Thanks to those who reviewed, it's always nice to hear from you!
Just a warning for this chapter...you're probably not going to like Remus...at all in this entire story, which pains me, because I love Remus...
Chapter Four!
The next morning, after Hermione and Ron encouraged him to wear the robes Dumbledore had made Harry buy. The entire group piled into magical cars and were driven over to King's Cross. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Wolfsbane, Scabbers, and the cat Hermione decided to call Crookshanks all got to ride in a car together, but then at the last second Ginny squeezed in and smiled sheepishly. Now Harry couldn't tell them about the conversation he'd overheard the night before.
Scabbers was running around his cage trying to find any way out and Ron was doing his best to soothe the rat, while Crookshanks watched eagerly with hungry eyes.
"With how your cat's looking at him, it's a good thing he's locked up," Ron muttered, "I bet he thinks Scabbers is lunch!"
"Oh, Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, pushing Crookshanks against her chest, "he wouldn't! He's too smart to eat Scabbers-he knows that Scabbers is your pet!"
"Besides," Harry teased, "I'm sure Crookshanks would want a fatter rat with more hair to eat."
Hermione glared at him, and Harry snickered, while Ron stared at Scabbers in complete concern. Wolfsbane sneezed and shook his head.
Once on the train, it became obvious how difficult it would be to find an empty compartment, the three of them wandered up and down the train, looking like a portable zoo from all the animals.
Wolfsbane was holding Hedwig's cage gently in his mouth, head high to keep it from knocking into something. Harry carried his trunk with both hands. Crookshanks had draped himself across Hermione's shoulders and was purring loudly…this made the task of carrying her trunk nearly impossible as she didn't want to knock her cat from her shoulders. Ron was struggling with Scabbers' cage and his trunk, so when they finally found a compartment that only had a sleeping man in it they took their chances.
The man had light brown hair and was beginning to go grey, in spite of how young he otherwise looked. He also looked extremely tired, which explained why he hadn't woken up when the loud group had stumbled into the compartment. He also didn't have very nice clothes on.
Ron leaned over and whispered to Harry that his clothes never looked that bad, no matter how old they were.
Once they'd all gotten settled in, Harry noticed someone was missing and he looked around anxiously for Wolfsbane. Then he spotted Bane's nose peeking into the compartment, and Harry went out into the hallway to investigate.
Wolfsbane sat, sulking and whining as quietly as possible out in the hallway, hidden from the view of the man. Bane wasn't the only animal that didn't seem to like the seating arrangements, Scabbers was furiously gnawing at the metal of the cage in a mad attempt to escape.
Harry did his best to coax Bane inside the compartment so they could close the door, but he dug his paws in and was as impossible to move as a tired mule.
Finally, Harry just took Hedwig from him and allowed her out of her cage in their compartment. They talked quietly, to keep the man from waking up, while Hermione tried to figure out why a grown man would be on the train.
"Probably because of Sirius Black," Ron declared, "he may even be an auror!"
The three of them studied the man trying to figure out if that was indeed possible, before Hermione decided he must be the new defense teacher.
"Why didn't he just apparate?" Hermione demanded.
"Maybe he can't," Ron suggested, "it's not the easiest thing to do, you know."
The man stirred a bit, and the three of them froze and Wolfsbane shuffled even further from sight. They didn't start talking until they were sure the man was still asleep. Then Bane shuffled in, on his belly, and gently grabbed the hem of Harry's robe with his teeth and began trying to tug him out into the hallway.
Harry decided that maybe Wolfsbane needed to walk around some and he went in search of the snack cart. Bane happily trotted alongside of Harry, and looked overjoyed whenever one of Harry's friends stopped to ask him about the dog.
"I found him over the summer," Harry was telling Dean and Seamus, "I decided to keep him and Dumbledore said I could bring him to school!"
Dean and Seamus looked terribly impressed and asked what tricks the dog knew. Harry told them about the dog's ability to use the toilet, like a human!
"That's nothing," Seamus bragged, "My uncle has a crup that can do laundry and the dishes. He doesn't even need a house-elf, not with Dolly around. Once, my uncle dropped his cloak on the floor, and Dolly wouldn't let him have dinner till he picked it up."
