Chapter 3
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REMUS LUPIN GOT ABOARD THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS WITH ONLY ONE THOUGHT OCCUPYING HIS MIND: SLEEP. He wanted to sleep. The full moon was yesterday, and the exhaustion from the night's events was still weighing down on him like shackles on his ankles that made each and every one of his steps heavier than the previous one.

He dragged his feet to the first empty compartment he could find and collapsed on the bench. He waved his wand, and in a matter of seconds, his suitcase was put away.

Lids heavy, Remus looked outside, watching the merry band of kids run about the platform until his eyes met the figure of a dark-skinned, tousled-haired boy with circular frames, which made a tired smile appear on his face.

It's okay, he reminded himself. He didn't need to get up to greet them. It wasn't the first time Remus arrived first on the train, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. James and the others always found him. They'll find him today too.

Remus felt his eyes droop. He unclasped the first two buttons of his shirt, shuffling about as he's done so to comfortably lean his head on the window. The rattling of the train will be a problem he'll deal with later because, right now, all Remus Lupin wanted to do was sleep.

And sleep he shall.

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They found Millie next to the compartment door. She was leaning against it, all her attention on her nails as she checked them over without a care in the world. She looked up when Hermione called her name and ushered them closer.

"Come on, it's the only one left."

Harry peaked inside the compartment and saw the form of a sleeping man.

"There's someone in there."

"It's either this or we sit with Malfoy," she bobbed her head towards the end of the train. "You choose, Potter."

Adhara came up from behind him, giving Millie a bid but overall ignoring their conversation. She slammed open the door, without caring whether she woke up the man, which made Hermione jolt. The Slytherin took the seat furthest away from him.

"Careful, Adhi!"

Ron followed behind. "S'fine 'Ermione." He hoisted his extra backpack onto the rack. He gave Adhara his usual silent greeting before gesturing towards her satchel. The girl only shook her head which made Ron shrug. He waved a hand in front of the man's face. "He looks passed out. Reckon he wouldn't wake unless the train broke down or something."

Hermione let out an exasperated sigh at her friends' behaviour: both the lack of care and their lack of words. It wasn't very difficult to just say hi. She entered the compartment herself, leaving the other two in the corridor and sat beside Adhara, Crookshanks cage at her feet.

Harry ignored the others to better pay attention to Millie's words.

"He's not sitting with his friends?"

Millie shook her head. "Weird, I know." She slowly joined the others, walking backwards whilst, still facing the bespectacled boy. "From what I know, pureblood families tell their kids to stick together."

"And your family?"

The blonde shrugged. "I'm a half-blood. I'd have to kiss up to them if I wanted to stick around."

"Who?" Ron interjected.

"Malfoy and his crew."

He mimicked a vomiting motion.

"My thoughts exactly." She sat next to Hermione.

"But wouldn't your dad be mad?" continued Harry. The only place left was the one next to the strange man, so he had no other choice but to sit there.

"Yeah, but what's the worst he can do?

"Hit you?"

Harry watched as the corners of Millie's mouth fell. She looked shocked for a second before the muscle in her brow tensed. Even Hermione and Ron looked at him, equally horrified.

"My dad wouldn't hit me," she informed calmly.

"Oh. I just thought- Because well-" He looked back at Ron, silently pleading for help, but the redhead watched him the same way as the other two: confused and worried.

"Harry, did you have breakfast?"

The banality of the question broke them all from the trance.

"Wh-what?"

"Breakfast," Adhara repeated. "I don't think I saw you eat anything since dinner."

Harry didn't understand why she was asking him that. "No. No I-uh. I didn't eat this morning."

"What?" Ron exclaimed from beside him. "You didn't- Oh Godric!" He launched out of his seat to take his backpack down. "How do you just skip breakfast? We had pancakes this morning, for Merlin's sake," he mumbled to himself whilst looking for a snack.

Adhara comfortably leaned back in her spot, perfectly aware of Hermione's questioning gaze on her, which she decided to ignore. Harry's home life was his business, not hers. They will just have to wait for Harry to say something himself.

