Ria rushed towards the train, pushing her trolley through the crowd of people. Her gaze would flicker towards Cassie's cage once in a while to see if she was doing alright. She had been hissing at people since they had arrived there.

"You've taken everything, right? Your Nimbus, Hogsmeade form, books.."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah—" she said, hurriedly kissing her mother's cheek before she boarded on. They were a bit late; Ria had panicked and gotten into a disagreement with her mother when she found out her guitar hadn't arrived yet. It was supposed to be back last night.

"Mum, why's it taking so long to fix?" She asked. "I really wanted to take it with me."

"I know, hon. I just thought it would be better if we have it polished too. It's been years, after all.." her mother answered.

Though Bella was happy.. Ria was finally thinking of playing Daniel's guitar again. She hadn't since the day he had left: not out of interest, at least. She had learnt to play so she could keep it with her, and not send it back.

But for the past few days now.. every time she looked at it, her hands itched to play.

"It'll be back before you know.. I promise. Take care, yeah?" Isabella smiled, and she returned it.

Now she turned towards Harry. "You too, Harry, take care. And please, write back to my letters. Let me know is anything happens.. alright?" She said, a bit concerned with the entire Sirius Black incident.

"I will, Isabella." He said truthfully. "Thank you for everything."

The woman smiled, patting his cheek fondly. They finally waved goodbye to her and proceeded inside in hopes to find a compartment. Cedric had already left for his friends, Fred and George had separated too, and so had Ginny.

Ria looked at Harry. "Right, I'll see you later—"

"What?" He said, softly grabbing her arm to stop her. "I thought you were sitting with m— us." He wondered why he had stuttered.

"Oh.. actually I told Sophie I'd come find her." She shrugged. "But I promise, I'll join you later." She said, pinching his cheek before she walked away, and though Harry swatted her hand away, he kept smiling.

It didn't take long to find Sophie, and when she did, she wasn't surprised to find her sitting with Theodore and Blaise.

Upon noticing her, Sophie grinned, Blaise gave her a small smile, while Theodore just turned to the window after one short glance. Ria raised an eyebrow, taking a seat right in front of him. She opened the cage and let Cassie out, who immediately secured a spot on her lap.

"Hey there, Theodore." She spoke. "How was your summer?"

He shrugged. "It was alright." That was all he said.

She glanced at Sophie, who returned the same look. Clearly, Theodore still wasn't very happy with the Spider-Man incident.

"Just.. alright?" She asked. "Nothing new that you did? Perhaps, got a new hobby.. or some new experience?"

"No."

Ria glared at him with half-lidded eyes. She really gave her precious comic book to him, huh?

She pinched his forearm, making him squeal. "You little— You didn't read it, did you?"

"Ow.. what's your problem?" He hissed, soothing the reddened skin. "I'll do whatever the fuck I want with my summer. And yeah— I didn't want that Muggle comic anyway." He said, his face contorted into disgust.

"Oh.." she said, almost taunting him. Sophie and Blaise looked at each other, quietly deciding that it was better to stay out of their argument.

"Oh, is that it? You were practically begging me to give it to you when you knew absolutely nothing about it, but the moment I said 'Muggle comic', you suddenly changed your mind?" She chuckled sarcastically. "God, Nott! You're such a sore loser!"

"Like— you're so boring! Both of you!" She looked at Blaise, who gave her a questioning look.

"Me?" He asked, resting his hand on his chest like he was genuinely offended. "What did I do?"

But Ria didn't answer him. "I love how you just saw a fictional man with spider powers and just went 'Oh, cool. He's a wizard with unique abilities'." She said, her tone laced with sarcasm. "And now that you find out he's a Muggle, you lose interest.."

"What's your point?" He shook his head.

Ria pursed her lips. He seriously was not getting her.

"My point is.. how does him being a Muggle not excite you more than him being a wizard does?" She asked, eyes twinkling with curiosity. "Come on! Didn't you ever get curious as to how he got those powers? And no—" she cut Blaise off before he could give the obvious answer. "He's not a Muggle who stole a wizard's power. For Merlin's sake, Muggles don't know Wizards exist in real life, you dumb-arses."

There was a small pause: a silence, where the two genuinely thought about it. Sophie inspected Ria's face. She could tell she was dying to say this to the two of them. She also knew insulting the Muggles in front of Asteria resulted in trouble. Ria was raised among them, after all. It was obvious that she'd find fidelity in them.

