Arrival
Featherbrain's screeching awoke Dazai, just like every day, always at the exact same time, at 4 am. Whilst Dazai was wondering once again what he had done to deserve this kind of injustice, Featherbrain's screeches just grew louder. The brunette wanted to throw something at the stupid bird but seeing as he had nothing to throw at her, he instead vowed to just let the bird out of the window. He slowly opened his eyes and got out of his comfortable bed, stalking towards the window. Featherbrain flew out immediately after Dazai had opened the door without any regards for his safety whatsoever. Stupid bird.
He looked after the bird with dazy eyes.
The sky was a dark shade of grey and rain was hitting at the windows around. He indeed had not planned on getting wet so early in the morning but here he was, face dripping just because he wanted the dumb bird to stop making noises. He should've just waited till someone complained enough to let the bird out themself. his sleep schedule was already fucked, but Featherbrain definitely didn't help the situation. God he hated that bird.
He closed the window and turned around only to see that Tom had already slipped today's edition of the daily prophet under his door just like everyday, for the past few days. He picked the newspaper up and then plopped down on the bed. The headline read 'SIRIUS BLACK ON HIS WAY TO HOGWARTS?!'. This Sirius Black guy was really something. In the past days there had been multiple articles concerning themselves about the man. Dazai's interest had certainly been peaked by the strange man. Just the fact that this man had managed to break out of the most secure wizarding prison alone was remarkable but he had also been conspiring with Lord Voldemort and had been a death eater. Maybe he should've joined the death eaters at the end of his first year. Not as a real member of course, but rather as a spy for the Mafia. If this group had members this strong, they would surely become interesting in the future.
The theory of today's article was based off some wizards apparently seeing him multiple times and every time they've seen him it had been closer to Hogwarts. Dazai didn't really think much of this though. He supposed once you've broken out of prison, you wouldn't wanna land in there all too soon again.
Although some psychopaths did indeed like the thrill of always being close to getting caught. It would still be idiotic to go to one of the most secure and crowded places just after breaking out. Even if he would like the thrill, he should lay low at least a little. Well, he'll see how the situation would change throughout the school year.
The rest of his morning had been relatively quiet with him just reading through the newspapers and collecting all of the information about Black from the past few articles. Sure it was still the daily prophet and therefore not a reliable source but it would still be useful for further research. He turned down Hermione when she asked him if he would come to breakfast with the excuse of still having to pack things and spent all of his time in his room till it was time to leave.
Dazai stepped into the entry room of the leaky cauldron.
"Oh hello dear, we're still waiting for Ronald.", Miss Weasley greeted.
She seemed pretty cheerful, probably because she would have a lot less stress, with all of her children off her back.
Fred stepped over to him.
"You have more luggage than when you arrived here. Surely the books don't take that much place, Snakey".
"I'll tell you when we're together with the others."
Ooooh~ does Snakey have a surprise for us ?"
"Possibly~"
Fred grinned from ear to ear, clearly happy with that answer.
Out of nowhere Ron started bulging in, dragging his luggage along, a sandwich in his mouth. "Sorry for being so late", he mumbled with his mouth full.
"Ron, don't eat with a full mouth!", Hermione scolded him immediately.
Ron ignored Hermione's complains and continued to chew on his food.
They all arrived at the train station on time. Dazai was a bit scared of the next moments. He was gonna see Blaise again. And he was scared of Blaise being disappointed. It was silly having such thoughts but he couldn't stop them. He had promised Blaise to write him. And he didn't. Blaise would understand, just like he always did. Or at least that was what Dazai hoped. After everyone else had already stepped through the brick wall, it was his turn. Before he could go through it however Molly grabbed his hand. She looked at him sternly.
"Please, take care of my children. I'm not saying you are dangerous...but you surround yourself with dangerous things. I don't want my kids to get hurt.
I know they enjoy being with you and I thank you for being such a good friend to them. That's why I want to ask of you to keep them safe, please".
"I will do everything in my might to prevent them from taking damage, Madam"
And with those words and a smile he turned around and stepped through the wall. The magic tugged at his figure and a chill went down his spine. Then it was over. He saw the crowded space and the train. His new school year was beginning.
Before he could properly process that information, Blaise was already standing in front of him.
Here we go.
"Why didn't you answer me? I was worried about you."
Direct and straight to the point, typical Blaise. He adored his straight forwardness but it could also sometimes be a curse.
"No owls reached me and Featherbrain had an injury over the holidays"
"Is she fine now?"
"Yes"
"Good"
That was it? That was the conversation?
No further questions, no nothing?
Was Blaise sick? Was he angry?
He had no time to think about it further, as the train let out noises that signalised the start of the ride.
"Come on Snakey. We don't wanna miss the train!", George screamed over to him.
The group ran towards the train.
Unfortunately almost all of the apartments were full. They walked till they were at the very end of the train.
Exactly two apartments free! Bingo!
Well one of them wasn't exactly free as there was their new professor for DADA.
