Skia peered through the darkness as the lamps went out. She could still see perfectly, though her new friends obviously were bat-blind.
She sat back down, eyes flicking here and there. Ron and Hermione had fallen off their seats.
"What's going on?"
"Ouch, Ron, that was my foot!" Skia grasped Hermione by her arm and hoisted her back onto her seat.
A slight squeak; Ron was peering out the window.
"There's something out there. I think people are coming aboard…" Skia jumped as the compartment door opened.
"Sorry-D'you know what's going on?-Ouch-sorry-" A round-faced boy came in, accidentally trying to sit on Crookshanks. The scent of blood hung tantalizingly in the air.
Skia felt her fangs slide out, eager for the blood she could smell. Shaking her head violently, she shook the hunger off. She may be a pure-blooded wizard, but she wasn't a pure-blood human.
Miniature chaos reigned as another girl made her way into the room. She identified herself as Ron's sister, then tried to find a spot to sit. Skia huddled in a corner, feeling what was coming.
"Quiet!" Skia looked up; the tired teacher had finally woken. Without knowing it, she had hidden next to him.
"You're the new student? The special one?" he asked quietly, not raising his voice any louder in case the others heard. Skia nodded.
"Tell me what's coming," he ordered. "I know you can probably feel things better than me."
"Dementors," she said quietly. She kept an eye on the door, wary of what was coming. The tired lines became more pronounced and he took out his wand.
Light entered the room as he muttered a quick spell."Stay where you are," he warned the others. He made for the door, but it slid open.
A wave of ice ran through the room and Skia remembered the worst moments of her life.
Images scurried across her mind- her holding the cooling body in her arms- the horror and fear of her mother - fleeing across the country- the memories of another person's agony. She shook them off and stood, facing the cloaked dementor.
"Cousin," she said lowly. "You are not welcome here." Vampires were only faintly related to dementors, but it couldn't hurt to aknowledge a family bond. Faintly, she saw Harry collapse, trapped in whatever memory the dementor had forced on him. Anger made her voice stronger. "You are NOT welcome here. Go suck someone else's happiness out."
The dementor slowly turned its head to look at her. She felt the cold inching its way through her body. Non-human blood or not, she was going to break soon. Lupin saw the danger.
Stepping forward, he blocked the stream of cold. "None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go." The dementor ignored him, trying to get at Skia. Lupin muttered the Patronus spell, warding it off. The dementor left, taking its chill away with it.
Dimly, Skia felt Lupin push a vial at her lips. A coppery smell came from it and she opened her mouth.
The liquid was cold, but it still gave her strength. Sitting up, she saw Harry being assisted by his friends.
The train began to move again and she relaxed, decided to take a nap. Closing her eyes, she missed Hermione's speculating gaze.
Harry sat up slowly, feeling like he was going to vomit. Hermione hovered over him worriedly.
"Are you okay?" Ron asked, looking him over for any scratches.
"Yeah." Glancing at the door, he saw that the creature was gone. "Who screamed?"
"No one screamed," Ron answered. Harry looked around the room and saw Skia slumped against the wall.
"What happened to her? Is she okay?" He asked worriedly.
"She's fine, just went to sleep," Lupin said, as he broke a huge slab of chocolate into pieces. Placing a chunk next to Skia, he ordered, "Make sure she eats that when she wakes up."
"What was that thing?" Harry asked. Lupin looked up as he broke another chunk off.
"A dementor. One of the dementors of Azkaban." He passed the chocolate around, making sure that everyone had a piece. "Eat. It'll help. I need to speak to driver, excuse me…" He left.
"I don't get it, what happened?" Harry asked, feeling the sweat trickle down his face.
"Well-" Hermione hesitated. "The thing, the dementor, came in and stood there-"
"I thought you were having a fit or something," Ron interrupted. "You went all rigid. Even Skia went stiff for moment." Hermione threw a dirty look at Ron and continued.
"Skia faced it and said something to it. Then she seemed to quiver for a moment as the thing stared at her or something and Lupin stepped over you and pushed her aside and said 'None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go.' But then the dementor didn't move so he muttered something and some kind of light came out of his wand. The dementor just glided away…"
"It was horrible. Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?" Neville squeaked.
Everyone else added their own feelings about the dementor's appearance. Harry saw Hermione glance at Skia's still-sleeping form. Something was weird about Skia, and he knew Hermione was going to find all about it.
Skia felt someone shaking her awake. Groaning slightly, she opened her eyes to see Hermione looking down at her.
"Skia, it's time to go." Saskia nodded as she took out her wand to carry her trunks. Seeing a huge chunk of chocolate, she stuffed it in her mouth before standing.
"Wait, you don't need to do that. They take our luggage up, don't you remember?"
"Um, sure," She fibbed, putting her wand away. She followed Hermione out.
