Readers- I hope you are enjoying. Please leave a review if you like it... or even if you don't! I'm open to all critiques. Also, since this is a fanfiction, I don't do much editing/proofreading. I apologize for any grammar mistakes or typos.

Chapter 6

"Hello, Rowan!" said a voice. Faith glanced to the compartment door to see a set of twin girls making their way inside to join.

"My Patil's!" Rowan responded excitedly, getting up to hug each twin.

"How was your summer?" one of the twins asked, taking a seat on the bench.

"Great!" Rowan responded. "This is my niece, Riley. She's a first year this year." She pointed to the little red head sitting next to Faith. "Riley, this is Padma and Parvati Patil- remember? Padma is one of my roommates."

"Nice to meet you!" Riley said, not bothering to politely stand up and shake hands. Faith smirked, she wouldn't either.

"Nice to meet you too," said the twins simultaneously.

"And that's Faith," Rowan pointed out the brunette. "She's a first year too.. we met her along the way today." The twins nodded and took a seat next to Rowan and they began chatting excitedly about their summers enthusiastically.

Just as the train began to leave the station, a blonde haired girl opened the compartment door.

"I almost missed the train!" she said, laughing.

"Hannah!" Rowan said happily. This girl's name was Hannah Abbott.

"Your aunt is popular, isn't she?" Faith muttered to Riley, who had pulled out her spellbook and began to read.

"Haha, yeah, she's a lot like my mum," Riley responded.

After a while, the train was up to speed and the third year girls had told each other quite possibly about every detail of their summers, Riley eventually chiming in to tell stories with Rowan. Faith dazed for a while, staring blankly out the window, watching the scenic hills roll by. Her attention was brought to the conversation when Hannah Abbott changed the subject.

"What d'you guys think of the Sirius Black situation?" she asked, pulling a crumpled newspaper from her pocket.

"I'm kind of afraid to be going back to Hogwarts!" Rowan said.

"Why?" Parvati Patil asked. "D'you really think Dumbledore or the Ministry wouldn't put up some security measures to keep Black away?"

"We'll be alright," Padma added in. Rowan shrugged.

"I guess that's true," she said.

"I have a theory," Hannah said, throwing down the newspaper.

"About what?" Rowan asked.

"I bet Black used transfiguration to transform himself so he wouldn't be detected so easily," she said confidently. "That's how he escaped Azkaban."

"And what do you suppose he transformed into?" Parvati asked.

"A flowering shrub," Hannah said matter-of-factly.

"A flowering shrub?" Riley said, giggling slightly.

"Well why not?" Hannah asked. "Azkaban guards wouldn't take a second look at a shrub. It'd be the perfect way to escape!"

Faith joined in on the giggling that erupted in the compartment. It was a silly theory.

It was late afternoon, perhaps early evening. Faith noticed that the sun was beginning to stoop down below the horizon and the sky darkened.

"Anything from the trolley!" a new voice shouted from the aisle outside of their compartment. An older woman knocked on their compartment door. "Anything from the trolley, ladies?"

Everyone stood up and headed to the woman, jingling their coin pouches. Faith followed them, curious to see what the woman was selling. Upon stepping into the aisle, the young girl saw a trolley packed full of sweets and goodies. Excitedly, Faith reached into her pocket and pulled out her own coin pouch. She had just two coins left, and these treats definitely looked worth it.

"What should I get?" Faith asked, nudging Riley and showing her the coins.

"My favorites are the chocolate frogs!" Riley said, buying a handful of items, including five chocolate frogs. Faith took her suggestion and bought a chocolate frog.

Once the girls' hands were full of candy, the retreated into their compartment, this time keeping the door open so other students could come and go. Faith resumed her seat next to the window and ripped the box to her chocolate frog.

"Be careful!" Riley warned, holding her hand over Faith's to stop her from opening the box. "You have to get it fast before it jumps away!" Curiously, Faith slowly opened the box just a pinch and looked inside. She saw a piece of chocolate shaped like a frog, looking like it was getting ready to pounce. She held out one hand and opened the box. The frog jumped over her hand and onto the bench beside her. Quickly, Faith grabbed the moving chocolate before it could jump any further.

"Cool!" she exclaimed, happily decapitating the frog to render him motionless. It was delicious. Faith hadn't remembered the last time she had a special treat such as this. It was a rare occasion that the orphanage would give the kids anything with sugar in it, which was actually a good idea. Could you imagine a house full of thirty children bouncing off of the walls?

"Here try one of these too!" Riley said, holding out a box of what was called 'Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans'. Faith happily took a few beans and threw one into her mouth. With one bite, she spat out the bean.

"Ew, what was that!" she said, sticking her tongue out with disgust.

"Yeah, that looked like a vomit flavored one," Riley responded. Faith's eyes widened. "But look, eat that one," she pointed to an orange and white colored bean in the brunette's hand. "That's a creamsicle!" Faith ate the creamsickle bean, which eliminated any foul taste left behind by the vomit. She slipped the last bean into her pocket, not wanting to taste anything else gross.

"That was better," she said. She then picked up her motionless chocolate frog again and noticed something in her box. "What's this?" she asked, looking at the card of a man named 'Salazar Slytherin'.

"That's Salazar Slytherin, the founder of Slytherin house at Hogwarts!" Riley informed Faith.

