Minutes later, Bloom and Harry are sitting across from Fudge over bowls of food, and Harry is very confused.
"I don't understand. Underage witches and wizards aren't allowed to use magic outside of school."
Fudge smiles and says "Oh, come now, Harry. The Ministry doesn't send people to Azkaban for blowing up their aunts - especially when you've got an aunt like that. You have no idea the curses and insults she was throwing at them. We are very much aware of how hard it can be to keep magic under control with certain types of people, people like your aunts, uncle, and cousin I'm told."
Bloom nods immediately, thankful that at least someone knows what kind of monsters the Dursleys are.
"On the other hand, running away like that, very irresponsible. Especially given the state of things."
At Harry and Bloom's questioning stares, he quietly says "We have a killer on the loose."
Bloom deadpans "Sirius Black, you mean?"
Harry asks "What's that got to do with us?"
Fudge smiles nervously, and says "Oh, nothing. You two are safe, that's what matters. Tomorrow you'll be on your way to Hogwarts. These are your new schoolbooks, I took the liberty of having them brought here."
They eye the stack of books when they get to their room, and one of them is bound shut by rope.
Both get uneasy at that, but Bloom thinks of something else to take their minds off the worrying fact.
"Harry, remember that sheet you got?"
"Yeah the permission form to go to Hogsmeade. Why?"
"Give it here. Vernon's going to sign it right now."
Harry grins, and hands it over.
"I walked enough of their letters down to the mailbox the last two summers to see exactly how he signs anything - plus I took a secret picture of his signature one time, just in case I'd have to do this."
She takes out her phone, and pulls up her pictures.
The first one that shows up is a picture of Vernon's name in cursive and his handwriting - good thing she thought to do that, it seems.
Bloom holds the form next to the picture, and fire suddenly blazes on the form right above the dotted line.
It leaves Vernon's signature burned into the paper, which Bloom easily changes to black ink with a snap of her fingers.
Harry looks at the perfect signature for his permission form, and says "Bloom, you are a miracle worker. Thank you."
Harry can't thank her enough, she's really made the past two summers bearable.
Bloom smiles and says "No problem. You're my friend, Harry."
She blushes as he takes her hand - but then the monster tome starts growling and makes them both look over nervously.
Bloom swallows and asks "You want to try and wrestle these things into submission now or at school?"
"I'm thinking maybe now. We'll know what to do for Ron and Hermione."
They unbind Harry's tone, but it immediately starts snapping and scuttles under the bed.
They jump onto the mattress, and Bloom grabs a pillow to use to hold the book still so Harry can rebind it with the rope.
She makes a small orb of fire to attract the book, and then jumps onto it with the pillow and wrestles with it while Harry tries to get the rope around it again.
When they finally manage, they're both out of breath, and Bloom breathes out "At school. Maybe someone there can show us how to tame these things."
Harry nods wearily, and stacks all their books on top of the rope-bound tomes.
When they get downstairs the next morning, they see a familiar rat getting chased by an orange tabby cat.
A voice they both recognize and are incredibly glad to hear yells "I'm warning you Hermione! If you don't keep that bloody beast away from Scabbers, I'll turn it into a tea cozy!"
Its Ron's voice, and Hermione replies "He's a cat Ron! It's in his nature!"
Bloom and Harry reach the bottom floor and see Hermione holding the hissing cat and Ron holding Scabbers tightly.
"A cat! Is that what they told you Looks more like a pig with hair to me!"
Hermione cradles her new cat and croons "Don't listen to the mean boy, Crookshanks."
Suddenly, both friends sense Harry and Bloom's presence and forget their argument completely.
Bloom runs over and hugs Hermione hard, stroking the cat lovingly. Crookshanks arches up under Bloom's fingers and starts purring, and Bloom whispers "I love him Hermione. You think Harry and I can stay with you for the summer?"
Hermione can guess Bloom's beyond tired of the Dursleys, and grimaces in sympathy for her best friend.
Ron and Harry talk, and Ron shows them a newspaper clipping of the Weasley family in Egypt.
Bloom is immediately fascinated, she's always wanted to travel the world - especially to places she could find a Phoenix of her own.
She read about them after meeting Fawkes, and some live in Egypt.
Ron also got a new wand while in Egypt, and he's already tried some spells out with it to make sure it'll work right.
Just then, the rest of the Weasley family comes in - and Fred and George immediately start teasing Ron about showing them the clipping.
He's been showing everyone he meets, and they're just the next in the list.
Arthur pulls Harry and Bloom to the side for a quiet word while everyone else hovers over the clipping.
"Harry, Bloom, there's something I need to talk to you about. There are some in the Ministry who would strongly discourage me from divulging what I'm about to tell you, but you need to know the facts. Because you're in danger, grave danger."
His eyes drift to a picture of Sirius Black for a moment, and Bloom asks "It's about Black, isn't it? Everybody says he's with Voldemort."
Arthur starts, and says "Yes, what do you two know about him?"
Harry says "He escaped from Azkaban, he's killed before."
