A Rough Journey
Remus woke Hari up the next morning, placing a cup of tea on his bedside table and telling him he was heading down for breakfast and tapping his watch to tell Hari not to take too long. Hari got dressed into trousers and a jumper and was in the midst of packing the last of his things in his overnight bag when Ron banged his way inside, pulling a grey sweatshirt over his sopping wet head and looking grumpy.
“The sooner we get to school, the better,” he said irritably, sitting on the edge of Remus’ bed. “Percy took absolutely ages in the shower and there wasn’t any hot water left. And now he’s accusing me of dripping tea onto his stupid photo of Oliver Wood. You know,” Ron rolled his eyes, “his boyfriend. I don’t care that he’s got a boyfriend, but really? Him?”
Ron was still complaining about lack of warm water as they made their way down to breakfast, running into George and Fred on the landing, who wanted to congratulate Ron on annoying Percy again.
Downstairs, they found Mr. Weasley reading the Daily Prophet with a furrowed brow, Remus sipping a cup of tea and listening politely to Percy complaining about Oliver’s photo and Mrs. Weasley telling Hermione and Ginny about her first date with Mr. Weasley.
Hari didn’t have a chance to talk to Hermione or Ron in the chaos of leaving for the station; they were busy with dragging trunks down the narrow staircase and piling them at the front entrance. Hermione’s cat Crookshanks had a temper tantrum, escaping his badly latched cage and running around the bar, spitting at people’s heels. It took a good few minutes for Hermione and Hari to shove him back in his basket, securely locking it this time. Draco looked far too pleased with himself as his cat, Leo, stayed quiet as anything in his basket.
Hari got in the back of one of the three Ministry cars, shortly joined by Ron, Remus and, to Ron’s annoyance, Percy. Hermione, Draco, Narcissa and Ginny went into another car with the animals and the others went in the third car.
The journey to King’s Cross was quite uneventful compared to the hectic ride on the Knight Bus that Hari had a few weeks ago. The cars were charmed to not get stuck in traffic, easily fitting into gaps that other cars ordinarily wouldn’t and reaching King’s Cross station with twenty minutes left before the train was to depart. They helped everyone to unload their trunks and cages onto carts and saluted Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Malfoy, who both apparently pulled the strings to get the cars for them.
Remus kept close to Hari as they marched through the station, insisting on going with Hari through the barrier with him to avoid having another incident like the year before. Hari and Remus leaned casually against the barrier together, pretending to discuss the latest football match before falling sideways through the barrier and onto Platform 9 and ¾.
Hari looked up at the bright scarlet steam train, emblazoned with golden letters that read ‘Hogwarts Express’ in shimmering, curly font, steam billowing out of the top. Percy and Ginny appeared a moment later with their own carts and Hari and Remus stepped out of the way to allow them to pass.
“Ah, there’s Oliver,” said Percy, fixing his horn rimmed glasses and moving towards the Quidditch captain with rosy cheeks. Hari and Ginny made eye contact and burst into fits of giggles as Percy joined Oliver and a few other 7th years, showing off his badge. It was quite strange to see Percy and Oliver together, Hari thought.
“I’ve got to go patrol the train. I shall see you later, Hari,” said Remus to Hari as Mr. Weasley appeared through the barrier next. He waved goodbye and headed towards the train with his trunk and bag in tow.
Once the rest of the Weasleys, Hermione and the Malfoys made it through the barrier, Hari led the way towards the train, not having any huge trunks or cages to carry with him this time. He helped everyone to load up their heavy things onto the train and stepped back down to say goodbye. Draco was off to the side with his mother, talking quietly to each other as she fixed his blond hair out of his eyes.
Mrs. Weasley finished saying goodbye to her children before turning to Hari to pull him into a warm hug. She patted his back and then kissed his cheek as she pulled away. “So wonderful to see you again, Hari. Do take care of yourself,” she said, smiling warmly.
