Chapter 15: What a Train Ride

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Harry had a good time at the Leaky Cauldron with the Weasleys, Neville and Hermione. Neville had gotten special permission from his gran to stay with Harry at the Leaky Cauldron. The two boys would be sharing a room until it was time to catch the train the next day. Phil and Amy would be walking them there.

Harry got to meet up with the twins and spend time with them. Their baby sister Ginny seemed to have a crush on him, which made him feel awkward. But she seemed like a nice enough girl. Even if she did hide behind her mother almost the entire time she was there. He'd met her last year, but she was mostly shy enough to stay away from him. The whole book thing made her hide in her room a lot.

Soon enough, Harry, Neville, Ron, and Hermione went into Diagon Alley to go get their stuff. Mrs. Weasley didn't want to let them go at first, but then decided that they would be fine alone in the Alley. The parents would be nearby. That and there were Aurors everywhere. Thanks to Black being at large.

"Hey Neville, did you have a good time in Asia with your gran?" Harry asked, all but bouncing along the cobblestones of Diagon Alley. He was super excited to be here at this time. He had had such a great summer with Millie and now he was surrounded by friends.

"Yeah, I did. Gran mostly did political stuff during the day, but I got to spend a lot of time in the gardens," Neville said. He walked a little bit slower, but he was happy to see his friend in such a good mood.

"Were there different plants there?" the dark-haired boy asked. He had never been outside of England, but he had always wondered what plants were like elsewhere. He had seen pictures in books, but to see them in real life must have been fascinating.

"You wouldn't believe the many different types of plants they had in the gardens," the sandy-hair boy enthused. He made wild hand gestures about just how intriguing those plants were.

"Did you get to see the pandas?" Hermione asked, having been interested in the black and white bears.

"Yeah, they're awesome," Neville answered. He too was fascinated by the large, gentle giants.

"Why are you guys talking about those boring things?" said Ron. He had so much fun in Egypt and he had already talked about his vacation and was bored talking about everybody else's.

"Because they're interesting," said Harry. He wasn't sure what Ron's problem was, but they talked about that vacation earlier. Sure, Rons was more exciting, in the fact that the twins had pulled a lot of pranks, and there were cursed items and magical stuff, but that didn't mean pandas and plants weren't interesting.

"I think it's intriguing," said Hermione with a sniff. She got to see both the muggle and the magical side of France, and she found both fascinating.

"We should get our stuff," said Harry, stopping in front of a store so that they could divvy up what they needed to get. They already got their robes; they just needed books and pet stuff. He had already gotten the Monster Book of Monsters from Hagrid. It was supposed to come for his birthday, but the owl went to his aunt's house, so it came the day after. Millie had figured out how to tame it.

"I need to get some tonic for Scabbers," said Ron, petting his pocket where the rat sat. "He's not been feeling well since we got back from Egypt," the boy said, peeking in said pocket. The rat did look sick. All it did was lay there in the pocket.

"My parents gave me some money for a pet," said Hermione, preening like a girl who just got money from her parents for her first gift.

"I need some owl treats. Why don't you lot, go to the pet store. Me and Neville will go and grab our books," said Harry, wagging his finger between him and the sandy-haired boy.

"Don't you think we should stick together?" the bushy-haired witch asked, giving them a stink-eye like they were planning something nefarious.

"Nah, we could get things done much quicker if we split up. I'll get all your books, you get my owl treats," said Harry, with the shrug of his shoulder as if to show how easy it was. To him, it just made sense to split it up.

"But you don't have my list," she said, worrying her lip like she didn't want to give it up.

"Well, give it here then," he said, making finger motions like 'hand it over'.

"Very well," Hermione said, passing it over. She gave a sigh, like she knew the next words that were coming out of his mouth, and she didn't want to deal with it.

"Hermione, why do you have so many books?" Neville asked, peering over Harry's shoulder, and seeing all the books on her list.

"I've got special permission," was all she said. She stuck her nose up in the air just a little bit and kept her mouth shut.

"Well, I hope you can handle the load," Harry said, giving her an appraising look. "We'll get these books picked up for you and meet you at the Ice Cream Parlor." He tucked the lists into his pocket and looked to his friends in a 'are we ready to do this' type of manner.

"Alright, we're gonna go to the pet store, get what we need, and we'll meet you there," his best friend said, turning and heading to the pet store.

"We'll be there," Harry said, going the opposite direction.

And with that, the friends split up and went their separate ways. Harry was deep in thought for about five minutes as he and Neville made their way down the cobblestone streets.

"I'm gonna have to talk to Amy about this. I don't think Hermione is going to be able to handle her course load," he said to Neville when the other two were out of sight.

