Madam Pomfrey insisted on keeping Harry and me in the hospitalwing for the rest of the weekend. We didn't argue orcomplain, but harry wouldn't let her throw away the shattered remnants of his Nimbus Two Thousand. I knew he was being stupid,knew that the Nimbus was beyond repair, but Harry couldn't helpit; he felt as though he'd lost one of his best friends.

 He and I had a stream of visitors, all intent on cheering us up. Hagrid sent us a bunch of earwiggy flowers that looked like yellowcabbages, and Ginny Weasley, blushing furiously, turned up with aget-well card for Harry she had made herself, which sang shrilly unless Harrykept it shut under his bowl of fruit. Various Slytherins came; Madame promfery had to throw Zoe, Draco and Nicholas out. 

The Gryffindor team visitedagain on Sunday morning, this time accompanied by Wood, whotold Harry (in a hollow, dead sort of voice) that he didn't blamehim in the slightest. 

Ron and Hermione left our bedside onlyat night, I made up with them too. I also introduced Zoe to Hermione. 

Things were awkward at first but when Draco flashed me a smirk, they erupted and a friendship was formed.

 But nothing anyone said or did could make Harry or me feel anybetter, because they knew only half of what was troubling us.

We hadn't told anyone about the Grim, not even Ron andHermione or Draco Zoe and Nicholas because we knew Ron would panic and the rest would scoff. The fact remained, however, that it had now appearedtwice, and both appearances had been followed by near-fatal accidents; the first time, Harry had nearly been run over by the KnightBus; the second, fallen fifty feet from his broomstick, and me from the stands. 

Was theGrim going to haunt us until we actually died? Were we going tospend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulder for the beast?And then there were the dementors. I felt sick and humiliated every time he thought of them

. Everyone said the dementorswere horrible, but no one else collapsed every time they went nearone. No one else heard echoes in their head of their dying parents.Because Harry and I knew who that screaming voice belonged to now. We had heard her words, heard them over and over again duringthe night hours in the hospital wing while we lay awake, staring atthe strips of moonlight on the ceiling

. When the dementors approached us, we heard the last moments of our mother's life, herattempts to protect us, from Lord Voldemort, and Voldemort's laughter before he murdered her. 

Draco was far from happy about my renewed bond but he simply shrugged. Defense Against the Dark Arts Class erupted when Lupin came back.

"It's not fair, he was only filling in, why should he give us homework?"

 "We don't know anything about werewolves —"

 "— two rolls of parchment!"

 "Did you tell Professor Snape we haven't covered them yet?"Lupin asked, frowning slightly.The babble broke out again

."Yes, but he said we were really behind —"

 "— he wouldn't listen —"

 "— two rolls of parchment!

"Professor Lupin smiled at the look of indignation on every face."Don't worry. I'll speak to Professor Snape. You don't have to dothe essay."

"Oh no," said Hermione, looking very disappointed. "I've already finished it!" Zoe sniggered, and Hermione shot her a glare.

 We had a very enjoyable lesson. Professor Lupin had broughtalong a glass box containing a hinkypunk, a little one-legged creature who looked as though he were made of wisps of smoke, ratherfrail and harmless-looking.

 "Lures travelers into bogs," said Professor Lupin as we tooknotes. "You notice the lantern dangling from his hand? Hopsahead — people follow the light — then —"The hinkypunk made a horrible squelching noise against theglass. 

When the bell rang, everyone gathered up their things andheaded for the door, Harry and me among them, but —"Wait a moment, Harry,Emma" Lupin called. "I'd like a word."Harry doubled back, I told Draco, Zoe and Nicholas to go on and followed him and watched Professor Lupin covering thehinkypunk's box with a cloth.

 "I heard about the match," said Lupin, turning back to his deskand starting to pile books into his briefcase, "and I'm sorry aboutyour broomstick. Is there any chance of fixing it?"

 "No," said Harry. "The tree smashed it to bits." 

Lupin sighed."They planted the Whomping Willow the same year that Iarrived at Hogwarts. People used to play a game, trying to getnear enough to touch the trunk. In the end, a boy called DaveyGudgeon nearly lost an eye, and we were forbidden to go near it.No broomstick would have a chance. 

"Did you hear about the dementors too?" said Harry with difficulty, I bit my lip. Lupin looked at us quickly."Yes, I did. I don't think any of us have seen Professor Dumbledore that angry. They have been growing restless for some time . . .furious at his refusal to let them inside the grounds. . . . I supposethey were the reason you both fell?" 

"Yes," said Harry. I hesitated, and then the question I had toask burst from me before I could stop myself. 

"Why? Why dothey affect us like that? Am I just — ?" 

"It has nothing to do with weakness," said Professor Lupinsharply, as though he had read my mind. "The dementors affect you worse than the others because there are horrors in yourpast that the others don't have."A ray of wintery sunlight fell across the classroom, illuminatingLupin's gray hairs and the lines on his young face.

 "Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth.They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air aroundthem. Even Muggles feel their presence, though they can't seethem. Get too near a dementor and every good feeling, everyhappy memory will be sucked out of you. If it can, the dementorwill feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself . . . soul-less and evil. You'll be left with nothing but the worstexperiences of your life. And the worst that happened to you,Harry, is enough to make anyone fall off their broom. You havenothing to feel ashamed of."

 "When they get near us —" I stared at Lupin's desk, my throat tight. "we can hear Voldemort murdering our mum." 

Lupin made a sudden motion with his arm as though to grip my shoulder, but thought better of it. There was a moment's silence, then —

 "Why did they have to come to the match?" said Harry bitterly.

 "They're getting hungry," said Lupin coolly, shutting his briefcasewith a snap. "Dumbledore won't let them into the school, so theirsupply of human prey has dried up. . . . I don't think they could resistthe large crowd around the Quidditch field. All that excitement . . . emotions running high . . . it was their idea of a feast." 

"Azkaban must be terrible," Harry muttered.

 Lupin noddedgrimly."The fortress is set on a tiny island, way out to sea, but they don'tneed walls and water to keep the prisoners in, not when they're alltrapped inside their own heads, incapable of a single cheerfulthought. Most of them go mad within weeks."

 "But Sirius Black escaped from them," I said slowly.

 "Hegot away. . . ."Lupin's briefcase slipped from the desk; he had to stoop quicklyto catch it."Yes," he said, straightening up, "Black must have found a wayto fight them. I wouldn't have believed it possible. . . . Dementorsare supposed to drain a wizard of his powers if he is left with themtoo long. . . ." 

"You made that dementor on the train back off," said Harry suddenly."There are — certain defenses one can use," said Lupin. "Butthere was only one dementor on the train. The more there are, themore difficult it becomes to resist."

 "What defenses?" said Harry at once. "Can you teach us?" I added

 "I don't pretend to be an expert at fighting dementors, Emma . . .quite the contrary. . . ." 

"But if the dementors come to another Quidditch match, I needto be able to fight them —" 

"Regardless of Quidditch" I said "I don't want to feel like that again."

Lupin looked into our determined faces, hesitated, then said,"Well . . . all right. I'll try and help. But it'll have to wait until nextterm, I'm afraid. I have a lot to do before the holidays. I chose avery inconvenient time to fall ill."