"Where's Sarah?" I asked

"Oh she's got a compartment with her friends" said Amy.

'No one knows how he got out of Azkaban,' said Ron uncomfortably. 'No one's ever done it before. And he was a top-security prisoner, too.'

'But they'll catch him, won't they? ' said Hermione earnestly. 'I mean, they've got all the Muggles looking out for him, too …'

'What's that noise?' said Ron suddenly. A faint, tinny sort of whistle was coming from somewhere. We looked all around the compartment.

'It's coming from your trunk, Harry' said Ron, standing up and reaching into the luggage rack.

A moment later he had pulled the Pocket Sneakoscope out from between Harry's robes. It was spinning very fast in the palm of Ron's hand, and glowing brilliantly.

'Is that a Sneakoscope?'said Hermione interestedly, standing up for a better look.

'Yeah … mind you, it's a very cheap one,' Ron said.

"Which is no surprise, considering you're a Weasley" said a sneering voice. We all looked around and saw none other than Lillian Avery, flanked by Calo Mulciber and Aries Yaxley, standing in our now open compartment doorway.

I stood up.

"What the fuck do you three want?!" I demanded

"Oh nothing, only to tell Bagman here that she might lose someone close to home soon" said Avery

And with a smug look at a very confused Amy, they left.

"Any idea what she meant by that?" asked Demelza, as I closed the door and sat back down.

"Nope, but it's certainly worrying" replied Amy

"Anyway, this went haywire just as I was tying it to the hotel owl to send it to Harry" continued Ron

'Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?' said Hermione shrewdly.

'No! I've got no idea why it was going off so much!'

'Stick it back in the trunk,' Harry advised, as the Sneakoscope whistled piercingly, 'or it'll wake him up.'

He nodded towards Professor Lupin. Ron stuffed the Sneakoscope into a particularly horrible pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks, which deadened the sound, then closed the lid of the trunk on it.

Harry, Ron and Hermione than had a brief conversation about Hogsmeade, which made Demelza, Amy and I somewhat jealous as we still couldn't go. Harry revealed that he couldn't go due to the Dursleys and Fudge not signing his form, which made us feel somewhat better, me especially, as that meant I would get a chance to spend some more time with Harry. I was really hoping to step up my friendship with him this year and get it moving towards something more, and that would give me extra opportunities to do so.

Hermione then let out her cat, Crookshanks, which made an attempt to get at Ron's rat, Scabbers, who was asleep in Ron's pocket. Ron forced the cat away, which led to he and Hermione both raising their voices and almost waking up Professor Lupin.

At this point, the compartment door opened again, and Luna was standing there, looking as odd as usual.

"Hey guys" she said to us

"Hey Luna" said Demelza "how was Greenland, did you find any Obbsgurgs?"

"No, sadly not. It seems like Daddy and I arrived just after the wave of sightings ended. Still, I enjoyed it. Hey, Ginny, did you like my birthday present?"

I bit my lip. I wasn't sure if I should be honest with Luna or not.

"Uhh, yeah, it was great, Luna, thanks!" I said eventually "You've really opened my eyes to the existence of these things now!"

"Brilliant!" she replied "Anyway, I'll see you guys later"

And she left, closing the door behind her.

"Were you being serious there?" asked Demelza

"No of course not, but you always say I should humour her"

"Umm, that wasn't Loony Lovegood was it?" said Ron

"Luna!" said Demelza fiercely to Ron "and she's one of my best friends, so I'm not gonna have you shit talking her!"

"I'll talk about her how I bloody well like!" responded Ron "and she is loony, with all the stuff she believes in, I don't know how you can take her seriously for one second, let alone being friends with her. Her dad edits that trash magazine the Quibbler, I mean come on, they're crazy, the Lovegoods, I'd stay well clear, if I were you"

"And I'd keep my mouth shut if I knew what was good for myself, if I were you!"

"Guys, please, stop!" I interrupted

"Demelza, you're not exactly sticking to your own point of not waking him up" I said, pointing at Lupin, "and Ron, if you think that way about any of our friends, please keep it to yourself"

"As if you'd do that in regards to any of mine" he replied

I just ignored him at this point, I couldn't be bothered to continue the conversation

The Hogwarts Express moved steadily north and the scenery outside our window became wilder and darker while the clouds overhead thickened. People were chasing backwards and forwards past the door of our compartment. Crookshanks had now settled in an empty seat, his squashed face turned towards Ron, his yellow eyes on Ron's top pocket. At one o'clock the plump witch with the food trolley arrived at the compartment door.

'D'you think we should wake him up?' Ron asked awkwardly, nodding towards Professor Lupin. 'He looks like he could do with some food.'

Hermione approached Professor Lupin cautiously. 'Er – Professor?' she said. 'Excuse me – Professor?' He didn't move.

'Don't worry, dear,' said the witch, as she handed Harry a large stack of cauldron cakes. 'If he's hungry when he wakes, I'll be up front with the driver.'

'I suppose he is asleep?' said Ron quietly, as the witch slid the compartment door closed. 'I mean – he hasn't died, has he?'

'No, no, he's breathing,' whispered Hermione, taking the cauldron cake Harry passed her.

He might not be very good company, but Professor Lupin's presence in their compartment had its uses.

