad memories they'd just relived out of their head. Eventually, the train stopped at Hogsmeade station, and everyone scrambled to get all of their stuff out.

Daphne shivered in the icy cold rain.

"Firs' years this way!" Hagrid shouted from the other end of the platform.

Once again, Daphne felt bad for all the first-years who would be crossing the lake in boats in this weather. At least it had been a nice evening when she'd come to Hogwarts for the first time.

"All righ', you four?" Hagrid yelled over the heads of the crowd.

They waved at him, but had no chance to speak to him because of all the people trying to make their way to the coaches.

When they were approaching the school in the carriages, Daphne saw two more Dementors standing guard on either side of the gates, and she firmly closed her eyes and tried to think of something happy, though she didn't really succeed.

Eventually, they reached the castle, and Daphne was glad when she stepped out of the carriage.

"You fainted, Potter? Is Longbottom telling the truth? You actually fainted?" Malfoy said.

"Shove off, Malfoy," Ron said with a clenched jaw.

"Would you like to faint as well, Malfoy? Because it can be arranged," Daphne said angrily.

"Is there a problem?" Professor Lupin asked mildly from behind them.

Malfoy gave Professor Lupin an insolent stare, taking in the patches on his robes and his battered suitcase.

"Oh no, er, Professor," he said with a smirk at Crabbe and Goyle.

Daphne wanted nothing more than to curse them in the back, but getting expelled on day one seemed like a bit of a waste, so she kept her wand in her pocket and stepped into the entrance hall, happy to finally be out of the terrible weather.

She wanted to go into the Great Hall with the others, but Harry and Hermione were called away by Professor McGonagall, while Snape told Daphne to step aside with him for a moment. Since he didn't take her to his office, she assumed it would be a short talk.

"Miss Greengrass, as you are the only third-year Slytherin to have chosen Divination, I had to put you in with another group. Knowing your…peculiar choice in friends, I've put you in with the Gryffindors," Snape said.

"Thank you, sir. Very kind of you," she said.

Snape gave her a nod, and Daphne stepped into the Great Hall. For the sake of the opening banquet, she decided to actually sit at the Slytherin table for a change, taking a seat next to Gemma Farley, who was now in her last year.

"Hey, Gemma," Daphne said.

"Daphne! Had a good vacation?" Gemma asked.

"Pretty good, you?"

Gemma shrugged. "Been trying to decide what I'm going to do when I'm done with school. I'm thinking of going abroad for a bit to travel, we'll see."

The Sorting began and Daphne zoned out. She wasn't particularly interested in any of the first-years this year, and she could always get to know them later if she really wanted to. Maybe some of them would be interested in joining S.I.N. at some point, inasmuch as there was such a thing as 'membership' and not simply 'not being a bully', which was rare in Slytherin.

A sort of wave of noise went through the Hall just after the Sorting, and Daphne saw that Harry and Hermione had entered. People seemed to be pointing at Harry, and Daphne could guess why, if Malfoy had been telling everyone about what happened on the train.

At that moment, though, Professor Dumbledore got up to give his customary welcome speech. He warned them about the Dementors, how they could not be fooled by magical means, and that the students should refrain from provoking them at all costs.

"On a happier note," Dumbledore went on. "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

There was some scattered applause, but Daphne was one of the few — along with Hermione, Ron, and Ginny — who clapped hard. She noticed, however, that Snape was looking at Lupin with an expression of extreme loathing, which was unusual even for him.

"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore said. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

Daphne actually started applauding first, because she'd already guessed that this would be Hagrid's big surprise, and shortly after the Gryffindor table exploded with applause as well. Daphne, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were the last ones to stop clapping.

"Well, I think that's everything of importance," Dumbledore said. "Let the feast begin!"

Daphne ate quickly; she wanted to congratulate Hagrid in person. Since she wasn't seated with the Gryffindors, and thus wasn't talking much — Gemma was busy eating, too — she was the first one to be done, and she made her way over to the teachers' table.

"Congratulations, Hagrid! I hope it'll be great year for you," Daphne said.

"Thank yeh very much," Hagrid said.

Then he was accosted by Harry, Hermione, and Ron, who had also made their way over.

"All down ter you four," Hagrid said. "Can' believe it…great man, Dumbledore…came straight down ter me hut after Professor Kettleburn said he'd had enough…and then Daphne gave me that new wand…It's what I always wanted…"

Overcome with emotion, Hagrid buried his face in his napkin and Professor McGonagall shooed them away. Daphne said good night to her friends, and then made her way down to the Slytherin common room.

Isaac Moore quickly approached the small group of people waiting in front of the wall and said, "Password's 'Dementor' at the moment, don't ask me why."

When Daphne saw Isaac, she realized she hadn't asked Ron or Ginny yet what Bill had said about breaking curses of misfortune, and reminded herself to do that first thing in the morning.

For now, though, she just wanted to go to bed. The first night back was always a bit odd, but it felt familiar as well. Despite the crazy murderer possibly trying to murder her best friend, she hoped her third year would turn out to be a good one.