I do not own Harry Potter nor World of Darkness

King's Cross, London, 1st September 1993 (Wednesday)

Harry's experiment to cut down on Vitae had been a complete disaster. After skipping just two days, he had suffered the most terrible stomach pain he had ever felt in his life, leaving him writhing on the bed and barely able to move. When Theo force-fed him the Vitae he had received via ow into his throat, the pain disappeared the instant the red liquid slid down into his stomach.

It was at that moment that the two boys came to the horrifying realization that Harry was now completely addicted. Unless they somehow found a cure-all or another way to get a steady supply of vampiric Vitae, Harry had no way to escape Zettler's influence. The following days were spent scouring the Nott's family library for dark tomes and forbidden books, but even the extensive collection of a notoriously dark family wasn't enough to give the two the slightest idea where to even start looking for Vitae. Apparently, according to many 'experts' on the subject, vampire's blood was 'magically inert', making it, in the words of the authors, utterly worthless.

Leaving the grim truth of his situation behind for the time being, Harry and Theo had met up with Ron, Daphne, Hermione and Sally on the Hogwarts Express and the group was now looking for a free compartment, chatting about their summer while trying to keep Harry's condition hidden.

Ron had been awed by his trip to Egypt and was telling about Fred and George tried to lock Percy in a pyramid as a joke when they finally found a compartment with only one occupant: a man wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard's robes that had been darned in several places sitting fast asleep next to the window.

The group paused: the Hogwarts Express was reserved for students and they had never seen an adult there before, with the only exception being the witch who pushed the food cart.

"Who d'you reckon he is?"

"Professor R. J. Lupin," whispered Hermione.

"How d'you know that?"

"It's on his case," she replied, pointing at the luggage rack over the man's head.

"The new DADA professor? - asked Theo - he looks… shabby."

"R. J. Lupin… Remus Lupin?" wondered Harry.

Under the questioning gaze of his friends, he pulled out the picture book he had received for Christmas, showing the others a picture of a younger, much better kept, Professor Lupin hanging out with Harry's father and a smiling Sirius Black.

Ron whistled.

"Blimey. Your dad was best friends with our new professor and a mass murderer?"

"So it seems." said Harry, closing the book.

"Well, I hope he's up to the job. - said Sally doubtfully. - He looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn't he?"

"Maybe he was hunting dark creatures on the way. I mean… have you heard about the new anti-werewolf laws? They are so strict that daddy said the werewolves are almost in open revolt. They're expecting Greyback's pack to start attacking people in the streets."

"Perhaps they'll put them down for good this time." muttered Harry under his breath.

The door slid open.

"Well, look who it is - said Malfoy in his usual lazy drawl - The House traitors 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 Hermione's bag to the floor. Professor Lupin gave a snort.

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

"New teacher," said Harry, pulling Ron back to his seat.

"What were you saying, Malfoy?"

Malfoy's pale eyes narrowed.

"C'mon." he muttered resentfully to Crabbe and Goyle, and they disappeared.

"Can someone explain to me how these three ended up in the house of the cunning?" asked Daphne.

"Sorting hat must have had a stroke that day." commented Harry, forcing a giggle out of Hermione and a curious look from the others.

They spent the next few minutes explaining what a stroke was, then resumed their conversation about their summer.

The rain thickened as the train sped yet farther north; the windows were now a solid, shimmering gray, which gradually darkened until lanterns flickered into life all along the corridors and over the luggage racks. Then, the train started to slow down.

"Great. - said Ron, getting up. - I'm starving. I want to get to the feast…"

"We can't be there yet, we're almost one hour early!" said Hermione, checking her watch.

"So why're we stopping?"

The train came to a stop with a jolt, shortly followed by the distant thuds og luggages falling out of the racks. Then, without warning, all the lamps went out and they were plunged into total darkness.

"What's going on?"

"Ouch! Ron, that was my foot!"

"Lumos!"

Daphne's wand light illuminated the compartment.

"Do you think we've broken down?"

"How can a train that works four days a year break down?"

"Lack of maintenance, maybe?"

"There's something moving out there. - Ron said, his face glued to the window to see what was going on outside. - I think people are coming aboard."