Harry and Dean were visibly impressed and Seamus grinned proudly. After finding the snack trolley and buying as many sweets as he could stuff in his pockets, Harry and Wolfsbane returned to the compartment with the sleeping man…Bane still remained out in the hall, sadly looking in at Harry.
Harry turned his pockets out to empty out all the sweets, but to his surprise nothing came out except for a sheet of paper with a funny drawing on it. Harry, confused, returned his pockets back to their usual place and could instantly feel the huge amount of sweets he'd bought.
So Harry was forced to empty each pocket by hand…when the pile of candy reached a respectable size Hermione asked, "How much candy did you buy, Harry?"
"And how big are those pockets?" Ron demanded.
Hermione suddenly jumped up and began examining Harry's robes, within moments she had located several hidden pockets and declared that the two pockets Harry had stuffed with candy were trick pockets, which had spells on them so they'd be bigger on the inside than on the outside. That's why there was nothing in them when he'd turned the pockets out, more spells.
"That's why it took Madam Malkin so long to tailor them!" Harry exclaimed, "And why she left all the extra fabric in!"
Harry revealed the areas where she'd deftly layered inches of fabric.
"So she could let it out as you grew," Hermione agreed, "and Dumbledore found this for you in a secondhand store?"
Ron looked very jealous and muttered, "Mum needs to take him shopping with us."
Then they'd all settled down to eat sweets when suddenly the train creaked to a halt. Harry, Ron and Hermione all shared looks of surprise and anxiety as the train slowly began to get colder and Hermione shivered and drew her robes tighter around her. Then Wolfsbane burst into the compartment, barking, and grabbed Harry's arm, tight and began to pull him. Harry didn't have a choice but to follow or get hurt and Bane pulled him further and further down the train as fast as Harry's legs could carry him. Harry heard Ron and Hermione following in apparent concern for what was going on.
The further they went, the colder and darker everything seemed to become and once they'd reached the end of the train, Bane released Harry and stood in front of him, shuddering and barking.
Then a mysterious feeling of dread fell upon the Ron, Hermione, and Harry and a cloaked figure drifted slowly towards them. Harry began feeling more and more lightheaded and miserable.
He heard terrified screams and frenzied yells, and when he woke up Ron and Hermione were eating chocolate and staring at him in concern. There was also something very heavy on his chest and the sleeping man had awoken and was also staring down at him with an odd look of both rage and concern. As if his face couldn't figure out which was the correct expression to use in this situation.
"I see you're awake," the man said with a slight smile that turned out to be more of grimace considering how his face was twisted.
"What happened?" Harry asked, shoving at the heavy weight on his chest, which immediately lifted. Then Wolfsbane appeared and began licking his face, whining in concern.
"Why don't you leave him alone," the man said darkly, "let him breathe, or do you want to suffocate him."
Wolfsbane whimpered and collapsed heavily down next to Harry's body.
"What happened?" Harry asked, again, trying to sit up. Hermione dug into his pocket and pulled out a piece of chocolate and held it out to him. Harry began nibbling on it and to his surprise warmth began spreading through him, budging out the huge amount of cold which had filled him.
"Those were dementors," the man told Harry, "they guard the prison of Azkaban. They were looking for Sirius Black," the man quickly sent a glare to Wolfsbane, which deeply confused Harry. "I don't know why they thought they could come on this train with a bunch of children!"
"Who are you?" Harry demanded, as he sat up and wrapped his arms around Wolfsbane for comfort, which made the man grimace and jerk in obvious discomfort.
"I'm your new professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Remus Lupin," the man introduced himself, and he shook Harry's hand, gaining an actual smile this time. It transformed his face entirely and made the circles under his eyes appear smaller. It also made Harry smile too.
"You should eat the rest of your chocolate," the man informed him, "it seems to be the only thing that can rid a person of the after effects."
Harry dutifully took another large bite.
"I'm just curious as to how you three knew they were coming," the man told them, "I saw you running out just as they began to wake me."
"It was Wolfsbane," Hermione replied.
"Excuse me?" the professor asked in clear amusement.
"My dog," Harry explained, "that's his name, Wolfsbane. He got really anxious and pulled me out of the compartment."
"We had no idea what was going on," Hermione added, "and Ron and I followed them. Wolfsbane also tried to defend us, but it wasn't very effective…"
"No," the professor agreed pensively, "I don't imagine he would have been able to do much against them."
"But you did!" Ron exclaimed, "What was that silvery thing?"
