Walking into Diagon Alley, Amelie felt the colours, sounds and smells rush over her. After a month at Juniper Hall, it was strangely exciting to be around so many humans again. For all its sombre style and atmosphere, the manor lacked the hustle and bustle of the wizarding world.
Her first port of call was Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment, where she purchased the required star- and moon-charts, alongside replacements for her potion vials.
Browsing through the section filled with all sorts of trunks and accessories, she picked out a large, brown shoulder-bag to replace the grubby satchel she had been using for school materials the year before. The extension-charm on the bag was substantial, but unlike her trunk, it only had one compartment.
Her purchases stowed away easily and she soon made her way over to Flourish and Blotts. Letter in hand, she approached a clerk, who was busy pushing crates of freshly printed volumes out of the way. There were small bandages and band-aids on his fingers and when Amelie cleared her throat to grab his attention, he took one look at her and winced audibly.
"Hogwarts, right?" the man asked, as if dreading the answer.
"Uhm, yes. Second year. I already have The Dark Forces, so I crossed it out." She handed over the list of text-books and saw the clerk's shoulders sag with relief.
"Oh thank goodness!" He pointed at an ominously rocking crate next to a display-case. "Third years and above are getting the The Monster Book of Monsters for Magical Creatures this year. I'd love to throttle the one who decided to put that on the reading list," the man growled, showing her his bandaged hands.
"Bite everything in sight, those cursed little things do! I'm losing at least three books per crate to cannibalism!"
As if to prove his point, another heavy thump made the crate move a few inches, followed by a chorus of hissing and snarling, coming from inside.
Amelie slowly nodded, keeping her eyes on the box for a little longer, just in case anything decided to burst free. With her new materials assembled, she turned once again to the man.
"Do you have any language text-books for French?"
He scratched the back of his head, thinking for a moment. "We've got plenty of Latin and old Gaelic. I can go and take a look if there's anything in contemporary French."
The threatening growls continued, while the man walked off to check in the back, and only intensified as Amelie leaned closer to the box. Making sure there was nobody close by, she bared her teeth and gave a sharp, vicious hiss.
All at once, the snarling stopped and there was only a lot of shuffling and flapping as the tomes seemed to scramble to the opposite corner, making the crate rock.
A minute or two later, the wizard returned holding a thick, colourful book, sporting a blue-white-red flag. Curiously, the book was wrapped in plastic.
"The only one on hand is this Muggle book, I'm afraid. I'd have to check if we can order something more specific."
Noting the unusual silence, he gave the crate with monster books a tentative prod with the tip of his boot, but nothing happened.
"It's fine," Amelie replied, her eyes still on the French text-book, "I don't need it for school, so that shouldn't be a problem."
Stowing the pile of books into her new bag, she paid with gold and silver coins from the bottomless pouch, before waving the clerk goodbye and leaving him to squint suspiciously at the suddenly docile pile of cannibalistic tomes.
Outside, Amelie stopped to take a look at the sign-post on the street-corner, trying to keep a mental tally of where she still needed to go. Her eyes caught the sign of Gladrags, the fancy boutique Patricia and Hannah had been gushing about last year.
She could feel the gold-purse burning a hole in her pocket and for a few moments she was seriously tempted to take a detour and buy out half their stock. But she didn't want to keep Arabella waiting too long, so she dutifully trudged over to Madam Malkin's.
Aside from a new set of robes, Amelie also picked out a handful of pastel-coloured shirts, trousers, new stockings and a few new skirts. While fashionable, her extended wardrobe remained modest enough to blend in while in the wizarding world, as well as outside of it. It wasn't the jeans and t-shirts she might've worn if she had still lived in Muggle London, but her new clothes looked nice and were comfortable.
After watching Madam Malkin charm the Hufflepuff-yellow colours onto her robes and uniform, and with everything stuffed into her shoulder-bag, she briefly popped into Amanuensis Quills to stock up on writing utensils and parchment. Amelie made doubly sure that the ink-wells were closed tight, before placing them atop the pile of clothes, books and other knick-knacks in her satchel.
On her way back to the Gringotts front entrance, she tried to keep an eye out for any path leading into Knockturn Alley, but it seemed the two places were being kept strictly separate. It was only by pure luck that she spotted a discrete sign, pointing at a dark set of stairs leading downwards.
