Rings

September, 1993

"Ew, Ron, get that rat away from me."

"I don't understand why you're so bloody mean to him all the time."

"He's literally a rat and I'll turn you into one too so you can be with your precious Scabbers if you don't get at least three feet away from me." Ron shivered away from Rosalie and went backward in the quartet's line, taking up the rear after Hermione.

The four of them were making their way onto the Hogwarts Express with Rosalie in the lead. They had just said their goodbyes to the Weasley parents and Rayna and were now looking for an empty compartment. Behind Rosalie, the three others began to talk about Harry's 'incident' with his aunt Ron thinking it was brilliant and Hermione being relieved that he had not been expelled for underage magic.

"I think I was more lucky to not be arrested, actually," Harry replied to her matter-of-factly before Rosalie pushed open a compartment door to reveal an empty area with only one person lodged in the corner.

Quickly the four of them funneled inside before Ron asked, "Who's that." Nodding his head at the man. He was in a tattered dirty black cloak that covered most of his head and entire body.

Setting her purse at her feet and sitting down Rosalie answered, "A new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

"Now, how come you know everything?" He retorted while putting Scabbers on his lap as he chose his seat next to Hermione on the opposite side of Harry, Rosalie, and the Professor. Rosalie shrugged before tugging her Divination workbook out of her bag and letting Zazzles out of his cage so he could lay in Harry's lap, as he always did. Hermione pointed to the man's suitcase and said his name out loud 'R. J. Lupin'.

"Do you think he's really asleep?" Harry motioned towards the professor and put his tattered bag in the compartment's storage rack before sitting down next to Rosalie. Leaning her back against the non-cushioned wall she swung her legs over Harry's and across his lap. Zazzles layed beside Harry putting his head on his thigh and Rosalie put her Divination book in the crease of her thighs while resting her chin in the palm of her hand.

She wore a button-up black long-sleeved turtleneck dress that went down to her knees, black tights that only slightly showed the tone of her skin, and dark brown lace-up combat boots. Her nails were painted dark red with gold flakes to represent her house of Gryffindor.

"It seems like it, why?" Hermione replied to Harry's question, scanning the professor up and down before doing so.

Harry leaned across Rosalie and harshly shut the compartment door. Looking over at her with her head deep in a Divination book that was undoubtedly for sixth and seventh years, he rolled his eyes, grabbed the book out of her hands, shut it, then put it on the carpeted floor. She let out a word of protest but was cut off when Harry said, "We have something we need to tell you."

Ron's eyebrows shot up immediately and he pointed between the two of them, "Wait- are you two?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes before hiding her face in her hands and rubbing her cheeks on the fabric of her shirt, "No, Ron, were not-" She cut herself off, "It's just me and Harry might just be what Sirius Black escaped Azkaban for."

Harry didn't seem to get what Ron was insinuating so he sat there dumbfounded before he broke out of his train of thought and hopped onto the new subject. For the next thirty minutes, Harry explained what they had heard from the argument between the three parents with Rosalie at his side giving her input a few times when needed. Ron and Hermione gasped and furrowed their eyebrows during specific sentences but their eyes also filled with worry during the others.

During their conversation, the soft-pattering rain on the train's window became harsh and heavy while the sky turned into a dull, dark blue. Rosalie was almost asleep with her head resting against the glass beside the compartment's door. That was until the train suddenly screeched to a stop and the back of her head slammed against the glass.

Ron wheezed at her and she flipped him off before sitting up and rubbing the back of her head. "You okay?" Harry looked at her while she pouted at the pain that was spreading throughout her skull.

"M' fine, why're we stopped?" She rubbed her eyes and yawned. Lights all across the train flickered and then shut off. The four could hear other compartments chattering, some even panicking, at the sudden blackout.

Rosalie shuddered when the air grew cold, drawing into herself for comfort. It was freezing and the four of them were left shivering in the chill air, so cold that they could see all of their heavy breathing. The glass around the compartment quickly frosted over clouding the room in another layer of darkness.

"Ow Ron that was my foot!" Hermione yelped when the ginger stepped on her foot trying to peer out of the frosted window.

Ron's eyes widened and his chest rose and fell quicker. "I think- I think someone coming aboard." All four teens looked at each other in worry. Harry pulled himself closer to Rosalie and tried to comfort Zazzles as he was shivering with his hair on end.

Petting the underside of Zazzle's chin Harry grabbed Rosalie's wrist ignoring the way she shuddered and pulled her back down into the seat with him much closer than before.

The train jerked forward and Hermione let out a weak cry, Ron was stuck shaking in his seat not moving even a muscle. Harry grabbed Rosalie's trembling hand and she allowed him before basically cutting off his circulation with how tight her grip was.

Again the train jolted only this time much harder causing everyone to lurch forward. All three teens were shaking and yelling beside each other, "What the hell!" Rosalie cried her eyes shot open wide.

Harry and Hermione were quiet while Rosalie and Ron were spiraling, yelling at each other wondering what in the hell was happening. Hermione's eyes were close to tears and Harry was repeatedly looking over at Rosalie making sure that, at least, she was safe. The professor in the corner still hadn't moved an inch.

Rosalie quietly mumbled a quiet word while her eyes were shut tightly, "Dementors."

"What?" Ron gasped from the opposite corner of the train.

At that very moment, another wave of blistering cold washed over the four of them as a figure hovered along the compartments. Its ragged robe drifted along the train's carpets killing plants and turning everything to ice in its wake.

Rosalie curled herself into Harry lodging her face in his neck and closing her eyes. His other hand snaked around her back holding her painfully tight.