"Well.. now that I think about it—"

"See?" She couldn't stop herself from cutting Theo off. "There's so much you could learn if you'd just let go of your fucking pride and ego."

She checked her wristwatch. It had been only some minutes since they had left the platform. "Alright, we have nine hours.. and I have so much to—"

"Woah, woah!" Blaise interrupted before she could drag them down the rabbit hole. "Hold on. Calm down, Asteria.."

"Alright. Let me get this straight. We have no interest in listening to you." He answered, his tone dead serious.

Ria frowned. "But—"

"Yeah— Yeah, right." Theodore nodded. "Don't you think we should be able to decide if we want to listen or not?" He asked.

Honestly.. he thought. Father had asked me to pull her to our side. Not jump with her to the other end.

"Well.. but that way you won't listen at all.." said Ria, her tone of defeat.

"Exactly." Blaise smiled blankly. "Us willingly listening to your rambling about Muggles is just as impossible as Snape deducting House points from Slytherin." The boys chuckled at the statement. Clearly, the latter half was just as impossible as the first half.

But Asteria's mouth was left slightly agape. She rewinded the tape in her head and played the sentence again.

A grin adorned her face. "Challenge accepted!"

Oh, she had been waiting for her Barney Stinson moment.

Not that she had really watched the show, but it was her mother's favourite.

Sophie rested her palm against her mouth, laughing. She didn't know why, but she had kind of expected this behaviour from her.

The smiles on Theodore's and Blaise's faces dropped. They couldn't tell if she was serious or not. But then, they saw the resolve on her face.

Shit.

"Wait— hey— it wasn't really a challenge—" Blaise tried to explain, but Ria chose to ignore.

"So if I get Snape to deduct points from our House, you'll listen to whatever I tell you about the Muggle world? Sounds like a fair deal to me!"

"I never said that—"

"Deal." She cut him off yet again, by shaking hands with him and Theodore. "And that means you'll listen to whatever I say, do whatever I ask you to and come with me wherever I want. Sophie, you're the witness of this deal."

"Okay." She chirped, a bit excited. Honestly, she wouldn't mind going along with them. She'd love to know more about the Muggle world from someone like Ria.

"Oi, oi! What the—"

"Honestly." The door slid open, and two unpleasant faces stared back at the four. Two of them rolled their eyes, two of them resisted. "Could you keep it down? It's too early for.. whatever you are fighting about."

Ria stared in question as the blonde boy walked in and sat beside Theodore, right in front of Sophie. He quickly caught her gaze.

"What?" asked Malfoy.

"Uh— Who invited you?" She asked, pretty straightforward.

"Come on, Edwards," said Parkinson, sliding beside Sophie. And she subconsciously shifted away. "There's no reason to be rude, now, is it?"

The blue-eyed girl pursed her lips in disbelief. Seriously? Doesn't matter that it was almost noon, it was still too early for this shit.

"You didn't answer my question." She retorted.

"We did." answered Theodore. "We invited them."

Ria raised an eyebrow, but did not make any comment. Well, it wasn't like she could ask them to leave now.

Almost immediately, the blonde started talking about how his father had brought a new House-elf home. It wasn't something to brag about; thought Ria. She ignored him, kept herself busy with petting Cassie and glancing at Sophie (who was reading a book) every once in a while. She didn't seem to care what the other four did.

Though she could obviously hear their words.. Pansy talking about how her single father had unexpectedly remarried. She now had a step-sister that she apparently did not like that much.

Theodore hadn't said that much.. he hadn't had a very eventful summer. All he had done was attend the annual Ball that Blaise's mother hosted.

Speaking of which..

She was now on her sixth husband. Her fifth husband had died around February due to mysterious reasons, and again, had left his wealth to them. Ria and Sophie had nonchalantly exchanged looks at this information. They had discussed this exactly a year ago, during their journey to Hogwarts.

"How about you?" The question took the two girls by surprise. They stared at Malfoy, then at each other.

Was he being... friendly?

Ew.

Just as Ria opened her mouth to taunt him, Sophie answered: "Well.. we went to Arizona to meet my parents and my brother. And we came back with a bunch of baby Thunderbirds. My grandfather's going to take care of them until they're strong enough to be released in the wild again."

Draco nodded, seeming slightly impressed. And then, he looked at Asteria.

It was enough to irritate her. She was looking at him as if he had just tried to drink soup with a fork. Why was he being friendly?