Shuffling closer to the alleyway, she reached up to untie her necklace.
"Hey, Amelie!"
Releasing a startled yelp, she nearly jumped out of her skin. She whirled around and found a familiar, young girl walking up to her, a pair of adults following close behind. It was Linda and, as Amelie assumed, her parents.
"Hey, Linda. I had no idea you'd be in Diagon Alley today."
The fringe of Linda's bright, brown hair almost covered her large eyes, while the rest was pulled into a pony-tail. She was wearing a light cloak over a simple blouse and a mauve skirt, matching the hard-to-place style of dress Amelie had seen on most children from wizard households.
Standing behind her, both of her parents were wearing robes. Her mother was a tall, thin-faced woman, smiling nervously. Linda's father, on the other hand, was short and slightly chubby, sporting a moustache and a permanently bemused expression. A pair of round spectacles sat on his thick nose.
"We were actually on our way back," Linda said. She turned to her parents and explained, "This is Amelie, from my dorm."
Amelie shook the offered hands.
"Ah, she's told us all about you lot, of course," Mr. Chaddesley quipped. "Are you here with your mum and dad?"
She could see Linda grimace awkwardly, but before her roommate was forced to explain the situation, Amelie replied.
"Before I went to Hogwarts, I lived in a Muggle foster home here in London, but now I'm with some distant relatives. One of them is here with me today, but we briefly split up, so I went and bought everything for the next school-year by myself." She patted the bag at her side.
Mrs. Chaddesley nodded, but gave her a very concerned look.
"Then you should take care, dear. That passage leads to Knockturn Alley. A really nasty place and somewhere you definitely don't want to end up by yourself. Especially with Sirius Black running around."
Amelie blinked. "Who is Sirius Black?"
Mr. Chaddesley pulled a copy of the Daily Prophet from his cloak and showed her the front page. It was dominated by the picture of a ragged-looking man, holding up a slate with runes and numbers on it, while snarling into the camera.
"Terrible story that," Mr. Chaddesley muttered. "Used to be a secret follower of You-Know-Who, until they captured him after he blew up a wizard and a street full of Muggles. And now he's managed to break out of Azkaban and murdered another Muggle here in London, too. At least that's what the ministry says."
"That's enough, Giffard. You're giving the girls a fright!" Linda's mother chided. Forcing a smile, she turned to Amelie. "Do you want to come along to the Leaky Cauldron? It's getting dark soon and you don't want to be out on the streets then."
Racking her brain for an excuse, Amelie shook her head as politely as she could and replied, "Thank you, but it's fine, really. I'm meeting my... cousin at Gringotts. I'll definitely be safe there."
Still, Mrs. Chaddesley insisted that she accompany them at least up the street to the goblin bank, despite Linda rolling her eyes at her mother's over-protective fussing. With the shiny, marble-covered building in sight, Amelie thanked the Chaddesleys and walked up to the entrance.
After making sure they were out of sight, she slipped around the corner and untied the charm from her neck.
The sun was indeed slowly setting and the shadowy alleyways were starting to look foreboding, even to Amelie and her perfect night vision. Walking with quick, but hopefully confident strides, she tried to send a clear message: Don't mess with this vampire or else! She hoped dearly that nobody would actually put it to the test.
When she emerged back into Knockturn Alley, Amelie breathed a quiet sigh of relief. More than once she could've sworn she had heard something shuffling around behind her. Despite its dark and dreary atmosphere, the street was a welcome sight.
It didn't take long to find her way back to the White Wyvern. Pulling the door open, she slipped inside. She tried to avoid drawing attention, which wasn't made any easier by being a good head-and-a-half too short to pass for just another normal patron.
Keeping her hood down, Amelie carefully looked around the room, until she spotted Arabella sitting in a half-hidden booth at the far end of the pub. The older vampire gave her a nod and shifted in her seat, her foot pushing a crate on the floor back to grant some space.
"You're back, good. Her ladyship would've tanned my hide if I had lost you out there," Arabella said as Amelie sat down. Waving at the bar, she held up two fingers.
"Now then, do you have everything?"
Amelie nodded. "Yup. I ran into someone from school, so I had to take a bit of a detour back."