"Why didn't you say anything when she was here?" Neville asked, looking over his shoulder to make sure the other two weren't following them. He didn't want them to overhear this.

"I don't think she'd listen to me," confessed Harry. He shrugged his shoulders in a 'what can I do' manner.

"I can see where you'd think that," his friend said, He placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. There were times when Hermione was just bullheaded.

"Do you think she'll listen to Amy?" asked Harry. Hermione was his best friend and she had been with him since day one of Hogwarts. He didn't want to see her burn out like she was planning on doing by taking all these courses in her third year. He really hoped that she listened to Amy like she used to listen to Millie. She listened to her last year, right?

"I don't know. Hermione is stubborn like that sometimes. However, for her sake, I certainly hope she does."

"Well, I guess the best we can do is just ask her."

"Come on, let's go get the books," Neville said, having exhausted this topic.

"Yeah."

They got the books. Harry told the merchant how to tame the Monster Book of Monsters, which made the man cry, and they got a 10% discount on their purchase. Then they met everyone for ice cream and had a good day just hanging out in Diagon Alley. No mass murderers or dementors were seen or heard. It was a good day.

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Phil and Amy showed up at the Leaky Cauldron the next morning to help them get to Kings Cross station. They wanted to make sure everybody got there on time as the Weasleys were notorious for running late. And as normal, the redheaded family was running late, so Phil and Amy gathered up Hermione, Neville, and Harry and got them to the station on time.

They bustled them into a compartment that had a man that was sleeping. He was a worn man, that was graying at the temples. He wore very raggedy clothes, that were clean but mended. He looked like he had been ridden hard and put away wet. There were scars on his face and they looked self-inflicted.

"Who's that man?" asked Harry, his voice soft, so he didn't wake the man. He wasn't sure why they were putting him in this compartment. But he did feel a bit safer being around an adult.

"R.J. Lupin," said Hermione as she dragged her trunk underneath the seat. She put her cat carrier on the seat next to her that held the mushed-in-faced, orange tabby cat that she had purchased in Diagon Alley. The shop owner said it was half kneazle. His name was Crookshanks. And he hated Ron's rat.

"How do you know that?" asked Neville as he dragged his trunk and put it under the seat. He sat on the opposite bench of the adult that was sleeping. He also kept his voice very low.

"It's on his briefcase," she said, pointing to the briefcase above the man's head. And there on that briefcase was some faded gold letters that said R.J. Lupin.

"Oh," said the boys as they both looked where she pointed.

"Are you lot gonna be okay here?" asked Phil leaning in the doorway. He too is happy that there was an adult in the compartment. He didn't like the fact that there were dementors going to be at the school or that there was a mass murderer on the loose.

"We should be fine," said Hermione, pulling out a book and setting it on her lap. Not that she was going to read it right now, but there was always the chance that the boys would start talking quidditch, and when they did, she was going to crack open her book.

"Amy and I are going to be in the compartment next door. We don't want to leave you alone with the notorious criminal, Sirius Black, being on the loose. We see that you have an adult here, but we'd still feel better if we were going to be close by. So, if you need anything, wake him up or come get us. Understand? Phil said, pushing himself off the doorway and standing.

"Thanks, Phil," Harry said, giving the older boy a brilliant smile.

"No problem, kid," Phil said, reaching over and ruffling his hair.

"Leave off, will you? I'm not a kid anymore. Hey, Amy, can I talk to you alone for a minute?" Harry asked, getting up and heading towards the doorway. He was almost her height now. He noticed that as he stood by her.

"Sure, kid, let's go see if we can find some place quiet," she said, looking confused as to why he would wanna talk to her right now. And with that, they went to the compartment next door. "What did you want to talk about Harry?" she asked, settling on one of the benches.

"For some reason, Hermione wants to take all the elective courses," he said, putting his hand on his forehead and rubbing it.

"Oh, for goodness' sake, is she really?" Amy asked, exasperated, pinching the bridge of her nose as if she was coming down with a headache.

"I had to buy her books," he said, remembering the achiness in his arms from having to carry all those books. Even with them shrunk down, they'd taken up quite a few bags along with everybody else's.

"What am I going to do with that girl?" the older girl stated, still rubbing the bridge of her nose with her fingers. Still, she had volunteered to help with the kids, so they didn't do anything that would hurt themselves. She knew what she was getting into…Well, no she didn't know what she was getting into, but now she did. Who knew Harry and his friends could get into so much trouble without even trying?

"Is there any way you can talk her out of it?" Harry asked. There was a pleading tone in the quality of his voice. He really didn't want Hermione to get sick over this.