“Hari, a word for a moment, please?” Mr. Weasley placed his hand on Hari’s shoulder and he nodded, following the older man off to the side. “Hari, there’s something I need to tell you…”
“It’s okay, Mr. Weasley. I already know about Sirius Black. Minnie and Remus told me the night I came back from the Dursleys.”
Mr. Weasley nodded. “I already knew that. Remus told me. I was actually going to speak to you about doing things like when you ran away from your aunt and uncle’s house.”
“Why?”
“I want your word that you won’t go making more reckless decisions like that. I don’t want you going looking for Black,” said Mr. Weasley, frowning seriously.
“Why would I go after a man that wants me dead?” Hari asked.
“Just promise me, Hari. We all just want you safe,” said Mr. Weasley, squeezing Hari’s shoulder. “Swear to me that you won’t go—”
He was interrupted by the screeching whistle of the train as more and more steam began billowing out. There was hardly any time before the train would be pulling out of the station. Mrs. Weasley called frantically to them to hurry up and Hari ran over to the train, Ron throwing the door open for him to step on. They waved goodbye out the window as the train started to pull out of the station and then Hari turned to Ron, Hermione and Draco.
“I need to talk to you guys in private,” he muttered, sending an apologetic look at Ginny, standing nearby.
“Sorry, Ginny,” said Ron, sounding unapologetic.
Ginny rolled her eyes and stalked off down the carriage, her fiery red ponytail bouncing as she hurried off. Once she was gone, they started searching for an empty compartment. Every compartment was already full as they walked all the way to the very very front of the train, eventually finding one empty near the very end.
Once they all clambered inside, dropping into their seats and putting things up on the luggage rack, Ron turned to Hari. “What was it you wanted to tell us?”
Draco, sitting across from Hari, looked up from fixing the latch on Leo’s cage, giving him a knowing look. Hari explained everything about overhearing Minerva and Remus’ conversation and how they told him the truth about Sirius Black. Hari finished by explaining Mr. Weasley’s warning before he got on the train. By the end of his explanation, Ron looked stunned and wide eyed and Hermione had her hands over her mouth while Draco merely seemed thoughtful.
“Oh, Hari… you’ll have to be really careful.” Hermione lowered her hands, still gaping. “Don’t go looking for trouble—”
“Hermione, I don’t go looking for trouble. It usually just finds me,” Hari snapped. “I never asked for any of this, you know. I don’t want so many people trying to kill me!”
“How thick would Hari be to actively go after someone that wants to kill him?” said Ron, looking out the window shakily.
Hari huffed, sitting back in his seat and staring out the window at the passing suburbs, rain droplets rolling down the glass slowly like tears. They were taking it far worse than Hari had hoped they would. Everyone seemed much more afraid than he did, making him feel like he must have lost it.
“They’ll catch him, won’t they?” said Hermione worriedly, biting her bottom lip.
“I hope so. No one’s ever escaped before and we don’t know how he managed…” Draco added uncomfortably, “Who knows what he could be capable—?”
Suddenly, there was a muffled, high pitch whirring sound coming from somewhere inside the train compartment. Everyone froze, looking around for the source of the strange, sudden noise.
“What’s that noise?” asked Ron, looking around. He pointed at Hari’s bag lying on the luggage rack. “It’s coming from your bag, Hari.” He reached up onto the luggage rack and tugged Hari’s bag down, narrowly avoiding knocking Draco in the head as it swung down. He opened it and pulled out the Pocket Sneakoscope that he got Hari for his birthday. No longer dormant, it was spinning rapidly and flashing, letting out an incredible whistling sound that became louder as it was removed from the folds of Hari’s clothes.
“What’s that?” Hermione said at the same time Draco blurted, “Is that a Sneakoscope?”
“Yeah,” said Ron, watching the object spinning and glowing in his open palm. “Mind you, it’s a cheap one, so it might not work. It started going off when I was trying to attach it to Errol to send off.”