Eyes transfixed on the creature everyone's face fell, all happiness and joy leaving their bodies at once.

There was a crackling noise as the dementor reached their compartment, its skeleton-like hand uncurling from the sleeve of its robe and twisting the handle slowly. The metal shook and began to frost as the creature successfully opened the glass door. Its fingers wrapped around the wooden door its disturbingly long nails creating crevices in the dark wood.

Crookshanks hissed backing up into the darkness of the compartments, Scabbers hid himself in Ron's jacket, and Zazzles hissed in front of Rosalie protectively. Letting out a ghostly breath it sucked all light out of the room.

Harry's eyes rolled into the back of his head as white clouded his vision and his life was sucked out of him. His body jerked and Rosalie pulled away from him only to regret it once she saw his face scrunched in pain.

The monster leaned over her in order to continue forward at Harry and she couldn't help but try and disappear into her seat. At that very moment, a figure from the corner of the compartment stood up quickly pulling his wand out of his cloak

Professor Lupin's wand emitted a strong white glow. Immediately the dementor let out a muted shriek and cowered away from the compartment.

"Harry?" Rosalie exclaimed as his head fell forward onto her. She looked at Harry's passed-out face before turning and facing the professor.

The man then pulled out a bar of chocolate from his pocket, opened it, and handed a piece to Ron, Hermione, and Rosalie.

"Eat this, you'll feel better." His eyes hovered over Rosalie's bag which had a golden nameplate of Rosalie R. Dyer on the front. It seemed like he was thinking for a quick second before he shook his head slightly.

The lights of the train had just turned on when Harry started to stir. The first thing he saw was Rosalie's worried gaze as he moved up from her lap. Muttering a small 'thank you' when she placed his glasses on his face. He sat up and rubbed his head, he undoubtedly had a headache, and Professor Lupin broke him off a piece of chocolate, "Here, eat this, it'll help, it's chocolate."

Harry took the piece gratefully but didn't bite into it, "Wha-what was that thing?" His shaky voice made Rosalie look at him in worry as she played with her nails. Harry looked up and saw that all of his friends were looking at him.

The professor nodded at Rosalie, "She was right, it was a dementor, a guard of Azkaban. They were searching the train for Sirius Black and now if you'll excuse me I need to have a little word with the driver." The man sat down his bar of chocolate on the seat and made his way out of the compartment. Giving Harry a slight smile he repeated himself, "Eat. You'll feel better."

Hermione stood up from the floor holding Crookshanks to her chest before she went back to her original seat, as did Ron. Zazzles snuggled up against Harry's leg meowing at him before the brunette picked him up off of the floor and placing him in Rosalie's lap.

He meowed again and Rosalie took him into her arms hugging the cat to herself.

"What happened to me?" Harry took a bite of his chocolate.

"Well you sorta went rigid- we thought you were having a fit or something before you passed out." Ron leaned forward, head in his hands, as he looked at Harry.

Harry seemed antsy his leg twitching up and down repeatedly, "And did any of you- y'know' pass out."

Rosalie shook her head at him, "I didn't pass out, felt like I shoulda, though."

Ron nodded his head, "I felt weird, like I would never be happy again." He was pale in the face and it looked like he was going to throw up any minute.

"But someone was screaming."

Hermione looked back over to him, shaking her head slightly, "No one was screaming, Harry."

Then there was silence and Harry looked solemnly at the window, looking like he always did when he felt something the other's didn't. The rest of the ride to Hogwarts was quiet with little to no conversation between the quartet.

Rosalie leaned her head over on Harry's shoulder and quickly her consciousness fled after the event they just had. Harry leaned his head over the top of hers but never fell asleep the remaining hours to caught up thinking about what he heard, the conversation about Sirius Black, and the bubbling feeling in his stomach when he looked at the girl beside him, her closed eyes and soft features.

He stopped his train of thought when he felt blush creep up the side of his neck.

Rosalie mumbled in her sleep the entire rest of the ride. This was common, almost every night she had a dream or a nightmare about an event past, future, or present. The only issue with these types of visions was that once woken up she couldn't remember a single minute of the dream.

It explained why she was so excited for divination she couldn't help but feel confident for the subject that was yet to come, so confident that she'd already read the syllabus for years three through seven.

Harry held his head close to hers trying to make out the incoherent whispers even though he only caught pieces of what she was saying, but even then they were mere guesses.

He caught things like 'Harry', 'wolf', 'm.. map', 'father', and this one caught him off guard when he heard it, loud and clear, 'Peter'.

They didn't know any Peter, but he's learned to trust Rosalie, trust the things she saw and said. So he let her dream until it was last minute for her to change.

He shook her gently after taking his head off of her own although he hated to part from her. She talked in her sleep louder sill incomprehensible before she jolted awake with a gasp.

Her sudden movement caused Ron and Hermione's attention to shift towards her. Immediately Hermione slammed her book shut, "Rose, do you remember anything?!" She asked wasting no time to get an answer.

Rosalie shook her head before taking her face in her hands and massaging her temples. Noticing her look of discomfort and pain Harry rubbed his hand up and down the shell of her back.

He couldn't help but notice the way she shivered when he put his hand on her. Suddenly, catching Harry and the other two off guard she stood up, "I need to change, we're practically there."

It took her more than ten minutes to get back to the trio and they all knew she had been crying from the pain in her head and the uncomfortableness of not knowing what went on in her own head. This situation wasn't rare so the three of them cheered her up with casual conversation and Harry felt his worry releave with the sound of her airy laughter.