Chapter Four

Train Ride

"And mum literally screamed at him, saying that if he didn't take better care of Scabbers, she'd turn him into a rat!" George finishes telling us a funny story from their vacation in Egypt.

"The only reason that is so funny is because I know she actually would." Mona laughs, twirling her hair around her finger.

"She's bloody insane, but always good for a laugh." Fred says.

"Don't we know it." We continued to catch up, telling stories about our summer problems and adventures.

They tell us about the pyramids, the Sphinx, the tours, and the crazy amount of pictures their mom forced them to take. Their stories were so much better than ours, which were pretty much clean this, clean that, take care our siblings, and arguing with mom. They still laughed at our stories though. Usually there was always something weird or crazy going on, even in the more boring of our stories.

Suddenly, the train stops, sending me and Mona flying from our seats.

"What the hell-" George starts. Fred stands up and opens the door, peeking out. Apparently, everyone else is curious too.

"We must have broken down or something. It's an old train." Mona reasons.

"I don't know." Fred responds. He shuts the door and sits back down next to his brother. "We're just gonna have to wait it out though." As he says this, the light began to flicker. Fred looks up at the light and the compartment goes dark. I fact, every compartment on the train goes dark. "What the-"

"Is it getting colder in here?" Mona asks, looking around. She gasps and I look at her. I can see her breath. The window and glass door start to freeze over.

"What the hell?" I whisper. The train jolts and Mona shrieks. It shakes again and Mona and I fall to the floor. Mona scoots back against George's legs, and climbs up on the seat next to him, clinging to his arm. Something moves past the door and Mona squeals again.

"What was that?" she squeaks.

"Shh…" George calms her down.

Suddenly, a long, shadowy limb reaches for the door. I stand up from the floor and back up. The door opens and it gets even colder. The shadowy figure moves over the door frame and I back up as far as I can. I end up with my back pressed against the frozen window. The creature sticks its head in and all of us hold our breath. I instinctively reach for my wand, which is in the back pocket of my jeans. My fingers lace around it, ready to pull at any moment. The thing backs up and there is a sudden flash of light. The creature disappears, and the lights turn back on. The four of us release our breath. I slide down to the floor and rest my head against the wall.

"What the hell was that?" I ask the twins.

"That," Fred replies, "was a dementor."

"A what?" Mona asks again, making sure she heard right.

"A dementor."

"A guardian of Azkaban? What is doing on the train?" I question. Fred shrugs.

"Like I would know. My guess is that they were looking for Sirius Black."

"Damn, I've stories about those things, but that…" George shakes his head. "I never thought it would feel like that." We all look at him to continue. "It felt like all of the joy was sucked out of you, and you felt almost, well…."

"Dead? Empty?" Fred suggests. George nods.

"Exactly. Cold, dead, and empty." The train's whistle blows and we begin to move again.