The bar-woman, Eskarina, arrived and placed two small glasses on their table. Amelie could smell the crimson liquid in them, before she saw it. She blinked in surprise at the drinks, while Arabella handed over two pieces of silver. Stealing a brief glance at Amelie, Eskarina left without another word.
"They, uh, they serve blood here?" she asked, eyeing the glass nervously.
"Oh yes, probably the only establishment run by humans with a bottle under the counter." She lifted the glass, inspecting its rich, dark contents. "Blood has magical properties too, so it's no surprise that people around these parts will sell it from time to time. Just be prepared to pay out the nose for it."
Raising it to her lips, she tilted the glass back and downed its content in one go. Amelie picked up hers and took a few sips, mindful of how it could get to her head.
Arabella sighed. "I wish Eskarina would remember to warm it up first. Oh well..."
Emptying her glass slowly, Amelie looked up and said, "I think she doesn't like me very much." She could feel her mind becoming fuzzy, but thankfully her drink wasn't as potent as the blood served at the manor.
"Don't take it personally, she's probably never seen a child vampire before. Even here, people tend to forget that we sometimes come in smaller sizes, too. When you're used to seeing us as dark, mysterious creatures, it can be jarring."
Amelie frowned. "Is that going to be a problem?"
"Nah," Arabella replied dismissively, "dear Eskarina has a very poor memory when it comes to the faces of people who pass through the White Wyvern. A convenient flaw, considering the clientele."
They finished their drinks, while Amelie recounted her brief shopping tour. When they got up to leave, Arabella lifted the small crate from under the table. The clink of glass could be heard.
"A few bottles of fresh AB-negative and O-positive," Arabella explained. "Her ladyship sent me to pick them up so we could start restocking. Those little get-togethers always drain our stores pretty quickly."
Walking over to the fireplace, she produced the pouch with floo-powder and soon after they were back at Juniper Hall.
As September 1st approached, Amelie nervously put a magical theory to the test. After emptying her satchel, she carefully lowered the bag into her trunk, half expecting both to go up in flames. To her surprise, nothing happened at first, but when she tried to open the satchel inside, the flap remained firmly stuck in place.
Shrugging, Amelie piled her new clothes into the luggage, followed by her school-uniform and Hogwarts robes, making sure to keep one at the top to change into on the train. The rest of her things found room in the other compartments.
The only thing left was her French text-book. Over the last weeks, Amelie had spent several late nights and days poring over it while sitting in her coffin, propped up against the inside with a pillow at her back.
Unlike wand movements or potion ingredients, learning a new language was a lot harder than she could've imagined, especially with nobody to practise with. Lady Duras probably spoke it, along with a dozen other tongues, but Amelie didn't dare ask her for help.
Trying to learn felt more and more like a hopeless attempt to connect with some part of her family's history, no matter how slim the chances she would ever find use for it. Aside from names in a book and gold in a vault, there was nothing left.
The doom and gloom of the manor soon slipped from her mind and one shining Wednesday morning, all her things were packed, her shoes polished, her shirts ironed and her wand secured in the pocket of her uniform.
She had said goodbye to Arabella and Christof the night before, thanking them once again for everything they had done for her over the summer.
Carrying her trunk to the drawing-room, Amelie was surprised to find Lady Duras there to see her off. Instead of her usual stunning outfit, she wore a thick dressing gown and had her hair wrapped in a tight bun. The lines under her eyes made it rather clear that it was way past the hour for her to turn in.
"Good morning, ma'am. I didn't expect to see you here," Amelie admitted.
The older vampire gave a somewhat tired smile and replied, "Of course, I wouldn't dream of letting you depart without saying my farewells. There is one more thing, too."
She walked over and placed a hand on the mantle-piece.
"I made a few arrangements to have our fireplace connected to the foyer of King's Cross Station. You should be able to find your way from there easily. Can't have you running around Knockturn Alley alone, daytime or not."
Amelie's eyes widened. "There's a fireplace at the train station people can floo to?"
"Of course, my dear." The countess laughed. "You didn't think every wizard family in Britain would try and squeeze through some secret barrier all on the same day, right? Although, some still take the long way. For tradition's sake, I suppose."
