I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN DEVYN AND HER PARENTS.

Chapter 3

"Oi, Devyn! Wake up!"

Devyn jerked awake at the sound of Neville's voice. She blinked a couple times and then rolled over to look up at Neville, who was poking his head in her room. He grinned when he saw her hair sticking up everywhere.

"It's time to get up. We've got to catch the train in a bit."

Devyn yawned widely before saying, "How long is 'a bit'?"

Neville shrugged. "About an hour and a half. So, come on, get up."

Devyn sighed and dragged herself out of bed. Neville had walked away before she actually got out of bed. He had stayed the night last night, because he would be going to King's Cross Station with her and Moony.

As Devyn splashed some water on her face to wake herself up, she thought about what the year was going to be like. Moony was going to be the new DADA teacher, which was brilliant, but she was worried about his transformations, even if he was to be aided by this 'recently discovered' Wolfsbane Potion. It wasn't the potion that had her worried – it was Snape. He wasn't really the most trustworthy of people (or so it seemed to her), and when concerning something as delicate as Moony's condition and the secret nature of his condition, no one could be fully trusted.

She hopped in the shower and when she was done, she dried her hair and tried to get it done quickly. She wanted to have some extra time to make sure that she had everything. Luckily, she had her hair cut again over the summer, so it was really short and didn't take that long to dry. She walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen area where Moony was downing what was probably his third or fourth cup of coffee, and Neville was munching on some cereal.

Moony smiled tiredly at her from across the table and Devyn grinned right back.

"Are you both all packed up?" Moony asked them. Devyn nodded and said, "More or less. Just have to do a last check to make sure."

Moony nodded and said, "Good. Well, after you're done eating, I want you both to make sure that you check over everything. Okay? Oh, and Neville, as far as your Hogsmeade permission form is concerned-"

"Oh, no! I knew I'd forgotten something. Where did I put it?" Neville wailed. Devyn tried not to smile and Moony said, "Calm down, Neville. I was going to say that your grandmother already sent it ahead to Professor McGonagall, so there was no chance of you losing it."

Neville relaxed at once and said, "Oh, good. Wouldn't want to lose that…"

"Nope," Devyn replied. She was really looking forward to the Hogsmeade visits.

"What are you looking forward to the most about Hogsmeade?" Moony asked them. Devyn grinned and said, "Honeydukes."

Moony grinned when Neville nodded his agreement and he said, "Ah, yes, Honeydukes. Many sugar rushes stemmed from that place, as well as many good memories."

With that, Moony downed the rest of his coffee and seemed to be lost in reminiscences about his Hogwarts days. Devyn figured he must be having a hard time with Black's escape from Azkaban, considering that he had been a friend of Moony's.

"You know, I'm really looking forward to seeing it again. Honeydukes, I mean," Moony said. Neville frowned and said, "What do you mean? Are you going to be in Hogsmeade?"

Moony snapped out of his memories and looked at Neville. "Ah, well, it seems I may have let the cat out of the bag…Devyn, why don't you tell him?"

Neville cast his gaze on Devyn, who felt her heart beat a little irregularly, and she said, "Well, Moony is going to be teaching Defense this year."

Neville's eyes went wide and he said, "Really? That's great news! You'll be brilliant, Mr. Lupin!"

"Yes, I hope so. Although, by the sounds of it, I can't really be worse than Quirrell or Lockhart, now can I?"

Neville and Devyn looked at one another and said in unison, "No."

They laughed and Devyn said, "I don't think anyone can be worse than Lockhart. I wonder what happened to him…"

Neville shrugged and said, "I dunno. He got what he deserved though."

Devyn nodded and said, "Yes, that he did. Come on, let's go finish up packing."

"Okay."

Half an hour later they were ready to go.

"Ready to go back?" Devyn asked Neville. Neville grinned and said, "Oh, I think so."

With that, Devyn linked her arm with Neville's and they both dragged their trunks out into the living room, where Moony was waiting for them.

"Ready to go then?" Moony asked them. Devyn nodded and Moony shrunk down their trunks and Neville pocketed his while Moony insisted on taking Devyn's. She didn't really see what the big deal was, seeing as it was about the size of a packet of pocket tissues, and probably now the same weight, but she didn't question it.