“Maybe you were doing something you shouldn’t have,” suggested Draco, cocking an eyebrow.
“Well… I wasn’t really allowed to send Errol so far away, but how else was Hari supposed to get his present?”
Hari took the whirring Sneakoscope out of Ron’s hand and reached into his bag to pull out a pair of thick socks, which he stuffed the Sneakoscope inside and then buried it back at the bottom of the bag. He put it back on the luggage rack.
“You could get it looked at in Hogsmeade. I think Dervish and Banges sell stuff like that there,” suggested Ron as Hari sat back down.
“Do you know much about Hogsmeade?” asked Hermione. “I heard it’s the only settlement in Britain with no Muggles.”
“Yeah, I think it is,” said Ron offhandedly. “But who cares about that? I want to get inside Honeydukes!” He turned to Hari and Draco. “You guys have been there. What’s it like?”
The next few minutes were spent with Hari and Draco telling the other two about the different places to visit in the little village next to the school. Ron wanted to know all about the sweet shop and the joke shop and the Shrieking Shack while Hermione wanted to discuss the historical facts about the village itself.
“It’ll be amazing to go,” Ron was saying, looking dreamily out the window. The rain was coming down even harder now as they continued north, pelting the windows with thick sheets. “*Don’t* let that thing out, Hermione!” Ron exclaimed as Hermione started opening the metal clasp on Crookshanks’ cage.
Hermione ignored him and the next second, Crookshanks leapt deftly out of his cage and onto the floor, slinking over to glare at the trembling front pocket of Ron’s hoodie, which contained Scabbers. Ron shoved the orange cat away with his foot harshly.
“Piss off!”
“Ron, no! Don’t kick him!” Hermione shrieked, leaning over and lifting Crookshanks onto her lap. He stayed in her lap, tail flicking as his big yellow eyes glaring at the lump in Ron’s pocket fiercely.
The train carried on steadily, through the wild scenery as they passed through tiny villages and the edges of English suburbs. The train stopped every so often as it reached the few stations in between King’s Cross and Hogwarts, students passing by as they boarded. People passed their compartment back and forth, snippets of their conversations passing the window. Their conversations moved onto talking about their summer holidays and the summer Quidditch matches.
Midafternoon as they were making their way through the vast piles of sweets they got off the trolley and Ron and Draco were arguing about the best Quidditch team in Britain, Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode and Blaise Zabini came by their compartment.
They were in the rival house of Slytherin, but had somehow become friendly with Hari and the others in the previous year. Pansy Parkinson was a sarcastic girl with short jet black hair in a now shoulder-length bob and dark eyes, her parents having met in Japan before the war. Millicent was a brash, but friendly and chubbier girl with dark brown hair and fair skin, an arm currently linked with Pansy’s. Blaise, Hari’s rival Seeker on the Slytherin team, was an incredibly handsome boy with high cheekbones and dark umber brown skin, his dark hair in cropped waves.
“Oh, Hermione, you got a cat!” burst out Millicent as she slid open the compartment door, gesturing to Crookshanks curled up in Hermione’s lap. “I’ve got one, too. She’s a tabby, though.”
“You’ve got a cat as well?” asked Ron, looking horrified. “First Hermione got one and then Draco and now you? They’re taking over!”
“Finally someone with sense. Millie’s cat is vicious,” said Blaise, rolling his eyes and sitting right next to Ron.
Pansy and Millicent both bent down to coo at Hermione and Draco’s new cats, asking them about their names and where they got them. Ron was complaining to Blaise about how Crookshanks tried to ‘scalp’ him when another familiar face appeared in the doorway, this one significantly less welcome than the Slytherins.
“Having a party, are we?” came the bemused voice of Zacharias Smith. He was already dressed in his Hufflepuff robes, looking haughtily at the others. Hari glared at the other boy.