Stepping closer, Lady Duras mustered her closely, brushing her hand over Amelie's cloak and straightening an errant strand of hair. Their eyes met and the countess spoke quietly.
"Watch yourself out there, girl." Her tone was low and serious. "I won't try and tell you to stay out of trouble, but be mindful of your surroundings and heed what you've learned."
Before Amelie could ask questions, Lady Duras chuckled and gave her head a pat, making some part inside Amelie grumble in annoyance at being treated like a little child.
"Off you go then." Lady Duras gave her a grin, fangs gleaming in the early morning light. "Show them what a vampire can do."
Amelie took a deep breath and nodded. "Thank you. For everything."
Dragging her luggage along, she took a fistful of floo-powder and tossed it into the flames, carefully waiting until they turned emerald green, before stepping inside.
With one last look at Lady Duras, Amelie called out, "King's Cross Station!"
The familiar whirlwind of floo-travel enveloped her and Amelie struggled to keep her eyes open. Curiously, her journey seemed to take longer than to the White Wyvern, but only a few moments later, her shoes hit a tiled floor.
She gripped her trunk tightly, using its weight to balance herself as she tried to stay on her feet. Amelie barely had time to take in her surroundings, a simple hall with a marble floor and surrounded by brick walls, before someone put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her away.
"No dawdling now! Keep moving! This isn't a waiting room!"
A stern-looking witch in dark, green robes was rudely pushing her out of the way. Behind them, a flash of light announced the arrival of more people from the trio of fireplaces.
Amelie mumbled under her breath at the rough treatment, but still stepped aside as more people emerged behind them.
There were two wizards standing against the opposite wall, both dressed in red robes, who were surveying the travellers stepping out of the green fires, wands always at the ready. Surely, those had to be wizard policemen. Amelie wondered why a train station would warrant this much security, but she got her answer when she spotted a 'wanted' poster. Staring out from the frame, Sirius Black glared at her as she passed by.
A set of double-doors was at the far end of the room, so she quickly set off, lest the 'police-wizards' would start taking an interest in her.
The corridor on the other side held a few benches and what looked like time-tables, stuck to large notice-boards along the walls. Through another pair of doors, she could hear a myriad of voices.
Amelie emerged into the vast hall of platform 9¾ and found the tail-end of the Hogwarts Express just ahead. Just like in the room with the fireplaces, there were red-robed wizards walking along the platform.
Luggage in hand, she made her way around the train and towards the doors, when she spotted a familiar silhouette near the brick wall leading to the Muggle side of the station. Amelie grinned and quickly walked over.
Polly had changed over the summer. She had tanned quite a bit under the Caribbean sun and, to her distress, Amelie noticed that she had grown several inches taller.
Standing next to her was a woman, who could only be her mother. Blonde, richly tanned and wearing sunglasses, Mrs. McKinsey gave Amelie the awkward impression of a woman who would boss her way to the front of a queue and demand to speak to the person in charge.
Watching her prattle on, while her daughter stood there with her shoulders slumped, gave Amelie a pretty good idea whom she had inherited her motor-mouth from.
"Hey, Polly!"
The younger McKinsey whirled around and her face lit up. Dropping her bag, Polly gave a high-pitched cry and sprinted across the platform, startling the nearest police-wizard.
"Amelieeeee!" she cried, before launching herself at her friend and nearly pulling her to the ground. Grinning broadly, Amelie returned the hug.
"Oof, it's good to see you, too," she groaned.
Released from Polly's bone-crunching grip, Amelie let herself get dragged over to Mrs. McKinsey, who gave them a sparkling smile, her red lipstick gleaming.
"Ah, you must be one of Polaris' roommates, dear. So nice to meet you." She stretched out her hand, showing a set of garishly painted fingernails that appeared more like talons. Amelie carefully shook it.
"Yes, I'm Amelie Hastings, ma'am."
Polly looked back across the hall, towards the double doors, and asked, "How did you get here? We didn't see you come in through the wall."
Pointing over her shoulder, Amelie replied, "There's actually a few fireplaces back there. I floo'ed here from the ma- from my great-aunt's house."
Her slip-up hadn't gone unnoticed and Polly raised an eyebrow.
"Ah yes, right, your great-aunt. Who you're living with now. Of course."
