It was early morning, and as always I was left at King's Cross station to play my part in this scheme. With my partial blindness, I felt more lonely since I couldn't see people around me. To me, they looked like moving blurs. At one point I could feel a warm wind on top of my head followed by the hand that ruffled my hair.
In a panic, I immediately took my wand and poke a person in front of me. I believe I hit the person in the stomach because the wand sank a little into the flesh.
"Ow!" The person let out a painful squeak. "Why did you do that?" A familiar voice said.
"You fool did you forget that I can't see shit!" I hit Draco straight in the chest. A loud laugh erupted from him to the point I felt a little sad that I couldn't see his face.
"Stop whining, and if we don't hurry the train will leave." Draco lifted my luggage with a spell and pulled me by hand towards the entrance, apparently, I have been blankly staring at the train that was there for good thirty minutes. I knew that I can't see but since when I don't hear when I'm lost in my thoughts.
Draco showed me the empty compartment where I comfortably made my place. We saw each other pretty recently so we didn't have much catching up to do so we talked about some usual stuff with a little gossiping added. An hour into the ride, Blaise showed up and, not even stopping to say hi, made his way beside me and immediately started talking about all the things he heard about a new hot topic. The famous escape from Azkaban.
"Guys have you heard about Sirius Black!" I have never realized how Blaise liked to gossip, but apparently, there is a first time for everything.
"Yes, Blaise we heard. Everyone has heard about that." Draco snapped because he was interrupted in mid-sentence.
"Esther what about you?" Not bothered by Draco's clear dissatisfaction Blaise turned towards me.
"Yes I have heard about it, but we are in Hogwarts so I don't really care, it is not like he will come here," I said brushing his hand that he sneakily tried to put around my shoulders.
"Why so cold?" Even though I couldn't see I just knew that he had a hurt expression on his face.
"I have already told you that I don't like unnecessary touching." I crossed my hands to make myself more comfortable.
"That is just my way of building friendship, you don't have to be so cold!" He said and stood up to go but I caught him by the hem of his robe, which made him stop.
"I'm sorry I just need some time to get used to it...so don't be mad at me!" I really liked his company and I don't want him to get hurt, but sometimes I just have that heavy feeling when someone is in my personal space. It just feels suffocating and it makes me sick. That is probably because I didn't have any friends growing up, just a bunch of old people.
Blaise quickly turned towards me and grabbed me in a bear-like hug. "We will start with this!" He said lifting me up. I didn't have time to protest because I was distracted by the fact that he could lift me so easily. Since when he was taller than me, and am I not heavy?
"If she says that she doesn't like it leave her alone!" Draco said from the corner he was sitting the whole time. Blaise immediately let me go. I almost forgot that he was there because of how much I was talking with Blaise.
When I was safely back in my seat lights suddenly went out and the train come to an abrupt stop. My blurry sigh was now completely black and I started panicking.
"What is happening?!" I shouted searching for my friends.
"I don't know!" Both of them said at the same time. After a few seconds of shouting from the other compartments, everything suddenly went silent. Now all I could feel was the silent cracking of the glass from the window that was near my right ear. I slowly put my hand on it and it was so cold to the point that my fingers slightly stuck to the now frozen glass.
I looked in the direction that I knew Draco was, trying my hardest to sharpen my gaze in the blurred darkness, but I couldn't see anything, instead, I followed the sound of the door opening. I was expecting one of the students or at least one of the teachers that tend to use this train to go to Hogwarts, but Draco and Blaise gasped and I instantly knew that something was wrong.
"What is that?" Blaise whispered almost inaudible, and as soon as he said that I felt the cold air spreading through my body. I don't know why but the coldness didn't bother me, instead, it felt weirdly familiar like I have felt it before.
"We meet at least!" I heard an old raspy voice coming from the, now open, door. I just moved my head towards it not saying anything.
"It has been soo long!" It said again. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear my friends calling my name, but they felt way too distant.
"Who are you!" I said not realizing that I was now standing still facing the door.
"Still so pure!" The voice ignored my question but now that I was close to it I felt as if it was sucking all the air from the room. Followed by the breathing of the person in front of me my own breath started mimicking his own, and mine suddenly became ragged.
"Who done this to you?" As soon as these words left his mouth, I felt an enormous, cold hand on my cheek, slowly making its way towards my eyes. I was frozen from the shock that I couldn't move a muscle, let alone answer the question. When its hands reached my eyes I could feel long sharp nails on my face. 'This is not a human!' A thought, that made my blood go cold, pooped in my head, but somehow being scared wasn't an option right now.