"I— uh— Sophie showed me some of Mr. Scamander's Magical Creatures. It was fun. I learned baking.. And my Mum, Harry and I, we went to the movie theatre for Jurassic Park."

Her answer left them all with confused expressions. "Yeah.. nevermind." She muttered to herself, pretty sure that no one other than Sophie would be interested in knowing what a movie theatre was.

And then came the silence.. the uncomfortable, awkward one.

It wasn't normal without Draco-Pansy and Asteria throwing jabs at each other, Sophie laughing, and Theodore and Blaise internally hoping that Ria would win (because her comments about them were just too entertaining).

"Oh! I forgot.. my friends must be waiting for me." She said suddenly, glad that she had a reason to leave the room.

"Me too, actually.." Sophie joined her. "I have to find Hannah, Justin and Ernie. See you around."

"Yeah.. See you at the feast."

With those rushed words, the two friends exited the compartment. After walking a few steps away, they stopped and looked at each other with almost the same look.

"That was weird."

"Agreed."

Ria, now parted from Sophie, looked around carefully to find a glimpse of Harry or his friends through the compartment doors.

Though a dark, distorted figure inside a compartment caught her eye. She squinted her eyes, trying to see better.

It was suddenly a bit chilly. Her hand ran down her arm, trying to warm herself. It could be because she had changed into her robes. But the weather had changed too.. the sky outside appeared shimmery grey, almost dull even.

She was so focused on making something out of the blurry figure that she hadn't noticed the door open. So when a hand tapped against her shoulder, she flinched.

"Hey— Hey.. everything alright?" said the girl standing in front of her.

Ria blinked, the blurry figure now disappeared.

She thought too much. It wasn't healthy for her.

"Yeah. Sorry." She answered timidly.

The girl just smiled, treading her hand through her long black hair. And Ria thought that she could kill for hair like hers.

"Are you, by any chance, a third-year?" She asked hopefully, grey eyes glancing down at the Slytherin crest on Ria's uniform. She nodded.

"Oh, thank Merlin.. Do you know where I could find Pansy Parkinson? I don't wanna go knocking on every door and disturbing other students."

A little lightbulb lit up in Ria's mind, out of realisation. She might be the step-sister Parkinson was talking about..

"Yeah.. just that one." She pointed.

"Thank you." She gave her a smile, and Ria returned it. She seemed much nicer than Pansy.

"No problem." She ignored another wave of goosebumps that erupted on her skin. Why was it so cold suddenly?

Why was there a bad feeling stirring in the pit of her stomach?

Ria began walking away. Thankfully enough, in no time, she found a familiar, bushy head inside a compartment. But before she could go inside, the lights suddenly went out.

"What the hell?"

The door opened, making her yell in fright. A familiar voice chuckled.

"Harry!" She smacked his arm, trying to catch her breath. "You scared me."

The train jolted to a stop, making both of them stumble inside. "Ouch!"

"Who's that?" A shaky voice demanded.

"Just us, Ron." answered Ria, picking herself off the floor.

"Thanks for catching me, or else I would've definitely broken my nose." She said to Harry, who had stumbled with her too, but had gently cushioned her fall.

"No problem."

"We can't be there yet.. Can we?" muttered Hermione. "Do you think we've broken down?" she asked.

Ria shrugged in answer, slowly settling herself down on a seat.

"There's something moving out there." Ron whimpered, clearing a patch of the window and peering out. The train jolted again, making all of them gasp in fear.

Ria shut her eyes close. She did not like the idea of a horror experience at the mere age of thirteen.

"Hey.." a hand found its way in hers, and she tightly held onto it. "Are you alright?" Harry whispered to her.

She shook her head. "I don't like being in dark places."

Harry placed his arm around her shoulder, pulling her to his chest. And Ria was glad for a moment. But it wasn't just that..

There was this creepy feeling crawling under her skin, itching to be noticed and taken care of.

The atmosphere suddenly grew colder. Another gasp made her open her eyes, and all their eyes fixated on a dark, moving figure outside their door.

It slid open painfully slowly, and thin, scaly fingers peeked inside. A hooded face followed them, floating closer, making the two cats hiss.

Asteria suddenly felt too light.. light and dizzy, as if she'd collapse any second. A loud ringing echoed in one ear, while the other was filled with a voice.

It was tattered, raging into loud and raw screams that should not belong to a voice that young.

There was another voice; it sounded mature, but filled with rage. It shouted. It made the young voice shout even louder before turning it into wails. A nerve in her temple twitched at how shrill it was. It was painful to hear even. But the voices soon faded away. Her eyes squinted at the blinding light which appeared out of nowhere.