Neville took Trevor, his toad, who was currently sitting in a wooden cage, in his hand and walked out of the house, Moony and Devyn following behind. Once they made it to the Apparition point, Neville and Devyn both took hold of Moony's arms and braced themselves for the rather uncomfortable means of travel.

Despite the sensation only lasted for a couple seconds, those couple seconds felt like the longest in history, simply because in those couple seconds, it felt like you were being forced through a tube meant for mice.

Once they landed in a darkened alley outside of King's Cross Station, Devyn took a deep breath of fresh air.

"You alright, Devyn?" Neville asked, trying to dispel his own slight nausea. Devyn nodded and asked the same of him.

"Yeah," Neville replied. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"God, I hate Apparating," Devyn commented, her nausea finally going away. Moony chuckled and said, "You get used to it."

"I don't think I want to," Neville said. Moony chuckled again as Devyn nodded her agreement and said, "Hear, hear."

"Alright you two, let's go. Its ten minutes of eleven. Train will be leaving soon."

Devyn and Neville nodded and they walked out of the alley onto the street in front of King's Cross. The large arches stood before them and Devyn felt a thrill run through her when she thought of Hogwarts, with its confusing staircases, and magnificent creatures. She thought of Nearly Headless Nick, and Hagrid, and the Gryffindor common room with its warm colors and roaring fires.

She couldn't wait to go back. And now it would only be a couple hours until she walked through those halls again.

They walked through King's Cross rather briskly, which caused the different platforms to pass by in colorful blurs. Devyn grabbed onto Neville's hand so she wouldn't lose him in the crowd and felt her heartbeat kick up a few notches when she did.

Oh, not this again. He's my best friend. I can't feel this way about him.

It was the fact that Snow's voice was absent from her thoughts that made her think about what she had just told herself. Was it really so bad that she liked Neville as more than a friend? They'd known each other for pretty much their entire lives, whether they realized it or not. They'd been friends for three years now. Devyn could hardly imagine her life without him now.

Although, that was part of the reason she was so against acknowledging that she liked Neville in that way. Because what if…what if Neville happened to like her back, and they ended up dating? What if things went south? What if their friendship was ruined because of it?

For maybe the millionth time, she reminded herself that she'd rather have Neville in her life as a friend only, than not at all. Losing Neville was not something she was willing to risk.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she realized that they were nearing the column between platforms 9 and 10: the entrance to Platform 9 ¾.

"Right," Moony said, looking around at them. "Devyn, you go first. Then Neville and I will follow."

Devyn nodded and casually walked up to the column and leant up against it. Within seconds, she had melted through the barrier and found herself on the other side, looking at the beautiful scarlet steam engine, that had the words "HOGWARTS EXPRESS" emblazoned on the front.

"Hey, Devyn!"

Devyn looked around and saw Seamus passing by with his mother. He waved cheerily and smiled at her. Devyn waved back with a smile of her own. She liked Seamus well enough, but there was something about him that didn't seem entirely right to her.

She had noticed that in past years, whenever she happened to be looking another way, Seamus was watching her, or staring at her. At first she just ignored it, but now that she was becoming more aware of "crushes" and whatnot, she wondered if it wasn't because Seamus had a bit of a crush on her.

If that was the case, Devyn wasn't sure what to make of it. Yes, she liked Seamus, but she didn't like him. Not like that. Hopefully his crush, if it even existed, would fade away.

Luckily, she didn't have to think about Seamus anymore because Moony and Neville had just come through the barrier. Once Devyn saw Neville's easygoing (if slightly awkward) smile, all her conflicting thoughts disappeared from her mind.

"Shall we, then?" Moony said, looking at the two of them. They nodded and moved toward the train. After they handed off their re-grown luggage to the usual person and made their way to the door of the train that would lead them to the compartments within.

"Alright, you two go find a compartment and I'll do the same."

Devyn and Neville both gave Moony a look and Devyn said, "Moony. You don't have to banish yourself. You can sit with us, if you want to. If you wouldn't be embarrassed to sit with a group of teenagers."

Moony laughed and said, "You wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen with an old man?"

Neville rolled his eyes and Devyn said, "Moony, for the love of Merlin, you're not an old man. You're only 32! Now come on, the train will be leaving soon."

Devyn and Neville walked off and Moony followed behind. Remus knew that Devyn hadn't the foggiest idea how happy she just made him, but he was delighted that she wasn't to the age yet where she was embarrassed to be around him.