"Firs' year's this way! You, Ms. Duval, you come, too!" Skia said a cheerful goodbye to Harry and made her way through the crowd. "Yer a new student to Hogwarts, so yeh'll have to take the traditional route." Skia nodded as she followed Hagrid to the fleet of rickety boats.
Skia held her stomach, still feeling sick. Boating was not her favorite past time.
"You may enter now." The sharp-looking teacher, Professor McGonagall, gestured for them to enter.
Saskia waited in line as another teacher called out the names of the new first-years. Soon, once the first years were done, she would be up.
"Well, that's the last of the new first years," said Dumbledore, smiling at everyone. "However, we still have one last student to sort. Due to unusual circumstances, I am proud to introduce Saskia Duval, our new transfer student from USA. Saskia, would you please put on the hat." Skia walked up to face the millions of eyes that followed her progress.
"Hope it doesn't ruin my hair," She joked. A few snickers rippled through the crowd as she put the hat on.
"Hmmm, very difficult," murmured a voice somewhere above her head.
'Yadda, yadda, yadda', thought Skia as she rolled her eyes. Something similar to a chuckle rang in her head.
"Very clever, lots of determination and optimism, I see. Bravery by the ton, but a sneaky turn of mind that Slytherin would love."
'Look, so long as I'm not in Slytherin or Ravenclaw, I'll be fine."
"Not Ravenclaw or Slytherin? Why not?" There was a note of surprise in that dusty voice.
"Ravenclaws would be too obsessive over grades, and Slytherin doesn't have any cute guys. Hufflepuff is okay, but I'm a little too lazy for it. Not to mention the name reminds me of Tellietubbies." A genuine laugh rang through her head as the hat roared, "GRYFFINDOR!"
A smile washed over her face as she was welcomed by the Weasely twins.
"Good going, eh?"
"Ha-ha, we've got Potter AND the only transfer student!"
"Yes, yes, move aside, Fred and George, Head Boy duties." Fred mouthed the words 'Bighead Boy' at Skia, making her struggle not to giggle.
"Hello, I'm Percy, Head Boy of Hogwarts. As you are in my House, it is my duty to welcome you to Gryffindor." Percy pompously offered a hand to her as he angled the badge on his chest to catch the light.
"Um…Thanks," she said awkwardly. She sat down next to Hermione, who had just come in, and a girl who introduced herself as Parvati Patil.
"So, now that that business is done, welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast. As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is now playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban." Dumbledore went on, warning them not to cross the dementors. They didn't need to warn Skia, one encounter was enough.
"On a happier note, I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Skia clapped hard, along with Harry and the others who were in his compartment.
"As to our second new appointment for Care of Magical Creatures, I am delighted to say that Rubeus Hagrid has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his game keeping duties." Skia clapped dutifully; she didn't really know Hagrid that well. "Well, I think that's everything of importance. Let the feast begin!"
Skia stared at the multitude of food. She was still gaping as Ron dug in.
"Cum ah!" he said through a mouthful of potato. Skia laughed as she took a piece of steak. Hermione staunchly refused to take a single bite when she realized that house-elves had created the meal.
"So, Skia, who're your parents?" Skia fumbled for an answer.
"Well, Dad's a trainer for birds, so he's taught me words and sentences in some of the languages. I can talk to falcons and owls, and maybe a few sparrows. Feh, he's from some weird, obscure pure-blood family that's been hoarding their money since Merlin was alive so he's pretty well off. Mom's from one of the rich pure-blood families, but thank god she doesn't lord it over anyone." Everyone laughed and changed the subject. Skia sighed in relief. She didn't lie, really, Falena Duval WAS from a rich pure-blood family, before she was changed into a vampire.
Harry was feeling quite full by the time the desserts almost arrived. Helping himself to a bowl of garlic bread, he offered one to Skia. She took it with a smile and took one. Taking an experimental bite, she shook her head and put the rest down. It vanished, to be replaced by millions of tempting goodies.
"Not my taste," she explained as she grabbed a chocolate éclair. Harry shrugged as he bit into a slice of cherry pie.
Finally, they sat back with a sigh as the last bit of food vanished before their eyes.
"And now, it is time for you all to go to bed. Prefects, please show-" Dumbledore broke off as Skia tumbled off her chair.
Shouts and screams rang through the hall as Ron struggled to turn her over. When he did, he gaped.
Skia's eyes were so wide that you could see the whites all around. A strange keening noise ripped through her throat as she writhed helplessly on the ground. Her mouth gaped open and her throat worked, almost as if the pain was beyond screams.
"Move aside, Potter!" Snape brushed Harry away as the teachers formed a circle around her. She was blocked from view as the teacher's robes overlapped.
"Tell me, Harry, what did Saskia eat?" McGonagall demanded. Harry blinked. How was that important? "Quickly!"
"Um…Steak, potato, chicken, chocolate éclair, ice cream, gingersnap, garlic bread-" Professor McGonagall gasped.
"Good Lord!" she vanished into the shield of teachers.