Actually, it appeared from someone's wand; they were standing in the same compartment. But Harry falling down from beside her was all she could see. She crouched beside him on the floor, weak, but still worried for him.

She tapped his cheek. "Hey— Harry?" Her voice was laced with fear. Why'd he collapse like that all of a sudden?

She was barely awake herself, so when someone pulled both of them off the floor, she did not protest. "Here.. careful." Someone handed her a water bottle. She took a sip, and then looked at the man in front of her. It was still dark, there was light erupting from only one wand, but she could make out the scars on his tired face.

He had held his wand away so as to not trouble her with the light, but when he held it closer to her face, his eyes went wide for a quick second. It was as if he had seen someone familiar.

But then he shook his head, sighing to himself. He needed to stop thinking so much about them.. It was hopeless.

"Harry!" The girl rushed to him. He looked up at everyone, confused as to why he was lying on the seat. The train was lit up again.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked him.

He nodded. "Yeah.." He looked towards the door. "What— What happened? What was that thing? Who screamed?" He asked hurriedly.

"Yeah.. someone screamed." Ria nodded in agreement. "I heard that too."

Ron and Hermione looked at each other before facing them. "No one screamed." Hermione replied nervously. Ria shook her head, wanting to deny, but stopped after hearing a quiet snap. The man who had saved them was breaking a big slab of chocolate into pieces. He offered one to each of them.

"What was that thing?" Harry broke the silence, looking at the man.

"A dementor." He answered, his gaze prancing back and forth between Harry and Asteria. "One of the dementors of Azkaban." He got up with a sigh and walked towards the door.

"I need to have a word with the driver." He informed, and looked back at the group one last time before leaving. "Eat, you'll feel better."

The four looked at each other before simultaneously taking small bites from their chocolate.

"Are you sure you're alright, Harry?" asked Hermione, taking Crookshanks on her lap.

"I don't get it, what happened?" He asked her.

She shook her head nervously. "That thing— The dementor came in.. and you— you.."

"It looked like you were having a fit or something.." Ron interrupted. "You sort of went rigid and fell down, and started twitching. Even Ria was still as a statue."

"And Professor Lupin stepped over and pulled out his wand." Hermione interrupted this time. "And he said, 'None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go.' But when the dementor didn't move, Lupin muttered something and a silver light came out, and the dementor backed away.."

"He's a Professor?" Ria asked out of the blue. The three nodded in response.

"Professor R.J. Lupin.. might be the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." Hermione explained to her.

She zoned out of the rest of the conversation, thinking about the scream she had heard. Harry had also heard it.. Then why did Ron and Hermione not?

What did the other voice do to the little one?

It had been a while since the incident, some hours actually. Yet when the students entered the gleaming Great Hall, they seemed wary. It had been scary, after all, the presence of the dementors, and the thought of having Sirius Black around them.

The group of four walked inside just like all the other students; gloomily. From afar, they saw Minerva McGonagall approach them.

"There's no need to look so worried— I just want a word in my office with you three," she told them. "Move along there, Weasley."

Ron stared as Professor McGonagall ushered Ria, Harry and Hermione away from the chattering crowd; they accompanied her across the entrance hall, up the marble staircase, and along a corridor.

Once they were in her office, a small room with a large, welcoming fire, Professor McGonagall motioned them to sit down. She settled herself behind her desk and said abruptly, "Professor Lupin sent an owl ahead to say that you were taken ill on the train, Potter."

Before Harry could reply, there was a soft knock on the door and Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, came bustling in. And he felt himself going red in the face. It was bad enough that he'd passed out, or whatever he had done, without everyone making all this fuss.

"I'm fine," he said, "I don't need anything—"

"Oh, it's you, is it?" said Madam Pomfrey, ignoring this and bending down to stare closely at him. "I suppose you've been doing something dangerous again?"

"It was a dementor, Poppy," said Professor McGonagall. "And check Miss. Edwards too. Professor Lupin said it attacked her too."

Madam Pomfrey clucked disapprovingly. Both of them had enough going on already. "Setting dementors around a school," she muttered, pushing back Harry's hair and feeling his forehead. "He won't be the last one who collapses. Yes, he's all clammy. Terrible things, they are, and the effect they have on people who are already delicate—"

"I'm not delicate!" said Harry crossly.

"Harry, it's alright." Ria muttered, staying still as Pomfrey examined her. "They're just worried."