"I'll see what I can do," she promised, putting a hand on his shoulder, and giving it a squeeze. The two went back to the compartment and Amy asked, "Phil, can you stay here with the boys for a minute? I need to talk to Hermione."

"Yeah, sure, no problem," the older boy said perplexed, but figuring there was something going on that he would know about later. He was sure Amy would rant about it. Like she had about the Polyjuice the year before.

"Hermione, come here for a minute. I wanna talk to you," the older girl said, making 'follow me' motions.

"What do you wanna talk about?" Hermione asked warily. Amy had that 'it's for your own good' tone to her voice going on.

"I just want to talk to you about your course list," Amy said, being completely honest. There was no sense in lying to the girl.

Hermione glared at Harry, but she got up and went with Amy to the next compartment. "You're not going to talk me out of it," she said, folding her arms defiantly.

"Hermione, what you're doing is very, very dangerous," Amy said, folding her arms just as defiantly, but trying to keep her voice gentle.

"But I would learn so much," said Hermione, her tone coming out practically a whinge.

"But you'll burn yourself out, sweetie. How are you even going to take all these classes? Some of them run simultaneously," Amy wanted to know, even though she had an inkling about how it was going to happen. She couldn't believe the teachers were going to let a third year do this. It was ridiculous.

"I can't tell you. They made me promise," Hermione said. She was looking everywhere but Amy's face.

"Whatever it is, it's gotta be dangerous. I mean, it's got to include time magic. Time in and of itself is dangerous. It causes paradoxes," the older girl said, throwing her hands in the air, still not believing that the adults were going to let this child do this.

"How could you know that?" she asked, gobsmacked that the other girl figured it out. Then again, it really wasn't that hard. There's really only one way to be two places at one time.

"It's the only logical thing. Hermione, I want you to think very, very carefully about this. This is really dangerous for you. You're gonna burn yourself out. You can study Muggles Studies all on your own and Divination is a crock. You don't even need to study divination. Do you have the sight?" she asked, once again knowing the answer. She had never heard or seen Hermione give any premonitions.

"How will I know if I have the sight if I don't study Divination?" the bushy-hair witch asked. That didn't make a lot of sense to her.

"Oh, believe me, you'll know," Amy stated with a look of incredulity on her face.

"So you don't think I should take Divination or Muggle Studies?" Hermione asked. Her face downcast on the thought of not having to take these classes.

"Muggle Studies is 100 years out of date. The only thing you'll learn in that class is muggle history. Like the study of the horse and buggy," Amy said. She went up to the girl and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. She really was just trying to help her. She couldn't tell her what to do, she wasn't her mum.

"And you don't think I'll learn anything in Divination?" Hermione tried one more time.

"Not unless you want to learn how to read tea leaves," Amy said with a chuckle. "That, and the divination teacher is a complete fraud."

"And you're not just saying all this just to get me to stop taking these classes?" the younger girl asked, frustration leaking into her voice.

"I'm saying this to prevent you from causing yourself serious mental and health damage," Amy said, still playing with the girl's hair. Trying to fix it in some sort of orderly fashion.

"Why didn't they tell me this would cause me damage?" Hermione asked. She couldn't believe the teachers would risk her health like this.

"Probably because they think more of your academics than they do of your health," Amy suggested.

"Can I try it for a couple weeks?" the younger girl asked, hoping beyond hope that the older girl would let her just try it for a bit.

"I'll tell you what. You try it for a month. And if I see you're frazzled, then I want you to stop," Amy said, knowing that the other girl would never forgive herself if she didn't at least try.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you," Hermione said, grabbing the other girl and hugging her around the waist.

"Don't thank me yet, because I can tell you right now, you're gonna regret it," Amy said.

"I'm gonna prove you wrong. You'll see," the younger girl said, pointing her finger at her in victory.

"I doubt that very seriously, sweetie."

The two went back to the other compartment where the boys were waiting. Amy and Phil went to their compartment, first giving the trio a final statement that they were right next door.

By this time, the train was just about ready to leave and the Weasleys were rushing to make the train. Ron got there just in time. The redhead came into the compartment huffing and puffing, pulling his trunk behind him.

"Give us a hand, would you?" he asked Neville and Harry.

Harry took out his wand and levitated the trunk up to the upper luggage rack.

"Thanks, mate. So, what's been going on? Why did you guys leave like you did?" he asked, taking a seat next to Harry.

"Oh, we couldn't very well wait around for you," Harry said, giving him a playful shove.

"Oi, I like that," Ron said, actually getting offended.

"Phil wanted us to get here early," Neville said from his seat beside Hermione.