Dazai sat down next to him, Blaise, Hermione and Ron followed after.
The others had to take place in the other apartment. They were all still wet due to the rain outside , puddles building at their feet. Lupin was sleeping, head leaning against the window. " So, how were your holidays, Blaise?", Dazai made an attempt at cheering up the silence between the two of them.
"You'd know if you'd read my letters"
Why was Blaise being so petty all of a sudden. Did he change over the holidays?
Hermione noted the tense atmosphere and tried to lighten up the mood.
"Well, we haven't received any letters from you so how about you just tell us about your holidays, Blaise"
It was strange seeing Hermione and Blaise interact. He's never seen them interact and still they were talking like the bestest of friends. Did he do something wrong? No, it must just be Blaise being petty.
Why did he care so much about this anyway?
It's good if his subordinates communicated with each other.
It helps with team building.
Dazai didn't really know what to do.
He didn't know who to talk to or what he could do to somehow defeat the boredom that was beginning to annoy him.
He ended up just looking out of the window with half closed eyes.
The sky was just like at the start of the day, dark grey and pouring water.
It rained even harder than before they got in the train.
He truly wondered how their Professor could still sleep calmly with all of the noises,not to mention the pressure that the rain must have from the other side of the window .
After a while of staring at their professor , he decided that this was all too boring for him and that he should try wandering around the train.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm trying not to become one with the floor"
Before he could take the doorknob though, the train came to an abrupt halt.
The force was so strong he fell to the floor immediately, falling harshly on his back and against Blaise's leg.
"What was that?" , Hermione's voice could be heard.
And truly, what was it?
The train didn't just stop for no reason, especially not this train.
There was dark fog lifting under the door. It didn't seem like normal fog no, it was too thick and heavy? Somehow.
He didn't know how fog could be heavy but this fog did seem heavy.
The windows misted in an even darker colour than the sky was already and the rain sounded dimmed.
There weren't any steps outside, so why was this happening?
Then he saw it.
The door started to open.
Fuck!
Whatever was on the other side of the door, opened it slowly but steadily.
He could sense a strong magic coming closer. The atmosphere was so tense no one dared to speak. Or were they speaking?
He wasn't sure if he would notice them even if they did.
A last creaking of the door finally revealed the creature.
The first and most obvious thing: it didn't have a face. It didn't have a fucking face. What kind of weird dream was this. The entity looked a bit like if a dog had ripped a piece of fabric and thrown it over something that vaguely had the figure of a human. Like the kind of thing that frightens you when it's dark and you're tired. Only that this wasn't in a room with clothes lying around but a magical train and the entity had a weird magical aura.
It was different from wizards and other magical creatures. The aura seemed more tight and suppressing. As if it weren't even alive.
He located a high pitched scream somewhere behind him but he couldn't seem to make out who the scream belonged to. The entity floated his way and stopped right on top of him.
His lungs felt like there was water in them and his breath became more rapid. What kind of sick joke was this?
He hasn't read anything about these entities in the library, not even in the forbidden section.
It leaned down till it was close to his face. Then he felt a short sting.
Everything after was a hellish nightmare. He couldn't breath anymore, his lungs now filled to the brim with water. Magic tearing every inch of his being apart. But the worst part of it all was when his head started playing a tune. He knew the tune exactly.
He saw his mother, the one person he definitely didn't want to see close to his death. He heard the shattering of plates, vases and everything else that happened to be near her. She was having one of her mood swings again, only that that exact time it would be her last one. Before the scene could play till the end he could feel No Longer Human activating . It became bright, the entity started screaming long and painful and then everything faded to black.
No music, no voices, no faces just black.
When he became conscious again he could hear many voices. His throat felt sore and his body was aching.
He let out a grunt and opened his eyes.
"He's awake! He's awake!"
Was that George or Fred?
He couldn't make it out.
Dazai sat up only to realise that he was still in the train and there were way too many people in the apartment .
"Are you alright, Mister Dazai?"
Ah, that was Lupin's voice.
"I'm just peachy, professor!"
He sing sang in a cheerful demeanour.
Well as much as he could considering the fact that his throat was still fucked.
"Well, young Mister , you appear to have scared away a dementor"
"What's a dementor?"
What was that thing? It sure as hell wasn't some wizard who had fun dressing up.
"Dude the dementors are super powerful. They keep the prisoners in Azkaban and stuff. That thing could've eaten your soul!", Ron explained enthusiastically.
Now that was a new one, eating souls.
You also didn't see that everyday.
"Do you want chocolate. It helps calming down", Lupin held a bar of chocolate into his face.
"No, thank you I'm not really hungry"
Which idiot just offers food to strangers. Everyone who had at least a bit of a brain would not except food from strangers. It could be poisoned or could kill you. He didn't necessarily think that his professor wanted to kill him but looking back at his other DADA teachers he didn't think that it was that stupid to be cautious.
