04. chocolate

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

                       DABRIA'S POV

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. 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.

"Great," 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. All along the carriage, heads were sticking curiously out of their compartments.

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 they were plunged into total darkness.

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

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

Harry felt his way back to his seat, right next to me.

"D'you think we've broken down?"

"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 me and Harry's legs.

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

"Hello, 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. I felt her pass me, heard the door slide open again, and then a thud and two loud squeals of pain.

"Who's that?"

"Who's that?"

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking for Ron —"

"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. I could hear movements in his corner.

None of us 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, 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 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 downward, and what I saw made my stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water...

An intense cold swept over them 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...

My eyes rolled up into my head. I tried to scream but it felt like my head was underwater. I couldn't talk, I couldn't move, I was just left there, to feel hopeless. I wanted it to end.

And then, I started to hear whispers. They were inaudible. Somehow, they got louder and louder but we're still muffled. I covered my ears, trying to block the voices out, but that didn't help.  A thick white fog was swirling around me, inside me —

Before it all stopped, I heard the whispers all say in unison —

'Beware of The Angel of Death.'

"Harry! Dabria! Are you all right?"

Someone was shaking me.

"W-what?"

I opened my eyes; there were lanterns above me, and the floor was shaking — the Hogwarts Express was moving again and the lights had come back on. I was on the floor. I looked to my left to see Harry on the floor also. Ron and Hermione were kneeling next to us, and above them, I could see Neville and Professor Lupin watching.

I was shivering and I could feel cold sweat on my face. I got up by myself and sat back down in my seat.

Ron and Hermione heaved Harry back onto his seat.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked Harry nervously.

"Yeah," said Harry, looking quickly toward the door. The hooded creature had vanished. "What happened? Where's that — that thing? Who screamed?"

"No one screamed," said Ron, more nervously still.

I was gonna point out that everyone was ignoring my existence but, you know, I was still slightly traumatized because a weird cloak thingy just attacked me for no apparent reason.

Harry looked around the bright compartment. Ginny and Neville looked back at him, both very pale.

"But I heard screaming —"

A loud snap made them all jump. Professor Lupin was breaking an enormous slab of chocolate into pieces.

"Here," he said to me and Harry, handing Harry a particularly large piece. "Eat it. It'll help." Harry took the chocolate but didn't eat it. I hesitantly took the chocolate and bit it. A wave of warmth spread through my body, I stopped shivering.

"What was that thing?" Harry asked Lupin.

"A Dementor," said Lupin, who was now giving chocolate to everyone else. "One of the Dementors of Azkaban."

Everyone stared at him. Professor Lupin crumpled up the empty chocolate wrapper and put it in his pocket.

"Eat," he repeated. "It'll help. 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, Dabria?" said Hermione, watching Harry anxiously. I didn't answer.

"I don't get it... what happened?" said Harry, wiping more sweat off his face.

"Well — that thing — the Dementor — stood there and looked around (I mean, I think it did, I couldn't see its face) — and you — you —"

"I thought you two were having a fit or something," said Ron, who still looked scared. "You guys went sort of rigid and fell out of your seats and started twitching —"

"And Professor Lupin stepped over you, and walked toward the Dementor, and pulled out his wand," said Hermione, "and he said, 'None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go.'

But the Dementor didn't move, so Lupin muttered something, and a silvery thing shot out of his wand at it, and it turned around and sort of glided away..."

"It was horrible," said Neville, in a higher voice than usual. "Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?"

"I felt weird," said Ron, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably. "Like I'd never be cheerful again..."

Ginny, who was huddled in her corner looking nearly as bad as Harry and I felt, gave a small sob; Hermione went over and put a comforting arm around her.

"But didn't any of you — fall off your seats?" said Harry awkwardly.

"No, only you and Dabria," said Ron, looking anxiously at Harry again. "Ginny was shaking like mad, though..."

I felt very puzzled. What did those voices mean? And why did I hear voices in the first place?

Professor Lupin had come back. He paused as he entered, looked around, and said, with a small smile, "I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know..."
Harry took a bite.

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

"Fine," he muttered, sounding embarrassed.

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. It was freezing on the tiny platform; rain was driving down in icy sheets.

"Firs' years this way!" called Hagrid. Harry, Dabria, 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 for their traditional journey across the lake.

"All right, you three? Oh, and you too!" Hagrid yelled over the heads of the crowd. I was pleased that Hagrid at least acknowledged my existence.

We waved at him, but had no chance to speak to him because the mass of people around them was shunting them away along the platform. The four of us followed the rest of the school along the platform and out onto a rough mud track, where at least a hundred stagecoaches awaited the remaining students, each pulled, I could only assume, by an invisible horse, because when they climbed inside and shut the door, the coach set off all by itself, bumping and swaying in procession.

The coach smelled faintly of mold and straw. Ron and Hermione kept looking at him sideways, as though frightened he might collapse again.

As the carriage trundled toward a pair of magnificent wrought iron gates, flanked with stone columns topped with winged boars, I saw two more towering, hooded Dementors, standing guard on either side. A wave of cold sickness threatened to engulf me again; I leaned back into the lumpy seat and closed my eyes until we had passed the gates. The carriage picked up speed on the long, sloping drive up to the castle; Hermione was leaning out of the tiny window, watching the many turrets and towers draw nearer. At last, the carriage swayed to a halt, and Hermione and Ron got out.

