All the compartments were full except for one at the very end of the train. This one only had one occupant, a man sitting fast asleep against the window. Harry startled as he recognised the man as Remus Lupin, although he looked older and much more exhausted than he had in Harry's photograph. What was he doing here?
'Who d'you reckon he is?' Ron asked.
Harry was debating whether he should answer or not when Hermione answered for him.
'Professor R. J. Lupin,' she whispered at once.
'Professor?' Harry said, 'so he'll be at Hogwarts this year?'
Ron and Hermione gave Harry strange look.
'Yes?' Hermione said. 'He must be the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.'
'Well I hope he's up to it,' Ron said doubtfully. 'He looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn't he?'
Harry was hardly listening, he was busy thinking about what this could mean for Sirius. Could Harry somehow convince Lupin of Sirius's innocence?
'Anyway,' Ron said, regaining Harry's attention, 'what did my dad want?'
'He, err, he told me that Sirius Black might be after me.'
'What!'
Understandably Ron and Hermione took the news poorly. Harry wanted so badly to tell them the truth but he knew that it was unlikely they would believe him. He tried his best to convince them he'd be fine. It wasn't until his Sneakoscope started playing up that they were distracted and finally changed the topic.
Harry almost wished they hadn't when they started talking about Hogsmeade.
'Won't it be nice to get out of school for a bit and explore Hogsmeade?' Hermione asked.
'Spect it will,' Harry said. 'You'll have to tell me when you've found out.'
'What d'you mean?' Ron asked.
'I can't go. The Dursley's didn't sign my permission form.' Harry briefly imagined the look on Professor McGonagall's face if he'd had Sirius sign the form.
Ron suggested other ways Harry could get to Hogsmeade and he and Hermione argued about Hermione's new cat while the Hogwarts express moved steadily North.
It was mid-afternoon when they heard footsteps outside their compartment. Harry frowned as Malfoy appeared, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy hardly acknowledged Harry, in fact he seemed to be avoiding his eyes, he was focused on Ron instead.
Harry saw Malfoy look Ron up and down carefully before he spoke.
'I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley,' Malfoy said. 'Did your mother die of shock?'
Ron jumped up while Harry felt his fists clench. Had nothing changed over the summer? Was Malfoy going to be the same prat as always this year?
Lupin snorted in his sleep.
'Who's that?' Malfoy asked.
'New teacher,' Harry said, 'Remus Lupin.' Harry watched Malfoy carefully to see if he recognised the name.
Malfoy's eyes flickered to Harry's and he frowned but otherwise didn't react. His eyes narrowed. 'C'mon,' he said to Crabbe and Goyle and they disappeared.
The rain thickened as the train sped further North.
'We must be nearly there,' Ron said.
The words had hardly left him when the train started to slow down.
Remus couldn't help himself. He knew he should have apparated to Hogsmeade or used Floo Powder like all the other professors, but he wanted to catch the train for old times' sake. Unfortunately, the stress of the last few weeks caught up with him and he was asleep before the train had even left the station.
His dreams weren't pleasant. He dreamt of a large black dog, breaking in to the school and savaging students in the Great Hall. 'You could have stopped this,' one of the students screamed, 'why didn't you stop this!'
'Sirius Black,' James's voice interrupted his dream, '…might be after me.'
Suddenly everyone else disappeared and Remus was left alone with a grinning, messy haired, James Potter. James was wearing his Hogwarts robes and looking younger than the last time Remus had seen him.
'Moony!' James grinned.
Remus knew he was dreaming but he couldn't help running forward and wrapping his arms around his friend.
'James,' he sighed into James's chest, 'I've missed you so much.'
James pulled away. With a smile, he reached out, grabbed onto Remus's hand and led him to the Gryffindor table. He sat down next to James like he had so many times before.
'So anyway, I told McGonagall that I wasn't planning anything, I just needed to know when the staff meetings were in case of an emergency,' James said. 'She still wouldn't tell me,' he pouted.
Remus smiled at the memory. James and Sirius had ended up using the map to figure it out and then released a jar of Cornish Pixies in the staff room during a meeting.
As the memory popped into his head a group of four little pixies flew down and landed on the table in front of Remus. He watched as the two bigger pixies pulled faces at each other and grinned. The smallest pixie looked at the others adoringly, while the last pixie looked on glumly. Suddenly one of the bigger pixies snarled and launched itself at the smallest pixie.
James laughed. 'I guess he doesn't trust the little guy.'
The two bigger pixies flew up to James and landed on his shoulder while the little pixie held his hurt hand and wailed. The sad looking pixie moved closer to Remus and leant against his hand.
'I don't understand,' Remus told James. James smiled back sadly.
'Did your mother die of shock?'
Suddenly the scene changed and he and James were in the common room. James looked even younger this time, it must have been their first year. Remus didn't recognise the voice but somehow he knew who he'd see when he turned around.
Sure enough, a young Sirius Black was standing behind him.
'Your first detention,' Sirius said. 'I'm so proud.'
Remus remembered this moment, he had been standing guard while James and Sirius had tried to plant some kind of trap outside the Slytherin common room. Professor Slughorn had caught Remus but James and Sirius had gotten away.
Remus stared at Sirius, he looked so young and innocent. A far cry from the mad man he was used to seeing in the paper.
'Come on, Remus, smile,' Sirius said. 'I'm going to be there too after all, it's going to be fun!'
Remus had been alone with Slughorn in his office when Sirius had burst in and said the whole thing had been his idea.
'Thanks for not turning me in guys,' James said. 'Mum would've flipped if I got another detention so soon after the last one.'
'Don't be silly,' Sirius said, 'of course we wouldn't turn you in.'
Remus woke with a start. He was groggy and confused. The heavy darkness felt as though it was crushing him. It took him a moment to realise that the overwhelming misery he was feeling wasn't from his dream, there were Dementors somewhere.
'Come in and sit down-'
'Not here! I'm here!'
He was on the Hogwarts express, he realised. There were children in danger. His brain jumped into full awareness.
'Ouch!'
'Quiet!' he said. He searched his robes for his wand and upon finding it cast a spell to light up the compartment.
Remus glanced around the room, he felt his heart jump as he saw eerily familiar eyes looking back at him from under glasses and equally familiar hair. 'Stay where you are,' he told the group of children.
He got to his feet, holding the light out in front of him. The door slid slowly open before he could reach it and a Dementor glided into the room.
Remus tried to think of a happy memory to cast a Patronus but his mind was drawing a blank. He could see young Sirius's innocent smiling face, of course we wouldn't turn you in, then suddenly he was older, standing in the streets and laughing manically with Peter dead at his feet.
A crash broke through his thoughts and he startled as he saw Harry laying on the ground. Remus drew a deep breath, he had to act quickly. 'None of us are hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go,' he said, not looking at Harry as he stepped over him.
The Dementor didn't move. Remus glanced at Harry, drew a breath, and pictured a different boy with dark hair and glasses. He pictured James's face, grinning as he watched pixies flutter around him.
'Expecto patronum!'
The Dementor fled and Remus turned to see Harry waking up as the compartment lights started to turn back on. Green eyes watched him carefully as he pulled some chocolate from his robes and broke it into small pieces. Remus's heart was hammering against his chest.
'I need to speak to the driver,' he said.
When Remus was in the corridor he collapsed against the wall. This year was going to be harder than he'd anticipated.