They paused, trying to move closer to the window and see what was going on, but their own breaths bleared the window, making it impossible for them to see.

"I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on." declared Hermione.

"Sit down and be quiet." said a hoarse voice suddenly.

Professor Lupin appeared to have woken up. His tired, gray 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 wand out in front of him. The door slid slowly open before Lupin could reach it: standing in the doorway, illuminated by the shivering light of Daphne's wand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling, its face completely hidden beneath its hood. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead and decayed. As the thing beneath the hood drew a long, slow, rattling breath, an intense cold swept over them all. Harry felt his own breath catch in his chest. Kaa hissed, widening his wings and showing his fangs at the creature.

Harry's eyes rolled up into his head. There was a rushing in his ears as though of water. He was being dragged downward... and suddenly a thick white fog was swirling around him.

"Harry! Harry! Are you all right?"

Someone was slapping his face.

"W… what?"

Harry opened his eyes; there were lanterns above him, and the floor was shaking: the Hogwarts Express was moving again. He seemed to have slid out of his seat onto the floor. His friends were kneeling next to him, and above them he could see Professor Lupin watching.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked nervously.

"Yeah. - said Harry, looking quickly toward the door. - What happened? Where's that… that thing?"

Professor Lupin broke a large slab of chocolate, the loud snapping attracting their attention.

"Here. - he said, handing him a particularly large piece. - Eat it. It'll help."

Harry took the chocolate.

"What was that thing?"

"A dementor. - said Lupin, giving chocolate to everyone else. - One of the dementors of Azkaban."

Professor Lupin crumpled up the empty chocolate wrapper and put it in his pocket.

"I need to speak to the driver, excuse me."

He strolled past Harry and disappeared into the corridor.

"Are you sure you're okay, Harry?"

"I don't get it… What happened?"

"Well… that thing…" started Ron, only to be cut off by Sally.

"The dementor looked around and you went stiff, fell out of your seat and started twitching. Professor Lupin stepped over you and he said 'None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go.' When the dementor didn't move, he shot something out of his wand, and it turned around and sort of glided away... "

Professor Lupin had come back.

"We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes. Are you all right, Harry?"

"I'm fine." he muttered, a bit embarrassed by the event.

They didn't talk much during the remainder of the journey. At long last, the train stopped at Hogsmeade station, and there was a great scramble to get outside; owls hooted, cats meowed, and Neville's pet toad croaked loudly from under his hat.

"Firs' years this way!" called a familiar voice. Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned and saw the gigantic outline of Hagrid at the other end of the platform, beckoning the terrified-looking new students forward. They spotted a young witch, almost an exact copy of Daphne, waving at them.

"That's your sister, right?" asked Ron.

"Astoria." said Daphne with a hint of a smile.

They followed the rest of the school along the platform and out onto a rough mud track, where the stagecoaches awaited the remaining students.

"You fainted, Potter? Is Longbottorn telling the truth? You actually fainted?"

Malfoy elbowed past Hermione to block Harry's way up the stone steps to the castle, his face gleeful and his pale eyes glinting maliciously.

"Shove off, Malfoy." said Ron, whose jaw was clenched.

"Did you faint as well, Weasley? - said Malfoy loudly. - Did the scary old dementor frighten you too, Weasley?"

"Is there a problem?" said a mild voice.

Professor Lupin had just gotten out of the next carriage and Malfoy gave him an insolent stare.

"Oh, no… er… Professor," he said with a tiny hint of sarcasm in his voice.

The door into the Great Hall stood open at the right

"Potter! I want to see you!"

Harry turned around, surprised to see Professor Pomfrey talking to him. At a loss as to what to do, he followed her into the Hospital.

"Professor Lupin sent an owl ahead to say that you were taken ill on the train, Potter. I suppose you've been doing something dangerous? What did you do?"

"It was a dementor. I'm fine, Professor."

"Well, you should have some chocolate, at the very least." said the healer, wand emitting a faint glow as she slowly moved it across Harry's body.

"I've already had some. Professor Lupin gave it to all of us."

"Did he, now? - said Madam Pomfrey approvingly. - So we've finally got a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who knows his remedies?"