Amelie didn't want Mrs. McKinsey to get suspicious, so she quickly changed the subject. Sweeping her eyes over Polly's form, she asked, "So how was Barbados? Looks like you spent a lot of time on the beach."
"Oh, it was great, really. I wanted to get a shrunken head as a souvenir, but mum wouldn't let me," she sulked.
Mrs. McKinsey gave a short, shrill laugh. "Oh I would have loved to see you explain yourself to the customs officer, Polaris."
Amelie let her friend ramble on about her holiday, the islands they visited and the merpeople she absolutely, definitely saw from their boat. Her eyes eventually landed on Polly's new luggage, an enchanted trunk similar to her own.
"Watch this."
Undoing a clasp, Polly opened a small side-compartment, before pulling out a long, thin shape. It was a racing broom, the bristles carefully wrapped up for transportation.
"It's the Cleansweep 10, only released this June!"
There was a mad gleam in Polly's eyes, her fingers visibly itching to get on the broom and fly all the way to Hogwarts, if necessary.
Amelie whistled. "Wow, so you're going to try out for the team right away?"
Polly nodded eagerly, but her mother chimed in with a frown on her face. "So about this Quadball-...itch, am I really to understand that you're planning on flying through the air, chasing each other around with sticks? How is that safe?"
Behind Mrs. McKinsey's back, Polly shot Amelie a pleading look.
"Well, it's more like cricket on brooms, really. The bats are for hitting the ball, you see? It's all quite safe, from what I've seen," Amelie explained while trying to put on an innocent expression.
"Oh, alright then." She turned to her daughter, who quickly hid the triumphant thumbs-up she had flashed to Amelie. "Just make sure you're wearing your jacket, love. Don't want you catching a draft."
"Yes, mum," Polly sighed.
Seeing platform 9¾ slowly filling up, they bid farewell to Mrs. McKinsey. Polly even endured a noisy, smooching kiss on her cheek and having her yellow neck-tie tightened.
No sooner had they waved goodbye and taken a few steps towards the train doors, than Polly let out a sigh and loosened it again.
Amelie grinned. "Long summer?"
"You have no idea."
Lifting their luggage up the steps, they slowly made their way through the cars, looking for an empty compartment.
There were a surprising number of students already present, even with another forty-five minutes until departure. Eventually, they simply walked most of the way to the end, before claiming the first empty cabin they saw.
Amelie pulled a Hogwarts robe from the top of the pile of clothes in her trunk, before stuffing it into the rack above their heads. Discreetly pushing the door closed, she began telling Polly about her own summer.
"... and so I'm basically going to stay at Hogwarts for most of the year, then go back to the manor to learn about turning into a bat and the like."
Resting her face in her hand, Polly grinned. "This is just... I mean it's great being a witch and learning magic and all, but it almost feels unfair that you get to do even cooler stuff."
Amelie shrugged. "It's not that crazy, really. You can still do a lot more with magic, at least until Arabella can teach me about our transformations."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Polly conceded. "Still, I'm a bit jealous."
"Oh, you'd like to be a vampire, is that it?" Amelie gave her a wicked grin, raising her hands menacingly as if getting ready to grab her. "That can be arranged..."
Completely un-intimidated, Polly chuckled. "Really? How does that actually work?"
Amelie rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "I, uh.. I don't know, to be honest. We haven't gotten to that part yet." She sighed. "Besides, you'd lose your magic."
"Hmm, that'd be pretty bad, yeah."
"Also, you couldn't ride on a broom anymore."
Sitting up, Polly held her arms in a cross-shape. "Okay, that's it. No offence, but I'm stuffing my bed with garlic!"
They both burst out laughing.
Before long, Amelie nudged the door open and stuck her head outside. The train was quickly filling up with students, but there had been no sign of Riyan so far. With less than ten minutes until departure, they were starting to get a bit nervous.
"Maybe he's sitting somewhere else?" Polly wondered.
Their answer came only a little later, when they saw another familiar face pulling her trunk through the corridors.
Polly called out, "Hey, Patricia!"
The Hufflepuff perked up and gave them a small wave. "Oh, hey. Good that I found you. Riyan's in a compartment up ahead with Bernard Maltby, Gareth Pewsey and that Ravenclaw friend he's always hanging out with."