"Hmm.. She's alright." The matron muttered, lightly patting her cheek. "A tough one we've got here."

"Good. What does Mr. Potter need?" said Professor McGonagall crisply. "Bed rest? Should he perhaps spend tonight in the hospital wing?"

"I'm fine!" said Harry, jumping up. The thought of what Malfoy would say if he had to go to the hospital wing was torture.

"Well, he should have some chocolate, at the very least," said Madam Pomfrey, who was now trying to peer into Harry's eyes. "Both of you, actually."

"We've already had some," said Harry. "Professor Lupin gave me some. He gave it to all of us."

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

"Are you sure you feel all right?" Professor McGonagall said sharply to the two of them.

"Yes," They answered.

"Very well. Kindly wait outside while I have a quick word with Miss Granger about her course schedule, then we can go down to the feast together."

"Yes, Minnie." Pomfrey could see Minerva bite back a disapproving look. She smiled to herself.

They had to wait only a few minutes; then Hermione emerged looking very happy about something, followed by Professor McGonagall, and the four of them made their way back down the marble staircase to the Great Hall.

There was no line of students in the middle. They had missed the sorting. Not that it was interesting anyway.. Ria thought as she walked towards the Slytherin table. Theodore's and Blaise's eyes fell on her almost immediately.

"Hey.." said Theodore quietly. "We heard what happened.. You okay?"

Ria nodded with a small smile. "Yeah. Everything's okay. What about you?"

"We didn't see any dementors." He answered. "Only heard that they were on the train, thankfully."

She nodded again. Her gaze fell on the students, trying to find the new faces. But then she saw a familiar one. "Hey.. we met in the train" The girl looked at her with a smile. "Odd though.. I've never seen you in Slytherin.."

"Yeah, I'm new. I just got sorted." She answered, extending a hand towards her. "Amelia Henry."

Now that she thought about it, she did have an American accent.

Ria shook it with a smile. "Asteria Edwards. Nice to meet you. Welcome to our house."

Amelia laughed, catching the sarcasm in her tone with ease. "Thank you."

When Ria turned back to talk to the boys, an elbow quickly nudged Amelia. She looked beside her; at her step-sister.

"Did you not hear what father told you before you boarded the train?" She whispered. "Don't get all friendly and affectionate with the blood-traitors."

She simply blinked at her. "I don't see how my concerns are any of your business." said Amelia coldly.

"And yeah.. that's your father." She added, not even looking at her. "He might be married to my mother, but that doesn't mean he's my father all of a sudden."

Pansy glared at her, but decided not to comment back. All she had to do was tell her father, and he'd take care of her.

"Hey.. Potter. Potter!" Malfoy hissed, expressions amused. "Is it true that you fainted?" He asked, and Goyle mocked the action. "I mean— you actually fainted." He sniggered.

"Shove off, Malfoy." Ron bellowed, turning Harry away from him. Malfoy and his friends laughed. Ria rolled her eyes. But all of a sudden, Malfoy bend down to aid his leg, crying of pain.

"Oops.. totally didn't mean that." said Amelia, her tone laced with sarcasm as she winked at Ria. She smiled.

"Welcome!" The Headmaster's merry voice interrupted their banter. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, before you become befuddled by our excellent feast!"

"First, I'm pleased to welcome Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of the Defence against the Dark Arts teacher." He gestured towards the teacher who stood up, earning claps from some students.

"For how long d'you think he'll survive?" mused Theodore, making Blaise snigger.

"No.. I feel like he's the real deal." said Ria confidently. "He got rid of that dementor in our compartment."

"Oh, shit, did he?" asked Blaise, slightly impressed.

They turned towards Professor Dumbledore again, who was now talking something about the Care of Magical Creatures. "However, I am delighted to say that his place will be taken by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

The students cheered, mostly from the Gryffindor table, while Ria was the loudest on the Slytherin table. She smiled at the giant man, who was now red in the face by grinning and was wiping his eyes on the tablecloth.

"Now, on a more serious note... As per the request of the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts will be playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban." Several talks broke out in the hall at his statement, though he continued.

"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 the school without permission... It is not in the nature of dementors to understand pleading or excuses. I, therefore, warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you."

The silence that took over the hall was deafening. The old wizard looked around the hall at his students, and his eyes behind the half-moon spectacles glistened again.

"But you know.. Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times. If only one remembers, to turn on the lights."

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

[word count: 4317]

a/n: here's a meme for mah babies