However, he knew that soon enough, she wouldn't need him anymore. He could already see it happening, especially when she looked at Neville a certain way. And he'd look at her the same way when they both thought no one else was watching. It was adorable, really, but Remus couldn't help but feel a blazing protectiveness rising up in him when he saw Neville look at her.

Nothing else could be expected of him, he thought, but he also wondered when they would both wake up and figure it out. Remus hoped that it wouldn't be for a couple more years at least, but with the way they looked at each other, he figured it wouldn't be very long now.

Devyn and Neville were entertaining themselves with a game of Exploding Snap while Moony was fast asleep, just as the train started moving. Devyn knew that the full moon had really drained him this time around, and he needed to catch up on his sleep.

Neville had worried that the noise brought on by the game of Exploding Snap would wake him up, but Devyn had quickly put a stop to his worries. "Moony is a really heavy sleeper when he's this tired. He wouldn't wake up if an elephant came through here."

Neville nodded and now they were on their fourth game of Exploding Snap. Suddenly the compartment door opened and Devyn looked up. She smiled when she saw it was Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Hey, guys," Devyn said, looking back down at her and Neville's game.

"Hello, Devyn. Hey Neville," Hermione said taking a seat next to Devyn.

"Who do you think that is?" Ron asked, looking at Moony. Devyn tried to stifle a laugh. Ron didn't recognize him because Moony had his cloak pulled up and it was covering his face slightly.

"Professor R.J. Lupin," Hermione said, an official tone in her voice. "What does the 'J' stand for, Devyn?"

"John," Devyn replied.

"Oh, that's your godfather?" Ron asked, peering a little closer. "But what's he doing on the train?"

"My lips are sealed, Ron. You'll have to wait and find out like everyone else," Devyn said. Neville smirked at her and Ron huffed.

"Fine. Be that way," Ron said. Devyn nodded and said, "I will, thanks."

Hermione leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Is he the new Defense teacher then?"

Devyn winked at Hermione in reply. She smiled and turned to Harry when he said, "Do you think he's really asleep?"

"Yeah," Devyn said.

"Seems to be," Hermione answered. "Why?"

Harry stood up and closed the door to the compartment, saying, "I've got to tell you something."

Devyn and Neville quickly ended their game and put the cards away, looking at Harry expectantly. They both could hear the nervousness in his voice, so they knew he wasn't kidding around.

Harry sat back down and said, "Okay…so you all know about Sirius Black, right?"

"Yeah, of course," Neville answered. "Everyone knows about him. He's Azkaban's most famous prisoner – well, I suppose he's Azkaban's most famous fugitive now."

"You mean, Azkaban's only fugitive. No one else has ever escaped from that place," Devyn said. Neville nodded and Harry said, "Yeah, well, anyway…that day at the Leaky Cauldron…Ron, your dad told me something that he probably shouldn't have. But I'm glad he did…"

"What?" Ron asked.

Harry took a deep breath and said, "He told me that I'm in danger. Grave danger, apparently."

"Oh no…and I was hoping for a quiet term this year…" Hermione said, stroking Crookshanks, who was sitting on the seat next to her. Devyn had briefly worried about Scabbers, who was in Ron's hand, but Crookshanks didn't seem to be interested at the moment. Devyn cracked a slight smile at Hermione's comment, but she was more interested in hearing what Harry had to say.

Harry nodded and said, "Yeah, he also said that the Ministry didn't want me to know what he was going to tell me, but he thought that I needed to know the facts."

"Which are…?" Neville prompted. Devyn looked at him, glad that he said that. So far, Harry had just been going round in circles, never actually saying what Mr. Weasley had told him.

"I asked him if my being in danger had anything to do with Black, and he asked me what I knew about him. I told him that I only knew that he escaped from Azkaban. I'd never even heard of him before then. He asked me if I knew why he escaped, but I didn't. How could I? I suppose only he knows that…but anyway, Mr. Weasley told me that thirteen years ago, when I stopped Voldemort, he had plenty of followers. Hundreds of them, and Black was one of them."