Ever since they started at school, Zacharias Smith had been Hari’s least favourite person at school. He was lanky with floppy ash brown hair and a nearly permanent sneer. Having reduced Draco to tears so that he almost got killed by a troll and made countless comments at his friends’ expenses, Hari could never quite see eye to eye with the pompous Hufflepuff.
“What do you want, Smith?” Hari snapped, getting to his feet so he could glare at the pale faced boy.
“Oh, nothing. Just passing by and thought I could smell something unpleasant,” he replied with a falsely airy tone. “Turns out it was just you!”
“Watch it, dumbass,” said Pansy, stepping away from Draco’s cat and joining Hari in glaring Smith down. “I saw there was a teacher patrolling the train this time. Might want to be careful what you say.”
Smith huffed, at a loss for words as he stared back and forth at Pansy and Hari glaring daggers at him. The rest of the others were also looking just as fiercely and, deciding he was facing too large of a crowd by himself, Smith turned on his heel and hurried down the corridor with a scowl.
“I’m not taking any of that git’s crap this year,” said Ron angrily, glaring in the direction Smith had gone.
“Yeah, don’t be surprised if he’s found hexed to oblivion,” said Pansy. Millicent snorted at the thought, covering her mouth with her hands.
Blaise checked his watch and said suddenly, “We should get back to our compartment. I still need to find Nott to get the money he owes me.”
Pansy, Millicent and Blaise bade goodbye and then wandered back in the direction of their compartment.
The sky was turning a deep inky grey as the rain continued and evening rolled upon them, lanterns lining the corridors flickering to life. The train shook with the harsh wind and the rain battering the windows as the Scottish countryside went past the windows.
Hermione was reading her Ancient Runes textbook as Crookshakes purred in her lap and Draco and Ron were discussing Ron’s trip to Egypt that summer when the train started to slow down. Ron hopped up from his seat.
“Brilliant, I’m starving…” he said.
Hermione glanced at her watch. “We can’t possibly be there yet, can we? We only just left Dundee.”
“So, why are we stopping then?”
Hari got up and stuck his head out of the compartment door. Heads were popping outside of all the other doors along the train, apparently all curious about the train’s premature stop. The train came to a grinding halt and Hari stumbled back to his seat. The lights on the walls flickered and then died out, leaving them all in pitch black.
“Have we broken down?” Hari wondered as he felt his way to his seat.
“Ouch, Ron, that’s my foot!” snapped Hermione.
Ron wiped the fog off the window and pressed his face to the glass, peering out into the darkness outside. Their breath was coming out in puffs, the air suddenly freezing cold. “There’s something moving… It looks like people are boarding,” Ron breathed, shaky.
The door to the compartment slid open and someone stumbled inside, landing on Hari’s feet. “Sorry, does anyone know what’s going on?”
“Neville?” asked Hari, feeling around and grabbing the collar of Neville’s robes and helping the other boy to his feet.
“Oh! Hari? What’s going on?”
Neville sat down beside Hermione, trembling slightly.
“I’m going to go ask the driver what’s going on,” said Draco, getting up from his seat and opening the door. There was a thud followed by two yelps of surprise. “Who’s there?”
“Draco?”
“Ginny?”
“What are you doing here?”
“I was looking for my brother.”
“Come on, sit down.”
“Hey! Not on me!” Hari exclaimed.
“Should I still find the driver and—?” Draco began, lighting up his wand and reaching the door handle with a shaking hand.
Before he could do so, however, the door slid open itself. The already cold atmosphere suddenly plummeted and Hari felt his stomach twisting horribly. Illuminated by Draco’s wand, Hari stared up at a massive black cloaked figure that was hanging over them. It was making a strange sucking noise under the hood of its cloak, as though it were trying to suck all the air out of the room.