"Yes, and I had to have a talk with Amy," Hermione added, telling the truth that wasn't quite the truth.

"Well, next time wait for us, okay?" the redhead said, miffed that he had to go with just his family. The twins were a nightmare when it was time to go to Hogwarts. They had pranks galore in the morning and that's why it was always so hard to get going on the day it was time to return.

"That all depends on Phil and Amy," Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders, like it was a given.

"Why do you listen to them anyway? They're just other students," the other boy asked. He didn't understand the dynamics of mentors. "They're not even prefects like Percy. He's Head Boy."

"Because Millie asks us to," Neville said, as if that was the obvious reason.

"I don't get why you're so obsessed with that Millie girl anyway. She's not even a student anymore," Ron said, folding his arms as if he just really did not understand. She was just a girl, and she was always bossing Harry around, making him not have any fun.

"Hey, don't go speaking bad about Millie," Harry said, really upset. Nobody talked rudely about Millie around him. Those are fighting words.

"OK, sheesh," Ron said, holding his hands up in surrender.

"When do you think the trolley lady's gonna be by?" Neville asked, trying to defuse the situation.

"Not for at least an hour," Hermione said, as the train lurched forward.

"How do you think the Chudley Cannons are gonna do this year?" Ron asked, hoping for a neutral conversation.

And with that, the talk turned to quidditch and Hermione got her book out and started reading. And it stayed like that for a couple hours, the trolley lady had come and gone, until the train started slowing down, causing a great deal of confusion. There was frost forming on the windows and it started getting very cold. The lights went out.

"Everybody, don't move," came a voice from the dark. A flame appeared in the hand of the adult.

"What is it?" Harry asked, lighting the tip of his wand.

"I don't know, but don't move. I'm going to go find out," said Lupin, getting up from his seat and moving towards the door.

Just then, the door opened, and Phil and Amy poured into the compartment.

"Are you alright?" Phil asked, raising his lit wand, and looking at all the faces in the compartment. He noted the adult was up and sighed a sigh of relief. At least the kids weren't alone.

"Yeah, we're all right. Why is it so cold?" Harry asked, hoping the boy had the answers.

"We don't know, but you lot stay here. We'll stay here with you," Phil said, making the boys budge over.

"I'm going to go find out what's going on," said R. J. Lupin, squeezing past the two Hufflepuffs. He was just glad there were older students with the third years.

There was a bit of shuffling, and the adult left the compartment. The younger kids all gathered by the window as the two older kids stayed by the door. It was still very cold and very dark. Everybody had their wands lit up. But they didn't know what was going on. Phil and Amy locked the door so nobody could open it. There was rattling as people tried to get in, but they didn't let anybody in. Until they heard Ginny's voice.

"Hey, that's my sister. Let her in," Ron said, tugging on Amy's sleeve.

Phil opened the door really quickly and let two little girls in. One was a little redhead girl, Ginny, and the other was a little blonde hair girl. They were both terrified.

"It's a madhouse out there," said Ginny as she ran over to her brother. Her eyes were blown wide with panic. Her face was paler than usual.

"Can we stay in here with you?" said the little blonde. Her voice was wispy, and she didn't look nearly as frightened. You couldn't tell she was scared except for her eyes. They were also blown wide. Her face, though, was vague.

"Of course, get over there by the window with the other kids," Amy said, nudging the blonde to follow the redhead.

So they all huddled by the window until R.J. Lupin came back.

"Okay, it's all over now. The dementors boarded the train, and now they're gone," he said, as he sat down on the bench he had vacated earlier. He looked worn and haggard. Like he had just performed a great feat of magic.

"Did you use the Patronus Charm?" asked Harry, getting a bit excited over that possibility.

"Yes, I did. How did you know that charm?" the adult asked, running a hand down his face.

"Millie told me about it. I'm going to learn it. Can you teach me?" Harry asked, excitement in his voice. Even if the guy said no, he could still look it up and learn it on his own.

"It's a very hard charm to learn."

"I'm a very strong wizard."

"I think we'd all like to learn," said Phil, looking at the teacher. It was something he'd like to learn, and they were going to be dementors at the school. He could learn it and teach everybody in Hufflepuff and even the kids.

"Well, I can teach you," the man said to Phil. This boy looked to be in his seventh year, and it would be much easier to teach it to an older teen.

"I'd be proud to learn it," Phil said, puffing out his chest a little bit.

"Then you could teach me," said Harry, knowing Phil wouldn't deny him.

"Sure thing, kid," Phil said, giving the kid a wink, making Lupin give him an exasperated look.

And with that, the train started moving and they were on their way to Hogwarts.