From next to him, Harry felt the man shift.

━━

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

"Hmm?"

"That's what it says on his suitcase."

Lupin? thought Adhara. "Huh."

"Well, that explains why there's a random man on the train," said Millie.

"Wonder what he'll teach."

"Defence, no doubt. There isn't any other vacancy."

"Hopefully, he'll be up to it." Ron bent towards the front to catch a better look at the teacher. "He doesn't look to be the strongest of the bunch."

"Hopefully, he'll be able to deal with the Devil Twins."

Ron gave the blonde an odd look. "Devil Twins?"

"Your brothers? Red hair, cause mayhem wherever they pass through. Devil Twins sounds about right."

Meanwhile, Hermione's cat wiggled out of his cage, promptly jumping on Harry's lap and staying there. Harry, who was used to it by now as the cat seemed to have taken a liking to him since yesterday, didn't react as much and only continued to nimble on his sandwich.

" 'Ermione, keep your cat away from Scabbers!"

"Honestly, Ron. He's not doing anything!"

Professor Lupin shifted from the sound, making Hermione whisper out her next words.

"Anyway," she turned to Adhara, "Adhi, how are you feeling?"

"What?"

"You know, with Sirius Black on the loose-"

"I'm fine."

"-I didn't get to ask you at the inn."

The other three third years of the compartment looked at her, the last occupant seemingly still asleep.

Adhara sighed, realizing all of their attention was on her. "He most probably forgot I exist anyway. If anything, Harry's the one in trouble, not me," she replied, looking straight at her godbrother.

Harry stopped eating suddenly at the mention of his name, half of his sandwich hanging from his mouth.

"Why?" asked Ron. He looked at Harry expectantly.

The dark-haired boy swallowed down his food, throwing Adhara a glare. He brought both his hands in Crookshanks fur, avoiding anyone's gaze.

"Umm well. Mr. Weasley said something about Sirius Black being after me."

"What?!"

He started to explain the conversation between Ron's parents that he overheard, how Mr. Weasley approached him earlier to warn him about Black. All of them, apart from Adhara, looked frightened at the prospect of having a mass murderer after them. Harry thought he might've made it sound worse than it actually was.

"S'fine, really. Adhara already told me at the beginning of the summer that he may be after me."

"And you both still thought it'd be a good idea to parade around Diagon Alley, whilst knowing that?"

Harry and Adhara glanced at one another but kept their eyes averted altogether. Maybe they should keep their adventure in Knockturn Alley a secret for now.

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The train slowed down slowly until it stopped with an abrupt jolt. Crookshank's cage flung forward, but Adhara caught it with her foot before it could hit anyone.

Clouds filled the sky, turning the compartment completely dark. Adhara could hear more than see her friends move about. The air suddenly turned freezing, biting at her skin with each movement she made.

"What's going on?" Millicent looked outside the window, hands resting on the icy glass as she tried to figure out why the train stopped.

Adhara heard the door slide open violently from next to her, followed by a croaky yet hesitant sort of voice.

"Hey, do you guys know what's happening?"

"Oh, hey Neville," she heard Harry say.

"Hey!"

"I'll go and check," announced Hermione.

Ron and Harry exchanged a curious glance. The former peeked outside from the corner of the door to see what was happening. Adhara took that as her chance to slip into his seat.

"Oi!"

She ignored him. Something was wrong, she could feel it. Why would the train just break down in the middle of the journey? Didn't this thing run on magic? It was starting to get too cold in here. She could almost see her breath.

"I think I saw someone get onboard," came from Millie's side of the compartment.

Adhara felt her way to Harry's right hand. People were speaking from outside the compartment, she thought she might have heard Ginny Weasley's voice, though she couldn't be too sure. All the voices started to jumble up. Adhara tried to say something, but then a tall figure from beside Harry stood up.

"Quiet," said the figure. Adhara couldn't make out the person's face, but it didn't stay that way for long. Before Adhara knew it, a patch of flames appeared in the palm of the man's hand, illuminating his face.