Hari felt a wave of cold dread washing over him as the hooded figure seemed to turn on him, moving closer in the doorway. As it closed in on Hari, he caught a glimpse of a gruesome grey mouth, like it had decayed slightly. Overcome by a crippling sense of numbness, Hari’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and his surroundings faded to black.
Hari was falling, falling, falling into thick, inescapable darkness, his entire body numbingly freezing. He heard a distant, terrified scream and saw a blinding flash of violent green light and then he finally stopped falling for what seemed like miles. He hit the floor with a thud.
“Hari! Hari!”
Someone was shaking his shoulders.
Hari gasped for breath as his eyes flew open. He was lying on the vibrating floor of the train, the lanterns back on and his head resting on something soft, nimble fingers running through his hair. He looked up into a pair of wide, terrified grey eyes staring down at him and realised his head was lying in Draco’s lap. Hermione and Ron were kneeling beside him as well and he could see Neville trembling off to the side. Most surprisingly, Remus was standing over him, looking worried.
“Are you okay?” Draco helped Hari back into his seat and sat down beside him, watching him nervously.
Hari nodded shakily, looking around at all the anxious faces staring back at him. It made him feel exposed and vulnerable to have them all looking at him like he was about to shatter. “What happened? What was that thing?” asked Hari.
Remus pulled out a packet of chocolate from the inside of his robe and broke it into pieces. He handed Hari a piece. “Eat it. I promise it’ll help.” He handed out the rest of the pieces to the others.
Hari took the chocolate. “What was that, Remus?” he asked again.
Remus sighed. “That was a dementor. One of the guards of Azkaban,” he replied, crumpling the wrapper and slipping it in his pocket. “Which reminds me, I need to speak to the driver about this. I’ll be back.” Remus got to his feet and slid open the compartment door. He gave Hari one last worried look and then disappeared down the aisle.
“Hari, are you sure you’re alright?” asked Draco worriedly once Remus left.
“Yes!” Hari replied irritably, tired of everyone babying him. “Can someone please just tell me what the hell just happened that’s making you all look at me like I’m going to drop dead?”
“Well,” said Ron, taking a bite of his chocolate, “that dementor thing came in and you went all rigid and fell on the floor, twitching like mad. We thought you were having a fit or something…”
“And then Lupin appeared from down the corridor and he told the dementor that none of us were hiding Sirius Black and sent some strange silver light out of his wand to make it go away,” explained Hermione.
“So, who was screaming then?” asked Hari. The others gaped at him. “I heard someone screaming…”
“Hari, none of us screamed,” replied Ron.
Hari looked around at the others in the compartment. Ginny was sitting in the corner of her seat with her knees pulled up to her chest, looking incredibly ashen faced while Neville was sitting beside her, trembling. Ron and Hermione were exchanging worried glances and Draco was still staring at him with wide eyes.
“Did anyone else… fall down?” asked Hari slowly.
“No, but Ginny was shaking like mad,” replied Ron. “It was horrible, though. I felt like I’d never be happy again…”
Neville nodded. “Did you notice how freezing it got as well?”
Hari didn’t understand. Why had no one else reacted like him? He felt weak and achy, a shiver going up his spine. Even with the dementor gone, Hari still felt discomfort and despair settling in him. He heaved a sigh and glanced out the window at the rain still pouring down in buckets.
He felt Draco bump his shoulder and caught his eye. His eyes were full of recognition. Hari bumped his elbow back and let his head fall onto Draco’s shoulder, feeling emotionally run dry. Remus returned a few minutes later to tell them they would be arriving in twenty minutes. He glanced at Hari, who was staring despairingly ahead of him, still with his head on Draco.
“I promise the chocolate will help. It’s not poisoned,” he said with a tiny smile.
Hari did as he was told and took a small bite of the chocolate. It worked. Almost immediately, he felt warmth return to his body and the heavy feelings of dread lifted slightly.
But despite the chocolate’s help, Hari still couldn’t get that scream out of his mind as the train moved on.