Harry shrugged, waiting for the professor to finish and put her wand away.

"Can I go now?"

"Very well. We can go down to the feast now."

The Great hall was a sea of pointed black hats; each of the long House tables was lined with students, their faces glimmering by the light of thousands of candles floating in midair.

People looked around at them as they passed along the back of the hall, and a few of them pointed at Harry. Had the story of his collapsing traveled that fast?

He sat down next to Daphne, who had saved up two spots on either side of her, one for Harry and one for, presumably, her sister.

"What was all that about?" asked Theo.

"Just a checkup." said Harry as the sorting started. Harry noticed how the number of students was much greater than during his year. If he remembered correctly, his year had roughly forty students, but this year they were getting close to one hundred.

"Greengrass, Astoria!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

A wave of applause accompanied the younger Greengrass sister to the Slytherin table.

The two sisters hugged each other, and a smiling Astoria was soon introduced to everyone.

"Welcome! - said Dumbledore, the candlelight shimmering on his beard. - Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast. As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business. They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises. It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the Prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors."

Dumbledore paused again.

"On a happier note - he continued - I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. As to our second new appointment, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

There was a thunderous applause that forced Dumbledore to pause his speech and wait for the students to calm down.

"Well, I think that's everything of importance. Let the feast begin!"

Divination tower, Hogwarts, 2nd September 1993 (Thursday)

Ron, Hermione and Sally climbed the last few steps and emerged onto a tiny landing, where most of their Divination class was already assembled. There were no doors off this landing, but Ron pointed at the ceiling towards a circular trapdoor.

"How're we supposed to get up there?"

As though in answer to his question, the trapdoor suddenly opened, and a silvery ladder descended right at Sally's feet. Everyone got quiet.

"After you." said Ron, grinning.

Sally frowned, jokingly shoving Ron to the side as she climbed up and emerged into the strangest-looking classroom she had ever seen, more like a cross between someone's attic and an old-fashioned tea shop. At least twenty small, circular tables were crammed inside it, all surrounded by armchairs and fat little poufs. Everything was lit with a dim, crimson light and the many lamps were draped with dark red scarves. A voice came suddenly out of the shadows, a soft, misty sort of voice.

"Welcome. - it said. - How nice to see you in the physical world at last."

Professor Trelawney moved into the light, showing her emancipated frame, her large glasses that magnified her eyes to several times their size. Innumerable chains and beads hung around her spindly neck, and her arms and hands were encrusted with bangles and rings.

"Sit, my children, sit. Welcome to Divination. - said Professor Trelawney, who had seated herself in a winged armchair in front of the fire. - My name is Professor Trelawney. You may not have seen me before, I find that descending too often into the hustle and bustle of the main school clouds my Inner Eye."

She delicately rearranged her shawl and continued.

"So you have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you. Books can take you only so far in this field."

At these words, both Sally and Ron glanced, grinning, at a scowling Hermione.

"Many witches and wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearances, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future. It is a gift granted to few. We will be covering the basic methods of Divination this year. The first term will be devoted to reading the tea leaves. Next term we shall progress to palmistry. In the second term we shall progress to the crystal ball… if we have finished with fire omens, that is. Unfortunately, classes will be disrupted in February by a nasty bout of flu. I myself will lose my voice. And around Easter, one of our numbers will leave us forever."

A very tense silence followed this pronouncement, but Professor Trelawney seemed unaware of it.

"I wonder, dear - she said to Lavender Brown, who shrank back in her chair. - if you could pass me the largest silver teapot?"

Lavender, looking relieved, stood up, took an enormous teapot from the shelf, and put it down on the table in front of Professor Trelawney.

"Thank you, my dear. Incidentally, that thing you are dreading… it will happen on Friday the sixteenth of October."

Lavender trembled.

"Now, I want you all to divide into pairs. Collect a teacup from the shelf, come to me, and I will fill it. Then sit down and drink, drink until only the dregs remain. Swill these around the cup three times with the left hand, then turn the cup upside down on its saucer, wait for the last of the tea to drain away, then give your cup to your partner to read. You will interpret the patterns using pages five and six of Unfogging the Future. I shall move among you, helping and instructing. Oh, and dear - she caught Neville by the arm as he made to stand up - after you've broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue patterned ones? I'm rather attached to the pink."