"You were light in that dark place, so this is our gift to you!" It felt like time had stopped. The creature took its time to say every word. Creature put its hand on the upper part of my face, covering my eyes and sending me into complete darkness.
When he finished his small speech white light filled my vision and blurriness slowly disappeared. When my vision cleared it took a few seconds for my eyes to get used to the light. The first thing I saw after mouths of being blind was a huge dark creature dressed in a long black robe, with no face and a huge mouth, circle-shaped. His hands were long gone from my face but I was so startled by how close my face was to his, that I stumbled a few steps and stepped on my robe in the process, which made me lose my balance and resulted in me hitting my head on the floor.
Before I lost conscience I heard a mixture of someone shouting my name and a creature saying something that sounded like 'Until next time!'
~Time skip~
I woke up an hour later and the first thing that I noticed was the cold wind on my face, but when I opened my eyes I realized that it wasn't a cold wind but a middle-aged man, that I see for the first time in my life, fanning me with his notebook.
"What, what happened?" I asked slowly trying to stand up. Everything was much clearer now, I could finally see like I used to. We were not at Hogwarts, I figured as much just by hearing the train going across the rails.
"Hello Miss, how are you feeling?" the strange man asked. After a few seconds of blankly staring at him, I noticed that he has a huge scar across his whole face.
"I'm fine, but what happened?" I was now in a sitting position when suddenly Draco launched himself at me.
"I'm glad you are safe!" He said while squeezing me a way too tight. And I just patted him on the head, because I didn't know how to react in this situation.
"Yea, you give us quite a scare!" Blaise added while standing beside me with his arms crossed.
"Dementors were inspecting the train." The unknown middle-aged man said. "They believe that the prisoner from Azkaban is here" He was weirdly calm given the circumstances.
"So that it's what it was! I was too surprised to realize what I saw." I said sitting down beside Blaise.
"Esther you do realize that you had been staring at the creature without a word and with your face just inches from his. I thought that you were in some kind of trance." Blaise looked at me with a worried look written all over his face.
"What are you talking about? We had a full conversation, and he even cured my eyes!" I gestured to my eyes that now were back to their usual color and only then did they realize that my eyes were focused and that they were not just fixed at some spot with dull light in them.
"WHAT?! You can see?!" Both Draco and Blaise jumped from their spots, but the weird man, on whom I had forgotten till now, come by my side before they could even move.
"What do you mean, you had a conversation and that it cured your eyes?" He grabbed my shoulders a bit too strong forcing me to look into his eyes.
"I mean exactly that, the creature said that we finally met and that it has been a way too long. Probably referring to us seeing each other. But the problem is, I have never seen such a creature, and trust me when I say that I've seen a lot of creatures." I started talking uncontrollably fast given the fact that I was overwhelmed by everything that had happened. "Then he asked me who blinded me and then it cured me saying that it was a gift from them!" I then grabbed the man by the hand, a bit harder than I should have. "What is that thing and how I'm connected to it?! Have I done something I shouldn't have?! Am I in trouble?!" My panic started taking over but before I could say anything I felt a squeeze on my hand and a man before me spoke.
"Calm down there is nothing to be afraid of. Dementors are creatures that guard Azkaban and they attack only those who are guilty so you don't have to worry. But you, understanding them is a bit unusual but not impossible." He squeezed my hand one last time before standing up.
"We will take a look at this together, okay?" I nodded now completely calm. "Now could you tell me your name, so I could consult with other professors?"
"It's Ch..." I absentmindedly started saving my real name totally forgetting that Blaise was still here.
"Esther Moore!" Draco said before I could reveal my secret. "Her name is Esther Moore." He repeated now more calmly, trying to sound as naturally as possible.
"Yes, it is! And this is Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zbini" I said their names too even though he didn't ask for them, hoping to get out of this situation, and that he wouldn't question it. And thankfully he didn't.
"I'm professor Lupin, and I will be your new professor of Defence Against The Dark Arts. It was nice meeting you all!" He bowed slightly and then exited our compartment.
A few seconds of complete silence went by with all three of us blankly staring at the now closed door. And then as if on command both boys jumped on me asking me if I was okay.
When the questions died down, we all set down and spent the rest of the ride trying to think of all possible reasons for what had happened and why.