Mid-afternoon, just as it had started to rain, blurring the rolling hills outside the window, we heard footsteps in the corridor again, and another three of our least favourite people appeared at the door: Draco Malfoy, flanked by his cronies, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. Draco Malfoy and Harry had been enemies ever since they had met on their very first train journey to Hogwarts. Malfoy, who had a pale, pointed, sneering face, was in Slytherin house; he played Seeker on the Slytherin Quidditch first team, the same position that Harry played on the Gryffindor first team.

Crabbe and Goyle seemed to exist to do Malfoy's bidding. They were both wide and muscly; Crabbe was the taller, with a pudding-basin haircut and a very thick neck; Goyle had short, bristly hair and long, gorilla arms.

'Well, look who it is,' said Malfoy in his usual lazy drawl, pulling open the compartment door. 'Potty and the Weasel.' Crabbe and Goyle chuckled trollishly.

'I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley,' said Malfoy. 'Did your mother die of shock?'

Ron stood up so quickly he knocked Crookshanks' basket to the floor, and it took all of my self control not to join him. Professor Lupin gave a snort.

'Who's that?' said Malfoy, taking an automatic step backwards as he spotted Lupin.

'New teacher,' said Harry, who had got to his feet, too. 'What were you saying, Malfoy?'

Malfoy's pale eyes narrowed; he wasn't fool enough to pick a fight right under a teacher's nose.

'C'mon,' he muttered resentfully to Crabbe and Goyle, and they disappeared. Harry and Ron sat down again, Ron massaging his knuckles.

'I'm not going to take any rubbish from Malfoy this year,' he said angrily. 'I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I'm going to get hold of his head and –' Ron made a violent gesture in mid-air.

'Ron,' hissed Hermione, pointing at Professor Lupin, 'be careful …'

But Professor Lupin was still fast asleep. The rain thickened as the train sped yet further north; the windows were now a solid, shimmering grey, which gradually darkened until lanterns flickered into life all along the corridors and over the luggage racks. The train rattled, the rain hammered, the wind roared, but still, Professor Lupin slept.

'We must be nearly there,' said Ron, leaning forward to look past Professor Lupin at the now completely black window. The words had hardly left him when the train started to slow down.

'Brilliant,' said Ron, getting up and walking carefully past Professor Lupin to try and see outside. 'I'm starving, I want to get to the feast …'

'We can't be there yet,'said Hermione, checking her watch.

'So why're we stopping?' The train was getting slower and. slower.. As the noise of the pistons fell away, the wind and rain sounded louder than ever against the windows. Harry, who was nearest the door, got up to look into the corridor.

The train came to a stop with a jolt and distant thuds and bangs told them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then, without warning, all the lamps went out and we were plunged into total darkness.

'What's going on?' said Ron's voice from behind Harry.

'Ouch!' gasped Hermione. 'Ron, that was my foot!'

'D'you think we've broken down?' said Harry.

'Dunno …' There was a squeaking sound, and I saw the dim black outline of Ron, wiping a patch clean on the window and peering out.

'There's something moving out there,' Ron said. 'I think people are coming aboard …'

The compartment door suddenly opened and someone fell painfully over Harry's legs.

'Sorry! D'you know what's going on? Ouch! Sorry –'

'Hullo, Neville,' said Harry, feeling around in the dark and pulling Neville up by his cloak.

'Harry? Is that you? What's happening?'

'No idea! Sit down –' There was a loud hissing and a yelp of pain; Neville had tried to sit on Crookshanks.

'I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on,' came Hermione's voice. We heard the door slide open again and then a thud and two loud squeals of pain.

'Who's that?'

'Who's that?'

'Luna?'

'Hermione?'

'What are you doing?'

'I was looking for Demelza –'

'Come in and sit down –'

'Not here!' said Harry hurriedly. 'I'm here!'

'Ouch!' said Neville.

'Quiet!' said a hoarse voice suddenly

Professor Lupin appeared to have woken up at last. We could hear movements in his corner. None of them spoke. There was a soft, crackling noise and a shivering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames. They illuminated his tired grey face, but his eyes looked alert and wary.

'Stay where you are,' he said, in the same hoarse voice, and he got slowly to his feet with his handful of fire held out in front of him.

But the door slid slowly open before Lupin could reach it. Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the shivering flames in Lupin's hand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. My eyes darted downwards, and what I saw made his stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, greyish, slimy-looking and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water … It was visible only for a split second.

The creature's hand was suddenly withdrawn into the folds of the black material. And then the thing beneath the hood, whatever it was, drew a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it was trying to suck something more than air from its surroundings. An intense cold swept over us all. I felt my breath catch in my chest. The cold went deeper than my skin. It was inside my chest, it was inside my very heart …

I suddenly saw flashes of the worst moments of my life playing over and over before me, I felt like this was it, that I was doomed to misery, that I'd never be happy again. I heard someone fall down to the ground.

At that point, Lupin stood up and raised his wand.

"None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go"

It didn't move.

"Fine" said Lupin "Expecto Patronum"

Something silver shot out of his wand, and the thing was forced away.

The lights turned on, and the train began to move again. I felt somewhat normal again, though I was still very shaken, and the train started moving.

Then we saw who was on the floor. It was Harry, rigid and twitching.