Cracked was what Adhara first thought. Cracked and open and scars. Scars everywhere on the teacher's face. One that split his face in half sideways, and another that drew over his mouth and travelled all the way down to his collar.

He said some other things, but Adhara could only focus on the fire in his hand. The way it lit up the room, the way it crackled and hot. It's hot. It'll burn her if she doesn't put it away now.

Adhara distantly felt something grip onto her left hand tighter.

She heard the door open again. Professor Lupin extended his hand toward the entrance, revealing a dark figure. The light made the creature's front more visible, but Adhara could only see the flames.

And then the weight on her left disappeared.

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"Here, have some chocolate. It'll help."

Harry took the chocolate in his hand, feeling rather embarrassed. He couldn't believe he actually fainted. Nobody else fainted. Why did he have to faint? Who even does that?

"Adhi, are you okay?" asked Millie, who then turned towards the professor who was distributing chocolate to all of them.

Harry's eyes snapped towards the girl on his right. She kept staring at him, hand still clasped around his elbow, but her eyes seemed elsewhere. She looked completely shaken up.

"Adhara-"

"I'm fine."

"Here," said the professor. He handed a chunk of chocolate to her. She finally averted her gaze, facing the teacher. "It'll hel-" He stopped talking suddenly, looking at Adhara with shock.

Harry furrowed his brows.

Adhara was too occupied eyeing the state of his hands to notice. "Your hands aren't burnt."

Lupin blinked. Still in a state of shock, he took a look at his hands.

"You conjured fire earlier. Your hands are okay, though."

Harry released her hold on his elbow, deciding to hold her gloved hand instead. The action didn't go unnoticed by the professor.

He didn't say anything about it though, instead answering the dark-haired girl's question. Or rather, her observation.

"Fire spells can be tricky, but they're fine if you have good control over them." He still stared at her face.

Adhara finally looked up.

"I uhm. I'll go speak to the conductor. You kids behave, alright?" He didn't wait for a response before darting out the door.

Harry wondered what that was all about.

As Professor Lupin left, in came another student, donning a yellow tie and blue silk gloves.

Adhara stared.

"Adhara! I heard what happened! Are you okay?!?"

The girl in question blinked a few times sluggishly, slowly coming back to her senses.

"Roisin."

"What happened exactly?!"

"I'm fine, really. Just," she pointed at the door, "close the door and stay here."

"What?"

"Stay here."

From the corner of his eye, Harry could see Hermione and Millie exchange a knowing glance.

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"Professor McGonagall!" Remus called after his former professor, who tried to keep all the students in an orderly fashion. The carriages just reached the castle, and students filled up the entrance with a loud hustle, no doubt still gossiping about events on the train. The older man weaved his way around the small bodies, reaching out to the teacher.

"Just Minerva is fine, Remus."

Lupin cringed at the thought. "I don't think you understand how impossible that is for me."

McGonagall smiled. She ushered some second years into the Great Hall, trying to get them ready before the first years arrived. "What is it that you need, Mr. Lupin?"

"There was an incident on the train."

"Oh, yes," her expression turning dim. "I've heard about it already."

"There's more to it, I'm afraid."

"Hmm?"

"A student fainted." Remus took a deep breath. "He was in my compart- Harry Potter, ma'am. A dementor got too close and-"

He watched his former professor bring a hand to her forehead. "I swear, Lupin, that boy is a danger magnet. Not to worry, not to worry. I'll go and fetch him-"

"That's not all, Professor."

"What is it now?"

"There was another student with him, a-a girl. With short dark hair. She had a scar on her chin. She-uhm, she looked quite shaken up, more so than the rest."

McGonagall sighed out, exasperated. "That sounds like Adhara Black. I'll go see her too-"

"Adhara Bl-Black, ma'am?"

"Yes, yes Black. I hope you won't be treating her any differently because of her relations with your-"

"Of course not, ma'am."

"Very well, as you were." She turned towards the door, mumbling under her breath. "Dementors, near children. Next thing you know they'll be hollering my kids to Azkaban!"

Remus remained in the middle of the hall, frozen.

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