"A patronus," Professor Lupin replied with amusement, "it's used to defend oneself against a dementor-but look at me, school hasn't started and I'm already lecturing! Come now, let's get all of you back to the compartment and you can help yourselves to all the chocolate you want!"
That made the three teens instantly perk up and they all quickly made their way back to the compartment they'd settled in before, but Professor Lupin didn't join them saying he wanted to check on the other students and do some other things.
"He really doesn't like dogs," Hermione commented, once Lupin was out of earshot. "Did you see how he was acting?"
Ron snorted, "When Wolfsbane was on your chest, I thought Lupin was going to hex him."
"Is that why he was acting so weird?" Harry asked.
"He also was trying to say that it was against the rules, but we said Dumbledore gave you permission to have him," Hermione told him, "he was really angry then."
"But he seems nice enough besides all that," Ron said in the man's defense.
"And he seems to know what he's talking about," Hermione agreed, "maybe we'll actually learn something this year."
Both boys groaned at the thought of actually learning something and Hermione rolled her eyes.
They spent the rest of the train ride eating candy and talking, Wolfsbane curled up on the floor protectively in front of Harry and Crookshanks later wandered over and began napping next to the large dog.
When the train arrived at Hogwarts, Harry told Wolfsbane that he had to stay on the train and that he'd see him later in the evening.
"I wonder how everything always ends up in the right place," Hermione asked curiously.
"Magic?" Harry suggested jokingly.
"Oh, you!" Hermione said and then shoved him playfully and then they all scrambled to get a carriage together. Once again, at the last second, Ginny joined them with a shy smile and Ron rolled his eyes and leaned over to Harry saying, "She'd better not sit with us at the feast too."
Harry elbowed Ron playfully and they both grinned.
Once at the Gryffindor table everyone was asking about Harry's new dog, and he happily told everyone everything they wanted to know, for once enjoying the attention that he got anyways.
"You should teach him to pick up after us in the dorm," Dean told Harry.
"Yeah!" Ron agreed, "That would be great, and maybe teach him to do our homework for us?"
"Dolly can hold a quill in her mouth," Seamus informed them, "she can mark what they need on grocery order forms and sign my uncle's signature."
Everyone was terribly impressed and was discussing whether or not Wolfsbane could be taught to read or write.
"Well, he's obviously a bit magical," Seamus declared, "it's just all a matter of how much magic he's got as to what he can do."
Then they were forced to quiet down once the sorting began, and Neville loudly whispered, "Is it true he can use the toilet?"
Harry grinned widely and nodded.
Neville then turned to report his findings to the person next to him.
"Who would've thought a dog would be so exciting," Hermione whispered to Harry.
"Well, I don't guess people normally bring dogs," Harry replied, "it's not like they're on the approved list."
"Especially not when they're Wolfsbane's size," Ron agreed.
After a moment of watching the sorting, Hermione nudged Harry and whispered, "Look at Professor Snape."
Harry glanced up at the head table and immediately saw what she meant; Snape was glaring at Professor Lupin even more furiously than he ever had at Harry.
"What's with them?" Harry asked, shocked.
"I don't know," Hermione replied.
"What?" Ron asked. "What's happening?"
"Look at Snape," Harry told him.
"Whoa," Ron breathed, "wonder what's up his bum?"
"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, scandalized.
Harry and Ron snickered together.
Later that night, all the boys were in the dorm, eating the candy Harry had purchased on the train, there seemed to be a never-ending supply of it and Harry wondered how he hadn't noticed before just how much candy he'd been shoving into his pockets. Wolfsbane was wandering around the dorm, sniffing everything and everyone.
Then Fred and George burst into the room, holding a worn piece of parchment and looking around the room with alarm.
"What's your deal?" Ron demanded as they began throwing open wardrobes and trunks.
"Um," They said looking at each other and the parchment in confusion. "Nothing."
"Yeah, nothing!"
"We were just looking for something."
"But it was obviously somewhere else."
Then they disappeared as quickly as they came.
"Completely bonkers," Ron muttered darkly and Wolfsbane had gone over to the door was looking out into the stairwell.
"Hey, boy, what's wrong?" Harry asked.
Wolfsbane immediately trotted back over to Harry and jumped up to sit on his bed with him.
That's it for now, hope you enjoyed!