Sure enough, Neville had no sooner reached the shelf of teacups when there was a tinkle of breaking china.

Sally and Hermione drank their tea quickly. They swilled the dregs around as Professor Trelawney had instructed, then drained the cups and swapped over.

"Right. - said Hermione as they both opened their books at pages five and six. - What can you see in mine?"

"Broaden your minds, my dears, and allow your eyes to see past the mundane!" Professor Trelawney cried through the gloom.

"You've got a crooked sort of cross... that means you're going to have 'trials and suffering', no surprise there with all the electives you took… there's a thing that could be the sun... that means 'great happiness'... so you're going to suffer but be very happy… I think."

"My turn… Hermione peered into Sally's teacup, her forehead wrinkled with effort. "There's a blob a bit like a bowler hat… maybe you're going to work for the Ministry of Magic… - she turned the teacup the other way up. - But this way it looks more like an acorn... What's that?"

She scanned her copy of Unfogging the Future.

"'A windfall, unexpected gold.'... and there's a thin, here - she turned the cup again - that looks like an animal... yeah, if that was its head... it looks like a hippo... no, a sheep..."

Professor Trelawney whirled around as Hermione struggled to identify the animal.

"Let me see that, my dear. - she said to Hermione, sweeping over and gently grabbing her cup. Everyone went quiet to watch. - The skull... danger in your path, my dear."

She lowered her huge eyes to Sally's cup and continued to turn it.

"The pineapple'... oh no. Dear, dear, this is not a happy cup…"

Sally turned crimson as the other students were sifting through the book to decipher the prophecy, before looking at her with an odd mixture of feelings. Pineapples were used to symbolize sterility, after all.

"I thought that was a bowler hat." whispered Hermione sheepishly, after Professor Trelawney had gotten up and moved to the next student. She examined the cup a bit more closely.

"I don't think it looks like a pineapple." she said flatly, barely loud enough for the Professor to overhear her. She didn't respond, but surveyed Hermione with mounting dislike.

Ron was tilting his head from side to side.

"It looks like a pineapple if you do this. - he said, with his eyes almost shut - but it looks more like a donkey from here," he said, leaning to the left.

"Have you finished deciding whether I'm infertile or not!?" said Sally, taking back her cup in an embarrassed and annoyed tone.

Notes

100 Followers! I can't believe this many of you stuck around for this slow-burn story of mine. I'm glad to hear you liked it enough to follow the updates and hope I'll continue to craft a story y'all enjoy reading

Eary chapter this week! As of tomorrow, I'll be on a small improvised trip to visit my family and wil not have access to my PC, so this chapter will come out a bit sooner. Next week we'll resume the regular schedule

Vitae withdrawal symptoms are pretty severe, it's not something to be toyed around...

Meet the Dementors and professor Lupin! Nothing realy changed from canon so far, so... yeah, we keep things on track.

Astoria makes her appearance! I don't think she'll have much of a role in the story, but she's here anyway. Considering Daphne's role, I felt like not even mentioning her would be an oversight on my part.

First lesson with Trelawney! And Harry's not here?! (Harry took Muggle Studies, Care for Magical Creatures, Ancient Runes and Ancient Studies)
I personaly never understood the fandom hating on Treawney: she might not be all there in the head, but... every single prediction she makes in the books (at least until the point in book 5 I read while writing this story) is accurate. Yes, I know McGonagall hates Divination, but... that's not an excuse to dismiss the subject. I hate math, but that doesn't mean math ain't real!

You got a bit of a glimpse into Sally's future and, like all good prophecy, the truth isn't as obvious as it may appear at first glance. I'm sure haf of you have aready figured out the answer and the other half will go 'oh, in hindsight that was pretty obvious' when they figure it out.

I know nothing really happened in this chapter, but bear with me. After all, I gotta set up the scene before anything cool happends...

See you next week for Zapathasura waking up and destroying Hogwarts! (I'm joking, we all know Zapathasura wakes up on June 28 1999)