As Harry and I stepped down, a drawling, delighted voice sounded in my ear.

"You fainted, Potter? Is Longbottom 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," I said with an annoyed tone.

"Did you faint as well..?" Malfoy trailed off at the end when he realized he still didn't know my name.

"The name's Bond, James Bond," I said.

Before Malfoy could reply, I interrupted him, knowing he was going to say something irritating.
"It was a joke, you imbecile."

"Did you not hear her?" Ron spat from next to me, his jaw clenched. "She said to shove off."

"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.

Malfoy gave Professor Lupin an insolent stare, which took in the patches on his robes and the dilapidated suitcase. With a tiny hint of sarcasm in his voice, he said, "Oh, no — er — Professor," then he smirked at Crabbe and Goyle and led them up the steps into the castle.

Hermione prodded Ron in the back to make him hurry, and the four of us joined the crowd swarming up the steps, through the giant oak front doors, into the cavernous Entrance Hall, which was lit with flaming torches, and housed a magnificent marble staircase that led to the upper floors.

The door into the Great Hall stood open at the right; I followed the crowd toward it, when a voice called, "Potter! Granger! I want to see you both!"

Harry and Hermione turned around, surprised. Professor McGonagall, Transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor House, was calling over the heads of the crowd. She was a stern looking witch who wore her hair in a tight bun; her sharp eyes were framed with square spectacles.

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

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

"What do you think she's gonna tell them?" I asked Ron.

"Not sure, We haven't had time to cause trouble yet."

I snorted and dragged him to the Great Hall.

Once Ron and I reached the Great Hall, he waved me a good-bye and went to sit at his table. I walked over to the Ravenclaw table.

When I sat down, I saw a lot of my housemates and other houses starting at me. This was very unusual as, literally, no one knew of my existence beforehand. Had the story of my collapsing in front of the Dementor traveled that fast?

I ignored the stares and looked across the hall at the Hufflepuff table, trying to find Eleanor. Luckily for me, she was doing the same thing. We locked eyes and huge grins spread onto our faces. We waved to each other, then Eleanor when back to talking to her friends.

New students at Hogwarts were sorted into Houses by trying on the Sorting Hat, which shouted out the House they were best suited to (Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin). Professor McGonagall strode off toward her empty seat at the staff table, and Harry and Hermione set off in the other direction, as quietly as possible, toward the Gryffindor table. People looked around at them as they passed along the back of the hall, and a few of them pointed at Harry.

The Golden trio all gave me small smiles and waved, which I returned. I guess that getting confronted by a dementor is the way to make new friends. Totally trying it out next time.

I went to open my book but at that moment the headmaster stood up to speak, and I put my book away.

"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..."

Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued, "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."

He paused.

"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued, "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 — or even Invisibility Cloaks," he added blandly, "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," he said.

Percy, who was sitting a few seats down from Harry, puffed out his chest again and stared around impressively. Dumbledore paused again; he looked very seriously around the hall, and nobody moved or made a sound.

"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."

There was some scattered, rather unenthusiastic applause. Only those who had been in the compartment on the train with Professor Lupin clapped hard, including me. Professor Lupin looked particularly shabby next to all the other teachers in their best robes.

I looked over to Professor Snape, the Potions master, was staring along the staff table at Professor Lupin. It was common knowledge that Snape wanted the Defense Against the Dark Arts job, but even I, who hated Snape, was startled at the expression twisting his thin, sallow face. it was beyond anger: it was loathing.

Personally, I had never had any rude encounters with the Professor, but I knew of all the horrible things he would say to other students (because I'm an eavesdropper).  And I didn't like it one bit.

"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued as the lukewarm applause for Professor Lupin died away. "Well, 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."

I joined in with the applause, which was tumultuous at the Gryffindor table in particular.

I leaned forward to see Hagrid, who was ruby red in the face and staring down at his enormous hands, his wide grin hidden in the tangle of his black beard. I smiled at myself, seeing how happy he was.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the last to stop clapping, and as Professor Dumbledore started speaking again, I saw that Hagrid was wiping his eyes on the tablecloth.

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

The golden plates and goblets before me filled suddenly with food and drink. I stuffed my mouth with as much food as I could.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It was a delicious feast; the hall echoed with talk, laughter, and the clatter of knives and forks. Fortunately, I was able to finish the book I was reading.

I followed all the Ravenclaws to the Ravenclaw Tower. It took a while to get to the top of the spiral staircase, but we all finally got there.

I arrived at the familiar bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle.

"What is in seasons, seconds, centuries and minutes but not in decades, years or days?" The bronze eagle questioned.

From the corner, I could hear someone say
"Ugh, back with this bullshit." All of us laughed.

It took a few seconds before someone shouted out — "The letter N!"

"Very well." said the eagle before opening the door. I walked into the common room and headed up to the girl's dormitory. I went into my trunk and got a stuffed teddy bear that my Dad got me when I was younger. Her name was Wendy.

I flopped down on my bed, which was right next to Padma Patil's, and covered myself with my sheets. I fell into a deep slumber while cuddling with Wendy.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
authors note:

hMmM..i woNdEr wHat tHe vOicEs mEaN??

lmao, if y'all figure out my plan, imma be triGGERED!!

if you see any grammar/punctuation mistakes (or just mistakes in general), plz point them out for me cause i'm blind and stupid. k thanks for reading, byee

          ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───