"Can I have a piece of chocolate?", Ron mumbled with a , once again, full mouth. They definitely needed to have a talk once they were at Hogwarts about stranger danger but he couldn't simply say that he thought his professor was trying to poison them.
Lupin however was happy to accommodate.
"How long do we have until we're at Hogwarts?", Dazai asked, as he had no idea how long he had been unconscious for.
"We'll be there in about 5 minutes.
I would like to have a talk with you once we're at Hogwarts about your...encounter.", Lupin more whispered than actually said the last part.
"Merlin you scared us, boss", Draco suddenly sighed out.
Ah, Draco was also here.
He really needed to pay more attention to his surroundings.
He only realized now just how many people were in the apartment.
Pretty much all of the hell hounds were squeezed into the apartment. The only people standing outside at the door were Luna and Pansy . He assumed that Pansy had just tagged along with Draco whilst Luna just didn't see the use in trying to fit in there when she could easily talk to him from there.
Honestly Luna was the only intelligent person in this situation.
"Are you sure you're feeling alright, Dazai? I once read in the quibbler that dementors are only exorcists in disguise. Maybe they felt that you were a fellow exorcist and underestimated their power", Luna singsanged in her usual high pitched tone.
The room sighed and Ron answered for Dazai:" Luna, Dazai is not an exorcist and als-"
"I'm fine Luna, thank you", Dazai intruded before Ron could finish.
Dazai honestly didn't think there was any use in telling Luna that she was wrong.
It was part of her charm that she didn't let anyone prove her wrong. Were her takes the best? No, but at least she wasn't believing the daily prophet.
" Your concern is unnecessary. I'd really appreciate if all of you would get back to your own apartments."
"Are you serious? You've been attacked by a dementor, of course we're worried."
" You're such worrywards. I'm safe now, aren't I?"
"The school year hasn't even started and you're already getting yourself in trouble, Dazai", Hermione scolded.
Oh yes because getting attacked was definitely his fault.
But in all seriousness how had the dementor not been killed by No Longer Human? He has felt No Longer Human activating and he knew that the dementor went away but his ability didn't kill it. That would maybe be a problem in the future. He just hoped not to see these things all too soon again.
Pretty much directly after everyone had cleared out, the train came to a stop.
Dazai grabbed his luggage and stepped out. His way was filled with with countless of students looking at him strangely and with fear in their eyes.
Wether that was because he was still the demon student or because of today's event he didn't know nor did he care.
When he was outside he could immediately feel the cold air.
The cool air felt comfortable against his skin, wind flowing through his hair and air getting into his lungs again.
He felt relieved and had every intention to storm through the library the second he got there.
The carriages were standing right in front, the first bits of Hogwart's magic already peaking through.
The ride to the school was pretty silent except for his subordinates still dawdling about the prior incident and their holidays.
The thestrals seemed a bit off. They stopped for short times here and there and they snorted from time to time.
They've never made noises before and they probably shouldn't considering that the illusion of the carriages being driven by nothing should not be destroyed.
There he was again, the great hall .
He was just happy he didn't have to stand like the first years and instead he got to sit down next to Blaise.
Minerva stepped forward and declared silence.
Right, the procedure now would last forever.
"Hello new students and welcome back to our older students. We are pleased to tell you that we have defeated the threat of last year and that we have more security measures than ever this year.
Please be careful around school grounds because we have set up dementors around school grounds. They are here to provide any students from taking harm especially with Sirius Black being loose.
We do not want our students to have to worry about their safety. This was it, we'd like to proceed our school year as normal as possible .
Now let's get to the sorting"
Applause was echoing off the walls , rather out of politeness than actually being pleased by her words.
So they really didn't tell anyone that Dazai and the others had defeated the basilisk. Then again it probably wasn't the best marketing to admit that the demon student killed their biggest threat . Most people would probably say it's fake or a really bad redemption story.
The sorting was relatively boring, noone really peaked his interest and it wasn't really anything out of the ordinary. The next part however was extremely interesting to him.
"We also have a student from Russia joining us this year. He will start as a third year and I hope whoever his housemates may be will help him feel welcome at Hogwarts.
Minerva called out the boy's name:" Fyodor Dostoevsky, please step forward"
Dazai felt like he heard that name before but he couldn't get his hands on where he's heard it before.And really, there was a tall, skinny boy with dark purple hair and amethyst eyes ,standing at the gates .
He looked elegant stalking forward to the talking hat , steps graceful and, his hair shimmering in the dim lights.
He sat down on the chair and McGonagall took the talking hat and tried putting it on his head. Shortly before the hat touched his head it exclaimed:"S-Slytherin".
Did the talking hat just stutter? Looking around , none of the others had seemed to notice. Sure the talking hat had covered it up rather quickly but he couldn't have been the only one who noticed. Aside from that he was rather pleased with this turn of events. He wanted to get to know this boy better, he seemed interesting .
The raven boy walked away from the podium , applause from the Slytherin table following him. He walked to the very end of the table just to sit down next to Dazai.
"You may start eating"