She drew in a long breath and rattled off, "He told me to tell you, that he's going to catch up with the guys from his dorm and then see you at the station."
"Oh, okay. Thanks," Amelie said. "Do you need a seat? We still have two left."
Patricia smiled, but shook her head. "Thanks, but I already saw Linda with Susan and Hannah through their window at the back of the train. See you two at the feast!"
They waved as she kept walking down the length of the corridor.
"I'll get into my robes," Amelie said, reaching for the crumbled pile of cloth lying on her trunk, "it'll save some time later, when we arrive."
"Good idea." Polly nodded and followed her lead.
They were soon dressed in black and yellow. From the looks of things, Amelie wasn't the only one who had needed new robes that year. Polly had fully caught up with her.
With only a few minutes to spare, she reached over to slide the door closed again, but someone stuck their head in before she managed to touch the handle.
An older student with slick, black hair gave them a brief glance. From the look of things, he was a sixth or even seventh year.
"Ah. These seats still free?" he asked, but ignored any possible answer before Amelie or Polly could even open their mouths. "Great!"
They watched the boy step back and nudge another student into the compartment, who appeared less than eager to join them. Their new arrival was a girl with short, black hair, blue eyes and a seemingly permanent scowl on her face. She looked to be about the same age as the two Hufflepuffs and Amelie had the vague sense that she'd seen her before.
The girl dropped into a seat on the other bench, near the window, and refused to acknowledge them. The boy pulled two identical looking trunks into the compartment, before stashing them above their seats.
Amelie mustered the newcomers, her eyes lingering on the green trim of their Hogwarts robes. It clicked for her why the girl seemed familiar, even though she couldn't recall anything else about her. She was in Slytherin. They had likely been sitting opposite from each other every day in Charms or History of Magic.
With their luggage stashed away, the boy let himself sink into a seat by the door and heaved a sigh, running a hand through his hair. He eyed Amelie and Polly with a smug look.
"Name's Lucian Bole, by the way. Sorry for dropping in like this," he said, sounding not in the least bit apologetic, "but it's a circus out there."
"I'm Amelie Hastings."
"Polly McKinsey."
She tried not to stare too obviously at the girl by the window, but it was hard for Amelie not to feel that they were being aggressively ignored. Strangely enough, that seemed to include the older Slytherin as well.
He mustered them closely, glancing at the yellow trim on their robes. "Second years then?" He turned to the girl at his side with an amused look. "Well, aren't you glad you're sitting with some of your classmates, Cilly."
The girl made no move to respond. If anything, her glare out the window only intensified.
"That's my sister, Cecilia," Lucian explained, nudging his head towards the fuming girl.
Now that he mentioned it, it wasn't hard for Amelie to see the resemblance. Their black hair and bright, blue eyes were the same shade, although Lucian had more refined, angular features, while his sister had soft cheeks and a snub nose.
Their uninvited travelling companions made any further discussion of the manor, or Amelie's new-found family history, impossible. The awkward silence was only broken when the train whistle blew and the Hogwarts Express departed.
Watching the landscape pulling by outside their window, Polly returned to talking about Barbados and the strange woman, Madam Gogol, she had met there. As interesting as it was to hear about the voodoo witch and her wandless magic, the tension in the compartment never really went away.
Across from them, Cecilia was still staring out the window, occasionally rubbing her hands, before she seemed to remember to frown and look disinterested. Her brother was reading from a small book, wrapped in brown leather, with no visible title.
The landscape they were passing, was growing darker by the hour. A cursory glance at the wrist-watch in her pocket told Amelie that it was barely past three, but the thick clouds made it seem close to nightfall. As if to underline the gloomy atmosphere, it started to rain.
The dreadful weather only intensified, and soon the constant rattling of thick drops against the window was the only sound in their compartment.
"Oh," Amelie exclaimed, when the lamps above their heads suddenly lit up.
The contrast between the bright interior and the darkness outside turned the window into a murky mirror, showing nothing but a few flashes of trees and shrubbery beside the tracks.
Not long after, it was Polly who spoke up and asked, "Are we there already?"
True enough, the train was slowing down. Amelie once again looked at her watch.