They all nodded. They already knew this bit, although Devyn seemed to be the only one who knew that Black had been friends with both Harry's dad, and her dad…and Moony, who was probably eavesdropping on the conversation as they spoke. Devyn looked at him and saw that he was still passed out cold. She directed her attention back to Harry, who said, "Well, apparently, Black was his right hand man, and lost everything when Voldemort was destroyed…well, he lost it and went and murdered those Muggles and Pettigrew and got himself arrested…"

"Yeah," Devyn said.

"Well, anyway, Black remains, to this day, a faithful servant of Voldemort, and he thinks that there's only one thing standing in the way of Voldemort returning to power."

"He's insane," Ron commented.

"What does he think stands in the way?" Neville asked, but Devyn had already figured it out.

"You," she said to Harry. "He thinks you stand in the way of Voldemort returning to power."

Harry nodded and said, "That's why he's escaped from Azkaban. To find me… to kill me."

Silence descended upon the entire compartment and the only sound that could be heard was Moony's deep and relaxed breathing.

"Let me get this straight," Ron said, thankfully breaking the deep silence. "Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban to come after you?"

"Yeah," Harry said. Ron sighed and sat back heavily in his seat and Hermione said, "But they'll catch Black, won't they? I mean, everyone's looking for him…"

Ron frowned at Hermione and said, "Sure…"

"Except, no one's ever broken out of Azkaban before…" Neville commented.

"And he's a murderous, raving lunatic," Ron finished.

"Thanks, Ron," Harry deadpanned. Ron shrugged in response.

SCREECH!

The train suddenly starting halting and the brakes screamed in protest.

"Why are we stopping?" Hermione said, looking confused and nervous. "We can't be there yet."

Harry stood up and leaned out of the compartment to look out into the train corridors. Devyn wasn't entirely sure what he was hoping to find, but she didn't ask. She, too, was a little preoccupied with the fact that they had just stopped.

Harry was suddenly thrown back away from the door, back into his own seat when the train rocked to the side violently.

"What's going on?!" Ron exclaimed. Neville shrugged and looked at Devyn, who was just as clueless.

"I don't know. Maybe we've broken down," Harry said.

Hermione and Devyn didn't even have time to explain that the Hogwarts Express couldn't break down, as it was run by magic in addition to a conductor, instead of just the conductor alone. That way, even if something happened to the conductor, the train wouldn't run off the tracks.

The only reason they didn't have the time to explain this was because the lights flickered out, plunging the entire compartment into darkness. Ron shifted over to the window, apparently stepping on Hermione's foot in the process, because she said, "Ouch, Ron! That was my foot!"

Ron ignored her and placed a hand on the window as the lights flickered back on. "There's something moving out there," he said. Devyn and Neville looked at each other and she could see the fear in his eyes. She grabbed his hand to reassure him as the lights went off again.

"I think…someone's coming aboard," Ron said in a small voice. Devyn felt Neville's grip tighten around her hand and she moved from her seat across him and sat next to him. She was now in between Harry and Neville. Even in the darkness, she could see him smile at her.

Everyone gasped in surprise when the train jolted again and the compartment door opened and shut again. It hadn't been locked, so this wasn't much cause for concern.

What did worry Devyn a little was that they could see their breath in the gloom. That shouldn't have been possible. It was only September for one thing, and the train was usually warm anyway. Something was plunging the train into freezing temperatures.

Just, then the window iced over slowly around Ron's hand, as did the rest of the glass in the compartment, and the temperature dropped even more. Devyn shuddered and felt Neville pull her closer. Her heartbeat increased again, but she thought that also may have been because of the unknown situation they found themselves in.

The train jolted yet again, although this time was definitely the most violent.

"Bloody hell!" Ron yelled. "What's happening?!"

Unfortunately, they got their answer rather quickly. Outside of their compartment, gliding down the corridor, was an enormous creature. It reached out a skeletal hand and turned the compartment door handle without touching it. Devyn could only see its hand and a lot of black fabric that seemed to be torn to shreds. It was a ghostly effect and not the good kind, like Nearly Headless Nick. It scared her beyond the capacity for rational thought.

As it entered the compartment, Devyn first thought was to wake up Moony, but no sooner did she try, did they hear an awful noise, not unlike a death rattle that froze them where they were. Devyn couldn't think; she couldn't speak. She couldn't move. She felt this heavy weight pressing on her heart, making her breath stop short. Before her eyes flashed the image of Quirrell, Voldemort protruding from the back of his head; the sight of him strangling Harry just before her vision went black; the image of the blinded Basilisk, inches away from her and Harry, its foot long fangs about a second away from piercing her throat; the sight of Harry pulling a Basilisk fang from his arm, his breath going short.