"Thirteen years ago, when you stopped the Dark Lord, Black lost everything. But he remains a loyal servant to this day. In his mind, only you stand in the way of…"
He trails off, and Harry finishes "Voldemort."
Arthur nods nervously, and then says "Kids, I really hate it when you say-"
Harry says "We know, sorry. Ron hates it to, along with everybody else."
Bloom rolls her eyes, this is all just giving the guy what he wants when everybody is too scared to even say his name without flinching.
"In Black's mind, only Harry stands between You-Know-Who and returning to power. That's why he's escaped. To find you, Harry. And…"
Harry says "Kill me."
Arthur nods, and Bloom says "Well, that's not happening as long as I'm around. Anybody so much as flings a pebble at Harry, I'll stop them."
That may be why she was sent here, but Harry can tell she still means it every bit as much as when she first took the mission - maybe more.
Arthur gives her a relieved smile, and says "Just watch yourselves, alright?"
They both nod, and then it's off to the train station.
This year, let's go in the middle of the group Harry.
No kidding.
C'mon, right after Fred and George.
They all make it through easily, and Bloom lets out a sigh of relief.
She's had a bad feeling ever since that night in the playground, and its only getting stronger.
*Train Corridor*
Harry and Bloom are telling them about the incident with Marge, and Ron thinks it was brilliant.
Honestly, neither of them feel all that sorry for Marge or the Dursleys, but Hermione says they were lucky they weren't expelled.
Bloom has a little more leeway with that, given the fact that she only used her fairy powers, but still.
A copy of the Monster Book of Monsters - the growling tome that they all have to restrain with belts, rope, etc. - scuttles past, followed by a frantic Neville.
The four friends greet him as he passes by, then they find a compartment with only one man inside.
He's professor R.J. Lupin, which Hermione knows because its stamped on his case.
When Bloom points it out, Ron just smacks his palm to his forehead and sits down.
Harry asks "Is he really asleep?"
He sure looks asleep, but it's hard enough to tell with people they know.
Bloom closes the door before anyone can say anything, and Harry quietly tells them what Arthur told him and Harry.
Ron and Hermione look stricken, but there's no proof otherwise.
Suddenly, the train starts rattling and the lights start flickering.
Hermione and Bloom are on the outsides of the seats, and they both slide into Ron and Harry.
Hermione frowns and slides back across before it can get awkward, but Bloom freezes and turns toward the door.
She quietly takes her wand out and makes a fireball in her hand.
She opens the door with a little magic, and peeks out to see what's going on.
The train suddenly jerks and sways, and Harry grabs Bloom to keep her from falling out into the hallway.
Ron asks "What's going on?" A wisp of steam escapes his mouth, which Bloom immediately notices.
She's glowing lowly now, but shuts it off quickly when the lights start going dark.
They see something dark moving in front of the glass, but they can't tell who or what it is.
Harry starts shivering, and slides closer to Bloom to try and soak up some of her heat.
Lupin is suddenly awake, and there are flames in his hands as well.
Bloom is relieved beyond relief to see that, and instantly gives her own fire more power.
The metal trim at Ron's fingertips starts vibrating, and a cold, slimy hand grips the half-open door.
Lupin says "Don't. Move."
He sounds deadly serious, and Bloom slides as far away from the hand as she can.
Harry whispers "Is anyone else really cold?"
Bloom starts giving off some heat for him, but it doesn't seem to help at all.
A figure cloaked in black is in the doorway, and nobody can see its face.
Harry suddenly hears the sound of a woman screaming, and then he sees Bloom fall forward as he falls to the ground.
The next thing Harry knows, the Dementor is gone and he's incredibly dizzy - and Bloom is lying on the ground.
Harry moves closer to her, then asks "What was that? And why isn't Bloom waking up?"
Bloom suddenly groans, as Lupin answers "A Dementor. One of the guardians of Azkaban. It's gone now."
Hermione adds "It was searching the train. For Sirius Black."
Lupin hands Harry and Bloom some chocolate to eat, then leaves to get a word with the driver.
Bloom says "Chocolate helps with Dementor attacks?"
They all shrug, and she makes four large boxes and floats them to everyone.
When Harry asks what happened, Ron says he felt like he'd never be cheerful again, Hermione says she felt cold until Lupin made the Dementor leave, and Bloom sensed Dark Magic in the Dementor before blacking out.
"It was draining all of us. I was probably the most affected because I could sense that. Harry, eat."
Harry pops another piece of chocolate into his mouth, as Ron says "You and Bloom blacked out, and thenLupin cast some charm we didn't hear and made it leave."
Bloom glances at the door warily again, but now her feeling of unease has vanished.
AN: Okay, Harry and Bloom are both affected by Dementors, but Bloom's powers may or may not be able to combat their influence - she couldn't find out because they were on the train and it was still full of people. Good thing Lupin can make fireballs in his hands as well - which is supposed to be incredibly advanced, by the way - so Bloom can do it as well, at least some of the time.