"It can't be. It's still way too early."
On the other side of their compartment, Lucian had put down his book, narrowing his eyes as he glanced from the door to the foggy window. Even Cecilia had paused her moping to look around with confusion.
With a sudden, rough jolt, the Hogwarts Express came to a stop, almost throwing Amelie out of her seat.
"Arresto Momentum!" Lucian barked, his wand suddenly in his hand.
Amelie looked up and saw their luggage was in the process of falling out of the rack and tumbling to the ground. The spell had frozen it mid-fall.
"Thanks," she said as she got to her feet and carefully pushed both trunks back against the wall.
In an instant, the lamps went out, leaving the train in pitch-black darkness.
Amelie heard a startled yelp and an unknown voice asked, "What's happening?!"
Blinking, she felt her eyes adjust to the dark and she saw Cecilia swivelling around, her arm reaching out to grasp for her brother. The loud noises and voices coming from up and down the train indicated that they weren't the only ones without light.
Next to her, Polly asked, "Did the train break down?"
Seeing her friend glancing around nervously, her shoulders pulled together, reminded her all too much of their horrible night in the Forbidden Forest.
Lucian raised his hand and muttered, "Lumos." The pale light, shining from the tip of his wand almost blinded Amelie.
She felt like kicking herself. Two months away from Hogwarts and she had already forgotten that there were magical solutions for almost everything. Still, she could see perfectly fine without the Wand-Lighting Charm, so at least she had that excuse going for her.
Sliding her own wand from her pocket, she followed Lucian's example. Polly soon lit up her own charm, leaving the compartment almost as bright as it had been before.
Across from them, Cecilia stood up and reached for the trunk above her, likely to fetch her own wand, but as she turned around, she let out a startled yell and nearly fell backwards into her brother.
"There's something out there!" she gasped, her voice strained and terrified.
Lucian turned to them and said, "Cilly and you two, stay here. I'll go and-"
But he was cut short when the lights on their wands suddenly flickered and died, like a flame being slowly suffocated. As darkness once again engulfed their compartment, Amelie noticed how quiet it was. Even the torrential rains outside seemed distant and muted.
She looked to check on Polly, only to find her shivering, her arms wrapped around herself. Her breath was visible in the fading half-light, while she stared blankly ahead.
Amelie's head snapped around, and sure enough, the Slytherin girl was similarly shaking from the strange cold that seemed to have crept up around them.
"Polly, what's happening?" she hissed, but there was no reaction. Polly was blankly staring forward, squeezing her arms against her chest, her lips moving silently.
A strange shadow floated through the corridor outside their compartment, its blurry shape barely visible through the foggy glass window. It moved like a living piece of darkness, stretching, but never quite losing its form.
Amelie held her breath when the apparition stopped right outside.
With a click, that sounded far too loud in the confines of their compartment, the handle was pulled back and the door slid open.
A faint, high-pitched hissing and snarling crept into the room as the creature came into view. Its floating body towered from the floor to the ceiling, wrapped in what looked like a black, wispy cloak. Whatever face it had was obscured by its hood, leaving only swirling shadows underneath.
The creature grasped the frame of the door with its long, desiccated hands and leaned forward, taking in a rattling breath.
Lucian had slid backwards, trying to keep himself between the monster and his sister, who was shaking horribly.
Behind her, Amelie could hear Polly whimper and it didn't take her even a second to understand that it was the cloaked apparition's doing. Anger flared up inside her, the likes of which she hadn't felt since their confrontation with the fraud Gilderoy Lockhart. Grasping her wand tightly, she placed herself in front of the creature.
"Oi!"
The creature turned its 'head' towards her, and for just a moment it seemed almost confused.
"I don' care who or whot you are, but 'm not lettin' you do that to my friend! Get out!" Amelie raised her wand threateningly, racking her brain for any kind of spell that could help her against what appeared like a poltergeist in a black bed-sheet.
For its part, the creature appeared irritated at her disruption. It shifted its body as if trying to get around her.
Just as Amelie readied herself to try the Knockback Jinx, a voice somewhere farther down the corridor shouted, "Expecto Patronum!"
