Chapter Three: That Damned Train

"ALL ABOARD! ALL ABOARD!" the conductor bellowed at five to eleven AM.

"WILL YOU QUIT SCREAMING!" Kevin answered, "The Platform's empty asshole!"

"Kevin! Get back in here!" He was pulled from the window, with Gwen whispering furiously, "You'll wake the Professor!"

In the corner of the small compartment slept a haggard man in a tweed business suit, holding a briefcase. Logic told the three Hogwarts students that he was to be their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and they had quickly explained to their new comrades why and how they had deduced that.

"Who cares?" Kevin snorted, "you heard the three of 'em, he's a goner."

She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, hissing, "Listen to me, and listen clearly. Through sheer powers of persuasion I have managed to get Professor Dumbledore to create and allocate us, just me and you, an apartment in Gryffindor house…this will be our private quarters for the year. Private as in only we will have use of it." Kevin got a glint in his eyes as he caught her meaning and she tightened her hold on his shirt, continuing, "If you misbehave or disrespect a Professor or another student, in any way, shape and or form, you will not see any of my skin for the year…"

Hermione, Harry, and Julie flushed, understanding her threat. Ben looked like he was going to be sick; Ron was oblivious.

"You are seventeen," she continued, "if you are unable to act like an adult you will not be allowed to enjoy adult activities. Understand me?"

"Yes." He gulped and she let him go, shoving him away from her. She then conjured a small manna desk, a pen, and a leather bound book. She pulled out one of the numerous books she had bought and began to scribble into the leather bound book.

"What're you doing?" Harry asked with interest.

"Making my own spell-book," she explained easily, "A book of spells and potions I'll use almost daily."

"That's not a bad idea," mused Hermione and a large leather bound book appeared out of nowhere and fell into her lap.

"Happy Birthday Hermione," Gwen announced, "your very own Book of Shadows. Now please, be quiet, all of you."

She waved her hand and the door to the compartment slammed shut and glowed briefly.

"There," she said simply, "nothing short of a nuke can get through that."

"What's a nuke?" Ron asked confusedly.

"It's a terrible muggle invention that can kill millions of people at once," Hermione explained quickly and in such terms that a wizard could understand, "it's very powerful."

"Oh," and he went back to his trading cards.

Ben and Julie settled down for a nap, Hermione pulled out a pen and a wooden lap-desk and began transcribing into her own spell-book, Harry pulled out a book on Quidditch ("It's a wizard sport played on flying brooms, you'll watch it at Hogwarts"), and Ron was happily occupied by his card collection. Kevin, on the other hand, stayed keenly alert.

And everything was calm and content for…five hours.

Then the train suddenly lurched to a halt; throwing Ben, Julie, and Ron onto the floor, "What the hell!"

The windows fogged up, the air dropping several degrees to where breaths were clearly visible and the lights flickered ominously before going out completely. Up and down the train there were shrieks; a sphere of manna lit up the compartment with a soft pink glow; Kevin was already at the door, a gun drawn, and hissed, "Gwen, Ben stay with Potter. Julie, Ship, we're searching the train. I'll take the cargo areas; you find the conductor and get this pile of crap moving again."

They departed and Gwen sealed the openings to their section once again. "Wands out guys," Ben ordered their charges, turning into Echo-Echo and moving to be in front of the door. And then the fog began to seep in. Through the air tight barriers, indicating it was not Mother Nature coming to visit.

They heard shouts and howls of rage but, even though the sound was recognizable as Kevin, they held their ground as the scent of decay approached. Harry hit the ground, kneeling and shaking as Hermione knelt next to him, "Harry, Harry? Harry!" he didn't respond as he began to spasm.

A skeletal figure appeared at the door, in tattered robes, clawing at the glass panels.

Ben let out his sonic wail but it was ineffective. He divided into sixteen clones and an original and tried again with much the same affect. Things began to blur and come back as he began to hallucinate. Every failure came back to taunt him. Knowing this and the amount of damage he'd do he reverted to human, his fighting will leaving him, and he went to the side. Gwen too was weakening. Despair crashed over her in waves. Everything negative that had ever happened to her in her life was being replayed on loop, getting worse with each round. She hoped Kevin wasn't being affected in the same way.

"Hermione," she puffed, gathering the only secure positive emotion in her into a physical ball of manna the size of a standard classroom globe between her hands, "Wake up the Professor." On the last word she slammed her creation into the floor, activating what Ben would later nickname 'the love bomb'. Three concussive waves of Pure Love spread throughout the train, repelling the creature and any of it's cohorts. She continued to implement smaller such 'bombs', each getting progressively weaker and weaker than the ones before it, until she felt the man stand up, heard him mutter something and felt a blast of pure energy rush past her.

The air warmed and the despair left as a tired male voice spoke softly, "Relax, they're gone. You've completed your duty."

The lights came back on and the train began moving.

She was up on her feet, wobbling slightly with a head rush, slamming the door open, forcing herself down the train at a run and into the animal carriage. She found Kevin, curled into the fetal position on the floor. He had obviously been spasming just as badly as Harry if not worse.

When he didn't respond to her voice she summoned her powers again and connected them psychically only to find his mind in chaos. Every bad experience he had had been allowed to surface. She fought through them, banishing them back to the darkest recesses of his memory, to find him in the center of it all. It took a while but she managed to coax him into coming out of himself. She hauled him to his feet, slung his arm over her shoulders, wrapped an arm about his waist, and trudged them back to the compartment. Once there she settled him onto the seat and then flopped into her own.

"Here, eat this," the Professor spoke, handing each a candy bar, "it helps after a Dementor attack."

Gwen and Kevin did as told, noticing that Julie had beaten them back.

"Professor Lupin," Hermione spoke softly, "What's a Dementor?"

"A Dementor, Hermione, is a creature that makes its prey relive the most horrid events of their lives. This can and will, after long enough exposure drive any sane person to madness and ultimately suicide."

"And they're allowed to wander freely?" she gasped in terror.

"Oh no," Lupin shook his head, "such an occurrence of what just happened is very rare. They usually congregate at prisons and mental hospitals and muggle schools. In fact, the Ministry employs them at the wizard prison Azkaban as guards. This ability they have destroys the will to live and, in magical persons, magical ability. Muggles, fortunately and unfortunately, cannot see them and so often subdue those persons under their effects with medications or, in extreme cases, lock them into mental institutions as crazies."

"Oh, that's terrible," Ron observed thickly.

"Yes." Lupin nodded gravely, "yes, yes it is…" he looked at his watch, "you children better get ready, we'll arrive at Hogwarts soon…" he made to leave the compartment, "I need to speak with the conductor…"