Her worst memories were flashing before her eyes and she couldn't escape them. They just kept coming.

Hermione moved slightly away as it got closer to them and Crookshanks hissed angrily. Scabbers retreated into Ron's jacket. It looked around the compartment and came to rest its cloaked gaze on Harry.

Harry seized up when the creature started sucking something from Harry. Something was visibly being sucked out of Harry, although it was sort of transparent.

"What the hell is that?" Neville whispered. Devyn shook her head.

"I don't know…" Devyn whispered back. She didn't even marvel at the fact that she had regained the ability to speak because she was so frightened of this thing in front of her.

What was it doing to Harry?

Just as it seemed Harry couldn't take anymore, from beside her, Moony shot up like an arrow and in an instant cast a silent spell at the creature. It was a shield of the brightest white light imaginable and it drove the terrifying thing away from them.

As soon as it was gone, Devyn's breath returned to her, the weight on her heart gone, and she could move again. She looked down and saw that she was holding onto Neville's hand so tightly that her knuckles were bone white. She let his hand go and he looked at her, shaking visibly.

"Oh my god! Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. Everyone's attention turned to Harry, who was no longer in his seat. He was passed out on the floor, pale as death itself.

Devyn and Hermione knelt down beside him and started shaking him, trying to wake him up. After a minute or so, Harry came round, blinking in confusion.

"Harry!" Devyn exclaimed.

"Harry, are you all right?" Hermione asked, as he sat up. She handed him his glasses and he said, "Thank you."

Devyn helped Harry back into his seat and Moony immediately handed him a piece of chocolate.

"Here, eat this. It'll help," Moony told him. When Harry hesitated, Moony said, "It's alright, it's chocolate."

Moony turned to the rest of them and handed them pieces of chocolate too. Devyn nibbled on her piece at first, but then, when she realized that the warmth was returning to her body, she nearly swallowed the piece whole. She instantly felt better.

Chocolate had a funny way of doing that; making people feel better.

"Are you alright?" Moony asked quietly, looking at her with concern. She nodded.

"I'm fine, Moony. What was that?" she said, equally as quietly.

"That was a Dementor," he whispered to her. Her eyes widened and Moony turned to face Harry when he said, "What was that thing…that came?"

"It was a Dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban. It's gone now. It was searching the train for Sirius Black," Moony told him. "If you'll excuse me, I need to have a little word with the driver."

He had noticed that Harry still hadn't eaten his piece of chocolate, so Moony smiled and said, "Eat, you'll feel better."

And then he was gone. Harry munched on the chocolate, looking pensive.

"Handy in a crisis, your godfather," Ron said as he ate his piece of chocolate. "I'll give him that."

Devyn merely nodded. Her mind was reeling. That thing was a Dementor? No wonder Moony had been so frightened when he mentioned them. He had been right; no word could describe the feeling that it brought to a person.

"Devyn, are you okay?" Neville asked.

She nodded and shrugged at the same time. "I-I…don't know. I think so…I just…"

"I know," Neville said, putting a shaky arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. "I know."

Devyn nodded and said no more.

"What happened to me?" Harry asked them. Devyn shook the residual feeling from the Dementor off and smiled at Neville as Ron said, "Well, you sort of went rigid. We thought maybe you were having a fit or something."

"And…" Harry said. "And did any of you…? You know…pass out?"

"No," Ron answered. "I felt weird though. Like I'd never be cheerful again."

Devyn nodded. That was the exact feeling she had had. She hadn't been able to name until Ron had just voiced his own experience.

"But someone was screaming. A woman," Harry said. The four of them looked at him concernedly and Hermione said, "No one was screaming, Harry."

Ron shook his head and Harry looked like he wished he hadn't said anything. But that got Devyn thinking. She had seen her worst memories. She relived them. What if the same thing happened to Harry?

But why would his worst memory be of a woman screaming? Unless…unless he remembered…his mum. Lily. His worst memory was the night she died. That had to be it. Devyn was about to ask Harry if he thought that's what he heard, when she caught the look on his face and thought better of it.

He already knew. He knew exactly who had been screaming.

That worried her more than anything.