A blinding wave of light surged through the train and Amelie cried out, shutting her eyes against the unbearable brightness. The spell hit her like a gust of wind, knocking her off balance and onto her knees. Bright spots were dancing behind her closed eye-lids and she felt her head pounding.
Gritting her teeth, she rose shakily to her feet, trying to squint through the pain in her eyes to find the creature again. As her vision returned, she saw that the corridor was empty.
Slowly, the sounds of the people around them started picking up. There were shouts and nervous talking in the compartments left and right. Somewhere ahead, she could hear doors opening.
A hand landed on Amelie's shoulder and she flinched, whipping around and almost losing the grip on her wand.
"You alright?" Lucian asked. His face was as pale as her own and there were beads of sweat on his forehead. Behind him, Cecilia was glancing back and forth between them, the fear still visible on her face.
Amelie nodded and quickly turned to check on Polly. Her fellow Hufflepuff was taking slow, deep breaths and somewhere underneath, Amelie could hear her thumping heart-beat.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just... need a moment." She swallowed and rubbed her arms, as if trying to get some feeling back into them. Amelie sat down and put a hand on her shoulder.
A glance across the room told her that Cecilia had fared no better. While Lucian was quietly talking to her, she was wiping at her face with the sleeves of her robe.
With a faint 'clink' the lamps sprung back to life, lighting up the compartment and the corridor outside. The sound of voices increased and there were footsteps, walking up and down the train.
While carefully rubbing Polly's shoulder, Amelie turned towards the older Slytherin and asked, "What was that?"
"A Dementor." His jaw was clenched and when he saw her questioning look, he drew in a sharp breath and explained, "They're creatures that feed on emotions and are drawn to misery. They are supposedly guarding Azkaban."
Amelie felt her stomach clench up. Those things were prison guards?
"But why are they here? And why did it do... that to us?"
Lucian stared into space, his knuckles turning white as the grip on his wand tightened. He suddenly shot to his feet, barely concealed fury pulling at his face.
"Those bastards sent them in here to look for Sirius Black!"
Lucian started at the ground, clenching and unclenching his hand, before turning towards the door again.
"I'm going to see who's still there," he growled. "Stay here and don't do anything!"
While not exactly thrilled to be told to stay put, Amelie nodded, even as Lucian mustered her with a vaguely suspicious look. Pocketing his wand, he stomped off down the corridor.
On the seat next to Amelie, Polly heaved a deep sigh and straightened up, turning to face her and showing a weak smile.
"Thanks. I think I'm okay now."
Amelie beamed, before turning to the third person in their compartment.
"Uhm, Cecilia? Everything alright?"
The Slytherin girl still looked shaken, her eyes red and her hair tousled. Amelie was almost sure she'd be ignored again, but after a moment Cecilia spoke up.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Her voice sounded slightly hoarse. Cecilia's eyes lingered on Amelie and she seemed to be fighting with herself. Eventually, she opened her mouth again and asked, "How did you stop that Dementor?"
"Uh, I'm... not really sure. Maybe I was just so angry and its, well, presence didn't really take."
It was an incredibly lame excuse, but the best Amelie could come up with. In truth, she had no idea why the creature's strange, oppressive aura had not affected her. For all the possible reasons, Amelie assumed the likeliest one started with a 'v' and rhymed with 'campfire'.
Cecilia didn't appear particularly satisfied with her answer, but before she could probe further, the train began moving with a jolt that shook them in their seats.
No more than half a minute later, the door opened again and Lucian returned. He dropped into his seat, but kept an eye on the corridor.
"What did you find out?" Amelie asked.
"Nothing," he replied with a grimace, "There was some talking and shouting outside, but they locked all the exits. Then we started moving again."
He leaned back with a sigh. "Doesn't look like anyone's been kissed, at least."
Three pairs of eyes gave him three looks with varying degrees of confusion and incredulousness.
Lucian scoffed. "It's not what you think. The Dementors, what they can do is something that basically sucks someone's soul out, leaving them an empty husk. They call that the Dementor's Kiss."
The icy grip in her stomach tightened again and Amelie could only stare in shock at Lucian.
From the seat by the window, Polly blurted angrily, "They have these demons that eat feelings and devour the souls of their victims, and they send them into a train full of students?!"
Lucian only stared into space, his jaw set. "Someone's going to burn for this."