"That's cool!" Faith said, smiling.

"Yeah, I don't like him too much," Riley admitted, biting into one of her chocolate frogs.

"Why not?" Faith asked, noticing there was no longer a face in the card.

"Well, it's no secret the Slytherin isn't a very good house," Riley explained.

"Why?" Faith asked again.

"Well, all the dark wizards have come from Slytherin," Riley explained further. Before Faith could ask any more questions, the train came to an abrupt halt.

"What's going on?!" Hannah said, startled.

"I- I don't know," Rowan said. Riley and Faith both looked around curiously. The lights began to flicker on the train, and the outside grew dark.

"I don't like this," said Riley, obviously distressed.

"Is it just me, or is it getting cold in here?" Padma questioned. All the lights went out and Faith jumped. She soon felt the coldness Padma had mentioned and shook slightly. She didn't like to show others when she was afraid. In fact, Faith wasn't afraid of very much, but since there were older students here, she knew this was not a normal trip to Hogwarts.

Screams echoed through the train. Riley jumped out of her seat and over to Rowan, holding on to her close. Parvati and Padma drew their wands. Faith slid back in her seat, curling up into a ball and trying to hide.

"What is that?!" Riley screamed as a floating, hooded figure crept into their compartment. Faith was shivering at this point, and all of the glass around them froze over. Faith closed her eyes and put her hand over her ears.

She saw something. It was her old home. She was tucked away in a corner, curled up, much like she was on the train. Only this Faith was much, much smaller. The four year old screamed and cried, trying her hardest to hide from the woman chasing after her.

"Nooo!" she screamed. "Sorry! Mommy stop!" Tears were pouring down her face as she begged for mercy.

"Crucio!" yelled the woman, who was pointing her wand to the child. The pain that followed was extreme. Faith could feel it. It felt like her insides were being burned from the inside. She trembled on the floor, now sprawled out on the floor, trembling. Writhing in pain, Faith made out another figure that slid into the room. It was her father, also holding out his wand.

"Alice! No! Expelliarmus!"

Faith's eyes came open just in time to see a rushing blue light carrying the hooded figure away. She quickly wiped away the tears that had slid down her face, trying to be rid of any evidence she had been crying. 'Was that a memory?' she wondered. It felt like one. Like she had already gone through that before. It was an overwhelming sensation of deja vu. In fact, the pain still lingered for a few moments, whether it was real physical pain or just mental, Faith was unsure of.

Riley was curled up next to Rowan, crying out of fear, and the other girls were all looking terrified as well.

"What was that?" Faith asked quietly.

"A dementor," Parvati said. "At least I think that's what that was. They're supposed to be Azkaban's guards." Suddenly a man strolled down the aisle.

"Everybody back in your compartments!" he said. "It was just dementors. Routine stop to check for Sirius Black, that's all!"

"Yeah right!" Hannah shouted. "They would have warned us!" She stood up and closed the compartment door. After a few moments of sitting in silence, the lanterns came back to life and the Hogwarts Express roared back to life, picking up speed slowly before getting back on track to Hogwarts.

Rowan jumped out of her seat and into the aisle just in time to see the man heading back to his own compartment.

"Excuse me?" she said politely, looking out from her compartment and into the aisle. There were other students looking for answers as well. The man stopped and looked at the students. "What were those dementors doing?"

"Dementors!" another student gasped.

"Now, now," Remus Lupin said, holding out his hands. "They were just checking for Sirius Black... You know, to make sure you're all safe. Sorry for the inconvenience. Back to your compartments!" He scuttled away to the back of the train.

"Inconvenience!" huffed Rowan, throwing the door shut behind her.

"That was so scary!" Riley said. "I feel so sad. Why!?"

"They're known for that," Padma explained. Faith looked out the window, trying to recall her memory. It was so fuzzy, like a dream. She didn't know if it was real or not... it felt real. She knew those faces. They were her mother and father. Then she thought of the dementor. Maybe the creature put those images into her head.

"What's crucio?" she asked Riley quietly, who had taken back her seat next to Faith. The voice of her mother's shouting the words were on replay in her mind. Riley's eyes widened.

"Why do you ask?" she said, flustered.

"Just curious. I heard it or saw it somewhere and wanted to know what it was," Faith answered.

"That's one of the three unforgiveable curses," Riley said, her voice hushed. "Where on Earth did you hear it?" Faith shrugged.

"What does it do?" she asked.

"Well, I'm not an expert, but I think that's the torture charm," Riley answered.

"Torture?" Faith said, tilting her head.

"What are you two talking about?" Rowan asked.

"Faith asked what the cruciatus curse was," Riley explained. Faith looked at her, wishing the girl had not told the older students this if it was a curse for torture.

"Let's not talk about that right now," Rowan demanded, narrowing her eyes at Faith.

"Sorry," Faith said. "I was just curious."

Regular conversation resumed in the train. Faith was mostly quiet, contemplating things as she stared out the window at the dark, rolling hills. Finally, students began changing into their robes and the train began to slow down, this time more gradually. Faith jumped up excitedly and put on her own robes. Riley jumped about the compartment excitedly, obviously having forgotten all about the dementor's surprise visit. Faith also tried to forget the disturbing images in her head, which wouldn't prove too hard, considering she the train was coming to a halt at Hogwarts.